San Diego Comic Con Unofficial Blog

See you next June with more Comic-Con updates, stories, reviews, and cool info. Until then follow my infrequent twitter updates at @SD_Comic_Con and have a good 10 months!

Bye

Another comic-con has passed and though it’s only been a day, i’m taking a look back at 5 ways this years con was better than others and 5 ways it could improve. Here we go:

How Comic-Con was better:
1. Better security: For the first year it seemed like security actually knew what was going on. Sure there were some idiots but it was a lot better than previous years.
2. Food: Breakfast Boxes saved my con! The Hilton Bayfront sold $8 Breakfast boxes which were pretty good but saved me an hour each morning. Sure the last one I got didn’t have utensils but they were still a great timesaver!
3. Staffing: The con seemed to have a lot more volunteers this year that were everywhere and helped with everything from crowd control to giving out directions. They were really helpful!
4. Variety: Sure the con has a big variety every year but this year it really started to show! There was music. video games, big TV shows, small Tv Shows, Million dollar hits, and small indies. The con was an amazing hodgepodge this year!
5. Stars: Every year the con gets more star power and this year was no different. Great job with the stars!

How Comic-Con was worse:
1. Strollers: It seemed every parent in San Diego had come out to con with the biggest stroller they could get! They pushed people aside throughout the exhibit hall and used them as their free passes to anywhere. SDCC needs to make a no stroller rule!
2. Timing: They seemed to have a big problem with keeping things on time. Usually H would be 15-30 minutes behind schedule and people outside would have no idea what’s going on. It could also mean missed panels so SDCC really needs to get it together with times!
3. Crowds: There are too many people. I love San Diego but a lot of times this week i felt like i wouldn’t mind vegas that much! 2 hour lines. Complete shut outs. Mass hysteria. All occurred but could have been fixed by more space. Time to solve the problem.
4. Hall H: Hall H was great but they really need to get people in and out faster. The transitions are scheduled for 15 minutes but usually end up at 30. Causing people to get into the panels late! They need to find a way to hurry these lines up!
5. Food: Can we get one real resturant in the convention center? Take away some cookie stands and get in a real place! That’s all i’m asking foor!

Overall it was a great year and I can’t wait till next year but lets make it even better!

Friday was another great day at the con. Though not as busy as other days there was still a lot of fun stuff. Check out the details here:

(Check out all my photos at http://s938.photobucket.com/albums/ad225/SDCC_Blog/ )

1. Warner Brothers Pictures

-Where the Wild Things Are – This was really a great panel. The kid who plays max was there and great. They showed some clips and a recut of the trailer to wondrous applause. IT looks great and really different and was visually amazing! This was a big hit!

-Book of Eli – First they showed a boring clip to the motion comic and then they showed a pretty bad trailer for the movie but then they had the entire cast. This included Denzel, Gary Oldman, and Mila Kunis! They were great together and the Q&A was way better than the footage. Too bad the movie looks so bad! Gary Oldman also announced that Batman 3 would start shooting next year!

-Nightmare on Elm Street – A pretty scary trailer was shown but there wasn’t much of Haley in the trailer. He was at the panel though and though there were many watchmen questions it was still a decent q&a.

-The Box – A 4 minute trailer was shown that made it look ok. It was hard to judge since it was mostly random weird clips but both Diaz and James Marsden was at the panel and it was a decent q&a.

-Jonah Hex – Trailer was shown. Looked pretty good considering they had such a small budget. It had a very big scale. Brolin and Fox were there and they had a really funny q&a.

-Sherlock Holmes – Extended trailer shown and it looks really cool. Downey was great for the entire panel and drove people insane! People loved the footage and Downey charmed his way through the entire Q&A!

2. Disney Animation

-Toy Story 1 & 2 3D trailer was shown. Sure we’ve seen both movies before but not in 3D!!! (I’m not impressed)

-Beauty and the Beast is coming in 3D!!!! (Big Whoop)

-Ponyo was shown. Looked good but much more mainstream then Miyazaki’s movies. He was there and was given a huge standing ovation!

