SDCC 2014 Day TWO

THURSDAY IS HERE!

I am still amazed at how completely lucky I was to be able to score some tickets to the Zachary Levi Panel at NERD HQ.  Lemme tell ya, it was NOT an easy feat.

 For those not in the know, Nerd HQ is an amazing place full of interactive displays, presentations, places to lounge and cool gear to buy. It's like it's own little off site Comic Con and it's open to anyone ( read no badge required). This is put on by Zachary Levi and any money that they earn from it goes to charity (Operation Smile). In addition to all of that, Zach somehow manages to talk people into coming over to Nerd HQ and doing panels for a limited amount of people. The panels are much more intimate and are mostly Q&A format.  

The Nerd Machine launched an app this year that gave us a heads up for impending sales, schedule changes, and opportunities to meet celebs. I like that they rolled out the panel announcements and sales a few at a time, however that made the competition to snag a ticket even more fierce. I mean imagine that there are almost 300,000 people that are visiting San Diego and these panels hold around 250 people.  

When the tickets to the Zachary Levi panel when on sale, I was camped out in front of the computer with my finger ready to click on the button the SECOND they went live. I clicked and managed to get two tickets. They were sold out within a few seconds of going live. I'm so happy I have a fast internet connection and that luck was on my side for this year. ( I also managed to get tickets to the Maze Runner panel by some pure stroke of luck)

Hey there Zach! 

We had to be up at a decent hour and ready to bus over to PetCo park by 8am. Again we spent more time waiting in line for the event, than we actually did attending it, but it's worth it. When we went in there was a huge screen behind the stage and one lonely chair just a few feet away from us. Zachary comes out and started taking questions, including one from me! He was entertaining, endearing, and enamoring to watch. I am so happy that I got to be a part of the audience and that I had the courage to ask a question -HE EVEN GAVE ME THE FLYNN RYDER SMOLDER!- that makes me one of the luckiest girls around. They even live stream the whole thing for everyone to watch ( here is a link to this one).

Brandon and I had to grab some lunch and head over to our appointment to donate blood. I signed us up for the annual Comic Con blood drive that was sponsored by True Blood. The wait time was reasonable and the people there were very nice. After it was all over, we even got some fun True Blood swag and a free book! 

Then it was time to work our shift at Artists Alley. I love being a part of this team. It is such a fun place to "work" and I get to meet such amazing people. This year we had some red staff vests to wear so people could tell that we were working. Not the most fashionable, but I think i pulled it off. 

The red vest is not quite as noticeable next to this "costume"

Brando and I hit up the exhibit floor, collected our t-shirts and grabbed a ton of the famous Comic Con swag. I ended up putting a lot of it in my treasure box here at school and have made sure the children know what a serious treasure this stuff really is!

My Swag this year, and the only thing I paid for here was one shirt. 

We must have walked 50 miles that day and we were D.O.N.E at a decent hour. We decided to head to the grocery store and stalk up on food. We grabbed things to make lunches and quick snacks to carry with us throughout the day. This was so helpful and really saved us when we were starting to get hungry, and waiting in a never ending line. Not to mention, that I'm sure we saved a ton of money by bringing our own snacks. We only ate dinners out and saved the rest of our time ( and money) for serious geeky goodness! 

SDCC Day ONE

Let's get this party started! 

Aside from having to sleep on my brother's couch the night before and be attacked my his stupid dog all night, we had an event free trip down to San Diego. Since we arrived too early to check into the hotel, we grabbed the rental car and headed down to the Gas Lamp to pick up our badges and scope out downtown. 

 I love love love how the whole city embraces Comic Con. Every thing from the comic wrapped hotels, to the outside events, and endless parties, there is always something to see and do here. 

Where else in the world can you find an
Adventure time booth in front of a hotel advertising
 Sean Bean AND the Simpsons?

We grabbed our badges and took a seek peek inside as they were setting up the convention. ( Sorry no pictures are allowed before it opens) Then we checked into the hotel and took a much needed siesta before returning for preview night.

