Today is the Emerald City Comicon sale

11 OCTOBER 2017



1:00 pm

There's no queue right now and Saturday is still available, as are all single day tickets. I wouldn't wait if I were you, if you want to get the full Emerald City Comicon experience.


12:22

Queue times are definitely longer now. Don't give up, though - if you want all 4 single day badges, you need to stay in the queue.

So far I've heard from a San Diego Comic-Con attendee who couldn't believe how easy this was and a local ECCC attendee who bitched about how difficult it's become. Perspective is everything.


12:17

All 4-day passes are sold out. I believe single days are still available but I think Saturday will go very fast.

12:09

I was just about to finish my Sheraton reservation when my tickets went live. All told, it took 8 minutes to get my 4-day badges and room. How's everyone else doing?

12:00 pm


Yep, we're in a queue.


11:49 am


Hotels still aren't live yet. I'd recommend having that page open on a separate device/browser while your queue time advances. That way you can take care of it immediately if tickets and hotels both go live simultaneously.

10:53 am

For the sake of simplicity:

You'll go here for tickets.

You'll go here for your hotel.

8:13 am


After dreaming about Emerald City Comicon for months, the chance to grab a badge is finally here. I'll live blog the sale, but here's what you need to know now:

• Be ready with your credit cards - you will pay for your badges now.
• Reserve some time for this. We used to be able to whizz in and out of the ECCC sale in 90 seconds. More recently we've all had to wait in queues.
• Full tickets will sell out fast. You'll need to get right in the queue when the sale goes live - this isn't a sleepy small city Con where badges stay available for months.
• Once the 4-day badges go, you can still get all 4 days separately. Last year Saturday took a week to sell out. I expect they will go much faster this year.
• Hotels will go live around the same time. Start checking them before the sale goes live in case they're available - in some past years we've been able to take care of that quickly before the sale. If not, you'll be able to do so after you get your ticket.
• Don't panic. This isn't a heart-knocking game of chance like a San Diego Comic-Con sale. Odds are you'll get exactly what you want if you're ready.

 Talk to you soon.

WonderCon registration is open

14 DECEMBER 2015




So who else is headed to WonderCon? Both regular and volunteer registration are now open.

If you're a typical SDCC attendee, your enthusiasm for WonderCon may fluctuate depending on its location. After bouncing around California a bit, it will be making its debut at the LA Convention Center in March 2016. So depending on your feelings about LA (and whether or not you're hitting up Silicon Valley Comic Con a week earlier and ECCC 2 weeks later) this Con may or may not be up your alley.

Here's why I think you should go, if you're still on the fence. While WonderCon has always been in SDCC's shadow, it can offer similar Exhibit Hall treasures and plenty of high-caliber celebrity guests. Those of you who gripe about SDCC getting away from its comic book roots will find plenty of comic book fandom and talent here. (The Hernandez Brothers, Francesco Francavilla and Terry Moore are just a few of the guests already announced.)

And because it's run by CCI, it has the same organization and feel as SDCC, but without as much chaos. I know a lot of people who prefer WonderCon to SDCC. But I predict 2016 will draw in a lot of first-timers as well, partly because they anticipate a gruesome SDCC Open Registration and partly because it's in LA, which is like a sprawling fan playground. And then there's the fact that many people are curious about a possible future where the SD part of SDCC is replaced with LA. (Emphasis on "possible" - don't get nervous and nostalgic yet.)

3-day badges are a whopping $65, so consider taking a long weekend 25-27 March and kicking off Comic Con season in LA. You might be surprised at how much like you like it.


ETA: Worth noting that while this badge sale is downright relaxing compared to SDCC, I had some trouble buying a badge. I kept getting a "your cart is empty" message. That could just be my semi-cursed Member ID but if it happens to you, try going in through a different session. I did that and it somehow combined my credit card info from 1 session with the badge cart from the other and went through.