3. 9

-Missed most of the panel but saw the final trailer that was very impressive and cool!

-They had a lot of star power like Tim Burton and Elijah Wood but that made most of the Q&A questions “I’m your biggest fan”.

-Not as good a panel but still looks like a good movie!

4. District 9/Legion

- Legion – Looks horribly bad. There are angels with machine guns, evil ice cream men, and old killer grandmas. And it’s a completely serious movie. It was just sad!

-District 9 – They showed a 7-minute trailer and it looked really great! Was super intense and looked way better than earlier trailers. Peter Jackson also had his first appearance and made it a good one. He also said that the Hobbit script would be done in 4 weeks and casting would start in 2 months. Overall D-9 looked really good!

Winners: Tie between District 9, Sherlock Holmes, and Where the Wild Things Are!

Flynn’s Arcade:

-This was some of the best marketing I’ve ever seen! You stood outside a discreet building only labeled Flynn’s, you get inside and there are about 20 vintage 80’s arcade games, and you freak out. For about 20 minutes you can play the games while listening to some 80’s tunes and then the Tron Machine opens up and there’s a passage behind it. In the secret hallway there’s production art leading up to the big reveal, a full size light bike! It was awesome and you got to take pics. The score by Daft Punk was also playing and you got a shirt as you left! It was crazy cool and I hope they do it again tomorrow!

Overall it was a very good day!

Follow me on twitter @SD_Comic_con for more updates

And stay tuned tomorrow for another great day!

Though not as jam packed, Saturday was still a very exciting day at the con! Here are the highlights:

Lost: Lost was one of the best panels of the con for many reasons. Heres my rundown from twitter:
New logo w/ every charaters evr! Marketing for “lost unviersity online”. New trailer w/ old clips. Fan appreciation day. Great montage o Fan videos. Many characters from 1 season will be in new season. Unpredictablily is key to new season! Theme song winner shown, was great. Kates stepfather isn’t dead! Jorge/Hurley was there w/ Emerson. Were really funny! Everythin important answered. Alpert was there and funny. Holloway surprise appearence! Tribute to all dead characters!Dominic/Charlie surprise apperaence. Great, funny panel. Fans love it!

Extract: Extract looks look a quite funny movie from Mike Judge. They showed a couple clips and they got funnier and funnier as the panel went on. The panle had Judge, Kunis, and Jason Bateman and each was really funny. Overall it was a good panel for a good looking comedy!

Sony:
-Zombieland – A big hit at the con, this movie looks really good. A quirky hybrid of horror and comedy it seems like it will be a great movie. The cast was in attendence and Harrelson, thjough wierd, was pretty entertaining! A new trailer and clips were shown and the audience loved it! A big hit at the con!
-2012 – This movie is all about effects. End of story. Though the effects loook great the plot is so stupid and everything is so propesterous the movie just looks really bad. A pretty big dissapointment.

Iron Man 2 – The final panel of the day was a big hit. They showed off an impressive clip/trailer full of great stuff. Though it didnt appear as though they had much done what they did have made the movie look great. They had almost the whole cast an though many of them didnt say much, Downey realy stole the show and it still was a great panel.

Winner: Clearly Iron Man 2

Stay tuned later today for more SDCC wrap-up!

Thursday got the con kicked off to a great start! Heres the details:

Photos: Check out all my photos at http://s938.photobucket.com/albums/ad225/SDCC_Blog/

Panel Highlights:

1. Disney:

-Tron Legacy – New title revealed, pre-production pics (see them on photo link), cool new test footage, test footage from last year in 3D, 2D scene from movie shown. Daft Punk doing scoring. Test footage was cool and 2D scene was interesting but it’s too early to really tell. Should be huge next year though.

