The 10 stupidest things your friends say after you lose out in an SDCC badge sale

15 NOVEMBER 2015

1. Can't you just go to one of the other Cons? They have them everywhere.
2. That is such a first-world problem.
3. If you don't get a ticket this year, you'll get in next year. No big deal.
4. Why would you want to be with all those nerds anyway? Eww.
5. I heard it sucks anyhow, what with all the lines. 
6. It's too commercial/popular/Hollywood anyhow. I don't know any real nerds who still go.
7. I know how you feel, I didn't get tickets to Bon Iver.
8. Haven't you already been like 7 times? Maybe it's time to let new people go.
9. You're still into comic books and action figures and that stuff? Still?
10. Wow, all my other friends got Preview Night badges right away.

If you didn't get a badge yesterday, you possibly woke up today in a black cloud of misery and resentment. Which is completely understandable. And it has nothing to do with knowing that at least half of everyone would get shut out, and that you can try again in Open Reg - it's about feeling that incredible disbelief and then emptiness as the badge sale ends. It feels almost like a rejection, even though you know it was a randomized lottery. Don't let anyone trivialize your feelings today. If San Diego Comic-Con is emotionally important to you, it just is and that's fine.

I will gently point out that even though you do have another shot a few months down the road, it's a fine time to look at other Cons. Are you a comic book fan? You can still get 3 out of 4 days at Emerald City. Read all my fawning ECCC posts and see if you'd want to hit up a Con that in many ways is more hip, fun and nerdy than SDCC. Think about going to NYCC in the fall. Or DragonCon in late summer. Or even SDCC's adversary Salt Lake Comic Con. I truly believe all of us should look outside the SDCC box at this point.

Because, and I'm going to say it like I see it here, Open Registration could be a major nightmare this year. It kind of was last year, in terms of the odds against getting a badge. And I think there's a strong chance that we will see a flood of scalpers this year. You still have a shot at a badge and I counsel you to do whatever you need to do to prepare, but at the same time I want to be honest about what could be awaiting us. Still participate; but also look into other Cons and try to make room in your heart for a 2016 without SDCC. Or maybe you'll come to San Diego anyhow, do Nerd HQ and all the parties and make it work.

Either way, there is life after San Diego Comic-Con. You just have to search it out.

Oh, and #1, 3 and 9 above were said to me yesterday by my dad during the sale. I barked at him like a rabid dog in response. Do the same to anyone who dares to shame you about caring about San Diego Comic-Con.

Thoughts on Pre-reg

14 NOVEMBER 2015



So how did everyone do?

I currently have Schrodinger's badge; the system says someone bought one for me but I can't find anyone who will admit to it. I do have screenshots, however.  (ETA: It turns out that after telling someone my badge was already bought, the system then kicked out another person and let me go through. Seriously, there's no end to the tech weirdness that can occur during a badge sale.)

Here's how it went in my world: a long period of nothingness, and then suddenly some people started getting in right after they announced Preview Night sold out. Others - slightly more than half - got nothing at all. Not even Sunday. It was very feast or famine.

I didn't see too many reports of glitches. Overall, it was a smooth sale, once we got past the waiting room bounces. And although that initial period of waiting was nerve-wracking, I kind of liked that it took a little longer than last year.

If you did get shut out and you're cursing the Comic-Con heavens, try to look toward Open Registration. I know it's a long ways away but you do have a second shot at a badge, and you're no worse off than the general public. (Hardly comforting, I know.) If it helps, last year everyone in my world upgraded between Pre-reg and Open Reg; I went from Thursday-Sunday to Preview Night. So no, it's not a lost cause. San Diego Comic-Con 2016 is still a possibility for you.

If you only got Sunday, or Thursday/Sunday, I'll repost from last year my reasons for still going:
Why You Should Go to Comic-Con Even Only for 1 Day
Thursday/Sunday Split 

Again, these sale days are draining for all of us, whether you scored a major victory, got nothing, or are floating in Badge Purgatory like me. So be good to yourself today and start making plans - either for Comic-Con get-togethers or your Open Reg buying group.

