The walk across the train tracks separating San Diego’s Gaslamp District to the Convention Center is hip to hip with hundreds of strangers. The streets are largely blocked off, and there’s people dressed in long, leather coats handing out posters for The Crow, followed by a gaggle of men dressed as Roman Gladiators and Senators ushering people towards their attraction for a new show about Ancient Rome coming out suspiciously close to the premiere of Gladiator 2.

Much of the weekend would be just like this–struggling to walk and being herded like cattle into wildly organized and policed lines by people who I couldn’t tell if they enjoyed volunteering or not.

As it was preview night, the crowd was still excited to start the nerdiest weekend of the year and not yet annoyed by the crowding and pushing. At the entrance, I pulled our badges out of my purse, mine attached to a pink Sailor Moon lanyard, and my husband’s attached to a Stone Cold Steve Austin lanyard. The contrast is what the con was about, every bit of pop culture (from anime to professional wrestling) coming together in one place to celebrate. Nerd Mecca.

The convention center entrance is surprisingly bare and grey when we enter. There are a couple of posters and standees for Deadpool & Wolverine and The Rings of Power, but compared to the decoration of the buildings in downtown, the convention center feels like the corporate setting it truly is. I half expect everyone to be dressed in suits and ties, carrying around clip boards and passing out resumes like Halloween Candy. For the rest of the weekend, this entrance area (which spans quite a few blocks) would be used as places for cosplayers to collapse against the wall, hunched over snacks and resting their weary feet. For now, it was the liminal space between the outside world and the exhibit hall.

The magic of the con, as it turns out, is the people and cosplay, not so much the convention center itself.

We see that magic in the faces of those we pass by as my husband is dressed as Master Roshi from Dragon Ball Z–fake beard and stash glued to his face. The not so hushed “there’s Master Roshi” is awe inspired and makes me proud that I put the costume together for him, and that he was willing to wear it. I feel that same joy when I see the yellow buns of someone cosplaying Sailor Moon or the menagerie of Deadpools. It’s just cool to see others who enjoy the same things as you.

We dressed up for each day of the con we attended and I highly encourage anyone looking to go to a comic book or anime convention to do so. You don’t have to have elaborate, expensive costumes–most of mine revolved around being comfortable but cute (example above: Princess Peach not in a dress, but rather a summer ready body suit and light long sleeve shirt). All that matters is you’re having a good time, so if you like having the opportunity to dress up, do it! Tyler got soo many compliments as both Master Roshi and Randy Savage.

Entering into the main hall, the con finally explodes into that nerdy world I was expecting. Here was the decoration and grandeur. The over-the-top and colorful atmosphere a stark contrast to how the entrance hall had felt. Here was the life of San Diego Comic Con, and the reason why people fly in from all over the world.

We enter and are greeted by towering signs for Spongebob, Marvel, and Star Wars. There’s statues of Godzilla, Gundam, and Hello Kitty. If it’s nerdy, or if it’s a part of pop culture, there’s a space for it.

Even though it was preview night, the hall was PACKED. Thankfully there was just enough space to dodge between lines and attendees, but with how packed it was on preview night I was slightly worried about how much worse it was going to get the following nights when attendance would be 3x what we were currently experiencing–and yes, it did already start to stink of BO.

We started our journey by winding through some of the exhibits, before taking a turn towards the signs for Artist Alley.

Then, we met the first true line.

It started at some unknown point farther back from where we had just come and ended at the Funkoville airport. Hundreds of people queuing in sections separated by dutiful line supervisors holding sticks with a Funko pop symbol on them. Walking towards one of these line guardians they would indicate with their free hand that the line did not start there, and to travel back into the unknown for the real end of the line.

Towering boxes of large headed Funko pops from independent sellers not associated with the Funkoville airport lined the main rows like barricades. Booths and booths and booths of em. I’ve owned a couple Funko pops over the years, and had donated them a move or two ago, but I didn’t know just how expansive (and expensive) the Funko craze had gotten.

