by Toni Adams, SGLS Team Writer
Geek pop culture had infiltrated Anaheim during Easter weekend and it was glorious.
Wondercon is a pop culture/comic convention that is part of the International comic-con organization The same company that has spearheaded the epicenter of geek-entertainment, San Diego Comic Con. With the massiveness of SDCC, Wondercon is on a much smaller scale but the geekery is still amped up as ever.
Beyond oogling in jealousy at the amazing cosplayers or having your wallet drained in the exhibit hall, there were rooms full of conversations and interesting talk. This year, the panels were focusing a lot on fan culture. What fuels fan culture like no other? Concentrated nostalgia. This years concentrated nostalgia was delivered by the means of music.
The elements of a great comic book would need a writer, an artist, and a letter to work as a cohesive unit. Same thing with animation: story, art, and music. We can watch something over and over and not realize how much of an impact music has had on us. Just playing the a theme song would rip open the nostalgia artery.
Music really does bring fans together. During a Disney group photo shoot (yours truly was in it), the group randomly started singing “I’ll Make a Man Out of You“. Instant connection. Beyond that, music does so many things, it inspires, triggers memories, and so on.
There were plenty of panels discussing this but the highlight came from the Toonstock II panel. Toonstock is a panel celebrating animated music (like Woodstock but for animation, get it?get it?). Hosted by a table of notable composers in the field: The Dynamic Music Partners(Kristopher Carter, Michael McCuistion, and Lolita Rimanis) and animation producers (James Tucker and Michael Jelenic). Toonstock II was hosted by Warner Brothers. There wasn’t really much to dissect or discuss without getting into detailed musical writing talk. The panel was purely a lighthearted talk of how much music had meant to us all and how deeply rooted it stays inside of us.
Toonstock II featured an episode from Batman: The Brave and the Bold titled “The Mayhem of the Music Meister”. Other than Batman: The Animated Series, I don’t watch a lot of comic animated series so I was not familiar with why this episode was so amazing. It wasn’t until my friends explained to me what it was, that I scrambled back into the panel room.
This is a musical episode. This was a sing-along event.
IT HAS NEAL PATRICK HARRIS SINGING. NEAL PATRICK HARRIS.
NPH has that much power over me. I will pretty much watch anything he’s in. NPH plays the Music Meister who uses his songs to hypnotize the city into doing his bidding. I thoroughly enjoyed watching it and “attempting” to sing along.
This better be an ongoing event. I can easily see this rivaling the tradition of watching Dr. Horrible Sing Along Blog in the main arena.
This post is merely to share the love of music. Also, to see how many nostalgia arteries I can open.
::Warning: This may induce binge watching::
These are just the introductions to animated shows I grew up with, that I was reminded of during these panels. There are loads more that I watched and still remember fondly.
An annoying realization also dawned during the convention: I can remember a theme song from decades ago but I can’t remember where I placed my car keys.
Smart Girls love SciFi 
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