Today, with less than 48 hours notice, CCI jarringly sent out an email about the SDCC hotel sale. It wasn't totally a surprise, if you know they usually hold the hotel lottery about 3-4 weeks after Early Bird goes live - but still. It was a bit of a (welcome) slap in the face after our long sleepy SDCC inertia.
They also announced a few other deadlines. Here's what you need to know and do.
April 28: the hotel sale goes live. Not a lot different this year - you log into the waiting room between 8-9 am and then at 9, you wait to get picked. One thing that's different: you can sign up for 12 downtown hotels.
May 1: Request a refund or forever hold your peace. I know a lot of people have forgotten they even have a 2022 badge, and others might have been waiting to see what their financial situation was. So many attendees have new jobs with iffy amounts of PTO; others have moved away from the West Coast. There's just been a lot of change in general since the last badge sales in autumn 2019. So if you decided not to go - put some $$$$ back in your pocket.
May 13: Last day to update your shipping address. Yes, unlike with Special Edition, CCI has returned to mailing our badges to us. My Member ID account went through some malfeasance during their system change and I had to reset my password - so if you haven't gone into yours and investigated, you really should. Make sure all the right information is there so you can get your badge.
I know it's been kind of weird, this SDCC sleepwalk we've been doing. We're less than 3 months from Preview Night and yet there have been few announcements and little pre-Con buzz. Will that pick up in May? I'm sure it will. I know there's some cynicism about the caliber of SDCC 2022 but let's think positive and wait to see the exclusives, events, and programming coming our way. I'm sure we'll all find something magnificent to anticipate at Comic-Con.
Today CCI did something cruel and beautiful: it reminded us of the Comic-Con we'll never have this year, but it also depicted what might happen to nerds after we die - Ray Bradbury riding up on a dinosaur to welcome us to the afterlife.
I'm talking about the 2020 Souvenir Book cover. This is always a sizzler of a reveal - sometimes with less than enthralling art, but still signaling an important pre-SDCC milestone. It says, Comic-Con is almost here. But this year it's bittersweet. I think we can all agree that nothing satisfies like "a long section devoted to Ray Bradbury" - but there's also a special section for Ray Harryhausen, which is almost more than my deprived quarantined heart can take.
CCI also promises it will feature "amazing ads, featuring exclusive products that would have debuted at Comic-Con, that you can order directly from the exhibitors!" In other words, we can go on a spending joyride while reading. The SDCC 2020 Souvenir Book is truly the issue of my dreams. So it's a bit upsetting to read that this will be a free PDF but not necessarily available in print. We all want a print Souvenir Book, right? It will make late July a little less melancholy to have at least one physical piece of SDCC in our hands. Hopefully CCI will spot an income stream and make print copies available for purchase. (Yes, these are covered in the cost of our badge but our 2020 badges now cover 2021, including the 2021 Souvenir Book, so I'd expect to pay for this one.)
We'll see. They may not want to bother, which would be a shame, but understandable. Stay tuned as we get closer to Comic-Con@home.
And on another topic - remember that 1 July is the deadline to request a badge refund. If you don't want your 2020 badge to transfer to 2021, request a refund now. But remember that the next SDCC you'll probably be able to go to will be in 2022 - and at our current global pace, a new pandemic/doomsday cult/leviathan may have swallowed us up by then.
Stay safe, stay nerdy, and stay tuned. We can still make (parts of) this year a good one.
Happy Mother's Day! We're at a point where most of us have emotionally accepted the deletion of San Diego Comic-Con from our summers. Now that it's May, and we're entering the traditional season of watching for announcements and lusting for exclusives, that absence is beginning to feel painful. Maybe that's why there is still so much fervid talk about Comic-Con - buying groups, badges, hotels, fond memories of SDCCs past. As Marx (probably) says in the afterlife, Comic-Con is the opiate of the masses.
So let's talk about a few developments.
Refunds
I have been involved in 2 badge refunds so far (neither my own) and both were easy to request and quick to be paid out. As in, the quickest I've ever seen CCI act in regard to anything. However, you will need the Member ID of both the attendee and whoever bought their badge so prepare for that when you make your request.
Badge Sales for 2021
Some rumors and misinformation are circulating online, namely that Open Reg has been cancelled for 2021. Fact time: CCI has stated "There will be no Returning Registration for Comic-Con 2021." That's logical, since there will be no 2020 Con for anyone to return from. Anyone with a 2020 badge is already locked in for 2021 if they want to be.
But Open Registration? No official announcement has been made. CCI did say, "Depending on the number of refund requests received, there may be reduced inventory for sale in the fall of 2020." No kidding. But they did not officially cancel Open Reg yet. There's still 51 days to go for attendees to request refunds and many people could be driven to do so by financial despair - but probably, few refunds will be requested. SDCC attendees, even broke and unemployed ones, know to hang onto any existing badge for dear life. So maybe if there's not enough room for Open Reg, CCI will auction off packages (hotel and badge, as they've done before), hold contests or choose some other route. Regardless, let's wait for CCI to announce their plans when they're ready.
If you lost out for 2020 and had high hopes for 2021, the news that you may need to wait for SDCC 2022 is probably a bitter pill to swallow. But in a season where we're all swallowing many bitter pills, it helps to remember there will be other Cons you can go to over the next 2 years.
