With 2011 in full effect, so has begun Con season. While so far it has been mainly industry and media events like Toy Fair or this week’s Game Developers Conference, the big boys like C2E2, San Diego Comic-Con and the New York Comic Con are all just around the corner. And while most of The Flickcast have earned our geek merit badges (as well as Foursquare badges) by surviving numerous conventions, we realize not everyone has had the chance to experience the Con world like we have.

The world of conventions can even be a little intimidating. While shows like Wizard World can be good day trips where someone can just go in and out, others like San Diego are week long vacations that take some actual time and planning. To help prepare Con goers, we have put together this post loaded with advice for both new and veteran geek adventurers.

Know Your Con

As mentioned before, some cons are large epic events while others can be treated as just quick day trips. When picking your Con, make sure you know which of these two categories it falls into. Don’t expect to see San Diego Comic-Con all in one day.

It will be damn near impossible to spend any decent amount of time at every booth that catches your interest if you are only there for one day. Plus, you won’t have any time for autograph signings, panels or other con events as you will just be rushing through to see a little of everything but not having enough time to really enjoy any of it.

On the same token, smaller shows like ComiCONN, a local level show with only a hundred or so booths, don’t have nearly as many special events going on, or fellow con goers to wade through. Planning a full weekend around the con alone might leave someone looking for more to do.

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At Toy Fair, we were lucky enough to get the chance to see one of the newest undertakings by Activision called Skylanders Spyro’s Adventure. Under developer Toys For Bob, Activision is combining the much loved Spyro video game series with a brand new toy line.

But this isn’t just a tie in with action figures modeled off characters from the game. Instead, players will take these figures and place them on an attachment for their Nintendo Wii to load any of the 32 characters in to the game. Young players will be given the opportunity to do something they never have before, watch their toys come to life in front of them on a video game screen.

Seeing these toys in person, they look as if they were all beautifully hand sculpted. Spyro even has a little bit of a badass feel to him instead of the super fluffy dragon he started out as. What you don’t immediately see is the technology hidden underneath that gives these toys the read/write ability to load information in to the Wii using the Portal of Power and then take the experience and treasure that player has found with them to their next destination.

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Shhhhhhh! You hear that?

“Braiinnnnsssssssssssssssssssssssss!”

It’s AMC’s The Walking Dead arriving on your Apple iPod Touch, iPhone or iPad courtesy of the comiXology app. While the world anxiously awaits AMC’s Halloween premiere of the brand new zombie-destroying series, comiXology has launched a dedicated digital comic app in collaboration with Image Comics and the comic’s creator Robert Kirkman.

“Robert Kirkman and Image Comics have been great partners of ours and we love to see them continually pushing the envelope with The Walking Dead series,” said David Steinberger, CEO of comiXology. “Through this new app, zombie lovers everywhere will be getting a full dose of their favorite comic on their mobile devices all in one location. We’ve even added all the collected editions.”

In case you’re not familiar with the franchise, The Walking Dead is a mostly black-and-white comic first published by Image Comics in 2003, and created by writer Robert Kirkman and artist Tony Moore. The story arc focuses on Rick Grimes, a small-town police officer from Cynthiana, Kentucky, his family, and a number of other survivors who have banded together in order to survive a world stricken by a zombie apocalypse. The series won the 2010 Eisner Award for Best Continuing Series at the San Diego Comic Convention.

“Today’s app release will provide fans of The Walking Dead, new and old alike, another way to enjoy this series,” said Robert Kirkman. “The Walking Dead app will make the series that much more accessible to the new generation that, more often than not, experiences their entertainment completely digitally. I couldn’t be more thrilled to be working with comiXology, on the eve of the debut of the AMC television series, to bring this series in front of a whole new generation of readers.”

Interested in grabbing the dedicated app? Head over to iTunes and download it now. And don’t forget about the new series on AMC, premiering on October 31, 2010.

This week on The Flickcast, Chris and Matt do things a bit differently as they take the show on the road and record while driving to and from a secret location. Sure, it might be dangerous, but your two favorite hosts are always willing to go the extra mile to entertain and inform.

Some of the topics discussed during this special show include Spider-Man bad guy casting, the Thing prequel, Call of Duty: Black Ops, the new TV season and the state of the comic book industry. The boys also talked about the Banksy Simpsons opening credits, the new Captain America game and other movie franchise video games.

And, as always, picks were made with Matt picking a surprise you will have to listen to the show to find out and Chris’ pick of the terrific TiVo Premiere for all your home DVR needs.

During our ongoing investigative reporting into the final season of Smallville, we knew it was integral to speak with the brains behind the operation: Executive Producers Kelly Souders and Brian Peterson. Over the course of the last decade, Smallville has shifted from its one-off episode style to an ongoing mystery into the world of Krypton‘s favorite son. This season the mysteries will be resolved.

