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