San Diego Comic Con 2012!
Oh boy where do I start.
It was.. really fun this year. But also VERY crazy. Unlike last year, I didn't get to see as many panels as I'd like, due to the (amazing) line up of movies and tv shows they decided to schedule back to back in Hall H.. which meant more and more people camping out the night before = less chance for you to get in unless you camped out too or woke up at the butt crack of dawn. But this year, unlike last year, we were more successful in buying SDCC 2012 exclusives to almost everything we desired to own, and some extras for resale or gifting.
Overall, what was nice about this year's comic con was that they had reserved time blocks for panel playbacks, so that if you missed the panels, you could come to this and watch what you missed. Unfortunately these playbacks wouldn't be showing super secret footage or special screenings :( But it was nice to have this addition. They also posted it up on their website for the public as well. THey also had more offsite events exclusive to comic con attendees! We didn't get to see all of them, but among them were the Walking Dead Escape, History Channel's BBQ, Rob Zombie's Dawn of the Dead, WB Extra, and so much more.
The city also has lots of events going on comic con related in hotels, bars, etc. Lots of parties (rsvp in advance!), private events if you're lucky to get into one, roof top events...
We got to stop by this cool lil heroes museum, with artwork of villains and superheroes, and even lego statues. My personal favorite is the baby Joker.
Exhibitor's Hall
Before I get to that, let's talk about the Exhibit Hall! There were several exclusives to SDCC 2012, and we managed to pick up a few at the convention! We picked up the three Tokidoki exclusive toys, Tokidoki exclusive hat, 2 Tokidoki shirts (not shown), 2 Kotobukiya x Marvel Bishoujo Figurines (X23 and Black Widow), Square Enix's exclusive Batman and Joker, and Mattel's Tiny Titans.
The one I couldn't get from the convention was the hottest item, Derpy Hooves from HasbroToyShop. Exclusive SDCC item, and it sold out like crazy. However, I did manage to snag one from Hasbro online after the convention is over :) But I was pretty bummed when we finally showed up in line to purchase that it was sold out right when we got there.
DERPY HOOVES!
Isn't she still cute?!?!! haha yes she has derp eyes.
Hasbro still had a pretty good thing of MLP anyway to look at, including another SDCC exclusive by HasbroToyShop x Toys R Us - the Zecora pony shown below in the bottom left corner. It's mainly a preview for its nationwide release at Toys R Us this Fall 2012. it was 10 dollars but didn't even knowt that TRU had a booth...But I will definitely grab on when it comes to stores! i mean come on, she's GLOW IN THE DARK...
Capcom x Toynami's exclusive Hello Kitty Chun Li was a must have as well, but of course, all sold out, with SO LIMITED QUANTITIES per day. :(
omfg more lines...
What we didn't know was that some of these booths, including Hasbro's, required a ticket to be in the purchasing line. And these tickets are time tickets, meaning a posted time is on the ticket and you can only return to purchase Hasbro merchandise after that time. But the earlier you can get that ticket, the earlier time slot you get to get in line.. so basically.. you stand in line.. to get a time ticket.. to stand in line again later to purchase. Sigh.. too many lines. Among other Hasbro exclusives were GI Joes, Transformer's Bruticus, and the Avenger's Helicarrier. We did not pick those up, though the BRuticus did look pretty cool........
Sideshow Collectibles had some pretty amazing figurines, in the range of at least $2000 for these babies:
Enough of the exhibitor's hall!
Thursday, July 11, 2012
The line up for Ballroom 20 was:
- Beauty and the Beast
- Sherlock Holmes and Watson
- Dexter
We didn't see these, but it was on my schedule to see Beauty and the Beast, but i wasn't THAT eager either.
Indigo Ballroom had our #1 panel we wanted to see which was Archer. Other than that, these were in included in the schedule (not all listed:
- Voltron
- Power Rangers 20th Anniversary
- Transylvania
- Wilfred
- Archer
The line up for Hall H was:
- Twilight
- Disney's Frankenweenie, Oz the Great and Powerful, and Wreck it Ralph
- Expendables 2
Thursday is not much to talk about, except we were all glad they got Twilight fans and their panels out of the way! Line wasn't even that long anyway...
Expendables 2 was the next biggest for that day, but we didn't go to that either. It was pretty laid back for us, there were panels but we weren't too interested in them. So we spent most of our time in the Exhibit Hall buying and buying and buying...and demoing games.
Square Enix had several games out for demo - the new Tomb Raider, Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dreamdrop Distance, Sleeping Dogs, and Hitman Absolution. My bf demo-ed Tomb Raider, Sleeping Dogs, and Hitman, and I played the Kingdom Hearts 3D, and after doing so we received free square enix pins for each game :) I ended up demoing the Tomb Raider game at Nerd HQ on Sunday, and it was pretty good too.
