Women of Marvel Panel
The Women of Marvel (comics, games, animation and more) assemble to celebrate nerdom and all people who help make it happen! Talents from the industry include Judy Stephen (Marvel Podcaster), Sana Amanat (Content Development at Marvel) Lauren Shippen (Author/Podcastor), Mackenzie Lee (author) Vita Ayala (Author) Beth Bryson (Project Manager at Marvel Parks and Resorts), Marcia Griffin (Vice President of Animation) and Sandra Saad (Game Performer) to discuss the creative process, working in entertainment, and what they’ve got planned next.
From developing female characters in both MCU and comics, to upcoming attractions at Disney, these incredible women shared their personal history with Marvel and the barriers they hope to break with their work. After the panel discussion, the audience was treated to a sneak preview of Marvel’s upcoming TV animation, Marvel Rising: Operation Shuri. Since I was sworn to secrecy, I can’t reveal spoilers, but man was it awesome! Fans will embrace this show as they have come to embrace Marvel’s previous film adaptions.
Hasbro’s Star Wars Toys Reveals
With the Skywalker saga coming to a conclusion this December, it’s no surprise that Hasbro is pushing a commemorative line and in full Force (get it?) with their other lines. This panel gave a look into what’s coming out in Fall 2019, while also speaking to their recent releases from the summer and Triple Force Friday in more detail. I (Lorena) personally love the Black Series they do, but there’s a similar looking Composite Series out that is just gorgeous! From their vintage line, they’re adding some new/updated figures from the Yavin Ceremony in A New Hope using the photo technology for the faces. Would have been nice to have for my wedding topper Leia… oh well. They’re also introducing characters from the upcoming Disney+ show, The Mandolorian. It all looks really cool! I can’t wait for that show to start and I can recommend the new figures from it.
Charmed Screening and Panel
To wrap the NYCC Sunday and consequently NYCC, Lorena attended the Charmed panel. It kicked off with a screening of the premiere, which airs this Friday, October 11th at 8pm on the CW. Let me tell you, the new season looks FANTASTIC! I’m not allowed to talk about it too in depth, but WOW, it’s definitely a big change from season one. Trust me, it’s a great one, too. The cast and two show runners came out afterwards for the panel, though they’d been watching the episode in the back secretly since they’d never seen it with full effects in.
The showrunners explained this year will be much more serialized than episodic storytelling format. This is aligned with most of CW’s series, but I’m a little sad about it because the comfort of episodic demon of the week was one of the things I enjoyed about season 1. However, it does enable them to be much darker thematically and dive much deeper into character arcs. The character development is my favorite thing about this show, so that’s exciting. Overall this season appears like it’ll be more grown up and have much higher stakes. The show is maturing, which is great news for fans.
Sadly, it looks like Natalie Hall won’t be back for season two (someone just give that girl her own series so I can be happy, ok?!), however the premiere introduced two new characters who the showrunners confirmed will be ongoing characters throughout the season. These were actors I recognized immediately and so will you. Jordan Donica (played Jefferson in Hamilton) plays a character named Jordan and Shiva Kalaiselvan (played Ivy on The Originals) who plays a shopkeeper. They seem like two solid additions, though as we saw in season one, secondary cast doesn’t always make it many episodes, so who knows.
