SDCC 2014 - Day Two

And we're back for more San Diego Comic-Con coverage! Friday, day two of SDCC was really a day of exploring for Andrea and I, and it was a lot of fun!

We decided to sleep in a bit, which was nice at the time, but turned out to maybe be a mistake when it came time to take the shuttle to the convention centre. We waited over half an hour for a shuttle, and finally Andrea decided to go grab us food while we waited. And that's when suddenly the shuttles started showing up. I made it all the way to the very front of the line, and then just in time, Andrea showed up with our breakfast.

When we got to Petco Park where our bus dropped us off, we decided to explore outside the convention. First, we went by the annoying Christian Cosplayers (as we call them), some angry group of religious people with signs and megaphones preaching about hell and damnation. The other day we saw some people following them with signs of their own, "Godzilla Saves", "Kneel Before Zod", and a few others.

Anyway, we went by them and spotted a great Alice and Mad Hatter having a tea party on the grass in front of the Marriott. We asked to take a picture, and they invited us to join them. It was really odd and fun. They had their accents, were totally in character, and introduced themselves and their other guests, a TARDIS, the Doctor, another Doctor, and another girl. It was really random, but a great start to the day.

We said thanks and goodbye, and continued on our journey. We went through a Simpsons zone, complete with giant Homer's head sticking out of the ground and a lot of odd Simpsons art. Next was the Batman zip line through the skyline of Gotham, which had a ridiculous line. But we did get to see Mary Poppins zip down with her umbrella. We also saw a big Godzilla statue thing made of tires or something? I dunno.

Anyway, after that, we headed back into the convention centre and got in our first line of the day: Starbucks! Caffeine is important at comic-con. After a long long wait, where a drink for James sat on the counter being called out for a good ten minutes, we finally got our coffees and headed upstairs for the Marvel: Avengers NOW! panel, where they talked about the new initiative pushing a bunch of new Avengers-related #1s. Somethig about the panel did make me want to read Avengers World, which I had pretty much written off, but it sounds like it might be fun. They also talked about the new (lady) Thor series, Sam Wilson taking over as All-New Captain America, and Superior Iron Man, all of which sound pretty exciting. And a new Angela series that looks like it could be fun.

After this was over, we left the convention centre again to check out the Nintendo Gaming Lounge, the Xbox Lounge, and we grabbed our Hannibal soundtracks from the fulfilment room for free stuff. Of particular note was a contest to win a whole bunch of different custom Xbox One systems, and lots of awesome game demos at both Xbox and Nintendo.

After this, Andrea decided we'd waited long enough, and needed our guacamole fix, so we headed to our favourite place in San Diego, La Puerta. And it was glorious. There was a bit of a wait, but the food was soooo gooood, and I got a little bit drunk off of two mojitos. Oops. I'm a lightweight, I'll admit it. I don't drink much anymore, so it hits me hard. Anyway, the guacamole was magic, and my tacos were delicious, and when we left, I felt I was going to explode.

Next, we headed to the Ballroom 20 line again, and this time we had a bit of a walk, and a bit of a wait, but we got in during the panel for the Originals. I don't know anything about this show, and I don't really care about it, so I decided to take that time to catch up on my blogging. (Much like I am doing right now!)

The reason we got in line for Ballroom 20 was right after the Originals panel ended, Arrow! We got to see Stephen Amell, Colton Haynes, John Barrowman, Willa Holland, Paul Blackthorne, and David Ramsey, plus the showrunners and a writer for the show. This panel was great. There were so many cute moments between the cast members, Willa cuddling up to Daddy Barrowman, and various imitations of that, plus John Barrowman being hilarious and ridiculous. And the showrunners were totally nerding out, which is always fun to see. The other thing I noticed was how different Stephen Amell sounds from Oliber Queen and the Arrow. He just sounds so genuine and endearing. I won't lie, I'm a little more attracted to him. The men on this show are all pretty attractive.

So after this panel, we really didn't have anything else we wanted to do, so we headed back to the hotel to relax and recharge (ourselves, and our devices). Our plan was to rest up and then head back to the convention centre to get in the Hall H line for the next day, 'cause we figured camping out from 10pm on, we'd make it into Hall H for all of the great panels the next day (Warner Bros., Women Who Kick Ass, Marvel Studios). But we decided to do some research on twitter before dedicating our night to this, and it's a good thing we did, because after searching #HallHLine, we learned people had been lined up since 3pm, way before they were allowed to be lined up, and there were already thousands of people in line by the time the line officially opened up. It was ridiculous, so we abandoned that idea and formulated a new plan.

