You can still get a full SDCC badge and a Museum membership for the low price of $1900

 23 JUNE 2024

If you lost out in both badge sales last fall and have been bemoaning your fate ever since - it's not too late! CCI has dished up a tasty and partly tax-deductible option for you: paying $1900 to get a badge and become a Museum member. 

If you pony up to take advantage of this offer, you'll get...

• A Preview Night badge
• A Museum Legend membership that includes general admission for 1 year, guest passes, swag, discounts and - mysteriously - "recognition." I'm assuming this means Legend members get their names carved into a wall or brick sidewalk like philanthropists of yore.
• A nice tax deduction minus the $455 market value

If you recall the old Ebay badge sales, this tracks in terms of dollars - and if you can afford it, it really does grant your Comic-Con wishes while giving money to a good cause. 

In other words, I would do it if I didn't have a badge. And if you're especially flush with cash? You can set this to auto-renew every year and skip the bothersome (some would say thrilling) stress of badge sales.

Sounds like a good deal to me.

Inflation doesn't seem to have hit the SDCC Ebay badge sale

 28 JUNE 2023

CCI has released a select number of badges on Ebay - and the bidding is about what you'd expect. Remember that each sale includes 2 Preview Night badges, so paying $1000-1500 per auction really isn't that bad - more than double the normal price, sure, but you're not dealing with some shady reseller or scalper and the proceeds go to a good cause. That good cause being the Comic-Con Museum.

A few facts:

• You can't win this and then turn in your current badges for a refund.

• You can win an auction and then assign the badges to whoever you want, as long as they set up a Member ID account. This makes this a nice option for a family where only some siblings got a badge last fall, or someone who has a new girlfriend/boyfriend or parents who'd love to give their kid a killer graduation present. 

• On that note, you're allowed to win multiple auctions. So if you're untouched by the ravages of inflation and this unfriendly economy - have at it.

We're just a week out from the official schedule posting. Exciting, right? I feel like next week will be the pivotal moment - well, four days - when people decide exactly how they feel about San Diego Comic-Con 2023.

Check your badge shipping address

 1 MAY 2023

And do it by May 12 or else! CCI wants you to:

• Log into your Member ID account....
• Go to "My Addresses...."
• .... And verify that your Primary Shipping Address is correct.

After that, no more changes will be accepted. 

Young whippersnappers reading this don't know there was a brutal era in which we all stood in the sun for hours to pick up our badges. Today we enjoy the convenience of having our badge shipped to us (well, most of us) - so make sure yours will find its way to you safely.

Badges will be shipped out 3-4 weeks in advance. Which isn't that far away, is it?

So we're probably getting a fall SDCC badge sale

6 AUGUST 2019

It is way too soon to think about Returning Registration for SDCC - for me, at least, but not for CCI. Because here we are: they've sent out their usual email about converting your child's status to "junior badge" eligibility if they were 13 or older on 31 July 2019. The deadline is 5 September.

So why do we care? This obviously applies to a small number of attendees who were 12 at Comic-Con a few weeks ago but now are the magic age of 13. I'm guessing most of us aren't/don't have a kid in those parameters. However, this email does line up nicely with last year's email - which went out on 8 August and had a deadline of 6 September. So that points to a possible alignment with last year's Returning Registration, which fell on 13 October.

An October badge sale isn't guaranteed, but it's worth keeping in mind as you make your fall travel plans and scheme with your buying group. Every year there are people complaining about not being financially prepared for the badge sale - if this is you, start a badge fund now.

And if you do have a youngster who just turned 13? Create a Member ID just like you did for yourself, but choose "Junior" and be sure to have their 2019 badge handy.

Going to San Diego Comic-Con 2020

19 JULY 2019

 

This might seem like an odd moment to direct your attention to next year - but there's a good reason for it. Two, actually.


If you're kind of new to SDCC but going this year:

• Note the different hotels so they're not just names on a list, but you know where they are and the restaurants and advantages they contain.
• Make friends. Look for people in your fandoms but also look for people from your hometown. (Your comic shops, cosplay and fan organizations and local Con will know people as well.) Assemble your SDCC tribe for future badge sales and teamwork.
• Chat up other attendees and find out what they're excited about. Expand your awareness of Con possibilities and file them away for next year.
• Figure out what doesn't work for you so you remember to avoid it next year. Maybe you don't need to go all 4 days or maybe you're not suited for major commitment lines. This is good - it frees you up for fresh terrain next year.

