29 FEBRUARY 2016
Now that Open Registration furor has cooled, those of you who got a badge for San Diego Comic-Con have probably shifted from disbelief and joy to more practical concerns like...
1) How much money will you need?
2) When will the hotel sale happen?
3) Is there anything special you should start doing now?
So let's go over that.
Think about hotels.
I outlined this previously, but here it is again - Early Bird Sale I expect to happen shortly, followed by Hotel Day. Right now you need to decide whether you want to opt for certainty and economy by doing the Early Bird Sale, or gamble your fate on Hotel Day. More details on that as they get announced.
Tithe your income to SDCC.
Unless you're a member of the Comic-Con 1%, you need to start a special SDCC fund now. Why? Because over the following months you'll see parties, comedy shows and concerts advertised with online ticket sales. You'll try to get into a Nerd HQ panel. You'll want to do an exclusive pre-sale. And when you arrive at the Con, all those vows you made to rein in the spending will go out the window. You'll run into an old friend and go out for drinks somewhere swank, you'll see the rare action figure of your dreams, you'll feel tired and take cabs instead of walking. Save money now.
Sell your nerd stuff now, not later.
For some reason, first-timers often think that SDCC is the best place to sell off their collectibles. It's not. I don't know if it's the worst, but it's not ideal. Other than a few lightning strikes where you and a vendor turn out to be soulmates, most booths are trying to unload as much merchandise as possible. Many operate on a thin profit margin besides and are very nervous about making back their money, as opposed to feeling generous. Collect all those back issues and figures now and sell them however you can - Ebay, OfferUp, your local retailer - and pocket that cash. You'll get to enjoy a newly spacious house before you fill it up again in August.
Plan your marketing game.
Maybe you're just going to network; maybe you're going to participate in Portfolio Review or Comic Creator Connection; maybe you're going to stalk a certain agent and dazzle them with your brilliance. (That last one is not recommended, actually.) Start thinking now about how to put your best commercial foot forward and the materials involved - business cards, a prettier landing page, sample work, a new domain. I know it seems like you have months to get it done but the next 5 months will fly by.
Build up your stamina.
You don't have to be super-buff to get through Comic-Con - but if you're severely out of shape or just not used to walking, you're going to be sore after 1 day. You'll stand in line quite a bit. You'll sit in uncomfortable positions in hallways. You'll walk hither and yon all day and night. Your mind will want to go a Friday night cosplay party, but your feet will beg you to stay in your hotel bed. Be kind to your future self and start walking or biking daily now.
Get to know the SDCC community.
You will always, always, always, find out the most valuable information - which secret concert is happening, how to get a certain autograph ticket - by befriending other attendees. Read the blogs and forums, ask who's going in your other digital communities and fandoms, and get connected. You'll pick up countless tips that will serve you well later.
Start thinking about your costume.
Yes, I said "start." I'm not talking to you cosplay fanatics who pay monthly storage fees to house all your props and costumes and staging. Attendees who are new to cosplay but think they'd like to try it often leave this to the last second. Don't. This isn't like a Halloween party where everyone's costume is terrible and you're all drunk after 2 hours anyhow so who cares. At SDCC, you'll care. You don't have to be professionally polished - but you will want to make sure your cosplay fits comfortably, can hold up while moving in a crowd, won't suffocate you or make you sweat too much and isn't too itchy. Spend time in it, make sure you're not flashing anyone when you move a certain way, and ask your friends for suggestions. That last is really helpful when you're doing conceptual cosplay.
First-timers - be aware that the majority of attendees wear street clothes, not cosplay. There's a general impression that everyone dresses up, but no, it's quite optional.
Overall, you can expect this schedule between now and Comic-Con. Other than the hotel sale, the next two months will be quiet. Around May, you'll begin hearing about events and a few exclusives and releases, and then in June the pace will pick up. By July, monitoring SDCC developments will be a full-time job. Expect your productivity at work to drop and all your unbadged friends to tell you to stop talking about Comic-Con. Your mind will be a circus of all the screenings, parties, panels, tournaments and toys you're anticipating and then finally - you'll be walking through the doors of the convention center.
In other words, enjoy this lull while you have it.
Showing posts with label budgeting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label budgeting. Show all posts
How to go to Comic-Con when you're poor
8 JANUARY 2016
Do you think you're too broke to go to Comic Con?
The last few years I've done "SDCC on a Budget" posts when Con time rolls around. But it's occurred to me that probably quite a few people exempt themselves from even trying to attend a Con - be it San Diego or others - simply because they feel they don't have the cash required.
I'd never try to persuade someone into spending $$$$ they don't have. However, it's my experience that many people assume that going to SDCC or NYCC is going to cost "thousands of dollars." That doesn't have to be true. People love to exaggerate and there are plenty of articles and online comments referring to $700 a night rooms and such that can make first-timers panic.
The reality is a little more nuanced. First of all, know that you'll be paying in installments. For San Diego Comic-Con, for instance, you usually pay for your badge first. A few weeks or months after that, you'll be asked to put down a deposit on a hotel room (or, if you do Early Bird, pay for your entire stay.) Then you'll have a few months more before you arrive at SDCC and pay for meals and the remainder of your hotel bill.
