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 2014 - Preview Night

So! I'm trying to keep up with this. I'm a little late because by the time we got back to the hotel last night, we were exhausted. And also kind of bummed out. But I'll get to that.

So Wednesday is a little bit more of a chill, exploring kind of day, because Preview Night doesn't start until 6pm. So we really had no rush to get up and about, we could take our time with getting showered and eating breakfast. But around 10:30am, Andrea and I headed off to the nearby Fashion Valley Mall to get our "shopping day" started. I think we both only actually bought anything at JC Penney, 'cause they have awesome prices (I swear I'm not being paid for advertising). We checked out the Lego Store and a few other places, but that was about it.

After shopping was done, it was time to head to the Convention Center. This is where we get a little boring. We got there easy, got in fast, grabbed our badges in no time, and then sat and waiting in line for THREE. HOURS. so we could get into the exhibit hall early and get to the Funko booth. Funko has all kinds of awesome exclusives for SDCC (google Funko Pop! SDCC exclusives and you'll know what I'm talking about). We dedicated our Preview Night entirely to this cause.

So when we were finally let in, it was such a disappointment that we couldn't even get in line for the booth. Ten minutes before the doors opened, a bunch of exhibitors crowded the line and it was capped off before anyone was let into the hall. And worse, the guy in charge of letting people into the line was awful. He would only let people in randomly, without any system or tips on how he would choose. He was just very unfriendly and unhelpful.

So after about an hour, hour and a half of making passes by the booth and getting rejected, but seeing him let other people in, we gave up and headed elsewhere. We found a few other booths selling the regular non-exclusive Pop! figures and both managed to find some we liked. We kind of gave up at that point and headed out of the Convention Center to meet up with Natalie for dinner.

Afterwards, we headed back to the hotel, ate the rest of our cheesecakes from the night before, and headed to bed. We were feeling pretty defeated, and sort of pessimistic about things at that point. But don't worry! Thursday is going MUCH better, so don't worry, things will cheer up soon! I promise!

And I will say, our shopping time was awesome. We had a great time. And our three hours in line at the convention center helped me get a lot of reading done on The Clockwork Princess, and Andrea read lots of comics. So there were some good points. But yeah, I'm gonna end this here. Look forward to my Thursday post, 'cause it's gonna be AWESOME.