The trip to the promise land started very early on Thursday morning, 4am to be exact. I live in the middle of the desert. Really. My semi small town can be found by driving about 30 minutes south of the Phoenix burbs. So that meant a trip out through the dark and creepy desert was required. We, my best friend and I, headed out on this two lane highway that was like a mini roller-coaster.
The drive was pretty uneventful until we crossed into California and then a nightmare inducing incident happened. Seemed a bird decided it didn't want to live anymore and dove into our windshield, causing me to stop for a change of drawers. Of course the poor thing had to leave a giant skid mark on the window so we could relive the horror of the impact for miles to come. Yeah. The rest of the drive was lovely and uneventful and the gerbils that were running the motor probably died the minute we stopped from climbing the mountains but all was well.
Day One: So we've arrived to the wonderful, beautiful, insanely busy San Diego Comic Con. We both tossed on our costumes and headed in. I was unaware that wearing a corset in humidity was possibly the worst idea I would ever have, so I strutted my boobs that were nearing popping out up and over the huge pedestrian bridge and enter the magical world of SDCC.
We spent Thursday walking the exhibit floor which did my ADD no good. It was a constant, 'OMG look at that!, WOW look at this!' kind of thing and by that point my face and costume were LITERALLY melting off me. The tiara thing I made was actually becoming unglued and getting gross and I'm pretty sure I had one of my false lashes hanging off my eye. Yeah, so not sexy. So I changed ( in the car! ) and started again. This is me sans costume on Thursday and yes I was THAT excited!
At the end of Thursday we managed to get into the Dexter panel. My BFF is a huge fan and it was really cool to see it as my very first panel. It took place in the what would soon become my second home, the meager chamber we call, Hall H. We only waited about an hour before piling into a dark room. Afterwards we grabbed the car and checked into our hotel and ordered a pizza. Having a game plan for the next day we crashed.
Day Two: It will forever be known as the day Hall H beat our asses. This is me before the hell started:
Of course plans are typically shot to shit when you over sleep. So after we hurry and rush out at 530am for day two we line up about 2 freaking miles from the illusive Hall H doors. And no I am not kidding. Ok it was a mile. See:
Of course keep in mind we were left off about a a quarter mile up on the top right by the ball park from our shuttle. So yeah. 6am and here we are waiting. And we waited. And waited. And then we started walking. And come time for the first panel of the day we didn't get in the room. -_- Yeah. We were told twice we were around the 4k people mark for a room that held 6500. You do the math. Knowing we REALLY wanted to see the Sony panel, which would have The Amazing Spiderman 2 preview and cast we stayed in line until it was time for it to start. By some small miracle we made it into the panel!! 10 1/2 hours of swamp tits later and I was in an air conditioned, dark room with 6498 other strangers. But I have to admit seeing the footage and the cast was worth it. Andrew Garfield came out AS FUCKING SPIDERMAN!! Then proceeded to stay in character and his interaction with Jamie Foxx was awesome. Then Spidey left and out came Andrew in his adorable English accent and sweet charm. It was just so awesome and different then our previous panel with the Dexter group. We also got to see Samuel L Jackson and Joel Kinnamen for the new Robocop movie. I am excited for that.
As the panel was ending and we were about to see Metallica talk about their new Documentary we decided we wanted to see the panels in the same room the next day more than them. I know I know, don't shot me! But my BFF's and I entire goal for this whole 4 day trip was to get into the Marvel Panel and see the Captain America 2 preview & cast and the Thor 2 preview and cast *coughLokicough* so we decided to bail out on the megastars as Metallica and camp outside for the night. Yeah, crazy I know. So a trip to Target and dinner later, my BFF decided to sacrifice his night and stayed out there, letting me go back to the hotel for a couple hours of sleep. He offered because not only is he awesome, but he was in the military and had slept in worst conditions than a camping chair.
Day Three: It will forever be known as the most epic day ever!