If you're brand new and interested in going to Comic-Con next year:
These are the days when complete outsiders watch all the SDCC coverage and decide that they're going next year, goddammit! If this is you, I'm not kidding when I tell you to start preparing now. Open Registration (where you'll try to buy a badge for next summer) could be this fall.

You'll want to:

• Create a Member ID. You'll need a separate ID for anyone who's going with you. Only people with Member IDs can participate in the badge sales.
• Get active in the online SDCC community. Study up on all the advice (there's a lot) and talk to veterans who can steer you into actual attendance. Build relationships. Connections make the SDCC world go round.
• Accept that you may not go to the full 2020 show - and may not go at all. People do get shut out. But if you get even a partial badge, definitely go. You'll find plenty of offsite action on the days you don't have a badge.
• Investigate a more local Con. Some people think SDCC is the cat's pajamas and that's fine, but it's not the only Con in the world. If you've never been to one, start with a local Con in your neck of the woods.

Good luck! We'll be staring Returning Registration's spinning blue circle in the face before we know it. As Virgil said, time flies, never to be regained - which is why SDCC badges go to those of us who watch the calendar.

Are you eligible for the New York Comic Con sale?

15 MAY 2019

We're entering that time of year when it starts to feel like all Comic-Con, all the time. Maybe you're girding yourself for a Memorial Weekend Con like Phoenix Fan Fest, maybe you're saving money for SDCC, or maybe you're deciding between Boston and Dragon Con. We're swimming in options at this time of year, right? So much so that New York Comic Con can seem like an elderly autumn cousin while we're in the flush of spring.

But in fact, you need to plan now for NYCC - not just for this year, but next year.

Here's the deal. I know many of you keep the ghost of NYCC in your brain as an alternative to the San Diego Comic-Con madness. At least this is true for the people I know; they have a vague idea that badges are easier to get and more hotel rooms are available and the Con is bigger than SDCC - and they translate all that into an image of a convention center waiting with open arms. But that's not completely, exactly, entirely true.

If you'd like to attend NYCC, here's what you need to know:

• Much like SDCC, there is a presale for returning attendees and a general sale for everyone else. They already had the presale this year - and you either knew about it or weren't eligible for it.

• The general sale is on 12 June at noon EST.

• To participate, you must complete a Fan Verification account - or what NYCC annoyingly calls "Fan Ver" - by the end of 2 June. Yes, this is a lot like CCI's Member ID accounts. But unlike the SDCC sale, you can buy badges for people who don't have Fan Verification accounts. You'll include their email address to "assign" them their badge and then they can create an account later. This is true only for the upcoming general sale.

• Because the lion's share of the spoils go to returning attendees in the presale, you may need to start out with a partial badge the first year and hopefully graduate to a full badge the following year in the presale. Though neither of those is guaranteed.

Overall, my point is that you do need to put thought and preparation toward a future at NYCC and can't treat it like some small city Con. I'd still classify it as a far more attainable experience than SDCC, but what isn't at this point.

Other selling points: it's easier to book a hotel, it's not hard to find good airfare deals to New York, and ReedPop offers a smorgasbord of events before, during and after the Con. If you're sick of fake SDCC parties that are basically cosplay contests with mediocre bar food and a terrible DJ, you'll be pleasantly surprised by the variety of NYCC offerings.

Okay, I'm done selling New York Comic Con to you. If you're die hard West Coast/Best Coast, you probably aren't interested anyhow. But keep that NYCC ghost in your brain fed - because one day you may find yourself locked out of SDCC and looking for another place to land.

What's your badge status?

24 JUNE 2018

Since badges began shipping out, most attendees have anxiously watched their mailbox. In true SDCC fashion, this has not been a serene process. If you're nervous right now because your badge is not yet in your hands, fear not - you're in good company.

There's a whole spectrum of badge statuses right now, such as:

You received an email telling you your badge shipped out, but it's still en route. I have two friends on opposite coasts who both tracked their badges to a predicted Saturday arrival - but neither of them had it as of last night.

