San Diego Comic-Con 2016 Review

Aka – “The Better Late Than Never” Recap

Every year, after San Diego Comic-Con comes to a close, three things happen.

One, I get sad… really, really sad. Two, I immediately start making plans for next year. Three, I crack my knuckles and sit down to write about Nerd Prom.

Only this year I waited on number three. In fact I waited almost two months!

It’s not that I didn’t want to write about SDCC 2016, it’s that I wasn’t sure what to write.

Every year seems to fall into a theme for me:

• 2012 was Inspiration
• 2013 was Excitement
• 2014 was Collaboration
• 2015 was Community

But as I sat down at my keyboard, the week after returning home, I was having a hard time putting my finger on the common theme.

There were parts of it that definitely felt like the Year of Community II: The Wrath of Khan, but if I looked at it from a different perspective it was also very inspirational (and conversely full of setbacks and disappointments as well… but we aren’t talking about that today) and a bunch of other adjectives as well.

But nothing struck me as an overwhelming theme.

I guess, before I reveal what I finally figured out was the underlying theme of 2016 was, I need to stress that I had an absolute blast.

Once again it was 5 days of sheer nerd bliss!

Ran into a few homies on my way to pickup my badge!

So (outside of it just being a ridiculously fun time) what was it that finally coalesced inside my cranium as the theme for 2016?

Pride.

I realize, looking back (almost 2 months later), that I was constantly finding myself proud of the people I met and their accomplishments.

The Year of Pride

Over the course of the week I reconnected with a ton of nerd friends, as well as meeting a lot of new faces; and so many of them had made incredible personal changes over the last year.

It seemed that every nerd I reconnected with had been taking some steps to doing something positive over the last year to really level up their life!

I met with people who had:

• Successfully cut sodas from their daily diet
• Maintained a healthy gym schedule for months at a time
• Lost, and kept off, large quantities of weight
• Learned how to cook so they could eat better quality food
• And so much more…

The biggest, underlying commonality being the sense of accomplishment that each, and every one, of them so clearly felt.

These were people making sustainable life-changes that they were proud of.

And I was proud of them too!

It wasn’t just health and fitness accomplishments that had me beaming either.

This year started out the same as last, with the Tony Kim’s (www.crazy4comiccon.com) #GameofBloggers party.

And while it was the same super-fun party, filled to the brim with awesomely creative people, there something even more impressive for Tony to be proud of.

He was premiering his own geek-inspired clothing line at the party.

And I am not talking about coming up with some geeky t-shirts…

I am talking about an honest-to-goodness clothing line!

I had read the following description of Hero Within before leaving for San Diego:

“We are a fashion brand that blends sophisticated style with pop culture. We integrate your favorite DC Comics™ icons into the construction of each piece to create a never before seen fashion product.” – Tony Kim

But it wasn’t until I saw the prototypes up close that I realized why Tony was so excited. The amount of care and detail he had put into this was truly impressive! The nervous pride on his face, as he unveiled something he had been working on for the last year to his friends, was inspiring to say the least.

He had identified something he wanted, set a goal, and went for it.

Not only did he deserve to be proud of himself, but I was immensely proud of him!

How @#$&ing cool is that?!?

I will tell you; it is super-cool. So super-cool that I ordered a few pieces on the spot! But I digress…

The other thing that happened at the party was that I got to meet a ton of people who had joined the #SDCCfit movement. It’s one thing to watch a movement grow on social media, and read about your fellow nerd’s hard work and dedication, but to see the results in person?

It did my heart good!

I got to meet with so many people, new and old friends alike, who had been making steady progress towards a healthier life.

The thing that really stood out to me in all these conversations was how happy each, and every one, of them was with the choice they had made to try to start treating their body better. There was no grumbling or excuses, there was only smiles and justified self-satisfaction. Every time someone would approach me to introduce themselves, or share the progress they had made, I was taken aback by the self-confidence on their face and in their posture.

And just like with Tony, I found myself beaming with pride for them.

How could I not be proud of them?

It is hard to look in the mirror and recognize that you want (or need) to make a change to the way you’ve been treating your body. It is even harder to take the steps necessary to do something about it. And then to hold yourself accountable, for the world to see, on social media? Come on, that’s good stuff right there.

But, honestly, one of the reasons I waited to write this article is that I wanted to see if the momentum would keep going after the fact or if people would fall off the bandwagon and back into old habits.

I am happy to report that the movement is still going strong, with people getting ready for New York Comic-Con and SDCC 2017.

Every single one of these #SDCCfitters deserves high praise. Bravo!

And I, for one, can’t wait to see what positive changes people experience over the next year…

Viva la SDCCfit!

So what else about Comic-Con deserves a shout-out?

• Awesome cosplay
• Great conversations with comic creators
• Cool, self-published comic books
• Cracking Pokémon jokes with Chris Hardwick and Kevin Smith during a late-night elevator ride

Oh yeah, and once again there were Geek & Sundry shenanigans.

So there you go…

Tales of pride, followed by me and some great friends being total idiots. A perfect synopsis of San Diego Comic-Con if you ask me.

So let’s wrap this up with a simple question, because I really would like to hear from you all.

What have you done lately that you are proud of?

I don’t care what it has to do with. It can be about health & fitness, about your job, about your kids… it can be about anything you are feeling proud of at the moment.

Let me know in the comments below!

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