My Oz Comic-con experience*
*Not affiliated with THE San Diego Comic-con. Someone just tried to be smart and steal some cred.
So, first of all, it was a clusterfuck! If you go on their Facebook, there are hundreds of pissed off people complaining about how poorly organised it was. Too small a space, it was difficult to even walk, let alone look at the stalls and booths. The organisers oversold the event by a large margin and had to close the doors for safety reasons several times during the day and it got to the point where they had to turn away people who had paid for tickets already (EVEN PEOPLE WHO PAID $600 FOR VIP TICKETS).
I am so glad I got there early (7.50am-ish). I managed to convince Jaclyn, a friend from work to come with me, but also a girl I had met (Angela) through a mutual friend was going too. Angela and a friend, Veronica, came shortly, they were nice! Jaclyn got there around 8.50am-ish, with a coffee, thank god! So the doors opened at 9am and the first thing we did was pretty much power walk to the token booth line. We were pretty chuffed at our effort and was in that line for about 15mins UNTIL WE FOUND OUT IT WAS THE WRONG LINE. ARRRGHHH! The volunteers were pretty clueless (though some old guy started abusing one real early, and it's like, dude, not cool). But we weren't told what line it was, it wasn't until others had realised and told us! The line we got into was the token booth line, but it was the line for VIP/special tickets holders.
SOOOOOO, we went to find our line and by this time, it was snaking through the con, WHICH SUCKED BALLS. We ended up waiting in line for 2 hours, only to be told that Stan Lee photos had sold out. Angela and Veronica went to walk around a bit and then they started lining up for a panel. It was a real pity, because Jaclyn and I had wanted to take a photo with Fran Kranz who finished at 11.15am, but we even couldn't because we hadn't even made it to the booth yet. IT WAS FUCKING INSANE.
THANK GOD, when we reached it, there were still Stan Lee autograph tokens left, so we got those. But we pretty much headed straight to the panel line. Saw Sean Maher's panel, which was alright (a mixed bag of questions). But Sean himself was sweet and adorable. As soon as that finished and we hopped out, we went straight back to line up for Stan Lee's panel.
Angela and Veronica went to get food and we wanted to do a line-swapsies so Jaclyn and I could walk around, but we couldn't be bothered by the time they got back. We got okay seats for Stan Lee. But his panel was fucking magical. He is such an awesome, enthusiastic and energetic man. He talked about creating Spider-man, how Marvel changed its name and his cameos in all the movies. He talked about how he loved his characters, the comic book industry during the height of his career. It reminded me a little of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. Just amazing.
After Stan Lee, Angela left to go to work. So we all just wandered around the con. It was packed though. Difficult to walk anywhere. We gave up because it was just too hard. We then went to line up for Fran Kranz panel and we got there quite early, got good seats, but got to move up and it was fantastic. Besides Stan Lee, the best panel I've been to. He was funny, insightful and gave really articulate and eloquent answers. I was going to ask a question but the guy before me was the last question, boo (volunteer kept apologising)!
After that, we still had some spare time before lining up for our Stan Lee autographs, so we did some impromtu autographs and got Sean Maher's and Fran Kranz's! Which was awesome, because I actually had conversations with them, even though it wasn't awfully long. Fran was just the best. I asked him about Death of a Salesman and just hearing him gush about his experience and about Philip Seymour Hoffman and Andrew Garfield was great. Sean was also great, such a nice guy. I asked Sean whether he did any research into medicine for the role of Simon Tam.
Around 5pm, we started lining up for Stan Lee, but Jaclyn had to go, so I had to get her stuff signed. Took us a good hour to get there, but finally did AND OMG, IT WAS AMAZING.
So he had my Iron Man mask and here is my recollection of the conversation:
Me: Hi!
Stan: Hi! Where do you want it signed?
Me: ANYWHERE YOU WANT. REALLY, IT'S JUST AN HONOUR AND A PRIVILEGE.
Stan: You're the boss!
Me: Ahh, if only that were true.
Stan: Here you go *endearing term, I think it was darling*
Me: THANK YOU SO MUCH!
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH. The man is such a trooper. He's almost 90 years old, had been signing for 3 hours and just kept going and made sure everybody who was in line got an autograph, even when it reached closing time. He was overheard saying 'I'll do this all night if you want me to.' So much respect!
And then I went home.
So it sounds like I spent a long time in queues. Which I did. But it was worth it. XD
Here, have a couple of dodgy photos:
Also, there were some pretty awesome costumes. X-men, a Wookie, Batman, some Harley Quinns, a couple of ace Harvey Dents, Spider-man, etc.