Preview Night is small by comparison to the rest of the week, and I think this is the best time to walk the exhibit hall, purchase your merchandise, get familiar with where the big booths are, and create a game plan for the rest of the week.

And we didn't have to wait in line
 for over and hour for this photo op

When the crowds get bigger, it can be difficult to navigate the exhibit hall. Knowing where things are ahead of time really helps you get from point A to point B. Plus this is the best time to get photos of the booth displays -sometimes there are just too many people in the way to get a picture of that huge display- I have yet to go and enjoy the TV shows that they premiere here ( I really had hoped to catch the Flash when they showed it), but like everything here you have to pick and choose what you are going to attend.

And I still have people in the frame..

75 years of Batman exhibit was pretty awesome.

There is Smaug looking over the crowd

Then we were off to enjoy the night life. Wow the Gas Lamp is hopping. I was having fun just walking down the street and watching party after party spill out onto the sidewalk. Lucky for us, we got invited to the Deviant Art party. It felt pretty cool to get into an invite only party complete with free food and drink. It was a good time. I got to chat with fellow staff members and meet up with some very talented people. I'm glad I paced myself and we didn't over do it. I certainly didn't want to crash and burn after just one day.  We were back to the hotel and in bed before midnight. We had a long event filled day to look forward to the next day.

SDCC 2014

Better late than never

I was going to stop blogging ( because let's face it, no one really reads this), but I think I like having a place to share my story and so what if it's not read. 

So I want to talk about my trip to SDCC 2014. It was beyond awesome. Every time I think about it, It makes me smile. 

Let's start with my lodging nightmare

OMG It really was a nightmare. My brother lives in San Diego and the plan was to stay with him again this year. He is also in the Navy and had been deployed for the past 8 months or so. He was supposed to be coming back a few weeks before Comic Con. I got a message from him 5 weeks before I was leaving that he would NOT be coming back in time and that he didn't have an apartment yet. Ummmmm HOLY CRAP.

We all know that the hotels are pretty much booked solid - in a matter of minutes- when they release them in April. Here it was JUNE and I had to 1- find a place to stay and 2- figure out how the heck I was going to pay for it. The few rooms that I did find were crazy expensive, I almost got scammed by someone "renting" out a condo (turns out he didn't even have a condo and was just taking people's money), and there were even Craigslist adds renting out couches for $200 a night!  I was just about ready to drop $100 a night to stay in a downtown Hostel, or just sleep in the Hall H line every night. 

Who cares what the panels are the next day,
 I've found an affordable place to sleep! 

Thankfully I was able to get something through Priceline, it was WAY over priced, but at least it was a legit place to stay. I ended up in a small Hotel near Qualcom Stadium. I rented a car and we decided it would be fastest to drive to spot near Mission Valley, Hotel Circle. Thank NBC for hooking us all up with round the clock buses. It was about a 5 min drive to the bus stop and about a half hr by bus to get there. 

A nice comfy ride at that

I didn't get this all settled and arranged until 2 weeks before I was leaving. I was so relieved to not have that stress anymore! Since Andrew wasn't going to be able to make it this year, I also had to find a new friend to go with. I would have gone solo, but it is much more fun with a buddy. So I decided to bring Brandon, another brother, to fill in for Andrew. Brandon is mellow and just wanted to go to take pictures. Perfect! Someone to follow me around, and document the trip. 

Just landed in San Diego, one of the few together picts we got.

Looking Back to Make it Better

So here I am trying to come up with a game plan for SDCC

I love to have a plan, and we all know that you will need a plan - and a back up plan -and then yet another plan, when everything goes out the window the first day. There is so much to do and see during Comic Con that there is just no way to get to do everything you want. That means I better have my MUST HAVE list up and ready to go.

But first I need to consider what I wish I had done differently last year. As a first timer, I think I did a good job of seeing and doing a large part of what the con has to offer. However, there is always room to improve and I think I definitely learned somethings from my first visit.

1. Only wait in a line that means something to you. 

No I'm not talking about the bathroom or even the Starbucks lines ( those are just a must have sort of thing); I'm talking about waiting in a line for over an hour to get a button for a movie that I will not even want to see. I'm talking about waiting in a line at 5 in the morning to see a panel that is going on at 4 in the afternoon. I really feel like I wasted my entire day away just holding a spot to see a panel that I sort of liked.