Welcome to Pre-registration

14 NOVEMBER 2015



10:08

And we're done. Pre-registration is sold out.


10:04


It took a long time to get started, then went fast. Someone bought me a badge and I have no idea who.

Currently only Sunday & a few Thursdays are left.

9:40

Preview Night has sold out.

9:26

FYI, your badge that you may or may not get will ship out 4 weeks before the Con.


9:23

Last Pre-reg at this time, they'd already announced Preview Night was running low. I do think they slowed it down. Accidentally or on purpose, who knows.


9:22

No one I know has gotten in yet. Is this sale moving slower than last year? Let's hope so.


8:56

It's about to begin. I'm controlling a few laptops & Member IDS so I'll update what I can when I can. If you hear or encounter something, feel free to share.


8:50

Okay, it's almost here. Are you settled in with a drink and your phone? Did you check your screen settings? Do you have all the relevant Member IDs and last names at hand?


8:42

"We are actively researching technical issues you may be experiencing. We will try to update you here as we continue."

Thanks, yellow bar of failure and mediocrity.


8:38

So it looks like a lot of us are getting bumped out of the waiting room. This is a bit unnerving because:
1) it's a smaller group of people than Open Reg
2) nothing in this part of the process has changed. So how did the system get worse?

8:07

Already had one snafu - was told I wasn't authorized to enter. I did it again and got in again. None of this did anything for my confidence.

Everyone else getting in okay?


8:03 a.m.

It's here. Are we ready?

I'm hung up trying to get into the waiting room. Not an auspicious start.

It's Pre-reg Eve. Are we ready?

13 NOVEMBER 2015



Good luck, everyone. I won't tell you to get a good night's sleep because realistically quite a few of us will probably wake up consumed with anxiety at various points of the night and dawn.

I'll admit I feel strangely confident about tomorrow. (Last year I was full of foreboding and indeed got only Thursday/Sunday, so maybe I'm tuned into the badge sale on some metaphysical/time slip level.) That said, the reality is most of us won't get what we want - either because we only get a few days or because we get nothing at all.

If that's you, please remember you have another shot in Open Registration. Also remember that there is so much to do outside the Con now (Conan tapings, Nerd HQ, the various events and activations) that skipping a day or two inside the convention center may ultimately be even more enjoyable than a 4 day badge. I feel like a cheap hypocrite saying that because I do want a Preview Night badge, but it's true.

And finally, be good to yourself tomorrow if this doesn't go the way you want. It's easy to be detached and philosophical about a badge sale in advance (see my preceding paragraph) but when you're in it, the stress is ungodly. Try to have some kind of consolation prize at hand.

Talk to you tomorrow.

Working out your Pre-reg nerves through preparation

13 NOVEMBER 2015



Happy Friday the 13th. It'll all be over with 24 hours from now; our anxiety, our misplaced confidence, our inability to focus on anything else. If your stomach is in knots and a premonitory chill creeps down your spine whenever you look at your CCI email, you're in good company.

There's nothing worse than pre-badge sale jitters (okay, the actual badge sale is probably worse) and one solid way to cope with that is by checking your system and running through the whole process. Even if you've done every online Pre-registration before this (it was onsite until a few years ago) you might still benefit from reviewing their handy tutorial. The Toucan blog also published a reminder of all the tech specs to keep in mind, such as:

• Use mobile devices at your own risk. (I've known them to work for people and I did access a waiting room on my iPad last Open Reg. But I generally stick to laptops.)
• Adjust your power save settings.
• Use a separate browser for each session and make sure it's Safari, Chrome, Firefox, IE or Edge.
• No refreshing or back button-ing.
• You have Javascript and cookies enabled. "Of course I do, this isn't my first badge sale," you say. Test your device anyhow.

Remember that if you get bounced out of the system, you can log back in via your registration number and be placed again with your original group.

Also remember if you're in a buying group, don't shut your waiting room when you hear someone got you a badge. Stay in the system so you can buy for other people.

I'll repeat my advice on buying Sunday and the Thursday-Sunday split: just go for it, even if you're feeling bitter about not getting all 4 days. See my earlier posts for reasons why.

