San Diego Comic Con 2006
So, on a somewhat spur of the moment thing, Amy, Kim and I decided to go to Saturday's Comic Con! I haven't been to Comic Con, just Anime Expo. Amy and Kim were con virgins :o
Details and pictures after the cut, with headings to mitigate the "wall of text" effect.
The Journey
So the idea of driving down there and finding parking was definitely unappealing, so I decided we were going to take the train! (No one wanted to drive - teehee.) Unfortunately, just as we were getting ready to drive to the train station, I forgot the map. We didn't have time to run upstairs and get it, so off we went! This came back to bite us in the butt.
We arrived at Downtown SD at 10am, and then set off to find the Comicon since I forgot my maps. Plus there was a large stream of people headed in one direction, so it couldn't hurt to try and follow them, right? Long story short, street signs pointing to the convention center suck, mostly because that area is full of one way streets. Eventually a man with a bike-pulled carriage thing took us there.
When we got there, the line for onsite registration was really long. Also, it really slowed up because they stopped registration for a bit because, according to the fire marshals, the exhibition hall was full as far as fire safety was concerned. It was broiling hot, and Kim, of European descent, was wilting in the heat. :/ Poor girl, you didn't have to stick it out that long! *hugs*! Eventually she went home and we carried on in her honor.
Cosplayers
We made it past registration, and I think it was around 2pm. We wandered around the huge exibhition hall. It was so full of people! There weren't so many cosplayers as Anime Expo, though. I don't like posing so much as I do like taking pictures, so here we have Amy with a Stormtrooper and Batman! Note, Amy said that Batman was holding her closer than was strictly necessary. I suppose it's not often that he gets to hug a pretty girl, and the suit gives him an excuse to do so.
Square Enix
Square Enix had a booth with some playable demos of that Dirge of Cerberus thing, Valkyrie Profile 2, etc. I managed to get a somewhat blurry Valkyrie Profile 2 picture here. There was a gigantic screen with a FF12 trailer, and also a note that said NO PHOTOGRAPHY OR VIDEO. So, the trailer looked very nice, and the voices weren't that bad. Sometimes the voices slipped up and sounded really lame/melodramatic, but it wasn't horrible.
Blizzard
I visited the small Blizzard booth they had there. They had a few terminals where you could play the Burning Crusade, and a large screen in the center with the trailer for it. I didn't have time to play it (the panel was starting soon, you see). However, I did see things like Hellfire peninsula. The small zones had cool names such as "Stair of Destiny" and the "Plains of Glory." The little Gnome rogue was equipped with Kingsfall! Xann would be so jealous. I saw the aforementioned Gnome rogue fight a gigantic pig, the type you see in the Blasted Lands. The character was 62, and the animals were level 55ish. (I suppose it's an alternative place to level to 60?). The character's bags were full of jewels for sockets. Hellfire peninsula didn't look that attractive, but I guess if your planet was blown to bits, it wouldn't look all that attractive, either.
I also saw Eyonix, who is very distinctive with his tatoos and shaved head, and someone next to him that must have been Nethera. I didn't get close enough to hear what they were saying clearly, since I am small and people had formed a semi circle around them. I heard snatches of conversation that seemed to deal with PVP, at least. I admire them, though. Imagine standing around for hours on end, fielding questions from fans. Especially the kind that post on the forums. I couldn't get a picture of course, since that would require people remaining still, but I captured a video and here is a picture from that video, of Eyonix. Cane-free.
Note, Eyonix is only a few inches taller than me, and I'm 5'3".
Blizzard Artist
There was a group signing for some artists for the WoW TCG (Trading Card Game). I didn't really recognize any names but Glenn Rane, who did the beautiful wallpaper here. The rest of the signatures are located in the gallery, which I link at the bottom of the page.
Nintendo
The Nintendo section was amazing. They had a bunch of seats with DS Lite's hooked up to each of them, and you could play various demos. All along the top, you could see a trailers of various DS games. Now, I want Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin! There was also a Link wandering around, with two girls I assume are from Twilight Princess. I felt weird asking him, so we got semi not posed pictures of them. The two girls also took the Link by the hands and led him around, which leads me to wonder if he could see very well out of that head.
Tamora Pierce's latest book
At what seemed to be publisher's row, a nice man from Random House books gave us an "advanced reader's copy" of Terrier, by Tamora Pierce. Apparently, it's set up to be years before the Alanna series, about Beka Cooper. I haven't actually read any of Tamora Pierce's books, but from what I read of this partial manuscript, I think I need to read the rest of her works.
The Panel
Then to the main goods! I attended a panel about how fantasy authors write and create new stories without, well, just copying other stories. I went there mainly because Naomi Novik and George R.R. Martin were there. However, David Keck and Todd McCaffrey (that's Anne McCaffrey's son) were simply -hilarious-. I liked them! However, most of the questions were directed to George R.R. Martin. Oh, Peter S. Beagle was there as well. I have dubbed his voice the "masterpiece theater voice." It was measured, reasonant, and fascinating. On further review, I wish I gotten something signed for Tina, but I think meeting all those people made me melt down into a bundle of nervousness. (Besides, they didn't have a copy of the Last Unicorn for me to purchase at the autograph portion, which made me sad since I realized someone "borrowed" my copy of the Last Unicorn and never returned it.)
