Well, San Diego Comic Con ended just over a week ago and here I am now, back to real life, and ready with my annual SDCC wrap up. 2016 felt like I great follow up to 2015; fandom was back and comics reigned large and in charge. Last year I thought the con had refocused on general nerd themes; comic characters, fantasy and sci-fi in whatever form of media they take on, and that held true this year. The only caveat being; a lot of the larger properties are winding down/ending their run and most of the newer properties haven't found their voice/spot as one of the big ones. So, it was a quieter year - - 2012 was kinda like that.
If you're new here; let me do a quick bit of explaining. I have the best group of nerdy girl friends in the world and San Diego Comic Con is our yearly girls getaway trip. Sirose, Nicole, Kirsten, and I were joined by Katherine (remember her guest appearances from last year?), and our good friend and new convention attendee, Bethany. This year was #leslieknopecon2016 because we did nothing but celebrate strong female frienships and how much we adore each other. My life would be so different without these beautiful angel dolphins and I can't thank them enough for being my girls.
ANYWAY.
WEDNESDAY NIGHT PREVIEW NIGHT
Because our group was so large and spread out over Los Angeles county (and because of a cosplay emergency), we decided taking two cars was the best way to travel. Bethany and I departed together (because we live five minutes from each other). We enjoyed multiple Starbucks stops, Snapchatting ourselves singing Mindless Self Indulgence, and crappy ass traffic. We left LA at about 1:00 and didn't get to San Diego until about 4:15, and second to arrive. We met up with our girls in the parking lot of our hotel. We stayed at the San Diego Mission Marriot (where I actually stayed last year for Warped Tour). After unpacking, blowing up air mattresses, and several hugs, giving of gifts, and telling each other how pretty we all were, we got dressed and headed down to Preview Night. Bethany and Katherine had Preview Night badges, so they braved the Convention Hall floor, while the rest of us scoped out outdoor activities and ate out fill of sushi. Shoutout to Taka Sushi for reasonable prices and good portion sizes. We headed back to the hotel relatively early, prepared for Thursday and, got a decent night's sleep.
THURSDAY
We woke up early as possible, got dolled up, and headed out to wait in line for the Game of Thrones experience. This line. This damned line. We were in line between 9:45 and 10:15 and the line was already around the frigging block. People lined up at 6:00am. We split up; Katherine and Bethany to patrol the con floor, the rest of us in line. KD has the awesome idea to order Starbucks through the app and pick it up, so I did that and boy was it a good idea, because the line was Starbucks was also around the block. Oh, SDCC, never change. We tried to be as fair to each other as possible, and not leave each other stranded in line. Which, we kinda failed at at one point, because myself, Nicole, Bethany, and KD went to the Star Trek experience to see their new Mac collection and ended getting our faces BEAT by some Mac technicians. This Star Trek line is EVERYTHING. Make sure you get on it next month. By 3:00ish, we finally entered the GoT ecperience! Our main goal was pictures on the Iron Throne, which happened and we all looked FANTASTIC. THANK YOU, SIROSE FOR BEING OUR FIERCE, FABULOUS PHOTOGRAPHER. The rest of the experiencve wasn't as good as last year? Idk, I think I'm just bitter because there was no free shirt. We left GoT and were ready to partake in one of our favorite traditions, lunch at Dick's Last Resort. Only, Dick's Last Resort was closed for the weekend and had been turned into an Impractical Jokers experience. Needless to say, we were NOT HAPPY. We ended up at Old Spaghetti Factory, which is great, but they don't have veggie burgers. KD, Nicole, and I decided to hit the con floor, while the other girls went back to the hotel.
Let's talk about the Exhibitor Hall for a second.
It was really good this year, right?? The American Gods experience at Starz! The Stoop at Nickelodeon! The enamel pin trading at Marvel! The Comic Con exclusives at Tsum Tsum! I was way into it. Did anyone else notice that this year was way more focused on "experiences" and not swag?
We did a few laps around the Exhibitors Hall. I ran into two very good friends and former co-workers Dominic and Kamron, and we chatted about life and the excitement and craziness that is SDCC. We headed back to our hotel room, met up with the other girl, poured a few drink, enjoyed some snacks, ordered Carne Asada Fries that actually had fries this year, sang along to a great playlist of our late 90s and early 00s favorites, until our neighbors knocked on the door and we all got scared and basically went to bed.
FRIDAY
Friday was another day full of excitement and craziness. Nicole and Bethany did an adorable Daria cosplay, and left early with KD to score some con exclusives. I went out to enjoy some of the outdoor activities, while Sirose caught some panels, and Katherine did an awesome Silk cosplay.
The outdoor events. Hmmmm... We never actually made it over to PetCo Park for Nerd HQ, partially because there wasn't much last year. The events in the parking lot by PetCo were really lackluster this year and there wasn't a Totino's truck. :( However, the Southpark celebration was totally rad! I spent a nice part of the morning in the Hulu/Southpark lounge, because it was air conditioned and who doesn't love a few episodes of Southpark? This Comic Con was the hottest Comic Con I've ever experienced and I did not appreciate it. Not even a little bit.
We met up for lunch, and goddamnit, Dick's was still closed!! We ended up at a Mexican cantina in the Gaslamp, which was actually really good, and they had drink specials. While waiting for lunch, I ran into a really good friend and sorority sister, Keiki, who invited us to a party (and it turns out Katherine was already planning on going to said party). A few of us went back to the room to freshen up, I thought I took a secret nap, but it turns out my friends totally knew I was asleep and then we headed out for the Mission: Comic Con party.