Deadline to register your press badge is 5 June

2 JUNE 2015




If you successfully qualified for a press badge for Comic-Con, you may have been waiting for an email to tell you when to register - i.e., sign in and get the barcode print-out that gets you into the Con.

Well, the deadline to do that is this Friday, 5 June. Apparently some people (maybe all?) haven't gotten any emails or notifications letting them know that. So if you're press, make sure you register this week.

Don't forget to claim your Volunteer badge tomorrow

2 FEBRUARY 2015




Did you know that a small but exciting badge registration will take place tomorrow - Tuesday, 3 February? Probably most of you didn't, but that's okay; it's only for people who joined the 2015 Volunteer Interest List.

To back up a bit, anyone who volunteered last summer - a returning volunteer - already participated in their own more leisurely registration. This is a separate registration for those people who asked to be on the Interest List. And the competition will be intense.

If you're included in this group, then you should have already received an email from CCI with instructions. Basically you're off to the races Tuesday at 9 am PST - you'll log into your Member ID, go to the Volunteering Tab and click the registration link. This is first come, first serve, so obviously you shouldn't waste one red second getting in there.

As for the rest of you, you can't finagle a way into this. If you didn't already join the Interest List, you're out of luck. What you can do: pay attention late this summer and over the fall for when the 2016 list opens up. Returning volunteers get priority but it's still worth signing up.

Good luck and try not to stress.

Don't forget to apply for your press pass

9 DECEMBER 2014



If you want a San Diego Comic-Con press pass for Christmas, you only have a few days left to apply.

12 December is your deadline here, and I'd suggest starting right now if you haven't already. Depending on your category - print, broadcast, production company, blogger/podcast, documentary, online press, freelance journalist, photographer or videographer - you'll need to assemble various materials and plead your case oh so eloquently and generally get organized in a way that's best not left to zero hour.

Good luck.

My SDCC 2015 page

28 SEPTEMBER 2014



Given what a drawn-out process Comic-Con arrangements have become, I created a quick reference page for what you can do now and what you can expect later. Hopefully this will help everyone stay on track.

Get your SDCC Member ID now or else

18 SEPTEMBER 2014



A word of caution to SDCC hopefuls still in the embryonic stage of Comic-Con life. On their Purchase Badges page, CCI has a special section that addresses those of you who have never signed up for a Member ID.

It goes through the usual yammer about signing up, but then it says - pointedly - "We strongly suggest that you sign up for a Member ID now if you are interesting in attending Comic-Con 2015." Later it mentions that the Member ID system will close "without prior notification" in advance of any badge sale event.

I doubt it's going to close next week or anything, but since they probably wouldn't mind capping the number of badge sale participants (and neither would we) I fully expect them to seal that portal at some point well before next spring's Open Registration. So go ahead and get your Member ID if you're one of those procrastinators who just hasn't yet for some reason.

You're not obligated in any way by doing so - if you decide you never want to have anything to do with San Diego Comic-Con again, you can just leave your account hanging. But it's a good thing to have on the off chance you might want to try for a badge.

Don't forget - 23 May is badge refund deadline

21 MAY 2014




If you're one of those unfortunate souls who actually beat the odds and got a badge, only to find out you can't attend Comic-Con - you need to turn in your badge by Friday if you want a refund. You can cancel here.

Everyone else: no, I don't know what they're going to do with the badges that were turned in. CCI announced that so few were turned in, it wasn't worth it to hold a resale. Still, some were turned in, and I for one would like to know how they'll be repurposed. Some kind of private sale for people who were unfairly maligned in Open Reg, I'm guessing. Or they'll do one of those last-minute hotel/badge combination sales they offered a few years back.

If you hear anything, let me know.

There will be no badge resale this year

8 MAY 2014


Well, this is historic. CCI has announced there will be no badge resale. Their message in its entirety:

In past years, Comic-Con International has been able to hold a sale of returned and unallocated badges in June. Unfortunately, due to an extremely low rate of refunds and cancellations this year, we are not able to hold a resale of Comic-Con 2014 badges. Thank you for your support and understanding.


