San Diego Comic Con - July 18-21, 2013 - Part 1
San Diego Comic Con. The bane of my existence.
...
In general the convention was awesome. First thing we did on Thursday was line up to see John Barrowman and Carole Barrowman at their Exodus Code signing in the exhibitor hall. The line was approximately 5 people long at that time. They were charming as usual. I first congratulated Scott on their marriage, as he was standing nearby (in charge of the credit card doohickey attached to a phone), and before we left I congratulated John. We then saw a TV Comedy Legends panel with William Shatner, Roseanne Barr, and Wayne Knight, followed by a Ghost Ghirls panel with Jack Black. Then there was an airing of an episode of Wilfred and a panel. Elijah Wood was on satellite. Next we saw Rob Benedict and Richard Speight Jr.'s short film The Sidekick, which was delightful, and the panel was great. Then we attended the Barrowman X 2 panel, which was hilarious as expected, with John, his sister, and Scott as well.
Friday there was a fantastic Defiance panel, a new pilot for The 100 (awesome. Can't wait for it!) and its panel, and then an awesome Falling Skies panel. In between was a Nikita panel. The only panel with any spoilers was Defiance, and we were luckily caught up on that one.
Saturday we were going to get up early for Ballroom 20 and see the Once Upon a Time and True Blood panels, but since Sunday was already going to be an early day we skipped those and just attended the final Warehouse 13 panel. AMAZING. It was extremely emotional. Lots of cast and audience tears, along with humor and fabulous cast chemistry that was missing the first time I saw them 2 years ago. I'm really going to miss them. And Eddie...oh Eddie. He's 13 years sober, and he went into exactly how much it meant to him to be given this chance on Warehouse 13. I wanted to hug him SO badly. Luckily Joanne was there and so was Jack Kenny, and they hugged him plenty. :_)
Sunday. Sunday was an absolute JOKE. *sigh* Okay. If any of you know anything about SDCC, you might also know that Ballroom 20 and Hall H require very early arrival at the convention center in order to get in. B20 holds approximately 5000 people (or just under), and Hall H around 6000. Hall H is usually where the REALLY popular panels are held. Twilight, for instance. When that panel happened a few years ago there were people camping out for DAYS. So we've always avoided that room. Well, this year I am a Supernatural fan, so I desperately wanted to try it. Now, people were allowed to start camping out at 9pm the night before. I figured, well, we're not going to do that, so let's just get up at the crack of dawn and take our chances.
-_-
Despite our 4am wake up and 5:30am arrival in line for Hall H this Sunday, staying in line, near the front (there are 4 final chutes. We were in #4. #s 1 and 2 had already gone in), until 12pm, we weren't allowed in the room as it was full by 9:30am and they'd started letting in just before 9. They advised we'd likely not be in until after Doctor Who, which was scheduled to start at 12:30 and end around 1:15 or 1:30. Needless to say, I was already heartbroken we didn't make it in for Supernatural at 10am, which I was there for in the first place. There were tears. I wasn't the only one. Missing Doctor Who was also shitty, but I already didn't give a flying fuck by then. We left and went to get lunch at Cafe Defiance and then attended the Under the Dome panel. They showed us the next episode a day early, which was cool..despite it being ep 5 and us having an unwatched ep 4 at home on the DVR. Would have also loved a longer panel, but it's new, so I understand. The exhibitor hall on Sunday was a farce as well. A sea of bodies packed wall to wall. This convention is now completely out of control. It wasn't this bad even back in 2007.
As if it weren't bad enough that Americans have a harder time getting tickets than those from out of the country. It's the way they sell their tickets through a third party now. For some reason our computers and phone lines have a harder time keeping the connection. If it weren't for our friend Sarah from Belgium who came with us, we'd have never gotten tickets this year at all (just like last year). Every time my friends say they want to go to SDCC so much I shake my head and say, "No, you really don't." You want to experience it? Okay. But trust me...it can be SO frustrating, heartbreaking, and tiring. Ridiculously so. And every year it gets busier and busier. You have to get in line earlier and earlier. They don't clear rooms like other conventions, and with over 100,000 people attending over the course of the weekend you can understand why people camp out the night before in order to just get INTO the panel they want to see, much less the room in general.
Security at Hall H, announcing around noon: "You'll be in by Community!" Me: "What the FUCK is Community?" Other fans: *raucous laughter*
Of course, I knew what it was, but my point was still valid. I highly doubt ANYone was there for anything other than Supernatural, Breaking Bad, and Doctor Who. And we saw none of them.
There was one glorious moment on Sunday, however. It wasn't all bad. Misha Collins apparently has a habit of jogging early in the morning (6am or so), right through the Hall H/Supernatural line of fans. So I was able to snap a shot and stare at him. That was my ONE photo from Sunday. My one highlight.
ANYWAY...you know I normally just post my photos. So, this is unusual for me to write so much. But I hope you can see why I did. It's more than just a bitter, jaded ferret not getting into the panel she stood in line 7 hours for. It's a warning to those wanting to go to Comic Con. Just take heed: it's not all fun and games. It's a LOT of work, blood, sweat, and tears.
I have photos from The Sidekick, Barrowman, Defiance, The 100 (you're gonna love it. Think Lord of the Flies meets Battlestar Galactica), Falling Skies, and Warehouse 13. There is even a video of John and Scott dancing. When I can get them uploaded (my internet is giving me problems at the moment) I will let you know. In the mean time they're on my FB if we're friends there.
