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SDCC 2019
6 years ago
General
Some very random, stream-of-consciousness thoughts.
Mistake #1-- deciding to drive the route I knew to San Diego, rather than the shorter one suggested by Google Maps. That led to being stuck in a humongous traffic mess for about an hour and a half trying to get out of LA.
Mistake #2-- not writing down the street directions to my sister-in-law's place, which led to me overshooting it by about 15 miles and having to backtrack. I left Santa Clarita before 6 and didn't get there until after 10. All with no bathroom or food breaks, after working a full 8 hours.
The lot I usually park in for the con had switched to private. Without time to find another spot, I had to park in one of the hotel lots. Can we say "$$$?" Yes we can.
Those rental scooters were everywhere around town, lying scattered in odd places like bodies after a great battle.
There was an art book I was planning to get, until I found out it cost $75. I like the dude's art, but not that much. The book also weighed 6 pounds, and no way was I hauling that thing around all day.
I didn't manage to break 10K steps on the Fitbit either day, but you could never tell from the body aches. It did congratulate me for being on my feet for 9 hours, so I guess that's something. No wonder my knees hurt like hell.
Interestingly, I was getting the most pain from my left shoulder; a result of the backpack. I'm almost positive I have arthritis in both shoulders at this point. I can't even throw a ball overhand without it hurting.
The personal pan pizzas sold at the con actually looked really good, but they also cost $11. So I just ate a sandwich I brought with me for lunch.
There's virtually nowhere to sit in the convention center other than the floor. They got rid of most of the dining areas to get in more booths. If you wanted to sit and weren't up to fighting for a scarce chair at the couple of over-crowded food courts, you had to sit on the floor or the concrete outside.
The place that makes those really nice poseable dinosaur models was there. I almost got one, but decided $50 was too steep for something that would just sit on the shelf collecting dust.
An artist I like made pins of some of his characters. Unfortunately they were the size of my thumbnail, and you practically needed a magnifying glass to see any detail. When other people are making nice, big colorful pins, I don't understand why he made his so minuscule. Lost my sale there.
On the other hand, ex-Disney artist Chris Sanders had some absolutely gorgeous, BIG pins of his mermaids. I didn't get any because I'm not into mermaids, but they did look really nice.
Most of the publishers in the small press and indy area didn't have anything new or interesting; just the same titles I've seen year after year. God forbid you stop to look at one-- you immediately get pounced on and given the hard sell.
The only panel I was interested in seeing was on Saturday, and I wasn't going to stay an extra day just for that.
I stopped to talk to a publisher that I'd worked with in the past. He seemed really happy to see me. Like excessively happy and friendly. The only other person who is this happy to see me is my mom. I wonder if he's just naturally like that with everyone, or if he really liked working with me.
Persistence pays off. There was a con-exclusive of a book I wanted. Didn't get it Thursday, but managed to get there early enough Friday to get a wristband that guaranteed me a copy. Yay me.
Due to winning a spot in the line lottery I was able to get the Hasbro con exclusives for a couple of friends. The 'overflow' line (which I assume was the non-lottery line) for the booth was some enormous monstrosity that went along the far wall and seemed to include a couple hundred poor slobs. I really should have gotten a photo of it.
Another author who's books I really liked was doing a signing Friday for his new book. I mostly just buy e-books now (to save on space in the home) but I did pick up a copy of this to get it signed. That involved standing in a surprisingly long line; the author being much more popular than I'd realized.
I didn't feel like walking to the nearby hotels to look at the art show or get any con swag. Nor did I visit any of the outside displays.
On the way home I decided to take the shorter I-15 route. I still got stuck in another enormous traffic jam for about 45 minutes, but at least I made it back in under 4 hours this time. I guess one is doomed to be stuck in a traffic jam no matter what route is taken, unless you want to drive down there at 1 AM. (and even then you'd probably run into night time construction.)
Mistake #1-- deciding to drive the route I knew to San Diego, rather than the shorter one suggested by Google Maps. That led to being stuck in a humongous traffic mess for about an hour and a half trying to get out of LA.
Mistake #2-- not writing down the street directions to my sister-in-law's place, which led to me overshooting it by about 15 miles and having to backtrack. I left Santa Clarita before 6 and didn't get there until after 10. All with no bathroom or food breaks, after working a full 8 hours.
The lot I usually park in for the con had switched to private. Without time to find another spot, I had to park in one of the hotel lots. Can we say "$$$?" Yes we can.
Those rental scooters were everywhere around town, lying scattered in odd places like bodies after a great battle.
There was an art book I was planning to get, until I found out it cost $75. I like the dude's art, but not that much. The book also weighed 6 pounds, and no way was I hauling that thing around all day.
I didn't manage to break 10K steps on the Fitbit either day, but you could never tell from the body aches. It did congratulate me for being on my feet for 9 hours, so I guess that's something. No wonder my knees hurt like hell.
Interestingly, I was getting the most pain from my left shoulder; a result of the backpack. I'm almost positive I have arthritis in both shoulders at this point. I can't even throw a ball overhand without it hurting.
The personal pan pizzas sold at the con actually looked really good, but they also cost $11. So I just ate a sandwich I brought with me for lunch.
There's virtually nowhere to sit in the convention center other than the floor. They got rid of most of the dining areas to get in more booths. If you wanted to sit and weren't up to fighting for a scarce chair at the couple of over-crowded food courts, you had to sit on the floor or the concrete outside.