You received an email telling you your badge shipped out, but the tracker says it's still in a pre-shipment status. That's me and two other people I know. These emails went out on 19 June. Did they fall off a truck somewhere? Did a CCI staffer jump the gun in emailing us? No idea. I'm giving it a few more days before a polite email.

You received a badge and it has someone else's name on it.  It happens. Contact CCI.

You haven't gotten an email at all. If this is you, I'd email CCI this week just to check.

You received an email telling you your badge arrived at someone else's house, as planned, but now that person isn't answering your texts and emails.  I don't know anyone this has happened to this year - but if that's you, wait a few more days and then tell them you'll be contacting CCI to have your badge deactivated since they're acting shady. There's no excuse for radio silence when an SDCC badge is in play.

You received your badge, smugly posted a photo online, and now a scammer is using that photo in a fraudulent Ebay auction and CCI has banned you from Comic-Con. Okay - this is another category where I don't personally know anyone this year it's happened to, but it's happened in the past. If you have to brag on Instagram, cover your name with your dog's paw or something.

You got your badge but you wanted the cosmonaut pin and got the regular one. Most people are getting the regular one. You can buy the little cosmonaut at the Con.

In the flurry of online badge chatter, you realized you never validated your shipping address and now your badge will not ship at all. I know one person who had missed the validation deadline due to password trouble; CCI worked with her to still mail out the badge. But that was weeks ago. At this point, you'll probably just have to pick up your badge at the Con.


People have been sharing their badge anxiety all week; I know the waiting is hard, but remember that somehow, some way, you will get your badge. Even if it gets lost or swiped, CCI can kill it from afar and provide you with a new one onsite. And no matter what happens along the way, I think we can all agree that this is way easier than the years we stood in line for hours/overnight just to pick up our badge.

Play Santa with ECCC holiday certificates

2 DECEMBER 2017




Emerald City Comicon is once again celebrating the season of giving with pretty gift certificates to its Con. One is more nature-themed and one more Seattle-themed; you can see them here. Obviously the one with the dragon and Sasquatch is my favorite. (Have we ever had an ECCC t-shirt of Sasquatch attending the Con? We need one.)

You will note that "ticket type" is left blank for you to write in. These aren't tickets themselves, just a colorful way to notify someone else you bought them a nice nerdy present. And if you didn't already buy a 4-day ticket or all 4 single days, well, you can still get Thursday, Friday and Sunday - but Saturday is sold out.

I'm kind of hoping CCI will do something similar with San Diego Comic-Con, since this is the first year in forever that you could surprise your first-timer child, best friend or beau with a badge on Christmas morning. (Sparing them the trauma of the badge sale: an additional gift.) In the meantime, we've got these pretty certificates. If they don't motivate you to buy some ECCC badges and give your favorite nerd an amazing holiday gift, I don't know what will.

It's Comic-Con Scam Season!

22 JUNE 2017

You know San Diego Comic-Con is almost here when talk turns to scammers, con artists and thieves. Capitalizing on the thirst for Con badges is an old tradition and a profitable one. The game has changed along with badge sales and pick-up methods, but what stays the same is this: people losing their money without setting foot inside Comic-Con.

CCI blogged about fake badges today, a post everyone should read. Here's the gist of it:

• Only badges procured through CCI are legit.
• Counterfeit badges can look very convincing. Apparently the international game is strong on this one.
• Badges sold on Ebay, StubHub or other "secondary markets" are voided.  
• CCI security does spot checks to make sure you have the ID to match your badge.

What I will add: scammers steal social media photos of badges with names on them - and if CCI sees those, they void the badge. People have been warned about this for a year now but they're still posting badges with their names showing.



Can you buy a badge from a scalper?

Yes but you shouldn't. I know I'll get my usual wave of irritated emails telling me scalped badges are fine and I don't know what I'm talking about, but there are some good reasons not to buy from a scalper:

1) You're encouraging a toxic pattern where more and more scalpers fill the badge sales*, getting a bigger share of available badges to sell at wildly marked-up prices - hurting attendees (like you) trying to get a badge.
2) Scalpers won't hesitate to screw you over just like they're trying to screw CCI. Your Rick Grimes badge could be fake.
3) If you do get checked for ID and can't produce the right one, you may eliminate your chances of going to SDCC ever again.
4) CCI is against it. They don't want badges being resold.
5) While getting a badge legitimately is difficult, you can increase your chances by getting active in the SDCC community and working with a group. And then you can reallocate that extra $1-2K on a swank room at the Marriott Marquis.
6) You can go to other Cons that are just as fun while you wait for the 2018 badge sale.



