What I Learned at Comic-Con

This past weekend, Rich and I hit up Comic-Con in San Diego! I’ve been wanting to go to Comic-Con for years and years and even tried to plan a trip a few years ago before discovering just how broke I was and couldn’t afford it. But when I moved to California 7 months ago, I immediately slapped Comic-Con on my “must-do” list. I snagged tickets back in February, and at 5:45 on Sunday morning, off we went!

First, let me just state that Comic-Con was AMAZING. It was probably one of the best days of my pop culture obsessed life. In the 8 hours that we spent at the convention center, we sat in on 3 TV show Q&A panels (for “Merlin,” “The Cleveland Show,” and “Sons of Anarchy”), wandered past a bunch of celebrity signings (more on that in a bit), and saw more insane costumes and mind-boggling clothing choices than I’ve ever dealt with at one time. We nicknamed it “Nerdoween” as in “Nerd Halloween.” It was freaking awesome.

But even without the celebrity stuff, I think the day would have been worthwhile just for the people watching. I’ve honestly never felt so normal in my life. I mean, take the most socially awkward person you know and times that by 80,000. Then keep in mind that that means no awareness of everyday social norms times 80,000. Basically, people just stood in the way and didn’t move. A lot.

But we still had a great time and I learned a lot. So now I’d like to present to you…

THINGS I LEARNED AT COMIC CON 2012

(Some statements will include pictures, others won’t. It’s hard to get good pictures in such a crowded place.)

 

This sign is enough to make a 25-year-old adult completely freak out. In a good way. Well, a nerdy way. Which is still good.

Comic-Con staff make it impossible to try to look normal. I went in thinking, “okay, I’m at least not going to look like a giant nerd all day,” but the Comic-Con people read my mind and decided, “nope, not so fast, lady.” This is the SWAG bag they give you. It's ENORMOUS. Any hope of looking cool goes right out the window when you slap this sucker across your shoulder.

This badge immediately makes one feel official, even though you really have no rights other than getting in the building when it opens. Some attendees took these badges a little too seriously and tried to demand to get into special rooms just because they were wearing a costume. Comic-Con security wasn’t having it. They’re very serious people.

You wait in a lot of lines at Comic-Con. Sometimes you don’t even know what you’re in line for. You just see a line and jump in it, because chances are it means you’re going to get some free swag.

If you want to get a picture of you with something in the background, chances are it’s going to be a close-up. It’s just too crowded for anything else.

When you have your camera out, you’ll only see normal people. When you put your camera away, that’s when you’ll be swarmed with insane costumes. Basically, these photos lie. All of them.

This is the bat-bike. I didn’t learn anything from this. But it’s still cool.

Here’s the Hobbit booth. This was one example where we didn’t get in line fast enough and we missed out on a t-shirt. People still wait in a line though, in the hopes that they’ll magically get something out of it. Basically, it’s really hard to tell where there’s a line and where there’s just weird hope.

Kevin Bacon hangs out at Comic-Con. KEVIN BACON!!!

Lionsgate was showing some mad Hunger Games love. Which was cool with me.

For major panels (like The Hobbit and Iron Man 3), you have to camp out overnight. For small panels, like Merlin here, you can just wander in a few minutes before it starts. Which is awesome.

The cast of Criminal Minds was quite jovial. Also, very scrunched. You don’t get a lot of space for autographs, apparently.

When posing with Gollum, you should lean in like a creeper. Just because.

A lot of people put very little time or effort into their costumes, which surprised me. I guess being nerdy does not equate to being crafty.

If you don’t have a costume, you can totally just wear a brightly colored wig instead. You’ll fit right in. And if you don’t have a wig, apparently cat ears and a tail are perfectly acceptable attire.

Nathan Fillion is like a Comic-Con king. They love him there. He’s pretty awesome, so I understand.

Lou Ferrigno charges $40 for an autograph and for a picture with him. He’s also enormous. And impossible to get a picture of, apparently.

The original Wonka bars from the movie are super expensive. Probably some of the most expensive candy bars on the planet.

You can dress like this and get zero weird looks. ZERO.

These giant moustaches, attached with strips of elastic, cost just $10. A bargain.

I really shouldn’t have stressed about which Harry Potter shirt to wear, because it really didn’t matter. No one cares when you’re standing next to someone in a really poorly made Batman costume, complete with a towel for a cape.

Oh, and steampunk is the new anime for nerds. Except anime is also still the new anime. So. Much. Steampunk.

Some vending machines and a pretzel stand constitutes a food court. At least here it does. Also, security gets very pushy when you’re trying to take pictures of the food court. I wasn’t trying to get a picture of the Power Ranger guy, sir. I just wanted a picture of that sad food area over there. Oh, of course, now you think I’m the weirdo. Typical.

Seth MacFarlane is the guy that says what everyone else is thinking. During “The Cleveland Show” panel, attendees would get up to ask questions of the cast, and most of these fans were pretty socially awkward. Seth MacFarlane would comment, often hilariously… it was in more of a teasing than a mocking manner, but it was still crazy funny.

Apparently it’s totally cool to dress as a skanky Cat Woman when you’re walking with your 10-year-old son. Also, Cat Woman costumes look flattering on absolutely NO ONE.

Those swag bags come in handy. You get LOTS of swag. The three posters were even a total surprise… they were bundled up and we didn’t even see what they were until we got home. Another example that you ALWAYS take the swag, even if you don’t know what it is. It might turn out to be awesome.

I get homesick from time to time and have days where I act pretty miserable and I’m not much fun to be around. But then there are days like Sunday, when I got to wake up and drive to Comic-Con and fulfill a dream of mine and be an all out nerd that I think, “This was totally worth it.”