Comic Con 2012: Wrap-Up
In some ways, I'm really glad it's over... and in others, I'm not.
In the "Not Happy" category, I have the issue that there are problems that have to be dealt with NOW and that I put off thinking about completely for four days. Most of these are long-term issues that are jostling for short-term attention, and as usual, sorting through them takes patience and time, which are entities that I don't have in large supply at the moment. (As Shanghai Vixen quoted to me this morning, "Temporary battles will take up half your life.") There's also a huge letdown now that comes with having to realign myself to the reality that I'm no longer in a space where people will necessarily "get" my nerdy t-shirt or quotation. There's also a political re-calibration that will need to take place, too, when it comes to disclosing how much of a fan I am or not, depending on the conversation or the people involved. (Of course, disclosing what I'm a fan of at the Con was a separate decision-making process in and of itself!)
On the plus side, of course, in real life, there aren't any crazy lines for fun things. My feet are slowly recovering, hindered only by a blister in a weird and uncomfortable spot between my toes. We probably spent a little more money than we should have, although as usual, we didn't go anywhere near as crazy as we could have. (Yebisu's interest in the collectible sculptures only seems to extend to looking at them and fantasizing about the Manly Den of Manliness that he will have someday.)
This year, I was especially proud that we didn't come out of the whole thing feeling as exhausted as we have in years past. In fact, getting up early wasn't a problem because we are so used to doing it now, at R.'s insistence. But we were really judicious about leaving when we felt tired, and not stretching things out past the proverbial point of no return. We've also gotten much savvier at negotiating the Exhibit Hall floor and judging what will be popular enough to avoid, so mega kudos to us!
Generally speaking, the crowds at this year's Con were polite and well-meaning as usual. And I found that a lot of people were so happy to just be there and talk with fellow enthusiasts that I could strike up conversations anywhere and anytime. Every ride on the trolley, for example, was an adventure with good conversation and excitement. But I was disappointed to occasionally catch little currents of bad stuff, including one incredibly racist comment that I won't reproduce here regarding Asian American fans. It's always strange when geeks feel the need to put other geeks down for stupid reasons, as if they've forgotten what it's like not to be at Con and face putdowns from people who can't believe that a geek is into [X geeky thing here.]
I did not appreciate the Christian fundamentalists yelling at us throughout the Con, although it should be said that one of them gave me a "Get Out of Hell Free" card, which is pretty much the funniest thing I've ever seen. But other people didn't think it was funny, and the counter-protests got ruder and ruder. At first, it was one guy with a "Superman died for your sins!" sign, which was funny. But then it got to the point where people had made signs that said, "Christians = Nazis" and I overheard people telling the original Christian protestors to go fuck themselves, which was really uncalled for. I really don't see why anyone had to engage with them at all; all that does is make them want to come back next year and harass us again. By the time I left the Gaslamp quarter on Sunday, there was a protestor with a sign listing who would burn in hell ("Witches, Masturbators, Pagans, Sinners") arguing with a guy with a "Galactus is Nigh!" sign, and it was awful. The SDPD were keeping a watchful eye on the whole thing, and I felt the sorriest for them. They must hate the Con, even though 99% of the people there are relaxed and law-abiding. I made a big point out of thanking everyone I could for helping keep us all safe, from transit officials to cops who didn't look immediately busy.
There were a lot of zombies and zombie-related crap. No panic attacks at all, but a lot of things that I tried not to look at. And the stuff I did see was just plain weird: an entire family in zombie makeup sitting in the back row of one of the panels, looking fiercely weird together, daring anyone to come and mess with them. Or the beautiful woman with gorgeous blond hair, who had makeup to show a railroad spike driven through her eye and out her cheek, eerily accurate with bits of brain and gore all over her shoulders. I saw that second one while I was eating lunch on Sunday, and it's a testament to how desensitized I'd become that it just made me pause for a second and then I went back to my sandwich. So I'm proud of myself for keeping the phobia in check, but still mystified as to when this goddamn trend will run its effing course.