I'm a realist; I know that people are desperate to go to SDCC and if they can afford to drop a small fortune on a Preview Night badge, some nebulous code of honor isn't going to stop them. I also know plenty of scalpers are operating offline to avoid the CCI Black Ops Task Force.** So go ahead and continue sending me your smug emails about the great badge you just bought on Craigslist where you actually saw the confirmation email. You may indeed have bought a real badge and you'll probably have a great time at the Con. But I guarantee some of you are getting taken for a ride.



* CCI and other people say the high demand for badges makes it hard for scalpers to prevail. I say: do the math. Let's say 100 scalpers got picked last year in Open Reg 2016, getting 3 badges apiece. (I don't know the real number but I heard of quite a few people being approached by scalpers or doing business with them.) That gave them 300 opportunities in Returning Reg this year. Assuming at least 200 of those got into either RR or Open Reg, and got 3 badges apiece, now that's 600 spots they have for the next Returning Reg and 900 for the next and so on. You get the idea: even if it's a "small" number of scalpers, they're still taking badges away from rightful attendees for their own profit.

**not its real name

Change your badge mailing address immediately

17 MAY 2017

Can you believe we're only 63 days from Comic-Con? I can't. It feels like we all just locked down our badges and hotel rooms 10 minutes ago and are just starting to breathe easy again.

And yet our badges will soon be sailing through the U.S. Postal Service, as CCI reminded us today. Tomorrow, 18 May, is the last day to change your shipping address for your badge. If you don't have a solid address for June - it happens, people are traveling all summer or embarking on internships or changing apartments - then pick your most dependable friend/family member and put in their address as your shipping address.

Because, and let's give CCI a virtual hug for this, they're now letting us have 2 addresses on our Member ID profiles: a home address and a shipping address. This is very convenient for more nomadic attendees, students, and international people.

Yes, international people can now have their badges sent to their best American pal. As you know, CCI won't mail badges to Hong Kong or Brussels or Mumbai; last year, international attendees had to pick up their badges on site. Which wasn't the worst thing in the world, but now CCI is eliminating even that step if you prefer to have a friend receive your badge.

As for when the blessed event/anxiety vigil will occur, CCI says badges will ship out 3-4 weeks before the Con. Basically, you'll know it's started when people begin filling Instagram and Twitter with pictures of their badges.

Make sure you're one of them - and change your address now if necessary.

How to go to San Diego Comic-Con

31 MARCH 2017

Warning: this post is only for people at the dawn of their Comic-Con existence.

Next weekend is the San Diego Comic-Con badge sale. If you're just catching wind of it over social, and you've made the understandable but misguided decision to join the sale too, you'll probably be chagrined to realize you can't. If you didn't create a Member ID account by the March 24 cut-off (it wasn't announced, so don't feel bad) then you can't participate in the sale. Short of winning a contest or finding a well-connected friend, you won't be going to SDCC 2017.

I know that's harsh, but I wanted to give it to you straight. The good news: you can greatly increase your chances of going next year. If that's too far in the future for you to think about, then let go of any plans ever for Comic-Con: it may only last 4 days, but the required maneuvering is all year round, on and off. You have to be patient, wily and tenacious to go. Or just lucky.

Here's what you need to do:

Sign up for a Member ID. Have all your prospective Con companions do the same. Everyone who goes to SDCC as an attendee must have a Member ID.

Start reading the blogs and hanging out in online Con circles so you can:

• Pick up a ton of tips on booking hotels, getting badges and navigating the whole mad circus.
• Make cool friends who may one day share event tickets, invite you into their buying group, tell you about parties and generally make your Con more fun.
• Find out which other Cons are making the grade with veteran attendees.
• Grasp the vivid difference between the SDCC image you probably have and the reality - which can help you decide if you really want to go.
  
  

Look into going to a more accessible Con. Non-attendees see all the SDCC celebrities on TV and think that no other Con will do. Those days are over; other Cons can offer a great experience (sometimes better) and help you figure out if Con life is even your scene or not. It's best to find out you're in the "not" camp before investing a small fortune on plane airfare and hotel rooms. Traits like not being able to handle crowds or waiting in line can disqualify you fast, so start with something local.