Other big Cons follow a similar path: badge in advance, hotel partly in advance and partly on check-out. If you're not good at saving money, this can give you a few months' breathing room to pay down those initial charges on your card.
On that note, don't forget that doing a partial Con is an option. Maybe instead of buying a full pass and 4 nights in a hotel, you just do Friday and Saturday and 2 nights. You could even arrive at dawn Friday, spend that night in a hotel, camp Saturday and leave at the end of Sunday. Voila, you've gotten 3 days at the Con while paying for only 1 night in a hotel. (If you're convinced a truncated Con would never satisfy the nerdy thirst inside you, don't be so sure. Just 2 days of Comic-Con can thrill and exhaust you more than you'd anticipate.)
So if you'd like to go to a big Comic Con but think you can't afford it, here's how budget-strapped people do it.
Hotels
This is usually the priciest aspect of going to the Con. A few options: you can try to stay in a local hostel; at some Cons you can camp in a nearby campground and take public transportation into town. You can also - if you're up for it - squeeze as many people as possible into your room. I knew one group that slept in shifts, with the morning people sleeping from 10 pm or so till dawn, and the partiers sleeping from dawn to afternoon. Everyone paid about $30 a night.
If you don't have someone - or enough someones - to share your room, ask around online, if you're comfortable sharing with strangers. You will definitely find others who didn't get a room at all or would like to split costs. Another option is bluntly asking people if you can crash with them 1 night. Overnight Hall H lines have been mitigated by the wristbands, but camping is still a thing at SDCC and other Cons and if you think you'll do at least 2 nights outside, you might see if you can sleep on someone's hotel room floor the other 2.
Finally, know that in SDCC's case, they offer up hotel rooms via the Early Bird sale. These aren't for downtown hotels - you will need to take the shuttle - but the rates are lower. Put 4 people into a room for 180 a night and you've got yourself a fairly manageable nightly rate per person.
Badges
Most conventions offer discounts if you're a senior, junior or military; kids under a certain age are usually free. You can also volunteer, which usually gets you full or partial free access to the Con. Just look at the event website and find out their application requirements.
Finally, if you've got connections you can try to come in as a booth worker or a vendor's right hand. Please note: there's generally a huge difference between working for someone you know and answering one of the job ads you see close to Con time. The latter tend to be low-paying with long hours and often only hire people with modeling or acting experience. Don't expect a lot of free time to scamper around the Con and attend panels and events at your leisure.
Meals
This is the element most in your control. I know people who live on a Spartan Comic-Con meal plan and it works for them. Generally, they pack their own food - cereal, fruit, sandwiches, power bars, etc - or buy groceries at a San Diego store like Ralph's, then live off that in their rooms. They don't go out to eat. OR they do that plus a few cheap indulgences, like a slice of pizza in the Gaslamp or the Horton food court or an $8 sub that feeds them all day long.
There was a time when you could scavenge appetizers and snacks from events and hospitality suites but those sources have dried up somewhat in the last few years.
Transportation
Plane fare is plane fare. Planning in advance and scouting for deals is your only option here, unless you're willing to endure a long bus ride. If you live in driving distance, look around online for anyone else who's driving and see if you can ride along and chip in for gas.
Merch
Some attendees (and shops) make an art of financing their attendance through buying exclusives and selling them at a profit. This has always seemed like a colossal headache to me, and uncertain to boot - it can be hard to anticipate what's going to increase in value and what will be glutting Ebay. If you choose this route, be aware that you will be working for your money, from standing in multiple lines to depending on the occasional ticket lottery to simply not getting to a booth in time.
As far as buying items for your own enjoyment, sometimes you can haggle with vendors and sometimes not. Waiting for the final-day markdowns is your best bet. If you fall in love with something and you're ready to sign over your last dime, check first on your phone to see what it's going for online. It's very rare to come across something at the Con that you can't get elsewhere, but that buzz of Exhibit Hall excitement can make every booth seem like a tantalizing chance of a lifetime.
Events
There will always be pricey events around the bigger Cons - comedy shows, concerts, competitions, private parties - but they're hardly the only show in town. Free events like screenings, gaming, meetups, and more will abound as well. And if you're bringing kids with you and wondering how you'll entertain them, know that 1) they'll be tuckered out earlier than usual at night 2) there are usually kid-specific panels and events at bigger Cons 3) just taking them to see the outside spectacles can awe them 4) they'll probably get a fair amount of kid-swag like free books and games during the day.
All in all, you can pull off a poor nerd's Comic Con if you plan strategically and save well. Of course, even with the above practices, it might still be out of your reach. There's nothing wrong with erring on the side of fiscal prudence, especially if you've never been to a big Con and aren't sure if it's worth the funds. I promise you that every August there are attendees who open their credit card bills and go pale with horror when they see the total of their SDCC spending.
But if you think you can swing it with the right tricks - give it a shot. It could be the best gift you ever give yourself.
Do you think you're too broke to go to Comic Con?
The last few years I've done "SDCC on a Budget" posts when Con time rolls around. But it's occurred to me that probably quite a few people exempt themselves from even trying to attend a Con - be it San Diego or others - simply because they feel they don't have the cash required.
