San Diego Comic-Con 2017
It's our first time in SDCC 2017! And I'm excited to share it here! (I'm pretty sure this is going to be long so stick around if you wish...)
You have no idea how I managed to get badges. It involves fast driving home, a lot of praying, tons more waiting, crossing of fingers, excitement, panicking, remembering and recalling, calling my brother 20 times, talking to my brother five times, experiencing disappointment, not losing hope, trying again and again, choosing, paying, confirming, crying of joy, and a lot more praying.
It was a lot!
And now, I get to tell the good stuff!
July 22, 2017: Day 3 of SDCC/Our first day and first time
We woke up early. Since we moved, we are not in San Diego county anymore, so San Diego is now an hour away rather than just half an hour. And also because we are excited, my oldest brother, Luke, needed to get into the Funko line, and we have to get our lanyards, books, and bag.
We've been to San Diego Conventon Center before but actually going inside was something else. Actually, it was more of a fact that we were there for SDCC that makes it so exciting!
this is just one hall of the convention center, there are 8, 3 floors, and 3 other buildings involved
We walked a lot just to find the place we can get our lanyard, books, and bag. We just didn't know where to go, so we basically went everywhere. After a lot of asking, and finally getting our stuff, we didn't find the Funko Pop line becasue apparently they cannot accomodate everybody, it's pretty much just limited wristnbanded people.
So we decided to fall in line to where the exhibit halls are at. IT WAS A HUGE LINE. There wasn't even a line, we just dominated the hallways until we got a chance to go in. And the excitement was unbearable! Entering those halls was a dream come true it was freakin' amazing! We saw the Artist's Alley first and just headed our way.
There was a lot to see. Spongebob's pineapple, multiple TVs from Warner Bros., a gated building with zombies all around, a gigantic TV screen from the Marvel booth... And almost a mile of booths, video game areas, interactive displays, cosplayers, people, dragons, clothes, plushies, and just everything! Since I've been a con-goer for a long time. This was not new to me. But SDCC just took the amazing-ness to another level! It was as if I was in my very first con all over again!
We didn't get to see everything. There were tons of people so we didn't get to explore every booth. The navigating was hard because of this, but hey! I didn't expect less. And as I said, the convention center was three floors, but there are 3 other buildings involved that we didn't even step a foot on. One hotel was solely for anime screenings. One hotel was doing some panels for TV shows that could accomodate more people. And a library that involved panels that would revolve around the library.
I just have to mention... THE FREE STUFF! When we were going to cons in the Philippines, I got some flyers here and there. And that's basically the free stuff. I got overwhelmed with the free stuff from Anime Expo. But SDCC drowned me with free stuff!
the things I bought vs. the things I got for free
I also bought a couple of DVDs that's not included in the photo. But the free stuff though! And this is just for two days! What if I went on all five days? I'll be drowning in so much stuff. Bookmarks, photo prints, postcards, tote bags, posters, pins, comics, books, and anything small and made of paper were just basically being handed to you! And the books!!! (I have to admit, I got some books I'm not interested in that I might just donate.) My stack of free books are higher than the stack that I actually bought. I swear my shoulders and my back hurt just for carrying these stuff. Good thing my brother was okay with carrying my suff.
I actually stopped by the PenguinTeen booth and learned that one of their best selling authors was doing a signing. So I went and bought a book, got a free book, and even got my books signed. I haven't read anything from Renee Ahdieh but it was exciting to meet her.
After about 5 hours of walking around the exhibit halls, we called it quits and went back to our car. Thank goodness there were free shuttle services every fifteen minutes! Because where we parked was about a fifteen minute walk. And walking with all the things we all got in the middle of the summer afternoon is not very appealing. We went back to the parking lot, ate our baon and went back to grab a shuttle.
We were so tired but we still wanted to see a lot more. Good thing I talked my brothers into attending a few panels. We went to the meeting room quite early, and they actually just let us in even though the current panel wasn't done. So we got to see some actors and people involved from American Gods, Shadowhunters, The Magicians, iZombies. That was pretty cool. Being there was actually our rest period which we are so grateful for. After that, the panel I wanted to watch was for a preview of "Hulu's Future Man." We do not have a Hulu subscription but the panel involves Seth Rogen and Josh Hutcherson. And the latter's name pretty much called to me and said to attend it. Hahahahahaha! The panel was really hilarious! Even Luke, who wasn't that interested, found it hilarious and enjoyed it.
