Coheteboy And The Craziness Of The Comic-con '08

[Coheteboy]

Hello.

I'm exhausted. I came back earlier today from my 6th Comic-Con and every year it gets bigger and bigger. And when it gets bigger and bigger, I get lazier and lazier. (or maybe more fatigued).

I had a few goals of this comic-con and they are as follows:

1. Meet Paul Ruebens and get his autograph and also ask him about any Star Tours 2 info, if he had any.

B. Buy a crap load of exclusive toys.

III. Party every night.


I WAS able to buy a crap load of exclusive toys (and even get some of them for free) and I most certainly partied every night.

What I didn't do was meet Paul Ruebens... he cancelled.


Oh well, moving on. There's plenty more to see and do at San Diego Comic-Con, the largest convention of any kind anywhere!


My trip report will be FILLED with photos and it may take some time to get through so I do hope you bear with it all. What I'm not going to do this time is to do it as a day-by-day report. Instead, I'll give a sampling of everything that is to offered and lump all days that are related into one section.

One update may be just to see the latest toys on display. Another might be what celebrities can be found at the convention. I don't know what I'll do when so it will all be a surprise!

Let's start with my digs for the week. The Comfort Inn Gaslamp. $131 a night for a room with two beds. $16 a night to park my car.



It's not luxury but it's serviceable. Free internet at least. Too bad I didn't have a laptop with me.


This is where I could have stayed.... the Marriot. It's way closer but somehow I just decided not to be crammed in a room with three other dudes. I wanted my own bed.



Oh well... let's take a visit anyway. The elevator...



The entire elevator was decorated with Disney-Pixar's UP.









Beautiful San Diego..










The lamp posts throughout San Diego were announcing the convention as celebrating the 'POPULAR ARTS'. Screw the unpopular arts! That stuff is for babies!



Several merchants have decorated their windows with a warning for all..




Here's a crapper in the sky.



Petco Park is right across the street..



And my apologies to end right there. I must get some sleep! I promise it will be MORE interesting!

[Melonballer]

Hooray, the thread I have been waiting for. So far, the crapper in the sky is the best. Let's see what else there is.

[PEZZ Lightyear]

So, the flying superheroes get their own lav?:


I see how they are.

Beautiful shots of SD!

Can't wait to see more!

[knittingknerd]

I love how the whole area is decorated for it! Even the port o pot in the sky. 'Cause everyone is looking at it thinking the same thing Pezz is. Or else what my first thought was "where does the poo go?" Looks like fun so far!

[snorkeld]

Alright an update!! I've been waiting all weekend for this! Last years was one of my favorite non-disney reports of the year.

[sir clinksalot]

Very cool, can't wait to see more.

[jsdmn2]

Alright an update!! I've been waiting all weekend for this! Last years was one of my favorite non-disney reports of the year.

Yes! Me too, me too!

Keep it coming!

[ALIASd]

I'm calling Burbank right now, WHY is there no "UP" signage on this great photo op?!

Can't wait for the rest of your TR!

[aashee]

This report will be good. Coheteboy knows how to write top notch captions. Crapper in the sky with diamonds, can't go wrong already!

[Coheteboy]

Thanks for the many kind responses so far! Let's get a move on...

The convention goes from Wednesday night through Sunday and there's a plethora of activities even if you DON'T go to the convention.

Take a look at Universal Picture's attempt to promote the upcoming MUMMY. I forget the title but it has a Chinese flavor.








On Friday, NBC Universal again makes a presentation outside of the convention next to the TIN FISH restaurant...



It was the unveiling of the new KITT for the Knight Rider series, a follow-up to the 2hour movie that aired earlier this year.










It's still a Ford underneath..



Here's star Justin Bruening posing with KITT.



Cool doors




Around the convention are people that act like Vegas smut peddlers but they hand out freebies like comics, wrist bands, stickers, etc etc. I don't know what this guy was doing but at least he's remaining anonymous..




SCI FI channel got an ice cream truck decked out in EUREKA flavors. Free ice cream don't hurt anyone!







Alright enough playing around. Let's GO to comic-con!



Banners advertising for just about everything can be found on most walls.



Liz posted this shot already but I thought it was pretty cool too. Although... I don't think the majority of comic-con goers are human at all. They have to use the air-crapper I guess.








More update later! But here's a preview of what goes on...






Now imagine that times 50, and that's how big this convention is.

[Legally Brunette]

Wow-that's a big convention!

[Coheteboy]

I'm gonna take a side-step real quick and just talk about swag and merchandise. Comic-con is where the freebies and exclusives are... but because there's so many people that attend, freebies are only for those who absolutely want it.

So if you could spare waiting hours and hours, you could have gotten every new Star Trek movie poster (full size). Bundles of posters of THE SPIRIT were also given away. Posters for movies I never even heard of were given out. Then there tshirts, pins, magnets, stickers, keychains... even gift cards.

Here's a random grab bag of stuff:



Hasbro gave out this tee if you attended one of their panels:



On the front:



Star Wars booth handed out different clone trooper masks everyday, mattel had inflatable He-Man swords, Warner Bros had these fantastic fabric bags that carried EVERYTHING and without your hands!



The clone trooper ammo box above was a freebie for the Lucasfilm/Weta/Gentle Giant party on Friday night.


Diamond Select Toys had a party on Thursday night where everyone who attended got a tshirt and action figure:







Now for things you buy....

The NBC Booth sold everything under the NBCU umbrella of tv channels. Sci Fi, NBC, Bravo, USA, etc. Here's the new Sylar shirt:



And the very hard to get Battlestar Galactica Toaster oven ($65):



Mattel had exclusive He-Man figures which I passed on but I did get the CARS exclusive and the DC UNIVERSE LOBO.

^$15 each

$25



Mezco Toyz has a 4" Hellboy exclusive for $10



Toynami had a FUTURAMA exclusive with the Robot Santa and Christmas Bender ($50):






Hasbro had a ton of exclusives too.

Here's the Combat Heroes Snake Eyes & Timber ($8.75):



Cobra Commander exclusive ($11):



And the Savage Land marvel box set ($31):



There's plenty more that I DIDN'T buy so this was actually a very inexpensive trip for me!


More comic-con fun to come...

[Ginarella]

Awesome pictures so far David. You never disappoint.

[MTNGIRL]

I can't wait for more!

[All4dISNEY]

No way can I ever show this thread to the hubster.