When you think San Diego, you think beaches, Gaslamp, cool people and great
atmosphere. San Diego has some of the most beautiful people in California, particularly the glamorous-looking
women; it’s like Hollywood South. The city also has stifling humidity (at least whenever I visit), so for
someone like me that hails from the California desert, it's extremely
uncomfortable, especially in the nether regions. My first day, I sweat like a
pig being led to the slaughter house. It took a while to become acclimated to the climate
to say the least.
Per usual, the city was completely decorated commemorating the arrival of the San Diego ComicCon ("SDCC").
Even adult film star, Tera Patrick was in town for a signing at the Hustler shop, obviously to capitalize on the popularity of SDCC.
SDCC Tip: Eat Breakfast! You’ll thank me for it.
SDCC Tip: Eat Breakfast! You’ll thank me for it.
This year, my wife and I weren’t fortunate enough to get a Hotel close to the convention
center, so we had to make use of the shuttle system. Fortunately, there were shuttles at or near
Hotels in most of the neighboring areas to take you directly to the convention center.
It would have been nice if the pick-up times were as advertised. There were times where we waited over 30 minutes for the shuttle, when the intervals were supposed to be every 15 minutes. In addition, sometimes the shuttles arrived full, so we had to wait for the next one. I suppose it beats walking.
When I checked into the Hotel, I requested all the different key cards as souvenirs.
One of the mainstays of the show are religious fanatics showing up to spread the word. They’re fairly organized and profess that SDCC is evil and that we are all living in sin. Yeah, whatever.
…and these guys countered, just to screw with them.
I have no problem with someone that's devoutly religious, but I don't want it in my face. Some of these guys had megaphones and would shout "the word" as attendees passed by. It was annoying.
This year, we got to witness a protest for Trayvon Martin. It kind of held us up because our shuttle bus was right behind this little demonstration, which was shockingly under police protection.
Never a dull moment during SDCC time.
When theaverage person thinks "ComicCon," nerd and geek are probably the first things that come to mind, but over the years, the stereotypical brand has evolved. Nerds and geeks are no longer associated with the glasses-wearing, pimple-faced uncoordinated dregs and outcasts; they now come in all shapes and sizes. There are incredibly attractive women and muscle-bound bodybuilders that consider themselves nerds. Additionally, ComicCon has evolved as well; the show as it stands has very little to do with comics and should change its title to MediaCon, because that’s what it has evolved into with the heavy influence from Hollywood and the video gaming industry. In fact, comics now represent a very small portion of the show as a whole, and comic vendors occupy a meager section of the convention center.
Tip: If you go to SDCC, DON’T over pack. This was my 10th SDCC, and I still haven’t learned my lesson. I brought several articles of clothing that I didn’t use, which could have been luggage space used for exclusives and SWAG (“Stuff We All Get”).
For this SDCC blog entry, I’m going to do things a bit differently from the bubbly news coverage you're used to seeing on television- I’m going to show you the truth; the dark side of SDCC, and what really happens beyond those hallowed doors. It was more than apropos that this image was on the face of a building overlooking the convention center.
I will spread the truth… and since SDCC denied me a press badge without explanation, probably for my factual negativity of the show last time, it really doesn’t matter at this point, so I’m going to throw caution to the wind and expose the ugly face of SDCC.
This year, I had never felt so upset, angry, enraged, dejected and deflated. Why? Well, I dealt with several people from several different booths that continually fed me misinformation that cost me precious time that could have been used for other things on my agenda… and some of it could be attributed to simple misfortune, but misinformation was a major contributor. For the first time I felt like Danny Glover from Lethal Weapon:
On the outside looking in, most network coverage shows you all the SDCC goodness, so it appears that everyone gets all the exclusives they want, and attends all the panels of their choosing just by showing up with a badge. That couldn’t be further from the truth. You would swear that SDCC emanates rainbow-filled Skittles with dancing Unicorns and My Little Ponies flying around sprinkling glittering pixie dust on everyone. Just because you have a badge doesn’t mean you will get everything you want; you have to work for it, literally. For example, if you want an exclusive from Hasbro, you have to wake up in the wee hours of the morning to line up for the chance of getting a ticket to purchase what you want. Furthermore, practically everything at SDCC is run by a ticket/badge/wristband system.