I'd never try to persuade someone into spending $$$$ they don't have. However, it's my experience that many people assume that going to SDCC or NYCC is going to cost "thousands of dollars." That doesn't have to be true. People love to exaggerate and there are plenty of articles and online comments referring to $700 a night rooms and such that can make first-timers panic.
The reality is a little more nuanced. First of all, know that you'll be paying in installments. For San Diego Comic-Con, for instance, you usually pay for your badge first. A few weeks or months after that, you'll be asked to put down a deposit on a hotel room (or, if you do Early Bird, pay for your entire stay.) Then you'll have a few months more before you arrive at SDCC and pay for meals and the remainder of your hotel bill.
Other big Cons follow a similar path: badge in advance, hotel partly in advance and partly on check-out. If you're not good at saving money, this can give you a few months' breathing room to pay down those initial charges on your card.
On that note, don't forget that doing a partial Con is an option. Maybe instead of buying a full pass and 4 nights in a hotel, you just do Friday and Saturday and 2 nights. You could even arrive at dawn Friday, spend that night in a hotel, camp Saturday and leave at the end of Sunday. Voila, you've gotten 3 days at the Con while paying for only 1 night in a hotel. (If you're convinced a truncated Con would never satisfy the nerdy thirst inside you, don't be so sure. Just 2 days of Comic-Con can thrill and exhaust you more than you'd anticipate.)
So if you'd like to go to a big Comic Con but think you can't afford it, here's how budget-strapped people do it.
Hotels
This is usually the priciest aspect of going to the Con. A few options: you can try to stay in a local hostel; at some Cons you can camp in a nearby campground and take public transportation into town. You can also - if you're up for it - squeeze as many people as possible into your room. I knew one group that slept in shifts, with the morning people sleeping from 10 pm or so till dawn, and the partiers sleeping from dawn to afternoon. Everyone paid about $30 a night.
If you don't have someone - or enough someones - to share your room, ask around online, if you're comfortable sharing with strangers. You will definitely find others who didn't get a room at all or would like to split costs. Another option is bluntly asking people if you can crash with them 1 night. Overnight Hall H lines have been mitigated by the wristbands, but camping is still a thing at SDCC and other Cons and if you think you'll do at least 2 nights outside, you might see if you can sleep on someone's hotel room floor the other 2.
Finally, know that in SDCC's case, they offer up hotel rooms via the Early Bird sale. These aren't for downtown hotels - you will need to take the shuttle - but the rates are lower. Put 4 people into a room for 180 a night and you've got yourself a fairly manageable nightly rate per person.
Badges
Most conventions offer discounts if you're a senior, junior or military; kids under a certain age are usually free. You can also volunteer, which usually gets you full or partial free access to the Con. Just look at the event website and find out their application requirements.
Finally, if you've got connections you can try to come in as a booth worker or a vendor's right hand. Please note: there's generally a huge difference between working for someone you know and answering one of the job ads you see close to Con time. The latter tend to be low-paying with long hours and often only hire people with modeling or acting experience. Don't expect a lot of free time to scamper around the Con and attend panels and events at your leisure.
Meals
This is the element most in your control. I know people who live on a Spartan Comic-Con meal plan and it works for them. Generally, they pack their own food - cereal, fruit, sandwiches, power bars, etc - or buy groceries at a San Diego store like Ralph's, then live off that in their rooms. They don't go out to eat. OR they do that plus a few cheap indulgences, like a slice of pizza in the Gaslamp or the Horton food court or an $8 sub that feeds them all day long.
There was a time when you could scavenge appetizers and snacks from events and hospitality suites but those sources have dried up somewhat in the last few years.
Transportation
Plane fare is plane fare. Planning in advance and scouting for deals is your only option here, unless you're willing to endure a long bus ride. If you live in driving distance, look around online for anyone else who's driving and see if you can ride along and chip in for gas.
Merch
Some attendees (and shops) make an art of financing their attendance through buying exclusives and selling them at a profit. This has always seemed like a colossal headache to me, and uncertain to boot - it can be hard to anticipate what's going to increase in value and what will be glutting Ebay. If you choose this route, be aware that you will be working for your money, from standing in multiple lines to depending on the occasional ticket lottery to simply not getting to a booth in time.
As far as buying items for your own enjoyment, sometimes you can haggle with vendors and sometimes not. Waiting for the final-day markdowns is your best bet. If you fall in love with something and you're ready to sign over your last dime, check first on your phone to see what it's going for online. It's very rare to come across something at the Con that you can't get elsewhere, but that buzz of Exhibit Hall excitement can make every booth seem like a tantalizing chance of a lifetime.
Events
There will always be pricey events around the bigger Cons - comedy shows, concerts, competitions, private parties - but they're hardly the only show in town. Free events like screenings, gaming, meetups, and more will abound as well. And if you're bringing kids with you and wondering how you'll entertain them, know that 1) they'll be tuckered out earlier than usual at night 2) there are usually kid-specific panels and events at bigger Cons 3) just taking them to see the outside spectacles can awe them 4) they'll probably get a fair amount of kid-swag like free books and games during the day.
All in all, you can pull off a poor nerd's Comic Con if you plan strategically and save well. Of course, even with the above practices, it might still be out of your reach. There's nothing wrong with erring on the side of fiscal prudence, especially if you've never been to a big Con and aren't sure if it's worth the funds. I promise you that every August there are attendees who open their credit card bills and go pale with horror when they see the total of their SDCC spending.
