Comic-Con Adventures, Vol. 3: The Amazing Comic-Con

(I am trying to resurrect this blog! SO much to catch up on, and I have made a goal to blog at least twice a month. That means I MUST get my Comic-Con blogging done if it kills me...and before I forget all about it. Onward!)


The Amazing Comic-Con

Chillin' with the Storm Troopers

(WARNING: LOTS of pictures ahead!)

Another day, another trip to the San Diego Convention center. It was Friday, July 22nd. I had one more day to spend at Comic-Con International, and I wasn't about to let it go to waste. I had two panels I wanted to attend first thing in the morning, so I determined to be there as early as possible.

On this day, I wanted my look to scream "Turtle Power." As I have mentioned before, I am a bit of a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fan, and I have gotten more comfortable sharing that with others as I have gotten older and crazier. I really enjoy the latest TMNT animated series currently airing on Nickelodeon, and as luck would have it, there was to be a Comic-Con panel on that cartoon Friday morning. I couldn't wait to attend, and I planned on getting there nice and early so I'd be assured of a good seat.

Luck was with me. I arrived at the convention center just as it opened to admit all the attendees. I didn't slow down, but headed straight upstairs and through the many cordoned-off rows, a little panicky about getting my seat! As it turned out, I needn't have worried...I made it in plenty of time to sit up towards the front of the meeting room. Plenty of time to catch my breath, eat a snack, and enjoy the next couple of panels.

Unlike the day before, when I had to sit through a couple of boring panels, I was lucky today...the panel immediately before the Ninja Turtles panel was the My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic panel. I was pretty excited; my girls love this show, and it is definitely one of the better kids' programs on the air right now (especially when compared to some of the other shows my girls watch). I thought it would be fun to see the creative team associated with it, and maybe bring back a few trivia tidbits, sneak preview news, and cool stories for the kids.

So, to sum up...I'm an adult woman, at Comic-Con by myself, and the two panels I was most excited for were panels about cartoons my kids watch. Nothing weird about that, right??? Ugh, I am such a weirdo. Well, being weird is pretty much what these blog posts are about, so time to own it!


Part of my interest in the MLP panel was from a "field observer" perspective; I knew I would be seeing a herd of Bronies in their natural habitat, and I was alternatively excited and terrified by this. In case you don't know, Bronies are the (usually adult male) fans of the Friendship Is Magic TV show. They are legion in online circles; they even have their own conventions. They claim to enjoy the show for its innocence and fun; while that may be true of some, I have a hard time believing that all of the Bronies themselves are that innocent. Tumblr and Reddit sure seem to imply otherwise! Anyway, a lot of Brony culture is highly skeezy to me, and I was a little alarmed at seeing a lot of these (large, hairy) gentlemen sharing the same room as a bunch of adorable little kids in their Halloween pony costumes. I worried that they would take over the panel during the questioning portion of the panel, and make the morning a parade of awkwardness and inappropriateness.

The voice actors of My Little Pony's Mane Six (two of the ladies play two characters each)

Thankfully, I needn't have worried. Everyone there was perfectly civil. If the sight of a grown man dressed in a Rainbow Dash costume was a little disturbing and sad to anyone, people kept it to themselves. When all the panelists arrived (this included one or two of the show's producers and all the primary voice actors), they made it clear that when it was question time, all the kids would automatically get to move to the front of the line! This was even the case if a kid didn't get the nerve to stand up until halfway through question time. This meant a lot of Bronies were standing in line for a long time, waiting for a chance to ask their questions (some of which never got to be asked due to time running out...I suspect it was a good thing we never got to hear them all!)

The kids' questions were absolutely adorable, as expected. They were imaginative, hopeful, and creative ("What is Pinkie Pie's favorite color?", "Will they ever take a trip to the beach together?", etc.). The Bronies' questions were a little more insightful (I can't remember many of them, but they mainly dealt with character/plot development), and thankfully never got too creepy.

There was one young woman who made it to the front of the line (is it a "Brony" if it's a woman?), and her Scottish accent was so thick that it somehow transformed her silly appearance into something quirky and cute. Accents...aren't they amazing?