While the Greeks had Zeus and Athena, in modern times we have our own mythology in the form of superheroes. Like epic poems passed down myths, Smallville illuminates Superman’s origins with dramatic flare. After fighting Lex Luthor, Brainiac, and Zod, you’d think Clark Kent would get a nice vacay. Instead, his hero’s journey will only really begin after the final episode is over.

Yesterday we spoke with Souders and Peterson about episode 200, Kristen Kruek and more. This time we’re talking with the producers about Clark’s legendary journey thus far and what they have in store for our Man of Steel. Note: This interview may contain spoilers. Read at your own risk.

The Flickcast: Smallville’s plot structure has evolved from being a “Freak of the Week” structure to having an ongoing mythology. Can you describe why the choice was made?

Kelly Souders: Well, I think anytime you’re on the air for that long, you have to reinvent it. If not for just that we’d all get bored if we kept doing the same thing, but so that the fans have something new to grow with too. I mean ten years, you change a lot. We change a lot, each fan is going to change.

I think it’s evolving has a lot to do with it surviving. I think we tried to make the show as organic to real life as possible. If we don’t all change, find out new things about ourselves, or try to make changes within ourselves- the same thing would happen (to us) and we’d kind of stall out.

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With the new season of Smallville fast approaching this Friday on the CW, The Flickcast took the opportunity to sit down with Justin Hartley, aka the Green Arrow. He was laid-back, insightful, and of course easy on the eyes.

DC Comic’s Green Arrow has made headlines recently for taking care of bad guys anti-hero style. Smallville‘s Oliver Queen is no different, albeit he had a certain explosive panache when he nixed Lex Luthor. The perceptive and pensive Justin Hartley had much to say about his character’s path towards enlightenment this season.

The Flickcast: What excites you the most about getting the green light another, final season?

Justin Hartley: The final season, we’re excited. I think I speak for everyone when I say that. The cool thing about this year, and I’m sure you’ve heard this before, is that there’s all these…little tidbits that haven’t quite been sewn up yet.

It’s interesting because usually they go, “Well we’re going to tie it up next year or at the end of it,” and they plan on tying it up whenever. But it’s like go-time so they kind of have to tie it up now. So hopefully we’ll get, maybe even one of those (questions answered) every episode. They’re doing it the right way.

It’s really cool, especially for all those people who have been watching the show for a long time, that we did find out that we had a final season and then we’re going to shoot it. Instead of at the end of nine finding out that there is no final season. So we have the opportunity to do that- which is pretty awesome.

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As summer dies down with explosive fire power and spiritual journeys to other lands, I recall the glorious action fest that was The Expendables. In turns out Julia Roberts has nothing on protein packed men with a mission on their minds. My female counterparts have voiced their love of meaty men in droves and unexpectedly taken away business from Julia’s love fest. Nearly 40 percent of The Expendables‘ audience was women. X-Men Origins: Wolverine‘s audience raked them in as nearly 50 percent of the audience was female. It seems women have tired of the boys akin to Michael Cera and instead jones for something with a little more muscle. Stallone should have learned the key to Hugh Jackman’s success to driving women in throngs- taking off his shirt.

I hear Hugh gave up his lead in Avon Man to start his insane work-out to become the ferocious mutant once again. If you take months upon months to beef up like these 80‘s action legends did, you’d think they’d want to show it off. Plus, wasn’t it super hot in Louisiana and Brazil where The Expendables shot? It was like 100 degrees with 100 percent humidity. Stallone couldn’t have been the only one who was feeling the heat.  Take off those shirts and up your female movie-going audience to 51 percent.

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Do you share a love of all things 80′s and nerdy? Are you tired of getting that “2:30″ feeling? Well, the smart fellows at ThinkGeek can help you on both fronts. They’ve recently introduced the world to official Ghostbusters Stay Puft caffeinated gourmet marshmallows. 8-story tall monster not included.

The idea comes in just in time, as more and more rumors are surfacing about a possible third Ghostbusters film and less than a year after the popular video game with original castmembers. We’re pushing it pretty hard, so see what ThinkGeek has to say about it.

Two major things to note about these sugary mallows of awake-ti-tude: First, they are gourmet. Delicate and delicious. Second, they are licensed collectibles, which for a marshmallow is pretty awesome. Third, Stay Puft Caffeinated Gourmet Marshmallows come in a marshmallowy-feeling box – a nice reusable keepsake. And finally, fourth: Stay Puft Caffeinated Gourmet Marshmallows are CAFFEINATED! Big time. You feel it as soon as you suck one down. Take that giant marshmallow man; we’re eating your eggs one by one. So get some Stay Puft Caffeinated Gourmet Marshmallows now, relive the 80s, stay awake forever, and satiate the need for sugary revenge.

It’s hard to justify buying a box of $20 marshmallows that you actually eat, but it’s definitely a cool item to have on your shelf or desk next to your plush Mogwai and Ark of the Covenant business card holder. Check out the more stats about this awesome must-buy after the jump, and hit up ThinkGeek to pick up the ‘mallows.

