Here are things I learned from this experience:
1) Buy a parking pass if you can. We spent $50 for two days of parking. Thats $50 that could have bought something neato.
2) Write stuff down. I wanted to see Nerd HQ and the Geek and Sundry lounge, and thought I'd be able to look it up on my phone when I needed to. The internet sucked around the convention center and I couldn't pull anything up. There is something to be said for paper and pen.
3) Don't bring your kids. I know mine got bored, and their boredom made things ten times more stressful for us. Plus, we weren't able to get into any panels because the kids were not going to wait in line for them.
4) Sweatshirt not necessary. I read a few blog posts that said the convention center got cold. I didn't experience that and my sweater was just one more thing I had to carry. The only time I appreciated having it was when we were stalking celebrities at the Hilton, then it was a little chilly.
5) Be polite. That sound be common sense but... People were mega rude if you didn't have your boobies or butt hanging out of a costume or if you were ahead of them in line (see my SDCC Part 1 post). There's no reason to forgo manners. Or hygiene. People, please shower. Or carry deodorant and perfume/cologne with you for a pick me up. There were some stinky folks there.
6) One day passes are not enough. If you want to do more than just buy stuff, a one day pass is not going to cut it. Lesson learned. I will never be a one day badge holder again. Four day pass or bust!
7) Mia Moore was right. Buy a poster tube! I didn't get a chance to snag one before we left for the Con and it was a mistake. I got a cool Angry Birds poster freebie from Hasbro and by the end of the day it was destroyed. Next year I am coming with a tube, no doubt about it.
8) Find a SDCC mentor. If you know someone that's been before, see if they will take you under their wing and show you the ways of the Con. I am currently looking for a mentor myself. I missed out on so much this year, I want next year to be better :)
Showing posts with label sdcc 2013. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sdcc 2013. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 31, 2013
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
Keeping Up With The Cons- SDCC 2013 Part 2: Outside the Con
Since we were only badge holders on Saturday, we used Sunday as an opportunity to explore some of the things going on outside of Comic-Con.
We managed to find parking in the Campus parking lot this time, and walked in the direction of Petco Park. We were in search of Nerd HQ and the Geek and Sundry lounge, and I feel like such a noob for even saying this, but we didn't find either one. Fail. But what we did find ended up suiting us a little better.
We started our day at the Ender's Game exhibit. It was really neat because it had actual sets from the movie that you could walk through. And props and costumes that were used in the movie, with plaques that said who used them. Pictures were strongly encouraged, which was awesome because in a lot of the movie/game exhibits they were strictly prohibited. What I found most surprising was how small the sets were, they always look so big in the movies lol. Also, how simple some of the costumes were. The school uniforms will be easy to cosplay, I'm thinking about trying it out myself. I also want to start reading the books on which the movie is based on. Everyone in line kept saying how amazing all the books are, and nerds are pretty good for a book recommendation.
After that we went to the Sega arcade. My son loves Sonic the Hedgehog, and there were demos of Sonic The Lost World set up, so he got to play that. He also got to play a Mickey game, Castle of something (I can't remember), and my husband and I got to try out a PC game called Total War Rome II. They gave you a good amount of time to try out the games, and all the games were pretty neat. The Nintendo Gaming Lounge was the next stop for us. We got to play a bunch of different games, and the Year of Luigi thing going on was pretty cool. There's a Luigi based game that has no Mario and a new toon named Nabbit who is pretty hard to kill. Most of the games didn't have attendants working them, so people took advantage and played way longer than was polite. It was super crowded in there too, so we didn't spend a massive amount of time in there.
For lunch on Sunday, we hit a food truck. It was a Mexican food truck that was at the back of the convention center and it was pretty good. From there, we hit this area on the other side of the Sky Bridge that is a Comic-Con affiliate. We had gone for a little bit on Saturday because my daughter saw the Hello Kitty truck and just had to see it up close (shes a huge HK fan, like me). It had a Smufs 2 display, some Kia cars done up like Justice League members, food trucks, Hello Kitty Wonderland, Wolverine interactive (which I didn't get to do), a Samsung charging station, and a few other things. The main thing in there, to me, was the Gravity preview. We saw the last showing of it. It was done in realD 3D, and visually it was stunning. I'm not sure about the story line though. I know I will be seeing it however, because my husband is a huge Sandra Bullock fan. Everything ended at 5pm that day, and we stayed until the end. The last hour or so brought rain, which was nice, even though it added to the humidity.
