So we got mum and Barry on a taxi and to the airport with no problems then went to San Diego for the biggest convention in the world….. Comic Con!!
For those of you who don’t know Comic Con is a convention that showcases comic books, artwork, books, computers, anime/manga, movies, TV shows and all things that can be related to popular culture. Not to mention what they call panels for all of those various types of genre’s. These panels are a range of things from how to create your own comic, how to animate and so forth, to a panel about a movie that has the stars of that movie on the panel for people to ask questions to.
Ok right from the start I would like to tell you about our comic con highlights.
-Free stuff, everywhere you go, there are free posters, comic books, flyers, music, trading cards, books, shirts, badges, pins, bookmarks, Kate and I even managed to snag a free hoodie each for a new animated movie coming out called mastermind which has the voice talents of Will Farrell.
-Our first glimpse of the exhibition floor and to see exactly how big and overwhelming it was and to see how big the entire convention center really is.
-When we attended the Disney Panel to hear about their new animated movie that they would be realising soon called Tangled, for attending the panel everybody got a free limited edition lithograph from the movie.
-Kade won a book in the penguin books panel day of free books and t shirts and hoodies.
-Chuck panel and Pauley Perrette autographed picture
-got to see the world first premiere of Phineas and Ferb hour long episode.
-Also all the people that dressed up and all the characters we got to see along with all the people we met.
I am going to try and keep the next couple of days as chronological as I can so here it goes:
Day 1 (Preview night):- This is a special event for people who have bought a pass for the entire event where you get a preview night before Comic Con officially opens. Kate and I went got our tickets printed and our passes to go around our neck so that we could get in over the next few days. Once we had gotten that done and moved to the entrance part of where we were we started getting our free stuff. Upon entry we both given a Warner brothers bag which are about a meter wide by about 1.5 meters high which had 2 magazines in them, one being the bible of comic con with all the panel times, and what they were about as well as a map of the convention center. Lets just say it was very well used over the four days. There were 11 different prints you could get on the bags, and it was random as the bags were folded inside out. Kate got a Batman one and I got one promoting a TV show called Human Target, both Kate and I were both hoping for a bag with the tv show Chuck on it (For those of you who don’t know what we are talking about, Chuck is a super awesome TV show that Kate and I watch, check it out, its awesome).
Once we were inside the convention area itself, upstairs where the meeting rooms were, we stopped and looked around to get our bearings. We arrived at 5ish, after driving to our campground, checking in, and getting great directions on how to get into and out of the Con each day. We managed to find the line to get into to get us downstairs when the doors opened at 6pm. Downstairs was were the exhibition room was, with all the booths of merchandise, samples etc. The doors opened at 5.40, and the room downstairs was flooded with people getting in. It is a huge room, measuring a quarter of a mile across we heard. We headed in and went straight to the back, to get away from the doors and everyone piling in. It is really overwhelming, it is a huge place with lots of people. LOTS of people. We went back to the Warner Brothers booth to see it and along the way passed the Emily the Strange booth. It had just opened and we were near the first there. A man came up who look really familiar, and started joking with the people behind the counter. If I had to guess, I would of said it was Rob Reger, the creator of Emily the Strange, but around his neck was Buzz Parkers name badge, the illustrator of Emily the Strange. We did the overwhelmed fan thing and Kade asked him for his autograph. He asked what name, and that’s when we got all scared and confused and said Buzz Parker? He did sign Buzz and drew Emily and cat, one handed while eating Pringles, thanked us, asked us some questions and said have a great Con. As we walked away I was totally double guessing myself, managed to get a Emily book from another booth and look at the pics of Buzz and Rob, and it was Rob. I knew I should of trusted my instincts but oh well. Im blaming being overwhelmed. And how many people can say they have Buzz Parkers autograph signed by Rob Reger??? :)
We continued to walk around the con, and got a smaller WB bag with Smallville on one side and Supernatural on the other, a poster pac from Fox Studios for all the many posters we were going to get, a Vladimir Tod bag from Penguin Books (the three items mentioned above we found out became sort after Con items, and when we used them we would get asked by numerous people where did you get it from?) free comic books, free badges, a huge Green Lantern bag, free posters etc. We stayed at the Con that night until 8.40, and left before the rush at 9 to the trolleys. We got back to the RV around 9.30, and got ready for the next day.
Day 2 – Thursday.
We got up at 8ish, and made it into the Con at around 9.45. As we had our tickets, we could go straight in, and up to the first panel we wanted to see, Intro to the Con. It was run by three people who had been going to the Con since 1993, so they knew everything that was to know. It was good just to get a rundown of what to expect, of lines, food, panels etc and we left feeling like we may survive the 4 days and still get to see what we want. The way the Con works is down below is the Exhibition hall, set up with the booths etc, and above in the meeting rooms are the panels, each going from between 45 mins and 3 hrs, on comics, writing, books, TV shows, movies, up and coming events etc, you name something to do with comics, sci fi, pop culture etc, they will generally have a panel on it. You line up outside the room for the panel you want, and you hopefully get in. This is not always the case. If you really want to see something, get there at least one panel early or you may not get in as they don’t clear the room between each panel. The biggest room holds 6 000 people, the smallest 200. There were 125 000 people at the Con. We went from the intro to Comic Con, to The Clockwork Girl panel. The Clockwork Girl is a new animation movie made from a comic book. It is a Romeo and Juliet story a robot girl and a monster boy in the world of humans who accept them, however their creators are rivals. It looks really good and hopefully will be out in the New Year in Australia. From there we went to line up for the Disney Panel which we really wanted to see, so we sat through a boring panel on Video Games and Comics. It could have been very interesting if presented differently, however the speakers were not that engaging and it was not that fun. But we had our seats for Disney and that’s all that mattered.