The place that makes those really nice poseable dinosaur models was there. I almost got one, but decided $50 was too steep for something that would just sit on the shelf collecting dust.
An artist I like made pins of some of his characters. Unfortunately they were the size of my thumbnail, and you practically needed a magnifying glass to see any detail. When other people are making nice, big colorful pins, I don't understand why he made his so minuscule. Lost my sale there.
On the other hand, ex-Disney artist Chris Sanders had some absolutely gorgeous, BIG pins of his mermaids. I didn't get any because I'm not into mermaids, but they did look really nice.
Most of the publishers in the small press and indy area didn't have anything new or interesting; just the same titles I've seen year after year. God forbid you stop to look at one-- you immediately get pounced on and given the hard sell.
The only panel I was interested in seeing was on Saturday, and I wasn't going to stay an extra day just for that.
I stopped to talk to a publisher that I'd worked with in the past. He seemed really happy to see me. Like excessively happy and friendly. The only other person who is this happy to see me is my mom. I wonder if he's just naturally like that with everyone, or if he really liked working with me.
Persistence pays off. There was a con-exclusive of a book I wanted. Didn't get it Thursday, but managed to get there early enough Friday to get a wristband that guaranteed me a copy. Yay me.
Due to winning a spot in the line lottery I was able to get the Hasbro con exclusives for a couple of friends. The 'overflow' line (which I assume was the non-lottery line) for the booth was some enormous monstrosity that went along the far wall and seemed to include a couple hundred poor slobs. I really should have gotten a photo of it.
Another author who's books I really liked was doing a signing Friday for his new book. I mostly just buy e-books now (to save on space in the home) but I did pick up a copy of this to get it signed. That involved standing in a surprisingly long line; the author being much more popular than I'd realized.
I didn't feel like walking to the nearby hotels to look at the art show or get any con swag. Nor did I visit any of the outside displays.
On the way home I decided to take the shorter I-15 route. I still got stuck in another enormous traffic jam for about 45 minutes, but at least I made it back in under 4 hours this time. I guess one is doomed to be stuck in a traffic jam no matter what route is taken, unless you want to drive down there at 1 AM. (and even then you'd probably run into night time construction.)
I'm glad you were able to get at least some of the stuff you wanted.
On another note, the Nightjar wheel printed spectacularly! It will soon be matted and framed.
Work that Publisher relationship hard, Put out more books,
Nothing new in Comics? at all? that's really sad, but there is some buz that traditional comic books as an induatry may be dead in three years, do to corporate mismanagement.
I miss those days!
Glad you made it out alive Roz but couple questions.
Did you get to stroll by either the DC or Marvel areas and see what was going on?
Did they really have that stupid Trump Baby inflatable there?
What was the general feel of the dealer's room. Did it still seem to have the fun energy as in the 80's or 90's or did it just kinda feel...meh.
Thanks.
If they had the Trump inflatable I didn't see it, but if it was outside then I wouldn't have seen it, so it's quite possible it was there.
In some ways the dealer's area had kind of a franticness to it-- people desperately waiting to get exclusives, rushing places, trying to push through crowds, security yelling at people to keep the aisles moving, people laden with huge bags. In the small press and indy area there was a desperateness to sell-- so much so that if you stopped to look at something you'd get attacked and given the hard sell. It's so far removed from the old days you'd never recognize it.
I find that there are a lot of things I'd really like to have, but the idea of acquiring another dustcatcher leaves me cold. I don't have the room to display the treasures I have now. Like you, I buy mostly eBooks, except for art books and the older publications I won't see digitally in this lifetime.
Firstly, thanks as always for your reviews!
Sorry the route(s) didn't work out too well ... sometimes the 5 works better, sometimes the 15 .. I've been stuck on both. It's like you said, the time of day is the best bet, and check online for construction issues beforehand. Sorry also to hear about the expensive lot. I have some tips on that for you, since the best spots I used for all these years have been gone for the last two.
Great analogy about those scooters. I tried to move one out of my way and its alarm went off!
Aches... yeah.. horrible :| ... arrgh.... First day I was really wrecked too. By the second day I had an inkling that maybe part of it was how I was going about it, so I forced myself to work on my posture a bit... and I was still sore afterward, but it felt more like age 20 sore, not age 50 sore :}
Those pizzas were pretty good, but yeah.. when did they go from $6.50 to $11 ?? I got one anyway... feh....
If you want to sit to eat it, try the gaming room. They're pretty friendly and accomodating in there... but yeah, elsewhere SO MANY tables and chairs mysteriously GONE.
Chris'es stuff really was awesome yeah! Glad he's got quite a bit of new stuff this year.
Kudos to you for putting up with those early morning lines. Yep, Hasbro usually does it well and won't screw over the people who wait. But after the year FUNKO *(sic) stole a whole night of sleep from me with nothing to show for it, I've tossed in the towel on those all-nighters. I wanted to get Marvel shirts for some friends, but they had the all-night-ticket-wait thing and so luckily my friend's were understanding once that was a known factor.
"Happy to see you.." HEY, you are a very captivating conversationalist. I know it won't go to your head. Just had to be said though, you can be the light in someone's day sometimes, and maybe that's what you were to that publisher this time around.. :)
Another comic con, now in the record books!