Stick around for Part 3!
We managed to find parking in the Campus parking lot this time, and walked in the direction of Petco Park. We were in search of Nerd HQ and the Geek and Sundry lounge, and I feel like such a noob for even saying this, but we didn't find either one. Fail. But what we did find ended up suiting us a little better.
We started our day at the Ender's Game exhibit. It was really neat because it had actual sets from the movie that you could walk through. And props and costumes that were used in the movie, with plaques that said who used them. Pictures were strongly encouraged, which was awesome because in a lot of the movie/game exhibits they were strictly prohibited. What I found most surprising was how small the sets were, they always look so big in the movies lol. Also, how simple some of the costumes were. The school uniforms will be easy to cosplay, I'm thinking about trying it out myself. I also want to start reading the books on which the movie is based on. Everyone in line kept saying how amazing all the books are, and nerds are pretty good for a book recommendation.
After that we went to the Sega arcade. My son loves Sonic the Hedgehog, and there were demos of Sonic The Lost World set up, so he got to play that. He also got to play a Mickey game, Castle of something (I can't remember), and my husband and I got to try out a PC game called Total War Rome II. They gave you a good amount of time to try out the games, and all the games were pretty neat. The Nintendo Gaming Lounge was the next stop for us. We got to play a bunch of different games, and the Year of Luigi thing going on was pretty cool. There's a Luigi based game that has no Mario and a new toon named Nabbit who is pretty hard to kill. Most of the games didn't have attendants working them, so people took advantage and played way longer than was polite. It was super crowded in there too, so we didn't spend a massive amount of time in there.
For lunch on Sunday, we hit a food truck. It was a Mexican food truck that was at the back of the convention center and it was pretty good. From there, we hit this area on the other side of the Sky Bridge that is a Comic-Con affiliate. We had gone for a little bit on Saturday because my daughter saw the Hello Kitty truck and just had to see it up close (shes a huge HK fan, like me). It had a Smufs 2 display, some Kia cars done up like Justice League members, food trucks, Hello Kitty Wonderland, Wolverine interactive (which I didn't get to do), a Samsung charging station, and a few other things. The main thing in there, to me, was the Gravity preview. We saw the last showing of it. It was done in realD 3D, and visually it was stunning. I'm not sure about the story line though. I know I will be seeing it however, because my husband is a huge Sandra Bullock fan. Everything ended at 5pm that day, and we stayed until the end. The last hour or so brought rain, which was nice, even though it added to the humidity.
Stick around for Part 3!
Monday, July 29, 2013
Keeping Up With The Cons- San Diego Comic Con 2013 Part 1
Comic-Con has come and gone. This was my first year at SDCC, so I didn't really know what to expect. I mean, I had been reading blog post after blog post about people's experiences at past Comic-Cons, what to bring, advice, any information I could get my hands on, and then added it to my own knowledge of other conventions like WonderCon. I thought I was prepared, but I wasn't.
The drive to San Diego was about four hours, which isn't too bad considering it was a Saturday. We made it to Petco Park around 10:30am, and managed to find a parking space in the Tailgater parking lot right before they closed it. Getting our badges was pretty quick, there were no lines. Right away we went to the Blizzard Entertainment booth, I was dead set on getting an Epic Purple Lanyard and Shadow Illidan figurine. Once there, we found out that to get a free EPL, you had to go on a bit of a scavenger hunt to other booths, take pictures, etc and then come back to the Blizzard booth during certain times to get your photos authenticated. It was a hassle and I was bummed because I had my kids with me, and I knew that they weren't going to be patient enough for it. We were getting ready to walk away when my husband started looking at the pricing board to see how much the Shadow Illidan I wanted was, and saw that they were selling the EPL as well. It made me super excited, especially since they didn't have anymore Shadow Illidans. While we were getting in line though, I had a girl literally push me and yell "Get out of my way!" because she was also trying to get into the Blizzard line for the Mini Sylvanas figures (they only had twenty left). I was shocked that someone would do that. And it didn't really help her, I still got in line before her, and we both got the Mini Sylvanas. I was also surprised that one of the Blizzard employees saw what this girl had done to me and said nothing. If I was manning a booth and saw someone acting like that, I wouldn't allow them entry in my line. They would've been able to sell that figurine to someone else so easily.