Comic-Con at Home
You may have seen CCI's pithy little video announcing no lines, comfortable chairs, free parking - i.e., an online version of SDCC 2020. We don't know what it will involve yet. It's a fair guess that some of the content (celebrity interviews, panels) will be interesting and some not so much, and the final sum won't be much like the real thing.
But I hope everyone still checks it out to see if there's some way they can support a favorite vendor/artist or connect with their fandom. As attendees, we're saving money by staying home - but the other side of fence is taking a financial hit. You won't be spending $$$ on hotels or restaurants, so consider getting yourself an expensive exclusive, back issue, print or other treasure. You can indulge yourself a bit with new toys while helping creators stay in a position where they can make more great stuff. Obviously this is if you can afford to do so.
CCI is also serving up Comic-Con Museum at Home, promising videos and downloadable content for all ages. If you haven't done much with the Museum so far, take a look.
Hope you're all keeping your spirits up and staying connected with your nerd brethren. We're at a stage where our pandemic experiences are beginning to differ. Some of us are employed, some aren't, some are recovering from illness, some have a positive antibody test, and some are hiding out. Some are scared witless and some think this is all a conspiracy. (There's going to be a COVID-19 graphic novel anthology with all our different stories covered, right? Right?) Whatever you're thinking and however you're coping, I hope you're still finding ways to escape into the magic of your favorite nerd world. Be safe and one day we'll walk back into Comic-Con.
We knew that, right? But this is where it gets real: "Large public gatherings like Memorial Day or Independence Day parades and sporting events will likely remain forbidden through the summer."
Painful! But expected. We'll wait for CCI to get official about it, but there's no harm in making alternate summer plans now - and thinking about how refunds will work in terms of buying groups. If all buyers are refunded through the same payment methods, everyone who bought someone else's badge will owe them a refund. That will be fun to sort out.
If you nabbed an Early Bird room, I'm sure CCI will work out those arrangements as well. For now, let's wait and see what kind of announcement they make.
Just a reminder that 2 deadlines are looming ahead of us - one for people who are going to San Diego Comic Con and one for people who can't.
15 June is the last day to turn your badge in for a refund. Of all the badge categories we fall into - didn't get a badge, only got a Sunday badge, got it all - the category of people who did get lucky in registration, then unlucky later on may be the saddest. But these people exist, for reasons that range from the financial to an unreasonable boss to scheduled surgery to a break-up.
If you can't make SDCC after all, don't try to sell your badge for a huge profit - CCI has already said they are on top of that action and voiding those badges, which can obviously impact your ability to go to future Cons. Just turn it in and get your money back. Because there is one silver lining to missing Comic-Con and one only: all the money you'll save.
19 June is the advance registration deadline for KiddieCorp. Again, this is a very trustworthy on-site option where trained professionals will entertain and care for your kids - babies to age 12 - while you go carousing through Comic-Con. If you have a long line vigil planned or just want to be really thorough in your Exhibit Hall hunting, this is one way to make sure your kids aren't bored out of their minds.
This week is the deadline for online advance registration. If you want to wait for the programming to come out before you decide what days to register your kids, you can do that too and register them on-site for a slightly higher price.
I find this very endearing: if you bought an ECCC pass as a Christmas gift, you can create a special gift certificate to give to the lucky recipient. There are 3 different designs and you can download them from the ECCC website.
Also, consider this your final reminder: if you can't go to Emerald City after all, and need to request a refund, 31 December is your deadline. And let's be honest, you won't remember to do it once you're visiting your parents and going to your hometown bar with old friends at night and playing with your new tech toys - so it's probably best to request that refund now. You can do that by emailingsupport@showclix.com, or calling1-888-718-4253.
If you scored a 3-day pass to Emerald City Comicon, but have since learned you won't be able to attend, you have a month to request a refund. The deadline is 31 December.
Two fun facts: while 3-day passes are indeed sold out, single day passes for Friday, Saturday and Sunday are still available. So you can still see the full show; you'll just pay a little extra. Also, there's no Badge Resale where all the refunded badges go up for sale at once like with San Diego Comic-Con. Instead passes are made available to the public as they get refunded.
Hopefully you won't need to request a refund, and you spent Thanksgiving being smug with gratitude at having an ECCC pass and/or SDCC badge.
While the deadline to recoup your entire 2-night hotel deposit has already passed, the deadline to get half of it back is 1 June. So if you found something better, log into your reservation today or tomorrow and cancel it.
Again, this only applies to the deposit you already paid. If you need to change a 4 night stay to a 3 night stay, you can cancel that final night with impunity since you'll still be there for the nights you paid.
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 have a badge for San Diego Comic-Con, but some horrible job or family obligation has arisen to stop you from going, be aware the deadline to get a badge refund is 23 May. No doubt you're hoping for a miracle that will let you go after all - but that miracle needs to happen in the next 10 days. Wait any longer and you won't get your money back.
If you are one of those poor unfortunates who got a badge yet can't attend Comic Con, you have only a few more days to request a refund. Tuesday, 15 May, is the deadline. Per CCI, "Refunds are at the sole discretion of SDCC. Sending a refund request or submitting a refund request form does not guarantee you a refund." So make sure you have a good sob story on hand.
If, on the other hand, you're toying with the idea of selling your badge on Craigslist or some such scheme, be aware that you have to physically check in with picture ID at the Con to get your badge. No, not everyone knows this. I've had this idea run by me by two people already (who clearly have never been to the Con.) So unless you're close to San Diego and plan to get your badge, then sell it outside, that idea probably won't work.
See here for details on cancellations and refunds.