Instead of spending our evening sitting around on a sidewalk, we went to the AMC Theatre nearby and did our fourth annual Comic-Con movie night and saw Hercules. It was a pretty fun movie. Interesting reinterpretation of the stories, and it fit in with our theme of Comic-Con movies. And that brought us past midnight, so the end of Day Two of SDCC! It was another really fun day, and it's continued on, so again, stay tuned!

SDCC 2014 - Day One

Okay! So like I mentioned in yesterday's post, after the disappointing Preview Night, Thursday was much much better.

We decided to get to the convention centre a little bit early to try to get into the Funko booth again. We swung by once, saw it was the same ridiculousness as before, and decided to write off getting any exclusives. We DID still want to get some non-exclusive Funko Pop! figures, so we headed off to the various booths selling them.

And it was a good thing we did! A bunch of the other exhibitors had managed to obtain a bunch of the exclusives, so we decided to buy a few. The were marked up significantly above the Funko prices, but to not have to deal with that headache, we went for it. There was one booth that was selling them for ridiculous prices, between two others, Andrea and I managed to pick up some good ones. (I got Bloody Sharknado, Bruised Buffy, plus the Unmasked Desthstroke I got the day before.)

After our successful Exclusive-hunting, Andrea and I were both feeling way happier, and much more motivated to get our Comic-Con on. We did a little bit of exploring in the exhibition hall, saw the awesome Lego Groot and Rocket Raccoon statue, an amazing giant Smaug with sleepy eyes that open and close, plus Lola on display at the Marvel booth.

At this point, we switched our focus to panels! We had plans on getting into the Ballroom 20 line for a panel in the afternoon, but when we got there, we just... walked right in... Now, if you've never been to Comic-Con, you may not understand how crazy that statement is. We tried to get in two years ago, and the line was probably a mile long, at least. Just crazy.

So anyway, we walked right in to Ballroom 20 at the end of the 24 panel, so we got to see the handsome Kiefer Sutherland up on the stage. I didn't pay a lot of attention 'cause I don't watch the show. I do remember someone requesting a "dammit" in the audience questions portion. Next was Under the Dome, which I do still watch, but I can't figure out why. It's terrible. But we saw pretty well the whole cast up there. Mike Vogel was handsome as ever, and it's always cool to see Dean Norris (breaking Bad! Woo!). Of particular note was that Rachelle Lefevre dressed up as Starbuck from BSG, and Alexander Koch dressed up as Daryl from the Walking Dead. Otherwise I mostly laughed at the should-be-dramatic moments in the exclusive footage.

After that was Scorpion, which I had only heard a little bit about and had sort of written it off, but they showed the pilot episode, and it was actually really good. I am definitely adding it to my PVR in the fall. Next was Reign. And while I have absolutely no interest in the show, the panel and cast were very fun to watch. They were kind of crazy and really funny. Following that was the TV Guide tribute panel to Community, which was another great panel. Seven seasons and a broadway musical! It was great to see how happy Joel McHale was that it got picked up again, and Dan Harmon was reading the twitter feeds about the panel, as the panel was going. I've always loved this show, and I'm looking forward to what is coming with it.

Finally, the panel we really wanted to see, the cast, and showrunner, of Teen Wolf took the stage. This panel was... ridiculous. I loved it. Tyler Posey really doesn't seem to have any filter on what he says, and the guys all have a great time. Holland and Shelley were both adorable, and Jeff Davis has really nice arms. They also showed some exclusive footage for the rest of the current season, which makes me glad I have a buddy to watch it with, and they announced that they have been renewed for a fifth 20-episode season. This has been my favourite panel so far.

After that, we decided to try to get into the Marvel AXIS panel, but there was a crazy line, so luckily we had grabbed a pass to get back into Ballroom 20, and we caught the Hannibal panel. The footage they showed really made me question why the fans are SO EXCITED for this show. It looks so dark and terrifying... If Kim is reading this, I'll need to ask her why she loves it so much. We DID get a free supplementary soundtrack out of it, which is kind of cool. We also got a free bestiary for Teen Wolf in the previous panel, so that was really the start of our "free stuff" collecting this year. 