The Disney panel was about the creation of their new movie coming out, Tangled, based on Rapunzel. It was a great panel, we got to see how they created the characters looks, the story line etc. We also got to see the animation process, from the concept to the final product and at the end everyone was given a ticket for a limited edition Disney lithograph of the movie, they only made 5000. To get the lithograph, we had to go to the Room of Fulfillment (which we called the Room of Requirement) in the next building over, so we made plans to go there that afternoon.
After Disney, we headed back onto the floor to look at the booths. We got more free comics, book samplers etc, found out that Pauley Perrette was signing on Saturday, and won a free hoodie each. We managed this by walking past the booth who were doing a competition where you got a card, pealed the sticky thing off it and got a name of a character from the upcoming movie MegaMind. You then had to form a group with all the characters and once you had 6 of you, you go to the desk and got a hoodie. I managed to get MegaMind, which apparently was the rarest and the lady said hang around, you will have lots of new friends real soon. This became the case when a group of 3 girls heard I had MegaMind and joined us, Kade had Brainbot and they had 3 other names. One girl went to find a 6th person with the card we needed and we talked to the girls. They had been playing for most of the afternoon trying to win so were very happy that we were about to get the hoodie. We found a 6th, handed our cards over and each got a great, warm hoodie which I proceeded to wear for the rest of the Con. We also got a shirt each from another booth, and decided to call it a night around 7.30. By then we were tired and it was packed and we were HUNGRY. Instead of spending stacks on food ($8.50 for a cheeseburger) we bought snacks and coke each day, so by nighttime we were hungry. We got public transport back to the RV and got ready for the next day.
Day 3 – Friday
The first panel we wanted to see was Dark Horse comics at 11.30, so we got to the Con at around 10ish, had a quick look on the floor, and headed up to wait in line for Dark Horse. The panel was about what is coming up with Dark Horse in the coming year. They had different writers in, one being Gerard Way. He had bleached blond hair and was wearing a Hawaiian shirt. We were sitting in the second back row of the panel and he was talking to a guy he knew (some exec or something) in the back row for around 5mins so we managed to get a pic of him. A few girls who must have been huge fans, came up to him and one started crying going I love him I love him. They were told to sit back down as the panel was on and you are not supposed to do that. We heard about two things we want to check out in the year, The Secret and The Heart Transplant. The Secret is a comic book that is turned into a movie, using only the pictures and the words in the comic. We got to see a preview and it looks really good. The Heart Transplant is about bullying and the effects it has on its victims, the moderator who worked for Dark Horse told us about it, and used an example of a young girl who was pretty, smart, could sing being bullied her whole school life and the parents not doing anything about it, thinking it wasn’t that bad. It was his daughter. She is an opera singer now but the scars of the years of bullying made their mark on her.
From Dark Horse, we went back to the floor for a bit, got some free books (early release for marketing etc) and headed up to see Nickelodeons panel on Kung Fu Panda and the Penguins of Madagascar. It could have been a good panel, and it was still interesting, but the clip they wanted to show wasn’t working so they did a live read of the script and not knowing the characters too well, it didn’t make as much sense as it could of. From there we went to see Pixar’s panel on the Animation of UP. It was really interesting to see the process from their point of view. Before the panel was another one about comic design that a lot of professionals wanted to see, and they didn’t line up in time and were complaining the room was full of people only there to see the UP panel. That may have been the case, but the rules are you get there early and line up if you want to get in. They know they rules as well as everyone else. These people didn’t even line up, they just wanted to get in. They were finally allowed to go in and stand at the back, and had to leave once it was over. At the Q and A time, a 10 year old film critic got up and asked the usual generic questions. We think he was coached as this will not be our last encounter with him. He would sit there fiddling and bored though the panel, then ask a generic question giving his life story up at the mic.
After up we went to the Penguin Panel to hear about what is coming out in the next year. After each one, they would give away an early copy of the book. There is A LOT coming out this year that we want to read, and Kade managed to win a copy of Virals by Kathy Rieches, the writer of Bones and the Temperance Brennan books. I read it over the next few days and REALLY enjoyed it.
After Penguin we went back down onto the floor, had another look around, and left. We ended up with around 7 books that day.
