Opinion: Embracing my inner zombie fanboy

Columnist David Figueroa poses with The Walking Dead actor Scott Wilson who played Hershel Greene.

provided by David Figueroa

Columnist David Figueroa poses with The Walking Dead actor Scott Wilson who played Hershel Greene.

If you know me well, you’ll know that I’m a huge fan of The Walking Dead which ends its sixth season Sunday. Unlike most people I am a relatively new fan, as I didn’t start watching the show until around this time last year. However, once I started watching, I was hooked. Not only am I a big fan of the show, I also love the comics and the spin-off show, Fear the Walking Dead. There is practically nothing Walking Dead related that I don’t like as a recent experience proves.

It started when I came down from my room on Christmas morning and walked towards the Christmas tree. I noticed that there were two little envelopes sitting on a table right next to the tree, one for me, and the other for my brother Christopher.

After our parents had opened up all their presents, my brother and I started to dig into the glorious pile of free stuff that laid right in front of us. Midway through, our parents stopped us and told us to both open the envelopes that were on the little table next to us. I opened mine, and I couldn’t believe what I saw; tickets to something called Walker Stalker Con, which I immediately realized was a Walking Dead themed convention.

I couldn’t believe that I hadn’t heard about this sooner. Being such a big Walking Dead fan, how could I have not known about this? The convention is one of those touring conventions, and the Dallas one was conveniently on the weekend and right at the start of spring break.

As I researched more into it I realized that there would be celebrities there, and that fans could go up and meet them during the meet and greet autograph sessions. I couldn’t wait! The convention was scheduled for March, so I knew there was still a while to go. However, I never stopped looking forward to it.

There were several roadblocks along the way, but once we got in, the convention did not disappoint.

The best part was definitely meeting the cast members. It was really awesome to see all of these amazingly talented people whom I had watched on TV for so long and finally meet them in person. I was able to listen to several interesting panels lead by the stars of the shows, and I was able to personally meet and get autographs from Steven Yeun, Katelyn Nacon, Scott Wilson, and Giancarlo Esposito who played Gus Fring in Breaking Bad.

If there is one negative thing to say about Walker Stalker Con, it is the lack of organization. Whenever there would be a line to get into a certain event, it was never very well managed.

I also didn’t appreciate that most autographs are usually around $30-40 but Steven Yeun’s was $80. And to make matters worse, everyone else has a sign telling you how much their autograph costs, but the people running Yeun’s booth didn’t tell you at all until you had already been waiting in line for 30 minutes.

Aside from those two negative things, Walker Stalker Con was a great experience. I would seriously recommend that all Walking Dead fans check it out, even if you’re not normally one for conventions. And even if you’ve already missed the one in your area, it’s not too late to catch it in another city.