In order to purchase exclusives or participate in celebrity signings, you will need one of the aforementioned, which requires you to wake up early and line up in a designated area before the doors open and/or take part in a lottery. You can’t just walk up and buy the most sought after show exclusives from the major retailers: Hasbro, Graphitti Designs, Mattel, Entertainment Earth, etc.
NOTHING at SDCC is guaranteed; everything requires effort, determination, persistence and resilience on your part. The best way to accomplish your SDCC goals is to have a team.
If you have multiple exclusives in your sights, chances are you’ll be shut out on a few of them, if not all if you're riding solo. You can save time, worry and headache for yourself and your teammates by helping each other out. There are a plethora of things and events going on simultaneously, and you can’t be everywhere at once, so employing the team concept is the best way to go. Thanks to these guys, I got every exclusive I wanted this year.
As I stated in a previous entry, at least 85% of SDCC consists of waiting in lines; no matter what you want to do, no matter where you go, or what’s on the agenda, it WILL require waiting in line, and it’s commonplace to be in a line that gets capped off in front of you, which stings. Celebrity signings, panels, exclusives, autographs, food… You name it. It’s all waiting in lines… and excruciatingly LONG ones.
Wherever you go, it's wall-to-wall humanity, and there's no escaping it.
Once you get inside the convention center, you’ll notice booths representing the major networks, toy conglomerates and the power players in the gaming industry.
Periodically, there are celebrity signings for television shows that are sponsored by the major networks. They should consider having these signings in another room off the main convention floor, because it creates a bottleneck with foot traffic and clogs the entire area. The security people do a good job keeping the traffic flowing, but I don’t fancy being shouted at to “keep moving.” Moving these signings away from the main floor would be a simple solution.
In the midst of being shouted at, I did get a glimpse of the prettiest lady in Hollywood, Minka Kelly.
Outside, they had an area that was dedicated to a few upcoming movies and popular television shows.
They also had a Justice League exhibit with artwork and cars for each member of the team.
If you didn’t have a badge, which a good deal of people didn’t, you could always hang out at the Nintendo Gaming Lounge at the Marriott next door and get your Mario on.
The cool thing about the gaming lounge, is they had gaming props and camera people that would take your photo and email it to you.
It was free, so why not? I regret not making my way back here and taking a photo with the Donkey Kong prop.
Booth babes are always great. They're usually around most of the major booths.
Catching panels is always great and one of SDCC's feature attractions, but because you have to arrive ahead of time, it eats away a good portion of your day. Hall H, the largest auditorium in the convention center contains the most popular movies and shows, which mean the lines for those panels will be outrageous, so I avoid it like the plague. SDCC offers too much to be confined to a room for the entire day, no matter who or what is being featured- just my honest opinion. However, one of the benefits of staying in the panels is the fulfillment tickets they hand out, which can be redeemed for free show-related SWAG.
In previous years, the show-related SWAG was pretty good. They would give away hoodies, video games, sweaters and other cool merchandise, but the last couple of years, the quality took a bit of a nose-dive. This year, all I saw were poster tubes, pins and caps. Still, you can't argue with "free."
This year, my wife and I caught the Falling Skies and Revolution panels, which was in one of the smaller rooms... and yes, that's Wil Wheaton moderating the Falling Skies panel. Both were informative and entertaining.
WWE had signings sponsored by Mattel. You had to get a ticket when the center first opened to meet and have one of the superstars sign something. If you didn't have anything for them to sign, they autographed a WWE paper.
The first signing was for The Miz and Dolph Ziggler. Again, this was done by the ticketing system, so if you didn't have a ticket, you couldn't participate in the signing.
Unfortunately, the authoritarians didn’t allow anyone to take photos with the wrestlers (unless you we're a disabled child) because a 5-second snapshot takes too long, apparently. Whatever... The folks in charge herd fans through the lines like cattle, and one fan I spoke with was literally yelled at by security for trying to get a photo. Still, people did their best to get photos with them… and so did I.
