Comic-Con Adventures, Vol. 2: The Spectacular Comic-Con

The Spectacular Comic-Con

Wonder Woman (on the left, not the right)

(LOTS of pictures ahead!! If you want to see my extended gallery of assorted weird stuff, scroll down to the last third of the post) 

The morning of July 21st, I woke up very early. I was so excited to get to Comic-Con that I couldn't sleep in, despite a long evening the night before. Amazing how much more energy I have when I'm on vacation! (I'm sure that will change as I devolve into a decrepit old woman.)

I got dolled up quickly; it helped that I chose not to wash my crazy-dyed hair just yet (I was worried the colors would run, and I wanted to keep them nice and vivid for the convention). I may not have been cosplaying, but I still wanted to let my freak flag fly a little bit. I wore my Game of Thrones T-shirt, because who doesn't love a dragon that has three heads? Plus, it went pretty nicely with my hair, if I say so myself. Okay, vanity trip over!

With my backpack full of snacks and my badge hanging from my neck, I left the hotel and headed for the trolley station, where I caught a train to the convention center. During my walk to the station, I met and talked with a few other commuters who were also attending the convention. Everyone was upbeat, friendly, and just as excited as I was. Once we all boarded the train, we met even more people heading to the convention...and then more, and then more!

The downtown trolley station where most of us got off, the convention center is just hidden from view on the left by the train

As the train drew closer and closer to downtown, it got very full of people; we were crammed in like sardines, with no room to even shift my weight. When the train car swayed or slowed suddenly, I didn't even have to grab for anything to keep my balance; all the sweaty bodies surrounding me kept me upright! When I had the presence of mind to look around, almost everyone in the train was playing Pokemon GO on their smartphones. It was a surreal image; it felt almost as if I was witnessing a group brainwashing at work (of course, I also joined in playing Pokemon GO, so I'm not sure what that says about me). In a way, it was revealing about the kind of crowd I'd be in the midst of for the next couple of days; a bunch of myopic gamer-types (certainly not the only type of Comic-Con attendee, but a large subgroup). As it turned out, I would see many many games of Pokemon GO being played in and around the convention center over the next couple of days.

Finally, I'd arrived, and it was time to venture inside the massive convention center! First, I ventured into the Sails Pavilion, which is located roughly in the midsection of the convention center.

This was where I officially "checked in" to the convention, and received all my free swag. There's a lot of free stuff handed out at Comic-Con. Of course, there is a lot more stuff that you have to pay money to get, but some of the free stuff is pretty decent. That's how the marketers get ya!

Free swag! And it's all mine!!

I received a thick souvenir book filled with a ton of articles & full-color photos, a couple free magazines; a complete program guide to the convention; and last but not least, a huge backpack designed to hold even more swag (to be picked up throughout the con, presumably). As you can see, my bag featured a huge image of Arrow on it (Arrow is a show on the CW that I have been curious about for a while now but have never actually watched). Oh well, at least the image was cool...that is to say, it was cooler than some of the other designs floating around! There were more than a dozen different backpack designs available at the convention; all featured promotional art from popular television shows or upcoming movies. Attendees didn't usually get to choose their packs; they were handed out randomly. This made some of the rarer designs valuable trading commodities between convention-goers (the Suicide Squad backpacks were among the most sought-after). This convention, which attracts so many rabid collectors, definitely caters to the "collector" mindset by doing promotions like this, encouraging trading and bartering among themselves.

Now I had a backpack on top of my original backpack! I was becoming quite the beast of burden, and the day had just begun. It was time for me to start exploring the 2.6 million-square-foot monstrosity that is the San Diego Convention Center.

No pictures do the interior of the building justice. It just goes on and on and on, with hallway after hallway and atrium after atrium. To be honest, lots of my time at Comic-Con looked like this:

This is one of the side corridors, which held many of the smaller meeting rooms (and where I spent a lot of my time).

Or this:

That's a looooong line.

I'd heard there would be a lot of lines at the convention, and that was true enough The lines also started to increase in length as the weekend wore on (some of the most popular, "big-ticket" panels are held on Fridays & Saturdays). At conventions, there are two main activities you can do: you can attend various panels, or you can walk around the dealer's floor and shop. If you plan on spending most of your time sitting in on panels, you've got to prepare to wait in a few lines. Space is limited in the meeting rooms, and depending on the subject of the upcoming panels in each room, there could be a pretty long line of people waiting to get in (witness the crazy Hall H hopefuls camped outside the convention center that I saw the day before).