After that we went to check out the preview of Watchdogs. We already have the game pre-ordered, but it was nice to see an extended video of the game play, and it looks like a pretty nifty game. We wandered around a lot, trying to absorb everything. We walked by signings with the cast of the Simpsons and True Blood. And Tom Cruise and Bill Paxton were on the other side of the True Blood signing, but I'm not sure why. It was so cramped and crazy by those areas that I didn't get any pictures. And the security there yell so unnecessarily and are rude. But maybe its because they have so many crazy people trying to see the stars, I don't know. Eventually we ate the overpriced convention food, even though I had packed a ton of snacks (my kids plowed through their snacks). It wasn't that good. I wish we had tried one of the food trucks that was outside instead.
The last thing we did as badge holders was check out the Assassin's Creed pirate ship that was out in the harbor. TV Guide was having a party on a boat next to it, and as we were walking by some famous people were coming off the boat. I didn't recognize them, but the way people were mobbing them, I figured they were special. Later I found out that it was the cast of The Originals. Two of them were really rude to people who were trying to get photos with them or have them sign something, but one guy (Charles Michael Davis, thank you Internet) was really nice and took pictures with people and took the time to talk to his fans. Again, I was feeling a little overwhelmed, so I didn't join in the photo taking (that, and I didn't know who they were). The Assassin's Creed ship was awesome. We got to see a demo of the game and the graphics look amazing. We didn't get to play it though, as we were the last group allowed on the ship and they were trying to get us off of it.
While we walking away from Comic-Con, content with being done with our day, there was a massive stampede of people running towards the Hilton that's right there. Curious, we went over to see what all the fuss was about. We missed Tom Hiddleston by two minutes. Crazy. We heard that other famous people were being brought to the hotel, so we decided to wait it out a little bit. About ten minutes later, Bill Nye the Science Guy and Neil deGrasse Tyson emerge from the hotel and head to a limo. Bill came over and shook hands with a few fans near the limo (which I wasn't) before heading back, but Neil came all the way down the line. Just as he got to me, his publicist came over and told him to get in the limo, so I didn't get the picture with him that I wanted. But...I did get a high five from him! So that was pretty cool. We left not long after that, my kids were beyond tired and wanted to go back to the hotel room. Next year, my husband and I want to try and stay at that Hilton though :)
Stay tuned for SDCC Parts 2 and 3!
The drive to San Diego was about four hours, which isn't too bad considering it was a Saturday. We made it to Petco Park around 10:30am, and managed to find a parking space in the Tailgater parking lot right before they closed it. Getting our badges was pretty quick, there were no lines. Right away we went to the Blizzard Entertainment booth, I was dead set on getting an Epic Purple Lanyard and Shadow Illidan figurine. Once there, we found out that to get a free EPL, you had to go on a bit of a scavenger hunt to other booths, take pictures, etc and then come back to the Blizzard booth during certain times to get your photos authenticated. It was a hassle and I was bummed because I had my kids with me, and I knew that they weren't going to be patient enough for it. We were getting ready to walk away when my husband started looking at the pricing board to see how much the Shadow Illidan I wanted was, and saw that they were selling the EPL as well. It made me super excited, especially since they didn't have anymore Shadow Illidans. While we were getting in line though, I had a girl literally push me and yell "Get out of my way!" because she was also trying to get into the Blizzard line for the Mini Sylvanas figures (they only had twenty left). I was shocked that someone would do that. And it didn't really help her, I still got in line before her, and we both got the Mini Sylvanas. I was also surprised that one of the Blizzard employees saw what this girl had done to me and said nothing. If I was manning a booth and saw someone acting like that, I wouldn't allow them entry in my line. They would've been able to sell that figurine to someone else so easily.
