Comic Con 2011 - Day 3

Note: I finished this post many months ago, but blogger lost it and I never got around to finishing it. I plan on finishing my Comic Con 2011 memoirs before this year's con.

Friday at Comic Con had plenty of highs and lows.


N8 | Big Gun

Friday morning began with staking out a couple of 7-Elevens hoping to catch the Cowboys and Aliens giveaways. I traveled to 3 stores with no sign of giveaways of any activity, so I headed to the Hilton Bayfront for the Adult Swim panels. I was approaching Petco Park when I got the text message to find the 7-Eleven at 555 C St. This location was about 8 blocks from where I was, so I started running. It didn't take long for me to run out of breath. This moment set in how terribly out of shape I was. Anyway, I made my way up 10th Avenue to C street and headed west. I arrived at a 7-Eleven and found some people waiting out front. After a couple of minutes, one of them realized we were at the wrong store. We were at 525 East C street while the giveaway was happening at 555 West C street. After another 10 blocks of speed walking, I became the 44th person in line. 10am rolled around and I got a gold brick with no movie ticket inside.


N8 | Jun from Gatchaman

I was pretty far away from the convention center, so I headed to the nearest shuttle stop which was at Emerald Plaza. Towards the end of the shuttle ride, I got another text saying the next giveaway was at the lawn at the Hilton Bayfront. I got lucky since I was headed there anyway. Although I was impeded by the line for Hall H, I managed to get another brick. Another empty brick. Dismayed, I headed to the line for Adult Swim panels in the Indigo Ballroom.


N8 | Genderbent Blue Beetle and Booster Gold

I kinda wish I had visited the Hilton Bayfront before. After going through a maze of escalators, I found myself in the back of the hotel next to the bay. The line was quite impressive, but my friend was holding a spot about halfway through the line. The Indigo Ballroom was quite impressive. It reminded me a lot of Ballroom 20 at the convention center. We found seats near the middle of the room and could see the screens and the stage well.


N8 | A time machine

First panel was for The Venture Bros.  They showed off the Shallow Gravy music video.  Next up was a crazy Childrens Hospital panel.  The Q&A was incredible.  Megan Mullaly talked about her husband enjoying her lips and then the cast pulled a girl onto the stage after she asked a dumb question.  NTSF:SD:SUV: followed up with a crazy video shoot in the aisles.


N8 | Another time machine

By now I was hungry and headed over to the South Park Experience.  After scoring a snow cone, I went to get some lunch.  San Diego food trucks were parked next door and I can say that they are just as good as the ones up in LA.  Afterwards, I decided to go check out the Conan art exhibit.  Along the way I ran into an Ironman monster truck.


N8 | Adventure Time!

I headed inside to walk the floor a bit.  I saw the TARDIS from Doctor Who, Conan O'Brien doing autographs at the WB booth, a Delorean time machine, and bunches of cosplayers.  I tried to get into the Batman panel with Adam West and Burt Ward, but the line was too long.


N8 | Conan O'Brien

I spent the rest of the night finding a party to go to.  Every place I went to had nearly finished up for the night.  The geek girls party I went to was over by the time I got there.  I managed to score a free drink at a sports bar, but that was a lame spot.  Thus the night ended.

Comic Con 2011 - Day 2

Day 2 at Comic Con was a mess.


N8 | Gender bent Captain America waits in line to see the movie

It started with a screening of Captain America at Horton Plaza.  I got in line around 8am.  By 9am, I was informed I would not be getting into the screening.  A few days earlier, I had a friend sign up for what we thought were very limited tickets.  During Preview Night, tickets were being handed out on the floor.  I was given a pass to see a nearby Military Tribute to Stan Lee hosted by Chris Evans as a consolation prize.

N8 | Girls and Smurfs 

A few minutes later, I got a text notifying me that the first 50 people to get to the 7-Eleven next to Petco Park would get a chance to see Cowboys & Aliens.  At 10am, they gave out gold bricks.  My brick had a t-shirt and a coupon, but no movie ticket.  I headed back to the hotel and stumbled upon a Hugh Jackman rally for his movie Reel Steel.  I didn't see him myself, but I did score a giant bag from the event.  Afterwards I headed back to the hotel room to drop off the morning's swag at the hotel.


N8 | Juxtaposition cosplay

I headed back to the Gaslamp to see the Captain America event.  This was a great ceremony and a nice break from the hecticness of Comic Con.  Chris Evans was great to see in person.  He is smaller than I expected.Strangely, Stan Lee never showed up.  Instead, there was a beautiful bald eagle at the end of the show.


N8 | Chris Evans at the military tribute to Stan Lee

I grabbed an energy drink and began wandering the Gaslamp.  I spotted the Adult Swim ice cream truck and scored some free ice cream.  I spotted a South Park parade with a Chinese dragon that had Cartman for its head.  I ran into the Cowboys & Aliens giveaway people again and scored another t-shirt.


N8 | This Snape had some awesome robes

I then headed to Hall H to catch the Fox movie panel.  I saw previews for Prometheus, In Time and Rise of the Planet of the Apes.  I got a text from a friend who said he got passes for a Captain America 6pm screening, so I didn't stick around for any more panels in Hall H.

The best part of this screening for Captain America was the lack of wait time.  The theater was pretty old and smelled funny.  As for the movie, it was great.  I really liked Chris Evans as Steve Rogers and Haylee Atwell as Peggy Carter.  They were great together.


N8 | Stickers in candlelight. 

After the movie I headed over to the Threadless party.  The party this year was not as fun as last year.  This years comics-on-tees series wasn't as impressive while the party was really low key.  At least the noms were good.


N8 | Spider Samurai

I ditched this party to check out some other places.  The party at Basic had a huge line, so that was out of the question.  The Cirque du Soleil show at Petco Park was long over.  I ended up at Gam3rcon for a Samurai and Schoolgirls party.  I played Guilotine and Bang! for a couple of hours before heading up to the party, which lead to me missing out on the burlesque show.  I got in a few drinks on the rooftop before the night was done, which lead to a long drunken walk back to the hotel room.

Check out my full Comic Con photo set on flickr and stay tuned for my day 3 shenanigans.