Thankfully, if you come to Comic-Con sufficiently prepared, you don't have to spend hours and hours waiting in line. The convention releases its entire program schedule online a couple of weeks beforehand, which gave me time to research and decide which panels I'd be the most interested in attending. Then I was able to work out a "plan of attack"; I'd pick a handful of panels located close to one another, and time my entrance & exit from each room sufficiently well so as not to have to wait too long at any one place. I realized I would only have the time and ability to attend a portion of the events on my list. However, I determined to not let myself get upset by the things I couldn't attend; instead, I would focus on enjoying those events I would be able to see, and if I got to attend any extras it would be a nice bonus. Having an enjoyable convention experience takes planning, but also flexibility; being able to roll with unexpected events is an important part of maximizing your enjoyment.

Panel Action

An unavoidable part of attending Comic-Con panels is being prepared to enter a room early...around an hour or two before the panel you actually want to see. This is usually the only way to guarantee you will get a good seat (or even any seat) at your preferred panel. As a result, most people end up sitting through at least one or two panels they may not have any interest in. Such was the case for me on Thursday, when I arrived in Room 6A an hour and a half early. So as not to miss the Moana panel at noon, I had to first sit through a panel on the 20th anniversary of NickToons, which...I didn't care about.

But to be fair, sitting through extra panels isn't so bad. For one thing, you're sitting in a padded chair, unlike the other poor saps waiting around in hallways, standing and/or shuffling ahead in lines, sometimes for hours. For another thing, the whole convention center was super-duper air conditioned; the temperature in all the rooms was nice and comfortable (at least it was comfortable to me, coming from 100-degree-plus Arizona heat...I don't know about how the visiting Northerners felt about the 90-degree-plus days in San Diego that weekend). I was also lucky enough to sit next to some friendly people who were good for a few minutes of small talk in between panels. And finally, my trusty backpack was filled not only with snacks, but also a good library book and even an adult coloring book to keep me from getting too bored. Truly, my backpack was my constant companion and truest friend of this trip.

When the NickToons panel ended, lots of people left the room, but a lot more people streamed in. The air became charged with anticipation, and the room started buzzing with excited voices. Moana is Disney's latest animated feature (it comes to theaters this Thanksgiving), and the hype has been building. All the promotional material thus far has looked pretty amazing, and the Comic-Con crowd was ready to see more. Disney has been on a hot streak lately with its animated movies (Frozen, Big Hero 6, Zootopia, etc.), and everybody in the room hoped this movie would be continuing the trend.

Since Comic-Con screens a lot of early promotional footage, protecting copyright is a pretty big deal. It's okay for attendees to take still photographs on the dealer's floor, and to take quick photos of panelists and guests. But when new footage or images of any television show or movie is screened, those cameras and smartphones better be put away, or else security will come hunting you down! There are people who get away with covert recordings every year (leaked Comic-Con footage is practically an annual tradition at this point; it's quite common for "exclusive" footage to show up on the Twitter or Vine accounts of guerilla cameramen), but security does its level best to stop this kind of thing.

The Moana panel had the tightest security of any of the panels I attended; there were men and women in suits walking up and down the aisles during the entire presentation, giving everyone the stink-eye and asking anyone with a phone out to put that phone away. They were polite but firm about it; I got "reminded" sternly at least once, which is why my photos of the panel are not very extensive!

At least the panel itself was great. It featured, among others, John Musker and Ron Clements, two venerable Disney animation producers who have been turning out hits for Disney for decades now (their names are attached to The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, The Princess and the Frog, and more). They spoke for a while about the research they did in order to create a vivid, tonally correct ancient Polynesian world. Among other things, the producers and animators "had" to take a tour of many Polynesian islands, and study the various cultures there. Lots of videos featuring pristine beaches were featured. Yeah, none of us felt too sorry for them after seeing their "work" photos!

This introduction was followed by several minutes worth of production stills, animation models, and even clips from the finished film. One clip was from the first few minutes of the film; it featured an elderly woman telling the children of her tribe the creation legend of their people, with an accompanying animated montage sequence. Another scene showed Moana first meeting Maui; it was a few minutes long and was very funny! I suspect Dwayne Johnson is going to be great in this role. The final scene was a flashback from Moana's childhood; it showed her as a toddler playing with the ocean, in a beautifully animated sequence.

In the latter half of the presentation, they brought out the voice actress of Moana herself, a Hawaiian teenager named Auli'i Cravalho. This is her first motion picture, and she looked both thrilled and a little overwhelmed to be at Comic-Con. She was a completely adorable girl though, and the crowd fell in love with her quickly. I am excited to hear what she does with the character!

As the panel was beginning, someone was going around handing out special raffle tickets with a star on them. The audience was told that everyone who attended the panel was eligible to receive an exclusive art print of the film, just by presenting that raffle ticket. No one outside of Comic-Con would ever have this poster! See what I mean about free swag? The only catch was, we had to go to a nearby hotel to get it. Comic-Con has grown so large that dozens of panels are held outside the convention center, in one of the many hotels that circle it.

