Back from Comic Con
So I know I've said that I won't be online for a while. And I know I've talked about some of the things that happened on at the Comic Con. But...well, it's my journal, and I want to talk more about the convention. So why not? Heehee.
Let's see...on Thursday, right after we got our badges, we went straight in line to see the Psych panel (minus my older sister, who went to meet with some friends). I love going to that panel, even if I don't watch the show as much anymore. It's just always a lot of fun, and any chance to hear James Roday and Dule Hill sing is just plain awesome. Then after that, we headed down into the exhibit hall and walked around for a little bit, getting a feel for where certain booths were and doing some shopping. I bought a few of those 3-in-1 volumes of the Dragon Ball Z manga, but they only had four of the nine. Turned out to be a good thing, though, because those things were heavy. Did some more shopping, then we headed to the Mariott Hotel to get the free T-shirts from the Psych panel. We also stopped by the Nintendo Gaming Lounge in the hotel, trying out new games that would be coming out soon. I particularly was having a lot of fun with this one game called Fortune Street, which is kind of like Monopoly+Settlers of Katan+Mario Party+Dragon Quest all rolled into one. I know that sounds weird, but it was pretty awesome.
On Friday, we got to the convention center and I went straight up to the panel rooms to get ready for Nick's Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness panel. Before that, though, was the Cartoon Network Comedy panel, and I enjoyed sitting through it and listening about Regular Show. They showed some sneak peaks, and now Pops is forever in my head singing the song "Footloose" (thanks for that, Pops, haha). Anyway, the Kung Fu Panda panel was pretty cool. I was pretty disappointed that Kevin Michael Richardson, one of my favorite voice actors, couldn't make it to the panel despite being scheduled to be there, but it was still all right. James Hong was there, and he was super funny to watch. He kept doing weird stuff, goofing around and sometimes messing up some of the other panelists, and just making the whole thing fun. There were a couple of script readings, followed by showing the scenes where the scripts came from, plus the world premier of one of the episodes.
New to the Kung Fu Panda fandom that I am, I knew about the series that Nick was planning on making based on the movie. I didn't care much then, but after seeing the second movie and really getting into it, I grew worried about what Nick was going to do with it. Obviously they couldn't get the original voices of the characters (except James Hong), and I was scared that the animation wouldn't be as good or they would make the series much sillier than it should be. But after seeing the full episode at the panel, I came to this conclusion: I was right about everything.
The animation was definitely not as good as the movie (it just doesn't flow as well, it lacks a lot of the detail, and sometimes it just seems really stiff), and when I was watching the episode, it definitely felt like it was mostly for laughs. But I was surprised by the voices. I'm kind of a snob when it comes to voices for characters, and I generally dislike when characters are given different voices from what I've originally heard. But this time, I found myself not minding. Mick Wingert, who does Po in the series, actually does a really good job with him. And the other characters, despite how different they sound, didn't seem so terrible. I tolerated them pretty well. I had a bit of a problem with Shifu and Monkey's voices, but it didn't stop me from enjoying what I saw.
And like I said earlier, the episode did feel a bit silly, moreso than it needed to be. But I did laugh at some of the jokes, so it wasn't all bad. Later on, though, as I thought about the episode more, I began questioning some of the things that happened. And even later on, I started developing theories and ideas for why or how those things could have happened. So the more I thought about it, the more I started liking what I saw, because the episode actually got me thinking, which always makes things enjoyable to me. So I'm actually looking forward to the series and seeing what they'll do with it. If anything, I'm hoping that the other Furious Five get some more character development and stuff (because, other than Tigress, they really didn't get much).
Anyway, after that panel, I headed back to the Gaming Lounge in the Mariott to meet up with people, who were playing Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time for the 3DS. And we played the new Kirby game for the Wii, which is so much fun. Afterwards, we headed back to the convention center and walked around the exhibit hall, exploring and shopping around. I bought some Fairy Tail 14 and Happy Cafe 7 and 8. Later I tried to get into the Phineas and Ferb panel, but the line was too long and I didn't think I could make it in time. So I headed back to the floor and did more walking and shopping before heading up to see the premier screening of Batman: Year One. It was...not the best thing I'd ever seen. In fact, it was actually kind of boring to me. I just...didn't like it at all.
Saturday we got in kind of late, so I could only walk the floor for a little bit before falling in line for the Legend of Korra panel (honestly, I was in line for a good hour, three hours before the panel started, for an hour long panel...). I managed to get in early, and we sat through a panel that talked about Marvel, and managed to snag a free Avengers T-shirt. The stuff we saw about Legend of Korra looks absolutely amazing, and I cannot wait until it premiers! Seriously, it looks incredible...but for some reason, the style of it kept making me think of FullMetal Alchemist...
Anyway, after that panel, the rest of my party waited in the same room for the Mythbusters panel, which is something we usually all go to since they started having one at Comic Con. But this year, I decided to skip Mythbusters because I wanted to see the Power Rangers Samurai panel. Why? No real reason, honestly, I just really wanted to. So I left, walked the floor a little bit and bought some T-shirts, and then headed up for Power Rangers.