Anyway, a good time was had by all. Looking around at the end of the panel, I was surprised to see a number of empty seats near the back. I thought MLP was a more popular franchise, and I had expected the room to be full. Maybe there were just too many other distracting things at Comic-Con. At any rate, by the time the Ninja Turtle panel began, the room was almost entirely full! What I learned today: for Comic-Con attendees, at least, Ninja Turtles > My Little Pony.

This panel was light on concrete information but still a lot of fun. The moderator of the panel was Andre Meadows, the YouTube celebrity whose alias is Black Nerd. He is a huge Ninja Turtles fan, knows a lot about the franchise, and reviews every new episode as it comes out. He is incredibly dorky, but also very sweet and cool. I got to meet him & speak briefly to him afterwards (yay! I met a YouTube celebrity! My life is now complete!). Sadly, I did not get to personally meet Sean Astin or Mae Whitman, who were both panelists (Astin is the voice of Raphael in the new show, and Whitman is April O'Neill). I have loved Sean Astin for many many years (ever since Goonies!), and it was awesome to see him up close. He is a sweet guy and made some funny comments.

I enjoyed seeing all of the cast in person. One of the actors, Rob Paulsen, has been a Turtle for decades now (he played Raphael in the original series, and is playing Donatello in this series)! It was really cool to see him in person. All the voice actors present were personable, funny, and excited to interact with the crowd. Sadly, there wasn't a lot of time for questions...and the executive producer who showed up didn't even have time to show any new test footage or storyboards (which is pretty common at panels like these).

 

But, there was a cool reason why the panel ran a little short...we were treated to a first look at the next episode of the show; they showed us the entire thing! At the time, the show had been on a long hiatus, and it would still be another month or so before it was to return to television. So it was really cool to sit in a room with a bunch of rabid fans and get a sneak peek before the rest of the world. One of my favorite parts of any fan convention is the enthusiasm of all the attendees...it makes every bit of news much more exciting when you're surrounded by a bunch of excited uber-nerds. Everyone clapped, cheered, laughed and shouted with excitement for the entire episode (it was the 4th season episode "City At War," if anybody cares). So even if we didn't get a whole lot of information on the next several episodes, at least we still got to share a fun first look with the cast & crew.

After the Ninja Turtles panel, I didn't have a whole lot planned until later in the evening. That meant only one thing...time to go lose myself in the Dealer's Room!

Dealer's Room Madness

I posted a few pictures from the Dealer's Room in my last post; well, here come a lot more! Visiting Dealer's Rooms is always one of my favorite things about conventions; they are a dazzling, sensory-overloading potpourri of nerdiness. Everywhere you look, there is something else to see or buy.

That's gonna hurt in the morning

I am not much of a collector, like many Comic-Con fans, but I am still really interested to see the collectibles offered for sale. Besides collectibles, there are all sorts of awesome merchandise that I never knew I wanted until I saw it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But the Dealer's Room isn't all about buying stuff; there's a lot of promotional experiences there as well!

One of my favorites was this big cave, erected by the Starz Network to promote its upcoming television series American Gods, based on the award-winning fantasy novel of the same name by Neil Gaiman (and one of my personal favorites). There was a line of people waiting to go inside, so I figured, why not? Waiting in lines is what you do at Comic-Con. So after a brief wait, I was ushered inside, but not before participating in a random prize drawing at the entrance.

 

I won a T-shirt, and it was pretty awesome! Yay, more free swag!

Inside the cave was a lot of weird nonsense, but that's kind of what I expected...weird nonsense is kind of what the book is all about! (But it's really good, trust me on this!). I was able to snap a few pictures before moving on.

 

American Gods wasn't the only show being promoted; there were large interactive booths for many shows, including the History Channel's Vikings, ABC's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Doctor Who, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, and many more...including this huge area celebrating AMC's The Walking Dead.

I don't watch The Walking Dead, so I only gave the area a cursory glance. Yep...designed to look like a desolate wilderness, zombie statues everywhere...sounds about right, based on what I know of the show. I was all prepared to move on, when suddenly, I was enveloped in a crazed mob of fans. Suddenly my entire field of vision looked like this:

Turns out, the entire cast from The Walking Dead had just strolled into the Dealer's Room for an autograph session, right there in front of the teeming masses. It was just my dumb luck to be walking by that area right at that time! There was a huge swell of movement as people jockeyed for position, either to grab some pictures or to get into the autograph line. There was a lot of shouting and hollering, and I was pressed in the crowd so tightly my arms were up at my sides, and I was held up by bodies. I'd heard of mobbing happening at this convention before, but this was the first time (and thankfully the last) that I was caught up in the midst of it. I am not particularly claustrophobic, but I was still somewhat nervous (but mostly annoyed). It took several minutes of persistent wiggling to break free from that crowd and continue my browsing relatively uninterrupted.

