6 of New York Comic Con's Geekiest Food Exhibits and Activations
The east coast's largest pop culture convention may be over, but there's still plenty to appreciate about one of the most exciting and, dare we say, tasty weekends of the year. Beyond the large variety of food trucks and carts, as well as all the Fandom food that was available all four days of the packed event, there were also a number of food-inspired activities available to attendees, like bellying up to the Westworld-themed bar. Whether they were off-site or on the show floor, food companies like Campbell's and Jelly Belly, as well as networks like Amazon and Freeform, were out to offer fans a delectable good time.
Here are some of the best pop culture and food inspired experiences of New York Comic Con 2017.
Campbell's Soup Star Wars Canstruction
Continuing a three-year collaboration between Disney, Lucasfilm and America's most recognizable soup brand, this "canstruction" celebrated the expanding Star Wars universe by realizing one of its latest character additions. Conceptualized by designer Frederick Anderson, the pop-culture construction featured two Praetorian Guards (a variation of the Royal Guards of Emperor Palpatine) on a platform, both of which were built using 3,800 of Campbell's limited edition The Last Jedi-themed cans. Those who visited the attraction, which was stationed outside the Jacob K. Javits Center, also got a look at the film's latest trailer, which could be watched on the LED screen displayed behind the guards.
Jelly Belly's Superman Portrait
If you happened to stop by Jelly Belly's booth this past weekend, you more than likely witnessed Artist in Residence Kristen Cumings constructing a portrait of DC Comics golden trio member Superman. Her fourth official NYCC portrait, Superman featured approximately 12,000 jelly beans and took between 75 and 100 hours to complete. To create the sweet rendering of the man of steel, Cumings used an underpainting—or a fully colored two-dimensional image—to help guide the placement of beans in her candy mosaic. A spray adhesive was used to ensure the jelly beans remained in place and once completed, Cumings sealed the entire creation with resin. Once completed the portrait can weigh over 100 pounds and is unfortunately inedible. Read more about the making of the portrait.
Amazon's Interactive Lore Exhibit
Amazon's exhibit for its upcoming six-episode adaptation of Aaron Mahnke's true-crime-meets-horror anthology series Lore proved to be a real dining horror story. The series focuses on the human origins of some of history's most terrifying monster and ghost tales. As part of a three-room experience, comic con attendees were able to explore a small room based on the cannibalistic origins of one German town's werewolf lore. "The Beast Inside" activation invited attendees to take a seat at the bloody table and playfully indulge in a wide variety of "human" delicacies. None of the food was actually edible, but for fans of horror, it proved to be one of the con's wildest mashups.
Freeform's Shadowhunters and Cloak & Dagger Activations
Passionate fans of Freeform's current flagship show Shadowhunters (an adaptation of Cassandra Clare's Mortal Instruments book series) and its highly anticipated upcoming Marvel superhero series Cloak & Dagger were treated to several tasty opportunities. Fans of the urban fantasy series could stop by one of the most famous locations in the show and books: Werewolf pack leader Luke's Chinese restaurant, The Jade Wolf. While there you could pick up a fortune cookie, and if you were lucky, your fortune earned you an exclusive Shadowhunters t-shirt that came in a Chinese carry-out box.
At the Cloak & Dagger bodega, visitors selected a card from a mysterious tarot deck for a chance to Cloak & Dagger inspired prizes, including black and white cookies (based on the heroes' color scheme) and crunchy sugar cookies in the shape of daggers.
Nissin Cup Noodles Noodle Sword
If you were one of the lucky few with invites to the exclusive red-carpeted celebrity-packed Heroes After Dark party at the Highland Ballroom, you were also invited to Nissin's pre-party, hosted by Teen Wolf and Jane the Virgin star Tyler Posey. As the presenting sponsor of the exclusive pre-party, Nissin's invited VIP guests—including 20 comic con attendees—to take pictures in front of an elaborate Nissin product display along with a custom dry noodle sword before warming up their very own cup of instant ramen which could be customized with a variety of toppings.
Nickelodeon SpongeBob SquarePants and Hey Arnold! Activations
One of the most recognizable facets of Nickelodeon's animated series about a talking sponge and his life under the sea is the place in which said sponge resides—a pineapple. Nickelodeon brought a giant interactive replica of SpongeBob's home to NYCC this past weekend, and the walkthrough invited fans young and old to see some of Nick's most iconic animated characters.
In addition, the network also promoted the movie return of its beloved 90s cartoon Hey Arnold! with a rather large replica of the watermelon shrine created by Arnold's bully slash secrete admirer Helga. Removed from Helga's dark closest, fans could take a picture with the inedible structure.