Set realistic expectations. SDCC badges are sold through a lottery. Demand is so high that your chances are less than 1 in 10 of getting one. If you do get a badge and need to book a hotel room, that's another lottery that leaves many disappointed. You'll be notified of these sales through emails that go to everyone with a Member ID - typically in the spring before the Con.

Did I just suck all the joy out of your Comic-Con anticipation? I didn't mean to. If anything, you can only validly get excited about SDCC once you've committed to the journey. Put the wheels in motion now and next year you'll be glad you did.

4 steps to attending San Diego Comic-Con 2017

26 JULY 2016

The night before I went to SDCC, I met someone who had never heard of it. That doesn't happen too often these days, and I found myself at a loss as to explain it adequately. "Pop culture convention" doesn't really cut it, after all; doesn't describe the cosplay, the panels on space and science fiction and diversity and culture, the rare comic books, the activations, the camaraderie, the parties, the sheer size of it all. So I rambled on about the Conan taping I was going to, the action figures and comics I wanted to buy, and the screenings I wanted to see, and he just said "huh." In other words: it didn't appeal. Then he called last night and immediately said, "I saw your thing on the news. How do you get tickets to that?"

San Diego Comic-Con has that affect on people. As soon as they see the cosplay photos, the celebrity interview snippets, the newcasts of the crowds, they want to be part of it.

If that's you, I have good news and bad news. The good: anyone can try to go to SDCC and that includes you. The bad: it's very difficult to get a badge, so don't count on it.

What matters is that you start preparing now. Don't file this away in the back of your mind until next year, because the next time you hear about badges going on sale, it'll be too late to get one. So here's what you need to do.


#1. Sign up for a Member ID.

This is the easy part - and it's mandatory. Only people with a Member ID can participate in the Open Registration badge sale, which will likely happen next February or March.  Do opt in to receive 3rd-party emails; I know that sounds like you're inviting a flood of annoying spam but in fact that's key to finding out about attendee-only offerings like the Conan O'Brien tapings.


#2. Study up on the art and science of SDCC. 

Managing the logistics of SDCC - navigating the badge sale, the hotel sale, parking, understanding when to line up for panels or get autographs - requires knowledge and skill. Try to be impromptu about it and you'll just wind up empty-handed. You do need to prepare. I recommend reading blogs like this one and the Unofficial SDCC Blog and others, as well as the Friends of Comic-Con forum. You don't have to get a PhD in Con life, but you will find out valuable tips. 


#3. Build relationships. 

You might be one of the lucky few to try and get a badge all on your own.  But you'll greatly increase your chances by making friends with other attendees and joining a buying group. Same goes for getting tickets to a Nerd HQ panel, or trading your Conan Pop for an exclusive, or getting into an invite-only party. The way I'm describing it sounds rather heartless and quid pro quo, but the fact is that SDCC attendees are a fun and supportive group of people who go out of their way to help each other. Get to know us; it'll make your SDCC 2017 experience so much better.


#4. Figure out your finances.

You don't have to be wealthy to go to SDCC, but having money set aside will be an enormous help. The badges are pretty cheap - 245 for a Preview Night badge this year - but the hotels are a different story, and you will probably want to buy quite a bit while you're there. Start a fund. Hope that you get lucky in the hotel sale when rooms are offered at discounted rates, but prepare for the possibility you won't.



I know July 2017 sounds so far away. But Open Registration is probably only 7 or so months from now, and once you've got your badge, the following months will fall like dominoes. Do your homework today and next summer you won't be wistfully watching SDCC coverage online - you'll be right there in the thunderous splendor of Comic-Con.

Change your badge shipping address by 9 May

30 APRIL 2016

Happy May Day. Did you get your email from CCI, asking you to confirm or change your shipping address? If you bought a badge for anyone, you should have.

At first I thought, "How responsible and forward-thinking of CCI, doing this so far in advance." Then I realized that badges will go out a few weeks before the Con, which means they'll ship out about (very roughly) 2 months from now. So yes, they are on track.

If for some reason you've had a domicile upheaval in your life, and have no idea where you'll be picking up your mail this summer, you have just over a week to find a settled-down person who will let you list their address and graciously receive these on your behalf. Don't gamble on this; it is your physical, glorious Comic-Con badge we're talking about.