I don't know what to say. I know the badge resale was the last hope for many of you. I'm going to reiterate what I always say; please don't let this drive you to gamble hundreds of dollars on Craigslist badges. But I know you probably won't listen.

If you're still unbadged, winning contests and persuading retailers and pros to give/sell you their spare badges are your only hope right now. If you're local you can mill around the convention center and try to buy a badge off someone who's sick of the Con (your best bet is Sunday) but there's no guarantee it'll be a real badge.

It's interesting that the badge refund date is 23 May; we're still two and a half weeks from then, but apparently they're basing their calculation on how many refund requests have been made so far. (Or they're planning a private sale like they did last year for a specific category of open registration victims, and they need the teeny amount of turned-in badges for that. Don't quote me, that's wild conjecture. Then again, they have to do something with the refunded badges.)

I'm so sorry for those of you pinning your hopes on the resale. The convention center expansion just can't come soon enough.

So you got a Comic-Con badge - now what?

15 MARCH 2014 


So you got a Comic-Con badge. Maybe it's your first time; maybe you're a grizzled veteran who's watched the show mutate from a laidback comic book expo into the behemoth it is today. Either way, I bet you're still flush with excitement from today's sale and ready to claim your next trophy.

So while I hate to rub salt in the wounds of those who crashed and burned today, let's move on to the pressing matter of hotels.You have two options for booking a hotel room.

Early Bird Sale:  happening now. You must pay up front and you won't get your money back if you somehow need to cancel your Comic-Con trip. But you do get to pick your own hotel and avoid the horror of Hotel Day. If you had enough anxiety today, that alone can seem worth skipping downtown hotels.

This year's early bird crop are in Mission Valley and by the airport mostly. The Sheraton on Harbor Drive isn't a bad choice at all. And while those hotels may not jibe with your dreams of riding an elevator at the Marriott Marquis with Nic Pizzolato, the reality is that Hotel Day could land you somewhere better, but could also land you somewhere worse.

Finally - as I've said before - staying away from the Con can be an unexpected blessing. You'll get more rest, save money and get your sanity back each night. Staying right next to the Con is kind of like going to Vegas and never leaving the casino.

Hotel Day: happening 8 April. That's a Tuesday, so clear your calendar now. I don't have details yet but last year Hotel Day was a matter of picking your 6 top choices and hoping for the best. If you haven't gone to Comic-Con in a few years, the days of logging into the system, picking a hotel and viewing availability by the night are long gone. Last year you got an email within a few days telling you which hotel you were assigned to, and supposedly it was all based on time stamps. Will they randomize it this year? No idea.

If that's how it goes, I'd suggest tempering your choices with a mix of top-tier and eh-tier hotels. If we all pick the same six, your odds increase at getting none of them, and winding up assigned to Humphrey's Half-Moon Inn.


What not to do: panic and pay some ungodly nonrefundable sum for another hotel "just to be safe." You are safe. You have a badge. The safest thing you can do is go through the Early Bird Sale, and it'll be economical too. Unless you're a jillionaire and don't care about throwing your money around, in which case, go ahead and fund San Diego's economy.

If you've never been to Comic-Con before, I'd suggest reading my FAQ page and following my 2014 page, which will stay updated with news, exclusives, announcements and events as we draw closer to July. I'll also be posting an ongoing countdown of ways to prepare, starting next week.

Congratulations.

How Open Registration works

6 MARCH 2014


If you're an attendee from last year who was in the Pre-registration mix in February, you can skip all this. Everyone else, this is how Open Registration works this year. In the venerable Comic-Con tradition, it's changed from other years. (I know you're shocked.)

Mostly likely Open Registration will fall on a Saturday morning in March - the 15th, 22nd or 29th. I can't imagine they'll push it to April when we still have to get through Hotel Day.

