I doubt the main ballroom holds more than 1500, so 30 minutes is plenty of time to clear the room and repopulate it again at Dragon Con.

It's been 11 years since I've been to Comicon, but I might make the trip next year, it depends on scheduling, of course.

Wish I could go, I'd love go to the MST3k panel.

Last year it took me 5 minutes to walk to the end of the line for the main TV panel room. After seeing that, I didn't bother standing in it. I just went and did other fun stuff instead.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDssh_x1_Hg

It's the MST3K show. One thing they are supposed to announce are the 4 movies that'll make up their 20th Anniversary Set. They're supposed to be the 4 most wanted that have not been released.
It'd be cool if you could make it. We could probably set up another Otter meet.
Nice video. I looked to see if I was in line but I think they had already let us in early. This was a "get in line at 5am" day. I wound up in the 3rd row and when the Heroes panel went on, I found myself right in front of Hayden:

Supposedly Hayden will be at Dragon Con in September (and I was thinking, why isn't she working on "Heroes" in that time frame, but I guess she got the Labor Day weekend off). But I digress...

I wish they would bring back the Adult Swim panels and the Futurama panel.

I'm skipping out this year. I've gone for the past 5 years in a row and it's sort of lost it's luster. I figure a year (or two) away will make me appreciate the smells again.

I've went the last 2 years to work the show for my company, but we're not attending this year and I've since been promoted anyway and no longer run these events. I was pretty done with it last year though. I was pretty annoyed with the crowd and the inability to move.

Of course, I had a similar reaction after having been to a few E3's (when they were still big, and even the smaller one last year).

I was thinking about going a day again just for random fun, but I doubt I will.

I'll be there for possibly the 15th year in a row (I lost count; I know it's been over 12 years). Unfortunately I got a new job and don't have the vacation time accrued yet, so I won't be able to take off Thurs/Fri and will have to miss most of those days.

Over the years I think I've done and bought everything I've almost ever wanted. I completed my 30 year quest to own a stormtrooper helmet last year. I do need Matt Groening to draw me a Lisa Simpson and I'll finally have the whole Simpsons family personally drawn by Groening.


Of course there are always surprises, and I can't wait to see what this year will bring.

I have a good time just sitting in on panels and meeting celebs.

How did you score the stormtrooper helmet?

Kevin Smith just released more details on his Comic-Con visit:

I’ll be there, doing four panels...

Thursday
3 to 4 - Moderating "Scream Like a Girl: Spike Salutes the Women of Sci-Fi"

Friday
5:15 to 6:15 - Entertainment Weekly’s “The Visionaries: Filmmakers” panel in Hall H
6:30 to 8 - Annual Q&A panel in Hall H (with "Zack and Miri" footage)

Saturday
2:15 to 3:15 - Moderating the "Battlestar Galactica" panel

How long are the lines to get him to sketch?

Master Replicas made 2,500 of them.

Ah, ok. I've seen their lightsabers and almost got one of the mini ones.

Well it used to be that he would only draw when he felt like it. And when he felt like it would be when a kid would come up and ask him (he has a hard time saying "no" to kids). So you'd have to wait around the Bongo Comic's booth for Matt to show up, then wait for a kid to ask Matt. Then you'd have to jump in line and if you were lucky, some jerk who just showed up wouldn't push you away after you were waiting all day for this to happen.

Then they started passing out "Bart Bucks" at a given time. Then Matt would only sign for you if you had one. And those were VERY hard to come by. You had to be in the right place at the right time to get one.

Now they have a lottery. Which is the best way. They'll have a 1000 tickets, but only 100 of them (I'm guessing on the #s) will have something on them that will get you a "Bart Buck". But the good thing is, is you can go through the line as many times as you want to get a chance. That is, until the tickets run out. The line for that can be very long, but moves very fast.

It's about an hour wait, once he starts signing.

I volunteered at the Con in 2006 so I didn't have to pay to get in. That didn't last though, the group I was assigned to disbanded after the guy in charge left.

Fucking awesome experience. I loved it.

I have a friend here LA County who's rounding up peeps to carpool down and participate in the Zombie Walk at ComicCon. I want to go, but my foot won't allow me to walk far, so I'm tempted to do a zombie-in-a-wheelchair.

Has anyone ever seen the Zombie Walk? The photos look cool... there's lots of rules, like no reaching out towards the crowds, because that is "legally considered threatening behavior" and apparently get you in trouble.

Link here: Zombie Walk at ComicCon



.

I missed seeing the Zombie Walk peeps last year because I was inside at panels all day. They need to not hold these on the most popular day unless it's after 7:30pm

Here's a couple fun events that are not officially part of Comic-Con but are happening downtown due to Comic-Con being here. Both are open to the public so they require separate tickets to attend.

RiffTrax Live (the MST3K peeps) is doing 2 lives shows in the restored Balboa Theater on Saturday July 26 at 7 and 9:30. They're presenting the colorized version of "Plan 9 From Outer Space": RiffTrax Live info

It's just a JUMP to the left! Crazed Imaginations, the local "Rocky Horror Picture Show" group, will be holding a special show downtown at the Lyceum on Thursday July 24th at 11pm: RHPS info

Well, I won't be attending any ComicCon stuff this year, but I would be more than down with meeting up with some people for a few beers.

BTW, Tom, did you notice our last meeting spot (or the last one I went to) just burned down? Coincidence or conspiracy?

Yep, I did see that. The site of the 2003 San Diego Otter Meet and the location for "Top Gun". A guy I work with is a good friend of the owner. He said the city has been trying to get that piece of land for a long time but he had signed a LONG term deal. I'm hoping he'll rebuild but who knows. At least they saved the piano (from what I heard).

Last year a few of us Otters met up before Weds Preview Night at Hooters around 4. It's kinda become a tradition with my friends every year. We go get our 4-day badges and then meet up at Hooters to chill before the doors open at 6pm for Preview Night.

If that doesn't work for you, maybe we can work out something else. Or you can just flash your badge at the convention center, say you're undercover, and make your way into the Con

I'm game (as long as I'm not working) just give me a time and place.

Might go to this next year, what hotels do you recommend there!

...but not all were released.

A new company with the SW license is releasing the remainder this Tues (online).

Same here, this is the first time in four years that I'm not going, so of course they're doing something like this.