quote:

Originally posted by Kennywood:
Don't forget that she also got into the show too. I don't recall the exact cost of a 4-day ticket but I believe it was $75.00. If so, then her 12-hour shift amounted to $6.25/hour. And with first crack at some of the goodies at the Freebie table, it doesn't seem she did too badly.

I agree. From what I read, your sister got some easy volunteer assignments. She was extremely lucky not having been assigned to departments that require lots of work or that required more manual labor requiring lifting and the like. Additionally, she was also able to attend late night programs.

If volunteering isn't her thing, I hope she registered for full membership for next year.

Below is my trading card haul.

From Artbox, the following were in my goody bag:
- Goblet of Fire tin with four retail packs
- Half-Blood Prince binder
- Half-Blood Prince - SDCC09 Evanna Lynch 3.5 x 5 autograph card
- Half-Blood Prince prop card - SDCC09 P1 Quidditch Stands Material card (511/550)
- Half-Blood Prince prop card - SDCC09 P2 Quidditch Stands Material card ((504/550)
- Half-Blood Prince prop card - SDCC09 P3 Quidditch Stands Material card (507/550)
- Memorable Moments complete base and foil insert set
- Memorable Moments Series Two binder with promo cards
- Memorable Moments Series Two 25 case incentive card - Ci4 Emma Watson/David Thewlis double costume card (075/104)
- Order of the Phoenix Collector's Update prop card - P8 Death Eaters Mask and Costume card (073/100)
- Star Wars IG-88 magnet
I also asked for and received three Half-Blood Prince promos

On preview night, I bought a Ghost Whisperer box (336/500) from Dealer 1. I pulled the following:
- Camryn Manheim autograph
- Christoph Sanders autograph
- "pink" JLH costume card
- "blue" JLH costume card
- C3, S3, S4, T5, T6, T7, K7, K8, K9
They also gave me a Dexter promo and three different GW promo cards.

On the final day, I bought a second GW box (55/500) from Dealer 2. I pulled the following:
- Jennifer Love Hewitt autograph
- Christoph Sanders autograph
- "blue" JLH costume card
- "dual" JLH costume card
- C2, S4, S5, T3, T4, T5, K4, K5, K6, K7
They gave me their special dealer promo for GW and all five Lost promos.

On the final day, I bought a Lord of the Rings - Fellowship of the Rings binder from Dealer 3. They gave me their special dealer promo for GW and all five Lost promos.

On the final day, I bought a Serenity binder from Dealer 4. They gave me their special dealer promo for GW and all five Lost promos.

So I was fortunate that each dealer that had the special GW dealer promos had something different that I wanted.

One of these dealers also gave me a Stargate Heroes (SD09) promo card.

Around 4:30 on Sunday, Marvel was giving away their leftovers. That's how I received my Spiderman Archives promo card (SD09).

I went to the Official Pix booth everyday to pick up a Star Wars Fan Days III cards:
- 6: Matt Lanter
- 7: Matthew Wood
- 8: Ashley Eckstein
- 9: James Arnold Taylor
- 10: Catherine Tabor

During my exhibition hall wanderings, I also picked up cards for Twilight (both versions), Spartacus and three complete sets of the 3.5 x 5 cards for 9.

Stuff I'll be trading will be posted in the trading section.

Ok, here goes with my jumbled thoughts and observations from comic con (in no particular order):

Always good to meet up with friends (Paul H, Harris, Batman, Jake) and make some new acquaintances.

Biggest celebrity I met on the exhibit floor - Jonathan Ross in a strange military/space outfit (UK will know him).

Weirdest sight - Playboy ice cream van outside the convention center giving away ice creams and playboy (must be something wrong with this but I am not sure what).

Why does no one on any stand know anything about the freebies they have (trading card or otherwise). How difficult would it be to provide staff with a little info.

Strangest costume combination I saw - Guy in a Joker nurse outfit with another guy in a cookie monster costume (when he took off his cookie monster head he had a mohawk haircut underneath which only added to the effect).

Favourite freebie I got - Hitchhikers guide to Hitchhikers Guide to the universe book and 'Don't Panic' beer mat (new book coming in October).

Favourite freebie trading cards - Spartacus 12 card foil set.

Best bargain I bought - US postal service first day stamps and covers with pictures in borders. these were for star wars and marvel and were selling for $5 each (originally $20 when they came out).