In advance

You'll get an email at least 24-48 hours in advance of the sale that contains your own personal registration code and link. That code will also be in your Member ID account, so if you see the date announced on social media, but didn't get an email, check your account. The purpose of the code: banishing all the bots and ineligible people who supposedly caused all sorts of previous mayhem and crashes.

Registration Day

Sometime between 7 am -9 am PST, you'll stroll into the waiting room at your leisure. You'll do this on a laptop and not a mobile device by hitting the link in your email and typing/pasting the registration code. Then you'll get up and distract yourself until 9 am, because if you just sit there and stare at the screen and keep checking Twitter to see what everyone else is saying, you will drive yourself nuts before the starting gun is fired.

At 9 am PST, that gun will be fired and the sale will go live. It won't feel like the clawing, scrambling, cursing chaos of previous years. Instead there will be a looong period (10-15 minutes) in which you and a jillion other people are sorted into a random order. This order will not be connected to when you joined the waiting room. Unless, that is, you enter after the 9 am time. Then you'll go to the back of the line.

Then you'll just wait. Silently. Anxiously. There will be patronizing messages in a yellow box broadcast along the lines of "Please wait while other, luckier nerds get to buy the Comic Con badge you were hoping for." There will also be a weirdly hypnotic blue circle that keeps turning to let you know your "session is active."

(At least this is how Pre-reg went. I can't imagine Open Reg will be too different. It'd be glorious if they assigned numbers to let you know where you fell in line, but I doubt they could have made that change that quickly. And possibly they wouldn't even if they could, because it would come close to answering that eternal question of, just how many people are we competing with?)

Once you're selected, you enter the number of people you're buying for (up to 3) and their last names and Member IDs. Here's the thing: you don't have to be one of them. If your friend got up to bat first and bought your badge for you, you can now buy for 3 other people. This obviously throws the advantage to people traveling in a large group (or people who just see an opportunity to charge a fat markup to 3 strangers.) 

Once you get in, you have 15 minutes. Don’t worry about those badges going extinct; if you can see them once you’re in, they’re yours within that 15 minute timeframe. It'll look like this:

Click Preview Night and every day is clicked for you. Assuming that option won't be available for most of you, you'll select the remaining days you want or can get. Then you'll pay for all of it on a Visa, Mastercard or American Express and screenshot your confirmation page, just because you're cautious like that. 

That's how Open Registration will most likely go. Here's what you can't do:

Use your Member ID and reg code on multiple devices. One person, one device.

Refresh. Do it during the sale and you'll go to the back of the line. 

Use a mobile device. No phones, no tablets. Just don't.

Use a browser other than IE, Chrome, Safari or Firefox.

And here's what you shouldn't do: give up, because an hour has passed, or because people are already saying Saturday is gone. Just see it through. Twitter is an unreliable narrator. And if, god forbid, you get caught in some nefarious tech issue? Document it carefully and thoroughly and call/email CCI pronto to let them know. Last year they came through for registration victims; there's always the chance they might again.

Open Registration is coming "very soon"

6 MARCH 2014


And it's about damned time. But let's start with the good news.

And it's this - I think. If you got all four day badges during Pre-reg, but didn't get Preview Night, you can still try for Preview Night during Open Reg. Now mind you, CCI doesn't come out and say that, but they do say that "Anyone who has already registered for or purchased a Comic-Con 2014 Preview Night option is not eligible to participate in Open Online Registration." We can infer from that that everyone else can, right? I know this was a concern for people who got some badges, but not their ideal badges, during Pre-reg.

CCI's Toucan blog has a registration tutorial up, but honestly there's nothing new there if you paid attention to all the Pre-reg advice. You'll get an email providing the link and registration code. On the day of Open Reg, you'll have two hours to get into the waiting room, and then the sale will go live at 9 am PST and everyone will be randomly sorted into order for buying badges. I'll post a detailed guide as we get closer, but for now I suggest reading my earlier Pre-reg posts like this and this and this since the process is exactly the same.