So close, yet so far away from Orphan Black cast

Now don't get me wrong, there are things at Comic Con that are WORTH the wait. I don't regret waiting in line to meet the cast of Orphan Black, even though they had to leave before I got to meet them. I met some great people waiting in that line and I managed to get a small look at the cast while I waited. It was a gamble that I would be able to get in and the fact I got so close was pretty cool. *lesson learned to line up well before the hour before the scheduled time.
Believe it or not, I also really enjoyed the overnight wait to get into Hall H on Sunday. It was an experience that I think is a big part of Comic Con. It was so neat to be in the trenches with thousands of other fanatics and there was nothing cooler than talking Doctor Who to other people that loved it as much as I do.

2. Get your shirts as soon as possible.

We thought we could just swing by and pick up the shirts whenever during the Con. The first day we went to go pick them up and were scared off by the long line. We kept checking back to see when the line would be a little less intimidating and didn't end up getting them until Friday. By the time we got there they had sold out of my size in my shirt of choice. I am glad we pre-ordered a few shirts that they had saved for us, but I foolishly thought I'd be able to pick up more when we got there. So I am going to either pre-order all the shirts or make sure I get there early enough to get them while they are still in stock.

3. Experience more outside of the Convention.

You and I have a date this year Gas Lamp District

I loved being a part of the convention and the exhibit hall alone has enough to keep me entertained for days, but I don't feel like I got to experience much outside of that bubble. I never went to any of the parties ( just too tired!) I never went to see Nerd HQ, I wish I would have been able to participate in some of the fan events as well. It's so hard to juggle everything, but I would like to free up more of my time to actually participate in events, rather than waiting around all day for one thing.

4. Bring more money

Or maybe I should say, spend my money wiser. I wasted SO MUCH money on random crap that I no longer need or use. I mean I really didn't NEED to buy the Comic Con exclusive Transformer toy for my son - who uses them as bath toys now- He can't appreciate the exclusivity or the time invested in picking them up for him. I could have saved the money and purchased something for him at Toys R Us and he would have been just as happy. I think I will be investing more in buying tickets to events during my stay this year. This will no doubt cost more, but I think it will be totally worth every penny spent.  so basically less STUFF and more EXPERIENCE. ~please remind me of this when I'm standing in line to buy that Jedi bathrobe and matching Wookie slippers for well over $100~

Although, let face it, this robe would be pretty awesome to own.

Weeee here we go again!

Guess whose going to San Diego Comic Con again???

So I had hoped that I would be one of those Bloggers that had great weekly/biweekly posts with all sorts of stuff to share with the world...and I WAS going to be, but then I realized that I actually work full time ( and sort of have to feed my child occasionally too). 

Here I am now though, ready to babble on about my Comic Con fun for this year. I tried and tried and TRIED to get a badge this year and instead got to spend the morning glued to the computer slowly watching my chances slip away. I had really hoped to grab at least one day so that I would qualify for the pre-sale next year. 

I logged on to the computer sat and waited, got into the "waiting room", watched the blue circle spin and read the pithy updates all morning long. I was logged into Twitter, Facebook, and the live streaming G+ hangout covering the event. I was so totally up to the minute, and it didn't matter a bit. I sat and watched each day sell out and kept thinking " It's OK, I only need ONE day" and then it just didn't happen. 

Have no fear faithful reader, I have a BACKUP plan!  I will be working in Artists' Alley again this year! I know how extremely lucky I am to have the chance to work at the Con and still be able to enjoy every aspect of it ( and even more by being in Artists' Alley).  I really feel like I have won the lottery by being able to help out there. Then add the fact that my bother lives in San Diego and I don't have to stress about hotels ~ I feel like a Hobbit riding and Eagle high in the sky.  ( I always wanted to be an Elf, but let's face it I'm a Hobbit - I've already got the feet to prove it. )

But I will obviously ride a Bald Eagle because Merica

Now all the prepping and planning can begin! I can't wait to see what's in store for me this year. I have learned from last year and others who are far more experienced than myself. Off to make my first of many game plans! 