If you didn't get an email and you think you should have, give CCI a jingle. Please check over all the names listed, too. Two people I bought for were omitted from my email and while I'm sure it'll get sorted out, it's still something to stay on top of. (And of course, because it's all part of the Comic-Con experience, when I emailed CCI, I got a response telling me that the hotel sale would be held April 5.)

As of tomorrow, I will officially launch SDCC season here and start posting more tips on preparing for you starry-eyed first-timers. I know some of you still don't have hotel rooms and are waiting for reservations to open back up; plenty of attendees have unfinished business for sure. Try not to worry, because chances are it'll all get worked out. Overall, if you have a badge for San Diego Comic-Con, it's time to get excited.


ETA: To clarify, when I say "bought," that applies in the literal sense. It doesn't necessarily mean the person who helmed the laptop and entered in the actual information, or the person whose code got them into the session. For instance, even though I wasn't involved in one particular registration session, the person used my credit card and official address, etc, so I bought the badges. I am the one who got the email asking me to confirm my shipping address and I am the one who will receive the badges in the mail.

I know that many of us make Byzantine arrangements during badge sales, so I wanted to clarify that. It's entirely possible that your sister's code got picked, you monitored the session and inputted the information, and your best friend's credit card paid for it all. Your best friend will get the badges.

Emerald City sold out. What a weird ticket sale.

1 APRIL 2016



So Emerald City has finally sold out. Those final Thursday tickets that just kept lingering and lingering for eons long after every other day had sold out, finally got bought.

Here's why that's interesting, if you're not already yawning. ECCC has sold out faster and faster every year - for full badges. It took 5 months to sell out full badges for 2014, 7 weeks for 2015 and 50 minutes for 2016. (VIP badges lingered a bit longer but were still gone by nightfall.)  3-day badges were gone the following day and Saturday within a month.

So obviously there was high interest here, yet Thursday - the first ever Thursday - didn't entice. Was it because it was a half day? Or focused mainly on comics? Or people didn't want to bother taking another day off from work? Hard to say.

At any rate, Craigslist and StubHub are rife with ECCC tickets, so anyone can still go - at a marked-up price. But officially, yes, Emerald City Comicon is sold out.

ECCC tickets are starting to appear for resale

7 MARCH 2016



Every day more appear on Craigslist: various ticket types for Emerald City Comicon. Not, of course, that I'm endorsing their resale, since that's officially against ECCC policy. But at the same time, yes, they're out there and you can probably find a 4-day badge without much trouble if you missed that part of the sale. Just pointing that out.

As of today, we're a month out from your favorite Seattle Comic Con.

On Preview Night, Saturday & other badge types

19 FEBRUARY 2016




Reality check: most of you won't get your dream badge for San Diego Comic-Con tomorrow. Some of you won't get a badge at all (and I'll have specific words for you later) but a lot of you will also find yourself getting a few days instead of everything.

While that probably won't feel great, I can honestly tell you that a partial Comic-Con won't be as bad as you think. Here's why.


Let's start with Preview Night. Veteran attendees refer to "Preview Night badges" so often that they probably sound like some mythical ideal to first-timers. While they are still the preferred badge for most of us, I'm not that hung up on Preview Night anymore and you probably shouldn't be either.

Once Preview Night meant not having to stand in line for your badge, a spacious and freshly stocked Exhibit Hall and first crack at the best exclusives. You could roam through the aisles much more easily since only a fraction of attendees were allowed in.

Now? No one has to stand in line for a badge; they'll all be mailed out. A much larger portion of attendees are let in, so that it feels almost as crowded as a regular day. And while there are still some first-come, first-serve exclusives that will be snapped up Wednesday night, many vendors instead release a limited amount of product each day so that everyone gets a shot. (And the idea of an "exclusive" is laughably elastic these days compared to how it used to be.) Also, the TV pilots they typically show in Ballroom 20 on Preview Night are usually aired a second time over the rest of the Con.

As far as the other days, Saturday isn't any more special than the others in my opinion. Once it's sold out, a collective groan will typically echo across the Internet. But this isn't like a smaller Con where they save the big names for Saturday. Every day of SDCC is amazing and special, with top shows and celebrities. Last year's Friday in Hall H was one of the most legendary days ever in SDCC history (not just Game of Thrones and Walking Dead, but Star Wars and then a surprise Star Wars concert courtesy of the San Diego Symphony.)

