San Diego International Comic-Con 2015

For my one and only New Year's Resolution I told myself I have to finish writing my blog post about my time at the 2015 San Diego International Comic-Con (SDCC). I'm only about half a year late in writing about last July's Comic-Con and I apologize for my lateness! Unplanned family events and what-nots combined with my kids' school schedules and, of course the craziness of all the holidays, created the perfect opportunity to not have any time! Now that I have time, the holidays are pretty much over, and it's 2016, I think it's now or never!

My time at the 2015 SDCC definitely felt a lot crazier and busier compared to the previous 2014 San Diego Comic-Con. I'm pretty sure I attended all four days plus Preview Night of the Con and I haven't done that in a while. Usually I tend to skip one or two days which I prefer because I do like my sanity which one can easily loose at the crazy crowded Comic-Con of San Diego! But all in all, I can't deny my love of being here at the Con especially with the over 100,000 people who love it too!

View of the San Diego Convention Center and Marriott Hotel from the Gaslamp trolley stop.

Inside the Convention Center before the start of Preview Night.

View of the Exhibit Floor from the Convention Center Mezzanine. 

"Game of Thrones"(GOT) fanboy: Carlos wearing my Wolf hat and his latest GOT shirt.

San Diego trolley decorated with SDCC 2015 Exclusive Conan O'Brien Funko Pop! vinyl figures.

Hanging outside the back entry of Convention Center with a view of the Marina.

Not your run-of-the-mill "Star Wars" art: Leggy female Stormtroopers and festively decorated Arturito.

A quick shot in the Exhibit Hall with a view of the Dark Horse (not the local coffee shop) Comics exhibit section.

Carlos posing in front of the latest Batman costume from the upcoming "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" movie. Just have to say I am not a fan of Battfleck.

Total fan of WB's "Flash" and "Arrow" television shows: the Reverse Flash costume is one of my favorites and totally digging the Golden-Age Flash helmet.

More "Arrow" props: Felicity Smoak's eyeglasses and Sara Lance's Black Canary costume.

And, of course, the sightseeing of all the awesome costumes that people wear to the Comic-Con is still one of my favorite things to do. Although I did see plenty of amazing cosplayers throughout this past Con, I didn't take as many photos as I would of liked!

One of many GOT's Daenerys Targaryen cosplayers spotted walking around the Con. 

My favorite cosplayers of the event - "Kung Fury" with Viking babes and Triceracop.

Psycho killer zombie girls. I don't know exactly who they are supposed to be but I liked how creepy and coordinated their looks were!

Loved this "Legend of Korra" fangirl's Korra costume!

Some great cosplay action: Azula costume from "Avatar: The Last Airbender".

Ru-Fi-O! Ru-Fi-O! Loved this female cosplayer's rendition of Dante Basco's Rufio from "Hook".

Fantastic version of Effie Trinket's Butterfly costume from "The Hunger Games".

Pretty amazing Raven costume!

I decided to display my paper dolls in the Comic-Con Art Show again. For my third year showcasing my paper dolls, I wanted to create mostly fan-based paper dolls relevant to Comic-Con's celebration of comics and other pop-culture art forms. In addition, I wanted to show more variety with the whole collection of dolls rather than my usual majority of mermaid paper dolls. I introduced for last year's Art Show a handful of my fairy paper dolls based on Tinkerbell and friends. 

I really just love the experience of having my paper doll art on display at one of my favorite events of the year! I look forward to participating in this year's 2016 SDCC Art Show and stretching my paper craft imagination to new fangirl heights! I just want to say thank you to my sister Stevie, my two kids, and my husband Carlos for helping me set-up my paper doll art display on the morning of Preview Night. And, of course, thank you from the bottom of my heart to everyone who came out to the Art Show and visited my lovely paper ladies!

My lovely paper ladies.

The artist and her art.

Upstairs at the Sails Pavilion with Carlos before the madness!