-Alice in Wonderland – Short trailer shown 3 TIMES! IT was worth it though! Great trailer set to time to pretend by MGMT. Johnny Depp showed up to say 3 words and then left. Tim Burton was fun. Not much footage but what was there looked great!

-A Christmas Carol – Robert Zemeckis showed off a clip/tailer thing and it looked really cool! More scarry and creepy then i expected and it had some great 3D. Not as good as the rest of the panel but it still looked good!

(I published this story late thursday night and didnt have time to revise it. Please disregard grammar/spelling mistakes)

So the con kicked off in full and crazy swing tonight with preview night! The first thing I noticed when I arrived at 11 AM, there were already 20 people lined up for twilight! THIS IS CRAZY! The other thing is people were already lining up to get there badges. So at around 2:30 I got my badge. The line was already huge and after waiting for three hours we were finally let in, into the madness!

It was by far the most crowded preview night ever and i would even wager that it is the most packed the exhibit hall will be all of the con. you could barely move around and when you could, you could barely control it. There were huge lines for everything but here are some highlights/lowlights about preview night at Comic-Con 2009:

(View all my photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/sdccblog/ – I will add titles/descriptions later)

1.- Long Lines! Remember that cool zombie shirt? 2 hours to get it! Giant WB Bags? Coulden’t even find the end of the line. There were lines everywhere any sometimes you wouldent even know what they were for. It was a bit insanse but i guess its just part of the con now!

2.-More games! Though video games have been at the con for a while this is the first year it has really been big. i played lost planet 2, lego rock band, and ratchet & clank but there where of 30 different games and they were at many different booths.

3.-Heroes? I believe NBC made a big no no. Though the premiere for the Volume 4 trailer was supposed to be at the panel Saturday it was playing nonstop at the booth. Is this a different trailer or did NBC just spoil the heroes panel? I guess we’ll know on Saturday!

4.-Shopping! There was lots of shopping. Everywhere you went there were tons of stores selling anything you could imagine. There was a lot of money being spent there!

5.-Avatar! The avatar mech was really impressive but i heard a couple people talking about how it was part of a last airbender marketing campeign! Time to get worried fox!

6.-Strollers and kids! Why did every parent have to take little kids and strollers. they would use them to plow through the con and the little kids would sneak between your legs and take the free stuff! those dang kids!

7.-Big Bags! though i didnt get one it seemed like everyone there had a giant bag. I guess because there the hot con swag item but it seems like now theyre being overproduced by every company there! We need less giant bags! They are conveinint but they take up so much space!

8.-Better Red Shirts! The security people (known for there red shirts) actually seemed pretty competent this year. They knew where to send you and when. They knew what to control and they actually helped out. This is a nice improvement and i hope it continues!

9.-Good booths- It seems like companys are really getting good at this booth stuff and now almost every major company has a great booth! My highlights:

- Miramax puts you inside the Extract Trailer

- Warner Bros. has a Where the Wild Things Are authentic wooden hut

- Sony has lots of giveaways all 360 degrees of their booth

- Lego has exclusives, lots of sets, building stations, and huge lego statues which are really cool!

10.-Fun! It was still a great time and it loks to be a great con!

Tomorrow is a crazy day for movies. Stay tuned to SDCC Blog for all the coverage you want!

Whether you are a first time attendee or have been going to the con for many years heres 20 tips you should know:

1. Comfort is a must: Comfortable clothes, shoes, backpacks, anything you can think of, just make sure its comfortable. You’re going to be walking and standing for many hours each day and comfort is a neccesity!

2. Traffic is crazy: If you plan to use a taxi or car to get to the convention center expect massive delays! Easier ways are walking, pedicabs (pretty cheap and everywhere), or trolleys. All can help you avoid the massive traffic throughout San Diego.

3. STAY CLEAN: Whether its deoderent, showers, body spray or all three make sure people will be okay cramped up against you. This can be a major problem at the con and you can help end it by doing your part to smell nice!