But if you think you can swing it with the right tricks - give it a shot. It could be the best gift you ever give yourself.
Comic-Con on a budget
7 JULY 2015
If you read all the online Comic-Con coverage, you can come away with the impression that SDCC is only for the affluent. Invite-only parties at fancy clubs. Events with $200 tickets. Exclusives that run $300 for a simple action figure.
Given that most of us aren’t multi-millionaires, and are already shelling out for 4-5 days of restaurants and hotel rooms, and maybe even airfare, it can be disheartening to think that the really good parts of Comic-Con are out of reach. So I’m here to tell you that you can have just as much fun – or more – doing things that are free or inexpensive. (And please believe me when I say that all those celebrity parties are so unbelievably boring. Attendees throw the really fun parties at SDCC.)
But before we get into that, here's an idea if you’re really strapped for cash. One thing you can do now is cancel your Saturday night hotel room. You’ve probably put down a two night deposit which could cover Wednesday, Thursday or Friday if you have them booked; you can still cancel the other nights at most hotels. So if the Sunday programming isn’t doing it for you, consider leaving Saturday night. Or just ask around and see if a friend will let you crash on their floor. Right there you’ll save a good sum.
In the meantime, there are plenty of options for the budget-conscious.
Events
First, don’t forget about the many, many nightlife options SDCC gives you. They’re all free and some of them are way more interesting than your typical party. Movie marathons, screenings (like Justice League on Friday night and Scream Queens on Saturday night), trivia contests, Spike and Mike, a gay mixer, creative workshops, Nickelodean’s Variety Breadwinners show – there’s a lot to choose from.
MTV is throwing its usual Fandom party Thursday night in Petco Park. That’s free.
Adam Savage on Friday night is also free, and will have drinks and food.
The Bad Ass Music Festival is only five dollars for badge holders.
Nerd HQ may charge for conversations but you can participate in all their other activities for free, including nightly parties.
The official SDCC off-sites – the Game of Thrones experience, Adult Swim, the Assassin’s Creed obstacle course – are all free.
There are seriously so many gaming events even if you don’t want to pony up for Gam3rCon. The Xbox Lounge at the Manchester Grand Hyatt and the Nintendo Lounge at the Marriott Marquis. Nintendiego’s tournament at the Mission Brewery. You can game your heart away for very little at the Con.
Eating on the cheap
I covered some of this earlier, but there are a number of alternatives to splashing out on restaurants all the time.
The most obvious: getting groceries from Ralph’s or some other spot and creating some of your meals yourself in your room.
Pricey restaurants abound in the Gaslamp but there are cheaper options too, like getting a slice of pizza at Gaslamp Pizza or a huge sub at the 24-hour Subway; Horton Plaza Food Court has a lot of fast food options. We’ll have more food trucks this year, but how cheap they are remains to be seen.
If you want to get away from the Con, go to Mission Beach or Ocean Beach. You can get shrimp tacos or other beach fare for under 10 dollars usually.
A lot of bars offer super-inexpensive happy hour options during SDCC. So if you don’t mind greasy bar food (or you even love it) skip the restaurant lines and stroll straight into the nearest saloon.
Swag
Again, this is just a portion of the freebies and deals you'll find at Comic-Con. So if your wallet is on the thin side, don't be depressed or think you can't have a good time. You absolutely can. The magic of SDCC isn't about expensive exclusives or glitzy parties. It's about having fun with your friends, other attendees and immersing yourself in the nerd passions that motivated you to go through all this hoopla in the first place.
If you read all the online Comic-Con coverage, you can come away with the impression that SDCC is only for the affluent. Invite-only parties at fancy clubs. Events with $200 tickets. Exclusives that run $300 for a simple action figure.
Given that most of us aren’t multi-millionaires, and are already shelling out for 4-5 days of restaurants and hotel rooms, and maybe even airfare, it can be disheartening to think that the really good parts of Comic-Con are out of reach. So I’m here to tell you that you can have just as much fun – or more – doing things that are free or inexpensive. (And please believe me when I say that all those celebrity parties are so unbelievably boring. Attendees throw the really fun parties at SDCC.)
But before we get into that, here's an idea if you’re really strapped for cash. One thing you can do now is cancel your Saturday night hotel room. You’ve probably put down a two night deposit which could cover Wednesday, Thursday or Friday if you have them booked; you can still cancel the other nights at most hotels. So if the Sunday programming isn’t doing it for you, consider leaving Saturday night. Or just ask around and see if a friend will let you crash on their floor. Right there you’ll save a good sum.
In the meantime, there are plenty of options for the budget-conscious.
Events
First, don’t forget about the many, many nightlife options SDCC gives you. They’re all free and some of them are way more interesting than your typical party. Movie marathons, screenings (like Justice League on Friday night and Scream Queens on Saturday night), trivia contests, Spike and Mike, a gay mixer, creative workshops, Nickelodean’s Variety Breadwinners show – there’s a lot to choose from.
MTV is throwing its usual Fandom party Thursday night in Petco Park. That’s free.
Adam Savage on Friday night is also free, and will have drinks and food.