Since I had the pleasure of having Carlos hang out with me during all four days at the Con, we made sure to try to see some of Carlos's favorite comic book artists and writers. We made time to peruse Artist Alley, visit several publishing booths, and sit in on a couple of panels.

Carlos at the IDW Publishing booth with artist Gabriel Rodriguez signing the comic book "Onyx".

At the DC comic book writer, Geoff Johns, panel.

Super rad time at the "Kung Fury" panel.

A big part of the fun of every Comic-Con is the bonus of trying to spot or (even better) meet some celebrities who happen to be in San Diego! This past Comic-Con was quite the bonus for me! Thanks to my fellow IKEA cronies, Rachel and Lily, I was able to spend some time helping out at the TV Guide Magazine's Comic-Con Yacht. 

I did spot a lot of familiar and not so familiar stars hanging out at the yacht. I saw a very older-looking C. Thomas Howell a.k.a. Ponyboy from "The Outsiders". And I did meet Christian Slater very briefly and didn't realize he was on a USA television show called "Mr. Robot" that soon afterwards Carlos and I would begin watching and become fans of the show. Of course, seeing the cast of AMC's "The Walking Dead" was the most exciting part of my time on the yacht. I was able to take quick photographs with a couple of my favorite characters on the show. I was literally star-struck and the only thing I could say to both Andrew Lincoln (Rick Grimes) and Danai Gurira (Michonne) was that they were "absolutely gorgeous"! Which they were!

With my IKEA compadres, Rachel and Lily.

 

I was totally head-over-heals to be able to briefly touch Andrew Lincoln.

Danai Gurira is quite the beauty and if I would of known she would be wearing her culottes jumpsuit, I would have worn mine too!!!

 Carlos spotted actor Curtis Armstrong (aka Booger from "Revenge of the Nerds" and Herbert Viola of "Moonlighting") at the trolley stop and we followed him because we happened to be headed to the same destination! Would you believe that?!?

We spent a good amount time at the Nintendo Lounge located at Marriott Marquis and Marina Hotel right next to the Convention Center because our kids LOVE Nintendo! If they could spend all their time here during the Con they would. It was Super Mario Bros. 30th Anniversary and I can still remember the first time I played Super Mario Bros. on the NES. I was about 11 years old with plenty of time on my hands! And now my kids love playing Nintendo games.

Charles Martinet, the voice actor of Mario, Luigi, Wario, and Waluigi, on-stage at the Nintendo Lounge.

One thing new this past Con was my youngest, Salem, decided to compete in Nintendo's Super Smash Bros. for WiiU tournament for 12 years and younger. She is a pretty excellent Super Smash Bros. player and her champion character to play is Link. 

There were 128 players that day and Salem made it to Round 2 of the Super Smash Bros. tournament. Her Round 2 match against her opponent was very close and it left everybody watching on pins and needles! It was a good game! And we were very proud of Salem! We celebrated afterwards with some Ben & Jerry's ice cream at Seaport Village!

And that concludes my time at the 2015 SDCC! As always, I look forward to this upcoming Comic-Con in mid-July and can't wait to see what fun things await! Cheers!

San Diego Comic-Con 2013

I can't believe it has already been more than a year since last year's San Diego Comic-Con. This year's Comic-Con International was so much fun just like every year before. And despite the outrageous crowds both inside and out, the excitement and energy of all the fans were felt everywhere. 

 Just for Comic-Con, the City of San Diego changed their trolley signs to the fictional language, Dothraki, from HBO's Game of Thrones. This trolley stop used to be 'Gaslamp Quarter' but has been changed to 'Vaes Dothrak', the city of the Dothraki people.

A view outside from my trolley window of the Gaslamp Quarter which is directly across from the Convention Center.

Me upstairs in the Sails Pavilion of the Convention Center.

A look inside the Convention with a hall lined with Game of Thrones banners.

Looking outside the Comic-Con with a view of Petco Park.

At the IDW Publishing booth: IDW rotating sign with a picture of Dodge from Joe Hill's Locke & Key comic book series; Carlos admiring the G.I. Joe Cobra: The Last Laugh deluxe hardcover.