4. Tag-team lines: If you are in a group you can have different people in different lines. Just make sure your line holder doesn’t get into any room without you because once they get in there’s no way for you to get in without going to the back of the line. Though this can help parties it can also be a major problem if the line holder gets into the room before the rest of the party. Hey line holder, with great power comes great responsibility!

5. Take a break: If you get tired theres tons of things to see all around San Diego. Visit the Gaslamp District, see Chinatown, sit by the harbor. San Diego’s a great city and its all within walking distance. Enjoy it!

6. Do not forget your badge: Once you get your badge never lose it or forget it at your hotel/house. Without the badge you can get into nothing and that pretty much ruins the con. DO NOT forget your badge!

7. Pick up the comic-con newsletter: A much over looked part of the con is the well produced newsletter for each day of the con. Inside will be a great summary with photos of the last days activitys and highlights of what’s coming up that day. It’s great to read while standing in line and it’s available at almost every entrence.

8. Make Reservations: If you know of a resturant you want to go to, make reservations! San Diego is packed during the con and if you don’t make reservations you could get shut out of your faviorate resturants!

9. Advertise: If you have a buisness involving comics or entertainment then the con is a great place to advertise. A buisness card is a cheap and easy solution but swag can really get you noticed. T-shirts or buttons are favorites but if you are creative with your swag then you’ll really get noticed.

10. It’s never to early to buy your tickets for 2010! They’ll be available at the con and you can always return them if you end up not being available, better safe then sorry!

Reader Tips From Twitter:
11. Bring rubber bands to help with the poster tubes – @GeekFilter
12. Bring at least $100 a day not including food – @slasherbernie
13. Leave the strollers/Crying Babies at home – @tguard
14. Wear new socks each day – @vorear
15. Purchase high demand items on preview night, for others wait for sunday bargains – @salaciouslq
16. Bring Sunscreen for the Hall H Line and always have backups for anything you’re attending – @scarletcat
17. Be patient and courteous – @jmiewald
18. Look for signs on where to line up and make sure you’re in the right line – @saramckinniss
19. Sheet protectors in a hard notebook are a must for autographed pictures – @TNgirlinWA
20. Don’t bring your pets, be courteous when typing/twittering, and if you’re cosplaying bring a change of clothes – @eccentriclee

Hope the tips helped and get packing!

(via Airlock Alpha)

Luckily, no one was seriously hurt, but John Barrowman is going to have a television segment he’ll remember for a long time, and it doesn’t involve Ianto Jones.

Barrowman, who plays Capt. Jack Harkness in the “Doctor Who” spinoff series “Torchwood,” reportedly was treated for glass in his eye after a Subaru he was driving for the British show “Fifth Gear” went out of control and plunged down an embankment. The Subaru flipped four times, and just missed a lake that was near the track in Powys, Wales, according to Wiki News.

Although the character of Capt. Jack is immortal, the actor who plays him is not, but he probably cashed in one of his nine lives.

Barrowman was driving the Subaru at 80 mph, with one of the “Fifth Gear” hosts Tiff Needell in the passenger seat. Needell also escaped serious injury.

It’s unclear if the accident will affect Barrowman’s planned trip to San Diego Comic-Con next week. BBC America is hosting panels for both “Doctor Who” and “Torchwood,” which are set to feature Barrowman and outgoing Doctor David Tennant.

The latest installment of “Torchwood,” a five-part miniseries called “Children of Earth,” is set to debut on BBCA Monday night beginning at 9 ET. The subsequent parts will be shown throughout the week with what has been described as a “shocking” finale airing Friday, just two days before Barrowman’s panels at Comic-Con.