After that we went to check out the preview of Watchdogs. We already have the game pre-ordered, but it was nice to see an extended video of the game play, and it looks like a pretty nifty game. We wandered around a lot, trying to absorb everything. We walked by signings with the cast of the Simpsons and True Blood. And Tom Cruise and Bill Paxton were on the other side of the True Blood signing, but I'm not sure why. It was so cramped and crazy by those areas that I didn't get any pictures. And the security there yell so unnecessarily and are rude. But maybe its because they have so many crazy people trying to see the stars, I don't know. Eventually we ate the overpriced convention food, even though I had packed a ton of snacks (my kids plowed through their snacks). It wasn't that good. I wish we had tried one of the food trucks that was outside instead.
The last thing we did as badge holders was check out the Assassin's Creed pirate ship that was out in the harbor. TV Guide was having a party on a boat next to it, and as we were walking by some famous people were coming off the boat. I didn't recognize them, but the way people were mobbing them, I figured they were special. Later I found out that it was the cast of The Originals. Two of them were really rude to people who were trying to get photos with them or have them sign something, but one guy (Charles Michael Davis, thank you Internet) was really nice and took pictures with people and took the time to talk to his fans. Again, I was feeling a little overwhelmed, so I didn't join in the photo taking (that, and I didn't know who they were). The Assassin's Creed ship was awesome. We got to see a demo of the game and the graphics look amazing. We didn't get to play it though, as we were the last group allowed on the ship and they were trying to get us off of it.
While we walking away from Comic-Con, content with being done with our day, there was a massive stampede of people running towards the Hilton that's right there. Curious, we went over to see what all the fuss was about. We missed Tom Hiddleston by two minutes. Crazy. We heard that other famous people were being brought to the hotel, so we decided to wait it out a little bit. About ten minutes later, Bill Nye the Science Guy and Neil deGrasse Tyson emerge from the hotel and head to a limo. Bill came over and shook hands with a few fans near the limo (which I wasn't) before heading back, but Neil came all the way down the line. Just as he got to me, his publicist came over and told him to get in the limo, so I didn't get the picture with him that I wanted. But...I did get a high five from him! So that was pretty cool. We left not long after that, my kids were beyond tired and wanted to go back to the hotel room. Next year, my husband and I want to try and stay at that Hilton though :)
Stay tuned for SDCC Parts 2 and 3!
Wednesday, July 24, 2013
Cosplay, A-Okay : The Decision
San Diego Comic-Con brought many things to me: cute Hello Kitty pins, sore legs, more celebrity sighting than you can shake a stick at. And it also brought the decision that I, my almost thirty year old self, wants to cosplay.
I decided almost instantly on Vanellope from Wreck It Ralph. Shes an easy costume to make and its not skin tight like a superhero, so its a less self conscious start. I'm hoping to get all the pieces by Halloween, so I'll be able to do a test run. I'm super excited to try this, but I am a noob, so if any of you experienced cosplayers have any advice, I'd love to hear it!
I decided almost instantly on Vanellope from Wreck It Ralph. Shes an easy costume to make and its not skin tight like a superhero, so its a less self conscious start. I'm hoping to get all the pieces by Halloween, so I'll be able to do a test run. I'm super excited to try this, but I am a noob, so if any of you experienced cosplayers have any advice, I'd love to hear it!
Thursday, July 18, 2013
Keeping Up With The Cons- The Time Has Come
San Diego Comic-Con has arrived. Last night was preview night and today starts the full on convention. I wish I could be there all four days, but I will only be there on Saturday. And even though I will only be there for one day, I have been reading every article and blog post I can about what to expect and what to bring, where to visit, etc. I have been to conventions before, but not one as epic as Comic-Con.
Planning snacks for myself and my husband is pretty easy, but I also have to plan for my two small children. And not only do I have to bring them snacks, but some forms of entertainment, because I know they will get bored. I plan on packing a small backpack for each of them with their snacks of choice, a small coloring book and box of crayons, a puzzle in a bag and their Nintendo DS's. My backpack will include snacks, water, wallet, pens and a notebook, and my Instax.
I'm hoping to visit the Hello Kitty Wonderland, the tokidoki booth, Blizzard Entertainment's booth, welovefine and the Nintendo Gaming Lounge. Also I want to see what Nerd HQ is and maybe check out the Geek and Sundry lounge.