Inside the Con: The Hasbro booth with the My Little Pony sign above.

Also, I have to admit that this particular Comic-Con was a bit more special than others. It was the first time I submitted my paper dolls for display at their art show. I was quite proud to be able to show my paper dolls at the Con and especially proud to have Carlos and our kids there with me while I put up my display. 

Comic-Con Art Show: Me and my paper dolls after set-up.

I'm glad to see that my paper dolls received some love from Comic-Con attendees. By the end of the 4-day Comic-Con, all my business cards were gone and I sold 6 out of 11 paper dolls. Funny thing about this whole art display process was the fact that I was told by one of the art show representatives that most buyers preferred not to have their art framed and they recommended that we didn't frame our art. So I was a bit relieved that I did prepare a mix of framed and unframed paper dolls. However, after picking up my unsold paper dolls, I realized that those dolls not framed were the ones not sold - definitely something to think about for next year's art show.

This year's Comic-Con was also a great year in terms of having a good many of my pretend boyfriends making appearances at the panels. Unfortunately, I did not see any of them at the panels because I could not fathom waiting in line for at least 8 hours to get a glimpse of them. Sorry boys! 

Here's a look at my pretend-boyfriends-of-the-moment at the Comic-Con:

• Tom Hiddleston

Tom Hiddleston stole the thunder from everything buzz worthy in Hall H by taking the stage as his 'Thor' character Loki; later Tom was all smiles while attending an autograph signing for his upcoming movie Thor: The Dark World.

• Michael Fassbender

Michael Fassbender wore an animal mask from the upcoming Lionsgate horror movie You're Next to the X-Men: Days of Future Past panel.

• Kit Harington

Kit Harington 'Jon Snow' walks on-stage for the Game of Thrones Friday panel. Hot damn!

• Andrew Garfield

Andrew Garfield donned his Spiderman costume for the Hall H crowd for the Amazing Spiderman 2 panel.

And once again, one of my favorite things to do while at the Con is looking at all the awesome costumes.

Science Ninja Team Gatchaman: Costumed fans of Jo, the Condor, and Jun, the Swan.

Star Wars Bounty Hunters: Boba Fett & Bossk

Old school Cylons from 1980s Battlestar Galactica.

The Horse Head Mask was seen everywhere throughout this year's Comic Con.

Comic-Con fan dressed in an awesome costume with wheelchair inspired by Madame Suliman from Hayao Miyazaki's Howl's Moving Castle.

Masters of the Universe He-Man and She-Ra.

Nintendo's Princesses: Daisy and Peach.

A Tale of Two Links: Goron (Fire) Tunic Link and Green Tunic Link from Nintendo's Legend of Zelda.

Semi-Justice League Reunion, in attendance: Wonder Woman, Flash, Batgirl, and Aquaman.

Not your typical Classic X-Men with Jean Grey, Wolverine, and Rogue.

Just a couple of mutants hanging out: Cyclops and Mystique.

 Marveltastic Costumes: Black Cat, Bullseye, and Electro.

Most of all, I love finding something special at and around the small press booths and artist alley...

At the Last Gasp booth: In love with interesting book covers.

I bought this beautifully illustrated book for the boys called Curiosities: An Illustrated History of Ancestral Oddity by Mike Yamada and Victoria Ying of Los Angeles-based design studio Extracurricular Activities. I was able to meet Mike and Victoria at their booth and they were both happy to sign their book for me.

I bought for myself this absolutely whimsical art print "Message in the bottle" by Patara of Vuduberi. She was a pleasure to meet and she signed my print as well.

And cheers again to another great Comic-Con year! Can't wait for next year!

(Sources: Boba Fett & Bossk, Cyclops & Mystique, Nintendo, Marvel, DC Comics, Battlestar Galactica, Masters of the Universe, Howl's Moving Castle, Gatchaman, Andrew Garfield/Splash News/Renegade Cinema, Getty Images)