Like a little brother or cousin to the bigger cons, Long Beach Comic Con 2026 (Sep. 5 & 6) offered a more chillaxed/less frenzied experience for pop culture fans, the 17-year-old event catering to a lot of artists, painters and illustrators, as well as indie filmmakers. Showcasing their short films, making them their main centerpiece. And as we approach the spooky season, creatures and ghouls certainly shared LBCC’s halls amongst the plethora of Marvel merch and cosplay…
Efren “Pedro” Ramirez and Diedrich “Rex” Bader from the cult classic Napoleon Dynamite dropped in for a panel discussion, sharing their behind-the-scenes shenanigans and how they each had landed their iconic roles.
Asked why after two decades the indie film still resonates with fans, both old and new, Ramirez responded, “It represents the underdog. All of us at one time were trying to figure out how we could fit in somehow, whether you’re a Napolean or a Pedro. What’s also special is how something great happens to every single character in the film, and they realize they’re not alone in life.”
“After filming, I just forgot about the whole thing,” Bader said when asked about his role as the overzealous “martial arts” instructor. “But then the ‘Vote for Pedro’ T-shirts started booming. Then a kid comes up to me sometime later and says, ‘You’re Rex Kwon Do!’ and I was like ‘Uuuh – am I?’ He knew all my lines and asked me to recite them, because he had literally seen the movie twelve times in the theater. And then I called my agent and said, ‘How you feelin’ about me now?”
Andy Field, voice actor for the popular Five Nights At Freddy’svideo game franchise, had also visited with fans for a panel discussion. Asked what he liked most about the movies, Fieldsaid, “I liked seeing [YouTuber] Cory Kenshin as the cab driver, mainly because I auditioned for that role. Once I saw him in the trailers I emailed him and said, ‘Congratulations! I also tried out for that role’. Then he says, ‘Oh, I…didn’t audition for it’. So then I was like (laughs), ‘Oh, oh, well…you suck!’”
Other celebs at LBCC included Ernie Reyes, Jr. (The Last Dragon, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Brian Tochi (Revenge of the Nerds, Police Academy 3 & 4), Janeshia Adams-Ginyard(Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity Wars), Phil LaMarr (Pulp Fiction, Mad TV) and Christopher Collet (Sleepaway Camp,Pokemon).
if you missed out this year, follow LBCC for announcements about their next event…