I'm also going to advise disregarding this patently false prediction from CCI: "We anticipate that it will take a little over an hour to sell out all badge types." What? Pre-reg sold fewer badges than Open Reg will and it took at least two hours. My friend got all four days (sans Preview Night) at the one-hour mark. I'm emphasizing this because people lost their minds in the waiting room as the minutes ticked on, and I want everyone to understand they shouldn't give up too soon.

(Unless CCI secretly shifted the balance of badges sold, and gave previous attendees the lion's share during Pre-reg. But even so, I think one hour isn't going to cut it.)

So there you have it. Just 20 weeks away from the first Hall H campers unpacking their gear, you'll finally know if you're going to make it into the hallowed halls of Comic-Con. I'll post a detailed tutorial later, but for now check your Member ID eligibility and get ready.

Pre-reg will be "randomized"

28 JAN 2014

In case the whole single-day-badges-only announcement didn't rock your world, here's a shattering new announcement: pre-registration will be "randomized."

Just typing that word twists my gut with anxiety. Here's the deal; CCI recognizes that current process of everyone trying to get a badge at the same second has been "extremely problematic." You don't say. So they've come up with a solution - a randomized waiting room. We'll all be assigned a time frame in which we can log into the waiting room prior to the sale. Once the sale goes live, everyone inside the waiting room will be randomly assigned to a registration session and processed in that random order. This is NOT tied to the time you entered the waiting room.

In other words, it just got a lot harder to game the system. Having eight laptops blazing away won't do you any good; you can only use your member ID on one device to get into the waiting room, as far as I can tell, and then you'll just have to cross your fingers and hope for the best.

Since you can buy for yourself and 2 others, it's in your interest to team up with two other friends to triple your chances of getting a good session assignment. But that begs the question; if all three of you are hanging out in your individual sessions, can the first one up to bat still buy your badge for you under your Member ID? Even though that Member ID is currently logged into the system? What if two friends get called up at roughly the same time and they both try to buy badges for each other?

CCI states they feel this is the fairest option possible, and even hinted it would reduce the stampede and ensuing technical meltdowns. You'll have to forgive my skepticism on that front. However, I do appreciate that they are trying to fix a problem that clearly has no perfect solution.

So all of you "make it a lottery" advocates should feel victorious - this is your day. The rest of us will put aside our ninja registration tricks and suffer the randomization process. Will it go like this for real Registration Day? It's a safe bet.

As for when Pre-reg will be - all they've said is it won't be this weekend, Feb 1. And so the endless  vigil continues.

Single day badges only sold for 2014

10 JANUARY 2014

Oh dear god. Why? Why? Why?

It's true; you can only buy single day badges for this year's San Diego Comic Con. Which CCI announced with a jaunty little "New!" as if this was some kind of especially thrilling news.  As for the genius thought process behind this decision: they mentioned giving us more "flexibility" (there's a word I'll never associate with Comic-Con) and no longer offering "a discount."

Speaking of prices:

Preview Night: $35
Thursday, Friday and Satuday badges: $45 each
Sunday badge: $30
(That's $200 for us lucky winners who get to buy it all.)

You can read the details here - and more here - but here's how it'll look in practice. Once you get up to bat in the EPIC waiting room, you enter your Member ID and last name like always, the people you're buying for, and then you see a badge grid, seen here. If you want every badge possible, just check Preview Night and all other badges are clicked for you. Otherwise, just check the days you want. But you can't check Preview Night on its own or just do Saturday and Preview Night- it's still all or nothing. Somehow that option didn't get factored into the quest for "flexibility."

So how much will this change anything? Will it be as annoying and complicated as it sounds? It probably won't be much worse - "I have a Preview Night badge" is the new "I have a four-day badge" - though sometimes these announcements feel like CCI is just endlessly trolling us, seeing how much we can take.