Here is a list of my favorite blog posts outlining the finer points of Comic-Con:
*Geeky Glamorous has a great list of things to do outside the Con.
*Mia Moore did a big list of helpful posts peppered with her own experiences, very helpful.
*Holy SDCC Batman! The Nerdy Girlie has so many helpful posts on Comic-Con, you'd be a fool not to check them out. (she's also doing a SDCC photo challenge on Instagram that looks like tons of fun)
*Of course, the official Comic-Con site is going to have crucial info.
Follow me on Instagram (krystellemt) and Twitter (@krystellemt) for updates of my Comic-Con experience. Lets nerd out together!
Planning snacks for myself and my husband is pretty easy, but I also have to plan for my two small children. And not only do I have to bring them snacks, but some forms of entertainment, because I know they will get bored. I plan on packing a small backpack for each of them with their snacks of choice, a small coloring book and box of crayons, a puzzle in a bag and their Nintendo DS's. My backpack will include snacks, water, wallet, pens and a notebook, and my Instax.
I'm hoping to visit the Hello Kitty Wonderland, the tokidoki booth, Blizzard Entertainment's booth, welovefine and the Nintendo Gaming Lounge. Also I want to see what Nerd HQ is and maybe check out the Geek and Sundry lounge.
Here is a list of my favorite blog posts outlining the finer points of Comic-Con:
*Geeky Glamorous has a great list of things to do outside the Con.
*Mia Moore did a big list of helpful posts peppered with her own experiences, very helpful.
*Holy SDCC Batman! The Nerdy Girlie has so many helpful posts on Comic-Con, you'd be a fool not to check them out. (she's also doing a SDCC photo challenge on Instagram that looks like tons of fun)
*Of course, the official Comic-Con site is going to have crucial info.
Follow me on Instagram (krystellemt) and Twitter (@krystellemt) for updates of my Comic-Con experience. Lets nerd out together!
Saturday, July 13, 2013
Keeping Up With The Cons- SDCC Exclusives
So freaking excited! I just found out that tokidoki has some exclusives coming to San Diego Comic Con. I am a huge tokidoki fan. Check out the ever growing list here.
Also, Geeky Glamorous did a nice roundup about a week ago of some of the stuff that's going to be available, so make sure to check that out here. The link at the bottom of that post is especially helpful (here it is).
If you know of any exclusives that aren't listed here, please leave a link in the comments section. San Diego Comic Com is about a week away and I'd love to update my list!
Also, Geeky Glamorous did a nice roundup about a week ago of some of the stuff that's going to be available, so make sure to check that out here. The link at the bottom of that post is especially helpful (here it is).
If you know of any exclusives that aren't listed here, please leave a link in the comments section. San Diego Comic Com is about a week away and I'd love to update my list!
Wednesday, July 10, 2013
WoW Wednesday- Blizzard to Visit San Diego Comic-Con
Yes that's right, normally beachy San Diego is set to experience a Blizzard during this year's Comic-Con and I couldn't be more excited. This is my first year attending SDCC and I was hoping my luck in getting tickets would extend to BlizzCon, but sadly it didn't. And I'm sorry Blizz, as much as I wanted to attend, I just couldn't stomach paying $500 for the charity dinner ticket that also gets you into BlizzCon. So a little over a month ago when Blizzard announced that they will be attending San Diego Comic-Con, a small squeal of delight came out of my mouth.
Then they announced that they would be selling some exclusive merch while there. I am really looking forward to trying to get Shadow Illidan by Funko and the Epic Purple Lanyard. I hear that most Comic-Con exclusives sell out during preview night, and I won't be there until Saturday, so I'm really hoping that's not the case. But even if they do, it'll be a great experience (I hope).
And here's the link to Blizzard's signing and panels scheduling in case you're interested.
Then they announced that they would be selling some exclusive merch while there. I am really looking forward to trying to get Shadow Illidan by Funko and the Epic Purple Lanyard. I hear that most Comic-Con exclusives sell out during preview night, and I won't be there until Saturday, so I'm really hoping that's not the case. But even if they do, it'll be a great experience (I hope).
And here's the link to Blizzard's signing and panels scheduling in case you're interested.
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