I really didn't actually pay much attention to the Hannibal panel, I was busy reading online about what was being discussed in the Marvel AXIS panel that we didn't get into. I will admit, I got a bit distracted by Raul Eaparza on the stage. He was pretty darn handsome. And I was paying attention when they announced they were doing a signing at the Funko booth, which is a terrible idea. That place is crowded and insane already.

Finally, we watched the Penny Dreadful panel, which was pretty interesting. I've never seen the show, but now I'm pretty intrigued by it. It looks like something of enjoy. But about 20 minutes in I was starting to get really sore sitting in those chairs so long, and I was starving, so I was really happy when it came to an end and we got out of there. We headed to the Rockin' Baja Lobster Coastal Cantina to grab some food and a drink, and then made our way back to the hotel.

It was an awesome day! So many great panels, some great collectables, and a lot of laughs. It really felt like Comic-Con again, and I really remembered why it is I love coming to this convention every year. And it's continued to be pretty awesome, so stay tuned! And follow our Twitter, @sigmaflight for more updates!

SDCC Is Right Around The Corner...

So. San Diego Comic-Con 2014 is right around the corner, and for the fourth year in a row, my excitement is building exponentially as it gets closer! For the last couple weeks Comic-Con's Toucan Blog has been been doing a "Tip of the Day" post every day on all of the things not to be missed at Comic-Con, and that gave me the idea to do a post about what I can't wait for this year.

The first thing I'm excited for doesn't actually have anything to do with Comic-Con itself, but it's one of my favourite things about visiting San Diego. The food! After a long day of exploring the convention centre, there's nothing like grabbing a drink and some delicious food. And my favourite place to do that is a great place in the Gaslamp Quarter that Andrea and I found our first year, La Puerta! I've talked about it before, but it's worth mentioning again. They have fantastic guacamole, and between 3 and 7pm every day, it's Happy Hour! Meaning cheap delicious drinks and food. I can't wait to go back there, and find some great new places to eat!

The next awesome thing I'm excited for is the exhibit hall! The whole place is a madhouse full of awesome exciting things, but crowded with thousands and thousands of people. In particular, I'm looking forward to seeing what's new at the Marvel booth. In 2011 it was decked out for the Avengers, 2012 it was Iron Man 3, and last year they had a SHIELD setup featuring all kinds of cool Marvel Studios props from all of the different movies. With a lot of big Marvel projects on the way, there's sure to be something cool. And there's sure to be tons of other awesome booths to check out, too! All of the comic book companies, TV companies, movie companies, toy companies, and video game companies. Plus all of the smaller booths for webcomics creators and various other awesome things.

I'm also really looking forward to all of the awesome panels! Andrea and I have already booked ourselves for Thursday July 24th at 3:30pm to be in Ballroom 20 for... TEEN WOLF! We've become somewhat obsessed with the show, and we both can't wait to see the ridiculousness of the cast. That and the promise of sneak peaks into what's coming. We've also decided to focus all of our former Doctor Who energy onto getting into the Marvel Studios panel. And I'd love to get into anything else Marvel related, as usual. I'm also hoping to see anything Nerdist or Geek & Sundry to get my Chris Hardwick and Felicia Day fixes, and any good movie panels would be great to see as well.

Besides the exhibition hall and the panels, there's also all of the awesome costumes to see. The cosplayers tend to do a pretty fantastic job, so it's a lot of fun spotting the great ones and getting pictures of/with them. There's also the hunt for free stuff and convention exclusives. I know both Andrea and I have seen tons of awesome stuff we want from the Funko booth, so we need to hit that, and there's bound to be plenty of other things for us to spend our money on. There's also the Nintendo Lounge next door to the convention centre, and all of the cool stuff that gets set up outside and nearby. I'm really excited to experience all of the fun surrounding Comic-Con.

