First-timers review SDCC

29 JULY 2016

All week I've been getting reports from first-timers (and veterans) on what they thought about San Diego Comic-Con. Overall, there is no overall, because their feelings and experiences diverged wildly. As you will see.


Jorge is only sort of a first-timer; two years ago he borrowed a friend's badge to go through the Con on Sunday. But that doesn't really count, so this was his first full-fledged Con. He went on his own while his girlfriend stayed at the hotel, so he didn't stick around at night. As a gamer, he didn't think the demos and gaming panels were that interesting and that SDCC isn't much of a gamer's destination. (He didn't do GamerCon.) But he did like "the culture" and thinks that if he goes back next year, he'll adjust his expectations to do things beyond gaming. His favorite activation was the Abigail.


Will went for work, so he experienced the backstage, back hall parts of the Con most attendees don't see. His impression: the Con is a lot of sitting around/hurry up and wait when you're there at the behest of a studio, and the fans are crazy when it comes to celebrities. He had free time on Friday to go into the Exhibit Hall and enjoyed that but thought it was too crowded; he also complained about the smell. Attendees don't like that either, Will. Despite his negative impression, he said he would be interested in attending on his own when he wasn't working.

Anonymous did just that this year; after leaving his job at a certain well-known publisher, he did the Con as a free-range attendee for the first time and loved it. "Everyone who goes to Comic-Con should have to work at a booth so they see what it's like and how rude people are." Freed from his employment shackles, he went to panels (mostly animation in Indigo on Friday) and collected Rick and Morty loot. While he mostly resented SDCC as a booth babe, he had a great time this year.

Ailie had a different story. She was one of the unfortunate few who just could not, would not and did not like San Diego Comic-Con. Top complaint was the crowds (which actually weren't nearly as bad this year) and the fact that she was only able to see about 1/3 of everything on her agenda, due to line times, panels being full, travel time, etc. She also thought the Exhibit Hall was "shabby" and "cheap" which hey, is a selling point for some of us. But fair enough: Comic-Con isn't for everyone.

Melissa came with her husband, a former D&D nerd who now is "out of the community." So they mostly came to gratify her fan thirsts, namely for iZombie, Supernatural and Wynonna Earp; she had to miss the Orphan Black panels (SDCC and Nerd HQ) but still felt satisfied. "If you know what you want to do and schedule everything around making that happen, you can see whatever you want at San Diego Comic-Con." She was also introduced to the Her Universe fashion world and liked that a lot. She intends to cosplay next year.


Justin is a Trump supporter and did not appreciate all the Trump-bashing that went on. He thinks the panelists should have kept their election feelings to themselves. What he did like: Marvel. "That was hands down what I waited for and it was worth it." He felt there wasn't much to do at night, but also came to San Diego alone which could have played into his social isolation.

Mike and Ty tried for 4 years to get badges before getting Thursday-Sunday badges. They were the most enthusiastic of the first-timers I met and loved pretty much everything they saw. Even standing in the Star Trek premiere line for six hours and getting nothing didn't dim their Comic-Com ardor. Their advice? "You have to put yourself out there and keep asking and not going home and you'll go to things not many people go to." Comic-Con: the secret menu.


That's the first batch; I'll share more later and also maybe post some of the reviews I got from 2nd and 3rd timers and older veterans. People had a lot of feelings about SDCC this year.

But back to the first-timers. As someone who celebrated #15 this year (where is my cake), it was gratifying to hear what the new arrivals thought. I do notice a drop in the this is life-changing and I am always coming back no matter what reactions I used to hear. Probably that's because SDCC involves more frustrations these days (lines, badge and hotel sales, general logistics) which tend to cloud the magic. But most everyone in my world is already talking about Pre-reg - and it's a safe best most of us will be using all the sorcery we know to go back next summer.

San Diego Comic-Con 2016: what did we think?

26 JULY 2016

For the last 3 days, my inbox has been flooded with SDCC attendee emails. Lots of the usual complaints have come in (the lines! the disorganization! the unfairness!) along with some jubilation (the toys! the trailers! the celebrity eye contact!) But what's really interested me has been a consistent theme of alienation among veteran attendees.

How did you feel about it? Did you have a good time? Did you stare out the plane/car/hotel window on Sunday night and wonder if all that money and stress was worth it? Were you one of the jaded attendees who snorted derisively when someone mentioned coming back next year? It's natural to run up and down the emotional scale during the Con. But once you're home, your feelings solidify into something like a decision: if you're going to return and how much energy you want to invest in it.

Here's what I'm hearing people say about San Diego Comic-Con 2016.

Overall: This year was duller than years past. It wasn't as exciting, didn't have as many surprises, was missing that ineffable spark that makes SDCC special. The cosplayer population seems to be shrinking, as if half of them vanished through a portal to some more colorful dimension, and the Exhibit Hall was oddly manageable most days. "Where is everyone?" was on repeat.

The Activations: Attendees are getting choosier about these. Well, sometimes after the fact. I heard a lot of complaints from people who waited hours for a 6-minute experience. All in all, the general feeling seems to recognize the need for quality over quantity.

