More Comic Con stories!!

And just like that we were HUNGRY!! We had been up since before dawn and were crashing quickly! We had to work our way outside the building. It felt like a casino where you get so turned around, you have no clue which direction is what. On our way out the door I found a fabulous Sailor Moon! I was like "Work it Girl!!" (I didn't know she wore a watch???)

 

Thanks to modern technology we googled a Chipotle about a mile away and headed right for it! Downtown San Diego has some interesting buildings peppered with a few pan handlers. But on this day there were themed "cabbies". Can't go to this pop culture Mecca without running into Game of Thrones and Once Upon a Time in Wonderland. 

We lucked out in that no one else was at Chipotle. But even though the place was quiet, we dashed back to the convention center. I really wanted to get a photo with John Barrowman. He's from the shows Torchwood and Doctor Who. And although it doesn't really matter, he's Gay! As it turns out, to get a photo and meet with him, one must pay $50!! I had no clue that would be the case. We were foolish to think it would be from the goodness of his heart. Eric agreed it was just too much to ask so we went on our way to the Disney Afternoon panel. 

Met a few villains along the way!

There were many adults that waited for the Disney Afternoon panel. So much of us grew up on the cartoons of Darkwing Duck, Gummi Bears, Rescue Rangers, and DuckTales. Eric was beside himself! I thought I was a fan of the line up...he was a bigger fan! It was unfortunate for us that the panel was so disorganized. They didn't really know what to talk about other than the origins of the series. I can say that section was cool, hearing about a secret meeting at Michael Eisner's house. They did show a pitch for Goof Troop, which was great. Oh! They had a DuckTales theme song, sing-along. That was a little much, but still fun. As I covered, most time was spent rambling.  

The whole time we sat there I regretted not paying the $50 to meet John Barrowman. I contemplated leaving and meeting Eric afterward, but I didn't want to get lost. (I'm a grown adult,but at Comic Con getting lost IS an option). 

After the panel ended we rushed back to the booth. The photo session was over and they had moved on to some obscure actor I hadn't heard of before. I was disappointed. I hadn't bought anything, so what else was I gonna spend that $50 on? Gas? Boring!!! 

As we decided to wander some more we saw him! There he was with his husband! 

And then I got really close to him, but he blinked!! Blinked!! Out of all the seconds in the world, he blinked during my photo!!

We then wanted to find "@ComicBookGirl19" from YouTube. Anyone else know of her? Our pal Rich introduced us to her channel on YouTube. She talks a lot about comics, general Sci-Fi, and Game of Thrones. At the booth she was hanging at, there was another "pay to meet me" vibe. I couldn't find any merchandise I liked. So I did what any sly, weirdo fan would do. Snapped a quick pic and got outta there! Check out her channel though! 

Eric bought a few comic books and I debated if I was gonna start the new Superman Unchained. I didn't end up buying the first few editions as I had two X-Men stories at home to read, Dark Phoenix Saga and Days of Future Past. We had a great time just checking the booths out. 

At Comic Con what do I buy?? A Disney print! Eric and I found Amy Mebberson, who I've mentioned on this blog before. She was also at WonderCon. Here's the print she had available called "Family Foes".

Mother Gothel looks rather creepy as she strokes a lock from Rapunzel's hair. 

Eric still wanted to look into the Funko booth, which I was just fine doing. The line was a lot shorter than earlier but the booth was very thinned out. Eric and I found a few items we liked. One pop vinyl, a zombie from Plants vs. Zombies is for my nephew. But, I'm keeping the "Animal" (Muppets) figure! There was even a claw machine where one can win pop vinyls. No luck!!

It was still just after 5 PM but the tiredness was creeping onto us. A few quick passes down a few aisles had us "pooped"!

We felt that we really needed more time. Another day would definitely give us a chance to see more. We saw about 50% of the showroom floor and saw .5% of panels. Now that we both are on the e-mail list, we will get an early registering slot for next year. I recommend this even to all interested in not just comics, but pop culture too. 

I hope you're all ready for D23 Expo stories because that's up next!

San Diego Comic Con 2013

Since we've been together, 11 years, Eric and I keep saying we'll attend Comic Con. We finally made it happen this year. Because we went to WonderCon, we were included in notifications for "resale" tickets to Comic Con. Luckily members canceled and we took their spots on July 21st. 

I was so nervous about parking. Once I saw that the prepaid parking had been sold out for months, I thought we'd shell out $30-$50 dollars to park. I had also read how congested the area can be. My pal Martin, who has worked the event, says it gets insane with jammed traffic. Martin suggested arriving by bus from his neighborhood, Hillcrest. 

 Another friend had mentioned the trolley. I looked into the trolley option and found a few Park & Ride locations with FREE parking. Phew!! We were set! After a 6:30 AM start to San Diego, we parked about 5 trolley stops from the convention. 

The trolley operates like any subway in NYC, so we had experience. It is $5 for a day pass plus $2 for the Trolley card. The trolley slowly filled up as we got closer to the Con. As this happened our excitement grew because the riders joining us had their event badges around their necks and free backpacks on. Here you can see the caped backpack I was given. 

Approaching the center was really overwhelming. Eric and I kept repeating that we had no clue where to go. As it turned out, we were funneled into a quickly moving, but extremely long queue. This was to pick up our badges. The queue wrapped all the way to the rear of the convention building near the loading dock. We then were herded to the top level so that we could finally grab our badges (ticket).  Attendees must where his badge around the neck at all times. 

Although Eric is a bigger collector than me, we both are fans of Funko's Pop Vinyls. They would have exclusive vinyls for this even. The queue was full to capacity when we checked. It pretty much sucked that we couldn't even wait for the line to get shorter. The guy minding the queue was an ass. He was pretty much yelling into the open space to keep walking and not clog the walkway. That reminded me a lot of Disneyland during shows and parades. The only option Eric and I had was to keep checking back.  

