Post of EPICNESS… or how I spent my SDCC 2012 vacation

I’ve been racking my brain trying to figure out what to write for Action Chick’s site in regards to SDCC 2012 because I was there as a representative of sorts for her site. Unfortunately, within hours of heading south, every interview we had scheduled ended up not being a GO. This was fine- it opened up my schedule immensely! But on the other hand… it would’ve been a lot easier to write up some interviews and feel like I earned my keep than to try to write up TWO experience posts. I mean- I had  to write something for my own site, right?

I’ve already thanked Stewart, but once more won’t hurt- Thanks. 🙂 He did a great job of collecting the key points and putting them together in daily posts. Heck! I was onsite and he had some info that I didn’t know. As I’d mentioned before I made the pilgrimage, I wasn’t sure what the internet situation would be during the week- so it was nice to know that someone was minding the site. 🙂

I thought about copy/pasting my tweets here but in looking at them… it might be too hard to explain. So… I think I’ll just make a bulletpoint list of things I remember and throw in a gallery of photos.

Preview Night/ Day 1/2!

*OMG! I love having a professional/press/vendor/etc pass! Short lines!

*Caught the last few minutes of 666 Park Avenue, a new show in the fall. I’m intrigued. But since I did not see the whole thing, I can’t give a real opinion. I will have to watch at least the pilot when it airs.

*Arrow pilot. Alright… I am intrigued. This is much darker then the Green Arrow presented in Smallville. I mean… he went there! And by there, I mean that he killed. Tons of twists and I can already see some things that I would love to have happen- I will be checking this one out in the fall. Though my lust may not last- can they stay at the level they started at? Or will it lose the dark quality?

*oh… and apparently Green Arrow is part Spidermonkey. Who knew? Ha!

Day 1- Thursday

*spotted a NerdLush CosPlay shirt in the wild! OK… it was on my brother and when I took the picture we were on our way downstairs in our hotel for breakfast but… it was exciting for me. Plus- he did wear it all day and showed it off to people. Which is cool! My CosPlay rules were a topic throughout the weekend and I will be writing up an addendum!

*spent a few hours starting to walk the exhibit hall floor- already crushed with crowds. Absolutely insane. And honestly, no decent swag was gathered until the afternoon. This may in part be due to the crowds around the FOX, Warner Brothers, SyFy, etc booths being too insane to get anywhere near their stuff…

*made it into Action Chick’s panel on the Buffy comics by pointing out to the door guard that we were press sent by Action Chick’s site and thus we should be allowed to see our boss’ panel. Apparently this logic worked. Also on the panel were Tom Lenk (who still gives great hugs), Clare Kramer, Amber Benson, Scott Allie, Christoph Gage, and Jane Espenson (who I failed- all weekend- to get a photo with! I suck!). As I am behind on my comics I have already blocked out everything. But Tom did bring up Andrew’s sexuality, wanting to know if it had been addressed in the comics. Scott said something along the line that they hadn’t figured out how to give him a boyfriend yet. Which led Tom to declare- “I choose Spike”. Hey… could be interesting.

*Action Chick’s second panel- The Most Dangerous Women at Comic-con- was both humorous and empowering (much more so than the other women power panel that won’t be named). With special guest, Chris Gore, apologizing for his antics at last year’s panel by donning a slave Leia outfit. I hope someone got this panel on video because it really spoke to the presence of women in geekdom and how we aren’t going anywhere, so y’all better stop merely looking at our boobs and start listening because we are going to keep on speaking our minds. Or something that sounds smart (hey, man… SDCC takes a lot out of you and I’ve already written one coherent post!)

*in previous years we’ve timed how long it takes to get from one side of the exhibit hall to another (roughly 3 hours, and that’s without stopping to really browse or chat) but with the stops in between- we’ll just say it took the entire day this year. If you’ve never been to SDCC… that ought to tell you just how big of an event it is. It’s the kind of thing where if you don’t plan things out specifically, you won’t be able to find your friends in the crowds. And you better plan some comfy shoes! I did and I still got blood blisters on my toes. Ugh! (I won’t mention that in our rambles through the exhibit hall over the weekend, we randomly ran into my friends Deb and Anthony, and I found the twin sister of one of my classmates (I found her a few years ago too, but I didn’t know she was a twin then and almost accused my classmate of lying. Now I know there’s a fake-Dana) (oh! And we found Sydney too, but that one doesn’t count because we knew where she was supposed to be).

