Well, I'm
back home from San Diego after attending the 2005 Comic-Con and now that
I'm caught up on a bunch of errands and some much needed rest, it's time
to share a ton o' photos with you guys. I'm glad you guys enjoyed my convention
blog that I tried to update every night while I was in San
Diego... even though I didn't get
back to the hotel to update it until 2am sometimes.
I've said it before
and I'll say it again: The Comic-Con is absolutely massive, and no words
can really do it justice... you simply have to go and experience it all
for yourself. The following pages are my best attempt at capturing many of
the sights there were to see at the convention for those of you who were
unable to attend. I hope they're as fun for you guys to look at as they
were for me to see in person! Keep in mind, these pics are in no
particular order... I'm just unloading 'em all on you along with a few
comments about each one. Bon Appétit!
The convention center is
simply too big to fit in one photograph. There's just not enough room to
stand far back enough to get it all in one single shot. The location is
perfect though - right on the water near Seaport in San Diego. It might
sound like a lot of walking, but with weather that was perfect every day,
I didn't mind the walking at all.
Just a small sampling of the
crowds at the Comic-Con. Again, the photos just can't
really portray just how massive the convention really is. I've really
never seen more
people stuffed into one area. The Comic-Con pretty much takes over the
entire city of San Diego for one week... and I'm sure the local businesses
love every minute of it.
The Aeon Flux booth was
constantly attracting fans with images from the upcoming cartoon DVD
collection and the upcoming motion picture... but what I really liked was
how they were pressing free t-shirts right there on the spot and they let
you pick the design you wanted on it. Whether the movie will be good or
not remains to be seen, but there's no denying that the original Liquid
Television cartoons were phenomenal.
While I liked the free
Skeletor tattoos that they were giving out at the He-Man booth, I thought
it was pretty stupid that they were trying to sell "The Best of He-Man"
DVD sets when they were promoting the full-season DVD sets that were
coming out in the near future. Why wouldn't any big He-Man fan just wait
for the full seasons instead?
It's hard to imagine some of
these places made a profit considering how much they must've spent on
their booth designs and freebies, but it's a labor of love so who cares.
Caveman Robot told me I was
his new best friend... and you know what?
He wasn't kidding. I miss you already Caveman Robot.
"It's so haaaard to say goodbyeeeee to yesterdaaaaay" :(
Yeah, yeah, they had comic
books for sale too, but I just didn't care to search through 5000
longboxes when there were things like giant killer skeletal robots to be
seen. It's pretty amazing though when you think about it... the convention
was originally just for comic books and years later it's blown up into
this mega-entertainment industry extravaganza for promoting movies, music,
toys, games, comics and more.
Role-playing gamers felt
right at home at the Comic-Con too. Hell, I'm sure some of you
role-playing gamers just had an orgasm after seeing that absurdly big
20-sided die.
The new Street Fighter
figures looked pretty damned good I must say.
The translucent Blanka figure was probably my favorite of the lot...
I really don't care about
getting autographs as it is, because I never saw what was so important
about getting someone to sign a piece of paper or whatever, but there's no
way in hell I was about to wait in one of those lines. I think miss anime
cat lady up there was disappointed to see the immensity of the autograph
line. Either that or she just took yet another a photo with a zitty
15-year-old for the 200th time that day.
More cool sculptures. I
hated Terminator 3, but I gotta say that the light-up head was
really nice looking. Still, it can't compete with a classic Jason Voorhees
if you ask me...
Star Wars overload! I swear
there was more Star Wars shit at this convention than I've ever seen
anywhere else. The giant Star Wars lego sculptures were really impressive
though. Impressive in a "who the fuck spends that much time with Legos!?"
kind of way.
Captain Jack was a big hit
with everybody... which makes me wonder if the people who dress up in
these elaborate costumes ever get tired of being stopped to take more
photos. Is there a point they reach where they're like, "Goddamnit! No
more photos! I just want to walk around and see what there is to see here!
Is that too much to ask!?"
Hooray for Batman Begins
movie props. Yep, that's all I have to say about 'em.
It was nice to see that
they're going back to the old 80's style artwork on the packages of the
new G.I. Joe figures. Sure they're not as cool as the originals, but not
bad. And uh, that's yet another Darth Vader statue... probably the most
detailed one at the 'con.
Question: What's
scarier... Death Jr. or a really bad Doctor Doom costume?
I'd have to go with choice B.
And the
award for the most brilliant Comic-Con marketing scheme goes to TokyoPop.
Why? Because they had a seemingly endless supply of bags that were
bigger than god. People went apeshit for these things, I guess because
they could fit more purchases in 'em than with any other bag. Seriously
though, sometimes it seemed like the entire convention floor was made up
of TokyoPop bags because so many people had 'em. Word has it their bags
keep getting bigger each year. At this rate, by the year 2010, they'll be
able to fit the entire convention center in a TokyoPop bag.
This big guy was walking
around to help promote Rob Zombie's new flick... and I swear he asked me
for my phone number. What can I say, I know how to turn on the undead. And
speaking of turn-ons, you cannot deny that the pic on the right is perhaps
the greatest photograph ever of Patrick Stewart. Too bad they were selling
it for 200 bucks.