The Miz was friendly and engaging, but Ziggler was kind of a jerk. I tried striking up a cordial conversation, but got no reaction. Maybe he was upset that I didn’t have his action figure for him to sign. I looked, but couldn’t find one. Whatever…
The next day featured Daniel "YES" Bryan and Mick Foley. Rey Mysterio, who I was looking forward to most, cancelled at the last minute, which reeked. Last year, I got a cool pic with Bryan (and Alicia Fox), and this year I had an action figure for him to sign. Again, Bryan was really cool. This day, the people in charge were allowing fans to take photos with the wrestlers, but the Mattel people had to be the ones snapping the photos in order to keep the lines moving. Not a problem, right?
As soon as the photo was snapped, I knew it was bad. I could feel it, so I asked the lady to take another, but she refused and insisted that it was good. You be the judge.
I was LIVID! She said it was good, yet she completely cut off Bryan. In addition to that, Mick Foley was kind of a jerk. Like Ziggler, I tried making friendly small-talk while he signed, but he was completely unresponsive. He didn’t look me in the eye and didn’t even want to shake my hand. Whatever... This incident as a whole soured my experience, so I didn’t go back the next day for the Shaemus and Ryback signing expecting more of the same crap.
While I'm speaking about Mattel, every year, they offer fans a pre-sale of sorts, so you can purchase convention exclusives ahead of time. This should be a time-saving effort, right? Wrong! My friends and I waited in line for two and a half HOURS for merchandise we already paid for.
…and it wasn’t the workers' fault. They did what they could with the numbers they were given. Mattel was criminally understaffed, and had only ONE person working at the computer terminal while 4 others scurried about to fulfill orders.
Waiting this long for something previously paid for should have been a relatively simple process, but the time consumed made it extremely frustrating. This was time wasted that could have been used for more exploring.
While on the subject of wasted time, the good folks at the Legendary Booth topped my list and were the kings of misinformation, which further contributed to my frustration.
On five separate occasions, FIVE, they either deliberately fed me misinformation or straight-up lied to me. I had never been so heated at an SDCC before. For those that don’t know, I’m a HUGE Godzilla fan, and Legendary hosted a Godzilla Encounter exhibit that I was interested in seeing. I went to the booth to inquire about badges to see the exhibit, and five times, I was told that they didn’t have any, and to come back at a specific time. Each time, I returned thirty minutes EARLIER than the time I was given and on each occasion, I was told that all the badges had been given out. Really? Basically, they lied and I wasted time going back and forth. My wife and I finally got a badge on the final day through persistence and dedication... and then we learned that the Encounter was a smidge overrated.
I expected this to be like a ride from Universal Studios theme park, but it was a little less than that. They have it arranged like it's Little Tokyo with shops and storefront props. They also had an action figure gallery featuring vinyl Godzilla toys, which I thought was the best part.
While you're browing, suddenly Godzilla attacks. They escort you into a room with a group of scientists and allow you to push buttons and flip switches, then you're escorted onto an elevator that's supposed to take you to the rooftop. When you step out, there's a window (screen) that shows Godzilla walking by the building.
...and then they give you a poster, and you head on your merry way. It was okay, but I expected more, especially considering what I went through to see it.
Most of the time, if you want something from a booth, the solution is to hang around until they start giving away whatever it is that you want. Thing is, you could be wasting your time as nothing is guaranteed. Additionally, you're probably missing out on something, somewhere else. It would be nice if the folks working the booths would be straight with you, though.
I felt kind of bad because I wasn’t able to help a friend out that helped me in spades… and this is thanks to the hairless apes at Hasbro. After going through the painstaking process to obtain a ticket to purchase exclusives, they still denied me. The ticket I was given said to arrive after 2pm.
As always, I arrived early, but they claimed to have reached Fire Marshall capacity, and wouldn’t let anyone else in the line. I hovered around for 15 minutes, but they wouldn’t re-open the line. I had the Falling Skies panel to attend with my wife, and couldn’t miss it, so I had to leave. By the time I returned, the exclusive that my friend wanted was sold out for the show. There was nothing I could have done differently, which was incredibly frustrating.
Entertainment Earth offered a (somewhat) exclusive Transformers Soundwave Masterpiece figure, but getting it was a pain as they used the ticket system.
Even worse, it was a ticket-raffle, so getting a ticket didn't necessarily mean you could win. In addition, I had the same issue here as I did with Legendary. “Come back at 1:00 and we’ll have more tickets.” I return at 12:30, only to hear, “Oh, they’ve all been given out.” Misinformation was a common theme this year.