We checked out the Batmobiles that WB had set up outside - all the batmobiles from the batman movies. That was pretty neat :)
However, our main goal of this day was to make the Archer panel in the Indigo Ballroom at the Hilton since we missed it last year. and so we DID!!! We entered in a couple hours before hand, and came in when Transylvania started, and the one after that was the Wilfred Panel. We don't watch Wilfred, but it was actually pretty funny! They screened an episode of Wilfred that WONT be aired, and only as release on DVD and well, if you buy the DVD and watch it.. you'd know why ;) Let's just say... Jizz. ;)
The Archer panel was GREAT, they screened an episode from the 4th season of Archer, and it was funny as hell. The voice actors actually looked like their respective characters!!! Except for Archer's VA. Kind of funny, his voice is really HIS VOICE...everytime he spoke i could only imagine Archer.
Later that night was the Rob Zombie Dawn of the Con Welcome Party. There were several offsite SDCC events that occurred through the whole SDCC event. But we attended the Rob Zombie Welcome PArty and sure enough Rob Zombie showed up. There were exclusive T Shirts, but that line was so unbelievably long we decided to screw it.
Friday, July 12, 2012
The line up for Ballroom 20 was popular for the following:
- Firefly's 10 year Reunion
- Bones
- Arrow
- Dark Horse: Joss Whedon
- Breaking Bad
We didn't attend any of these, though I would have been interested in the new Green Arrow show.. Firefly was by far a popular panel, a lot of people was happy to have this reunion.
Indigo Ballroom had ALL Adult Swim shows including Robot Chicken, Venture Bros, Black Dynamite, and many moer!! I would have really wanted to see Robot Chicken, or at least Seth Green. But we spent most of the time in line for Game of Thrones, which is part of the line up for..
Hall H:
- Big Bang Theory
- Walking Dead
- Game of Thrones.
- Resident Evil: Retribution
- Sony's Total Recall, Looper, and Elysium
We REALLY wanted to see Game of Thrones... but we didn't make it in after being in line for several hours :( So we ended up leaving the line and headed back to the Exhibitor's Hall. We coulda totally went to see the My Little Pony panel too! But didn't.. oh well.
That morning we spent more time in the Exhibit Hall, and after walking clear across the hall (10 min+ just to do that) and standing in line in front of some questionable bronies, I got my free Steam Punk Rainbow Dash bag! well, free with purchase :)
Afterwards, we walked around San Diego and came across this amazing mural of the 20th Anniversary of the Power Rangers painted by these two artists!
This definitely explains the gigantic red ranger in the exhibit hall........
Saturday, July 13, 2012
Line up for Ballroom 20 includes these panels:
- Once Upon A Time
- Futurama
- Simpsons
- Family Guy
- American Dad
- Vampire Diaries
- True Blood
I would have really wanted to see Once Upon a Time, at least a sneak peek at the next season!!!!!
Saturday was REALLY NUTS. Not only did we still not get the HAsbro pony this day, the line into Hall H was insane.
The line up in Hall H:
- Quentin Tarantino's Django
- Silent Hill Revelations in 3D
- WB's Pacific Rim, Man of Steel, and HOBBIT!
- Iron Man 3
People camped out the night before! And mainly because of Hobbit, that was HUGE, and then I just found out tonight that Robert Downy Jr. made a really cool surprise entrance through Hall H, down the aisles and high fiving everyone in the Iron Man 3 panel. :( I wish I could see that!!!! But point is, everyone camped out, and NOBODY LEFT ANY OF THESE PANELS. maybe a little here and there, but NOTHING like the exit right after Iron Man 3, when the majority of us in line was for Kevin Smith's annual Comic Con Q&A. like the entire hall left. We were in line around 2, when WB's 2.5 hour panel started, and we didn't move.. at all, and Kevin Smith's panel was at 7pm.
Another panel of interested would have been Grimm, in a smaller room (6A), but of course, these damn lines.. we miss everything don't we? I should consider less popular TV shows and then my panel experience would be worth any wait in line huh?
Anyways Kevin Smith's panel was HA-lirious. Jason Mews appeared as well, promoting their funny game online and Jason kept rambling on the game and showed us how it worked and what you could do with their characters, and finally showing how you basically launch Kevin Smith in the game and watch him bounce of various things, getting more points for hitting certain things and what not.. it was pretty funny. Again Kevin Smith's panel was no disappointment, and the last person who asked the question certainly ended the night with a finale, having Kevin Smith tell us a story about Bruce Willus. ;)
After this panel, the Comic Con Masquerade Party had already started, and apparently is extremely popular - we may want to check it out next year, and see how great people's cosplay turn out and what kind of awards they all win!
Sunday, July 15, 2012
Line up for Hall H:
- Fringe
- Supernatural
- Doctor Who
- Cleveland Show
- Sons of Anarchy
Now Sunday was very slow - I did initially stand in line for Supernatural for Hall H - but lost hope. People again had camped out the night before, and the line was so long, I ended up leaving my group and meeting up with my bf in the exhibit hall. But of course, I leave, and the line moves, and in the end they did end up getting into Supernatural!! boo sack. :( It's ok... Other than that, we ended up leaving the hall early afternoon to Nerd HQ and I demo-ed the new Tomb Raider game by Square Enix. Sunday was pretty relaxing.. considering we already bought all we could, and everything we did want was sold out anyway :(
Last but not least, I've compiled a collage of some really notable cosplay from all through out the weekend!!!!!
SDCC 2012 Cosplay
Wish I took more photos...
Until next year!!!!! SDCC 2013 whoo!
