SDCC: The Watchmen Archimedes

Comic-Con was a dangerous nightmare. I went to sit in on some of the sessions, one of which was hosted by a friend of mine. Because of the huge crowds I was not able to sit in on any except for one which was packed wall to wall in a large room. The exit was blocked by a densely populated line for merchandise, a very dangerous situation which I expect would alarm any responsible fire marshall. They need to divide the convention into one for artists/professionals and another for the fan boys.

I just woke up a few hours ago. I and a few other brave souls pulled a marathon yesterday. Up at 4:30 AM, 2+ hours drive down to San Diego (gotta go early to get parking), All day at the convention, panels, autographs, the insane main floor, 2+ hours drive back, all night drinking beverages, looking at the swag we got, listening to music, checking out our photos....etc. Good times indeed.

It was a typical Comic-Con day. The main floor was wall to wall people. You really have to be a patient person to navigate the sea of people and properly see everything. The Owl Ship display was awesome and one of the most crowded areas of the floor. It was one of the main reasons I went though, so I forced my way in there. The slightly scaled Castle Grayskull, complete with super hot Evil Lynn and not so hot Teela, The Bond car, Sideshow's display, The Sony booth, all really cool stuff. There's one thing I don't really get. Why do they jam all the movie studios together in the same place? Spread them out a little for God's sake. Same thing applies to the video game companies (the footage of the Ghostbusters game was fantastic by the way) spread them out a little. Overall the floor was not as bad as I have seen it in the past but these areas are always the worst.

I got to wander aimless through artists alley as there was a little more elbow room there. Picked up a couple of nice signed art prints (one photo-realistic of the Joker from TDK that Hanso would drool over). I missed Dave Gibbons somehow and I'm still kicking myself over it but what are ya going to do. I was able to wedge my way into the Clone Wars area and while I'm not uber excited for it, I did pick up a few action figures, including the Star Wars Shop exclusive clone trooper. Speaking of Action figures, I waited about 30 minutes in the Hasbro booth line and picked up a couple of nice items (Disturbance in the force Vader, Cobra Commander in suit). Later in the day I happened across the DC Direct 10th Anniversary Con exclusive Batman (Joker was already gone, I know, what a surprise) and picked him up. I looked all over the floor and could not for the life of me find the Klaatu and Gort dolls. Oh well, Ebay here I come.

I had a hard time getting into panels as usual. Got to see the Winchester Bros. do there thing. I am not really an autograph hound. I have a small binder with a group of signed photos I have collected over the years. I did go meet Katy Segal and get a signed "Leela" photo from Futurama (sweetness). Of course the highlight of the convention was meeting Erik Estrada (Ponch). I mean seriously how can you top that man ;p

My body and mind were completey drained by the end of the day but you know what? I'm going again next year! When I get my photos organized (there are many) I will upload some of them to my profile.