Wednesday, July 30, 2014

San Diego Comic Con 2014


I just got back from an amazing time at San Diego Comic Con.  If you don't know what that it.. well it's the biggest Comic Con in the United States and is very very hard to get a ticket to.  I did also go to the Comic Con back in 2012 too.  This is like heaven for geeks.  It's not just comics.  It's movies, TV shows, celebrities, authors, publishers, video games, EVERYTHING.  So much fun!

My husband and I with Gollum




For those that don't know.. a few months prior to the event Comic Con announces that they will finally put tickets on sale.  We all crowd around different computers and as soon as it's time to log in we do!  Then you sit around and get put into random waiting rooms online.  You may or may not get accepted into a room with tickets.  We had three people trying and one of us got in.  Each person is allowed to buy three tickets so it worked out. These tickets are non-transferable. After you play the game of trying to get a ticket, then you play the hotel game.  The hotels around the con do set aside rooms for people but that is a limited number as well.  We were able to get one on the shuttle route.  So that was lucky also.  Plus.. it ended up being a beautiful hotel.

Now is the fun of fighting crowds. We were able to get preview night tickets which is where they only allow a limited number of people onto the convention floor where all the vendors are. Of course we had drove all day to get there and so I was so tired by the time I hit the floor.

Weta Booth

Thursday there were a few author panels I wanted to see but we ended up doing some San Diego touring. Friday I spend the day in Ballroom 20.  Here I saw the Legend of Korra panel, Bones,  Marvel TV panel (so some sneak peaks of Agents of Shield, and Marvel's Agent Carter), we skipped Hall H this day because we had already attended Walking Dead and Game of Thrones panels in 2012.  We did have to leave Ballroom 20 early to get in line for Hall H.  So I missed the Arrow panel I wanted to see, though I did see them at the Denver Comic Con so I wasn't too bothered.

Marvel Agents of Shield panel
 So let's talk about Hall H shall we???  If you are unfamiliar with Comic Con and how it works and what the halls are .. well here we go.  Comic Con has some huge panels (meaning the crowds).  So they added onto the convention center a section called Hall H.  Hall H is fun.  It is where all the big things happen.  This year Comic Con did something sooo stupid to me.  They decided to implement wristbands.  NIGHTMARE.  Hall H is already hard to get in.  People usually get in line early in the morning, 5 am.  This year.. since these wristbands were being handed out and you had to have them to get in the first panel of the day in that Hall there was a mass of people getting in line at 2 pm on Friday for Saturday.  We ate dinner and headed into line at 530pm.  We didn't get wristbands until 1130 PM.  Thousand and Thousands of people were camped out for this. On concrete.  I tried to mak it.  If you follow my blog you know that I camp out for a lot of things.  Movies... whatever.  We didn't have any camp gear.  Meaning sleeping bags, pillows, we didn't have anything. Everyone ended up bringing stuff from their hotels.

I didn't get a good picture by the Verge did

Comic Con attendees were talking about this all over social media.  If you follow me on Twitter you may have seen that I was retweeting and talking about Hall H all night that night.  People were mad.  I still can't believe I end up going to the Con the year they decided to try this out.  I didn't even get to see what I wanted to see in Hall H.  My husband was able to make it.  He stayed the whole night.  About 1130 when we got our wristbands I decided that I wasn't going to do it.  We had planned on someone going back to the hotel and picking up some items so he stayed in line and I took the hour to go back and forth from the hotel get him some clean clothes for the morning, sheets from the hotel, food, money and to try to charge his phone a little.  I would've gone and just met him in the morning like I normally do when we camp out for something but we had a friend with us who was trying to do the same thing and I didn't think it was right that my husband should have to camp out there alone for both of us so I just skipped Hall H.   Really sad that I went all the way to San Diego and didn't get to do what I was dying to do. Since he did get to go, I'll post the pictures he took.

Cast of Batman vs Superman




Hobbit Cast

Cast of Avengers
So while my husband was off in Hall H I walked around.  I went to the Xbox Lounge, and out to Seaport Village, I did walk the floor again but it was jam-packed with people.  So I didn't really get far.  I tried to go to the Joe Hill panel for his Locke and Key graphic novels but I didn't get there in time.  I went to the famous Masquerade Ball which is where the cos-play people go to put on a show.  Honestly.. it wasn't that great.  I expected this to be the Superbowl of cosplay.  But it was a lot of amateur people. Not that it's bad.. but I really thought I was going to see some amazing costumes and I just saw stuff that was dull.  I saw a lot of better cosplay on the convention floor.