Yesterday I gave you 10 packing tips and today I switch focus to the massive Comic-Con Exhibit Hall! This place has hundreds of booths with everything from comics, to toys, movies, and video games! In no real order, here’s 10 tips you should know before attempting to go through this huge spectacle:

1. Plan out your time: I’ve found that with the thousands of hot sweaty people crammed in their all day I can’t stay in their for more than an hour at a time without a break. You might be stronger but it still can get overpowering fast. Don’t plan to stay in there for 3 hours without a break, plan your time wisely.

2. Keep in mind the time: Keep in mind on thursday, friday, and saturday the exhibit hall closes at 7. That means don’t plan to go there late after all your panels are done. If you really want to explore it put some breaks in your schedule for “Exhibit Hall Time”.

3. Make a game plan: Decide whether to start on one end and go to the other, or split the hall into different days. Just randomly walking around is fun if you have free time, but doing that all of con can make you miss really good booths.

4. Be on the lookout: If you’re just walking through the hall be on the lookout at all booths around you. Just looking around you could probably find tons of booths that are giving out free stuff. You can get a lot of free stuff by just being observant.

5. Ask Questions: Ask people at booths when their next giveaway or signing is. Sometimes they wont tell you, but much of the time they will and it can really help plan out your day.

6. Bring Cash: Pretty self-explanatory. A lot of small business only take cash and you don’t want to be left in the cold if you find that thing you need to have!

7. Be aware of the food: Though there is a food vendor in the exhibit hall, most of the stuff it sells is pretty gross and could make you feel sick. Unless your just buying a pretzel or a drink it’s a lot better to eat offsite.

8. Bring the camera: There’s a ton of great photo-ops in the hall. Whether its with a giant lego Vader or a life-size twilight standup, there’s going to be a lot of times when you want to take a picture!

9. Bring Water: Like I said earlier it gets really hot, so unless you want to spend $7 on a bottle of water every time you go into the exhibit hall, bring your own!

10. Soak it in: The exhibit hall is an amazing place. Look around every once and a while at the awesomeness. It only happens once a year so try to savor the moments. Overall have a good time in it!

Hope the tips helped you!
Tomorrow is 10 tips for every con attendee!

The most important thing to do before you go to comic-con is pack and though it might seem easy there are some tips you should know before you close up that suitcase of yours. Here’s the top 10 SDCC packing tips in no real order:

1. Bring Entertainment: Whether its a book, a DS/PSP, or just a good magazine you’re going to need some things to keep you busy while you wait in the huge lines. By the end of the con you’ll have stood in hours of lines and you’re gonna want some stuff to keep it all interesting.

2. Bring Power Bars: Power bars are great to have with you for those days where you have many hours between meals. I would suggest at least one per day.

3. Bring shampoo: You will get sweaty and who knows what weird kind of shampoo you’re hotel will be stocked up with.

4. Bring enough clothes: Your clothes will get sweaty and hot  and you will NEED to change them every day. Make sure you have enough for your entire stay!

5. Bring a swim suit: You’re hotel will most likely have a pool and before or after a stressful day of the con you will probably want to take a dip.

6. Bring your phone: If you are going with someone else you will most likely get split up or lost at some time or will go to different panels and need to meet back up. A phone is a necessity since without it, its almost impossible to find the other person.

7. Dont forget the charger/battery: Whether its a phone, gameboy, or camera, it will probabley run out of power before the con is over. Make sure you have all necessary charging cables or batteries to make it through your entire trip!

8. Bring lots of Money: Even if you think you wont buy anything chances are you might see that gift or exclusive you have to have. Better to have too much money then not enough to get by. You will also need the money for meals each day so pack it wisely.

9. Find a way to protect your money: Whether its a wallet, a clip, or just a tight pocket, find someplace that you can keep your money each day where it won’t fall out or get stolen.

10. LEAVE SPACE! Coming home you will have a ton more stuff then going up so pack another empty suitcase or leave a lot of space in your cureent suitcase for all the stuff you will get during the con.

Hope the tips helped!
Tomorrow is Exhibit Hall Tips!