From left to right, David Keck, Todd McCaffrey, and Naomi Novik
There was a small discussion on fan fiction at the panel. Naomi Novik mentioned that she started out writing fan fiction instead of short stories. George R.R. Martin was a strong advocate for beginning with short stories, and said that fan fiction isn't good to start off with because you don't even make up the characters, or the world they are in. I, myself, have no opinion on the matter. I don't read fan fiction either, but I thought it was an interesting little debate for those of you that do.
At the group autograph session, I felt a little bad for the other authors. Almost everyone in line was waiting in line to see Martin. I saw tons of copies of A Song of Ice and Fire. The rest of the authors were chatting among themselves for the most part, while Martin's pen was busy scribbling away. In fact, he just signed mine, and Amy had to mention up front that she wanted hers made out to "Kimberly." (Ahem, since Kim had to go home, we took her book so we could get it signed for her.)
I chatted for a tiny bit with Novik and McCaffrey, but I ran off quickly, conscious that there were people behind me. Now that I think about it, it might have been a bit rude because I didn't say good bye or anything, and I might have cut him off. Besides, I was fairly certain the people behind me were busy with Martin. Sigh. Shame, because they seeemd to be extremely interesting people.
Note that Novik's is much more personal than Martin's.
Charles Martinet!
The last thing we did was stand in line to meet Charles Martinet, the "voice of Mario" as the sign near his desk loudly proclaimed. It wasn't really that long of a line, but we had to wait quite a while - mostly because he wrote long messages, shook hands, etc. When we finally met him, Amy and I quickly came to the conclusion that he was a really nice man. I took a picture of him and Amy, and when Amy said it was my turn, I didn't really want to take any more time (the people behind us were rather vocal earlier in their displeasure of having to wait so long.) However, he said, "Don't worry, we'll get them all." And so the picture was taken! Whenever he took a picture, he went "woohoo!" I would really like him for a grandfather or something - he was so extremely nice. He really loved his fans, even though he clearly had a lot of them. Now you can see I have no backbone when it comes to meeting famous people, except when I have moral girly support.
It says, "Diana / Mama Mia / You my Princess / Mario / Charles Martinet =)"
It was a really fun day, besides the fact I was sweaty from waiting so long in the sun earlier (yuck) and I only ate a very gross, untoasted pretzel. For the rest of the pictures, go here!
Details and pictures after the cut, with headings to mitigate the "wall of text" effect.
The Journey
So the idea of driving down there and finding parking was definitely unappealing, so I decided we were going to take the train! (No one wanted to drive - teehee.) Unfortunately, just as we were getting ready to drive to the train station, I forgot the map. We didn't have time to run upstairs and get it, so off we went! This came back to bite us in the butt.
We arrived at Downtown SD at 10am, and then set off to find the Comicon since I forgot my maps. Plus there was a large stream of people headed in one direction, so it couldn't hurt to try and follow them, right? Long story short, street signs pointing to the convention center suck, mostly because that area is full of one way streets. Eventually a man with a bike-pulled carriage thing took us there.
When we got there, the line for onsite registration was really long. Also, it really slowed up because they stopped registration for a bit because, according to the fire marshals, the exhibition hall was full as far as fire safety was concerned. It was broiling hot, and Kim, of European descent, was wilting in the heat. :/ Poor girl, you didn't have to stick it out that long! *hugs*! Eventually she went home and we carried on in her honor.
Cosplayers
We made it past registration, and I think it was around 2pm. We wandered around the huge exibhition hall. It was so full of people! There weren't so many cosplayers as Anime Expo, though. I don't like posing so much as I do like taking pictures, so here we have Amy with a Stormtrooper and Batman! Note, Amy said that Batman was holding her closer than was strictly necessary. I suppose it's not often that he gets to hug a pretty girl, and the suit gives him an excuse to do so.
Square Enix
Square Enix had a booth with some playable demos of that Dirge of Cerberus thing, Valkyrie Profile 2, etc. I managed to get a somewhat blurry Valkyrie Profile 2 picture here. There was a gigantic screen with a FF12 trailer, and also a note that said NO PHOTOGRAPHY OR VIDEO. So, the trailer looked very nice, and the voices weren't that bad. Sometimes the voices slipped up and sounded really lame/melodramatic, but it wasn't horrible.
Blizzard
I visited the small Blizzard booth they had there. They had a few terminals where you could play the Burning Crusade, and a large screen in the center with the trailer for it. I didn't have time to play it (the panel was starting soon, you see). However, I did see things like Hellfire peninsula. The small zones had cool names such as "Stair of Destiny" and the "Plains of Glory." The little Gnome rogue was equipped with Kingsfall! Xann would be so jealous. I saw the aforementioned Gnome rogue fight a gigantic pig, the type you see in the Blasted Lands. The character was 62, and the animals were level 55ish. (I suppose it's an alternative place to level to 60?). The character's bags were full of jewels for sockets. Hellfire peninsula didn't look that attractive, but I guess if your planet was blown to bits, it wouldn't look all that attractive, either.
