The good and the annoying
We finally made it. We got through preview night of San Diego Comic Con fairly unscathed but really sweaty.
Here's the breakdown:
We arrived at the DoubleTree in Mission Valley, which is a lovely property. The rooms are spacious and the beds invite you to immediately take a nap. The hotel just went through a major reno, so it's looking really good. They forgot to give us cookies when we checked in, and our bellman remedied that situation immediately. The thing is, he gave us carte blanche on cookies, which my hubby (who is also the cookie monster in disguise) has used to his advantage ever since. He has bogarted at least six cookies at this point.
After check-in, we headed over to the Town and County which has a convention center attached (a very small one). They are now offering off-site registration, which was new to us, but apparently started last year. This was a very good idea, although it seems everyone had the same idea and showed up at the off-site location. After some effort, we got our badges and headed off to the convention center!
Once there, they dumped us at the Petco Park stop and we took the new pedestrian bridge, which is pretty cool. We got over to the convention center side and noticed some tents set up outside to shade people from the sun, but we couldn't figure out what the line was for. My husband asked someone, and it turns out it was an early line for the the Twilight panel. The Twilight panel isn't until tomorrow. Needless to say, a few thousand (I'm not kidding) screaming teens will be mobbing this panel. I'm sure the smell of hormones will be rampant. I will not be at this panel. The last thing I need is teenage girl hormones sticking to my clothing.
We finally got inside and immediately headed to Ballroom 20 for the early preview of Alcatraz, a show I have some interest in seeing. We had to sit through two anime episodes of Supernatural first, however. If you like this show, you may not like the animated version of it. The live series on the CW is actually pretty good and is well cast. This new animated version is overly heavy on the drama, and has the usual shaky eyed characters common to most anime (Japanese animation for those not in the loop). If you like anime and Supernatural, this is for you, but be prepared for heavy-handed dramatic pauses and over-emotional moments.
Alcatraz was much more entertaining. The premise is that in 1963, 300 inmates and guards disappeared from the island as it was being closed. They are now showing up in modern day San Francisco (at least for now just San Fran). There is, of course, a covert government agency who is aware of the problem led by the ever fabulous Sam Neill (who is obviously both good and somewhat evil..I love this about him..he does both easily). I won't spoil anything else, but I dig the premise and think this one could be a crowd pleaser as long as the writing gets a little cripser. The cast is good, with genre-fave Jorge Garcia as an Alcatraz expert, and Sarah Jones in the lead as a detective who digs into the first case.
In the breaks of the shows, we got a couple little previews of the new Batman: Arkham City game which looks incredible. I don't know how it's going to play, but the graphics in the game play seem amazing. We also got some commercials for the Smallville complete set of DVD's coming out in the fall, which will be loaded with extras. We also got a nifty little commercial for a new live-action series based on the video game Mortal Combat. I realize there's been a few movies, but this is going to be a TV show. It centers on the origins of six of the Mortal Combat characters, and I can tell you I'm already in on this one. As a huge fan of the game, this is right up my alley. TOASTY!
After this, Keith and I wandered the sales floor for a bit. It was chaos, as per usual. We got to take a look at some of what Sideshow Collectibles has to offer this coming year, and I'm blown away by some of the new statues and busts they'll be selling. They are doing a new line of "legendary scale" figures that around 2 1/2 feet tall. They are truly works of art. I'll post pics when we get back and I can sync my camera. I'll try to post some on FB as soon as I can as well. Hasbro has a cool set of original Star Wars figures that they are selling as a set in a very nifty Death Star carrying case. We also spotted a giant Voltron, as they are rebooting the series. Lego had some cool stuff, including a full-sized lego Captain Jack Sparrow. Star Wars has a very large presence here this year as well, and we noticed that comic books are making a stronger appearance this year than I've seen in a while. I think the ComicCon folks got the message that the comics vendors were feeling a tad left out of a comic-oriented convention.
Well, that's all for now. Tomorrow is a heavy programming day for me, and I need a shower and some sleep. And my husband needs another cookie. And then probably one more.
I'll have a fairly lengthy post tomorrow and will break down as much as I can. Good night, nerdlings and not-so-nerdling.
