Badgeless at Comic Con San Diego 2014

Game of Thrones Pedicab

I haven't been to San Diego Comic Con for ages.  The last time I went you could amble up midday saturday and buy a daypass for $15. You could also pay 10 dollars to park at the convention center. That seems almost quaint nowadays. Since then, the event has drifted away from the local geekdom vibe to a international mammoth that is just far away from hollywood to be considered approachable. I have a lot of thoughts about how Comic Con has gotten away from what I would consider their original noble mission statement, but that may be a reason why I am no longer apart of their core fanbase.

It is less a convention anymore than a pop-up store, a mall, a spectacle. As a San Diego local, it was a more convenient spectacle than most, so I decided to head to Downtown San Diego and look at what kind of fun can be had outside of the convention center. 

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Ideally, we should be able to mosey along downtown, park our car in a 5 dollar lot, and walk around for a half hour. That not being reality, we decided to park in Old Town and take the trolley to the convention center stop (the green line). It was pretty disappointing that the old town trolley stop lot was actually full. Not a single car could fit in the lot or even the overflow lot. There wasn't even any street parking. We then back tracked about 5 miles to the fashion valley mall, that was covered in "no comic con parking" signs. That sucks of them by the way. You would think that the fashion valley mall would have a vested interest in giving out-of-towners an excuse to walk through the mall. So Alex and I had to park way out of the way to get to a fashion valley lot not covered in anti comic con signs. The trek to the trolley station from that position took 15 minutes all by itself.

I had the cutest hair today! This picture was taken before I got all hot and bothered.

Car and trolley, it took us an 2 hours to get downtown.   

 

Vikings Display

As soon as we got off the trolley we saw a huge display for Vikings.  It really worked too because when I got home I watched the first episode. (which I loved)

There were people standing in line to pose with some of the actors. I think they were filming a promo to play on the history channel or something. The line was ultra long. The people standing in line weren't antsy or anything. It was like they were used to standing in line. 

Line to see Vikings

 There were a lot of people dressed in elaborate costumes. Not everyone though. I'd say only about 1% of all amblers were wearing costume. I didn't expect to see more. It was really hot today, high 80s. That is extremely hot for a location so close to the bay. I was sweating balls. I couldn't see how some of these people were wearing full on costumes, helmets, masks, hats, and all.

A man wearing a helmet in costume. I hope he has a fan in there.

 I also saw the creme de la creme of committed costumery. I don't know how they could stand it in this heat.

 

There was also a game of thrones pedicab. Amazing. I hope she gets work every day of the year. 

Game of Thrones Pedicab

 We decided to go to The Field for lunch, my favorite Irish Pub in all of San Diego. I love their vegetable boxtys. I sort of wanted to sit outside and people watch, but at the end of the day, it was far too hot for that. We sat upstairs for lunch and I gazed out the window to stare at the fantastic costumes walking down the street. I ordered a Black and Tan.

Ordering at the Field

View outside the window

People Watching

I love love love thier boxtys. 

Vegetable Boxty

 Alex had thier Lamb Shepherds Pie.

 He had a stella Artois.

 There was a Mutt Cuts van that people were running down the sidewalk to catch.

Irish men were giving out bandanas. I have one.  Those kilt wearing rabble rousers were quite rowdy.

People kept congregating in strange areas. I can tell that if I had some sort of app or brochure or something, I'd be standing aimlessly in the middle of the street too. But as a bystander, their behavior seemed bizarre.

congregation

 Oh and Mac had an event where they were promoting Marge Simpson Cosmetics. I didn't want to go in because I felt sort of sweaty and was already wearing makeup, but now I regret that I didn't go. The Marge Simpson line sounds so awesome now.

Marge Simpson by Mac

 Especially since they hard Marge Models walking around promoting it!

Mac Marge Simpson Models.

There were a few exhibits you could walk around, like the Chuck Jones Gallery. I thought that was ultra neat. They had some warner brothers, dr suess, and even new disney stills on display. I'm wondering if this exhibit exists outside of the comic con campus.  

 

There was another pop up shop for the SyFy channel across the street promoting Ascenion, whatever that is. I don't really watch TV. Thier sign was beyond amazing though.  The look of bewildering 1950's suburbanites is reminiscent of the spookiness science fiction writers haven't  been able to accomplish since the Twilight Zone. I didn't go inside because there was a line.

There were lots of street preachers holding up signs. Alex asked me at one point why I thought bible thumpers like to preach to specifically comic con goers. My answer is this: They don't care about comic con at all. They want to reach as many people as they can, and there are a hundred thousand tourists walking these streets.

I got a semi good picture of someone holding up a sign that said, "god hates signs". It was hilarious. Too bad that guy thought I was taking a picture of him.

One thing that is amazing about comic con goers is that they adore when strangers take photos of them. They get all dressed up, and take free photos with strangers, and they loved it. As a promising street photogether, I thought this was really refreshing. Usually people get wierded out when you pull out a camera. Today, at comic con, people pose as soon as they see the sensor side of a DSLR.

What a good sport.

People posing for strangers.

 Of course, some people were posing because it was their job. This spearmint guy was so into it. He screamed various spearminty slogans at me as I stumbled away.

Spearmint.

 There were some really decked out cars driving around.

I actually saw this ghost busters car in north county yesterday. 

 

There was also a kids show in partnership with the San Diego Children Museum. I didn't recognize it. I am so out of touch with the kids these days. It was a delightful little ground complete with bubble machine whimsy.  

 

There was a man dressed completely in bronze doing the most amazing breakdancing! He was giving out lollypops but my trolley was coming so I didn't have time to give him a dollar. I feel bad about it, even now. 

Break Dancing Street Performer.

At this point we had spent 3 hours having lunch, drinking casually, and ambling around downtown. We decided to head home. I tried to capture the beads of sweat to illustrate how laborious it was to people watch on such a hot day, but Alex tied his bandana around his forehead to conceal our efforts.

 That was my experience trying to soak up the sights and sounds of San Diego Comic Con as a local without actually having to fight the huddled masses. How was your con?

Tomorrow I'm heading back up Woodson. Talk to you soon!