I was up at 4am and in line by 5. This is THE day we had been waiting for since we got our badges. Thankfully we were better prepared for the wait so the almost 5 hours I waited and the 12 hours my BFF waited weren't at terrible. It also helped that this was all morning waiting and not so swampy as previously. About 10am we were finally let into the magical kingdom. We ended up about half way up and to the right. Not terrible but should have been WAY better for 12 hours of waiting! I figured out that the problem is one or 2 people wait all night and 2-4 people show up later and join in. So if 1k people wait but then they let in 3 other people that just fucks my chances at a better seat. We were guilty of this so I can't say anything other than that's why we didn't get into Hall H the day before and why we weren't closer. Oh well.
WE MADE IT IN THE FUCKING ROOM! This felt like a huge triumph after the shenanigans the previous day.
I won't go into detail about the panels all day, I'll just bullet off what I saw. And I doubt this is in order.
- Seventh Son preview & cast- Jeff Bridges was awesome & Kit Harrington was there too. Missed him previous day.
- Godzilla preview & cast- Looks really cool and Bryan Cranston is fucking hilarious! When the director asked if we wanted to see Godzilla, Bryan stood up to unzip his pants! OMG.
- The Lego Movie trailer and creators- This was fun, I think my kids will want to go. The creators were fun.
- 300: Rise of an Empire preview & cast- Looks as cool as the first one.
- Sneak peek of the Warcraft movie. I thought it looked like Matthew McConaughey but maybe not.
- Gravity preview & cast- Sandra effing Bullock! Wow! I was soo not expecting to see her! She's lovely.
- Edge of Tomorrow preview & cast- Dude.. Tom Cruise! He came out and fucking sang a little with the moderator Chris Hardwick! Craziness.
- Zack Snyder, director of Man of Steel had a cast member read a quote for "The Dark Knight Returns" book and then revealed the Superman/Batman as follows:
I KNOW RIGHT??
The energy in the room was off the charts. It was better then a rock concert and I've been to a lot. The fanboys were screaming like high school girls. It was adorable. Of course I was losing my mind too but still. That was the end of the first panel. We were all hyperventilating after that. Next was:
- I, Frankenstein preview & cast- It's made by the people responsible for Underworld and you can tell. It's got fighting gargoyles and demons with Franky in the middle. Looks interesting.
- The Hunger Games: Catching Fire preview & cast- Preview looks fantastic and I'm super excited. Jennifer Lawerence was as funny as always.
This panel was fairly uneventful and boring compared to the last I thought. Next came EW's Women Who Kick Ass panel and OMG that was awful. It was an obvious time for food and potty break since one actress decided to turn it into a soap box hour. The energy took an immediate turn during this and the long hours of waiting caught up with some of us. Next came 20th Century Fox panel and the buzz began again.
- Dawn of the Planet of the Apes trailer and cast- They didn't do a sit down panel like they previous ones. Andy Serkis gets a huge pop and the trailer looks really intriguing. I liked the previous one so I'll check this one out too.
- Wolverine trailer & HUGH JACKMAN- Yeah that's all you need to know really. The Wolverine seems to be balls out action and Hugh is seriously fucking sexy, even from across the room. He's pretty damn big too. I can't wait for this!
- X-Men: Days of Future Past trailer and cast- THE FUCKING WHOLE CAST, past and present! Ellen Page, Shawn Ashmore, Anna Paquin, Halle Berry, Ian Mckellan, Patrick Stewart, Hugh Jackman, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender ( FASSY! ), Jennifer Lawerence, Nicholas Hoult, Peter Dinklage, Evan Peters and of course director Bryan Singer. Yes. They were all there. In the room that I was in. At the same time! Speechless!
And then this shit happened:
My view!
There is another video but it's edited and missing the "Seems I have an army" at the end which I proudly subscribe too.
Yeah. I have no words. I was screaming and jumping around like a 15yo at a Beiber concert and I am not ashamed to admit it.