The sale will probably go very fast. CCI's example shows someone getting a Preview Night badge after waiting for 20 minutes, but in last year's actual Pre-reg, PN was almost sold out by 9:20. As I noted, I got in right as they said Saturday was running low and yet somehow both Saturday and Friday vanished in the seconds it took to select my days. It went that fast. The whole sale was done in less than an hour. This can feel extremely unfair if you don't get anything, but I think the days of two hour sales were more nerve-wracking.

Given the changes in the badge distribution process, make sure you're ready to mail out badges to strangers - and not just by stuffing it in an envelope and sticking a bunch of stamps on it. Most people I've talked to are willing to pay for certified mail, Priority mail, anything with tracking, and that's probably the best idea for people on both ends of the transaction. That way everyone has proof of the mailing and transparency into the badge's journey.

I'll be live-blogging the sale as always. Stay strong.

CCI addresses our scalper questions

12 NOVEMBER 2015


And our international ones too. Are we feeling more confident now?

Eh. Let's start with the international questions. If you're a nerd from a distant land, but you're in a buying group with American friends, you can have all your badges shipped to someone here in the States. Which begs the question: why were we told to update our Member ID addresses when obviously we can enter in any shipping address we please? Anyhow, that's the deal.

Onto the problem of scalpers. Okay, so CCI didn't reveal a high-tech master plan to defeat them once and for all. Instead they said the main problem with scams and scalpers is counterfeit badges - so that's why it's so crowded now on Preview Night! - and that this will eliminate that. No more counterfeit nerds taking the seat that should have been rightfully yours in Hall H.

They also said that the Member ID system and the "high level of demand" makes it hard for scalpers to obtain more than a couple of badges. My response: the Member ID system is ripe for exploitation as you can create all the fake profiles you want; while each scalper might only be able to obtain a few badges, that multiplied by thousands of scalpers is still a problem; the black market will thrive. But I'm sure their usual spy team will try to ferret those badges out and turn them off. Anyhow, I'm expecting an uglier Open Reg than usual.

Also worth noting - there is no "line" anymore during badge sales. (Remember the year when we all had numbers telling us where we stood? That was fun.) We're all randomly plucked out of the waiting room and put into groups and then randomly selected from those groups. Just writing this makes my stomach clench.

It's Thursday and the clock is ticking down the minutes to zero nerd hour. I hope you're ready. I'll post more Pre-reg advice later but I think you all know the drill by now.

What do the changes mean?

11 NOVEMBER 2015



In addition to the usual pre-Pre-registration turmoil, we've been given a lot to think about since yesterday. 3 main changes seem to be stirring up the SDCC citizenry:

1) the RFID badges
2) the badges being mailed out to the buyer only
3) the price increase


Pricing

Here's what I feel about the increase: nothing. I know some of you are on a tight budget and if this is going to rock your world, I am genuinely sorry. But it's a difference of what, $5 a day? And that's a small increase considering that CCI keeps expanding with new spaces at other facilities, they're continually trying to improve things for us (I know it doesn't always seem like it but they are) and we're now getting RFID badges. I remember when the whole show cost under $100. Things change. And it's not like CCI is lining their pockets; they've always been vociferous about trying to keep the Con affordable for everyone.

Onto RFID.

If you've never been to an event that uses this type of badge, it's just a way of electronically storing data within your badge, like microchipping your cat or dog. No, it doesn't mean that CCI will be tracking your movements through the Con, recording your panel attendance and embarrassing failure at Star Trek trivia. Many events that do track entry and exit separate your personal data (name, address, etc) from your demographic data (gender, age) simply to better understand attendee preferences.

If you're a privacy advocate and general watcher of Big Data culture, you might be annoyed that SDCC has gone this route. But I'm guessing most of us are thinking about scalpers. Is there really anything to stop them from moving into Open Reg en masse, equipped with an army of fake Member IDs and laptops, then selling those badges off at sky-high prices?

We know CCI has some kind of black ops team that cracks down on fraud, but I'm sure they'll be taking additional measures to prevent scalping. Mailing badges out at the last minute? Well, it can't be too last minute, because they're aware that many of us will then be mailing those badges a second time to the people we bought for.  And there's nothing to stop scalpers from targeting San Diego locals who don't need a hotel room reservation.

