You can finally answer the question: Am I going to San Diego Comic-Con this year?
For better or worse, several thousand Comic-Con attendees have their badges for 2017 — and several thousand more don’t yet.
Open Registration for San Diego Comic-Con 2017 — the badge sale for anyone, regardless of whether they attended SDCC in 2016 or not — took place this morning. The process included use of the EXPO Logic Registration Waiting Room, which has been in place since Comic-Con 2014, and it was, well, pretty smooth.
So just how did the sale go?
The Waiting Room
The EXPO Logic waiting room opened promptly at 8AM PT, giving attendees one hour in which to enter before the room would randomly sort attendees to buy their badge. The process has become pretty streamlined over the years — with folks having a good idea of what to expect, and issues kept at a minimum. If anything, the main issue was just passing the time and trying not to freak out.
And the wait begins…
Trying to keep my stress levels down by reading but the blue dot keeps mocking me #SDCC #ComicCon #OPENREG2017 pic.twitter.com/NVkzj3E5ub— Book Sniffers Anonymous (@_Kristin315_) April 8, 2017
@SD_Comic_Con THE APOCOLYPSE HAS BEGUN pic.twitter.com/O0Det8Byqh
— jesse (@JesseMLee) April 8, 2017
— Vicki ✨LLAP 🖖🏼 (@syfynut13) April 8, 2017
However, as with anything of this size, there were a few errors and glitches. The Member ID system (which houses each person’s person Registration Code and the link to the EPIC Registration waiting room, for those who didn’t receive an e-mail for whatever reason) went down intermittently. A few individuals received various error messages as well, like being told that their devices weren’t authorized, being kicked out of the room, and more.
https://twitter.com/Vickittle/status/850727520383021056
@SD_Comic_Con i keep getting kicked out of the waiting room :[ #sdcc pic.twitter.com/kZZBCD1utZ
— Geralle Estes (@Geralle) April 8, 2017
— Cathie Breton (@Clbreton) April 8, 2017
https://twitter.com/soonergrunt/status/850728954021298178
https://twitter.com/JennyBillot/status/850729927607562240
The Sale
Shortly after 9AM, those in the waiting room were randomly assigned a placement in line. Just like for 2017 Returning Registration, this process took about 5-10 minutes, and once the sorting was done, attendees were already getting through to the purchase page, with no issues.
Got in at around 9:06am!
— skye (@vintagerupp) April 8, 2017
From here on out, it was a slow, steady march towards being sold out. Everything took just a little longer to sell out this year (72 minutes compared to 55 last year, or 58 for Returning Registration) — and it seemed eerily quiet on Twitter at times.
@SD_Comic_Con It's eerily quiet… and no updates on inventory.
— VPT (@vtsdcc) April 8, 2017
At 24 minutes into the process, Preview Night sold out. But after that, it was almost 20 minutes later (18, to be exact) before Saturday badges sold out at 42 minutes into the process. Friday followed shortly after, at 49 minutes.
Preview Night is sold out #OPENREG2017
— aldehyde 🐣 (@carbonpapers) April 8, 2017
Saturday badges have sold out. There are still other single day badges available for Comic-Con 2017! #OPENREG2017 #SDCC
— San Diego Comic-Con (@Comic_Con) April 8, 2017
Friday badges have sold out. There are still other single day badges available for Comic-Con 2017! #OPENREG2017 #SDCC
— San Diego Comic-Con (@Comic_Con) April 8, 2017
There was another stretch of silence, followed finally by Sunday selling out, at 70 minutes into the sale.
And there goes Sunday… before Thursday. WOW!!!!! That's a first! #SDCC #OpenReg2017
— SDCC Escalators (@SDCCEscalators) April 8, 2017
Thursday followed immediately after, and all badges were sold out at 72 minutes in.
Comic-Con 2017 badges have sold out! We thank you all for your patronage and support! #OPENREG2017 #SDCC
— San Diego Comic-Con (@Comic_Con) April 8, 2017
Overview & Next Steps
The badge buying process has become very streamlined over the years, with minimal issues. For those who unfortunately didn’t walk away with a badge, it’s all down to luck and supply/demand, rather than skill or technical issues — which can be a very small comfort. If you did have issues, hopefully you took screenshots, and you can contact Comic-Con International by using the “Contact Us” feature in your Member ID.
If you weren’t able to score a badge today, the Returned Badge Sale (for refunded badges) hasn’t happened in several years, and won’t be happening again this year either. Which means, unfortunately, that you probably won’t be getting a badge. But remember, there’s tons to do around the convention even without a San Diego Comic-Con badge, and there’s also always next year (volunteer registration, for those who qualify, will also be this month). We know those aren’t going to soothe your broken heart, but you will live to fight another badge sale.
As we’ve been saying for years, it really is just that hard to get a badge in Open Registration, because there’s so many more people trying to get a badge than there are badges available. And the convention center isn’t the real issue — we estimate that only 6.11% of all attendees who tried today got a badge, which means you’d need to find space for another 93.89% people. You would basically need an entire city to fit everyone who wants to go.
You can also probably take some comfort in the knowledge that you don’t have to participate in the General Hotel Sale, which we anticipate will happen on May 2, though nothing official has been announced.
Badges will be mailed to U.S. addresses in your Member ID. Once they unlock Member IDs sometime in the next week, it’s a good idea to verify your address is correct ahead of the May 18 deadline. International folks, as always, will still pick-up on site.
Were you able to get what you wanted today? Let us know in the comments.
