SDCC’12: The Good, The Bad, and The Down Right Ugly

Now that Comic-Con 2012 has finally wrapped, we have about 365 days until Comic-Con 2013. So how was this year compared to last year? What were the highs and lows of the Con? Below is my breakdown from the entire trip and what some of the major pros and cons were of the Con this year.

You never want to start off with the bad because that will set the wrong tone! So let’s start with the good that came from SDCC’12

• Marvel Panel– Hands down this was the most energized, fulfilling, entertaining panel I have ever been a part of at a SDCC. Robert Downey Jr. knows how to play to the crowd and I’m 100% convinced he really believed he is Tony Stark. With the announcements regarding the next 2-3 years for Marvel and the footage from both Edgar Wright‘s Ant-Man and Shane Black‘s Iron Man 3, I have never heard a crowd scream so loud nor have I had Goosebumps so many times during a panel.  Hands down the one of the biggest winners of the Con!
• Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures Panel– this was a tough one for my number one spot because they brought so many films to the Con my head was about to explode with amazement. Starting off with Guillermo Del Toro‘s Pacific Rim, I’m sad that we won’ see any footage until the end of the year, but what we did see in Hall H, looks like we are going to be in for one hell of a ride. Not to mention everyone knows that Del Toro is one of my favorite people to listen to in the world, always an entertaining speaker. So how do you follow up Pacific Rim? Tease the new Godzilla movie and show everyone about a 45 second teaser and their first look at Godzilla. Fans of Godzilla can rest easy, what little footage was shown was impressive and Godzilla actually looks like the Godzilla we know and love.  Next Warner Bros. brought a bit of a surprise by doing a quick panel for The Campaign, which stars Will Farrell and Zach Galifianakis, nice, little change of pace and had the entire hall laughing non-stop. Finally the big guns of the show, Man of Steel and The Hobbit.  Man of Steel seems as if we will finally see a kick ass Superman film and it will actually make sense, yes it’s a retelling, but that is exactly what the franchise needs because the prior two were just awful.  The Hobbit looked visually impressive, I’m just not a fan of the Tolken books in general or the films so I won’t touch on this one. But just know everyone seemed to love the 12 minutes of footage and behind the scenes look we were shown.
• Django Unchained– Not that Tarantino had anything to worry about with this film, but the fans ate it up during the panel and the extended footage that was shown was pretty intense. It was also cool to see the viral marketing going on around the Gas Lamp area and if you were able to find an “outlaw” and mention that “The ‘D’ is silent” you would get a token to go redeem for a t-shirt and poster. Unfortunately I never found one and the Press Day where we were suppose to get a set of the t-shirts and posters and all we got was a Red Bull. Still it was a cool little set up they had for the film and nice to see it was getting so much publicity and marketing.
• Looper, Elysium and beyond –  For the most part, all the film panels killed it and really set the tone for what we can expect in the new 6-10 months for films, Looper will be a hit and I think Elysium will do pretty well for itself. I really didn’t see a bad panel, besides Twilight and Silent Hill 2, which was very disappointing. Oh well at least Twilight is gone and hopefully never coming back to SDCC.
• The WB Bags– This year there were a ton of different oversize bags you could get when you picked up your badge. They had all their major TV shows from Supernatural, Big Bang Theory and Vampire Diaries to the hopefully new hit show Arrow. On the movie side, I’m still not sure how many different bags there were, I got a Pacific Rim and The Dark Knight Rises, but I also saw The Hobbit and Man of Steel bags as well. It almost seemed as if different days would do different bags, which made the Bag Trading that much more interesting.
• Events going on outside of the Con– There were so much going on outside of the convention that it almost seemed that people were having more fun out there then we were inside. From all the marketing ploys for different shows and films, to the always entertaining Zombie Walk. Not to mention this year WB set up the “Extra” stage in the field next to the convention center and Hilton Bay front where they had lives musical performances, Celebrities making appearances and late night movie screenings.
• Speaking of screenings, DREDD WAS AWESOME! Check out my Review Here.