The Bad Ass Music Festival is only five dollars for badge holders.
Nerd HQ may charge for conversations but you can participate in all their other activities for free, including nightly parties.
The official SDCC off-sites – the Game of Thrones experience, Adult Swim, the Assassin’s Creed obstacle course – are all free.
There are seriously so many gaming events even if you don’t want to pony up for Gam3rCon. The Xbox Lounge at the Manchester Grand Hyatt and the Nintendo Lounge at the Marriott Marquis. Nintendiego’s tournament at the Mission Brewery. You can game your heart away for very little at the Con.
Boom!’s 10 year anniversary party at the Hilton
Bayfront on Thursday is free.
Crave Online is allegedly giving out 2,000
tickets to their USS Midway party.
Nerdist and Geek and Sundry teamed up for a
free Friday party at Petco Park.
Mcfadden's is throwing a free event every night of the Con, including a performance by David Hasselhoff. Now really, where else can you see David Hasselhoff turn in a free bar show while you're surrounded by spilled beer and raucous nerds?
Eating on the cheap
I covered some of this earlier, but there are a number of alternatives to splashing out on restaurants all the time.
The most obvious: getting groceries from Ralph’s or some other spot and creating some of your meals yourself in your room.
Pricey restaurants abound in the Gaslamp but there are cheaper options too, like getting a slice of pizza at Gaslamp Pizza or a huge sub at the 24-hour Subway; Horton Plaza Food Court has a lot of fast food options. We’ll have more food trucks this year, but how cheap they are remains to be seen.
If you want to get away from the Con, go to Mission Beach or Ocean Beach. You can get shrimp tacos or other beach fare for under 10 dollars usually.
A lot of bars offer super-inexpensive happy hour options during SDCC. So if you don’t mind greasy bar food (or you even love it) skip the restaurant lines and stroll straight into the nearest saloon.
Swag
This is such a tiny portion of the gifts and swag that will befall you:
Star Trek: Axanar is handing out giveaways. So is the Power
Rangers Dino Charge panel, the TokyoPop panel and the Lego Marvel Avengers
panel.
Free ice cream is being passed out randomly around the
convention center in honor of Scream Queens.
The Artist as Brand: Rise of the Artist Entrepreneur panel
will give out 3 Artist as Brand workbooks.
Anyone who goes to the Magnetic Press panel will get a copy
of Poet Anderson #1.
The Something Old, Something New/Classic Comics panel is
handing out books. So are the Harper Collins and the Penguin panels, along with
ARCs (advanced review copies.)
Nickelodean’s Variety Show featuring Breadwinners Live will hand out “swag bags packed with exclusive collectibles.”
Creepy & Eerie’s Saturday panel will hand out swag “for
the demonically deserving.”
The Adult Swim activities always give out t-shirts and
other prizes to most participants.
The Archie panels typically are very generous with bags of
free books and comics and promo codes.
If you donate blood at the Hyatt, you get a swag bag
full of books, shirts and other merch, and entered into multiple drawings.
While I can’t say for sure they’ll do so this year, the
Game of Thrones experience usually hands out shirts and other stuff.
Kids’ panels especially give out a ton of stuff.
But
here’s one thing that isn’t free – a lot of the postcards and other art at
indie and small press booths. Attendees tend to come along and grab stuff
without paying for it because they’re used to the giveaways at the big studio
booths. But small artists depend on selling those items. Just ask first.
Also – be prepared for some companies to ask for your
social media or contact information in order to get their giveaway. They won’t
all do it, but some will. So decide in advance if you want to do that, or use
fake information.
Again, this is just a portion of the freebies and deals you'll find at Comic-Con. So if your wallet is on the thin side, don't be depressed or think you can't have a good time. You absolutely can. The magic of SDCC isn't about expensive exclusives or glitzy parties. It's about having fun with your friends, other attendees and immersing yourself in the nerd passions that motivated you to go through all this hoopla in the first place.
Yes, SDCC prices went up - and that's okay
4 SEPTEMBER 2014
Remember when San Diego Comic-Con cost $35 all those years ago? Yes, so do I. That was in the time of wandering upstairs to the Sails Pavilion and pre-registering at your leisure. The era of being deeply annoyed that you had to wait 90 whole minutes to get into Hall H on Saturday.
Times have changed and badge prices have risen every year. And they have done so once again to the outrage of many Con attendees. It's not a huge difference when comparing 2014 to 2015. But I know many of you thought prices were already outlandish - and that these new rates are a crime against nerddom.
Here is what it will set you back to buy your SDCC 2015 badge.
For regular attendee badges:
Preview Night: $35
Thursday, Friday and Saturday: $50 each
Sunday: $35
For Junior, Senior and Military badges:
Preview Night: $18
Thursday, Friday and Saturday: $25 each
Sunday: $17
Remember that if you buy Preview Night, you buy it all. So the ultimate Comic-Con badge will cost you $220.
Now I'm going to say something that may sound insensitive and economically tone-deaf. I don't have a problem with the badge prices going up a bit. We put immense demands upon CCI and the convention center. The need for increased security is just one example. Our incremental spread into other facilities is another. This past summer CCI added programming in the Horton Grand Theatre. Possibly next summer they'll be using yet another new building. They have made a point of saying they are continually looking for ways to improve the Comic-Con experience. We all want that too, right? Easier badge sales, better line management, security guards who are actually helpful?