There are several publisher booths here.  Well maybe like 10?  It is not like BEA at all.  There aren't ARCs on the tables to be handed it.  If you are lucky and you walk by the booths at the right time you can get a sample of a book and you might find an author signing books.  You have to pay for those books and then get in a line.  I was never on the floor though during the time of book signings. Plus the swag.. boy is that hard to get at Comic Con.  Every time I did find a line for some there was a person at the end not letting anyone else in line.  I even heard this year on Sunday they ran out of the bags they give you when you get your badges. 




For me.. the most fun this year was the convention floor.  There is sooo much to see. Watching people dressed up is super fun. and being with all the geeks at one time is just a blast too.  We also did a lot of touring in San Diego and that was something we didn't get a chance to do a few years ago when we went to Comic Con. The whole area around the con is just full of comic con themed events. There was even an option to go to the Game of Thrones experience and sit in the Iron Throne.  Though we didn't get around to that.  I did get to see the cast of Game of Thrones right in front of my face when they had to cross the crowds outside. It was a mad house when that happened.  I love Comic Con! It is a crazy time though and you really have to be ready for the ups and downs.

George RR Martin trying to fight the crowds.. I was this close!

58 comments:

  1. I've never been to ComicCon but I have family who loves to go so I always hear about! I'm happy you had nice time! I usually avoid large events when I can, unless it's something I'm really passionate about. Too many people freak me out! Awesome post! :)

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  2. You know.. I don't like crowds either. The building is pretty open though so I don't feel trapped. It's not like I have to go anywhere or do anything I don't want to so that takes off the pressure too. But it is very very busy. Everywhere you go.

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  3. OMG YOU ARE SO LUCKY. But then...I think I would be extremely overwhelmed if I tried going to something like that. (Also on the wrong continent, hehe, but whatever.) It's just amazing that you got to like see them live and in person. I'm totally fangirling here over the Avengers panel. WOW WOW. I read somewhere that a lot of the really famous actors went in cosplay so they could just walk around normally. That's quite a clever idea. ;)

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  4. Dang! You were so close to GRRM! I'm glad you had a great time though, even with the weird wristbands.

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  5. This looks like it was a blast. I am so jealous of you :) I have yet to ever attend a Comic Con, I really should.

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  6. So Jealous! I didn't see Richard Armitage in the Hobbit cast pictures! How disappointing.

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  7. That looks l like so much fun! Glad you had fun :)

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  8. Lisa @ Captivated ReaderJuly 31, 2014 at 10:15 AM

    It looks like you and your hubby had an awesome time at Comic Con!! I've never been and my parents live in the San Diego area!!

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  9. You are sooo lucky. :DD I wanna go soo badly but my chances are low since I'm living in Europe... :((

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  10. Sounds crazy and hectic, but still very much worth it. I'd really love to attend Comic Con at some point!

    -Lauren
    www.shootingstarsmag.blogspot.com

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  11. This looks like so much fun! I haven't been to a con in decades; I used to go to the SF cons in the DC/Baltimore area, back in my young-and-carefree days. The cosplay has gotten a lot more elaborate. Sorry you didn't get to Hall H, but it sounds like you had a good time anyway!

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  12. This sounds SO awesome....wish I could go. Maybe sometime in future when I am not 8 months pregnant lol I would have trouble deciding which panels I want to go to though!

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  13. This is random but we are starting a new blog which I think you might dig since our interests are so similar..thosewhogeek.com should be really fun!

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  14. Wowww I just loved your comic con recap Angela, it sounds like heaven to me! One day I hope to go, how awesome that your husband made it into Hall H, as frustrating as it was. and omggg seeing the game of thrones cast, that sounds so amazing.

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  15. Meg-A Bookish AffairAugust 1, 2014 at 8:27 AM

    How cool! I've always wanted to go to Comic Con. It looks like you had a lot of fun even with some bumps!

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  16. wait, so you had to get a wristband and then you still had to camp out?! I would assume that if you got the wristband you could just walk in the next day. I mean, granted you'd want to get there early to get a good seat in the hall. But why go to the trouble of giving people wristbands if they're still going to spend all night out there? That sucks that you didn't get to go in.



    Ok, aside from that rant... Comic Con can be awesome. Those are some very cool pictures of the convention floor - I always love all the fun stuff there. But the lines are crazy.


