Comic Con - The Bad, the Good, and the %$@$!!! - Part 3, %$@$!!!

I want to start this critique by saying I love Comic Con. Love it. Even before I have the amazing experience I did. It's a place you see people dressed in insane ways, acting in insane ways, and no one cares or even blinks. There are crazy religious people picketing out front and people come to debate them or antagonize them while everyone else ignores them. There is a feeling of acceptance and belonging. My son lost his phone and the DS and both were turned into lost and found. I lost a jacket at Disneyland and never saw it again. Disneyland! I love the atmosphere of these types of places, I feel less reserved, I am more out spoken and just generally more comfortable, even though it's a huge paradox because it should be everything I hate! Large building, super crowded, lots of walking and waiting in lines. Yet I love it. I would just love it to be a bit more organized!

Day 3!
Company arrives! Fellow blogger (or I should say primary blogger since I have written maybe 5 things counting these 3) Shelly has arrived and is joining us! We do things like this well together because we are both naturally tired and bitchy so we have low expectations. Also neither of us is prone to sensitivity so that's always good. I say this because my sister and her son are also going and they are both very prone to sensitivity. They have to stand in line for their tickets, which brings me to critique number 1. Let people pick up their badges the day before! In the afternoon the ticketing people are not very busy, it would not be that difficult to make this allowance and it would cut down on lines and traffic in the morning. Also if you only have a 1-2 day ticket you are out of luck from doing anything because you will spend your morning waiting to get your tickets! It's kinda crap. So sister and Shelly wait for tickets, I head to the back to try and get into the WB signing line. Security is on top of things this morning though! Way to go guys, only took you 3 days. Pfft. They had it very carefully sectioned off and the lines moving in ways that prevented jumpers or the on rush. The way it always should have been. I couldn't even be upset. We went to the general line and just decided to get into the exhibit hall line and try for Funko tickets. My husband got in the doors just as the last ticket was handed out. Aww. My sister could not keep track of us. I gave up on her staying with us. We would get separated, but my husband, Shelly, and I were excellent about finding each other quickly. The WB signings was what I really wanted for Saturday, but I didn't get those so there was 1 panel I wanted to see and it was right before a panel Shelly wanted to see, in the same room! Score! We let the older boys do whatever they wanted because they were annoying. Shelly's adorable son E wanted to play the Transformers game and was VERY upset when he was taken away from there, but then acted VERY well with the promise he could play again! We went to that panel and it was Felicia Day and Allie Brosh and it was amazing! Shelly and E napped. When it was over we moved up and watched the Hasbro Toy panel all about My Little Ponies! Okay, they may have talked about Transformers, Gi Joe, and Jem, but whatever I just listened to the My Little Pony stuff. :D
Day 4!
Last day. Sunday Funday. Lazy day. It's kids day at Comic Con, so naturally we brought NO kids! Except Illy, she is good at carrying things and going to get stuff (she is small and gets in and out of crowds easier). We took it easy, mostly. I wanted Funko tickets! We were toward the front of the exhibit line. We watched a proposal there in line which was super sweet! They let us in and I was searching for the random person handing out Funko tickets, someone walked up to me and whispered "Are you looking for Funko?" I said YES! He handed me one! Yes! Someone guys overheard this and rushed me he shrugged and walked off. Ha! So my ticket said Phase 1 or Round 1 or something with a 1 on it, meaning I got to get in line. They handed me a list of what was available. I checked the couple I wanted and waited...and waited...and waited. We hardly moved. HOURS went by. We crawled along. I noticed people all around me with 'exhibitor' badges and they were checking every box. Ugh. Periodically someone would shout out the ones they sold out. Luckily they weren't the ones I wanted. Then I noticed anyone with a handicap badge walked right into the line and didn't wait at all. What?!? Apparently the ADA badges are easily obtained when you pick up your comic con badge and it comes with all sorts of 'perks' I noticed several people walk right into panels, right passed a long line of people waiting. This is another one of those areas Comic Con organizers needs to do better! Maybe a placeholder instead of walking in? I don't know, but if they don't do something in a year or two you will have tons of people exploiting this system meant to help people and it will no longer be helpful for those who really need it. I did eventually get up and was able to purchase the Pop Figures I wanted and they are adorable!
We took it easy the rest of the day. We watched a Sailor Moon panel. I learned that Sailor Moon is terrible dubbed and good subtitled, or the new ones are and the ones I watched as a kid are okay dubbed? I left early half because I wanted to make sure I got seats for the Buffy musical (end of Comic Con tradition) half because I needed to move around or I was going to fall asleep, it had been 4 days and I was TIRED! Went into the room for Buffy and it was a Batman cartoon! I love Batman cartoons! It woke me up. Buffy the musical was awesome as always and before it Juliette Landau (Druscilla) spoke about a documentary she is making about vampires which sounds really neat! We got her autograph and picture afterwards and she recognized my daughter's name as being from Angel, which impressed me since she was not on the series at that time.

