People still ask why it takes so long to post my Comic-Con recap, so I'll start with the answer. CCI ends on Sunday night and most of us attend survival parties. On Monday we pack up and head for home, were we partially unpack and then collapse out of sheer exhaustion. On Tuesday we wake up with great difficulty, due to Con Crud**. Comic-Con is so important that no one wants to miss it, even if they are carrying Ebola. Pills and Energy drinks can keep you going for a while, but Con Crud will assimilates your body and take over eventually. Despite being sick, many emails pass between friends & Swag Hunters. Thursday & Friday are all about Swag sorting. This is mostly all fun because you get to view your purchases and the freebies. Sadly this is also when you realize something is missing from the stash...an illusive item, a lost bag or a stolen gem. It does not happen to everyone every time, but it does happen. Saturday comes too soon and I take pictures of Swag groupings. I process about 175 pictures of Con, Friends, Costumes & Swag for my website and sort them down to 20 at the most. Sunday I arrange all the text and photos into my first draft and second draft...and third draft. Monday evening I try to post everything for my friends and the world to see. Ta Da!
**Con Crud** The most insidious germ ever to strike in the US is often found at Geek Vegas. Con Crud is what happens when a few sick people refuse to miss the greatest convention on earth. Their collective germs get together to form a Borg hive that attempts to take over the immune systems of hard working Comic-Con staff and attendees. Fortunately simple bed rest, chicken noodle soup and aspirin will cure it. This is why I suggest Airborne for 5 days straight to put off the inevitable.
Wednesday Preview Night has changed slightly but it was still a Madhouse! The new Programming Panels being run Wednesday evening to help draw some of the crowd away from the Exhibit hall helped a tiny bit. When there are no Panels to distract people they all swarmed the Dealer's Floor in a bone crushing way.
Comic-Con provided some useful "Ask Me" people to help with Attendees questions. 98% of all questions can be answered by reading the Events Guide, but it was great to have a person around to ask that last 2%. As I have always said, "Don't ask a security guard". Anything deeper than "where is the bathroom" and you could get some very wrong answers.
The WB booth was once again the bane of my existence. They were both better and worse! Warner Bros had multiple "give-away" points this year, but did not remember to run stanchion lines for all 4 locations. Their #1 problem is that they have no exit strategy. Attendees stormed the booth from all angles, which left no way out. We all get crushed including the poor employees. Several smaller booths understood the problem and used stanchions, Signs and human line control to get people going in a certain direction. Lines are Good, Go get in line...good boy!
The Summit Pictures corner was super busy! It seemed like a zillion people all wanted New Moon: Twilight items. The people running the booth were very good. They gave out their freebies from a slightly raised booth, handing items down in an orderly chaos. We were crushed, but the employees lived.
And speaking of New Moon: Twilight . There was some animosity between the new young fans of Twilight and the older more seasoned veterans of Con. Being a Newbies & a Mundane is not horrible, but they are only used to attending music concerts so they often get confused at CCI. This year the Twilight fans actually camped out a zillion hours before their panel started essentially blocking all other fans of show panels that started before New Moon: Twilight. I would have found this annoying except that is EXACTLY how it is done. I cannot hate them for playing the game and winning. The fun part of all this, for me, were the Signs & T-shirts I saw. #3 Yes, I'm a Woman, Yes, I'm at Comic-Con, NO, I don't like Twilight. #2 Then Buffy Staked Edward, The End. #1 Twilight Ruined Comic-Con...if you agree make another sign.
Best Panels...that I saw:
#2 Burn Notice. The main star was not on the panel but he had made cool little PSA's that they played before, during & after the panel. They are too hard to explain, but the panel itself was fun & fantastic. Bruce Campbell is still THE MAN!
#1 Chuck. A short video message played about "the end of Season 2" when the entire cast & crew thought they were cancelled. Since they were cancelled they were free to do any crazy & zany stuff they wanted to in the "final" episode, like have Chuck-fu. One of the writers started freaking out about how they could never keep up with the Chuck-fu type action! It was super funny to watch. Immediately after that Jeffster sang Fat Bottomed Girls live and on stage! Complete with Key-tar. Find it on YouTube, but it is not as good as being there. Best Panel Evvver!!
Most Unexpected: I was pretty sure what to expect with the new SG-U Stargate show and the return of Fringe, but not V. I was in Ballroom 20 waiting for something else when the V panel began. It was truly a pleasant surprise. I will go out of my way to watch this show when it begins on ABC in the fall and you should too.
I arrived late to the Geek Roundtable panel, but all was well. My husband showed up in his Steampunk outfit! It all has to do with our Podcast at http://geekroundtable.typepad.com/geek_round_table/. Although the entire panel was spent telling crazy Con stories the majority of the normal podcast include input from 4 to 10 people on all thing worth Geeking Out about. And yes, we gave out swag Buttons.
