Saturday of San Diego Comic Con 2015 was a mad whirlwind of activity for GoGeekGirl. It was filled with panels, interviews, capturing cosplayers and artists at what they love and trying to wander the floor in the few moments that could be squeezed between running back and forth to commitments. If you have never been to SDCC you don’t quite grasp what a challenge getting from point A to point B can become. The distance may not be great but navigating the crowds can mean very necessary time management skills to ensure you allow sufficient time for the simple traversing of such seemingly short distances. But it was accomplished and the interviews and panel coverage will be coming, they are worth the wait, I promise.
Before I get into the good part of covering SDCC15 I have to start with a bit of something that I was saddened to witness happening. We are all at SDCC to enjoy ourselves, but with so many thousands of people the security has to keep certain areas clear so that people can get in and one of these areas is right by the entrance where we pick up our badges, and in this instance I am speaking of the press and professional badge pickup. It can seem like an annoyance to be told as soon as you have picked up your badge that you need to move on, but it is done for a reason and it is for everybody. You aren’t being targeted, though it may seem like that at the time. Where is all this leading? As I was getting organized and waiting for Terry of Metal Life to get there I observed a man with two boys get irate when he was asked to move along. He was belligerent enough that the SDCC personnel ended up flagging one of the security people to come over. The worst part of this was not the belligerence and starting the day for himself and the workers in this manner, it was the ashamed looks the two boys had. They were made uncomfortable by his behavior. We need to remember as adults that we are setting examples for the kids that are there too. So if we don’t like how something is being done, we should handle it as adults and not as belligerent immature beings that think it is ok to be loud and rude to the people that are doing their jobs to ensure we all can have a safe and fun con.
OK enough of the serious stuff on to what you are here for. The fun, the artists, the cosplay, the toys and more. So let’s see the highlights… having fun taking photos not only of September but also of Riven, both from September Mourning. Great people and a great band. They are starting their fall tour (or should I say Soul Collection) so check them out and if you can get to one of their shows, definitely go and join the soul collection.
As much as there was lots of wonderful cosplay on Saturday, as there is every year, my favorite had to be Margarita Man from Jurassic World. I almost looked behind me to be sure there weren’t any velociraptors about to snack on us, he definitely was in character when I took his photo (and getting across the con floor without spilling a drop was probably more challenging than not spilling them with dinosaurs attacking would have been.)
There was the fun of going with Bridget Silvestri as she went to pick up coffee for the Top Cow team and her coming across signage at SQP (I believe that was the booth) that had an image of one of her friends so we had to stop to get photos of Bridget with the signage so she could share it with her friend. Oh and then the fun of two people and 11 drinks getting back across the con floor without spilling a drop, though I wonder if Bridget’s boobies have recovered from having the hot drink tray leaning against them as we crossed with me repeatedly saying “excuse me, hot coffee coming through” trying to ensure we could get through the crowds and cross the bigger aisles without being bumped. Amazingly we made it and so did the much appreciated coffee. Strangely that was actually fun!
There was time watching Marc Silvestri, Linda Sejic and Stjepan Sejic sketching for their fans. Never ceases to amaze me watching an artist at work. A few seemingly meaningless lines on a piece of paper slowly coalescing into an amazing piece of art that makes the jaw drop by the time they are putting their signature on the page.
Watching the various artists and writers interacting with their fans, the ones that obviously enjoy doing this you can spot from a distance. Their entire beings seem to radiate that joy, that pleasure, eyes glowing with laughter. You see the love they have for each other especially seeing one (whom I won’t name) being enveloped by that love from pros and fans as we extended our hears to him as he had just lost a family member days prior to the show. My heart breaks all over again knowing how hard it was for him to be there but knowing he was surrounded by so much love when he needed it was wonderful to witness as it renews ones faith in people. It’s a community, a grand extended family if you wish, that may only see each other at shows but shares a common love of pop culture. We may have our favorites, characters, writers, artists whatever, but we are all there for some love of pop culture.
There was the watching a drone flying over Bayfront Park as I was prepping for one of the interviews of the day and thinking how it wasn’t long ago that the Think Tank comic first came out and how I hadn’t given much thought to drones before that. How they weren’t part of our normal vocabulary and we would have been shocked, maybe even a bit scared to see one flying over such a busy event, wondering what it was and why it was there. Now I was simply wondering, who was using the drone to capture overhead shots or video of the event and wishing it were me.
OH and did I mention there were shenanigans? I’ll let you see if you can spot them as you go through the photos since they should make you wonder WTH was going on when you see them, let me just say people were having fun and some of it I managed to capture proof of. Some of it I might have been laughing to much to capture proof of (or perhaps I was participating and thus would not capture proof so you can’t prove I did it)
Enough with the words already, bring on the photos!
Click here for more GoGeekGirl coverage of San Diego Comic Con 2015
