SDCC 2008 posts

Sunday. Last day of SDCC. Typically Thursdays and Sundays are supposed to be the laxer of the four days. All four days were sold out, so even on Sunday, there would be a proverbial packed house. My goal for that day was to go to the Supernatural panel. That was the panel. The panel= If I didn’t get to see anything else but saw that panel, it’d make my day panel. The thing that would make this interesting is that they were holding the Smallville panel right in front of it. That panel started pretty much first thing after the doors opened. And I was banking on not a whole lot of people leaving after the Smallville panel. So I walked to the right door to get into the convention center and headed towards the room. Even though the line was what it was, I got into the room so I was able to see both panels without issue. Finally the cosmos was working with me. I had resigned myself to the idea of missing Smallville but having a chance for Supernatural.

The Smallville panel was fun. They had some of the cast there and the Q&A Session was good too. Not too many people professing their love for the show and more people with actual questions. There was a guy in full Green Arrow regalia that caught the panelist’s attention. Justin and Chloe wanted a picture. Which is a great thing to see from panelists [when the audience is pretty cool, it works well]. This write up does a good job about details of the panel. What they don’t mention was perhaps one of the best ways to close a panel. Early on the moderator made mention he was surprised that no one asked about ‘when was Bruce Wayne’ appearing on Smallville. It’s been a staple question for each Q&A in the years past. They run through the gamut of questions, asking questioners to state their name and then ask their question. The last question is from a fan in a Batsuit: I’m Batman and I have only 1 question — When are you going to bring me on the show! The panelists and audience cracked up. Best.closing.evar. ‘Batman’ hammed it up with shaking hands, doing the ‘photo op’ and keeping up a long running joke that started with a fan requesting the name placard of Alison Mack [it was for a little girl, so it's more on the forgivable scale]. From there, it had a life of its own, where other panelists were asked for their placard, Batman closing the deal as it were.

The Supernatural Panel was next. The turnover was short, perhaps just enough to fill empty seats from people that left. Soon, it was underway. They showed us the first five minutes of the first ep of the new season. I’ll be mum on that so there’s no spoilers, but let me say I was actually disappointed when I couldn’t make the signing they had for this afterward because the writers were there. I love these writers. I’m not big on the whole autograph thing, but I wouldn’t have minded making that signing at all. Oh…and Eric Kripke…you’re HOT [inside joke, except I'm not really kidding about that]. IGN has a write up of the panel [it does have a spoiler warning for the footage, keep a weather eye out for that]. They’re all great panelists- lots of the funny between them all and were real cool with the audience, even with some slightly eyebrow perking requests. Slight aside: part of what they have on the screens played in a constant loop is pretty much ‘ComicCon Etiquette’; guidelines we’re asked to heed during the Q&A and also the footage shown, etc. Part of this is be respectful with your questions, don’t make personal requests, etc. I was in the Heroes panel where a girl said her sight kept her from seeing Milo real well and asked to see him up close to actually see him. Same said girl requested this of Jensen. You may pick up the tone here, but the thing is, a majority of the audiences at these panels have little patience for people that insist on making personal requests that eat into the Q&A.

The Supernatural panel also had a little extra with an appearance by the Ghostfacers; on the show the Ghostfacers are rookie amateur paranormal investigators [a take off Ghosthunters meets Blair Witch], so during the panel the ploy what what were Jared, Jensen and the writers doing there, with the Ghostfacers in character and the panelists saying ‘Umm..guy, Sam and Dean? Characters on a show man.’ ‘Sure, Dean. By the way…what did you guys do, use a RPG random name generator for those names? Padalecki? Srlsy?’ [Paraphrased of course, but that is the gist.] Very funny stuff and a treat for people that love the show to itty bitty bits.

The Q&A was great, and they shared a good amount of the upcoming season without giving away anything that was easily spoilery. It ended with them showing a gag reel, which are always awesome.

After the Q&A I head down to the floor. I had hoped I could make the signing, but when I got there, the line was capped. So, I tried. Just wasn’t meant to go down. I decide to surf the floor one last time. I meet up with Trish, Eric, Abbey and we all decide to hit up Mile High Comic’s vendor booth. Sunday’s the day to do your serious shopping, prices are cut. So we all bundled together for some trades to plus up our collections. We easily got to ten, so we got half off all the books. Prior to that, I scored some plushes of Yoda, Vader and Venom. I was only going to get Yoda, but on Sunday, the vendor I had kept my eye had a three for deal. So I picked up one for me and the others for friends. Though said friends are in danger of not getting theirs. Particularly Venom, who looks like this

Cheer!

I just keep thinking that Venom is supposed to be this big bad vicious mofo [don't confuse him from Spidey 3 people...he was well...this plushie just taller really. And that's not a dig on the actor..I digress]. Anyway, Venom. A bad mother shut-yo-mouth, right? But look at him. So small and dare I say it, cyute. So automatically my reaction is pretty much ‘awwww, who’s a lil bad mofo’ combined with a puppy that’s gnawing on your finger, but his teeth aren’t doing any damage. Plus, the arms up like that add in a ‘cheer!’ so he’s a cyute puppy-esque lil guy hip with gamer slang. [that is, this emote for pretty much saying w00t!: / See? Cheer!]

So I snag those, add more trades to my collection, but didn’t see anything else that caught my eye. Any ‘toys’ I get, they’re for my cube and honestly, there’s only a lil more ‘space’ and then I’ve reached my limit for geeking out my cubicle proper.

We regroup from shopping and take advantage of snap shots [which I -will- get around to posting...I keep telling myself that.] We score more swag [I have Chuck post its...they're awesome] and part ways. Everyone’s got to get ready to leave and I have a 10 pm flight on the following Monday to pack for.

About halfway back to my aunt’s I realize in the hustle and bustle…I didn’t give Eric the money I owed him. So I made arrangements to paypal it to him. Let’s hear it for technology. Even though I actually had some cash on me for change.