San Diego Comic Con 2012 Review – Part Deux

Hopefully you read about our first day in San Diego for the 2012 Comic Con because today, intrepid readers, we jump right into the convention itself!

Like I lamented in the last post, we only were able to obtain 2 day passes so the already daunting and overwhelming task of going through the schedule of panels/events/signings/etc… became even harder.  Were we big enough fans of something to take half a day to wait in line for a panel?  Was there a signing or exhibit we were dying to see enough to wait in line for?  Did we want to try to obtain one of the Comic Con exclusives, like the limited edition BOOM! Studios zombie caricature cover art, by standing in line?  You might be noticing a trend of the line variety here, and if you haven’t been yet you have no idea how much line waiting there is.  It is a little crazy.  (And by “little crazy” I mean “batshit insane”)

So what to do?  We decided to skip the first couple hours of the convention itself to let the crowds spread out a little and go visit the Geek and Sundry offsite location, sponsored by AMD, at the Belo Lounge.  We got inside, witnessed a mental patient break in and start yelling about escaping from an institution and needing his Lithium, and then stood in line to meet and get our picture with web icon and geek goddess, Felicia Day.  After that we took a look at what AMD had set up to showcase.  What had they setup for everyone you ask?  Bad-assery of the computer kind, that’s what!  They were demoing some sick 3D games that were spanning a crystal clear three Samsung monitor setups as well as an obscene racing rig featuring 5 monitors, a vibrating Recaro seat and a steering wheel/shifter/pedal control system.

Oh, and they were giving away processors and motherboards as well.  Score!

After spending sometime checking out the delicious gaming goodness, we walked down to the convention itself.  While the crowds milling around on Preview Night were light, that was not the case here on opening morning.  It was crazy crowded!  What struck me first was the mix of people attending.  I am sure if you stopped a random person on street and asked them who would attend Comic Con they would immediately conjure up an image similar to the Comic Book Guy from the Simpsons or someone Urkel-esque.  The reality was that in attendance were a healthy mix of people, young and old, that looked no different from a huge crowd at a mall or concert (well, other than the liberal dose of people in Captain America costumes).  Now, there most definitely were a lot of people there that could use a little Jock infusion to level up their fitness and health, but you see that everywhere.

So we browsed the convention floor for a bit, overwhelmed at the immensity of it all.  As far as the eye could see there were stalls filled with artists/vendors/authors as well as a booth run by every major entertainment company you can think of.  The amount of coordination that goes into something this big is always a point of extreme fascination for me, as my mind can’t even begin to imagine the coordination necessary.  It truly boggles the mind.

I had the Nikon out and I was greatly enjoying the many elaborate and extremely well done costumes for a bit, but I knew I had to find my way up to the second floor by mid-day.  You see, while everyone else was standing in line to see the new suit of Iron Man armor, or to get a signature from their favorite artist, I was on a mission to meet one of my childhood heroes.  He was there, signing autographs and taking pictures and there was no way I was going to miss out.  So we wandered through the Comic Con circus and the maze that is the Convention Center so that I could shake hands and chat with Williams himself from “Enter the Dragon.”

At this point I had met, in the span of a few hours, one of my biggest nerd crushes icons *and* a martial arts legend who was integral on getting me hooked on training when I was a child.  Both sides of the Jerd coin stamped and shiny right there!  So far the Convention was already a huge success in my book!

Check back in tomorrow as I finish up my thoughts on the San Diego Comic Con, Cosplay and whether or not I will be attempting to brave the goat rodeo of ticket sales to return next year…  Let me know what your thoughts on Comic Con are!

Read: San Diego Comic Con 2012 Review – Part III, The Search for Spock