Hulu's Future Man. Seth Rogen's the 2nd from the left and Josh is in the middle
After that, we went to the other side of the convention center to attend the Crunchyroll panel. Which was in the nick of time because the meeting room was full. I guess they didn't expect that many people to attend because not everybody who lined up didn't get to go inside. They just talked about new anime coming out this season and the coming seasons. Truthfully, it was quite boring. They showed us some trailers, did some trivia, and did some announcements. A woman, two seats away from us was actually dozing off. I'm pretty sure us being so tired for the day helped on how the panel was quite boring. That panel finished at 9pm. There are still some panels, anime screenings going on but the exhibit halls were closed at 7pm. So we called it quits after the Crunchyroll panel and just went home.
That day was pretty amazing! I was so tired yet so worth it an I was glowing in happiness that night.
July 23, 2017: SDCC Day 4/Last Day
We got to the convention center half an hour earlier than yesterday. But even with that effort, we still didn't get to get in line for the Funko Pop line. Apparently, they hit their limit pretty early. It was sad but there was nothing much we could do. So we just hung out until it was time to line up for the exhibit halls again. We were still pretty tired so we weren't talking much unlike yesterday.
When we got in, I was pretty much flying solo. i went around the exhibit hall by myself. I was pretty much stalking the booths of publishers and book shops. I know, I'm weird! And I got more free books and more free stuff running around the halls. At 11am, I went to a panel with Leigh Berdugo, Tomi Adeyemi, and the creator of Avatar: The Last Airbender, Michael Di Martino, who is just recently a published author. They were talking about Fantasy and Diversity in novels. It was so much fun and cool seeing all of them. Though Micheal Di Martino was there talking more about his book, Avatar was also discussed so that was a bonus! The panel was very insightful. Leigh was such an advocate to women's voices and the minority, which raised my feminist flag up high. Same goes to Tomi and she's so funny. And Michael was fun too but pretty chill.
Fantasy, Diversity and Inspiring One Another panel
I went around the Exhibit halls again. I met Hagrid! After taking a photo with him, he handed me my Hogwarts letter that has "Hogwarts Students, SDCC 2017, San Diego California. Which was pretty awesome!!!! Then I dove right back in to go to the What's Hot in YA Fiction panel. I have not read any books from anybody on this panel. These guys are best selling authors. And I do not read a lot of best sellers becasue sometimes they're books are overrated and i just don't like to join the hype that much. I went because I was lonely, there wasn't much to do, and it was actually fun to hear the insights and adventures of these writers. I actually really enjoyed the panel.
What's Hot in Young Adult Fiction panel
After this I went to the other side of the convention center and went to a Harry Potter fan meet panel! It was called Fantastic Fans and Where To Find Them: Rowling Along in 2017. Apparently, this panel happens every year. So this was pretty much a recap of what happend in the last year for fans. If you are not a fan in the deep end, I think you won't relate to it that much. The panelists were someone from Mugglenet, Muggle Quidditch, A Very Potter Musical, Puffs, a fan fiction writer, director of the recent fan-made movies, and so forth. The person who was hosting the panel was pretty much talking a lot to the point she answered some questions from the attendees rather than the panelists answering the question. And the panel went over the time which I thought was disrespectful. It was fun attending it, but the introvert that I am, didn't find it very amazing. It was good and fun to be a part of but... yeah...
Fantastic Fans and Where To Find Them panel
After that panel, I went back to the Exhibit Halls and roamed around. Since it was the last day, everything was pretty much on sale. So I bought a lot of books again. Roamed around a lot. I also bought a parasol because it was super cute! i called up my brothers to meet up and pretty much dragged along until SDCC was over. When 5pm hit (yes, the last day ended at 5pm) there was an announcement thanking everybody for coming. And everyone in the exhibit halls gave a round of applause. It was a magical way to end the convention! I just never saw anything like that before so it was really fun and SDCC deserved that round of applause.
After that, my brothers and I walked a lot until we got to our parking lot. We ended the day by going to In-N-Out and had our celebratory end of SDCC dinner.
San Diego Comic-Con, I am truly grateful for that woderful experience! Though we attended only two days, it was truly memorable and amazing, and a whole lot more good adjectives that you guys deserve. This will definitely be a highlight of my year and even my life. Thank you! And we hope to see you again next year!