Now sadly the Bad and yes there was a lot of Bad and even some Ugly.

• My Hotel– Everyone rants and raves over the Hilton Bay front and how amazing it is. The lobby was nice and the outside was nice, but for the price we paid a night, the room was far from nice. It was a very basic room and the A/C didn’t work half the time. If we wanted to change rooms we were told we would have to pay an additional $35 a night. Not to mention our view was of the shipping docs and the train yard! Also I didn’t receive the mini fridge I had requested months before and the whole check in process was a mess. Oh yeah and internet was $13.99 a day and was no faster the Dial-Up in the early 90’s, hints why I couldn’t get any of the photos to upload. Rest assured I will not be staying at the Hilton Bay front again.  I heard the Marriott is the place to be now!
• Preview Night– Last year when Alex and I attended preview night, we were able to walk the floor with ease and able to see pretty much everything we wanted to and even pick up some pretty cool swag and exclusives. This year was the complete opposite. I have never seen so many people at a preview night. I honestly think there were more people there for preview night then there were on Sunday, which is a bit ridiculous. SDCC needs to drastically limit the amount of people that can attend preview night because it was miserable this year. Or hell even allow the press and professionals early access into the Hall say like an hour before so we can do interviews at booths and take some photos before the mad rush is let in.
• Which brings me to my other complaint. DO NOT ALLOW LITTLE KIDS OR STROLLERS INTO THE EXHIBIT HALL!!!! I can’t tell you how many times I was ran into by some dumbass and their stroller or they were letting their little kid dart in and out of the crowd. It’s just bad parenting. If you can afford to come to SDCC, I’m betting you can afford a baby sitter. I understand you want your child to experience it, but wait till they are older. If they need a stroller they are too young to come!
• Break up the major booths– I understand they try and group all the booths together based on what they are. All the video game companies are together same with comics and movies and TV. However they need to spread them out. Particularly the movie section. When you have WB, Lionsgate, Legendary, Sony, Fox, and others all together giving out free stuff, things become a mess. Mix it up a bit so that the crowds wont be so congested and it might make it easier to walk around the exhibit hall.
• SWAG– I was very disappointed in the quality and lack there of, of the free swag the booths and panels were giving out. I understand times are tough and the Con has grown substantially, but at least give out some cool shit. I don’t know how many times I heard that something was limited to the first 200 people! I mean really!!! There were over 130,000 people and you want to limit something to 200! Hall H has become in my book the, no redemption ticket hall because it seems like out of the 30 or so panels I have attended in there I have only received 2 tickets and that was this year for Game of Thrones and Oz: The Great and Powerful, which was nothing more then a mini poster. I was very disappointed in Marvel because they usually always give out something kick ass and since they were absent last year I figured we would get something cool this year, but nope nothing! I know some people may think I sound spoiled or something, but that is far from it. We try and get these things so we can do contest for our readers, kind of a way of saying Thanks.
• Mondo– I love these guys, I don’t know why because I have never been able to get a poster until recently, but I just have a ton of respect for these guys, however their booth was a nightmare. Preview night I understand is a rough thing because you are trying to get set up and there is really no order, but my god did Mondo has a mess on their hands. First they need a much bigger booth and more space because their lines were sometimes longer then some panels. Also, talking to one of the event coordinators, he said Mondo was pushing their luck because they were suppose to let the staff and security know when a poster was about to be released so they could start getting people in a functional line. This would have worked if Mondo stuck to their times, they were telling them. They let us start lining up about an hour before a poster was even announced because the security guard said they told them one time but are now delaying it. (Side Note, after talking to Peter over at Slash films, we are in agreement that Mondo has a dark side and has a set group of people they sell their posters too early and then put them on Ebay. We saw posters that hadn’t even been announced yet already on Ebay with photos. COME ON MAN!)
• The Weather– I can’t really complain about the weather too much, it was just a disappointment that it was cloudy and drizzling a few of the days which is always a mood killer. I was hoping for a nice sunny 75-degree day in hopes of escaping the Texas heat. Sunday was a beautiful day, but go figure that was the day we were leaving.