Are you headed to SDCC this year? 

How do I go on now?

Comic Con is all done, NOW WHAT?

I had such an amazing time at Comic Con that I am still living off my Nerd high. Sadly it is starting to wear off, but I have plenty of things to keep me busy until next year.

Did you hear that? NEXT YEAR. I have been invited back to help work at Artists Alley!!!! I am beyond excited that I have the opportunity to not only go to Comic Con again, but the chance to work with such amazing people! I am looking forward to learning from my experience and making next year even better. 

Things I loved about SDCC

Here is what I absolutely loved the most about Comic Con. I loved loved loved the feeling of community that you get the instant you set foot into the Gas Lamp district. You are surrounded by things you love and people who love them as much (or more) as you do. My favorite moment from the whole trip was waiting for the Doctor Who panel in hall H. The sea of Sonic Screwdrivers lighting up that huge hall was electric and overwhelming for me to see just how many people were fans of the show. That was a moment for me because I really only know a handful of people who watch the show ( even though I have been TRYING to get everyone I know to watch Doctor Who). To be in a room with so many people who loved it, was just SPECIAL. 

Hall H full of love for Doctor Who

I also LOVED the opportunity to see soooooo many geeky things all under one roof. While I enjoyed the panels, I thoroughly enjoyed the exhibit hall. After 5 days of walking that floor, I never did see all the exhibits. Some of the booths were so crowded that I had to just keep going, but I DID get to see so many amazing things. From toys, to comics, video games, to art work; there is something for everyone on the floor. Next year I would like to devote more time enjoying this and less time in line for the panels.

The exhibit hall stretched on forever

Things I liked at SDCC

I liked how many off site events there were in San Diego. It was absolutely overwhelming to take in all sights and sounds INSIDE the convention, then you've got a plethora of exciting things outside the convention that just makes your mind spin. I didn't get to participate in many of the outside events, but the ones I did get to take part in were so much fun. The Walking Dead Experience was worth every penny and left me with some great memories. 

I WISH I would have made it to the Godzilla Experience ( I actually did have tickets, but didn't get there in time) and I am kicking myself for not making it over to Nerd HQ. We did attempt to get to Nerd HQ on Thursday night but the line to get into the "Party in the Park" was extremely long so we passed. There was a big Geek and Sundry thing going on at one of the restaurants that I missed, there was a Dracula thing set up across from the convention, and a Bates Motel thing too, the Disney Infinity store, the Game of Thrones promotions as well as countless parties that I missed out on. 

I don't regret missing out on things though. It seems like whatever you commit to doing, you will have to miss something else that is going on at the same time. You must choose wisely. I'm happy with the choices I made and I think that I actually got to see and do a whole lot more than most first timers would have. 

Things I didn't really like about Comic Con

While it was pretty neat to see so many people dressed up in Cosplay, I was overwhelmed by the crowd most of the time. I KNEW it was going to be crazy busy and to just expect to wait in lines for EVERYTHING and I had a good attitude about it, BUT I really didn't like being pushed, prodded and slammed into by everyone every single time I went anywhere. One of the most scary moments for me was when I got shoved into the crowed as they were handing out freebies at the Marvel booth. Talk about the wrong place at the wrong time. 
The crowds at the booths were also scary during signing events. It could be easily avoided by paying better attention to your surroundings and just steering clear of that area during a signing. I really didn't like how the security people were shouting, and pushing the crowds though. I understand that they needed to get people to move along and not clog up the isles, but screaming at me to do it just isn't a good way. 
I wish there was a better way to be able to see the panels without having to camp on the sidewalk. While I DID have a good time with the camp out, it left me completely exhausted and it made Sunday much harder to for me. I am thinking I might try to gt tickets for the Nerd HQ panels instead of having to wear myself out on waiting in line. 