Will they check IDs? They already do but on a very limited basis; they might go through a Hall H line, say, and randomly check IDs while people are waiting (they can bring up the data from the badge with the right gizmo) and hope the threat of permanent banishment is enough to stop people from buying fake badges. (Though I don't think any threat will stop that.)

So that's a bit of a question mark right now. Pre-reg is somewhat more secure; every Member ID eligible is tied to a specific individual who attended the show. But Open Registration is a different story.

Mailing Badges

AKA "Advance Fulfillment." I'm still all about this, though the weird twist CCI threw at us has dimmed my ardor slightly. Whoever buys the badges during Pre-reg will have all 3 (or however many they bought) mailed to them. And since Comic-Con is a world where people who've never met correspond daily and trust each other with their money and SDCC futures, that means many of us will either be receiving and mailing out badges to people we've never met, or trusting them to do the same.

Yes, it's weird. Yes, it would be easier if CCI would just mail each badge to the physical address associated with that Member ID. Probably some of you would prefer to go back to the old way of picking them up onsite. (Though let's admit that eliminating Town & Country & its parking situation is a nice bonus.)

But I don't think anyone should be too skittish about this. The person paying still takes the lion's share of the risk. If your buyer never mails out your badge? You can contact CCI and have that badge turned inactive, and pick up a new one at the Con. On the whole, though, you are entrusting this other person to mail your badge properly - get the address right, buy the right postage, etc.  Again, it adds another layer of anxiety to the whole process.


Hopefully the changes haven't unsettled everyone too much. Personally I'm more worried about a system glitch than any of the above. That said, today and tomorrow are opportune times to talk to people in your buying group and see how everyone feels about the changes. Maybe someone doesn't want to be responsible for mailing out badges; maybe you have international people who won't be able to mail them out; maybe your lineup will change slightly because someone no longer wants their badges in the hands of a stranger.

In the meantime, think positive thoughts about Saturday. I'll post more tips on Pre-reg later.

Pre-reg will be this Saturday morning, 14 November

10 NOVEMBER 2015

The date is finally here: San Diego Comic-Con 2016 Pre-registration will be this Saturday, 14 November, at 9 am PST.

This was the expected date at this point so no surprises there. Still, the actual announcement unleashed a flotilla of butterflies in my stomach and probably yours too.

(Again, this is only for 2015 attendees. Everyone else, you can stop reading.)

And we do have some changes to mull over, so let's break them down. But first, if you were a 2015 first-timer and Open Reg was your first sale, be assured you won't have to master an entirely new system; Pre-reg and Open Reg will be pretty similar.

Now about those changes.

• We're getting RFID badges. I love this. One, I love the fact that CCI is willing to change; if you're new to these parts, you won't appreciate it so much, but traditionally they've moved like a dinosaur in a tarpit. CCI is really stepping up their game lately. And two, it's just the practical way to go. So, RFID - all about it.
• Yes, our badges will be mailed to us in advance - IF we're in the US. International nerds, you will have to pick yours up in person. Which brings us to....
• Badges will be mailed to the buyer. Which has huge implications for buying groups. If your buying group is comprised of online friends who live hither and yon, now the trust contract goes both ways - the buyer to trust they'll be paid; the bought-for people to trust the buyer will mail out the badges. 
• Prices went up. I'm bracing myself for the complaints but I still think SDCC pricing is incredibly reasonable given everything you enjoy access to.
• Child badges also need to be picked up in person. 
• The waiting room can be entered only an hour in advance this time.
• There's a nonsensical feature where you can "remove" badges from your shopping cart. Who are these people that get to that point in the process and think "Eh, maybe not"? CCI's example features a last-minute phone call where Clark Kent decides to go to a show instead of Comic-Con but the idea of anyone pausing their Pre-reg process to answer their phone is insane. The methodology here is to grab what you can and worry about refunds later.

