ADA information, creative connections, and Amazon Prime Day

 26 JULY 2023

If there's one evergreen piece of SDCC content you can count on in Comic-Con season, it's "Your San Diego Comic-Con Checklist!" It's the ever-multiplying field mouse of SDCC guidance, when you were hoping more for the rare snow leopard variety that tells you how to book a Hard Rock room and get a front row seat in Hall H.

No snow leopards here, at least not tonight. But CCI did thoughtfully serve up a listicle of SDCC prep tips and they're pretty good.  Here are a few that caught my eye:

• "Comic-Con strongly encourages the use of approved face coverings for everyone participating in the event." Encourages means not mandated, so you won't have to cover up your gorgeous visage - unless you bought some very cute masks off Etsy that you want to show off. As someone who has been exposed to COVID a few dozen times and not caught it, I will be going mask off. 

• They advocate the use of their CCI app - and I agree. I think there's a breed of SDCC attendee, of which I am a member, that scoffs at official apps and guides and prefers to forge ahead powered by their own experience, intuition, and luck - but that's honestly an inefficient way to forge. The app really does contain a multitude of valuable information that you'll need to consult on the fly.

• They also mention the FedEx office in the convention center and another on E Street. What they don't mention: the FedEx office right next door at the Marriott Marquis. This is often much faster.

• Finally, they advocate using a translation app so you can chat up international friends in your fandom. Let's be real: ChatGPT and Bard will be doing the translating, line strategizing, and other SDCC cheat codes. Will our AI frenemies do it well? I think this is their first SDCC so maybe not, but we can train them to be of more value next year. Unless we're all crushed under their digital heel by then.

Connecting and Creating

Comic Creator Connection is back, in which desperate writers swarm inkers, colorists, and pencillers with their unpublished dreams. As always, visual artists are welcome both nights (Thursday and Friday) but writers can only sign up for one night.

You might think Gaming Creator Connection runs the same way, but no - this is more of an event where aspiring game devs get advice from seasoned veterans. I wish CCI would do this for writers as well - not just comic writers but novelists, screenwriters, etc. Beginner "how to" panels are fine, but networking is far more helpful in building community.

ADA

Last year was my first year in a Hall H ADA line, due to a friend's freak accident on Preview Night. I learned a lot and saw a lot, my biggest grievance being that they let disabled people bake all the day in the sun even when it was clear they wouldn't make the cut off. Anyhow.  I recommend reading the entire ADA section because there's detailed information on requesting an interpreter, reserving shuttle rides, and other important stuff.

A few other things:

• No support animals are allowed - just service dogs. Your therapy hamster has to stay home.

• It says the first half or third of the ADA line is in the nice air-conditioned lobby but "the Hall H line may subject you to many long hours in the sun." No kidding. So bring a fancy chair with a shade visor. Work with friends to do shifts. And if you're wondering why they can't just erect a tent or move the line under a tent, "The Convention Center does not allow tents or structures in that area." I find that answer so unsatisfying.

• All attendants need a badge - and they can buy them onsite! The Disabled Services booth gives your attendant a coupon to take to those RFID booths in Lobby A, and the attendant can buy a badge there. Did everyone know that but me? A select group of attendees can still buy badges onsite. Fascinating. 

Also - they announced Amazon Prime Day(s) and it's July 11-12. That gives you enough time to order air mattresses, fancy line chairs, sunscreen, coolers, batteries, and other critical stuff.

Depressing thought: a month from today, we'll already be back home and putting SDCC 2023 in our review mirror.