But the walk was worth it, because now I have this cool art print! I love the colors.

I thought I'd enjoy stretching my legs after sitting for a couple of hours; unfortunately, it was freaking hot outside, even with the breeze from the ocean. I was a sweaty after just an hour of being outside. After an afternoon spent walking around downtown (more on that in a bit), it was time to get back inside and get in line for the Thursday panel I was most excited about: Luke Cage, the newest Marvel/Netflix TV show!

This was the longest line I waited in; it wound back and forth serpentine-style (or should I say Disneyland-style? Either way, I was in it for over an hour. Luckily the people around me were unfailingly polite and pleasant).

Hoo boy, this line was several rows deep. For a little while, I was stressed that I wouldn't make it inside. This was going to be my one and only attempt to get inside one of the larger presentation rooms. I'd ruled out Hall H long ago; however, the Luke Cage panel was being held in Ballroom 20, which was the second-largest room in the convention center. Ballroom 20 could hold more than 2,000 people...that size would be necessary, as it turned out. Those Netflix shows are getting quite popular.

However, I needn't have worried...I made it in, and I "only" had to sit two-thirds of the way back in the cavernous ballroom. This is what it looked like:

I could barely see the guest table at the platform at the end of the ballroom; all the panelists looked like ants to me. Luckily, Ballroom 20 has a series of large overhead screens so the guests in the "nosebleed" seats can see everyone clearly. I was excited to see a Marvel panel--any Marvel panel. I've heard stories of how well Marvel Studios works the crowds at Comic-Con; they often bring unannounced special guests and lots of extra footage and announcements to spice up their programs. Even though this was their TV division, I was curious to see if their showmanship would still be as impressive.

Before I could watch my Marvel panel, though, I had to sit through the panel for the MTV show Teen Wolf. Yawn. I've never seen a single episode (and I'm not likely to see any in the future), but I found ways to amuse myself while the banal actors rambled on and on. Sometimes, seeing a panel for a previously unknown property will spark my curiosity; I admit that some of the storylines and character work for Teen Wolf sounded pretty cool. However, I suspect it was a series made for the Twilight crowd, not me, so the chances of my actively seeking out the show are pretty low.

At last it was time for Luke Cage! There was a dramatic on-screen countdown, complete with dramatic music. Then we were treated to a "sizzle reel" (basically, a "greatest hits" trailer) from Daredevil and Jessica Jones, the two previous Marvel/Netflix shows. It got the crowd nice and pumped up. At last, Marvel TV Vice President Jeph Loeb came out on stage and introduced the cast of Luke Cage, who all sat down for a brief discussion about the show.

Obviously, since the premiere was still a couple of months away, the actors weren't at liberty to spoil much. But there were a couple of clips shown that revealed some tidbits about the characters, and about how they'd relate to one another. We saw Luke flirting with an undercover cop! We saw Luke beating up a bunch of fools in a gym! We also saw two "bad guy" clips; one with Cottonmouth beating the snot out of a prisoner, and another one with Cottonmouth exchanging harsh words with Alfre Woodward's character (a politician of some kind?). I will be interested to see how all this fits together.

The cast didn't answer any audience questions; it was a pretty standard Q&A session with a moderator. After the actors said their goodbyes to the audience, Loeb pulled out a couple more surprises: First, a (very) small look at the next Marvel/Netflix show on the horizon, Iron Fist. And last but not least, they ran a short teaser for the big "team-up" TV series featuring all four superheroes, The Defenders (sort of the TV version of the Avengers). The crowd ate it all up, cheering loudly and clapping all the while. And that was it! Not the most in-depth panel, but it had a lot of nice teases and was very exciting. Plus, we all got our very own Iron Fist posters on the way out of Ballroom 20 that night. Yay, more swag!

It was after 6:00 pm when the Luke Cage panel finally concluded; after such a big, noisy panel, it was a relief to head to a smaller more sedate panel for a little while. My last panel of the day was Star Trek themed; it was called "Star Trek: How We Got to 50." It focused on the franchise's legacy, and on the growth of its fan culture. I figured it would be weird for me to go to a convention and not do something Star Trek-related!

This year marks the 50th anniversary of Star Trek; the original series first aired on September 8, 1966. Its impact on popular culture can't be understated, and Comic-Con was sure to have a lot of Star Trek stuff panels and events this year. Heck, Comic-Con even hosted the world premiere of the newest Star Trek theatrical feature, Star Trek Beyond. I didn't make it to that premiere (of course), but I thought it was an awesome idea. Of course, most of the conventions I've attended in my life were much more Star Trek-centric than this one; but Comic-Con San Diego is so massive that the Trek presence seemed relatively minor there, even with all the "added" events. Nerd culture is a much more expansive thing than it used to be, and I am okay with that!