I saw other autograph sessions in the Dealer's Room that day. The cast of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. showed up for autographs in the huge Marvel area:

I also saw Berkeley Breathed himself, and got a little verklempt. This name might not mean anything to you, but Breathed is the author of the comic strips Bloom County and Outland, two of my all-time favorite comic strips. He'd hosted a Q&A session earlier that day elsewhere in Comic-Con, but my schedule wouldn't fit it in. I wasn't supposed to take his photo, but I couldn't resist...so guerilla of me.

My favorite autograph session took place at the huge Nickelodeon Studios pavilion, when I got my second big dose of Ninja Turtle fever for the day. The cast and crew of Nick's current Ninja Turtle cartoon (the same folks I'd seen at the panel just a few hours before!) were now sitting at a table just a few feet away from me, signing autographs and chatting up fans!

Sadly, I wasn't able to get autographs at any of these places. I am a novice at the autograph game, apparently...in order to even stand in line for these autographs, you need to sign up at the beginning of the day elsewhere in the convention. Alas! So I hung out for a little while like a creeper (or like a member of the paparazzi), watching the stars and snapping their pictures.

Yes, Sean Astin is still cute. And I really wish I could have spoken to Mae Whitman; I love her! She is one of my favorite voice actors (besides April O'Neill, she also played Katara in the amazing Avatar: The Last Airbender). She is also an amazing actress in her own right, starring in the drama Parenthood and having a small but memorable role in Arrested Development. Oh, well, at least I got to see her smiling, laughing and being nice to people...and I got this cute picture of her doing so!

And then, the best part of all...the half-shell heroes themselves arrived for some photo ops! I was not going to pass that up!

Yes, I have the maturity of an eight-year-old boy! But I don't care! Comic-Con is truly Disneyland for nerds.

After that, I wandered and wandered and wandered. Oh, the places I went! Oh, the things I saw! Oh, the gifts I bought for the family!

My T-shirt; I love Captain America, but still kind of a "vanilla" choice at Comic-Con. Maybe I'll be more daring later.

Nathan's T-shirt

There was just so much to see...clothes, toys, games, collectibles, cards, comics, art, posters, videos, costumes, tools, and so much more. I could have stayed in the Dealer's Room for the entire convention and still not seen it all. But alas, at 7:00 pm, the Dealer's Room closes for the day. What's a conventioneer to do??

Nighttime Panels! AKA, Where Everyone Is Punch Drunk

By the evening, the halls of the San Diego Convention Center start to look like this:

I was surprised by how many people left once the Dealer's Room closed. It was true, however, that most of the biggest panels were finished for the day by this time. There were a few panels that sounded promising: "Fangirls Lead The Way," "Smithsonian, Science & Star Trek," and "Scum and Villany: Psychological Factors Influencing the Characters You Love to Hate." At 9:00 pm that night, there was also going to be the world premiere of the R-rated animated flick "Batman: The Killing Joke." I was feeling torn in several directions.

Finally, I reasoned that I'd been walking and walking and hauling my heavy backpack around non-stop for two days now. My feet were tired, and my brain was weary. The above-mentioned panels sounded interesting, but I was getting a little punch-drunk and wanted something a little lighter and sillier. So off I went (again) to room 6A, where I found a lively, manic crowd that was as punch-drunk as I was (or maybe actually drunk; it was late, after all).

The "panel" was really an interactive game between the hosts (the employees of the movie critic aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes), a few professional film critics (sitting in the panelist seats onstage), and the audience. The name of the game was "Your Opinion Sucks!" Every member of the audience was given a cute Rotten Tomatoes-inspired paddle, with a Fresh and Rotten rating on the two sides.