    And I bet the Marvel tv panel was a lot of fun! I wish I could have gone! Thanks for letting me enjoy your experience of it :)

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  17. I loved seeing your little snippets on Instagram of your trip. I had no idea about the craziness of trying to get a ticket and so amazing that you guys were able to get three tickets. We went to the ComicCon in Dallas a few years ago but I had no idea it was going to be so crazy (which is like a FRACTION of SDCC I'm sure) and Elle was fussy so we ended up heading home. We were within arm's distance of Stan Lee for about 5 seconds and it was fun to see everyone all dressed up.

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  18. Wow! I am so jealous. Twice at SDCC! Sorry to hear your experience about Hall H and the wristbands. But despite that, hopefully I'll be there in the next couple of years. Just looking at the photos give me joy, imagine if I were there!

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  19. Sorry about the awful Hall H experience! I honestly didn't even try to get in. I didn't want to waste all that time waiting in line when I could be doing other things. I guess it just wasn't that important to me. But, I did score big on books. The publishers were giving away LOTS of books, you just had to pay attention to their schedules and revisit the booths every day. I walked away with over 60 books, and I only bought 3 of them. But that was the main reason I went, for the authors and books. You can read my Comic Con post here.

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  20. Wow! That sounds so busy! I had been toying around with going to Comic Con next year, but I am just not sure I want to put up with that giant mess! Thanks for sharing all your pictures and adventures though!!

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  21. Ooh so exciting. I've always wanted to go. Love seeing all the great photos!

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  22. Oh yeah... there are a lot of actors who walk around with masks. So sneaky. I saw Peter Jackson had a really amazing killer clown costume. People were posing with him all over the floor. It's quite funny. One year the guys from Mythbusters had really neat Wraith cosplay from Lord of the Rings. I wish I would see these guys walking around. This year I didn't really pose with anyone who had on cosplay. In 2012 I was posing with everyone.

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  23. I have actually met GRRM before. I was able to get 3 GOT books signed by him in 2012?? I think. That time I at least got to talk to him. This time the whole cast was running past us trying to get into the limos.

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  24. Comic Cons are fun. I just really enjoy them. I might see if my mom wants to go to the Salt Lake Comic Con that's coming up soon.

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  25. It is disappointing when a cast member doesn't show up. Scarlet Johansen didn't go to the Avengers panel and that was kind of a bummer to me.

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  26. It really is fun.. something unique and very hard to get tickets to.

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  27. You need to go there! There are a lot of book events and lots of publishers there as well. I wish I would've planned to do those things but most of those panels were on Thursday and we went to the Zoo that day.

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  28. I see a lot of big events happen in London. Maybe you will make it to one of those someday.

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  29. It is fun... it's not cheap so we had to save a lot of money since we have to get a hotel for the whole week.

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  30. I am so glad I found out about it. You know I will be there geeking out with you both!

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  31. Figuring out which panels is the hardest part because you have to get in line way in advance. It is no joke. Planning is key to having a good time. There was a Hercules panel I wanted to attend when I discovered I couldn't get into Hall H.. but then I found out on Thursday I should've picked up tickets to attend that panel (they are free but I needed them). So that screwed everything up. It can be quite complicated.

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  32. Cons have all become huge. I am so surprised that even my local Comic Con sells out now. We barely got tickets to that one. I don't know about doing these lines anymore. That might've been my last San Diego Comic Con.

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  33. Thanks... I was going to put even more pictures up but was afraid it would be too many and people's internet would be slow to load this post. ;)

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  34. You can't mess around thinking about whether or not you want to go. Tickets go on sale and pretty much sell out in minutes. The best thing you could do it buy tickets and then decide because you have so many days to get refunds on them. Then you could return them if you chose not to go.

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  35. WHAT! I must just be going for the WRONG things. Too bad I didn't team up with you at the con. In fact... I am really bummed we didn't team up. I am excited to see your post all about books.

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  36. Well.. now if you read the words WRISTBANDS anywhere be sure to bring a sleeping bad and camping gear of some sort. I guarantee that if they continue to do wristbands people will be camping out for years to come. I am still really bummer about Hall H and it's a week later now. LOLOLOL!

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  37. Seeing the whole GOT cast walk right in front of my face was pretty cool. I do have snapshots of the cast members but didn't want to fill this post with that. Though.. I could do another post just about that experience alone! :)

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  38. It was really fun. You just have to be in this mental state when you guys. Pushy and ready for lines, and stinkyness, happiness, sadness, frustration.. all emotions!

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  39. THANK YOU! Thank is how I feel about wristbands. BUT if you got the wrist bands and left.. and left no one in line in your spot, you had to make your way all the way to the back of the line and lose your wrist band spot. I mean WHAT! The Marvel panel was fun. They were happy to be there you could tell and that rubs off on the audience. I can't wait to see what is in store next season.