No big deal, just camping here for a few days to see my favorite panel

And the last gripe I have was the religious zealots who were picketing the Con. This just really made me sad/angry every time I saw these KIDS out on the sidewalk condemning others for liking Superman. They would stand on the sidewalk with their picket signs and mindlessly drone scripture to people who were waiting in line to get into the hall or trying to cross the street.  It's not only a ludicrous thing to do,  but it also makes me sad for the little kids who were there, excited to see their favorite superhero,  being sent the message that it was bad. One of the BEST things about Comic Con is that people who are made fun of for their Nerdy ways back at home, can feel like they belong. They can meet others who enjoy something as much as they do. They can talk to each other with amazing detail about the plot of their favorite Sci-Fi show or movie.

Why those people felt that something that special needed to be protested is just beyond me. I'm pretty sure that Jesus loves Lord of the Rings and Star Wars, so I don't know who they got the memo from that it was bad. 

So those are my overall thoughts from my trip

I am so glad I got to go and CAN'T WAIT to go back and do it again! 

Next up all about GISHWES the scavenger hunt that changed the world...

The Doctor is in!

Sunday started out with me waiting in a seriously respectable line. I was told that those crazy Whovians starting lining up for the Sunday shows at 1:30pm the day before. Now I'm all for being an enthusiastic fan, but when people start lining up before the current days programs are even over, I call shenanigans on that. I didn't want to give up my Saturday to wait in line ( did you read how awesome my Saturday was? Who would want to miss that! ) and when people start lining up that early it sort of forces everyone else to line up earlier too. I had hoped to get in the notorious Hall H line by midnight, but I started to worry that that would be to late. I had to take a power nap and then run over to the line Saturday night. 

I managed to get in line by 9:30 and was probably about 2 to 3 thousandth in line. There is a huge area covered by tents that holds a large amount of people,then the line stretched across the street, behind the convention center, through the pier, around the island and back again. This line means business folks! http://youtu.be/rrRtUj0-2EU here is a link to a video that someone took while he walked the entire Hall H line on Friday. My spot was at the 1:45 min mark.

 I brought a few blankets and a pillow, some snacks and of course my phone to entertain me while I made myself at home for a night of camping in line.  I wasn't very excited about the idea of sleeping on the street, but it was actually pretty fun. The air was filled with excitement, there were people playing card games, people dancing on the sidewalk, lots of laughing and a feeling of comradery that just makes me smile.  I got to know my neighbors in line. On one side was a couple who lived in the area and were camping out to hold the spot for their friend who couldn't be there. On the other side was a Father and son who came all the way from New York. The son was 10 years old and so adorable dressed up as the 11th doctor.  I had a very lengthy discussion about the various doctors and our favorite episodes with this kid.  Where else can you do this? 

Andrew joined me around 11:30pm and we settled in for the night. -note to self even though the weather is nice, bring a sweatshirt next time I sleep outside- during the night  probably around the 3am zone, the line was visited by some people we all knew...like this guy:

 

Mark Gratiss is a writer for the show and also a writer/actor for Sherlock. 

And the killer of all characters we love, Moffat himself. 

I didn't get a chance to see them but the crowd was wild cheering and screaming for them. I love how they came to show respect to the people so dedicated to the show. In the morning, Mr. Misha Collins came running by on his morning jog, he was a good sport with the fans too. 

The security people woke everyone up at 4:30am and told us to pack up our gear and get ready to move. I guess they had to condense the line to make more room. That was a bummer because I felt like I had just really fallen asleep. After a stop and go session of moving the line, we ended up in the third row of tents on the lawn. This was good news because I knew we were guaranteed to get into the hall in this spot and I was happy about that. 

In the line with Andrew almost time to go inside! 

We finally made it into the hall and got our seats for the day around 9:00. We were in the middle of the hall and had decent seats. The first panel up was Supernatural. I was SO excited to see this. I'm a fan of the show and have been consuming the episodes like they were made of cake. I couldn't wait to see these guys live.

Even though they had a boring moderator, this panel delivered. The cast and crew were funny, and engaging. They had interesting things to talk about. We got to watch a clip from next seasons show and we were able to see the gag reel that will be on the season 8 DVD set. 