Part 2 can be found over here at my journal...
...
In general the convention was awesome. First thing we did on Thursday was line up to see John Barrowman and Carole Barrowman at their Exodus Code signing in the exhibitor hall. The line was approximately 5 people long at that time. They were charming as usual. I first congratulated Scott on their marriage, as he was standing nearby (in charge of the credit card doohickey attached to a phone), and before we left I congratulated John. We then saw a TV Comedy Legends panel with William Shatner, Roseanne Barr, and Wayne Knight, followed by a Ghost Ghirls panel with Jack Black. Then there was an airing of an episode of Wilfred and a panel. Elijah Wood was on satellite. Next we saw Rob Benedict and Richard Speight Jr.'s short film The Sidekick, which was delightful, and the panel was great. Then we attended the Barrowman X 2 panel, which was hilarious as expected, with John, his sister, and Scott as well.
Friday there was a fantastic Defiance panel, a new pilot for The 100 (awesome. Can't wait for it!) and its panel, and then an awesome Falling Skies panel. In between was a Nikita panel. The only panel with any spoilers was Defiance, and we were luckily caught up on that one.
Saturday we were going to get up early for Ballroom 20 and see the Once Upon a Time and True Blood panels, but since Sunday was already going to be an early day we skipped those and just attended the final Warehouse 13 panel. AMAZING. It was extremely emotional. Lots of cast and audience tears, along with humor and fabulous cast chemistry that was missing the first time I saw them 2 years ago. I'm really going to miss them. And Eddie...oh Eddie. He's 13 years sober, and he went into exactly how much it meant to him to be given this chance on Warehouse 13. I wanted to hug him SO badly. Luckily Joanne was there and so was Jack Kenny, and they hugged him plenty. :_)
Sunday. Sunday was an absolute JOKE. *sigh* Okay. If any of you know anything about SDCC, you might also know that Ballroom 20 and Hall H require very early arrival at the convention center in order to get in. B20 holds approximately 5000 people (or just under), and Hall H around 6000. Hall H is usually where the REALLY popular panels are held. Twilight, for instance. When that panel happened a few years ago there were people camping out for DAYS. So we've always avoided that room. Well, this year I am a Supernatural fan, so I desperately wanted to try it. Now, people were allowed to start camping out at 9pm the night before. I figured, well, we're not going to do that, so let's just get up at the crack of dawn and take our chances.
-_-
Despite our 4am wake up and 5:30am arrival in line for Hall H this Sunday, staying in line, near the front (there are 4 final chutes. We were in #4. #s 1 and 2 had already gone in), until 12pm, we weren't allowed in the room as it was full by 9:30am and they'd started letting in just before 9. They advised we'd likely not be in until after Doctor Who, which was scheduled to start at 12:30 and end around 1:15 or 1:30. Needless to say, I was already heartbroken we didn't make it in for Supernatural at 10am, which I was there for in the first place. There were tears. I wasn't the only one. Missing Doctor Who was also shitty, but I already didn't give a flying fuck by then. We left and went to get lunch at Cafe Defiance and then attended the Under the Dome panel. They showed us the next episode a day early, which was cool..despite it being ep 5 and us having an unwatched ep 4 at home on the DVR. Would have also loved a longer panel, but it's new, so I understand. The exhibitor hall on Sunday was a farce as well. A sea of bodies packed wall to wall. This convention is now completely out of control. It wasn't this bad even back in 2007.
As if it weren't bad enough that Americans have a harder time getting tickets than those from out of the country. It's the way they sell their tickets through a third party now. For some reason our computers and phone lines have a harder time keeping the connection. If it weren't for our friend Sarah from Belgium who came with us, we'd have never gotten tickets this year at all (just like last year). Every time my friends say they want to go to SDCC so much I shake my head and say, "No, you really don't." You want to experience it? Okay. But trust me...it can be SO frustrating, heartbreaking, and tiring. Ridiculously so. And every year it gets busier and busier. You have to get in line earlier and earlier. They don't clear rooms like other conventions, and with over 100,000 people attending over the course of the weekend you can understand why people camp out the night before in order to just get INTO the panel they want to see, much less the room in general.
Security at Hall H, announcing around noon: "You'll be in by Community!" Me: "What the FUCK is Community?" Other fans: *raucous laughter*
Of course, I knew what it was, but my point was still valid. I highly doubt ANYone was there for anything other than Supernatural, Breaking Bad, and Doctor Who. And we saw none of them.
There was one glorious moment on Sunday, however. It wasn't all bad. Misha Collins apparently has a habit of jogging early in the morning (6am or so), right through the Hall H/Supernatural line of fans. So I was able to snap a shot and stare at him. That was my ONE photo from Sunday. My one highlight.
ANYWAY...you know I normally just post my photos. So, this is unusual for me to write so much. But I hope you can see why I did. It's more than just a bitter, jaded ferret not getting into the panel she stood in line 7 hours for. It's a warning to those wanting to go to Comic Con. Just take heed: it's not all fun and games. It's a LOT of work, blood, sweat, and tears.
I have photos from The Sidekick, Barrowman, Defiance, The 100 (you're gonna love it. Think Lord of the Flies meets Battlestar Galactica), Falling Skies, and Warehouse 13. There is even a video of John and Scott dancing. When I can get them uploaded (my internet is giving me problems at the moment) I will let you know. In the mean time they're on my FB if we're friends there.
Part 2 can be found over here at my journal...