From the amount I could see, and the line segmented through the exhibit hall, Funko pops seemed to be the most popular collectible available at the con. I wish I had taken pictures to show how tall these boxes were stacked in some booths. You’ll have to believe me that it felt like a hoarder house with boxes stacked higher than seemed stable.

Not to mention the massive bags people carried on their backs and underneath their arms like bales of hay, the rectangular boxes for Funko pops sticking out at odd angles. At the end of the night you’d find these same people sitting outside of the convention center selling the pops for far higher rates than they had just bought them for.

Back in the main exhibit hall, everywhere you turn is a booth hawking collectables and art. The art is amazing, the collectibles are cool, but the more we walk around the less I am interested in looting through boxes for things.

It’s fun for the first hour, then it all starts to become overwhelming. There’s almost too much happening. Too many different noises. Too many people. Too much to try and see that it’s impossible to really see it all—or anything. It’s like becoming snow blind because you’ve looked at too many action figures for too long.

Now besides collectibles, comic-book and manga exhibits, where’s the comradery? Where’s the gaming? Where’s the togetherness?

It’s not in the main hall of the convention. You have to go to panels hosted in the floors above or in the the ballrooms in the individual hotels throughout downtown for that–which is a huge bummer. I understand this event is massive so of course things have to be moved or hosted in other locations but man, I didn’t expect the heart of Comic Con to feel so corporate.

Well, what about the panels?

We made it to a grand total of one panel. And it was fantastic. Why didn’t we go to more? It was way too difficult to find panels we wanted to go to, or were even slightly interested in. There are SO MANY panels and random activities happening from 8am-11pm every day that I felt completely overwhelmed trying to decipher which ones we might enjoy.

I honestly think comic con could use a cruise director. Someone to come over the live speaker throughout the day and announce what panels are happening at what hour etc. etc. because the app just ain’t it.

Would a cruise director for nerds actually work? Probably not, they would just be listing random panel names for hours at a time, turning any help into a garbled mess in the roar of the crowd—but optimizing the app for better search capabilities and actually being able to sort by usable categories would be great. I want to be able to search for anything pertaining to cats, Sailor Moon, or WWE and it just isn’t possible right now. Instead, you have to read between the lines of superfluous panel titles in the hopes you might be interested, and while I did enjoy the panel we went to, I would not want to sit through 8+ hours of back to back panels.

The non-hall H or ballroom 20 panels seemed mainly like a place for people to rest their feet and enjoy some less-stinky air—which sucks because these panels are run by people who have true passion for what they’re talking about and deserve to be advertised as openly as the bigger panels.

Here’s the thing, while I am a nerd (I have tattoos of Sailor Moon and Princess Leia…), I don’t think I’m nerd enough for Comic Con. Or not the right type of nerdy. The convention was far too overwhelming for me to try and navigate for both my husband and myself. I was in charge of trying to assemble some semblance of an itinerary as my husband was out at sea for the weeks leading up to the convention, and honestly, I failed.

I personally believe to truly enjoy San Diego Comic-Con, you need to be there with a group of people with diverse interests that you can drag each other to, because trying to find things to do on your own is really difficult. Trying to scroll through hundreds of panels and activities happening each hour is just not realistic, but if you had a group of people where you can delegate others to fill time slots each day, you’re much more likely to have a successful and fun weekend.

For instance, this is the sort of planning that goes into getting into a Hall H panel (aka: Marvel, DC, or big movie panel). Which to be fair, getting into Hall H is not the only thing to do at the con, but I believe it is most people’s dream event(s):

• Step 1: Hope you have tickets for the con on the day a panel you REALLY wanna see is happening (oh and you won’t know the full schedule until it’s far too late for you to get those days)
• Step 2: The day before said panel, go to the specific Hall H “day before” at the marina line in the marina to get in a line to get a wrist band for Hall H for the next day (this isn’t a wrist band for a specific panel either, you’ll just have to go line up the next day for that panel still, there’s no guarantee)
• Step 3: Day of said panel, be prepared to go stand/sit/sweat in an outside line that curls around the convention center all the way to the harbor for hours. (to be fair some lines didn’t get this bad, but the Deadpool & Wolverine line was)
• Step 4: Pray that you got in line early enough to get a seat inside.
• Step 5: Get inside and finally enjoy yourself for about 1-2 hrs

Want to do it again the next day to see something else? Return to Step 1, oh and the wrist band line starts at 7:30am. So, up and at ’em, nerd, time to do your part and get in another line.

