Some new experiences at the SDCC San Diego Comic Con – Review

We got home from San Diego late last night and I was extremely exhausted. Maybe it was the 1.5 hour drive or maybe I was still recovering from a night of partying in the gaslamp with some good friends but once I got home I hit the pillow and just woke up moments ago. Actually, I think the most exhausting part of the trip to SDCC was chasing Logan around on Thursday and Friday. I’ve already decided to leave the kids at home for next year.

I’ve got a good amount of material to keep me blogging about the comic con for quite a while but here are some key points from this year’s comic con:

1. The swag given away by the various major vendors was considerably less this year. It was very noticeable from someone who has been going to every comic con since 1999. The kids used to love getting the free stuff in years past and they were kinda disappointed this time around. I’m guessing the economy has really tightened the marketing budget for many of these companies so we were kinda limited to mini-posters, buttons, and other generic stuff. There were a few companies that had some cool giveaways. Yu-Gi-Oh brought in a green screen so they can print out your picture and put it on an exclusive Yu-Gi-Oh card.

2. The level of difficulty in managing your kids at the comic con grows exponentially by the number of kids you have. I have a 15-year old but she is self-sufficient. We also have a six year, three year, and 6-week old. Bringing these kids was a tall order to say the least. Even though this was mostly a business trip I tried to make it a family trip also. It’s just too crowded to bring kids especially young ones. Logan (the three year old) was the toughest. It’s just too easy to lose them in the sea of people, aliens, and robots. Fortunately, I was able to send them home with Grandma and my sister’s family on Friday night.Next year, just me and the wife (and maybe Taylor the 15yo).

3. There were some noticeable companies missing from the Con like Hot Wheels and Disney. Maybe I just didn’t see them because they moved to a smaller booth but these companies/vendors were solid mainstays prior to this year. It’s a shame because my kids loved both booths and I always looked forward to seeing what exclusive Hot Wheels had to offer. Disney gave out some cool swag last year (fairy wings, which my daughter still has).

4. Of all the years I’ve been going to the Comic-Con this is the first time I ever attended a panel. Actually I attended three panels. The first two were Sanctuary and Glee. Taylor and I sat into these two panels to guarantee our seat in the Heroes panel. I absolutely enjoyed all the panels especially the Heroes one. I’m a big fan of the show. I was a little disappointed in how last season ended but after attending the panel and listening to the actors talk about the upcoming season, “Redemption”, it got me really excited again.

5. I spent a small fortune on parking this weekend. Do yourself a favor and get to the con super early so you can park in the 10 dollar structure before it fills up. Once that structure fills up you can fight for spots in the gaslamp, petco park, or various parking lots where you can pay from 15-30 dollars.

Overall, this was a unique comic con experience this year. I didn’t bring home as much loot and re-sellable items this year but I did get to see more than just the main exhibit hall. I’m definately going to change my plan of attack for next year.

I took a ton of photos this year and I hope to put them up in my upcoming blog posts.