Ultimately you can't go to the biggest and most popular Con in the world and expect prices to stay the same forever. I think $220 is an incredible bargain for a 5-day show when many people blow way more than that on tickets to a single basketball game or concert. I know that's a lot of money for some people and I do empathize - I was beyond broke my first few Cons. I remember those days clearly. But given how much Con attendance costs overall - hotels, meals, parking, events, whatever you buy on the floor - an extra $20 this year probably won't stop many people from going.
Personally I wish CCI would introduce a Fast Pass/VIP badge that was priced high enough to keep the rates low for everyone else. I would happily pay more for, say, an accelerated badge pick-up process, or some kind of special screening/swag bag/event/other incentive. I'm sure other attendees feel the same way. But I'm not crossing my fingers. For now, this is what we have.
Remember when San Diego Comic-Con cost $35 all those years ago? Yes, so do I. That was in the time of wandering upstairs to the Sails Pavilion and pre-registering at your leisure. The era of being deeply annoyed that you had to wait 90 whole minutes to get into Hall H on Saturday.
Times have changed and badge prices have risen every year. And they have done so once again to the outrage of many Con attendees. It's not a huge difference when comparing 2014 to 2015. But I know many of you thought prices were already outlandish - and that these new rates are a crime against nerddom.
Here is what it will set you back to buy your SDCC 2015 badge.
For regular attendee badges:
Preview Night: $35
Thursday, Friday and Saturday: $50 each
Sunday: $35
For Junior, Senior and Military badges:
Preview Night: $18
Thursday, Friday and Saturday: $25 each
Sunday: $17
Remember that if you buy Preview Night, you buy it all. So the ultimate Comic-Con badge will cost you $220.
Now I'm going to say something that may sound insensitive and economically tone-deaf. I don't have a problem with the badge prices going up a bit. We put immense demands upon CCI and the convention center. The need for increased security is just one example. Our incremental spread into other facilities is another. This past summer CCI added programming in the Horton Grand Theatre. Possibly next summer they'll be using yet another new building. They have made a point of saying they are continually looking for ways to improve the Comic-Con experience. We all want that too, right? Easier badge sales, better line management, security guards who are actually helpful?
Ultimately you can't go to the biggest and most popular Con in the world and expect prices to stay the same forever. I think $220 is an incredible bargain for a 5-day show when many people blow way more than that on tickets to a single basketball game or concert. I know that's a lot of money for some people and I do empathize - I was beyond broke my first few Cons. I remember those days clearly. But given how much Con attendance costs overall - hotels, meals, parking, events, whatever you buy on the floor - an extra $20 this year probably won't stop many people from going.
Personally I wish CCI would introduce a Fast Pass/VIP badge that was priced high enough to keep the rates low for everyone else. I would happily pay more for, say, an accelerated badge pick-up process, or some kind of special screening/swag bag/event/other incentive. I'm sure other attendees feel the same way. But I'm not crossing my fingers. For now, this is what we have.
What's free at Comic-Con
20 JULY 2014
Events
Night events at the Con have competitions, a mixer for gay comic book fans, trivia contests and countless film festivals and screenings - anime, Star Trek Episodes, Spike and Mike, the IFF. There is something for everyone after dinner.
So many gaming events. See here for a longer list but the Xbox Lounge at the Manchester Grand Hyatt and the Nintendo Lounge at the Marriott Marquis alone could keep you busy.
History Channel's Viking Interactive is in the parking lot at 450 2nd Ave. You'll be made up into a rough-looking Viking and then be placed into 3 different scenes for a compiled video you can share on social.
Swag
Once upon a time, even B-list panels gave out t-shirts. (The
best one in my collection: a blue shirt with a hula girl and a “I Got Lei’d at
Comic-Con” from the Hawaii 5-0 panel before the first Walking Dead panel ever.)
Then the recession’s cold tentacles reached into Comic-Con and we all started
getting cheap trinkets that broke within hours.
But it looks like this year many panels are bringing good swag back to us.
The Penny Dreadful panel is handing out Tarot cards.
The Teen Wolf booth #3729 has "activations" where you can insert yourself into a custom character poster and create your own monster, as well as a free limited edition bestiary by artist Swann Smith that details the creatures of Beacon Hills.
This is just a teeny portion of the prizes and shirts and free stuff that will be handed out; most panels don't announce it ahead of time. As for eating cheaply, see my post on eating at Comic-Con.
If you know anything else that's free, post it in the comments.
If you
pay attention to all of the events going on around the Con, it can sometimes seem
like a rich nerd’s game. $80 to walk in the door of a party, $90 to hear a concert,
$40 to sit down at a meetup - it adds up fast. And that doesn’t even include exclusives, which
can sent you back $140 for a doll or $200 for an action figure.
These prices can feel a bit demoralizing when you’re
of modest means and have already spent almost 2K on your badge, flight and hotel
room (and still have to eat.) Luckily, you can have a good time at the Con without running up your credit card on spendy
events. There are so many things to do that are free (or cheap), you won’t even
remember the more expensive options.