Thursday has great content too, and has been one of my favorite days the last couple of years because of the fascinating NASA panels. And if you "only" get Sunday? Not only is Hall H Sunday highly coveted (Supernatural reigns supreme, along with other shows) but there are tons of great panels for kids and the Exhibit Hall sales are incredible.

But what you really need to know is that you'll want to spend some of your time outside the convention center anyhow. Even people with full badges will often miss a day so they can attend all of the outside activities, games and events. Nerd HQ is not be missed, with panels that outrank many SDCC panels in some attendees' opinion. The Conan O'Brien tapings last summer were huge and they'll be back this summer. There are parties all over the area, Gam3rCon, art shows, competitions - and given how exhausting SDCC can be, you'll probably want some downtime to nap or swim or have a meal with your friends. And sometimes you just want an afternoon away from the crush of humanity that is the convention center.

My point is that you should value whatever kind of badge you end up getting, even if it doesn't match your ideal. You probably won't agree with that tomorrow, as you watch yourself get shut out of Preview Night and then maybe other types. But once you're actually at the Con in July, I bet you'll feel differently.

Good luck and I'll talk to you tomorrow when I live-blog the sale.

More details on SDCC badge shipping

18 FEBRUARY 2016




Today's Toucan post provides a mostly complete explanation of how we'll receive our new RFID badges. I won't rehash it but on the topic of yesterday's unsettling news about them NOT replacing the badges not sent on by your buyer, this is worth quoting: "Badges undelivered for any reason (moved/my neighbor stole them/postman delivered to wrong address/abducted by aliens) can be replaced onsite."

So it sounds like if you call CCI with a tale of buyer woe - your close online chum bought you a badge then says they shipped it to you and you never got it and now you think they're a black market agent - they can check that your badge was delivered to the buyer and say, "Too bad. We did our part." But if their end of it does go awry, they'll replace the badge onsite.

Maybe there's some wiggle room; maybe there will be so few buyer badge mishaps that they'll quietly take pity on people and replace their badges after all. Who knows. Still a good idea to proceed cautiously with who you entrust your Comic-Con 2016 destiny to.

(And on a personal note - while it's rare that stuff gets lost in the mail, it does happen. I'm currently missing a Republic of Tea package that apparently vanished into thin air, and the company had to ship a replacement. This was through USPS and was tracked at every stop. So it can happen.)

Oh, and CCI also addressed our scalper fears: basically they've found that most scalping revolves around counterfeit badges (which we knew) and they think the difficulty of buying a badge at all will deter rampant scalping activity. I still predict we'll see people in the mix who are eager to make a few extra thousand if they can - why not, it's a Saturday morning, no real investment if they don't get badges - but how many will there be? Let's hope not too many.

My Open Reg advice in a bit.

Are you giving the gift of Emerald City?

11 DECEMBER 2015

ECCC tickets haven't mailed out yet but you can still have something to wrap up if you're giving one as a gift this holiday season. Just download one of the Emerald City Comicon gift certificates and you can thrill and amaze your favorite nerd.

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.

Updated: 3-day ECCC tickets are sold out

24 SEPTEMBER 2015



Remember, you can still attend all 4 days of Emerald City - just buy a 3-day badge and a Thursday and you're set. (Or you can buy all single days.) But ECCC just warned that the 3-days are about to sell out so move fast - like now - if you were thinking of getting a ticket.

I've had a flurry of conversations last night and this morning with SDCC attendees who are either going to ECCC for the first time or thinking about it. They saw yesterday's ticket mania and realized that Emerald City is hot for a reason. So here's my advice: if you can afford to go to Emerald City (and the tickets and hotels are reasonably priced, in my opinion), hop off the fence and go. You won't regret it.

I saw a lot of people on Twitter saying they couldn't buy a ticket until next week or their next paycheck. That's just not an option. Borrow the $85 from your mom, panhandle by your nearest overpass, do whatever you need to do, and buy that ticket today.

ETA: And they're gone. But fear not - all single day tickets are still available. Saturday will be the next to go so I'd get on that action if I were you.