Now, a lot of the panels I go to are in pretty big rooms, holding hundreds of people who all waited in these huge lines for hours. But the Power Rangers panel was pretty small, not fitting more than 100 people maybe (if even that). So the panel itself was pretty comfortable and more intimate than other panels I've been to. And the cast of the show was so sweet. During the Q&A part of the panel, one kid had gone up and said how excited he was because he had never talked to anyone on television before. So what do they do? They invite him onstage to meet him, chatting and taking pictures with him. Then, somehow, other kids started going up to the stage, and they would go and talk with the kids and take pictures with them too...still during the Q&A. It was pretty awesome. And even after the panel was over, they all hung around to talk with people, take pictures, and sign autographs. They were all pretty nice. I mentioned this before, but I went up to them and got their autographs as well. Actually, it's funny because when I was getting the autograph of Erika Fong, who played Mia the Pink Ranger, Hector David Jr., who played Mike the green ranger, came up to me and said that he saw me in the crowd, cheering and having a good time, before he signed my notebook too. And, like I said before, when I went to get Steven Skyler's autograph, he gave me a hug. It was just completely awesome, and I don't regret missing the Mythbusters panel for it at all.
(Weeeell....maybe just a bit, because my siblings got to meet Jamie Hyneman after the panel...but not too much. I still loved seeing the Power Rangers panel).
On Sunday, we went to the convention after attending mass. I went to a panel called Cartoon Voices, where the panel had a bunch of voice actors sharing their voice acting experience and entertaining the crowd. The actors did a cold reading of a script, completely messing up Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and it was pretty entertaining. Among the panelists was another of my favorite voice actors ever, Jason Marsden, and after the panel I got his autograph! And he called me "sweetie". I was on Cloud 9.
After that panel, though, I met up with my party, and we hung around for a bit longer before ending it early. I had to be at work today, so we had to go to make the six-hour drive home. But not before having dinner with my mom's cousins like we do every year, and seeing my second-cousins. I love seeing them, and we usually see them at the convention but didn't this year. So it was nice to see them before we leave.
And that was my weekend, which is over now, and it's back to the usual thing. I went to work today, which wasn't entirely bad today. I didn't have to be there at my usual time, so I got some extra sleep. I'm also still working on an issue which, for now, is still preventing me from being online for too long. Again, nothing serious, but I might be gone for a while until I can get this resolved. In the meantime, though, I might start working on this one Wild Kratts story idea that I got based on an event that happened at work last week. It's...not a happy story, mostly because it was personally upsetting, but I feel like the best way to deal with it is to write it down, so I might as well try doing something with it.
Anyway, that's about it. Hopefully I'll be able to get back online soon.
Let's see...on Thursday, right after we got our badges, we went straight in line to see the Psych panel (minus my older sister, who went to meet with some friends). I love going to that panel, even if I don't watch the show as much anymore. It's just always a lot of fun, and any chance to hear James Roday and Dule Hill sing is just plain awesome. Then after that, we headed down into the exhibit hall and walked around for a little bit, getting a feel for where certain booths were and doing some shopping. I bought a few of those 3-in-1 volumes of the Dragon Ball Z manga, but they only had four of the nine. Turned out to be a good thing, though, because those things were heavy. Did some more shopping, then we headed to the Mariott Hotel to get the free T-shirts from the Psych panel. We also stopped by the Nintendo Gaming Lounge in the hotel, trying out new games that would be coming out soon. I particularly was having a lot of fun with this one game called Fortune Street, which is kind of like Monopoly+Settlers of Katan+Mario Party+Dragon Quest all rolled into one. I know that sounds weird, but it was pretty awesome.
On Friday, we got to the convention center and I went straight up to the panel rooms to get ready for Nick's Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness panel. Before that, though, was the Cartoon Network Comedy panel, and I enjoyed sitting through it and listening about Regular Show. They showed some sneak peaks, and now Pops is forever in my head singing the song "Footloose" (thanks for that, Pops, haha). Anyway, the Kung Fu Panda panel was pretty cool. I was pretty disappointed that Kevin Michael Richardson, one of my favorite voice actors, couldn't make it to the panel despite being scheduled to be there, but it was still all right. James Hong was there, and he was super funny to watch. He kept doing weird stuff, goofing around and sometimes messing up some of the other panelists, and just making the whole thing fun. There were a couple of script readings, followed by showing the scenes where the scripts came from, plus the world premier of one of the episodes.
New to the Kung Fu Panda fandom that I am, I knew about the series that Nick was planning on making based on the movie. I didn't care much then, but after seeing the second movie and really getting into it, I grew worried about what Nick was going to do with it. Obviously they couldn't get the original voices of the characters (except James Hong), and I was scared that the animation wouldn't be as good or they would make the series much sillier than it should be. But after seeing the full episode at the panel, I came to this conclusion: I was right about everything.