We did come across some set up themed to the series we watch, The Walking Dead. To check out their exhibit we had to get in a queue about 40 yards away. They then would take groups of ten to join the actual queue that existed alongside the exhibit. So confusing. 

Once we made it back across to the main queue, holding a shoulder of a stranger to avoid the breaking up out group, we saw zombies! It was a photo op and that made us pretty excited. The show had an arch take place in a prison for an entire season. This was the perfect setting. And, there was also an opportunity to pose with zombie heads belonging to The Governor of Woodberry. 

While still feeling overwhelmed, we pushed our way back to the Funko shop and found the queue was still closed. We then shuffled our feet back to the area near The Walking Dead set. Eric noticed the ABC booth. It was more of a pirate ship from the show Once Upon a Time 

After waiting almost 30 minutes we met a few people dressed as the show's main characters. They had some cool costumes. We all were given a Comic Con exclusive pin and we watched a lengthy trailer. Eric snagged a photo with Prince Charming from Storybrooke. We can see Captain Hook peering out from the his ship. 

I keep talking about the hugeness of this convention. Just look at the filled walkways! It's insane!

There's more to talk about, but I don't wanna tire all of your eyes. Please join Eric and I next time for the next installment of our SD Comic Con experience. Do we ever get inside that Funko booth? Do I finally get to meet John Barrowman of the show Doctor Who?.....find out soon. 

Anyone else go? What was your experience? Leave a comment below :-)

Whimsical Characters Descend on Anaheim for WonderCon

An array of personalities and faithful comic followers headed to the Anaheim Convention Center this past weekend. Among them, at least on Sunday, was Eric and myself. The only type of "nerdy" convention we had attended were the last two D23 events at this same location. Although we had a slight idea of what to expect, there was also the unknown. A few goals we had for ourselves was to see a few celebrities and commission a drawing or two from a favorite of ours, Amy Mebberson.

After the easy process of picking up our entrance badges, we were glad to find out that we were  to queue up inside the exhibit hall. To compare to the D23 event, we waited outside on Anaheim's Katella Blvd in what felt like disarray. We already were seeing a few interesting costumes and a few "tossed together" as well. There was a guy behind us as we waited standing on jumping stilts, all while he wore a blanket showing the Tardis from Doctor Who. I think he just really wanted to wear the jumping stilts. Since it was Easter Sunday, there were some hopping around with bunny ears. I need to add this was the best Easter Eric and I ever had.

I was ecstatic to see Gadget of the Rescue Rangers!

I should note the Perrier bottle had wine in it.

When the floor opened, half hour early, we made a quick leap to Artist's Alley to find Ms. Mebberson. I'm glad we made it our first stop because there was already a four person queue putting in their commission orders. It must feel nice to have people rush to one so quickly for ones talents. I put in for Miss Piggy dressed as The Queen of Hearts. When Eric stepped up to the table he requested Chung Lee from the StreetFighter arcade game. Chung Lee has always been Eric's favorite character to use. And, from what I have been told, Eric used Chung Lee many times to beat all the kids at the arcade. Miss Piggy is a Muppet, which I love, and she is my absolute favorite Muppet. I even wore my Muppet shirt that day on purpose. Amy complimented my shirt, which I secretly hoped she would notice. (Amy has drawn Muppet comics and even designed Skeeter, Muppet Babies, as a grown character) We retuned later in the day to pick up our drawings she had done for us.

Check Amy out on www.mimisgrotto.com/

As mentioned before, Eric and I knew which celebrities we would want to see. To wait out the time for those panels we began the wandering up and down the main floors booths. It was a real shame that this was a week when rent was due! There were so many gadgets and toys Eric and I were eyeing. There is a Wizard of Oz comic out there we have pondered buying for at least 6 years. We almost bought two, but we showed restraint. Eric even wanted a Fin cap from the show AdventureTime! He had to ask himself if he REALLY wanted it, or was it just impulsive. He didn't buy the cap. I ended up purchasing an action figure of Rose Tyler from Doctor Who.

This Aquaman was really into cosplay

As we went to check on the wait time for the arena presentation of Nerdist Productions, headed by Chris Hardwick, we found it already started! Chris Hardwick was fielding audience questions or rather debating with the audience about various "nerd" topics (Back to the Future, The Walking Dead, Doctor Who). It really is cool to see that there are so many people out there that understand your obsession for what one person might think to be odd.

Chris Hardwick ( @Nerdist ) doing his thang!

After The Nerdist panel was over, it was time for the panel from Arrow, a show on The CW. The lead role, played by the steamy Stephen Amell, is a character seeking vengeance over the reason of his father's "accidental" death. On the television there are some great workout scenes of Amell showing off his muscular body (enhances the storyline). There was some good insight regarding what to expect within the current season and hints to next year. Eric and I were ecstatic to see Stephen Amell in person, but we were very cool about it.

Amell is center.

Eric made a good point that this convention center holds more people and vendors than the San Diego convention center. He also added to his thought that this must have been what San Diego ComicCon was like before Hollywood stormed into that event. I was even surprised to see that Disney had a VERY small presence, if at all. I do know that Disney was represented in the form of a video game, Duck Tales remastered. The main focus at WonderCon were comics, and general Sci-Fi.

Blurry pic of me hanging with Lumpy Space Princess of AdventureTime

Now that we have Member IDs and will receive SD ComicCon information, I hope we get to attend in 2014. I think it would be interesting to see what the event down there has to offer and compare it t WonderCon.

Yay! It's Coraline!!