Some panels I wanted to see but didn't get to see: "Mormons in Comics" (I really regretted missing this one, but it was at the exact time as the Luke Cage panel, and so I chose TV over comics--and my faith, I guess); "Breaking Badder: Suicide Squad and the Dawn of the Heroic Villain"; "1986: There Can Be Only One"; "Spotlight on Peter David"; and a screening of Amazon's series Man in the High Castle, a show I've really been interested in seeing. There just aren't enough hours in the day. If only one of the dealers in the dealers room sold Time-Turners!

Speaking of the Dealer's Room:

Dealer's Room Curiosities & Other Random Weird Stuff

Here come all the pictures I promised you!! I'll talk in more detail about the dealer's room in my next post (I spent more time in the dealer's room on my second day of the convention anyway), but here's a gallery of pictures of some of the coolest stuff I saw in the massive dealer's room during my brief Thursday sojourn:

Wall O'T-Shirts; there were a LOT of these booths in the Dealer's Room

Awesome life-size Captain America statue; this is as close as I got to it, sadly :(

Probably the biggest name in the collectibles business

Yahoo, Ninja Turtles!

 

Life-size new-model Stormtrooper

Pretty cool Marvel figurines

"Great Scott!!"

The "old-school" Wonder Woman costume. Oh yeeeeaaaah. Plus, check it out...one of those Suicide Squad backpacks!

Harley Quinn and Joker costumes from Suicide Squad

Falcon and Spidey figurines

This was a large display of a bunch of different-themed R2D2 figurines; some were cute, some clever, some just gross.

 

At Comic-Con, no one can hear you scream. Seriously, it's too loud there.

These metal monster/Transformer sculptures weren't in the convention center, but in the hotel lobby next door. Everyone was getting into the spirit of things!

 

A bunch of Game of Thrones characters on a city bus. SPOILERS guess which ones are dead by now??

This was a Sharknado-themed parade that was randomly marching around downtown. There were Elvis impersonators on stilts, with rubber sharks sticking through them. I have no idea what any of this means, but I applaud their enthusiasm.

A candidate we can all believe in! This was a curio shop that was transformed into the Peanuts character's election headquarters. Snoopy for President!

A rainbow centaur man, followed by a bunch of Guy Fawkes mask-wearing hoodlums promoting a television series. There was a lot of weird out on the streets of San Diego this day.

A large ad for a new ABC show, Designated Survivor, with Kiefer Sutherland. Nathan is watching it now, and enjoying it so far. Hopefully I'll be able to join him someday, when I have more time...yeah, right!

And, last but not least:

Cosplay Round-Up!!

It wouldn't be Comic-Con without seeing a bunch of cosplayers everywhere. Here are my favorite cosplayers from my Thursday at Comic-Con:

Ahem. These are all interesting costumes, each in a different and fabulous way.

Cute Disney-character family #1

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man and Deadpool, ready for their close-up

Possibly my favorite cosplay of the day; this is a geth (artificial warrior) from the Mass Effect video game series

Harley Quinn, Suicide Squad/New 52 style

Rey and mini-Kylo Ren

Anyone remember Plavalaguna from The Fifth Element? This lady did, and I loved her costume.

Megatron! This guy was actually on stilts, and was pretty darn tall. Too bad I didn't get any other humans in the picture for scale.

I don't know who this is supposed to be, but it was a pretty costume!

Thor sighting in downtown San Diego. The best part of this costume was the nearby dog that went nuts on this guy, barking hysterically and straining on his leash to attack the cosplayer. Haha, dogs fear the Odinson!

Cute Disney-character family #2 (the boy in black is Peter's shadow, of course!)

Me with "old-school" Harley Quinn, as she originally appeared in Batman: The Animated Series. I really miss this version of Harley! She was more interesting when she was less trashy.

 As you can see, it was quite a busy day! Sure, I sat down for several panels, but I also walked around a lot; I'm pretty sure I traveled five or six miles in total for the day. Thank you, giant, sprawling San Diego Convention Center! After the final panel of the evening, I stumbled wearily into the trolley car (which was still crazy crowded even at 10:00 at night, ugh), and headed back to the hotel. By this time, my parents had arrived in San Diego, and had made themselves at home in the hotel room. They were kind enough to stay up late and come pick me up from the trolley station when I arrived. It was nice to not have to walk the rest of the way back to the hotel. After catching up with them a bit, I collapsed onto the air mattress and slept soundly. One more big day to go!