The animation was definitely not as good as the movie (it just doesn't flow as well, it lacks a lot of the detail, and sometimes it just seems really stiff), and when I was watching the episode, it definitely felt like it was mostly for laughs. But I was surprised by the voices. I'm kind of a snob when it comes to voices for characters, and I generally dislike when characters are given different voices from what I've originally heard. But this time, I found myself not minding. Mick Wingert, who does Po in the series, actually does a really good job with him. And the other characters, despite how different they sound, didn't seem so terrible. I tolerated them pretty well. I had a bit of a problem with Shifu and Monkey's voices, but it didn't stop me from enjoying what I saw.
And like I said earlier, the episode did feel a bit silly, moreso than it needed to be. But I did laugh at some of the jokes, so it wasn't all bad. Later on, though, as I thought about the episode more, I began questioning some of the things that happened. And even later on, I started developing theories and ideas for why or how those things could have happened. So the more I thought about it, the more I started liking what I saw, because the episode actually got me thinking, which always makes things enjoyable to me. So I'm actually looking forward to the series and seeing what they'll do with it. If anything, I'm hoping that the other Furious Five get some more character development and stuff (because, other than Tigress, they really didn't get much).
Anyway, after that panel, I headed back to the Gaming Lounge in the Mariott to meet up with people, who were playing Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time for the 3DS. And we played the new Kirby game for the Wii, which is so much fun. Afterwards, we headed back to the convention center and walked around the exhibit hall, exploring and shopping around. I bought some Fairy Tail 14 and Happy Cafe 7 and 8. Later I tried to get into the Phineas and Ferb panel, but the line was too long and I didn't think I could make it in time. So I headed back to the floor and did more walking and shopping before heading up to see the premier screening of Batman: Year One. It was...not the best thing I'd ever seen. In fact, it was actually kind of boring to me. I just...didn't like it at all.
Saturday we got in kind of late, so I could only walk the floor for a little bit before falling in line for the Legend of Korra panel (honestly, I was in line for a good hour, three hours before the panel started, for an hour long panel...). I managed to get in early, and we sat through a panel that talked about Marvel, and managed to snag a free Avengers T-shirt. The stuff we saw about Legend of Korra looks absolutely amazing, and I cannot wait until it premiers! Seriously, it looks incredible...but for some reason, the style of it kept making me think of FullMetal Alchemist...
Anyway, after that panel, the rest of my party waited in the same room for the Mythbusters panel, which is something we usually all go to since they started having one at Comic Con. But this year, I decided to skip Mythbusters because I wanted to see the Power Rangers Samurai panel. Why? No real reason, honestly, I just really wanted to. So I left, walked the floor a little bit and bought some T-shirts, and then headed up for Power Rangers.
Now, a lot of the panels I go to are in pretty big rooms, holding hundreds of people who all waited in these huge lines for hours. But the Power Rangers panel was pretty small, not fitting more than 100 people maybe (if even that). So the panel itself was pretty comfortable and more intimate than other panels I've been to. And the cast of the show was so sweet. During the Q&A part of the panel, one kid had gone up and said how excited he was because he had never talked to anyone on television before. So what do they do? They invite him onstage to meet him, chatting and taking pictures with him. Then, somehow, other kids started going up to the stage, and they would go and talk with the kids and take pictures with them too...still during the Q&A. It was pretty awesome. And even after the panel was over, they all hung around to talk with people, take pictures, and sign autographs. They were all pretty nice. I mentioned this before, but I went up to them and got their autographs as well. Actually, it's funny because when I was getting the autograph of Erika Fong, who played Mia the Pink Ranger, Hector David Jr., who played Mike the green ranger, came up to me and said that he saw me in the crowd, cheering and having a good time, before he signed my notebook too. And, like I said before, when I went to get Steven Skyler's autograph, he gave me a hug. It was just completely awesome, and I don't regret missing the Mythbusters panel for it at all.
(Weeeell....maybe just a bit, because my siblings got to meet Jamie Hyneman after the panel...but not too much. I still loved seeing the Power Rangers panel).
On Sunday, we went to the convention after attending mass. I went to a panel called Cartoon Voices, where the panel had a bunch of voice actors sharing their voice acting experience and entertaining the crowd. The actors did a cold reading of a script, completely messing up Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and it was pretty entertaining. Among the panelists was another of my favorite voice actors ever, Jason Marsden, and after the panel I got his autograph! And he called me "sweetie". I was on Cloud 9.
After that panel, though, I met up with my party, and we hung around for a bit longer before ending it early. I had to be at work today, so we had to go to make the six-hour drive home. But not before having dinner with my mom's cousins like we do every year, and seeing my second-cousins. I love seeing them, and we usually see them at the convention but didn't this year. So it was nice to see them before we leave.
And that was my weekend, which is over now, and it's back to the usual thing. I went to work today, which wasn't entirely bad today. I didn't have to be there at my usual time, so I got some extra sleep. I'm also still working on an issue which, for now, is still preventing me from being online for too long. Again, nothing serious, but I might be gone for a while until I can get this resolved. In the meantime, though, I might start working on this one Wild Kratts story idea that I got based on an event that happened at work last week. It's...not a happy story, mostly because it was personally upsetting, but I feel like the best way to deal with it is to write it down, so I might as well try doing something with it.
Anyway, that's about it. Hopefully I'll be able to get back online soon.