COPYRIGHT . 2004-1018 All Rights Reserved

SDCC 2011

by Tara, Tracy & Lenny

 
SDCC 2011 has come and gone in a blink of an eye. Here' s a re-cap of the days starting with Preview Night.
   
    Preview Night started with standing in line to pick up your passes. The good thing is even though the line was long and looked terrifying as if you were never going to get in when the doors open. We were pleasantly surprised on how smooth and efficient the Comic-Con staff did things this year. We zipped through the line in less than half an hour and had plenty of time to kill before the exhibit doors opened.

    Once we got our badges we headed up to the 2nd floor to wait in line to get into the exhibit hall. Once it gets closer for the exhibit hall to open everyone cheers and gets ready to go down the escalators. You definitely get a feel to what cattle and other animals feel when being herded in large groups in slow motion to get into the exhibit hall.

    As the exhibit hall opens, we are warned by security and the PA that there is no running in the exhibit hall. Good thing we were allowed to speed walk. Once inside everyone heads to the booth of their choice, whether it's to pick up exclusives, pick up freebies or walking around just to check things out.

The night ends pretty quick as you only get 3 hours to walk the exhibit hall.

    As for the rest of the days, it was pretty much the same routine like getting up early to get to the convention center and wait for the exhibit halls to open. Right when it opens is the best time to take pictures, get freebies and of course to get in line to pick up that all important exclusive.  It was important to know that the Exhibit halls opened at least 30 minutes early every day.

    If you must know, those diehard Twilight fans camped out at the convention center for at least 2 days before the Twilight Panel was held on Thursday.

    For us, we are definitely toy people but there were so many things going on and there was something for everyone. There were tons of video games for you gamers out there as well as TV and Movie stuff. Collectibles galore for toys, comics and pretty much everything you can think of. Angry Birds were hot and there were promotions going on for them inside and outside the convention.

    Another change this year was purchasing tickets for next year. Comic-Con alloted tickets to be sold each day and people were lined up by 2am to purchase their tickets each day. Every time we would check twitter, tickets were sold so just like that. It seems like purchasing tickets were the hot items at SDCC this year. Ticket prices are no longer discounted so 4 days are now $175.

    As usual, it wouldn't be comic-con without the costumes. Just looking at the sheer amount of people dressed up each day is an event in itself. Saturday evening is when the Masquerade takes place for those competing in their costumes that they spent the whole year preparing for this year.

    Inside the exhibit halls, it is huge and you get overwhelmed with how big the hall is and realize just how many booths and companies are here. Where do you start? Easiest is by starting from one end to the next but if you planned ahead like you should've then heading to your booth of choice will be an easy task. The hardest part to reaching your destination is the crowds that you have to wade through to get there. It gets really crowded at times to the point you are shuffeling along with the crowd in order to keep on moving. You can easily spend all day inside the exhibit hall if you are waiting in line for freebies, exclusives or just walking around and soaking in the experience.

    For those that don't care about the exhibit hall, there are tons of programming and signings going on which you have to plan for in advance because certain panels can get filled up quickly so you need to figure out how much time to you need be there in advance to even get in. There are lines for everything and panels are no exceptions.

    Need to get some air? Well head across the street to the Gaslamp or over the new Pedestrian Bridge and there will be lots of events happening in the streets and parking lots. Lots of activiites like games, free food, freebies in the streets and even free angry bird stuffed animals.

    Some of the highlights that were outsided of the convention center was the Southpark Fan Experience, The Smurfs movie promotion with a giant inflatable Smurf that you can see from a far. There were photo opportunities with Papa Smurf, Smurfette and a regular Smurf. If you were out near Petco Park there was also free slurpees and video game demos. There were a lot of things to do outside the convention center.

    At SDCC this year, it was the 1st Inaugaural Designer Toy Awards held at the Munky King Black Ball Party where there was live painting by various artists. The Gas Lamp was busy day and night for 4+ days.  Another event was the Super7 10th Anniversary Art Show which was a 1 night only event at Subtext Gallery in San Diego. They held the Premiere of Cowboys & Aliens close by the convention center as well as a WWE Wrestling event nearby.

    SDCC will always be the event to be at! Can't believe the days went by so fast. It was 4+ days of fun and we look forward to SDCC every year. We had a blast at SDCC. Picked up a lot of new toys, freebies and promotional items as well as saying "Hello" to friends we have met over the years. The Comic-con staff did a great job this year. See you at SDCC 2012.

    As usual we have split up our pictures into categories - Around The Con, Costumes, Designer Vinyl Toys, Super7, Gargamel/Grasshut/GFS, Toys and Outside the Con.

Thanks for checking us out!