 

At this point, the hosts invited people to line up at the microphone and have their turn facing the mob. Each person was to name a movie, then explain why conventional wisdom about that movie was wrong ("The Empire Strikes Back is the worst of the original trilogy!"; "Man of Steel is an underrated classic!" Those are two good examples of the kind of thesis statements I heard that night.) The contestants were only given one minute to (eloquently) state their case; at that point, the argument was turned over to the professional critics. The critics had a couple of additional minutes to agree with the contestant or disagree. Then at long last, the audience was asked to choose "Fresh" or "Rotten" by waving their paddle in the air. As a final parting shot, the hostess (who was, naturally, dressed as a giant tomato), would read the "official" Rotten Tomatoes rating of the film in question.

Were there any "winners" or "losers" in this contest? Of course not. For much of the time, it was a huge free-for-all, with shouting, laughing, cheering, and catcalling from the audience throughout....some of it was profanity-laced. But it was often hilarious, sometimes thought-provoking, and always fun (especially if you were already punch-drunk, as I mentioned earlier).

Not long after this activity concluded, there was another event in the same room that was even goofier, crazier and more profane. This presentation was called "Movie Fights!" It was organized by Screen Junkies, the online YouTube channel famous for their Honest Trailers, which skewer popular movies with glee every week. Like the Rotten Tomatoes presentation, "Movie Fights!" had several invited guests (some critics, some staff members, a few Hollywood types) on a panel. These panelists were given several movie-related questions to debate, which they did heatedly, taking several minutes for each question.

The audience participation was not as extensive this time around, but they were still asked to vote (by applause or Rotten Tomato paddle) for the winner of each debate. It was played tournament style, so each panelist was eliminated one by one, until a winner was chosen. There could be only one!!

As you can see, the questions were pretty goofy, and often irreverent. This made for some hilarious debating. The profanity flew fast and thick during this game...I was never more glad the kids weren't with me than during "Movie Fights!" However, I am a sucker for film criticism, so I really enjoyed the nature of the debates. I love hearing people analyze films and parse their strengths and weaknesses...it's weird, but I have an overly analytical mind, so maybe this is a symptom of that! Even when I didn't agree with the arguments presented, I always loved hearing them.

At the conclusion of the "fight," Screen Junkies had one more treat in store for the audience; they showed us a new Honest Trailer (not yet posted online) for the sci-fi film Watchmen, based on the DC comic of the same name. Earlier, they'd shown us the Honest Trailer for Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice, which was pretty hilarious. Overall, it was a racuous, funny panel, and I was happy to be a part of it.

Cosplay Round-Up!!

Yes, this is a real dude in a costume...not a statue!

 Oh, there were lots of cosplayers on that Comic-Con Friday. As usual, I only got pictures of a few of them. Here are some of the best:

Maleficent

Pretty good Darth Maul

Captain America and Green Arrow; Marvel/DC team-up!

Steampunk Captain America & friends

These three were a combined costume; they were a fighting video game! Get it?

A bevy of Harry Potter characters

Yet another Harley Quinn

I got nothing. Anyone want to tell me what the heck this is?

Old Luke and Rey

Predator...dominatrix??

HE-MAN MASTER OF THE UNIVERSE

Awesome 90s-style X-Men (Mystique & Storm)

Some Weeping Angels

Kylo Ren and friends

Stormtrooper heading out on a date...I think? Either way, he looked dapper

Jon Snow and "Ghost," his direwolf/girlfriend? Oookay.

A disturbingly accurate depiction of our new president.

Black Panther

Chewie!

Girl Wookiees? I guess?

The whole Suicide Squad, plus the Joker. Good group cosplay.

Dia de los Muertos

Deadpool, texting

David Bowie (RIP) IS the Goblin King!

And finally, this was probably my favorite cosplaying encounter of the day...these three clumsy souls in the inflatable T-Rex costumes. Watching them attempt to call and board an elevator was one of the most inept, hilarious things I have ever seen!

 

 

By 11:00 pm that night, the last of the panels had wrapped up; the last stragglers were making their way out of the convention center. I was very tired, but still a little sad to leave; I didn't have a Saturday pass, so this was to be my last night "officially" inside Comic-Con. But it was truly an amazing day, and I was so grateful for the opportunity to attend. I had lots of fun! Saturday was to be a much quieter day, but I was lucky; I had parents to show around, so there was still a little bit of convention sightseeing left. More on that in the exciting final issue of Comic-Con Adventures!