The Lines: I eliminated excessive lines from my SDCC life years ago, so I'm relying on hearsay. I heard a mix of "Sloppy line management" complaints and "Hey, these lines aren't that bad this year." Obviously that depended on the event in question. I do think the wristbands, mocked and reviled as they are, help with Hall H. Despite the reputation of SDCC lines, I met quite a few first-timers who consistently underestimated line times and missed their panels.

 

The Lotteries: We endure lotteries for badges and hotels; this year we endured lotteries for the Star Trek premiere, the Conan pops, and other "giveaways." And frankly, it was a waste of time. SDCC is 5 days long. Attendees spend enough time waiting around. Maybe CCI/TPTB think an online lottery wouldn't be as exciting, but making people standing in multiple lines in the hot sun starts to look like pointless cruelty after a while. Hold a drawing with raffle tickets or online submissions and let it go.

The Exclusives: If you were hoping this was the year that vendors started being fair and equitable, you hoped foolishly. A lot of the same dynamics that bedeviled every year were back - vendors and some volunteers getting first crack at exclusives, toys being made available to everyone after being sold as exclusive, annoying drawings that got people out of bed at ungodly hours for no reason. Serious collectors, you have my sympathies but I don't see this situation improving.

The Programming: I thought it was just me being a curmudgeonly grump who'd been to too many Cons but no, a few attendees said what I was thinking: the panels were a bit humdrum this year. Some of the same topics presented by the same panelists year after year. Remedial advice that's fresh only to the greenest young fledglings. Publisher and studio panels that shared "news" every real fan already knew. I remember the days when panelists would actually prepare visuals like slideshows and present an engaging experience. Now it's more common for them to sit down and just ask the audience for questions. I'm not saying all the panels were bland - I went to 2 or 3 good ones - but it's hit or miss.

The Parties: Every party I went to this year was a hotel room party hosted by comics or publishing people. Didn't hit a single splashy event. So what do I know? Nothing firsthand, but I did observe a lack of those big ticket events attendees used to sign up for - and the more formal parties got so-so reports. This is a hard thing to rate, because some attendees will pant and wag their tails over any SDCC nightlife, but overall there seems to be a realization that many of the parties are just people standing around drinking and talking - like parties anywhere. It's not like Stan Lee flies in on a unicorn and sprinkles 2017 badges over everyone.

The Trailers: These range from blah to tantalizing every year, and I think 2016 averaged out in that regard. Luke Cage, American Gods, Wonder Woman, Skull Island, and a few others all got stellar marks. Others did not. The Walking Dead trailer thrilled everyone by offering up a CGI Shiva but also reminded them of the irritating cliffhanger.

The Comics: We got some welcome news this year, like Love and Rockets returning as an ongoing comic book, Roxane Gay writing a Black Panther companion title, Boom giving us a roller derby comic in November, Dark Horse bringing us Angel Catbird by Margaret Atwood and Bait by Chuck Palahniuk. We also found out that The Watchmen/Rebirth story isn't happening tomorrow, and Robert Kirkman announced he'd changed the ending of The Walking Dead again.

Scandals and Surprises: Nothing too unforgettable here. Quite a few comic nerds were incensed over The Killing Joke's Batman-Barbara Gordon cliched sex scene and well, the entire film. A panel on Women in Film Production was hijacked by a male staffer there to control the mic. The Blair Witch Project rose up like Lazarus in what was actually a more skilled PR move than I would have expected from that team. Not everyone likes Brie Larson as Captain Marvel. Overall, it was a yawn of a year in that department, and sorely lacking from the Hyatt bar brawls and celebrities shoving security guards that we used to get. Or maybe I missed something?

As I said, I ran into many people who felt the magic wasn't there this year. And while I always remind people that Comic-Con is what you make it, I knew what they were talking about. I still like SDCC and I think it has a lot to offer. But I've been detaching from it for a while and this year I felt myself break off from it like an iceberg. I'll still be back next year, knock on wood. But it doesn't occupy the same place in me emotionally that it used to.

Maybe you're so high from Comic-Con that you can't wait to go back - and maybe you're less thrilled; either way, remember the other Cons out there (like Dragon Con, Boston and Salt Lake coming up) and think about other ways to keep the energy going. SDCC is just 5 days out of the year, after all.

I'm still collecting first-timer reports - so if you haven't gotten yours in yet, email me at sdccguide@gmail.com.

And San Diego Comic-Con is over

24 JULY 2016



Comic-Con 2016 has come and gone. If you're still lingering in San Diego, you probably already feel the drop in energy. And if you're home, you're probably busy with laundry and sorting through all your new books and action figures and shirts and autographs.

Was this a good Con for you? Mediocre? Will you be in the mix on Pre-registration Day this fall?  I'll post my thoughts about SDCC 2016 tomorrow - changes, good and bad, more news (I lost all Internet access for the last day) and the general feeling of the crowd. First-timers, don't forget to send me your stories.

And of course, it's never really over - not all the way. We'll hear a steady flow of news over the coming week, and it won't be long before news on Pre-reg is announced. Optimistic attendees (like me) have already booked hotels for next summer. So go ahead and take a break from this mad way of life we live, but only for a while. Because it'll start up again before you know it.