Illy & Juliette Landau

Overall it was a great experience and I plan on repeating it next year. Sadly I don't think Shelly will because she is a big ol party pooper and did not have as much fun as I did (I think it was because she was super tired and worn out from driving in the day before and would have more fun not preggo, but whatevs), but that's okay because I can still count on her visits since I am near a certain 'happiest place on earth' kingdom that I know she loves. :D Anyways that was my super wordy and poorly edited Comic Con experience. I scheduled these and edited them not at all (otherwise they likely wouldn't be published). Hope to see you there next year!

Comic Con - The Bad, the Good, and the %$@$!!! - Part 1, The Good

Day 2 (Friday) - Comic Con

I went into Day 2 with the same positivity, but a bit of nervousness on being able to keep it up. I was sore and tired and the day before had deflated my bubble a bit. I have to say when Comic Con goes good people it can go really good! Day 2 was the pinacle of Comic Con days for me and made all 4 days worth it!

I started the day going to the back by the boats. I was not going to stand in the general line again so a ton of people can jump into the Hasbro line from the back, I would go straight to the 'exclusives' line. Security was confused. There was a group of us standing in a "not a line" for exclusives. We were told we needed to go to the general line. The problem is the exclusives lines have no where to go but down the stairs so there was no plan or strategy for controlling people from jumping into the line where we were standing. We tried explaining this to the guards and what had happened the day before. They were scrambling to come up with a plan, but it was too late and everyone jumped into their line of choice the moment the lines opened up. It was terrible and felt a bit like cheating, but when there is no organized system in place and the rules are not being enforced what do they expect? I walked right into the Hasbro line and got a ticket. Yes! I would be able to get my exclusives providing they didn't sell out. I felt like a winner. We went to the exhibit hall for a minute, stopped by the MTV booth because I really wanted the Elfstones of Shannara book they were handing out with the new cover. Sadly I didn't get a book, but I got tickets for autographs from the cast of the TV show! Score! Our feet were hurting so we went to check on a panel for My Little Ponies and luckily there were seats! I was so happy and the kids were entertained because we got to see some of the ladies who do the voices actually doing the voices! It was amazing! I sort of love Friendship is Magic series so I may have enjoyed it as much as the kids. Just saying. 

I head to the Shannara Panel after this, I am early, but I don't want to risk it filling up. I get good seats up front and I watch the cast and the author talk. I see the preview and it's amazing! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crjkQHnDYu0 Watch it now! I will wait........

Amazing right? I was so excited I am pretty sure I had tears in my eyes like a goof, but I love this book series. Seriously my daughters middle name comes from this series. I named a child after this. That's love. Anyways my daughter wants to ask a question, I point to the microphone. She is second thinking this now lol, "uhhh I have to go to a microphone?" I nod. She shrugs and says okay. I am nervous for her. I hate public speaking and all of that so I thought I was going to have a stroke for her. She asks her question, "Have any of the actors read the book before being on the show?" ohhhh the actors stammer...the consensus is they have now, but had not beforehand. At least they read it. Then Manu Bennett (the actor playing Allanon, he was also Deathstroke on Arrow) tells my daughter she is adorable and asks if she wants a picture! I am dying at this time. She gets on stage with the whole cast and they then say "Mom come get a picture" all my fear of stage fright vanishes as I scurry to get the picture. I am shaking and excited. This is amazing! The picture is on MTV.com #8! I can't help being a proud mom!

After that we went to another panel with the Oatmeal and Hyperbole and a Half author Allie Brosh. I left early to get in line for my Hasbro time. That went pretty quick and I was able to purchase all the goodies I wanted.

How adorable is this?!?

Then it was Shannara autograph time! They remembered Illy from the panel and she got a special message signed on her autograph.

John Rhys Davis, Austin Butler, and Manu Bennett with Illy (and half of me)

I was done after this! It was the best! I had 2 days left and a very full positivity bubble, I knew the other days wouldn't compare, but I was content...

Comic Con - The Bad, the Good, and the %$@$!!! - Part 1, The Bad

I am terrible about blogging. I am not too busy. I am too over critical of anything I write. It all sounds great in my head, but when I actually write it out it becomes a wordy mess. I am very prone to wordiness, but because I know I have this fault I will edit my wordiness and then become frustrated and then I either delete whatever I was saying (the whole edit!) or it sits in Blogger un-published forever. Like this post, so I am going to finish this and post it as three different posts! 