Finally, I was really pleased to see as many parents being careful of their kids and their experiences at the Con as parents bringing in kids who were too young or tired. I had a really lovely conversation with a Dad about taking his two kids, 13 and 7, to the Con, and how he'd managed it over the years, and it really made me look forward to taking R. when he's ready.
In short form:
Best Free Stuff: The Dalek hat, hands down. Even though wearing it was a little tricky (it didn't balance quite right and swayed on my head quite a bit, like a posture test), I got a lot of compliments and envious looks from other Con goers. How I ended up getting it was a complete fluke, since I think
figgy_newton unintentionally cut through a line, but wound up with one anyway. The poor BBC America staffer looked a bit shellshocked/stressed when he handed me two.
Worst Free Stuff: The stale box of supposedly "fresh!" popcorn I got from a Fandango snack wagon outside the Convention Center.
Most Earnest Free Stuff: On Sunday morning, while Yebisu and I were waiting for the Adventure Time exhibit to open up, a group of women came along, handing out sequined tiaras to promote a children's book along the lines of Harry Potter. I could tell that unlike other swag, these things were hand-made, and I suspect that this was the author's family, trying to promote his work. I wore it on the front of my Vader baseball cap and got several compliments on it.
Pop Culture Entity We're All Going to Be Sick of This Time Next Year: The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot. There was so much promotional material for this, and the whole thing reeked of desperation--even the freebie comic I got featured the toys, not actual drawings, as if the studio thought, "Holy crap, we have to promote this! Someone, do something that will help us sell stuff!" The clips from the cartoon feature shoddy animation without any subtext or soul. Angels and ministers of grace, defend us.
Costuming Trends: Steampunk Everything. I saw steampunk Batman and Poison Ivy, general steampunk costumery, and even a steampunk crow sitting on a woman's shoulder. There were a ton of Avengers (of course) and lots of Thor/Loki, in male and female form. For younger boys, there were a lot of Finn's as well as the de rigeur Batmen/Supermen/Spidermen. For girls, there were more than a few My Little Ponies, Fionna's (YAY!), and Disney princesses.
2013... here we come?!? I'd be happy to go again. I just have no idea what form that's going to take, but I definitely hope we can get there again.
In the "Not Happy" category, I have the issue that there are problems that have to be dealt with NOW and that I put off thinking about completely for four days. Most of these are long-term issues that are jostling for short-term attention, and as usual, sorting through them takes patience and time, which are entities that I don't have in large supply at the moment. (As Shanghai Vixen quoted to me this morning, "Temporary battles will take up half your life.") There's also a huge letdown now that comes with having to realign myself to the reality that I'm no longer in a space where people will necessarily "get" my nerdy t-shirt or quotation. There's also a political re-calibration that will need to take place, too, when it comes to disclosing how much of a fan I am or not, depending on the conversation or the people involved. (Of course, disclosing what I'm a fan of at the Con was a separate decision-making process in and of itself!)
On the plus side, of course, in real life, there aren't any crazy lines for fun things. My feet are slowly recovering, hindered only by a blister in a weird and uncomfortable spot between my toes. We probably spent a little more money than we should have, although as usual, we didn't go anywhere near as crazy as we could have. (Yebisu's interest in the collectible sculptures only seems to extend to looking at them and fantasizing about the Manly Den of Manliness that he will have someday.)
This year, I was especially proud that we didn't come out of the whole thing feeling as exhausted as we have in years past. In fact, getting up early wasn't a problem because we are so used to doing it now, at R.'s insistence. But we were really judicious about leaving when we felt tired, and not stretching things out past the proverbial point of no return. We've also gotten much savvier at negotiating the Exhibit Hall floor and judging what will be popular enough to avoid, so mega kudos to us!
Generally speaking, the crowds at this year's Con were polite and well-meaning as usual. And I found that a lot of people were so happy to just be there and talk with fellow enthusiasts that I could strike up conversations anywhere and anytime. Every ride on the trolley, for example, was an adventure with good conversation and excitement. But I was disappointed to occasionally catch little currents of bad stuff, including one incredibly racist comment that I won't reproduce here regarding Asian American fans. It's always strange when geeks feel the need to put other geeks down for stupid reasons, as if they've forgotten what it's like not to be at Con and face putdowns from people who can't believe that a geek is into [X geeky thing here.]