And there's still our shopping day before SDCC begins! I can't wait to head over to Fashion Valley Mall near our hotel and see what we can find there. It's a really nice outdoor mall that just feels like San Diego to me. It's become tradition to spend a few hours our first day checking out all of the stores in there. The Lego Store, the Nike Store, the Apple Store, JC Penny, Old Navy, and all of the other stores. I don't even remember them all at this point. There's also the Cheesecake Factory which will need to be visited, and our annual tradition of seeing a movie at the AMC Fashion Valley Cinemas. I'm not sure what we'll see this year, but I'm sure it'll be something fun and scifi-related.

So there we have it! A rundown on some of the awesome stuff I can't wait for! I know I don't have a great track record with keeping up with this blog during Comic-Con, but I'm going to try to update it during the trip. And Andrea and I have some fun ideas for this year that we'll hopefully manage to put into action, so stay tuned for that! I'm not sure if I'll post again before the trip, but if anything exciting happens, it'll show up here at some point!

I Love Long Weekends

Last I blogged, I mentioned that I'd have another post coming within about a week. At the time, I must have had something in mind... But I forgot what it was and haven't had anything interesting to talk about. Until now! It was Family Day here in BC, and that meant a long weekend, and an extra day of fun.

Friday night, as is often the case, meant a trip to one of my favourite places in Vancouver, La Fontana Caffe, for Nerd HQ! Hanging with Andrea and the nerds is always a good time, and this weekend was a particularly calm version of the usual happenings. BUT! I was playing Pokémon Y, and I finally managed to complete the National Pokédex! I haven't finished the Pokédex since Pokémon Diamond, so it was quite the feat. 718 pokémon to collect and train is not an easy thing to do.

Now, the biggest highlight of the weekend was Saturday morning. For months, Andrea and I have been watching our emails, twitter feeds, and checking in on the Comic-Con website waiting for news of SDCC 2014 preregistration. And finally, last week, the announcement was made! So Saturday morning, Andrea and I got on our computers, signed into the new and improved EPIC waiting room, and waited for 9am to roll around.

In previous years, the race to get badges was all about hitting the button at the exact right time and hoping you make it into the virtual line. This year, they came up with the idea that you sign into a virtual waiting room anytime up to two hours before sales begin, and when the time comes, everyone in the waiting room gets randomly sorted into line to get their badges. It was interesting watchingb the little yellow info bar updating with news and tips. "It is VERY important that you do not refresh your browser when sorting has begun." But when sorting did happen and they began letting people in, I realized that they didn't tell you where in line you were. In previous years you would see what number in line you were, and it would update every two minutes to let you know how much closer to the front of the line you were. But this year they left it a complete mystery. I was just starting to worry that I'd be sitting there all morning just wondering, but then...

I GOT IN! At first I was confused. I thought I was just moved to the actual waiting room instead of the sorting room. But it said to put in my member ID and last name. So I excitedly texted Andrea to tell her, "I GOT IN!!!!" and went to work frantically putting in our info. Somehow I lucked out and got in SO FAST so I was able to secure both Andrea and I our four day plus preview night badges once again! We're set for our fourth round at San Diego Comic-Con and we couldn't be happier!

So that excitement has been carrying through this whole weekend, so the many times she and I have talked and/or seen eac other has erupted into excitement yet again. We also had brunch with our friends Anne and Peter, which was a pretty great time. And we were planning on seeing The Lego Movie today, but then the realization that today is Family Day meant that that idea should have been planned a little further ahead: tickets were sold out.

But we did get to hang out and watch Teen Wolf tonight! I gotta say, Teen Wolf is one of my new favourite shows. I started watching it a few weeks ago and have been hooked ever since. It's got all kinda of awesome going for it. Supernatural monsters and meyhem. Comedy, teen drama, action. And lots of very attractive guys who have a problem with keeping their shirts on. What's not to love? And the show just keeps getting more and more intense! Andrea and I were hanging out on her couch drinking tea and freaking out over everything that's going on. I can't even.

Plus! I finally finished reading The House of Hades yesterday! I started that book in October. Ridiculous. But this weekend I finally picked it up and read the second half in two days. I seriously don't know why it took so long. It was a fantastic book, and I really enjoyed it. I guess I just haven't felt much like reading for a while. I hope that's fixed now.

Anyway, those were some of the highlights of the weekend. Comic-Con. Pokémon. Teen Wolf. Heroes of Olympus. Friends. Nerds. Plus all the regular life stuff in between. Now back to the real world tomorrow.