Could This Be lazypadawan's Last Comic Con? The 2011 Report Part One
Wednesday
After a long day at work and a long drive to Fashion Valley to pick up my pass at the Town & Country, I realized the best thing I could do was park at the mall despite the NO TOWN & COUNTRY PARKING signs everywhere. The hotel was blocking entry from my direction and it was charging $10 to park there anyway. I wasn't dressed in "colors" and I had a shopping bag with me, so I walked into the JC Penney store first. Who knew I wasn't a customer? I also took the opportunity to visit the ladies' room since I figured I would be in line for an hour or two. I walked out of the store, crossed the parking lot, and crossed the street over to the Town & Country. At first the line went pretty fast; I was thinking that maybe I would be out of there by 6:30. Then when I got inside the big cattle call room, it started to slow to a crawl. They tried to make the best of it by piping in stuff like the Batman and Spider Man t.v. themes over the PA and having vendors sell snacks, and I did have a mag with me to read, but I just wanted to get my stuff and get out of there. I finally got home with my pass and my huge WB free bag around 7:45. At least this bag looked a lot sturdier than the crummy one I got last year that ripped early Thursday morning. But it was hard to walk around with, even with the straps adjusted. So I slipped in an extra bag just in case.
Thursday
The very first thing on the agenda was to pre-register for 2012. I had a bad feeling about this ever since they 1) announced they're going to change the location for pre-reg from the convention hall to a nearby hotel and 2) they were only going to sell those tickets for three hours each morning of the show. When I realized a few years ago that you could pre-purchase for the next year, it used to take me (even last year) all of five minutes. I'd walk up to the booth near or inside the Sails pavilion, with at most a couple of people in line, ask for a four day pass, give the lady my credit card, and I would be all set for the following year. Hell, I used to buy them on Saturday afternoon! Changing the method for selling pre-registrations and then publicizing it after all of the server crashes online buyers experienced was going to...you guessed it...make everyone want to buy their '12 passes immediately. When I got to the Hyatt on Thursday at 8, I got to the end of a mile long line and figured I would roll the dice and see if I'd make it up to the desk by 11. Given how the line was moving, it was entirely possible.
Except they weren't just selling tickets for three hours. They had an allotment, meaning once that number was met, that was it for pre-sales that day. The rumor mill said the allotment was 3500 tickets...duh! Of COURSE that wasn't going to last three hours! By 9 a.m., I started hearing the tickets were gone. Worse yet, people found out by Twitter from other fans and random con goers walking by. Comic Con staff never once went down the line and explained what was going on. I stood there another 30 minutes until I gave up and left.
I was STEAMED. Comic Con took a system that worked and ruined it for no good reason. I knew that pre-registration was out of the question. People staying downtown could easily camp out all night and I wasn't going to drag myself down there at 5 a.m. for nothing.
I realized something really ugly and very sad, aside from staring into the possibility that I may not get tickets for 2012. I may never get tickets for this event again. They are purposely making it harder and harder for fans to attend the show. You're going to hear it first from me...there's a day coming very soon where getting even a lousy Thursday pass for Comic Con will be as difficult as getting Super Bowl tickets. When my brother thought about getting tickets to the Rose Bowl because his alma mater Wisconsin was going to play there, I saw on the Rose Bowl's site that you had to pay a huge amount of money just to be entered into a lottery to buy tickets. You don't get that money back if you don't get picked. If you do get picked, you then get the privilege of spending at least $800 for your seats. His only other option was buying $$$ tickets from Wisconsin season ticket holders who happened to win their lottery. Ultimately he figured it was easier and cheaper to watch it on t.v.. THAT is Comic Con's future; it won't matter if they build a convention center that's 20 miles long. We will all likely have to enter a lottery to buy a ticket at ever-increasing prices. Your only other options are being famous or some other kind of big shot, being friends with some insider, or spending $1500 on a pass from a scalper. Let me tell you; I was bugged on the street every single day by either scalpers or people who were looking to buy passes. This is the first time that's happened.