I did not appreciate the Christian fundamentalists yelling at us throughout the Con, although it should be said that one of them gave me a "Get Out of Hell Free" card, which is pretty much the funniest thing I've ever seen. But other people didn't think it was funny, and the counter-protests got ruder and ruder. At first, it was one guy with a "Superman died for your sins!" sign, which was funny. But then it got to the point where people had made signs that said, "Christians = Nazis" and I overheard people telling the original Christian protestors to go fuck themselves, which was really uncalled for. I really don't see why anyone had to engage with them at all; all that does is make them want to come back next year and harass us again. By the time I left the Gaslamp quarter on Sunday, there was a protestor with a sign listing who would burn in hell ("Witches, Masturbators, Pagans, Sinners") arguing with a guy with a "Galactus is Nigh!" sign, and it was awful. The SDPD were keeping a watchful eye on the whole thing, and I felt the sorriest for them. They must hate the Con, even though 99% of the people there are relaxed and law-abiding. I made a big point out of thanking everyone I could for helping keep us all safe, from transit officials to cops who didn't look immediately busy.
There were a lot of zombies and zombie-related crap. No panic attacks at all, but a lot of things that I tried not to look at. And the stuff I did see was just plain weird: an entire family in zombie makeup sitting in the back row of one of the panels, looking fiercely weird together, daring anyone to come and mess with them. Or the beautiful woman with gorgeous blond hair, who had makeup to show a railroad spike driven through her eye and out her cheek, eerily accurate with bits of brain and gore all over her shoulders. I saw that second one while I was eating lunch on Sunday, and it's a testament to how desensitized I'd become that it just made me pause for a second and then I went back to my sandwich. So I'm proud of myself for keeping the phobia in check, but still mystified as to when this goddamn trend will run its effing course.
Finally, I was really pleased to see as many parents being careful of their kids and their experiences at the Con as parents bringing in kids who were too young or tired. I had a really lovely conversation with a Dad about taking his two kids, 13 and 7, to the Con, and how he'd managed it over the years, and it really made me look forward to taking R. when he's ready.
In short form:
Best Free Stuff: The Dalek hat, hands down. Even though wearing it was a little tricky (it didn't balance quite right and swayed on my head quite a bit, like a posture test), I got a lot of compliments and envious looks from other Con goers. How I ended up getting it was a complete fluke, since I think
figgy_newton unintentionally cut through a line, but wound up with one anyway. The poor BBC America staffer looked a bit shellshocked/stressed when he handed me two.
Worst Free Stuff: The stale box of supposedly "fresh!" popcorn I got from a Fandango snack wagon outside the Convention Center.
Most Earnest Free Stuff: On Sunday morning, while Yebisu and I were waiting for the Adventure Time exhibit to open up, a group of women came along, handing out sequined tiaras to promote a children's book along the lines of Harry Potter. I could tell that unlike other swag, these things were hand-made, and I suspect that this was the author's family, trying to promote his work. I wore it on the front of my Vader baseball cap and got several compliments on it.
Pop Culture Entity We're All Going to Be Sick of This Time Next Year: The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot. There was so much promotional material for this, and the whole thing reeked of desperation--even the freebie comic I got featured the toys, not actual drawings, as if the studio thought, "Holy crap, we have to promote this! Someone, do something that will help us sell stuff!" The clips from the cartoon feature shoddy animation without any subtext or soul. Angels and ministers of grace, defend us.
Costuming Trends: Steampunk Everything. I saw steampunk Batman and Poison Ivy, general steampunk costumery, and even a steampunk crow sitting on a woman's shoulder. There were a ton of Avengers (of course) and lots of Thor/Loki, in male and female form. For younger boys, there were a lot of Finn's as well as the de rigeur Batmen/Supermen/Spidermen. For girls, there were more than a few My Little Ponies, Fionna's (YAY!), and Disney princesses.
2013... here we come?!? I'd be happy to go again. I just have no idea what form that's going to take, but I definitely hope we can get there again.