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In a world of constantly evolving tech, SyFy’s Eureka stays ahead of the game. The writers seem to have an unending amount of innovations up their sleeves. Between the giant robot spiders, A.I. in the house of tomorrow, and cloud sculpting devices, the scientists at Global Dynamics are kept pretty busy.

That makes double for their new director, Douglas Fargo, played with an affable, geeky charm by Neil Grayston. Just like Fargo, Neil is curiouser than a cat when it comes to gadgets.

The Flickcast: What do you think of the future technology on Eureka that has actually come to pass?

Neil Grayston: I’m always blown away. Sometimes it’s funny if you look back at the first season, some of our “high-tech gadgets” have already been surpassed in the real world a billion times over. It’s like we were really on top of that, someone was really thinking back there. I like looking back and seeing what we maybe thought of before hand and then what the real world was actually leaps and bounds (developing). It’s kinda cool knowing what real scientists are doing and what they’re actually making up.

FC: Do you ever have trouble with the highly scientific, technical lines on the show?

NG: Those are the lines that I usually will…like sometimes I’m going to admit, I cheat, I have my little sides and I cut out just the little technical lines and I make them as small as possible and I hide them in my wardrobe so that you won’t see anything. And then just before a take I’ll just look them over.

I’m fine with the dialogue and the back and forth, but am I going to say a pulsating ionsphere photostar or is it a photographic pulsar ionsphere? You know it’s those little things that I can look up on Wikipedia forever and forever. Fortunately, the Wikipedia entries are written by people who know what those things mean.

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SyFy’s Eureka and Warehouse 13 are filled to the brim with gizmos a plenty and government geniuses.  Much like the perfect swirl at Pink Berry, when these two shows crossover they form the perfect blend of high tech adventures. So, when The Flickcast sat down with the energetic, witty, and down to earth Neil Grayston, we couldn’t help but inquire about his fictional and non-fictional cohort Allison Scagliotti.

Neil Grayston, who plays Douglas Fargo on Eureka, it seems is an international man of mystery.  I say international because he is in fact from Canada, and mystery because who knew he used to be a wrestler and still keeps his black belt firmly pressed?  I’m sure this is why Allison Scagliotti of Warehouse 13 finds her pal perpetually fascinating.

The Flickcast: Is it fun seeing Warehouse 13’s Allison Scagliotti in San Diego?

Neil Grayston: Yeah, well it’s funny, Allison and I met a year ago, here at Comic-Con.  We hit it off pretty much right away and we’ve kept in touch and we’re like really, really good friends. And then, we got paid to hang out and work together for 2 weeks, and make out and stuff.

We have a very similar way of doing things- we answer each other’s sentences so many times and we have the same punch lines.  Like when another person has just said something and we’ll both try to make a clever quip and it’ll be at the same time with the same inflection.

It was really fun, I hope I can go back, because the whole Warehouse 13 cast is great and the whole Eureka cast is great, and we all sort of blend quite well together.

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The future is always changing, especially if you’re a fan watching Eureka on SyFy this summer. This season, Eureka’s main characters changed their time line when they traveled back to 1947. They returned to find their character’s lives slightly altered. Apparently, they never listened to Doc Brown’s words of wisdom.

Douglas Fargo, once an impetuous and lovable assistant, is now the head of Global Dynamics and finds his employees haven’t taken well to his dictator-like leadership tactics of the past.

We got the chance to sit down with the new director of GD, Douglas Fargo, played enthusiastically by Neil Grayston. Surprisingly, he was more than willing to spill the classified goings-on of this nation’s most secret and innovative town.

The Flickcast: Which of Douglas Fargo’s personality traits will help him in his new position as Director of Global Dynamics?

Neil Grayston: Well I think it’s his strange, I’m not going to say tenacity, but his curiosity is probably going to help him. Because you know he is the guy who always pushes the buttons and maybe now he might actually take a little sec to ask what that button does before pushing it, but he’s still going to go and investigate and see what’s what. You know, he’s not one to be lazy on the job. I think that will work well for him.

FC: Can you talk about the new direction of the series and how the alternate reality has effected this season?

NG: Well the big thing with the time shift is that everyone’s been completely reinvigorated by it, from the actors to the writers and even the network are all very, very excited. This year I’ve been in and talking to people and everyone seems really, genially enthusiastic about it which is great.

Especially on our side, we’re having so much fun doing it, we get to figure out our characters again and try to figure out, ok, well what would they do if they were another person but they still remembered who they were.

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Normally when things like this come out we try to do a full writeup and explain all the pics or the trailer or whatever new bit of info has surfaced. This time, however, I think I’ll let the photos do the talking for themselves — especially as those photos just happen to be some awesome new ones from Tron Legacy.

Coming from our pals across the pond at Empire Magazine, these new pics are from a new article in the magazine hitting newsstands today. Needless to say, they look pretty damn awesome.

Having just watched the first Tron again recently, I like the direction they are going with this new film. Can’t wait to see more. What about you guys? Does this get you excited for more Tron Legacy?

Check out more pics after the jump. Tron Legacy hits theaters on December 17.

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