Attend Comic Con

This one is for all my fellow dweebs and dweebettes...I have finally attended...Comic Con!   Comic Con started in 1970, and in the past few years has increasingly gained popularity due to the influence of Hollywood on the event.  In 2010 I decided I should probably finally get this crossed off my list.  I convinced my brother to also join me, and so the process to get tickets to Comic Con began.  For a convention filled with nerds, it was surprising that the ticket buying process had so many technical difficulties!  After several months of trying I was on the verge of giving up.  One day I decided I should check the site again, and this time  they finally got their shit together (not in those exact words), and a date was set for the tickets to finally go on sale.

San Diego Convention Center

So on a Saturday, I spent a few hours of my morning trying to get tickets.  I had originally wanted to go on Saturday, but it had already sold out.  The only available dates were Thursday, Friday, and Sunday.  I opted for the Friday tickets, and I am glad I did as I am sure Saturday was much more crowded.  Within 8 hours, the 100,000+ tickets were sold out.

On the day of Comic Con, my brother and I took the trolley down to the Convention Center, and we shared the trolley with several dressed up characters.  The trolley was so packed, that during several stops people were left stranded cause they couldn't squeeze into the trolley.  Once we got to the Convention Center it took us another 30 minutes just to cross the mob of people across the street.  My brother and I went through registration and got our badges and swag bags.

 Finally at Comic Con

We didn't prepare for Comic Con AT ALL!  I skimmed the schedule right before leaving that morning, but we really were just winging it.  We walked into the main area and were overwhelmed by all the people, and booths.  We didn't really know where to start so we decided to just walk aimlessly until something peaked our interest.

This was probably the most least crowded area

 Just Dance 3!

I'm not much of a gamer.   I do own a Wii, but I primarily just play the dance games.  I was excited to see the Just Dance booth, and I stuck around for awhile to see some of the new songs!  I am so excited, and October can't come soon enough (and for other reasons than Just Dance 3 coming out).  Within walking distance to the Just Dance booth was a big screen that showed the cast of the Big Bang Theory.  I realized that they were close by, so my brother and I decided to check it out.  The group of people that gathered around them was insane.   I received a call from my friend Jeff who I had met while traveling through Eastern Europe a few years ago, and he was at Comic Con so we decided to meet up by the Big Bang Theory signing.  That probably wasn't our most stellar idea because it was like searching for a needle in a haystack due to all the people.

 Big Bang Theory Cast

As I was waiting for Jeff, the cast of the Big Bang Theory started walking up to a spot where I had a better view of them.  The funny thing is that they had more fun taking pictures of us, than we did of them. They probably wanted a picture of the biggest collection of dweebs on the planet.    :)  The guy on the left was laughing hysterically at something or someone!  Then I saw her...yeah...a blast from my childhood past....

Blossom!

It was Blossom!  I should probably IMDB her real name, but she will always be Blossom to me, just like John Stamos will always be Uncle Jessie (who's career has now succumbed to Greek Yogurt commercials).  Anyways, she wasn't as friendly as the rest of the cast, but still cool nonetheless.  After Jeff and I finally found each other we decided to walk around together.

We walked around a few booths, and I saw a sign for Showtime.  I LOVE DEXTER!  Unfortunately, it was not Dexter that I saw, but it was Sgt. Angel Batista.

Sgt. Angel Batista from Dexter

We continued to walk around and enjoyed seeing all the crazy costumes that people had on.  I think my favorite costumes were ones when the people were in full character.  Fake accent and all!  As we were walking I saw an Incredible Hulk booth, with closer inspection I noticed the guy sitting at the booth was the original Incredible Hulk.  He had this sad look on his face like, "Yes...this is what has happened to my life."  I couldn't even take a photo because I felt so sorry for the guy. 

 I challenged this guy to a thumb wrestling contest.  I won.

As we were walking out to grab a bite to eat we passed by the booth that we had seen the Big Bang Theory cast.  The conversation went a little like this....

Bro: Hey it's Kevin Smith
Me: No It's Not...that doesn't even look like him.
*see's SMITH printed on the back of his jersey*
Me: Oh. I guess that's him.

Kevin Smith

We had lunch at Broken Yolk Cafe, and they had decorated the restaurant with comic inspired characters, and even made a special Comic Con menu.  As we were having lunch we saw this D-List celebrity walk by.  When we got back to the Convention Center we walked around for a bit, and saw The Walking Dead cast before heading to Hall H to stand in line to try to get into the Sony Panel.  The Sony Panel was a 2 1/2 hour panel with loads of famous people like Nicholas Cage, Emma Stone, Kate Beckinsale,  Colin Farrell, Jessica Biel, and Andrew Garfield (the new Spider Man).  After waiting in line for almost 2 hours we were FIVE(!!) people too late!  FIVE!!!!!!  Little did we know that people had been camping in Hall H all day to see the Spider Man dude.  I don't know how that is fair Comic Con!  I was pretty bitter about the whole ordeal.  


So instead of moping around and feeling sorry for myself I decided I wasn't going to leave Comic Con until I was able to attend a panel.  The True Blood panel was just about to start, but I heard the line was just as horrible if not worst than the Sony Panel.  My brother and I went through the schedule and saw that their was a Spartacus panel.  I had just started watching Spartacus a few weeks before Comic Con, so we decided to go to that.  I loved it!  They were such a funny cast, and Lucy Lawless (aka Xena the Warrior Princess) was more hilarious than I would have expected.

 Spartacus Cast

Thankfully, my Comic Con experience ended on a high note, and I am already planning to attend for a day or two next year!

Date Accomplished:  July 22nd, 2011