The Process

CCI put together a comprehensive Pre-reg walk-through, which I'd advise reviewing. It's pretty close to before BUT again this time you'll only log into the EPIC waiting room an hour in advance. That's 8 am PST.  You'll enter your special registration code (sent to you in email but also found in your Member ID account) to get in.

Beginning at 9 am, you'll be "randomly sorted" with everyone else into line. This is where you'll slowly go mad from the spinning blue circle and CCI's awkward nerd jokes. You'll watch in fury and disbelief as the system tells you "Preview Night/Saturday/Friday/etc badges are running low." Eventually you'll get in - or you won't.

Like before, you'll be able to enter the Member IDs of up to 3 people - but only 2015 attendees. Those other friends who created a Member ID account but didn't actually go to SDCC 2015 can't get a badge Saturday. (I know this is a bitter pill for those of you who have a new soulmate or best friend you want to bring next summer.)

Just like before, you'll check the days you want. If you're lucky enough to check Preview Night, that automatically checks every other box. Then you'll pay via credit card AND enter your shipping address - and then you'll heave a huge sigh of relief, knowing that you are among the first in the world to be a confirmed San Diego Comic-Con 2016 attendee.


In short, it will be like buying your 2015 badge, whether you got it from Pre-reg or Open Reg.

Advice

Screenshot everything relevant. Even if you don't encounter a glitch, screenshot anyway. If nothing else, you'll enjoy looking at your confirmation screenshot while you wait for your confirmation email.

Ignore wild rumors of sold-out categories on Twitter and Facebook and Instagram. It's official when CCI says so.

Don't storm off in a huff when Saturday or Preview Night or whatever sells out. Even if only Sunday is left - buy the badge. You can always turn it in for a refund later. Even one day at Comic-Con is better than sitting at home in a snit. The Thursday-Sunday split has more to offer than you'd think. And you can always upgrade during Open Reg.

If you're in a buying group, you may encounter this: you enter a Member ID only to be told that a badge has already been purchased for that person. If so, accept it and move on to the next person you're buying for. Don't stop and text or message your comrades for confirmation. You'll waste valuable time. Just complete your purchase.


Also be aware that the more elaborate you get with your buying group, the more potential there is for someone to mess up. Every sale I hear about someone who slipped through the cracks while all their friends got badges, due to a misunderstanding about who was buying for who in what order. Be very precise and be sure everyone has identical marching orders.

If you're not in a buying group but would like to be, you can either form your own by asking around on social or try to join one already in existence. Be prepared to demonstrate some kind of credibility/identity, since you may be asking a complete stranger to pay for your badge up front - and you'll be trusting them to mail your badge to you. I had 3 people drop out of mine so I'm willing to take a few more people - email me if interested.


Finally, I'll say what I say every badge sale and suggest leaving your Saturday open to recover from the stress. Unless you're a Zen master, SDCC badges can hit hard, draining your adrenals and scrambling your mental state. Maybe you'll be reeling from the shock of getting totally shut out; maybe you'll want to celebrate a 4-day badge. Either way, it's good to leave time open to regroup and indulge yourself.



I'll share more advice over the coming days. For now, get organized and try not to be too nervous. This is only Round 1. If the worst happens and you come up empty-handed on Saturday, you'll have another shot in Open Registration.



ETA: I've had 2 questions about the whole "buyer gets the badges" thing. I'll post my thoughts on this later but I do want to point out that since the badges are RFID, you have the power to have your badge "turned off" if for some reason you paid the buyer and he/she never mailed them out. Then you can pick up your new badge onsite. I'll talk more about this later.

Where, oh where, is our Pre-reg email?

5 NOVEMBER 2015



So many questions.

• Did the whole "you may need to have a valid physical address to complete your purchase" thing involve an update to the system? Please god let there not be some new disaster-glitch that'll torpedo the whole thing.
• People are reporting that the Member ID page was inaccessible earlier today. What does that mean?
• CCI says "We will post helpful preregistration tips and information in the weeks preceding preregistration." Rather than take this literally, I'm guessing they meant "days," as in one or two. Right?
• Would they really give us just one day's notice? Is it a strategy to cull the herd? Or have they decided to give us more notice than usual and will soon announce Pre-reg is on the 14th?
• Does CCI enjoy tormenting us?