OK now for the UGLY and when I mean ugly I mean UGLY.

• Attendees Attitudes – Comic Con is supposed to be a fun and memorable experience everyone there is there because they have a passion for comics, video games, movies or TV. Everyone usually respects one another and things for the most part are peaceful, until this year. I personally witnessed two fights break out both dealing with people trying to cut in line for Hall H. Also I don’t know how many time people would just plow through you on the Exhibit hall floor and not say, “Excuse me” or “Sorry”. I get it is crowded and hot but that doesn’t give you a reason to be a dick to people.
• The Lines– This year history was broken with the sizes of the lines to get into both Hall H and Ballroom 20. Last year we had no problem getting into Hall H and really could come and go as we pleased without having to fear of not being able to get back in. This year couldn’t have been farther from that statement. I don’t know how many of us had to cancel roundtable interviews or one on one interviews because we were trapped in Hall H and couldn’t leave due to the fact of the line outside to get in. Saturday for example was the worst. I got down to Hall H at around 5:15 in the morning because I expected it to have a line due to all the Studios being in there that day (i.e. WB and Marvel) boy was I in for a surprised. I was probably in the 3500 person range by 5:30 and by 7 there were reports that over 10,000 people were already in line. I’m not kidding 10,000 people for a hall that only holds about 6,500. It was so bad that we were lined all the way down the bay front and all the way back to an island. By the time we started moving around 8:30-9:oo there were close to 17,000 people apparently. If you don’t believe me, I have pictures of the madness, which you can see below. Once inside they made an announcement that anyone in line would not be getting in until after WB if people left before Marvel. There were actually people who spent their entire day just standing in the Hall H line and never got in. When this happens something needs to be done!

• There is a rumor/source of mine that told me supposedly SDCC sold about 20,000 more badges this year then they were suppose to. I can’t confirm or deny it, but based on the madness of the crowds this year, I have no doubt this could be true. If this is the case, it just shows that the convention is loosing what it stands for and is becoming more of a 3-ring circus. I understand they want to make money but they need to reduce the amount of badges drastically, especially the 4-day ones.
• Hall H Bathrooms– if you have ever been inside Hall H there are two bathrooms inside, one for guys and one for girls. I can’t speak for the girls, but the guys have maybe 15 stalls to use on their side. That is not a whole lot especially when you have on the low number around 3500 guys inside. Now here is where it gets ugly. On Saturday, the men’s bathroom was shut down because there was a flood and let me just tell you, it was chaotic. They would give you a colored ticked for the panel that was currently going on and you had either 45 minutes or the end of the panel to be back from using the bathrooms on the exhibit hall floor. It Sucked!!!! Not to mention the security guard at the bathroom kept yelling at people and we could hear every word he was saying during the panels.
• Finally, The WB booth Security Guards– These guys must have really thought they were F.B.I agents or something because they were the biggest dicks in the world. They were stationed all around the WB booth and were extremely rude. I tried taking a picture of the Superman Costume that was in front of the booth and the damn guard just stood in front of it and wouldn’t move even after I asked him nicely so I could take a picture. He then told me that we can’t take pictures of it and told me to keep on walking! Look bro, I know you might not like being here but that doesn’t mean you have to be a dick. I kept moving to try and get a different angle and the same guard put his hand in front of another journalist’s camera and told him no pictures as well. Why the hell would you bring something like that and then tell people no pictures? It’s not like it is some secret government project, it’s a damn prop! I finally just gave up and said screw it. I never went back to WB and they now have left a bad taste in my mouth!

Overall I did enjoy myself and I hope changes are made for next year. I recommend everyone to attend SDCC at least once just to get the experience. It really is fun to see the city transformed and everything that is going on. It is a bit overwhelming at first buy you eventually gets your grounding. Also I recommend going with a group, you will have much more fun and it makes life easier with being able to have people hold your seat or spot in line while you run to the bathroom or get food.