Day 4 – Saturday
Saturday was our big day. We had to get here early to see the Chuck panel, in the second biggest room. The earliest we could get there was 8.15 due to public transport not running earlier where we were, so at 8.15 we were sitting in line for the 10am panel. The line was already LONG. We started moving at 9.30 and kept up a slow moving pace for the next 25 mins until we were in J The panel had all the major stars of the show on it, and it was great to see how they joked with each other. We got to see who will be playing a character in the next season, and a special just for Comic Con short. They gave out free shirts to some people, unfortunately we didn’t get one. The bad thing was the panel was started 7 minutes late and was only to go for 45 mins, so they was no time for questions at the end and the panel were disappointed when they were told that. They were looking forward to talking to fans as it was thanks to fans and Subway they got signed for season 3. Chuck was to end after season two, but a HUGE campaign went up from the fans and Subway and managed to get Chuck signed for another season. Season 4 starts in a few weeks.
After Chuck we went to a Comics in the Library panel so I could learn about the benefits of Comics at the library, non-fiction comics etc. From there we headed to the room that was to have the Teching out on TV panel with Pauley Perrette in it at 2pm. We got in the room for the 12pm panel and stayed there. The 12pm panel was about the popularity of Vampire Lit and had 7 authors on it, including the Vlad Tod author, Sookie Stackhouse (True Blood) author and the Vampire Academy author. It was a very interesting panel, especially when someone asked if they used vampires to symbolise capitalism etc and a few authors said, sometimes a vampire is just a vampire, no hidden meaning behind it. Kade jumped out to see if we had won tickets to the Gerard Way signing (which we hadn’t – sorry Alison) and made it back for a God of War panel on at 1. I read while it was on as God of War doesn’t interest me. Then it was time for the Teching out on TV panel which we were waiting for. The panel was to go from 2 – 3 and signings downstairs from 3.30 – 4.30. We knew that if we wanted a place in the signing we would have to leave early, as the line started forming at 1.30. There was the creator of CSI, Barret from NCIS LA, Pauley from NCIS, the lady from Criminal Minds and a gentleman who is a real like forensic expert that CSI consults with to make sure it is accurate. Pauley Perrette got the biggest cheer when she came out and thanked the audience by saying thank you in sign language. Kade and I saw, but we wonder how many other people did. She was a very nice, smiley lady, joking around and having fun. The funny part of the panel was the clip they wanted to show us didn’t work, so the Technology on TV panel had no Technology. Oh well. Kade and I left at 3, and got in line at 3.05. We were numbers 101 and 102 at the first count, however when they gave the stickers out to symbolise you were in line, we were numbers 117 and 118. They let people in groups of 20 into the room (the signing was at a booth in the hall downstairs and you lined up outside one of the doors). At 4.15 we were in the group of 20 led to the booth. At 4.22, we got our autographs J The staff before hand wrote your name on a post it note so the stars knew who to write the picture out to, the lady writing the names was called Katie. She asked me for my name, and I said Kate. She started writing it with a C. I said, nope with a K. She paused, spelt K A T E I said yes and she wrote it, saying, my name is Katie, I should of got that much earlier. She did get Kades name right though J Pauley Perrette thanked us for coming, said sorry it was so rushed and said Kate with a K, like Kate Todd right? (I guess Kate with a C is very popular now a days). She said she liked Kades name (he was behind me in line) and when he said that I was his wife, she said Kate and Kade how cute J. Barrett got my accent straight away and said he loved Australia. He is cute J We just made it in time for the autographs and were VERY happy with them. After that, we got another free book from Penguin and headed back to the RV.
Day 5 – Sunday
Sunday I woke up not feeling too good, so we delayed our leaving until 9.30. Our goal was to see the Phineas and Ferb panel and the World Premier of the 1 hr long episode. We got into the room for the panel before, and really enjoyed it. It was Cartoon Network showing two of its new shows – Tower Prep and Firebreather – and Tower Prep looks really good. One that Kade and I will watch out for when it starts in September. The room filled FAST for Phineas and Ferb, which had the creators (who also do two of the voices), the voice of Phineas, the Mum (one of the Aunts from Sabrina the Teenage Witch), Jeremy (Mitchell Musso from Hannah Montana) and Stacey (Kelly from X Men). It was a great panel, they showed what’s coming up and answered 30 mins worth of questions. One of the upcoming episodes is based at Comic Con and looks really funny, they showed us a 5 min preview. Mitchell Musso looked bored for most of the panel unfortunately, but the rest were really into it. Some of the questions the kids asked were really interesting. After the panel, the room emptied as people went to line up to get autographs, Kade and I didn’t as we wanted to see the world premier of the episode. We sat through a Lego panel of the new Hero Factory Lego they have coming out, and the room filled fast for people to see Phineas and Ferbs 1hr long episode. Before it started, we were told that everyone was going to get a lanyard with a USB on it at the end, branded with Phineas and Ferb. YAY :). The episode as great, but they didn’t play the theme song :( We left the panel at 4 when it was over and as Comic Con finished at 5, headed down for one last look around before we left.
We left at 4.30 to beat the rush, and went to Dennys for dinner (all day breakfast YUM) and were back into the RV by 7, ready to plan the next part of our trip.
Well there we go, 4 ½ days at Comic Con, a stack of free stuff, a great time. We wish we could come back again next year.