To see one of your favorite actors come out is just awesome, but to see that person come out AS THE CHARACTER that is also your favorite ( did you see my day three garb? ) was just.... I honestly don't have a large enough vocabulary to describe what I felt. I wanted to cry, I may have peed a little, I was shaking. It was quite ridiculous but when my BFF and I decided to go to this mecca for nerds, I never in my wildest dreams expected to experience this. Am I being over dramatic? Probably. Do I think my emotions were magnified because of the amount of time and energy it took to get into the room? Sure. Do I think my response had anything to do with my boring life as a stay at home mom? Most definitely.
But for me, that might have been a once in a lifetime thing that happened. How often does someone get to fangirl as hard as I did over the character and actor they love so much? Not very fucking often. So yeah. The guys behind me, whom I spent 11 hours with at that point, put their hands on my shoulders to try to calm me. It was sweet.
So after an EPIC preview of Thor 2, in which Loki is on full display and integral to the story ( OMFG! ) the crowd was worked into a further tizzy by the Captain America 2 cast and crew who brought a clip from the movie which is still filming.
The scene was pretty awesome. Showing a very nice looking, spry Cap kicking ass inside an elevator in which he says "Before we begin gentleman, does anyone want to get out?" So awesome. This also got the fan boys yelling, including my BFF.
Up next is Guardians of the Galaxy. This is highly anticipated and I admit not not knowing a lot about it.
Of course nothing ( ok, maybe ) when Joss Whedon came out. Just when we couldn't have got any more excited, he grabs a mic and says he didn't have anything to add, just something to share and up comes the teaser for Avengers 2, The Age of Ultron.
BOOM. Done! What a fucking emotional roller coaster that day was!
Day Four was a much more subdued day than the previous. Plan was to pick up the goodies that Fox gave us in the special "pick up goodies here" room then to head over to the Marvel Booth. As we walk up, guess who just so happens to be having a signing? The man himself, Tom Hiddleston! ( I know I am losing some of you with my fangirling, so go ahead and skip to the high light and low lights! ) Holy sweet baby geebus is that man lovely! I was about 20 feet away from him and he's just so freaking swoonworthy!
By the luck of the gods and my new best friend whom I met in line the previous day, we scored tickets to a small, less than 300 people panel with the lovely Tom Hiddleston! Zachary Levi, who also co-stars in Thor 2, runs Nerd HQ that takes place over at Petco Park and raises money for Operation Smile by selling seats to a more private affair. Best $22 I ever spent! Yes, that's a baseball field behind him.
After that, we left San Diego in our rear-view. I don't think I personally I could have had a better Comic Con. OK , I lie. IF I had made it into Hall H for all the panels on Friday like I wanted, THEN it would've been perfect. But as much as I saw my Hiddles, it made up for all the aches and pains and crankiness that was dealt out during those 4 days.
Highlights and Lowlights of SDCC:
High-
- The people! I met some fucking awesome people while there. And spent many hours with others and the overall comradery was really something to behold. It really helped keep my anxiety of being around large groups to a minimum.
- Chris Hardwick-I am in love with this big nerd. He made Hall H pretty fucking awesome. He now has a minion.
- During the Nerd HQ panel, when Tom said Zach Levi swung in like Errol Flynn onto the set of Thor 2, I had to pipe in " Flynn Rider?" and after a reaction from the crowd Zach replies to me, "Don't think you're the first person to think of that." Hehe.
- The people who asked questions. Sometimes more entertaining than the actual panels ( like I, Frankenstein ). One kid had a shirt that said " He's gay" with an arrow pointing to the side. Another, which recieved the loudest pop because it's the gods honest truth-
Low
- The people. Not that there were any douchey people, only a few line cutters on Friday, but the fact that there are SOOO many people leaving you with no personal space and no private conversations. Unless of course you text one another. While sitting next to one another.
- The Lines. There has GOT to be a better way to deal with Hall H line. GOT to be.
- Too much good stuff and not enough time.
- Leaving AZ with fat girl calves and coming home with She-Hulk calves.
If you are interested in more detailed info on the panels I talked about or anything else super duper awesome from the weekend check out Nerd Bastards or the uber helpful SDCCBlog.com.
OK. There it is. I think it FINALLY got it all out. Phew.
Now how long until next year?!
