Louie M's SDCC 2016 Wrap Up

Louie M. covers West Coast conventions for Comicsheatingup.net. He made it out to San Diego for Comic Con International. Here is his experience.
Last week I traveled to the center of the multiverse; San Diego Comic Con. It was the most fun a nerd can have at one place, here are some random highlights:
Overall Experience
2016 is the year of the lottery. Camp out overnight to your hearts content, but all you really need is luck. There were lotteries for exclusives, Conan pops, access to Funko booth, autographs, etc. I was lucky enough to win the Lego and Funko lotteries. Lost some as well but that is how it goes now. There was still a lot of overnight camping, but I think it will decrease over the years as the lottery approach proliferates.
Badges were mailed this year with RFID technology which has changed the game in two ways. First, Preview Night is busier than ever since everyone arrives with badge in hand. I arrived at the convention center 4 hours early for preview night and they had already run out of spaces and asked me to park wherever I could find an open wall. Second, the floor wasn’t as suffocating as it was years in past on Friday and Saturday afternoon. I speculate RFID has eliminated many of the fake badges.
The Exhibit Floor

After preview night, I kicked off the con by participating in the morning zombie march to exclusive lotteries, my goal was Funko.
-My luck day, got the Funko wristband! The Funko line was incredibly long, many must have still waited overnight. The line stretched out far past the convention center. Once the lottery started it was surprisingly fast.
Attendees simply pushed a button on the device. You win, go to the next table for a wristband. You lose, make your way onto something else.
The end result is still mayhem at the Funko booth, it’s just isolated at a specific time instead of all day. Same old sea of bodies in front of booth, same rush into booth when they signal people to enter, and same mass confusion caused by security. Security in the booth keeps yelling for everyone to back up (because apparently that’s better than letting people in at the time on their wristbands). People start crushing each other to move back as the lane is very narrow. Then another security guard comes behind the crowd and starts yelling for everyone to move forward. Classic example of poor coordination by security. Once I was in, I was toward the back of the line. The only thing I could knock Funko for is the slowness, it was 2 hours before I got to the register. Most of the limited editions I was gunning for were sold out for my session, but I still grabbed a few exclusives and was happy.

-The advantage of being a comics collector is you don’t need to line up several hours early or go through a lottery to get your exclusives. I went to J Scott Campbell early and easily picked up the Betty & Veronica variants and the Iron Jane variants before they sold out. I may flip the sketch versions, but keep the colors for personal collection as JSC is one of my favs.
-Aspen brought a very limited amount of Michael Turner Batman variants and sold out quickly. On Sunday, they still had Justice League and Amazing Spider-man variants left over.
-Image/Skybound can be relied on for great exclusives. I noticed lines in the morning for the Snotgirl SDCC exclusive and the daily allotment went fast. I usually have no problem getting Image variants but Snotgirl is a sleeper. The Saga action figures were flying, not sure they sold out but they moved a lot of units. I can’t imagine we won’t see a Saga movie at some point given its popularity.

-I didn’t get to do as many signing this year, but I was able to find my way to the Joelle Jones signing. She had a decent line and I was able to pick up Lady Killer 1 ongoing from the Dark Horse booth for her to sign. She was very nice and gracious, happy to see her continued success.

-The Jim Lee foil variants of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman looked great. Only downside is the Graphitti booth isn’t exactly concerned with the grade of comics. They were sandwiched into these metal racks. Many copies had bent spines, scratches, and finger prints which were highlighted by the foil. The booth staff were happy to oblige if you asked to look through a stack for a mint copy, but there are probably not a lot of mint copies in the marketplace.
-Another booth that was routinely capped was Bait. They brought Funko Pops that were exclusive to their booth in the themes of Street Fighter, Asia Monsters, and Bruce Lee. I loved the designs on these –

-There was pandemonium at the DC booth when the cast of Suicide Squad came out. I think this movie is going to be a hit and will bring Harley to an even wider audience.
Here are the prices on some recent comics of interest I found in the wild:
Haunted Mansion Skottie Young Variant – $10
Wonder Woman 1 Cho Variant – $10
Batman Rebirth 1 – $12
Faith 1 – $8
Penny Dreadful 1 -$8
Rebirth DC Universe #1 – $10
Flash 1 -$15
Suicide Squad New 52 (2011) 1 – $120
Monstress 1 -$25
Outcast 1 -$39
Stuff I had on my list that I couldn’t find: Black Magic 1, Deadly Class 1, Henchgirl 1, We Can Never Go Home 1. So kudos if you have any of those!
Offsites

There are several offsite around the con such as the Nerdist Conival, Petco Interactive Zone, Nerd HQ, and Adult Swim on the green. I like to walk through these and see the spectacle, but it’s mostly long lines for cheap promotional items so it’s not a large part of my experience. And no luck on Conan tickets but again Funko is there to save me.

Funko Fundays – What a blast! It is by far the best offsite I have attended at SDCC.  The stage show was top notch and the President of Funko, Brian Mariotti, worked the crowd into a frenzy for hours. After several days of sleep deprivation I should have been fading, instead I was jumping up and down cheering late into the night.
You may have read about wrestling, fighting, people getting hurt and general bad behavior from earlier Fundays. No more. Through a series of strategic contests and giveaways, the event is completely safe and fair for all. They spread the loot somewhat evenly across all attendees. Zero advantage to sitting at a certain table and being aggressive won’t help.  Funko really knocked it out of the park. During the 5 hours I was there:
-they served food and beverages
-allowed everyone to spin a giant wheel while getting food to win a prize
-provided every attendee with a mystery box of 3 Freddy Funkos
-cheering contests (your section works as a team, and the whole section gets prizes. You are high fiving and hugging people you just met)
-short comedy and dancing performances on stage
-collector awards for their forum members
-several more contests and giveaways – everyone got something.
I have never seen a fan appreciation event on this scale with this much enthusiasm.

The Game of Thrones Hall of Faces is a wildly popular exhibit with a brutal wait in the sun. A surprise visit from Liam Cunningham (Davos) and Kristian Nairn (Hodor) energized the crowd. After swinging by and waving to the line, they entered the exhibit which included the iron throne, the hall of faces, a costume exhibit and other attractions. The best surprise was after attendees were allowed to enter, Liam Cunningham was hanging inside the exhibit taking pics with fans! These little unexpected interactions is what really makes SDCC special.

2016 is easily my best SDCC ever. CCI continues to amaze with their ability to, as a nonprofit, organize an event on this scale and have it run so smoothly.