I think it's still possible (but unlikely) that Pre-reg will be Saturday morning. While they usually say we'll be given at least 48 hours notice, the Pre-reg page and our August emails didn't say anything of the kind. We could get an email tonight or tomorrow morning.

But mostly likely it will be the 14th, which is disappointing. I think most of us have been working ourselves into the right frame of mind for this Saturday; waiting another week feels anticlimactic. And on a personal note, my parents will be visiting, which is going to completely disturb my badge sale mojo.

The 21st would probably be even worse for a lot of people, as it's the Saturday before Thanksgiving and people will be traveling that weekend. Ditto the following weekend. So really that leaves the 14th and... December. CCI doesn't want to ruin Star Wars month, right?

If for some reason they did run into technical difficulties with the address update or some other change, then Pre-reg could be delayed indeed. We'll just have to wait. In the meantime, keep your eyes on your inbox.

Watch your email

2 NOVEMBER 2015



Depending on your immersion in Comic-Con life, you may or may not know that Pre-registration for 2016 is expected to be almost upon us. No, it hasn't been officially announced, but that email could be coming very soon - so watch your inbox. Don't make plans for Saturday mornings. Think about how you'll pay for your badges and how the people in your larger buying group will pay each other and all those other logistics.

In other words, be ready.

ETA: My mistake for not clarifying this. Pre-registration is only for people who attended SDCC 2015 specifically with an attendee badge. No one else can participate. Even if you were at Comic-Con this past summer under some other guise - a booth babe, a famous inker, a food worker - you cannot participate in Pre-reg.

But if you were at Comic-Con with an attendee badge around your neck - even just for one day - and you validated your badge when you were told to - you can participate in Pre-reg.

You can put all questions about your status to rest by logging into your Member ID account and looking on the right side for a green check mark and "OK CCI'16 Attendee Prereg." If that appears on your Member ID page, you're good to go.  You'll get an email from CCI notifying you of Pre-reg details.

Reminder: update your Member ID address now

31 OCTOBER 2015




Happy Halloween, Samhain and Dia De Los Muertos. We all know the scariest thing lurking in our near futures is the possibility of not getting an SDCC badge in Pre-registration. And in case you missed it, just to toy with our emotions and make us dream even harder of next summer, CCI has announced our badges might possibly arrive in the mail.

Maybe. Can you imagine? It'll add another layer of anxiety to the entire San Diego Comic-Con experience - you'll stalk your mailbox, develop a paranoia about mail theft crime rings, accuse your housemates of accidentally throwing out an envelope with your name on it - but finally it will arrive. You'll attach your badge to your favorite lanyard and wear it around the house. You'll take a picture of it and smugly post it all over social, then get nervous about inviting a home invasion. You'll store it somewhere safe, then keep checking to make sure it's still there.

Finally you'll arrive at Comic-Con and stroll inside the convention center, having eliminated the Town & Country and one more line from your SDCC experience.

Maybe that'll happen, maybe it won't - but to facilitate this process, CCI is urging you to update your mailing address now in your Member ID account. They want you to do this before Pre-reg, which might be as soon as a week from today, so do it now. Logically there should be a way to update your address post-badge obtainment, because in real life people move, but I'd still do it now just to be safe.

Obviously this invites many questions on fraud, security and badge registration - but we can speculate on that later. For now, let's share a hallelujah with Charles Darwin and welcome this (possible) new future of evolution and convenience.

SDCC badges MIGHT arrive in the mail

27 OCTOBER 2015




Today is truly a historic day in the annals of San Diego Comic-Con. CCI is entertaining a radical departure from tradition: "We are currently researching the option of mailing out Comic-Con and WonderCon badges prior to the event." 

Yes, please! If you're new to the world of Comic Cons, this is rather huge - even though CCI has radically improved the badge pick-up process and times (which used to be ungodly), it's still a pain in the ass and has been one reason Preview Night is so popular. (Picking up your badge for PN is a breeze.) Obtaining our badges ahead of time would be highly convenient.