Thankfully the temperature in San Diego only crested to about 88 degrees Fahrenheit during the con, but the sun is the sun and when it’s baring down on you like it’s its job to make everyone as sweaty and miserable as possible while you stand in some various line, it’s not fun. Be prepared with sunscreen, deodorant, snacks, water, and an umbrella because believe me, you will be glad to have it when the clouds disappear from about 12pm-8pm.

We stood outside at the Adult Swim Pirate Parrrty for over 4hrs and let me tell you, it was warm and it was packed. We had to wait over an hour for a snow cone.

It was worth it in the end to enjoy the AEW vs Adult Swim stars Battle for the Booty at ringside, but after that we both knew we couldn’t handle a single Hall H attempt, even if The Boys is one of my husband’s favorite shows. The time spent waiting did not seem worth it.

The lines, and the unyielding fatigue caused by them, is the worst thing about Comic Con–and there are lines for everything. There are too many people for there not to be lines, but it was wild just how long and how unending they felt.

We did have a great time downtown for Comic Con, but our favorite parts were all outside of the convention center. I think most people would agree with the fact that going into the convention center is not the biggest draw of the weekend. It’s the activities surrounding the event that are the best. So, keep that in mind to search for those outside events–because they will not be as heavily advertised as you might hope.

As I knew this was probably going to be our last year in San Diego for the con, I did get tickets/badges/whatever for all of the days, but we didn’t end up going every day (we went a little too hard after the Shrek Rave on Friday). And honestly, I don’t feel even a tiny bit guilty knowing I’ll likely never be back. It was a cool one-time experience, but I feel no need to ever come back. I definitely wouldn’t if I had to pay for flights, hotel, and food. San Diego is way too expensive for that.

What to do if you are going to Comic-Con:

1. Join the Facebook groups (The San Diego Comic-Con Unofficial Blog is how I found out about all the events we went to)
2. Use Reddit for any questions you have if you’re not a Facebook person
3. Use Youtube to help plan (there are people who have been going to the con for years and they know all the tips and tricks to make your con time a success)

Basically you need to treat Comic-Con like you’re going to Disneyworld. You need to plan, you need to learn, and you un-ironically need a travel agent to help you figure out how to see everything you want to. If you want to get into panels, you need to nail a schedule down and realize you might be queuing for hours on several days. So make sure it’s something you really want to see. Comic Con is a great time, but just showing up doesn’t really work. Which honestly sucks.

So, now that I’m done whining, what did we enjoy about Comic Con?

Nights at the House of Blues were fantastic. We went on Wednesday for the Japanese Vaporwave Rave and Friday for the Shrek Rave. The bars in downtown going all out for the con was really enjoyable too. Themed food and drinks makes anybody giddy (the prices on the other hand do not). And most of all, the best thing about Comic Con is people watching. Good cosplay and bad cosplay alike are so cool to see walking around—you’ll never forget watching a fully decked out Batman grabbing a beer or hotdog from a street vendor.

San Diego during Comic Con is just a cool place to be–if you don’t have to pay to be there.

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Hey! Thanks for Reading!

Have you ever been to a comic book or anime convention?

What were your favorite parts?

How badly did I muck up planning our venture to San Diego comic con?

Also, I just started allowing for wordpress to put ads on this blog in hopes of one day being able to make money for writing these posts (as of right now I’ve made 13 cents LOL), but please let me know if there are any truly outlandish ads present. I want to make money writing, but I don’t want any morally horrible ads being present in my space. Hopefully I can find a way to limit what gets shown here. I’m still trying to figure that out.

Cheers 🙂

Bri