Here's what's free at Comic Con.
uMTV is
throwing that party Thursday night with the Fan Awards in Petco Park.
Also on Thursday night: Beer Bust at Comic-Con, which serves up 400 free beers.
FearFestEvil party is on Friday night and free as long as you RSVP.
Incognito with Adam Savage on Friday night is also free, and first come first serve.
Also on Thursday night: Beer Bust at Comic-Con, which serves up 400 free beers.
FearFestEvil party is on Friday night and free as long as you RSVP.
Incognito with Adam Savage on Friday night is also free, and first come first serve.
Nerd HQ may charge for
panels but there’s a lot of free stuff to do there otherwise, including their
Thursday night dance party.
Borderlands Prequel
Laser Tag will be at the top of Petco Park. Free, but people with badges get
priority over anyone else.
Godzilla Interactive
will be behind Hall H. You’ll have a 24 foot Godzilla to admire and a graffiti
wall to adorn with your personal Godzilla moments.
Homer's Dome invites you to take a 4-D journey into Homer's thoughts by the Hilton Bayfront.
ArtExpo is
free and takes place at the Wonderbread Factory - 121 14th Street.
Teenage Mutant Ninja
Turtles Interactive will be in the Petco parking lot. You can see the latest
movie trailer, get a Turtle-style photo, eat free pizza and get a free foam
disk.
Sin City Interactive is
in the same place and will show clips/trailers, get a photo of themselves in
the film, get t-shirts and see the 6 classic cars in the movie. The Suicide
Girls should be there off and on too.
We don’t know exactly
what will happen at the Game of Thrones Survive the Realm experience in the
Omni Gallery but we know it will be awesome. A photo of you flying around on a
dragon? Crushing the Red Viper’s head? Fighting a bear? Probably something we can't imagine. ETA: Per Andrew we know that it will have a virtual wall for people to climb and the first 2000 people a day will get swag.
Adult Swim’s Fun Houseand Meatwad Dome in the Petco parking lot are 18+ and free. The Fun House is kind of a bounce house/obstacle course; the Dome I'm not sure of.
The Sleepy Hollow
Virtual Reality Bridge Escape will be in that area. You can wear an Oculus Rift
headset to experience the Headless Horseman yourself.
Gotham Zipline and
Police Cars are free; the Police Cars will be driving around and you just need
to flag them down. The Zipline you can find outside Hall H.
Night events at the Con have competitions, a mixer for gay comic book fans, trivia contests and countless film festivals and screenings - anime, Star Trek Episodes, Spike and Mike, the IFF. There is something for everyone after dinner.
So many gaming events. See here for a longer list but the Xbox Lounge at the Manchester Grand Hyatt and the Nintendo Lounge at the Marriott Marquis alone could keep you busy.
The
Assassin's Creed Experience outside the Hilton Gaslamp will ask you to climb
ropes, do a 25 foot “leap of faith” and generally scramble around an obstacle
course for a free t-shirt.
Not counting the cost of your get-up, the Saturday night Zombie
Walk is free and fun.
Friday's Orphan Black meetup will have free food, drinks. 1 pm at Southpaw Social at 815 J Street.
The Strain Fan Event on Saturday night will screen 2 episodes and have food and drinks.
Adult Swim is hosting Tim and Eric's Jammy Party for the world premiere of their new live action show Tim & Eric’s Bedtime Stories. You have to wear pajamas to attend and RSVP .
The Strain Fan Event on Saturday night will screen 2 episodes and have food and drinks.
Adult Swim is hosting Tim and Eric's Jammy Party for the world premiere of their new live action show Tim & Eric’s Bedtime Stories. You have to wear pajamas to attend and RSVP .
Geek and Sundry is
open to all at Jolt'n Joe's every day.
The Penny Dreadful panel is handing out Tarot cards.
The Adult Swim Funhouse and Meatdome in the Petco Park parking lot
are giving out t-shirts to anyone who completes them.
Simon& Schuster will give out Star Trek books, different ones every day of the Con.
If you donate blood at
the Hyatt, you get a swag bag full of goodies, including a True Blood
t-shirt. You also get entered into multiple drawings.
Creepy & Eerie’s Saturday panel will hand out Creepy swag.
While I can’t say for sure, the Game of Thrones experience gave
out t-shirts last year and probably will this year too.
On Friday at 1 pm, the BoxTrolls food truck will hand out free “delicacies”
from chef David George Gordon. Petco Parking lot.
The Temple of Art 11:00 Saturday panel will have t-shirts and giveaways.
Red Giant
Entertainment is offering a Giant-Sized #0 comic 4-pack to anyone who comes to their Sunday
panel: .
The Teen Wolf booth #3729 has "activations" where you can insert yourself into a custom character poster and create your own monster, as well as a free limited edition bestiary by artist Swann Smith that details the creatures of Beacon Hills.
Marvel is giving out something legendary at its Saturday 10:30 and 12:30 panels. It claims.
This is just a teeny portion of the prizes and shirts and free stuff that will be handed out; most panels don't announce it ahead of time. As for eating cheaply, see my post on eating at Comic-Con.
If you know anything else that's free, post it in the comments.