Even while I was in costume, I was seething underneath from frustration, so it was good that I had my glasses on so nobody could see the rage in my eyes. Booth people continually feeding me misinformation was really getting to me, and syphoning the fun out of the show. I continued to take photos with people because I didn’t want to be “the a-hole in costume” that refuses to take pictures, but I was boiling inside, at least until I took a photo with this lovely lady:
After taking a photo with her, she said, “This was my favorite moment of Comic Con!” That statement took me by surprise. Then I thought, ‘maybe SDCC doesn’t come from a store, maybe just maybe SDCC means just a little bit more.’
This is what SDCC is all about: having fun and making someone else’s day. From all the frustrating incidents, I had forgotten that SDCC is supposed to be fun. From here, things started to turn around, and I put things in perspective. Even though the exclusives are great and the panels are fun and informative, the best part of SDCC is the interaction with fans and fellow cosplayers, spending time with friends and enjoying what the show has to offer. If anyone happens to know this beautiful lady, I would like to thank her personally for turning my SDCC around. Cosplay was my saving grace for this show.
I would additionally like to thank the photographer at the Superman digital print booth for being totally cool and allowing my wife and me to take multiple photos, probably to the chagrin of everyone behind us.
We’re both fans of Oakley’s Juliet sunglasses, and we kind of held up the line while we discussed them and the discontinuation of the line. He remembered me from last year’s SDCC, and we had a lengthy discussion about the shades and even took a photo together.
I’m pretty sure the people behind us were upset, but hey. That’s SDCC.
As everyone knows, cosplay is a major part of the show and a featured attraction, so without further ado, I present one of the most expansive online galleries of cosplayers from SDCC:
Cross costuming was big this year.
Occasionally, I like to get into the act.
This year, I didn’t do too much SWAG hunting because I was too busy trying to score exclusives, which consumed a considerable amount of time. Through all the frustration and agony, I managed to score everything that I wanted, in addition to getting some cool SWAG on the way.
Obtaining good SWAG is luck, more than anything else. You have to be in the right place at the right time.
Another SDCC gone and we’ve reached the end of the line.
Easily, the best and most fun-filled part of the entire trip was hanging out with friends and taking photos with fellow cosplayers. It would have been nice to have some of that wasted time back to further explore the surrounding areas. I wish we had more time to check out the Pirate ship, some more B-list celebrity signings and take more photos with cosplayers, in addition to going back to see what was going on in the movie trailers outside the center.
I would like to thank all the generous people that helped me get all the exclusives I wanted, and that gorgeous lady that helped me rethink my perspective on the show. Although the exclusives are great, and make you feel like you’re one of the lucky select few, the truth is, it’s the interactions with friends and the memories therein that will stand the test of time. SDCC is what you make it to a certain extent, and it’s enjoyed more thoroughly if you’re with a group of friends to help create those cherished, to be remembered moments.
Last, but certainly not least, I would like to thank my lovely wife for maintaining a positive attitude and putting up with my grouchy ass when I was constantly turned away for exclusives and that elusive Godzilla Encounter badge. If it wasn’t for her, I would have probably died from starvation, because I often forget that I have to eat when my mind is set on accomplishing something. SDCC isn't her thing, but she still comes along and supports me, so I couldn't have asked for more.
For all intents and purposes, this may well be my final SDCC. The process to obtain badges and stay in decent, neighboring Hotels has become too rigid and troublesome to bother with. In addition, the hassle of arranging accommodations and sweating out the casserole of nonsense that is the online ticketing process takes the fun out of the anticipation of attending the show. Gone are the days of strolling up to the convention center and purchasing a badge on the same day. Gone are the days of on-site registration. Gone are the days of having a decent conversation with an artist, writer or celebrity because of the mad dash to keep lines moving. Because of the Hollywood influence, SDCC has become a victim of its own success and has grown too big for its own good.
Out of all the SDCC’s I’ve attended, this was easily the least fun, and that’s a giant, red flag. Perhaps I am getting too old for this. I may change my mind in the not-so-distant future, but we’ll see. Until next time, true believers...
