Comic Con San Diego 2009
Over 100,000 people go to this con every year, and it was pretty much madness. Next year I definitely will get a 4-day pass, because there's simply no way to see and do everything in one day - along with the dealer/vendor/artist/exhibition hall, there are autograph signings, panels, discussions, previews of movies and games that have yet to be released, etc etc. Due to limited time Tori, Andy and I only went to the dealer/artist/exhibit area, and we didn't even see everything in there despite the fact that we were there for about six or seven hours.
I didn't realize that the artists at Comic Con will sketch and autograph for you if you come to their booths! Some of the more famous ones won't, of course, but they're still quite good-natured and they sell little booklets of their sketchbook pages so you can see their process. Next year, I DEFINITELY want to spend more time with the artists, buying their books and sketchbooks and getting it all signed.
So what did I buy? Not limited edition Serenity toys, alas, because $50 was a little too steep for a figurine. I did get a $20 gift card from Sideshow Collectibles, though, so I'll buy something from them. They're based in Newbury Park! The girl giving out gift cards went to Westlake High School! STOP THE INSANITY!
The aforementioned gift cards had a secret value of anywhere from $25 to $100. I of course got the minimum, $20. :P Andy fared slightly better with $25, and Tori was the winner of the day with $50. Awesome film and/or comic figures for everyone!
I picked up some excellent Tokidoki merchandise for insanely cheap prices, after rolling up my comic-con events guide and beating other customers away from the booth, machete-style.* Two shirts and a bag later, I met up with the indomitable Kelly Martin, a friend from NorCal. I bought three comic books and a shirt from her booth, even though I have no idea what the comic is about. I'm sure I'll enjoy it, Kelly promises it will satisfy my feminist sensibilities. ;)
I also bought my sister a plush brain cell (it's so cute) and 6 back issues of No Quarter, a warmachine/Iron Kingdoms magazine (Warmachine is a tabletop strategy game, Iron Kingdoms is its tabletop RPG counterpart). The magazines feature some truly beautiful, droolworthy mini-painting, and also some unimportant stuff about actually playing the game.
Sunday was the last day of the con, so not too many people were dressed up. I did spot and photograph a couple steampunks, though, so that later I can rip off their ideas admire them. Steampunks love to see one another at cons, because other steampunks are the only people who aren't going to ask wtf your costume is and why there are so many gears on it.
Tori bought tribbles! They're sound and motion-activated, and when activated they tremble and coo. Thus, for the rest of the day, Tori's backpack was shaking and trilling (this was especially amusing on our standing-only train trip back to Tori and Andy's house). The tribbles gained a degree of sentience during our time together, making themselves known when trigger words were spoken, such as "we are going to get ice cream." Tribbles want ice cream, too. How they eat it remains a mystery.
Most adorablest thing of the day: A little girl dressed up Hawaiian, like Lilo from Lilo and Stitch. She carried around a little Stitch stuffed toy, and posed for pictures with it whenever someone asked - big smile on her face. I didn't actually get a picture, but trust me, it was so cute.
I paid $30 for our lunch, which consisted of two hot dogs, three drinks, some fries, and a hamburger with a label that said CHICKEN. Memo for next year: bring own food. Tori and I are hoping to go crazy with the steampunk thing and have a little stroller-sized cart we can push around; food can go in there.
I don't have a ton of pictures from Comic Con, because I was really overwhelmed... I do have a few, though, and I'll post them sooner or later.** There is one particularly fetching shot of me posing with Admiral Ackbar's head. IT'S A TRAP!
Another thing on the to-do list for next year is to see some of the Famous People who turn up at comic con. Joss Whedon and Eliza Dushku were there on Saturday. Johnny Depp was there, and one of the Lakers got arrested by stormtroopers. People from HBO's True Blood were out in force, which seems to be a Twilight ripoff something that people strongly feel is not like Twilight. And on the other side of the intelligentsia spectrum, Ray Bradbury was there too. James Jean, an artist whose work I LOVE, was at Comic Con, but alas... not on the same day I was. There were panels on art, on writing for computer games, on LGBT representation in comics, how-to-draw stuff for kids... talks and discussions on everything you can think of.
As far as actors go, other than obviously tearing up at not catching the Whedon, I'm quite sad that I missed Ben Browder and Claudia Black from Farscape, as well as Misha Collins from Supernatural. There were some other Supernatural stars as well, but I can't remember which ones, because Misha Collins is on Meg's List of Hot Menfolk*** and the others are not. As I go back through the events guide here, I'm also realizing that I missed Felicia Day, Edward James Olmos, and a whole bunch of Stargate people/stuff.... and alas, David Boreanaz and Emily Deschanel were there on Saturday! Needless to say, lots of cool famous people were at Comic Con and I didn't see any of them. ;) Part of the problem, besides me being hugely overwhelmed, was that Sunday was kids' day and most of the panels/discussions were child oriented.
I gotta stop reading this events guide, cause it seems I also missed a Futurama panel and a steampunk meetup that occurred on Saturday! I think that settles it... Next year, I go all four days. Who's with me?! :D
* Not really. There was a big crowd though.
** If the planets are properly aligned.
*** Adrien Brody, Lee Pace, Misha Collins, Roger Federer (or that vet in Lawndale who looks just like him), Colin Farrell.
Edit: I've gotten several comments by email and one by, well, comment, that True Blood and Twilight are totally different. Sorry folks! See enough pretty vampires and they all start to blur together. To assuage you, I will read the books. To annoy you, I will sparkle just a little while I do it. ;)
Also, if you got here by some form of Joss Whedon search/alert, I'm sorry again! That's weird and I don't know why it happened.