I also arrived late to the Comic-Con in the 1990's panel. It was in full swing discussing the moments before CCI blew up into the massiveness it is today. We took a nostalgic looks back at smaller convention centers and hotels. I prefer the here and now, even though it is crowded. Members of the audience asked questions including regrets. My biggest Regret is that I should have talked to more people during Comic-Con. I was so annoyed by the fact that I could not talk to my friends that I missed out on making new friends. I felt like I was "stuck" with people rather than the more positive "the more the merrier". Ah well, I will try to do better starting now. Maybe by Con next year I will be chatting away with strangers like an old pro.
Thank You Exhibitors: I have a love / hate relationship with Con retailers. I am a collector and an eBayer, and I want what I want now! But retailers have learned to limit their sales to a single person per day. It makes it hard for me to get to a specific booth at a specific time, but the worse alternative would be for ONE Exhibitor to buy the last 40 of the special exclusive rare premium items at 9:15a.m. because he was able to get in the line before an average Attendee. I like eBay and the secondary market, but I would like to have a chance at an item. One or two per person tickets are the only way to go when there are so many people. Not everyone can get to Comic-Con on Wednesday so it is wonderful to note that an Attendee has a chance of purchasing his or her coveted item on Friday.
Prices went up this year, like every year, but I thought the pricing of most items was fair during the show. Most items cost what a collector would expect. Hasbro had a $1.00 difference in its pricing online compared to on-site. This was probably due to tax? Paying $16 instead of $15 was not going to kill me. However, Lego lost its mind with a drawing for the chance to purchase a $50 set of Legos. Not win, Purchase! In this economy!?
New Trends: #2 The Coupon Code. I like my swag to be an item, but this year more than ever I ended up with pieces of paper. There were flyers, postcards and plastic cards that had either a Password or Coupon code on it. I like the occasional iTunes download card, but this year was too much. I feel like I got a virtual prize and I am not thrilled.
#1 The "Gift with Purchase" idea seemed to be in full swing this year. I really wanted the new baby blue Naruto Viz bag, but it was only available with a purchase. Unfortunately the item wanted was not something they brought to the Convention :( I know of at least 4 other booths that gave nice bags as a "gift with purchase". In general this is sort of a nice idea since I truly fear that free swag is going to die off next year and for several years to come. Companies can no longer just give out 10,000 pieces of swag for 5 days straight. Time will tell.
Books and a Signing: I made it my business to get to the Publishers section of Comic-Con this year. I was rewarded with Book swag! Some were short stories, but most were full novels! Hooray! I went to my first book signing at Comic-Con ever. The Dark Hunter books are all about Vampires, Were's & Daimons, with lots of mythology mixed in. It was strangely fun chatting with other people who have also read 20+ books by the same person. Can you say, "Fan-atic!"? The only bad part was the time it took. Sherrilyn Kenyon was wonderful and signed everyone's book on Friday, which sounds good until you realize she has written over 30 books! Some people did not stick to the "Just a Few" rule. They brought up to 10 books. I was not suffering, but it did cause her to run 40 minutes late, which caused me to be...40 minutes late :( To make it all crazier Charlaine Harris was signing her True Blood vampire series at the next table! I could only be in one line at a time so I missed out on Mrs Harris.
Most Disappointing: #2 The new SciFi (now SyFy) company did not get a booth on the Exhibit hall floor, which sucked. Instead they took over a building on 5th Avenue and opened up Cafe Diem! It was a very cool idea, but the food was expensive and there seemed to be no rhyme or reason to their give-away schedule. Their staff wandered around and did not stay put directly in front of Cafe Diem so finding the very nice swag became doubly impossible. I am still using their BSG Big Frakin Bag from years ago and now I have nothing to replace it with. If they want me to use their new logo I need a new bag! Silly SyFy.
#1 The ridiculous amount of effort necessary to get some "free" swag items. Two years ago a mini scavenger hunt from one kids booth to another resulted in some very cool Avatar cards. Last year a larger scavenger hunt around downtown San Diego resulted in some unique Fringe items. I honestly did not have time for the 2007 on-site hunt let alone the wander around downtown hunt in 2008. This year, 2009, Disney went insane-o! It was for the Disney Flynn's Arcade Tron Legacy Set. An Attendee could wait a few hours to get into the Tron panel and receive a free coin...or...Flynn's Arcade reopened its doors in San Diego for three nights only! The first night, attendees went on a scavenger hunt across the Gaslamp District, looking for Flynn Lives posters! On the posters, were secret codes, only visible with a black light! These posters were ONLY given out on the first night, IF you completed the scavenger hunt successfully!!! You also get TWO tokens to Flynn's! They say "Flynn's Arcade" on one side, and "Home of Tron" on the other side. You also get an "admit one" ticket to Flynn's Arcade! These were ONLY given out on the final day, in the afternoon! But that's not all! You also get TWO exclusive t-shirts! "Flynn Lives" and "Flynn's Arcade". Both shirts also feature a secret code. If you take your black light to each shirt, you'll find a secret code hidden in the letters! REALLLLLY DISNEY THAT IS JUST TOO MUCH!!!!
Most Annoying, Personally: #2 Attempting to get a complete set of DC Direct Blackest Night Green Lanterns Action Figures! Unlike most of the crazed people around me I was only getting the DC Direct Blackest Night Action Figures because I promised to give them as a 50th Birthday present! What a daily nightmare that turned out to be!