I'll post more about pre-reg tomorrow. Right now I'll let you absorb this news.

How people get badges for San Diego Comic-Con

13 JULY 2013

This might seem a weird time to address the  masses who've never been to San Diego Comic-Con but really want to go some day. But I have been getting one frustrated email after another from people who are getting bitter over all the coverage because they think attending is an impossible quest. Most of them don't even understand how one gets a badge.

(And yes, it is impossible now to attend this year's Con, people who've emailed me to ask me where they can get a badge for next week. I love your innocence.)

Here's how people get Comic Con badges.

1. There's no secret system. You sign up for a Member ID on CCI's site. Then CCI (Comic Con International) hosts an online registration day where people with Member IDs fight to the death for a badge. Badges sell out almost immediately and there is always a group of people who get ejected from the system due to some kind of glitch. To be fair, this year CCI held a secret badge resale for them - but on the whole, Registration Day is a very frustrating lottery-like experience. There are just too many people who want to go.
2. If you don't manage to register then, you have to wait until summer when CCI puts up for sale all the badges that were turned in for refunds. There aren't many of these.
3. If you know retailers or industry people, you can see if they have badges. You can also try to buy a badge off a scalper, though I don't recommend it.

My overarching advice, though, is to not get too hung up on SDCC. Take a look at other Cons, like Emerald City, Phoenix Comicon, Dragon*Con or New York. Obviously San Diego does have something special or it wouldn't be so wildly popular, but it is not the only show in town. Plenty of people come away on Sunday thinking, "that's it?" Go ahead and try to attend, but if you don't get a badge, it's not the end of the world. 

Oh, and if you're going to be in San Diego this week - don't forget about Nerd HQ, Trickster or Wootstock.  You don't have to be inside the convention center to bask in the geeky glory.

The badge resale drawing is happening now

10 JUNE 2013


Today CCI announced the badge resale - which is going to be a drawing. Below are the facts.

• "Several thousand" single day badges are available
• 3100 of these are Saturday badges - which begs the question of how many the above "several thousand" refers to
• They will be offered via a random drawing 
• You can enter this drawing now by logging into your Member ID account and clicking the blue sign
• The drawing closes 12 June at 10:59 pm PST
• Winners will be notified by email on or before 17 June

You must already have a Member ID, and you can't already possess a 4 day badge.You can get badges for yourself and one friend, who must also have a Member ID.

Does this drawing hint at future registrations that are a full-on lottery? Will we see the complete abolition of the annual technology fail that is Registration Day? CCI said that EPIC was too busy to offer their usual services because they were  "focused on coordinating onsite registration." (I at first took this literally to mean that some type of pre-registration would be happening onsite again this summer. Then I realized they probably were referring to badge processing.)

So there you have it. The odds aren't great for you if you're one of a bajillion people logging into their Member ID accounts at this very moment, but at least you won't suffer a stroke trying to get into EPIC's waiting room.

Last day to get your Member ID is 11 February

8 FEBRUARY 2013


I kind of hate myself for even potentially adding to the number of people trying to get a badge this coming Saturday - but I would be remiss in my duties if I didn't remind you stragglers that Monday, 11 February, is the last day you can apply for a Member ID. Which you need to buy a badge for San Diego Comic Con.

At least, I think Monday is the last day. The site just says Member ID applications are shut down as of 12 February, but doesn't say if that's at the start or end of the 12th - so it's best to be safe and assume Monday the 11th is the last day you can register for one. Once you have it, you'll be added to the list of people who get emails telling them the link to Saturday's badge sale.

You can get your Member ID here. Trust me, it's a painless process.

San Diego Comic Con badges on sale 16 February

1 FEBRUARY 2013


At long last, we have our date: 16 February, 9:00 am PST.