So i have wanted to go to Comic Con since I was a child. My uncle was a huge trekkie and i heard about Comic Con and Star Trek conventions and cool nerdy stuff he went to and it became a dream of mine, way before it was cool. I got a one day ticket last year, which i do recommend going just one day (and Sunday is a great first day) to get an idea of how it works, just an idea though because the rules change.
San Diego Comic Con...some people love it, some people hate it, you can try to make the argument "its what you make of it," but no matter what sort of laissez faire attitude you try to attend with you will likely run the gamma ray of emotions. Especially with a 4 day badge....

Day 0 - Preview Night
I did not get preview night tickets. Not for lack of trying, but they sell out fast. Nonetheless I went and picked up my badges Wednesday night. I HIGHLY ADVISE THIS....we walked in and walked out, we drove to San Diego for a 10 minute event. It was painless and it really does give you a false sense of ease. "That wasn't so bad, I've totally got this!" You think...oh me from Wednesday, you were so naive.

Day 1 - Thursday - The bad
So we decided early on, we have young-ish kids who are easily bored and we like being well rested and typically don't enjoy sleeping on sidewalks, so Hall H was out for us. Panels are fun and I like them, but they also tire my mind because my ADHD brain needs constant stimulation, so waiting overnight or days for panels in a room you can't leave the whole day or lose your spot seemed like a terrible idea. So we woke up at 4 am loaded into the car and drove to SD, about a 1.5 hour drive. Get to our parking spot. My Thursday morning thinking was - this is good parking, its not to far, I don't mind this short walk! So we asked for the general line and we were directed all the way around the back of the convention center....pfft. Several different guards told us several different things, we followed the masses. We pass the enormously long Hall H line, the enormously long Starbucks line, the fairly long line for Friday Hall H, and finally we get to the end and there we stand. I am not too concerned because this is - in theory- the line for everything that is not Hall H, autographs, other panel rooms, exclusives, everything else, so of course it is going to be long. 

We wait until 7 am when the doors open and people shuffle up the escalators and then there is no more line, they let people race to the line they want to go to...exhibit hall line, ballroom 20, autographs, and exclusives are the biggies.  I'm wanting the Hasbro line and we speed walk in that direction....we are ushered to the Sails Pavilion... Hasbro is outside...okay...now its downstairs....hmm...keep walking and walking ....wait this looks familiar....we are near the boats....a bit further down from where were a moment ago in the general line. This is when my wheels start turning....so why couldn't I have just come to this line from the start?!? Turns out that's what A LOT of people did so the Hasbro line was very long. After waiting another 2 hours in that line Hasbro was out of tickets and I had just wasted my morning in 2 pointless lines. I am a trooper though so I am keeping my positive mood! I had been telling myself I was going to have a calm no expectations sort of attitude for a month. Next on my list, get tickets to watch the World of Shannara panel at the Grand Horton Theatre. Its in the Comic Con complex, not the convention center and you have to get a ticket to attend panels there. So I ask what seems like 10 people where the Horton Grand Line is....no one knows anything! Some people try and guess though, which means we get sent walking in circles for 30 minutes. I finally figure out the Horton Grand line is the same line as the Limited Autograph line. Really?!? No sign or label?!? I thought about adding it with a Sharpie, but I didn't. This line isn't that bad, after a few minutes into it we realize the limited autographs people are waiting for are the cast of Doctor Who. That would be awesome! I mean I am already in the line? We wait an hour or so and finally the line starts moving....moving along and then Autograph line is capped right in front of us. Of course it is! Oh well, I am not really in this line for that, although had I not spent 30 minutes looking for the line I'd probably have gotten the autographs, but whatever! Postivitiy!!  I go to the lotto World of Shannara ticket, my husband, my son, and myself get no tickets, but my daughter wins two. Yay! We get back in line. Same thing again, only my daughter wins, but that's good we have 4 now. We head to the exhibit hall and walk around a bit. There are a lot of freebies, but many are given out at either the start of the day or random times. At this point we had walked over 5 miles and my feet were not happy! I am a very inactive person normally, which I am not saying is a good thing, but 5 miles in a day is insane in my world. The rest of the day wasn't too terrible, the World of Shannara was awesome. Afterwards we raced to the Sails Pavilion and got in line in time to get Terry Brooks autograph! I was done after this, my feet weren't working anymore and getting back to the car was a challenge! The kids didn't drive me too insane, although the 12 year old did annoy me on several occasions which almost caused me to lose my happy happy thoughts. Overall day 1 was just a cluster f**k of unorganized nonsense, both by me not knowing what to expect and by the organizers of the convention.....Next Day 2 - The GOOD