SDCC has once again come upon us and over in a flash. It seemed this year that there wasn’t much hype about it, as years pasts. Even the con itself, felt different. There weren’t as many autograph sessions/photo ops as last year. Not sure if its losing its hype, or what. It just didn’t feel like Comic Con this year.
We did some cosplay this year: Ghostbusters, Team Rocket, and Doctor Horrible. Honestly Team Rocket was the biggest hit, I’m assuming due to Pokemon GO. The Nintendo Lounge pulled the kids on stage for their costumes and won some prizes. Nintendo lounge is outside the con at the Marriott Hotel has tons of games to play, and you can fill up a passport to get a ton for their claw machine. Lines get long, so try to get their early.
Many exclusives you were able to pre-order and pick up at the con, which helped congestion in the dealer’s room, and less people sleeping outside to get in the next morning. Funko, Hasbro, and Mattel had lines outside nightly, with chances to get a wristband to get in their lines the next day. Funko’s lines are always insane, and you’re not guaranteed what you are hoping to obtain. We were able to walk up to the Funimation Booth and purchase 2 POPs (as they mark your badge for limits) and walk away. I wish more booths did the limits to help everyone that really wanted an exclusive to get one, and stop the scalping.
There are so many contests and raffles during SDCC, you will probably never see them all. We chose to try our hand at the CONAN POP giveaway daily. If you were lucky enough to get chosen to attend one of his tapings during SDCC, you automatically get a CONAN POP at the end of the show. Bring a bag with you to put him in, as when you leave you will be harassed by scalpers outside the doors to buy him off of you. The line for the giveaways started outback of the Hyatt hotel, and doors opened every day at 9:30am. They allowed about 100 people in at a time, you would put your hand in a dark cloth bag and hope you picked a winning ticket. Chances of winning were 1 out of 5. After 4 days of lining outside from 6am-9:30am we were able to complete the whole set! We also went around to TBS, Cartoon Network and Powerpuff Girls booth and collected the pins every day.
There are so many contests and raffles during SDCC, you will probably never see them all. We chose to try our hand at the CONAN POP giveaway daily. If you were lucky enough to get chosen to attend one of his tapings during SDCC, you automatically get a CONAN POP at the end of the show. Bring a bag with you to put him in, as when you leave you will be harassed by scalpers outside the doors to buy him off of you. The line for the giveaways started outback of the Hyatt hotel, and doors opened every day at 9:30am. They allowed about 100 people in at a time, you would put your hand in a dark cloth bag and hope you picked a winning ticket. Chances of winning were 1 out of 5. After 4 days of lining outside from 6am-9:30am we were able to complete the whole set! We also went around to TBS, Cartoon Network and Powerpuff Girls booth and collected the pins every day.
The Iconic Booth had a promotion if you bought the ONCE UPON A TIME – Captain Hook figure, you could come back and have him sign it. It sounded like a good idea, until the day of the signings. The booth did not plan the event very well and people trying to get in line were turned away by Police and Security due to fire hazards. If this is such an issue in a crowded place, I don’t see why they cannot move events such as these to the panel rooms upstairs, where there is plenty of room for lines, and everyone. After determination and pacing back and forth, (if you were standing still, you would get yelled at) we managed to get in the line. It was basically a 30sec event of handing your figure to staff, who handed it to Collin to sign, they snap a quick pic and rush you out. It was beyond stressful for people that made the purchases, and I’m sure the staff.
The PRISM Booth had a Samantha Newark signing on 3 days, and they had their act together. The lines were smooth, easy to get in, and hassle free. Samantha was amazing to meet, and takes the time to truly meet/talk to her fans.
As for panels, we didn’t attend many. A lot of the good ones were in Hall H, and camping out overnight wasn’t an option this year. We did attend the Doctor Horrible’s Sing-A-Long Blog, where they had a costume contest and special things to shout out during the show.
The PRISM Booth had a Samantha Newark signing on 3 days, and they had their act together. The lines were smooth, easy to get in, and hassle free. Samantha was amazing to meet, and takes the time to truly meet/talk to her fans.
As for panels, we didn’t attend many. A lot of the good ones were in Hall H, and camping out overnight wasn’t an option this year. We did attend the Doctor Horrible’s Sing-A-Long Blog, where they had a costume contest and special things to shout out during the show.
Some good tips to keep in mind: Pack food, snacks, water as you never know how long a line will be. It saved us many times during the weekend. Wear sunscreen (as many lines will wrap outside and beyond), hats, sunglasses to protect yourself. Keep in mind that parking near the con, is a lottery system, that you have to enter/pay for before the con if you get chosen. I heard the Westfield mall was offering parking, but it was pretty expensive. The trolley is normally your best bet, but at the end of the day it gets packed. Hope to see you all next year!
Twitter: AnimeSector
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