Up next was the Breaking Bad panel. I'm a little embarrassed to say that I haven't really watched this show, so I wasn't completely enthralled with the panel. Thanks to my favorite moderator, Chris Hardwick, it was a lot of fun! 

 

We got to see a preview of the first few min of the next seasons opener. Sadly it was lost on me, but it seemed cool. There was a moment when Brian Cranston came on stage wearing a very realistic Walter mask. Evidently he was dressed up as the character he plays and then went walking around the convention floor. I guess people were talking to him and getting pictures with him without even knowing who he was!

 

He had the mask sitting on the table in front of him and it looked like a severed head just sitting there. Then he put the mask over the microphone and started talking into it, it was hilarious. He kept it on the mic for about half the time.

Then the moment we had slept on the sidewalk for....the DOCTOR WHO PANEL. The crowd was so energized in the moments right before it started. People were signing the theme song (more like humming it, but you get the idea). Then the lights went down and we were surrounded by a sea of sonic screw drivers. It was so cool that here I was sitting in a room with almost 7,000 people who all loved this show. This was especially meaningful to me considering most of the people I know don't even know about the show let alone love it like I do. While we were waiting for the panel to start, they had a Doctor Who DJ playing music to go along with scenes from the show. 

Then they brought out the cast and crew ( I was a little disappointed the rumors of Tennant showing up didn't happen). The panel was moderated by Craig Ferguson and it was nice to have someone moderating who was a big fan of the show and knew what he was talking about. 

They showed us a trailer for the 50th anniversary special and it made me want to watch the show RIGHT NOW! Before showing the clip, Moffat told the audience that he would not bring any exclusive showings to Comic Con if they ended up online afterwards. There are a lot of people upset that he hasn't released this footage for the public and some who are mad he showed it to an American audience before showing it to the British fans first. All I have to say about that, is that I'm thrilled I got to see it and consider myself lucky to have the chance to see it surrounded by true fans of the show.

I wish I could have stayed in longer to watch the Community panel, but I had to get back to the main hall and work. I had one heck of a time getting through the crowd and back to Artisits Alley but I learned getting pissy about crowds is just a waste of energy. I checked in to the Artists Alley and had a nice time chatting with the others who worked there. I went and said some goodbyes to a few of the Artist friends I made. Did I tell you that one of the artists gave me a book that he had illustrated and signed it with a sketch of one of the main characters from the book? He also agreed to Skype with my class this year and help teach an art lesson to go along with the book! So cool. I have so much respect for the Artisits here. Many of them spent countless hours making pictures for people on the spot. I don't know how their hands didn't cramp up and wither off with all that work. I feel so darn lucky to have been a small part of that. 

Here is a shot of some of the artists at work. 

I decided to take a break and go get one or two last things before it was over. On my way I went to a booth to snap a picture for Andrew then was headed back to the Alley when I was walking past the Marvel booth. There was a crowd gathering and I was curious about what was going on (you never know what's going to happen at Comic Con, the last time I saw a crowd at that booth Joss Wheaton was there) so I thought I stop and see what the excitement was about. BIG MISTAKE holy mother of holy they said the word FREE and people just went ape shit. I instantly got shoved into this crowd and literally couldn't take a step in any direction. The Marvel people were actually giving away a ton of cool stuff, but there was no way I was going to get any of it because I was surrounded by some very enthusiastic tall guys who made it impossible for me to do anything. That was the only moment I thought I might freak out over the crowd and it was almost scary. Just total chaos; poorly run by the Marvel people. Some people had small kids stuck in that crowd and I'm amazed someone didn't get hurt in that mess. I managed to elbow my way out after about 20 min. Then I high tailed it out of there. Not long after, they made the announcement that the show was officially over. Such a sad thing. 

I got to stay and help take down the booths, helped an artist haul his things out to the cab line and cleaned up what I could. I said my good byes and we went back to Andrews house. Man what a day. I was exhausted mentally and physically in every way. 

I packed up my bags and had to be up at 4:30am the next morning in order to catch my flight. I'll post more on my over all thoughts and feelings from this whole experience next time.