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  40. I hear the Dallas Comic Con is pretty big and pretty fun. I have friends who have gone there. Dallas' Con is so big I think they have two a year don't they?? When you girls get older you'll have to give it another go. I bet they will have fun seeing everyone dressed up.

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  41. I accidentally clicked on a link down below and lost my whole comment when it took me to that link! I'm sorry you didn't get to see what you wanted most to see. The wristband thing doesn't make sense. Wristbands OR camping, not both! What's so hard to understand about that? Stupid organizers.

    I didn't even know authors and publishers are at Comic Con until last year (my first year blogging). I think I mentioned to you before that I know someone who goes to Comic Con every year, but she's more into the TV panels and hasn't mentioned authors. I won a giveaway of some ARCs picked up there last year, so I just assumed it was similar to BEA, if not as big in that area.

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  42. I've often thought about going to ComiCon but I'm not a crowds person. I think I could deal with them for the pure excitement of BEA or RT, but ComiCon just doesn't hold enough appeal. I think I'm happy sitting here watching recaps on YouTube LOL. I totally get why you didn't make it all night!

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  43. I was at Comic Con too and I also camped out for Hall H and Ballroom 20 (for Saturday). I wish I could have seen the Avengers panel but I was with True Blood. Comic Con is crazy with all the people and lines but it was a great experience. Great post and hope you had a great time!!

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  44. I totally didn't mind camping. But myself and every one who had attended comic con before had never seen lines like this before. I am going to make it a mission in life that the next time I attend the con I find books! BOOKS BOOKS! LOL! It sucks your comment was erased. I can't stand that. You should have your friend do a guest post on your blog about Comic Con!

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  45. I do think you need to be a geeky person for Comic Con. It makes me wonder though if BEA is less crowded or the same. I have never really heard anyone mention huge crowds at BEA. I was going to watch the recaps on youtube but I haven't even made the time yet. I will be more ready next time for camping out. There is no way I will head to Comic Con without a sleeping bag.

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  46. I didn't have to camp out for Ballroom 20 like we did for Hall H. Ballroom 20 we were able to get in line about 5 am. We got pretty good seats too (this was on Friday for the Marvel panel day). I should've got in line for Ballroom 20 on Saturday to see Once.. True Blood and all those shows. :( But since I was out so late at Hall H bringing my husband goods for the next day (shirt, hotel sheet, money, food, I even charged his cell phone for 30 minutes) I slept in the morning of Saturday. I will be planning much better next time.

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  47. Oh my gosh that queue! I'd love the experience but camping out is not for me. Such a pity you missed what you wanted to see. But it still sounded like a lot of fun!

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  48. There are a lot of book there... lots of publishers. But I didn't get my hands on any books. Though there was another blogger whose blog I visited that got 60 books! I don't know how she did it but that was her goal and she got it done! Good for her!

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  49. Oh my gosh, so jealous! This looks so awesome! When I was in NZ, I got to the Weta Cave, so that was pretty cool, haha. Glad to hear you had lots of fun!! Henry Cavill is so good looking and I'm in desperate need of more Avengers!

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  50. Wow !!! I mean wow ! This place looks like heaven on Earth !

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  51. If I was in NZ I would tour EVERYTHING LOTR. I mean everything. Henry Cavil is super good looking. Ben Afleck better not let us down as Batman!

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  52. Oh gosh, this sounds just INTENSE. I'd love to go to a con one day, but I do not think I would be able to cope with the pack and stress of such a large one! It seems very full on, but I'm really happy you seemed to have fun (though annoying you didn't get to see the things you really, really wanted to!). I know very little about the way of things at Cons, so your explanations were very interesting to me, too!

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  53. But I'm mad at you ! Come on, you saw Henry Cavill and didn't pack him in a box and sent him to me ?! :p ;)

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  54. That sounds amazing and exhausting. I'm so far behind on reading your blog I almost missed this post. I'm so glad you had a good time. I'm not sure I will be going to the con anytime soon so I love vicariously through you.

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  55. I am glad to have shared this post with everyone. Especially those who know all about the San Diego comic con. I didn't really even know much about it until a few years ago when we decided to go. That time was actually more fun then this time... but I think it's because of the friend we went with. He was really hard to be on a vacation with. Otherwise it was a wonderful trip.

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  56. I have been falling behind on blogs too. UGHHHH I have been so busy since I went to San Diego.. well for this post. LOL! This week I finally have no company and no trips so I should get a lot of reading and blogging done. I am actually looking forward to it.

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