I'd never been to a post Comic-Con party and thought I'd been missing something. Well...a party is a party. It was great! But, it was kinda like going out in LA on a weekend, only with more costumes. Because Keiki's company was hosting the event she was able to score us a VIP table (until the Power Rangers showed up, because the table actually belonged to them). We had a few drinks, we met a few creepy guys, we played some Pokemon Go, and then we headed home. We also had another girl walk to the shuttle with us, as we held hands, because no one gets left behind and it's not safe to go alone.
(Sidenote: We hung out with Nicole's boyfriend Jeff a bunch, and we're all super proud of him because he was nominated for an Eisner and plus, because he's one half of the cutest couple ever).
We headed to bed early, because Saturday was going to be a BIG day.
SATURDAY
So. There's a lot I don't remember about Saturday, because it went by in a BLUR. It was our cosplay day!!!
We'd been planning, and then not planning, and totally planning this cosplay for a little under a year, we thought it up last year and thought it would be great for us...we were the Sailor Scouts and Tuxedo Mask!
Upsides; we had so much fun and were all the cutest ever, and got AMAZING photos care of Strawberry Avalanche photography.
Downside; people can be really really rude to cosplayers.
We literally could not walk two feet without being mobbed and having out photo taken. A lot of times people didn't ask. And the few times we denied requests or just to rush past, because were thirsty/hungry/hot, people were not very respectful of our needs as humans.
BE NICE TO COSPLAYERS.
ANYWAY. Basically, all we did that day was take pictures, but we were the cutest, so it was worth it. (I also ran into two of my new co-workers and homies, Brandi and Kelsie, who also had some awesome cosplay going). We split up, so we could leave peacefully, and get food. It was Thai food night. We feasted on Thai food, hung out at our hotel pool, had some drinks (my Snapchat story was out of control that night), ordered pizza, and finally passed out.
SUNDAY
We rose early on Sunday so we could pack up the hotel room. It was definitely a struggle, but we definitely made it happen. After that we had to go through our next tradition; Irish breakfast at Dublin Square! We all enjoyed a hearty Irish meal, adult breakfast beverages, and selfies. We split up to our last minute shopping, con floor activities, and planned to meet up at the Adult Swim on the Green. We retracted that plan, however. Once KD, Bethany, and I got there, we found out the green was kinda lame this year. So, we packed it in and headed to our last stop and our final end of SDCC tradition, buritos from Lucha Libre. Our two cars met at the taco shop, picked up our food, and headed to what the GPS said was a park, but was actually a residential area. So, we ate our buritos on the sidewalk, said our fond and sad goodbyes, and headed home. Bethany and I made it back in about 3 hours, which isn't bad for post Comic Con traffic.
Now, to the media. I've broken it down into three easy catergories, Yay! (Stuff I'm super stoked on and can't wait for more of), No! (Things that I'm not exicted about), and Huh? (Stuff that I don't know how to feel about.
Yay!
Suicide Squad, Justice League, Wonder Woman;; the footage from these movies looks good so far and I'm cautiously optimistic that DCCU has learned from Batman vs. Superman
Legion;; This show looks really good and I'm excited for X-Men media that isn't related to the Fox films, although nothing will top the Fox cartoon.
American Gods;; I love Neil Caiman and I'm so here for this.
Game of Thrones;; SHIT IS ABOUT TO GO DOWN IN WESTEROA
Once Upon a Time;; I don't know how I feel about this show right now. Especially all they've done to Regina and how they have a habit of killing off/ignoring my favorite characters, but this past season had some high notes (particularly Ruby/Dorothy), so we'll see. I'm happy they're ditching the season 6a/6b format this year.
Steven Universe - OH MAN. This panel was amazing, even if nothing was revealed. I can't gush enough about this show and the way it handles nuanced subjects, built a world, the artwork and voice acting, the detailed storytelling. I just wish Cartoon Network would give it a more regular release schedule.
Luke Cage - While I was ambivalent about Daredevil, I LOVED Jessica Jones. The trailer for this was great, so I'll be watching.
Captain Marvel - I've loved Brie Larson since United States of Tara. Couldn't be more hyped for this.
Flash - pretty excited to see how they handle the Flashpoint story.
Star Trek: Discovery - new Star Trek. What's not to love?!
King Arthur by Guy Ritchie - I don't think the masses will like this, but I'm all about it.
Flatliners Sequel - KEIFER. SUTHERLAND. that is all.
New Comics I'll Be Looking At - Backstagers, Kim and Kim, Spell on Wheels, Pink Ranger, Betty and Veronica
No!
Dr. Strange - Tilda Swintin eeallly turns me off in this movie.
Tower of Terror goes Guardians of the Galaxy - I'm annual pass holder and a lifelong lover of Disney and The Twilight Zone. I basically cried when they announced this ride was coming to California. I'm really upset about this.
Huh?
Kong: Skull Island - What is this? I don't get it.
Gotham - This show. I can't even.
American Horror Story - We know nothing about this next season and idk if that's good or bad. Plus, I really don't like Ryan Murphy.
And that's it for this year, folks! I'll be back to the blog in a week or two, and I'm not sure what my next con is. I have to sit out ScareLA this year :( and I haven't made a ton of plans for the fall into next year, yet.
Xo