So, first of all, it was a clusterfuck! If you go on their Facebook, there are hundreds of pissed off people complaining about how poorly organised it was. Too small a space, it was difficult to even walk, let alone look at the stalls and booths. The organisers oversold the event by a large margin and had to close the doors for safety reasons several times during the day and it got to the point where they had to turn away people who had paid for tickets already (EVEN PEOPLE WHO PAID $600 FOR VIP TICKETS).
I am so glad I got there early (7.50am-ish). I managed to convince Jaclyn, a friend from work to come with me, but also a girl I had met (Angela) through a mutual friend was going too. Angela and a friend, Veronica, came shortly, they were nice! Jaclyn got there around 8.50am-ish, with a coffee, thank god! So the doors opened at 9am and the first thing we did was pretty much power walk to the token booth line. We were pretty chuffed at our effort and was in that line for about 15mins UNTIL WE FOUND OUT IT WAS THE WRONG LINE. ARRRGHHH! The volunteers were pretty clueless (though some old guy started abusing one real early, and it's like, dude, not cool). But we weren't told what line it was, it wasn't until others had realised and told us! The line we got into was the token booth line, but it was the line for VIP/special tickets holders.
SOOOOOO, we went to find our line and by this time, it was snaking through the con, WHICH SUCKED BALLS. We ended up waiting in line for 2 hours, only to be told that Stan Lee photos had sold out. Angela and Veronica went to walk around a bit and then they started lining up for a panel. It was a real pity, because Jaclyn and I had wanted to take a photo with Fran Kranz who finished at 11.15am, but we even couldn't because we hadn't even made it to the booth yet. IT WAS FUCKING INSANE.
THANK GOD, when we reached it, there were still Stan Lee autograph tokens left, so we got those. But we pretty much headed straight to the panel line. Saw Sean Maher's panel, which was alright (a mixed bag of questions). But Sean himself was sweet and adorable. As soon as that finished and we hopped out, we went straight back to line up for Stan Lee's panel.
Angela and Veronica went to get food and we wanted to do a line-swapsies so Jaclyn and I could walk around, but we couldn't be bothered by the time they got back. We got okay seats for Stan Lee. But his panel was fucking magical. He is such an awesome, enthusiastic and energetic man. He talked about creating Spider-man, how Marvel changed its name and his cameos in all the movies. He talked about how he loved his characters, the comic book industry during the height of his career. It reminded me a little of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. Just amazing.
After Stan Lee, Angela left to go to work. So we all just wandered around the con. It was packed though. Difficult to walk anywhere. We gave up because it was just too hard. We then went to line up for Fran Kranz panel and we got there quite early, got good seats, but got to move up and it was fantastic. Besides Stan Lee, the best panel I've been to. He was funny, insightful and gave really articulate and eloquent answers. I was going to ask a question but the guy before me was the last question, boo (volunteer kept apologising)!
After that, we still had some spare time before lining up for our Stan Lee autographs, so we did some impromtu autographs and got Sean Maher's and Fran Kranz's! Which was awesome, because I actually had conversations with them, even though it wasn't awfully long. Fran was just the best. I asked him about Death of a Salesman and just hearing him gush about his experience and about Philip Seymour Hoffman and Andrew Garfield was great. Sean was also great, such a nice guy. I asked Sean whether he did any research into medicine for the role of Simon Tam.
Around 5pm, we started lining up for Stan Lee, but Jaclyn had to go, so I had to get her stuff signed. Took us a good hour to get there, but finally did AND OMG, IT WAS AMAZING.
So he had my Iron Man mask and here is my recollection of the conversation:
Me: Hi!
Stan: Hi! Where do you want it signed?
Me: ANYWHERE YOU WANT. REALLY, IT'S JUST AN HONOUR AND A PRIVILEGE.
Stan: You're the boss!
Me: Ahh, if only that were true.
Stan: Here you go *endearing term, I think it was darling*
Me: THANK YOU SO MUCH!
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH. The man is such a trooper. He's almost 90 years old, had been signing for 3 hours and just kept going and made sure everybody who was in line got an autograph, even when it reached closing time. He was overheard saying 'I'll do this all night if you want me to.' So much respect!
And then I went home.
So it sounds like I spent a long time in queues. Which I did. But it was worth it. XD
Here, have a couple of dodgy photos:
Also, there were some pretty awesome costumes. X-men, a Wookie, Batman, some Harley Quinns, a couple of ace Harvey Dents, Spider-man, etc.