Here's the breakdown:
We arrived at the DoubleTree in Mission Valley, which is a lovely property. The rooms are spacious and the beds invite you to immediately take a nap. The hotel just went through a major reno, so it's looking really good. They forgot to give us cookies when we checked in, and our bellman remedied that situation immediately. The thing is, he gave us carte blanche on cookies, which my hubby (who is also the cookie monster in disguise) has used to his advantage ever since. He has bogarted at least six cookies at this point.
After check-in, we headed over to the Town and County which has a convention center attached (a very small one). They are now offering off-site registration, which was new to us, but apparently started last year. This was a very good idea, although it seems everyone had the same idea and showed up at the off-site location. After some effort, we got our badges and headed off to the convention center!
Once there, they dumped us at the Petco Park stop and we took the new pedestrian bridge, which is pretty cool. We got over to the convention center side and noticed some tents set up outside to shade people from the sun, but we couldn't figure out what the line was for. My husband asked someone, and it turns out it was an early line for the the Twilight panel. The Twilight panel isn't until tomorrow. Needless to say, a few thousand (I'm not kidding) screaming teens will be mobbing this panel. I'm sure the smell of hormones will be rampant. I will not be at this panel. The last thing I need is teenage girl hormones sticking to my clothing.
We finally got inside and immediately headed to Ballroom 20 for the early preview of Alcatraz, a show I have some interest in seeing. We had to sit through two anime episodes of Supernatural first, however. If you like this show, you may not like the animated version of it. The live series on the CW is actually pretty good and is well cast. This new animated version is overly heavy on the drama, and has the usual shaky eyed characters common to most anime (Japanese animation for those not in the loop). If you like anime and Supernatural, this is for you, but be prepared for heavy-handed dramatic pauses and over-emotional moments.
Alcatraz was much more entertaining. The premise is that in 1963, 300 inmates and guards disappeared from the island as it was being closed. They are now showing up in modern day San Francisco (at least for now just San Fran). There is, of course, a covert government agency who is aware of the problem led by the ever fabulous Sam Neill (who is obviously both good and somewhat evil..I love this about him..he does both easily). I won't spoil anything else, but I dig the premise and think this one could be a crowd pleaser as long as the writing gets a little cripser. The cast is good, with genre-fave Jorge Garcia as an Alcatraz expert, and Sarah Jones in the lead as a detective who digs into the first case.
In the breaks of the shows, we got a couple little previews of the new Batman: Arkham City game which looks incredible. I don't know how it's going to play, but the graphics in the game play seem amazing. We also got some commercials for the Smallville complete set of DVD's coming out in the fall, which will be loaded with extras. We also got a nifty little commercial for a new live-action series based on the video game Mortal Combat. I realize there's been a few movies, but this is going to be a TV show. It centers on the origins of six of the Mortal Combat characters, and I can tell you I'm already in on this one. As a huge fan of the game, this is right up my alley. TOASTY!
After this, Keith and I wandered the sales floor for a bit. It was chaos, as per usual. We got to take a look at some of what Sideshow Collectibles has to offer this coming year, and I'm blown away by some of the new statues and busts they'll be selling. They are doing a new line of "legendary scale" figures that around 2 1/2 feet tall. They are truly works of art. I'll post pics when we get back and I can sync my camera. I'll try to post some on FB as soon as I can as well. Hasbro has a cool set of original Star Wars figures that they are selling as a set in a very nifty Death Star carrying case. We also spotted a giant Voltron, as they are rebooting the series. Lego had some cool stuff, including a full-sized lego Captain Jack Sparrow. Star Wars has a very large presence here this year as well, and we noticed that comic books are making a stronger appearance this year than I've seen in a while. I think the ComicCon folks got the message that the comics vendors were feeling a tad left out of a comic-oriented convention.
Well, that's all for now. Tomorrow is a heavy programming day for me, and I need a shower and some sleep. And my husband needs another cookie. And then probably one more.
I'll have a fairly lengthy post tomorrow and will break down as much as I can. Good night, nerdlings and not-so-nerdling.