Once again, you'll get an email with the secret link 48 hours in advance - I say "you" meaning "you who have Member IDs." If you don't have a Member ID? Then go get one NOW, because they're shutting that down on 12 February.

Who's eligible: anyone with a Member ID except these two groups: people who pre-registered and got a four-day badge with preview night, or people who've registered for professional badges. Let me be clear about this: if you did pre-register, and you got a single day badge, or a four-day badge without preview night, you're in the clear to participate in this go-round. Anything overlapping will be cancelled.

How many people you can register: 4. That includes yourself.

How it works: same way it did last year. You'll click the link, which will take you to an online "waiting room." There will be a number announcing your place in line - and then you just wait until suddenly you're pushed into a different area where you choose the badge you want. You have to pay on the spot this time; it's possible your badge choice will sell out even as you're typing in your credit card numbers, and then you'll be forced to select from what's available. Confirmations will go out a few days later.

My advice: have multiple laptops and browsers on the job, and have your information - name, credit card number, etc - all typed out so you can just cut and paste. Oh, and go into the CCI site now and check your Member ID to make sure everything looks like it should.

If you've never participated in Registration Day before, be prepared. You might get incredibly lucky, you might encounter an inexplicable technical snafu, you might get totally different badges from your friends. Or none at all. Use every Jedi-Zen trick you know to become calm and detached before it all kicks off, because trust me, you'll need it.

See CCI for more details. Good luck.

Badge Resale is 31 May at 8:00 a.m. PST

29 MAY 2012



The badge resale starts Thursday morning, 31 May, at 8:00 a.m. PST.


Once again, you must already have a Member ID and cannot have a four-day or Saturday badge. You can only buy badges for two people.


The resale link is http://www.comic-con.org/cci/2012resale.php. CCI advises, and I think it's wise, that you should verify your Member ID and last name ahead of time at https://secure2.comic-con.org/memberid/ . 


See specific rules and such here. Good luck.


ETA:  If you're interested in changing your hotel reservations, you might want to try to do that tonight and tomorrow before a new onslaught of badge-holders tries to book rooms. Downtown hotels are largely sold out but there are plenty of other hotels with vacancies - go on the site and look. You may find a more preferable hotel for one or more nights. Do this now because the first thing people are going to do Thursday after registering is grab a hotel room.

5000 single day badges for sale

22 MAY 2012


If you didn't receive an email on badge resales, listen up. 5000 single day badges are going up for sale in June. If you'd like to be in the running, you must:

1. Make sure you have a Member ID - I know, it seems incredible that anyone does NOT have one by this point, but anyhow. You have until 5:30 PST on Thurday, 24 May, to register for one.

2. Watch for the resale date - no, they haven't released it yet. Once again, if you have a 4-day badge or a Saturday badge, you cannot participate in the resale.

CCI said that so few 4-day badges were returned (shocking) that they split up the few they did receive into single day badges. Which means, of course, that 5000 single day badges will be allocated among a much smaller group of people since most attendees will probably be buying more than one day.

CCI also included these apologetic words - maybe I'm the only one who found this humorous: "We have struggled with how to offer our returned badges for sale this year. Because of time constraints our choices were to not have a resale this year or use the online system we have in place. We know there are a lot of you counting on the resale to attend Comic-Con so we have decided to have a resale and to use the system we currently have in place... It is important to remember that while great efforts have been taken for the badge resale to proceed smoothly, it is probable that the number of people attempting to purchase a badge, or technical issues, could have a negative impact on the process and your ability to get a badge for Comic-Con 2012."

In other words, expect snafus and a stampede. Even though they have "struggled." I also love the mention of "time constraints," as if the existence of a 2012 San Diego Comic Con came as such a last minute surprise!

They said this is the final sale, which begs the question of whether the usual July Badge&Hotel packages will still be sold off.  Their exhausted tone seems to indicate that they can't be bothered with organizing those packages, so that may not be a viable strategy this summer. Time will tell.