*was finally able to pick up vol 2 of Hijinks Ensue. Joel keeps being at cons that I don’t do or that I’m not at this year but have been previously. Very frustrating. But I have it now. And it has an adorable scribbling of Wil Wheaton. Teehee! (Also, when we begin the series discussing web series, I intend to also do one on web comics- partially because I adore Hijinks Ensue and think everyone should read it too)

Day 2- Friday

*Ballroom 20 line. I could stop right there, anyone who has been to SDCC would understand- but for those who haven’t… we arrived at 9am. This is a solid hour before things open and begin. We got in the Ballroom 20 line- which had begun the night before (not several days early, like the Twilight fans (TwiHards) – Firefly/Joss fans have some self-respect) – which had us around behind the convention hall, down all the steps, across the park, and finally waiting in line out by the marina. Well, at least it was nice weather. We were in line 5 hours- 2 more than we’d originally decided we were willing to do- before we got into the Ballroom 20. We missed the Firefly reunion panel (bless the internet for providing it to us) and got in maybe 15 minutes late for the Bones panel, with Boreanaz and Deschanel. Season 8 is supposed to be darker, and Booth and Brennan will be back together within a few episodes. There, now you know. Caught the panel for Arrow, which was short due to them screening the pilot again. Caught a panel that I won’t mention accept to say that I love Lucy Lawless. And Anna Torv is pretty awesome too. And finally the holy grail of panels for the day- the Joss Whedon panel. Most of you have probably already heard or read the highlights but- Much Ado is done and being submitted to festivals. Looking for distributor, but if none- look for it to be available on iTunes. Joss isn’t sure what his next project is but Dr. Horrible 2 is in progress. Dr. Horrible will be getting its first television airing in the fall on CW. Um… alright… I didn’t write anything down. I videotaped the Q&A, so keep an eye on my YouTube page, I’ll upload it soon!

Day 3- Saturday

*bailed on panels as 5 hours on Friday was more than we could stand.  Wandered the exhibit hall and people watched. Went by the Indiana Jones section of the Star Wars/ ILM booth again just to see that the snakes in the display we’d passed 5 or 6 times were in fact real! D’oh! (not the cobra, though, FYI)

*got caught in a crush of people by the Warner Brothers booth and assumed it was a Hobbit signing with Andy Serkis only to be pushed aside by security and have the Fringe cast walk right next to us. Much better than the Hobbit people.

*caught Nicholas Brendon for half a second and may or may not have given him cookies.

*caught Tara Platt & Yuri Lowenthal (who I just interviewed for Action Chick and asked Random Questions) at their booth and finally got to meet.

Tara Platt with NerdLush SWAG

We had a swag exchange. Felt pretty special having our little NerdLush button being worn by people. And hey, that Shelf Life button is awesome!

*caught up with NerdLush’s own Madison Dylan and the always delightful Catherine Annette manning a booth promoting a new film they did… the title escapes me… Monster High? Something like that. In any case they basically play a three headed bitch. LOVE IT! And it’s always a good time when I get to see my ladies. Additionally, it may have gotten me some awesome points with my brother by introducing him… he disappeared pretty much every time I went to meet any guy (whether I knew them or not) but as soon as it’s the ladies… boom! Here’s my brother. Ha!

*speaking of getting the awesome points with my brother… we were walking the floor on… Thursday? And I happened to look up and notice that basically right next to us was Seth Green. Now, I won’t bug someone when they are clearly on their own time- if you’re in a booth or at an event, you’re fair game, bit out to eat? Walking around a con without an escort? I leave you alone. So I was just gonna let him pass but as he started to walk away he ran into someone he knew- they had a manly geek hug and then Seth bolted away only to turn around run back, whip out his phone and snap a pic with his friend. Which I just happened to photo bomb. And… this is where I get the extra geek awesome points… the friend? Geoff Johns. I RULE!