8 weeks until Comic-Con
26 MAY 2014
On Wednesday we'll be 8 weeks from Preview Night - and those 8 weeks will grow progressively noisier with news and announcements and chaos. Which makes now a good time to step back and get some basics locked down.
Save money. I mentioned this before. Hopefully you've started a Comic-Con fund. But if you haven't, you still have time to start setting aside money. Sell off old back issues and action figures on Ebay now (you'll need the room for the plunder you bring home) and you'll have your money by July.
Budget your money. At this point you already know what you're spending on the hotel, parking, badge and airfare. But if you're strapped for cash, it's good to figure out how much disposable income you can afford to spend on restaurants, events and Exhibit Hall stuff. Already tickets have gone on sale for the San Diego Symphony, Kevin Smith, the Suicide Girls and Chris Hardwick, while many exclusives are up for presale. It's quite possible to spend hundreds of dollars here and there and be broke before you even set foot in the convention center.
Get your materials ready. If you're bringing business cards, demos, sample art, script pages or any other portfolioesque materials, get those ready now. Don't wait until July. Printers have mishaps, errors go unnoticed, domains expire - be sure you're going to be in good shape in both print and digital form weeks before Comic-Con.
Figure out your onsite production plan, if you need one. This won't apply to most of you, but is critical for those of you that it does. If you need to ship and receive goods in San Diego, if there is a slight chance you'll need to print more t-shirts or posters in the dead of the night, map out the right facilities, hours and locations now.
Make a list of everything you want. You're going to start seeing fleeting news jibbets about exclusives and giveaways that will only be mentioned once and never again. It gets hard to remember all of it as the weeks go on. Start a list.
Contact your friends. I hate making plans in advance and no doubt some of you do too. But here's the thing - Comic-Con is so busy that it's really easy to get swept up in moment by moment drama or succumb to your own exhaustion, and never actually get together with your friends. Find out now who's going and then circle back later and make a solid plan to see each other. The days of running into people you know and gradually roaming the night together as a tribe - which is how Comic-Con used to go for many of us - are over.
Prepare physically. I said before to get in shape now, at least to the point where you can comfortably walk a few miles and stand for long periods of time. I'm really not kidding about this. If you're completely out of shape, Comic-Con will wear you out on the first day. Get ready and get some decent shoes that you break in ahead of time.
Make a decision on your costume. If you're like most non-cosplayer nerds who like the idea of dressing up, you've probably speculated all year on what you might dress up as at Comic-Con. Now is the time to make a decision and stick with it. Costumes (good ones, anyway) can be a lot of work, from collecting the right components to fixing them swiftly when they fall apart after an hour. Separate how you'd like to appear from what you can realistically pull off, and execute now.
On Wednesday we'll be 8 weeks from Preview Night - and those 8 weeks will grow progressively noisier with news and announcements and chaos. Which makes now a good time to step back and get some basics locked down.
Save money. I mentioned this before. Hopefully you've started a Comic-Con fund. But if you haven't, you still have time to start setting aside money. Sell off old back issues and action figures on Ebay now (you'll need the room for the plunder you bring home) and you'll have your money by July.
Budget your money. At this point you already know what you're spending on the hotel, parking, badge and airfare. But if you're strapped for cash, it's good to figure out how much disposable income you can afford to spend on restaurants, events and Exhibit Hall stuff. Already tickets have gone on sale for the San Diego Symphony, Kevin Smith, the Suicide Girls and Chris Hardwick, while many exclusives are up for presale. It's quite possible to spend hundreds of dollars here and there and be broke before you even set foot in the convention center.
Get your materials ready. If you're bringing business cards, demos, sample art, script pages or any other portfolioesque materials, get those ready now. Don't wait until July. Printers have mishaps, errors go unnoticed, domains expire - be sure you're going to be in good shape in both print and digital form weeks before Comic-Con.
Figure out your onsite production plan, if you need one. This won't apply to most of you, but is critical for those of you that it does. If you need to ship and receive goods in San Diego, if there is a slight chance you'll need to print more t-shirts or posters in the dead of the night, map out the right facilities, hours and locations now.
Make a list of everything you want. You're going to start seeing fleeting news jibbets about exclusives and giveaways that will only be mentioned once and never again. It gets hard to remember all of it as the weeks go on. Start a list.
Contact your friends. I hate making plans in advance and no doubt some of you do too. But here's the thing - Comic-Con is so busy that it's really easy to get swept up in moment by moment drama or succumb to your own exhaustion, and never actually get together with your friends. Find out now who's going and then circle back later and make a solid plan to see each other. The days of running into people you know and gradually roaming the night together as a tribe - which is how Comic-Con used to go for many of us - are over.
Prepare physically. I said before to get in shape now, at least to the point where you can comfortably walk a few miles and stand for long periods of time. I'm really not kidding about this. If you're completely out of shape, Comic-Con will wear you out on the first day. Get ready and get some decent shoes that you break in ahead of time.
Make a decision on your costume. If you're like most non-cosplayer nerds who like the idea of dressing up, you've probably speculated all year on what you might dress up as at Comic-Con. Now is the time to make a decision and stick with it. Costumes (good ones, anyway) can be a lot of work, from collecting the right components to fixing them swiftly when they fall apart after an hour. Separate how you'd like to appear from what you can realistically pull off, and execute now.
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