So you're not going to SDCC after all

21 FEBRUARY 2015




First of all: I'm sorry. I really mean that - especially for those of you who go every year and it's an integral part of your soul and then wham, it's taken away from you.

So a few suggestions.

Be good to yourself today. I don't know anyone who's all, "Eh, if I get a badge, good - if not, I'm okay." People are in this to win it. Our mouths go dry and our hearts pound and every time the screen flickers, our blood pressure soars sky high. Even if you get a good badge, the whole experience wrecks your nerves - and if you don't, it can plunge you into serious anger and despair. I know other people think I'm being melodramatic, but they don't realize how stressful this can be to many attendees. So try to be good to yourself this weekend; sleep in, indulge yourself with an extravagant meal, buy something with the money you won't be spending on SDCC.

Don't buy from scalpers. I've talked about this numerous times and no doubt I will again as spring comes on, but please don't traffic with these people. They're mostly out to scam you with fake badges and cannot be trusted. Sometimes in the days before the Con, retailers and professionals will sell off their badges - these are usually legit but it's hard to know until you arrive to pick it up. Every year I get emails that describe blowing hundreds of dollars on a fake badge. 

Go to other Cons. I know, I know - you want SDCC. There is no substitute. Except that - did you know NYCC is now bigger than SDCC? That Salt Lake is hot on its heels in attendance numbers? There's still WonderCon, Special Edition in NY, Dragon*Con, Phoenix Comicon, Denver and a bunch of others. The main differences boil down to a smaller Hollywood/celebrity presence. BUT you often end up going to more panels and events because you're not waiting in huge lines, and when you do meet the celebrities there, you tend to get more interaction with them.

Contact CCI with your tale of technical woe, if you have one. I've heard of a few glitches, not many. Certainly nothing like previous years. But if you genuinely got compromised in some way, and have the screenshots to prove it, go ahead and contact them.

Try to win a contest. Odds are slim when it comes to winning Comic-Con Powerball, but why not.

Consider that you've just saved time, money and stress. Maybe you've never been to SDCC, so allow me to tell you that it's not always what it's cracked up to be. It's tiring. It's expensive. It's a lot of standing in line - especially for those big splashy panels that are probably high on your wish list. Sometimes you wear yourself out to buy that one exclusive and get into that one panel and then you get home and you realize they weren't all that special - and one is on Ebay and the other on YouTube.

I know some of you are hovering in that gray area - you got a single day badge, maybe two, and now you don't know if you want to go at all. I'll present an argument as to why you should later today or tomorrow. Everyone else - again, I'm sorry. And I can't say I have an optimistic outlook for the future; people are exploiting every loophole they can and it's all getting pretty dire. So if you got denied today, know you are in excellent company - and that there really are viable alternatives for you out there. You just have to give them a chance.

10 comments:

  1. Hi Valerie. As one of the many who got denied by the spinning blue wheel of soul sucking misery, I just wanted to thank you for the kind words and advice for alternatives. Please have a great time at SDCC for us. Really!

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    1. NO. I'm so sorry. I'll miss your comments, too.

      Are you at least going to ECCC? I hope you're able to carve out some kind of Con experience this year. I feel like so many people got completely shut out this year. It's kind of stunning.

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    2. Yeah, I'm heading to ECCC, so it's not a complete bummer. Considering that I was able to get badges last year, I'm just floored that it was an absolute bust for SDCC. Oh well. Maybe next year.

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    3. Yeah, I have never seen as many people crash and burn as this year. It's disturbing - especially for people like you, who had two chances.

      I hope you have fun at ECCC! I'll be there; I'm looking forward to a more laidback, comic-focused Con (and let's face it, who knows how it will look next year under ReedPOP's auspices.) I'll be covering it somewhat, although the ECCC team is so communicative and transparent that there's really very little for me to say right now.
      Sorry again you got shut out.

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  2. What's the typical turn around time for a confirmation? I got a four day for myself and a one day for my wife but didn't get the acknowledgement yet. I went back in and it said my code was redeemed for open registration so what's the deal? In my excitement I didn't take a screen shot unfortunately.

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    1. You're fine. Officially confirmations show up within 72 hours but it'll probably be today, tomorrow at the latest. Often the credit card order acknowledge gets there first, then the actual bar code confirmation shows up hours later. I haven't gotten mine yet either.

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    2. Thanks! I just got my credit card email confirmation. Although one Saturday pass for a friend is missing I got my weds-Sunday showing! Thanks so much for the blog I'm super hyped. My first time and I'm flying solo and hopefully making some friends there! Although I will be emailing CCi to see if I can get that Saturday pass too.

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    3. You will definitely make friends - SDCC attendees are super laidback and everyone kind of naturally talks to everyone. Plus you can always use the ConnectiKon app to find out exactly where the people and parties with your interests are. Good luck!

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  3. (I don't know if you'll get this twice but it seems it didn't go through, so here goes again). We had a mixed experience this morning. My dad got a member ID in Jan but no registration code, so he was locked out, and another friend forgot to record her registration code and couldn't participate because the CCI Member Login website was jammed up this morning. I successfully got in at around 9:30 on my husband's session and 9:35 with my own, and everything was avail at those times. I got 3 sets of Thurs-Sun consolidated badges on his session, and then nearly completed a sale for my brother's badge on my session, but my baby fell down and started screaming when I was completing the sale, and I didn't realize that I didn't hit the confirmation button in my haste to attend to her. By the time I realized it, my session had of course timed out. Just a stupid, stupid error due to a real distraction. I've emailed CCI a screen shot begging for them to assign a canceled set of badges to my brother, but I don't have much hope that our whole group will get to go now. :( On the plus side, though, I am AMAZED that we got two chances at badges this year. *Fingers crossed*.

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    1. Yikes! I hope CCI helps you out. That said, I'm glad you at least got one set. I wonder why your father didn't get his reg code. That's odd.
      As far as comments go, I have to approve each one because I get horribly raunchy spam - so sometimes it takes a while to show up.

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