#1 I fully realize that Comic-Con is a big place with 125,000+ people jamming the halls. I am not one of those unrealistic people who assumes there will be parking, just for me and a seat in a panel, just for me and that every action figure I wanted will be there waiting, Just For Me. However what annoyed me no end was my inability to meet up with old friends. I only see them once a year when they migrate to San Diego like flocks of birds. My schedule was too busy and so was theirs. It created a black hole of time suckage that we never escaped from! Boo Hiss!
My Best & Favorites:
Most of my pictures are posted in Photobucket under Marysgarage and Comic-Con CCI09.
PICTURES
Exhibit Hall Booths:
(photos removed after 6 months)
Costumes 2009:
(photos removed after 6 months)
2009 Swag Picture Groups:
(photos removed after 6 months)
COMIC-CON EXCLUSIVES 2009...that I was interested in:
DC Direct: Blackest Night Green Lantern Action Figures (Green, Yellow, Blue, Orange & Red) $20 each. *
Mattel: Justice League Unlimited Green Lantern Origins 3-Pack $20. *
Super 7: Vampire Rose 3 pk $50. *
Underground Toys - Doctor Who 1st Doctor (William Hartnell) & Dalek Invasion of Earth 2pk $40. *
Mattel: Disney/Pixar Toy Story Buzz Lightyear and Cars Rescue Squad Mater. Star Wars the Force Unleashed Stormtrooper Commander figure $15 each *
Hasbro: Optimus Prime Mighty Mugg Special Edition $16. * Neca: Coraline Doll $20 * Mr Toast: Ninja Joe the Egg $10. *
Peanuts: Astronaut Snoopy Lanyards (4) $3. *
Funko: 501st SW Clone Trooper Super Stylized Vinyl Bobblehead $20. *
Mez-Itz: Hellboy $20. *
CCI 40th Anniversary Book $30. *
AFX: Seventh Kingdom Akkuli Blue figure feline action figure $20. *
Dark Horse: Domo Kun, yellow $9. *
The Mighty Boosh T-shirt from BBCAmerica $17. *
Diamond Select: Ghostbusters Venkman & Stay Puft Marshmallow Man Minimates 2-Pack $9.
COMIC-CON PANEL EXCLUSIVE SWAG 2009:
24 Alarm Clock *
American Dad Button (1 of 4) *
Archaia / The Jim Henson Company: Archaia / Henson poster *
Archaia / Roddenberry Productions: copy of Days Missing #1 *
Archie Comics: Archie Marries Veronica An "Archie Marries Veronica" poster *
Aspen Universe & Beyond "SD Comic Con 2009 Panel Exclusive" limited edition comic book *
Assassins Creed II Bag *
Bill Plympton: King of Indie Animation free Bill Plympton drawing *
USA Network's Burn Notice, T-shirt *
The Cleveland Show Button (1 of 4) *
ComicBase (?) *
Dexter Buttons (4) Cereal Spiller, My Dad is Killer, My Dad Can Hack Anything, A Chop off the Old Block *
Disney Time Jumper postcard, Disney: 3D Panel Tron gold Coin, Poster, T-shirt *
Emily the Strange, drawing to win a prize package w/ a complete library of Emily books & (?) *
Farscape Postcards *
Family Guy collectable button card (Attend all four Fox Animation Panels to complete the set of 4) *
Fringe Newspaper *
The Great Transformers / G.I. Joe Crossover (?) *
Hot Wheels Battle Force 5: World Premiere! Hot Wheel Cars *
Human Target (Fox) T-Shirt *
Indiana Jones Fan Group Meeting: Indyfans and The Quest For Fortune and Glory (?) *
Iron Man II Stark Expo '74 T-shirt *
Kamen Rider Dragon Knight chance to win prizes from Bandai's KRDK toy line and (?) *
Kirkamania! The Robert Kirkman Panel Comic *
LEGO Star Wars Visual Dictionary, DK swag & entered to win a LEGO Star Wars set and a free copy of LEGO Star Wars: The Visual Dictionary upon its release *
Oni Press: Panelmonium 2009: Oni comics, prizes and more! *
Phineas & Ferb postcard & poster *
USA Network's Psych T-Shirt, Magic 8 Ball, Postcard & Comic from Oni Press *
Ratchet & Clank Inflatable Wrenches *
Shocker Toys Happy Hour Panel (?) *
The Simpsons Button (1 of 4) *
Smallville Hat *
Sony Uncharted II (?) *
Spartacus Burlap Bag, T-shirts (4), Poster, Signed Photos (12), Cards (12), Comic, Backboard, Flyer & Lanyard *
The Strand Prophecy Pin & Poster *
True Blood Bag, Book (Living Dead in Dallas), Postcard, Notepad & T-shirt *
Warner Bros white Bag (5) Sherlock Holmes T-shirt, SH Nightmare on Elm St T-shirt, The Box, White Out caribiner and Where the Wild Things Are paper crown *
Watchmen Comics (2), T-shirt *
What's Up with Penguin and DK free advance reading copies *
The Wonderful World of Computer Games in Japan (?) *
Yen Press (?) *
COMIC-CON FREEBIE SWAG