Comic-Con ’16: The Agony and the Ecstasy

Hello guys and gals! Long time no see, huh? I can’t quite say I’m back because I don’t know if I can commit to my return (ironic, given the name of this blog) but I’ve really missed you all and wanted to share some moments from last week’s Comic-Con! Special thanks to Ruth for convincing me to do a post. My schedule is crazy sometimes but I will try to make the time to write something here every now and then. I’ve missed this community a lot, as well as writing about movies. Apologies in advance for the upcoming terrible-quality videos. Most of these were taken from afar and with a shitty phone!

 

I still haven’t gotten the chance to purchase actual tickets to San Diego Comic-Con International. I’ve been attending for about four or five years (not consecutive) but always as a volunteer and this year was no exception. Luckily, I got a pre-convention assignment on Tuesday (the actual work took about 20 minutes, if you can believe it) and in exchange got a “free day” at the Con. I picked Saturday, which is known as the best day at the convention. And yeah, I had a hell of a day (in the best way).

 

I didn’t get to attend any of the panels (Marvel, DC, Fantastic Beasts, Kong: Skull Island, etc.) because the line to get into the legendary Hall H at the San Diego Convention Center was insane. A friend stood there for more than 7 hours! The payoff must’ve been sweet but, as that popular video says, “ain’t nobody got time for that!”

 

Every year the Con gets bigger (in every way) but you know what’s gotten smaller? The freebies. Still, I got a wonderful Spock shirt (only for convention volunteers), a Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them oversize bag (I’ll tell you later about a tragedy involving that bag) and a pretty cool (cardboard) Captain America shield!

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Even with no Hall H, I still had a damn good day at SDCC. I got the chance to catch a glimpse of Chadwick Boseman (Black Panther, Get On Up) at the Marvel booth, while at DC I snuck in a few (awful) pictures of Gal Gadot, Chris Pine and Connie Nielsen (from the upcoming Wonder Woman).

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Ran into a barefoot Thomas Jane (Punisher, Hung) on the convention floor and took a pic with him. Became a full-sized action figure behind the Captain America shield and also saw real-life couple Ben McKenzie (The OC) and Morena Baccarin (Deadpool) from FOX’s Gotham, as well as the handsome Tom Ellis (Lucifer).

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Oh, and I almost forgot, also ran into the delicious Charlie Hunnam (Sons of Anarchy, Pacific Rim) promoting the upcoming King Arthur by himself.

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Just before exiting the Con at about 2 p.m. to head to the Spreckels Theatre, we noticed a huge crowd at the DC booth. Who was there? The cast of Suicide Squad! I’m not a fan of Will Smith, but I was excited to see him a few yards from where I was standing. I was also left in awe of Jared Leto, one of my absolute favorite actors. In the video you can also see glimpses of Viola Davis, Margot Robbie, Joel Kinnaman, Cara Delevingne, Scott Eastwood, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Karen Fukuhara, Adam Beach, Jay Hernández and Jai Courtney.

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Why did we leave the convention center at 2? We had tickets to a special taping of Conan. Guess who were the guests? The cast of Suicide Squad! Despite the lines and the sweltering heat both inside and outside the theater, the taping was an absolute blast. (You can watch the full episode here.) Every person in the audience got a limited-edition Funko Pop figure of Conan dressed as the Joker from Suicide Squad as well as a ticket to watch the film in IMAX 3D (so looking forward to that!)

 

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I was tired as hell, hot, sweaty, hungry and parched but I’d had a fantastic day at Comic-Con. However, a sad moment closed off the evening. After having dinner with my friend Alexandra (we were on the other side of the border by then), I noticed something was missing from my bag. I immediately knew what had happened. Just as I was getting in Alexa’s car after the Con, one of the straps from my bag broke because of the weight, and it fell on the ground. I thought nothing had fallen out of the bag, so I picked it up and put it in the car. But guess what did fall out? That’s right: my limited-edition Funko-Conan-Joker doll. Oh well.

 

So that was my experience at San Diego Comic-Con 2016. What do you think about my good/bad luck? Did you visit the Con this year? What are your favorite memories of SDCC? Tell me in the comments!

 

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Category : Cool Stuff, Musings, Special Message
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