I also saw Eyonix, who is very distinctive with his tatoos and shaved head, and someone next to him that must have been Nethera. I didn't get close enough to hear what they were saying clearly, since I am small and people had formed a semi circle around them. I heard snatches of conversation that seemed to deal with PVP, at least. I admire them, though. Imagine standing around for hours on end, fielding questions from fans. Especially the kind that post on the forums. I couldn't get a picture of course, since that would require people remaining still, but I captured a video and here is a picture from that video, of Eyonix. Cane-free.
Note, Eyonix is only a few inches taller than me, and I'm 5'3".
Blizzard Artist
There was a group signing for some artists for the WoW TCG (Trading Card Game). I didn't really recognize any names but Glenn Rane, who did the beautiful wallpaper here. The rest of the signatures are located in the gallery, which I link at the bottom of the page.
Nintendo
The Nintendo section was amazing. They had a bunch of seats with DS Lite's hooked up to each of them, and you could play various demos. All along the top, you could see a trailers of various DS games. Now, I want Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin! There was also a Link wandering around, with two girls I assume are from Twilight Princess. I felt weird asking him, so we got semi not posed pictures of them. The two girls also took the Link by the hands and led him around, which leads me to wonder if he could see very well out of that head.
Tamora Pierce's latest book
At what seemed to be publisher's row, a nice man from Random House books gave us an "advanced reader's copy" of Terrier, by Tamora Pierce. Apparently, it's set up to be years before the Alanna series, about Beka Cooper. I haven't actually read any of Tamora Pierce's books, but from what I read of this partial manuscript, I think I need to read the rest of her works.
The Panel
Then to the main goods! I attended a panel about how fantasy authors write and create new stories without, well, just copying other stories. I went there mainly because Naomi Novik and George R.R. Martin were there. However, David Keck and Todd McCaffrey (that's Anne McCaffrey's son) were simply -hilarious-. I liked them! However, most of the questions were directed to George R.R. Martin. Oh, Peter S. Beagle was there as well. I have dubbed his voice the "masterpiece theater voice." It was measured, reasonant, and fascinating. On further review, I wish I gotten something signed for Tina, but I think meeting all those people made me melt down into a bundle of nervousness. (Besides, they didn't have a copy of the Last Unicorn for me to purchase at the autograph portion, which made me sad since I realized someone "borrowed" my copy of the Last Unicorn and never returned it.)
From left to right, David Keck, Todd McCaffrey, and Naomi Novik
There was a small discussion on fan fiction at the panel. Naomi Novik mentioned that she started out writing fan fiction instead of short stories. George R.R. Martin was a strong advocate for beginning with short stories, and said that fan fiction isn't good to start off with because you don't even make up the characters, or the world they are in. I, myself, have no opinion on the matter. I don't read fan fiction either, but I thought it was an interesting little debate for those of you that do.
At the group autograph session, I felt a little bad for the other authors. Almost everyone in line was waiting in line to see Martin. I saw tons of copies of A Song of Ice and Fire. The rest of the authors were chatting among themselves for the most part, while Martin's pen was busy scribbling away. In fact, he just signed mine, and Amy had to mention up front that she wanted hers made out to "Kimberly." (Ahem, since Kim had to go home, we took her book so we could get it signed for her.)
I chatted for a tiny bit with Novik and McCaffrey, but I ran off quickly, conscious that there were people behind me. Now that I think about it, it might have been a bit rude because I didn't say good bye or anything, and I might have cut him off. Besides, I was fairly certain the people behind me were busy with Martin. Sigh. Shame, because they seeemd to be extremely interesting people.
Note that Novik's is much more personal than Martin's.
Charles Martinet!
The last thing we did was stand in line to meet Charles Martinet, the "voice of Mario" as the sign near his desk loudly proclaimed. It wasn't really that long of a line, but we had to wait quite a while - mostly because he wrote long messages, shook hands, etc. When we finally met him, Amy and I quickly came to the conclusion that he was a really nice man. I took a picture of him and Amy, and when Amy said it was my turn, I didn't really want to take any more time (the people behind us were rather vocal earlier in their displeasure of having to wait so long.) However, he said, "Don't worry, we'll get them all." And so the picture was taken! Whenever he took a picture, he went "woohoo!" I would really like him for a grandfather or something - he was so extremely nice. He really loved his fans, even though he clearly had a lot of them. Now you can see I have no backbone when it comes to meeting famous people, except when I have moral girly support.
It says, "Diana / Mama Mia / You my Princess / Mario / Charles Martinet =)"
It was a really fun day, besides the fact I was sweaty from waiting so long in the sun earlier (yuck) and I only ate a very gross, untoasted pretzel. For the rest of the pictures, go here!