So pardon me if I laugh whenever I hear the publicity that this is "for the fans." No it isn't. It will be an event for the privileged, the connected, and the lucky. As that occurs, I wouldn't be surprised if there are fistfights and as one guy told me, "more stabbings." (One Spider Man cast member was arrested after he shoved a female security guard. Check out the story here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2018155/Spider-Man-star-Rhys-Ifans-arrested-battery-Comic-Con-event.html).
The thing is it will be a long time before regular Joe and Jane fans reach their breaking point and make their plans to attend a rival show or stay home instead. Because the more unattainable you make something, the more people will want it. It's just human nature. What separates Comic Con from DragonCon or anything else is that this is the "breaking news" con with international publicity and it's the way of fans to want to be there as it happens. So long as the media sells the con as THE place to be if you are a nerd/geek/fandom-type/pop culture/comics/gaming junkie, the more the misfits and cosplayers from Seattle to Tuxedo Junction, Kensylhiokansas will dream of being a part of it. Heck, I did too and that was when you could buy tickets at the door and walk right into whatever you wanted to see. After all, grown people don't get a whole lot of opportunities to yell in public, "What time is it? IT'S ADVENTURE TIME!!" and not feel stupid.
So I shall have to take my chances online and come up with other creative solutions. I decided I might as well make the best of the con I actually paid to attend.
They were letting people into the convention center by 9:30, which is odd given that it's not supposed to open until 10. Oh well. I made a beeline for the Her Universe booth and quickly snapped up the charm bracelet. This came with all of the available charms, including the exclusive Naboo one I really wanted. I also sprung for the new maroon burnout t-shirt. There was still lots of time to kill before the Clone Wars panel at 4:45. From that point, I made my way around the pavilion area, checking out what's there and picking up freebies. I spotted the guy drawing scenes from all of the SW films on a 2012 Volkswagen Passat; I'd keep checking back to see how far along he's come the next couple of days. Then I started to make my usual way from one end of the hall to check out the goodies for sale, cruising past the small press booths with all of the esoteric weird stuff. I guess there's an audience for it. *Shrug.*
This was a fairly crowded day, even though it was Thursday. It made my travels a little slower and daunting, especially when I encountered more than once the absolutely smelliest people ever. As in, they never bathe, wash their hair, or do something about knock-you-off-your-feet halitosis. Seriously. It's not a Comic Con on the exhibition floor if you don't experience somebody cutting the cheese. Why hold it if you can't identify the perpetrator? Sheesh.
With that unpleasantness aside, I managed to score more purchases like ice cube trays and more chopsticks from Kotobukiya, a Rebel logo keychain from the Rock Rebel booth, the first novel I've bought in a long time "Choices Of One," and the new Insider along with the Artoo mag holder from Titan, since I always buy an extra copy to send to a friend in Germany.
While eating lunch, I realized I could have bought the Her Universe Naboo charm as a single piece and make a necklace with it. Duh! Why didn't I think of that? So I went back downstairs after lunch and bought the single charm. Now it's on a silver chain at home.
I had wondered where the heck they were promoting the SW Blu-Ray set since it wasn't at the usual Lucasfilm 'n licensees area. I finally found it, but by that time it was getting close to when I wanted to line up for the Clone Wars panel. The line outside of the small, sand-colored cube didn't seem that long...until I was told it continued waaaaay over by the wall. I stood there for 20 minutes and figured I wasn't getting in any time soon, so I could just come back first thing on Friday.
I went upstairs to find the room where this panel was being held only to find a line that went on and on. I had no idea how many people could fit in the room, since I'd never been in it before. So I got into line. Eventually it snaked its way inside and saw that it was a pretty big room, much larger than the usual 7AB. It turned out the big crowd was to see the Knights of the Old Republic multi-player online game, the panel right before the Clone Wars one. Since I'm not a gamer, I wasn't terribly excited about it, but Catherine "CW Padmé" Taber was on the panel. Unfortunately she couldn't stay for the other panel since she was signing downstairs afterwards.
Once the KOTOR thing was over, a lot of people left, so I was able to get better seats. I could have shown up right as the panel started but it was kind of nice to be able to sit down.
I'd figured out by then you didn't have to hang the freebie bag off your shoulder. You could convert it to a backpack which worked a whole lot better for me.
After the Clone Wars panel, I was pooped, so I skipped the Her Universe thing and went home.