Anyhow, enough exulting. The real takeaway: you need to update your mailing address now in your Member ID account. The system is going to close before Pre-reg (I'm guessing 7 November by the timing of this message, maybe 14 November but probably the former) according to CCI so get in there. But of course you'll be able to update your address later, I'm sure; CCI must be aware that some attendees will change residences over the next 9 months.

Change! Revolution! These are exciting times for San Diego Comic-Con attendees.

Are you ready for SDCC Pre-registration?

20 OCTOBER 2015




Because it's probably just a few weeks away. Don't expect much notice from CCI; usually the email notification comes just days before. You won't have several weeks in which to map out your game plan and clear your schedule.

Official word is Pre-reg will be after Halloween. That probably means November, most likely a Saturday, and of course they won't want to do it the Saturday after Thanksgiving. While they could hold it in December, it's unlikely.

Which means you should be looking at your calendar and keeping your Saturdays - especially 7 November and 14 November - open. If you haven't joined a buying group yet, you still have time to get organized and aligned. I'm accepting a few more people into mine if you don't know anyone to partner up with - and if you have an open spot and are willing to fill it with someone, I can help with that too. Email me for details.


If you were a 2015 first-timer and this is your first Pre-reg, there's nothing much for you to freak out about. The process will be much like Open Registration; a lottery, a game of chance, where you are only competing against your fellow 2015 attendees (and not the general public) but for a smaller slice of the pie since Pre-reg only offers up a portion of the badges. No doubt you'll be nervous (more like succumbing to teeth-chattering panic) but it does help to remember this is just your first shot at San Diego Comic-Con 2016. You'll have another chance in the spring even if you don't fare so well this round.

Don't forget to validate your badge by 15 September

7 SEPTEMBER 2015

It's hard to believe it's been 2 months since San Diego Comic-Con, and 1 month since our last anxiety-inducing CCI email. That, in case you missed it, was the notification that badge validation was open for any 2015 attendee interested in participating in 2016 Pre-reg.

I'm guessing 97% of us have already validated our badges by now, but if you haven't, you should probably get on that. The deadline is 15 September and I've already come across someone who forgot their Member ID password and someone else who lost their badge. So just in case you require CCI's assistance, it's probably best to validate now.

The process is pretty easy; you'll log into your Member ID account, go to Registration Info and then click the button telling you to validate your badge. Then you'll enter the number at the bottom of your 2015 badge.

For those of you who just stumbled across this post and think I'm talking about some backdoor into SDCC badge land, no dice. This is for San Diego Comic-Con 2015 attendees only. Even if you were there as a vendor, pro, guest, delivery person, black market buyer, whatever, you cannot participate. Only people who paid for attendee badges under their Member IDs can do Pre-reg in November. And they can only register other attendees; they can't sneak in their friends if they do get picked during the sale.

"If" being the most important word in this post, of course. Pre-registration only offers up some of the badges available. Yes, it's one more shot at SDCC 2016 than the general public gets, but it's still quite possible to get zero badges in both sales. I know that's not what you want to hear but it's important to stay realistic as well as positive. Look around at other Cons and make a Plan B just in case. And get ready for November.

Pre-reg will be in November

5 AUGUST 2015

If a month ago today you had pre-Comic-Con butterflies in your stomach, you should have gotten an email just a short while ago telling you to validate yourself for Pre-registration. This is for 2015 attendees only; not pros, not vendors, not guests, not people who stood outside and looked longingly at the convention center. Just those of us with a 2015 attendee badge.

I'll get to the process in a minute. Here's what matters: the deadline. Which is 15 September 2015.

Last year's window between validation and Pre-reg, if you're curious, was this: the validation deadline was 15 October and Pre-reg was 8 November. But that doesn't mean we'll have an October Pre-registration; it will be after Halloween per CCI. So, same timeframe as last year. A day of victory, loss and heart-racing anxiety in an otherwise blah month.

Onto the validation process. You'll log into your Member ID account, select "Registration Info" and then click the button telling you to validate your badge. You'll enter the number at the bottom of your badge. Then the system will give you a "successful validation" message and you'll close out of the system with a false sense of optimism and accomplishment.

Pre-reg is coming! Though not for a while.