Review: The first Game of Thrones Official Fan Convention

The first official Game of Thrones Fan Convention was held in Los Angeles this past weekend. Fans from around the globe came together to celebrate the amazing world George R.R. Martin created and some of the actors that helped bring it to life.

Though there have been some Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire. conventions before, this is the first one that is officially sanctioned by Warner Bros. and organized by Creation Entertainment. I was lucky enough to attend. Read my impressions below!

The venue

While the Los Angeles convention center was a great place to host the convention, it wasn’t truly used to the best of its abilities. The convention was split into two floors: the main floor and the second floor. The main floor housed all the panel interviews, some autographs, and Saturday night’s dance party. The convention’s COVID testing center was also located on the first floor, but on the opposite side of the theater.

Upstairs, meeting rooms turned into the surprisingly small merch and autograph room, the photo op room, the photo pickup room, and two rooms containing the Iron Throne and a lovely dragon head. Some specialty photo ops were also located in the halls upstairs, next to a few walls dedicated to Game of Thrones facts, memorable moments, and characters. The Red Keep theater was also upstairs. It hosted a crash course in High Valyrian, a panel about the Dothraki, and a panel about the mobile Game of Thrones game.

And that was it.

At the door

Attendance was surprisingly low, I’m guessing do to the complete lack of advertising, not to mention the fact that the con took place during the holidays and the World Cup. I myself hadn’t even heard of a convention happening until Jason and Greta mentioned it on their official Game of Thrones/House of the Dragon podcast on November 23, a mere 15 days away from the event.

Fans could purchase general or preferred daily passes ($65 and $90, respectively) or they could invest in weekend packages. I say “invest” because the price range for those went from $195 to a whopping $1489. Those who splurged and bought an Iron Throne package got preferred seats for panels, an exclusive 30-minute panel with Kit Harington, pictures while sitting on the Iron Throne, select autographs, a pass to an exclusive dinner, and tickets to the dance party on Saturday night. The top tier Iron Throne packages also included front row seats.

Keeping in mind that this is the first official convention, it’s safe to say there’s definitely some room for improvement for the next one.

What the Official Game of Thrones Fan Convention did right

However, there were some truly great things about the convention:

I snagged one of the cheaper Iron Throne weekend packages (still at $989) and was able to attend the exclusive dinner and Kit Harington panel. The panel was intimate. There was no introduction and we dove straight into fan questions. It truly felt like we were having a conversation with him instead of just asking panel questions.
The dinner was absolutely delicious and fun. We strangers sat with each other in round tables and chatted while eating a three-course meal. The food was delightful, with an exquisite chocolate cake to top it off. We could also purchase Mikkeller’s exclusive Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon brews, which came in very collectible cans. The dinner was wrapped up after four lucky fans won huge prizes after playing four intense rounds of bingo. (I almost won the last one.)
Fans were allowed and encouraged to ask the cast questions during every cast panel. Some very fun and very deep questions were asked, and the cast was nothing but pleasant and kind to the fans. It truly made for a weekend to be remembered.

The on-going sales of picture ops and autographs was an excellent move. They didn’t cut sales at registration, which made us feel relaxed and not rushed to make heavy financial decisions due to being pressed for time.

if you happened to wear your glasses to a photo op and it came out with a glare, the Team Members would rush you back to the front of the line to retake the photo without them. AND you got both prints! That’s exactly how I was able to take two pictures with both Paddy Considine and Kit Harington.
Any kind of spoiler questions or Snow questions were prohibited from being asked. Though there was some initial complaint about that, it felt appropriate as Kit Harington and Kristofer Hivju had stated many times that they couldn’t talk about it.
The dance party was great. Kristian Nairn definitely knows how to get a crowd going. If you still haven’t checked his music out, look him up on Spotify or YouTube.
I personally saw Team Members help fans with disabilities, special needs, and service animals throughout the weekend with getting in line, moving about the convention center, and guiding them to where they wanted to go.
The quality of the printed photo ops were amazing. And you can buy the JPEG file for $10.

What the Game of Thrones Official Fan Convention could do better

But it can’t all be perfect. Some of the cons, no pun intended, were:

A very small selection of vendors, though the vendors were great. Mobyfox brought a gorgeous convention exclusive Apple watch band, Threezero brought impeccable collectibles, Enesco brought beautiful and high end decor and collectibles, Mikkeller brought their delectable brews, and Secretlab not only sponsored the convention, but also gave away and had exclusive gaming chairs for sale.

Image: Ernesto Ros

Not very well organized. There were no Team Members checking seat assignments for panels until Kit Harrington’s Sunday panel at 4:00 p.m. That led to a lot of fans sitting in other fans’ seats. Some even sat in the Press section.
There was no real break for the fans. Panels could have been spread out more to give fans time to brave the long lines of the one and only food vendor in the convention center and grab a snack. The convention days ran from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., with some autograph sessions going well beyond 6:00 p.m. A 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. schedule could alleviate some of these problems.
Unfortunately, I did hear a lot of fans talking amongst each other about how boring the convention was. The only real interest for fans were the celebrity panels, autographs, and photos. Other than that, there was nothing else for fans to do other than admire cosplays, walk around the small vendor room, or attend very quick panels on the Dothraki, the Game of Thrones mobile game, and a High Valyrian crash course. Those three panels were very small and held at the same time as the celebrity panels, thus their attendance was extremely low.

Food for thought regarding the next Game of Thrones Official Fan Convention

There were a lot of complaints about the convention taking place in Los Angeles. Prices there are unimaginably high and traffic is absolutely horrendous, and those could very well be a deterrent for some.
The next official Game of Thrones fan convention needs to be advertised more. I was honestly shocked by the low number of attendees, though there were side benefits; lines were significantly shorter, the convention center was not crowded, and it felt more intimate as we saw the same people for the entire three days and made friendships that are likely to last a long time. But it was still a shock to see so few people attending. The only panel that had a good number of attendees was Kit Harington’s on Sunday afternoon.
More and a broader variety of vendors. Maybe even verified fan art creators selling their art so fans could immediately get it autographed.

All in all, it was a truly great weekend, with experiences I know I’ll never forget. It was worth the cross-country trip for me, and I made some heavy purchases, but the cast’s answers to all of my questions (because I definitely asked one in each panel) will always stick with me. And that’s the biggest take away from any convention: the memories are the best part.

I am absolutely looking forward to the next one and I hope it can only get better from here.

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