Anyways…

with Marian Call

*oh! Forgot to mention that I’d spotted Marian Call at her booth but she was chatting with someone as we walked by, so I didn’t want to stop and interrupt. I may have tweeted my failure to say hello, which may have resulted in her tweeting me to come back, which may have led to us wandering back over to say hello. And chat about her kickstarter campaign, being an indie artist, representing Alaska, and beer- “Local beer good, corporate beer bad.” There you have it. (oh! forgot to remind her about our interview. dagnabit!)

*oh! And while chatting with Madison and Catherine, we noticed that we were right under the G4 booth, where John Barrowman was interviewing Nathan Fillion AT THAT MOMENT. Yeah… that sound you just heard? Me having a Nerdgasm. I’ve seen the interview video… if you look really close in the beginning you can see Madison and I chatting. Squee!

*um… we left shortly after this because my brother and I have family in the near-ish area that we only see about once a year, so we went to have dinner with them.

Day 4- Sunday- the end of the awesome

*considered, briefly, attending panels but the line for Hall H, when we arrived a but after 8am, was ridiculously scary so instead we checked out the BATMOBILES. Pretty sure we made the right decision.

*spent the morning wandering the exhibit hall for the last time. Picked up a few comics we’d been eyeing during the entire weekend (Sunday always has the best discounts so if you can wait… it’s always better). I attempted to find an awesome knit Yoda hat I’d seen the day before but either it was sold out or it wasn’t bought at SDCC. Sad face for me! Clearly someone should make me one. 🙂

*finally got to meet the fantastically awesome and sweet and oh so tall! J. August Richards.

with J August Richards

My brother is tall… and J isn’t much taller than James but apparently those two inches are important. Egads! We’ve had some delightful conversations on twitter and facebook, so it was nice to finally meet in person. I think he should do one of my Random Questions interviews. Agree? Thought so. Anyways… I may or may not have delivered cookies to J. Ask him, I’ll never tell. Also had a chance to briefly see my friend Jacqui, which is always delightful.

*caught the Criminal Minds cast as they were entering for a signing. Always enjoy them- loyal readers might know that I am a HUGE CM fan. Kirsten was super cute in her Supergirl costume! (oh! We also caught the Supernatural boys as they were leaving from their signing… but not long enough to snag pics)

*opted to bail on wanderings and go sit in the panel room we needed to be in for the Buffy 20^th anniversary panel and Buffy singalong. Caught a star wars videogame panel that I ignored in favor of lunch. And Kevin Smith moderating the DC Nation panel which showed some of the upcoming shows. I’m interested to check them out. Really loved how fanboy Kevin got… the panelists didn’t show Kevin the pictures and work first, so each time they put something up on the screen he went total fanboy. It was awesome. I think the Buffy 20^th panel should’ve been renamed the Buffy Boys panel as it was Randall Batinkoff (from the movie- Kristy Swanson had to cancel), Nick, James Marsters, Scott Allie, and Georges Jeanty, with Jane Espenson and moderated by Clare Kramer. I won’t say much because I know this one is online (and I have my own version that I’ll be uploading) but I always enjoy Nick in a panel… you just never know what is gonna come out of his mouth. And he always goes blue. Also, he and James together… quite entertaining. My only problem with this panel was that there was a quiz at the end- nice idea, badly implemented. And the panelists should’ve been answering or asking or something… they were just sitting there. Of course, with Nick… if they had been answering, if he didn’t know the answer they would’ve run the risk of having no idea what he was gonna say… oh well, I would’ve enjoyed it.

GRR ARGH

*and finally the Buffy singalong. You really haven’t achieved pure geekdom until you have sat in a room with a couple thousand nerds and belted out a few lines of one of televisions finest hours. Even my brother sang some. It was introduced by Nick, who managed to screw up a few lines of the Xander solos (I’ve seen him do them before and he’s usually pretty good), but still left the crowd in stitches. Perfect way to end the whole weekend, right Charity?

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