Favourite day - Friday.

Best last thing I got on any day - Friday as I was leaving I saw Bruce Timm sitting there doodling and got him to do me a Black widow sketch which cost me $50 but was so worth it. Had a great chat with him while he was doing the sketch, did you know he grew up as a marvel fan not DC?

Luckiest moment - I was watching a heroes raffle on Sunday with my many tickets when the guy next to me left and gave me his two tickets. Yep you guessed it one of his came up and I won a Heroes CD and signed photo so thanks whoever you were. Non of mine won!

What is it with those WB bags that makes normal people turn into crazed lunatics? In fact why do people queue for any bags anyway?

Having said that my favorite bag was the sideshow collectibles one which had the slogon 'Your collection is impressive, most impressive' on them accompanied by a picture of Darth Vader.

Best Star Wars giveaway - DK set of Star Wars lego figure postcards.

Why do people join queues without knowing what they are queueing for?

Why do people insist on bringing small kids in strollers to comicon (I know they may not have a choice but I have a 3 year old and I would not subject her to these crowds and their behavior for her own good).

The Heroes stand was raffling a car away each day, so how did Robert Picard (yes him) win one of these (no reason why not I suppose)?

Best new show I am looking forward to as a result of comic con - V.

Best movie I am looking forward to - Avatar.

Best free T shirt I got - District 9.

The 'why were they at comic con' award goes to all the game and toy companies - please leave!

The worst queues for freebies - Paramount who introduced the idea of providing a schedule for giveaways thereby creating ridiculous queues for some questionable items (foam star trek hands anyone).

Best panel I attended - Torchwood (the only panel I attended ) and I left early as they started to give away plot points for 'Children of Earth' which I had not seen yet (but have now and it was great).

Overall impression - a great time and plenty of good stuff brought home. I have a few good photos I will post in a day or two.

Would I do it again, you bet.

Thanks for your attention (if you are still with me at this point

Second Con and all the better for me. I wasn't disapointed if I missed a talk - too many clashes - there was always something else to see/do. The Dexter queue was the worst for me. 2 hours in line and missed the first 15 minutes (and the freebies). Blew out on the Green Lantern action figure set. The Dexter bobble head sold out early Thursday morning. Didn't get one of the 6 daily specials in the Harry Potter goodie bags. The organisers really need to split up the Paramount, Fox and Warner stands. With so many giveaways from these three, there was a permanent gridlock of hundreds (no exaggeration) all day, every day. Dispite all of this, I had the best time and wouldn't swap it for quids.
Special thanks goes to Harris, Bob (Batman), Chris, Sheri and Mr & Mrs Toser all of which made my trip so much more worthwhile than just visiting a Con.
I must give a special mention to Natalie (NL) for going above and beyond for me. Not only did she go out of her way to get some Spidey clothing for a fanatical 4 year old at home, but she lead me by the hand and jostled, barged (and I think at one time, there may have been a kick ) to get me some freebies I must have walked passed a hundred times. She is a star

quote:

Originally posted by chen12:
Below is my trading card haul.

From Artbox, the following were in my goody bag:
- Goblet of Fire tin with four retail packs
- Half-Blood Prince binder
- Half-Blood Prince - SDCC09 Evanna Lynch 3.5 x 5 autograph card
- Half-Blood Prince prop card - SDCC09 P1 Quidditch Stands Material card (511/550)
- Half-Blood Prince prop card - SDCC09 P2 Quidditch Stands Material card ((504/550)
- Half-Blood Prince prop card - SDCC09 P3 Quidditch Stands Material card (507/550)
- Memorable Moments complete base and foil insert set
- Memorable Moments Series Two binder with promo cards
- Memorable Moments Series Two 25 case incentive card - Ci4 Emma Watson/David Thewlis double costume card (075/104)
- Order of the Phoenix Collector's Update prop card - P8 Death Eaters Mask and Costume card (073/100)
- Star Wars IG-88 magnet
I also asked for and received three Half-Blood Prince promos

Thanks for posting what was in the HP bags that Artbox was selling. I was curious what they contained this year.

Why was there a Star Wars magnet in the Artbox bag.?

quote:

Originally posted by wolfie:
Why was there a Star Wars magnet in the Artbox bag.?

Because they make Star Wars magnets. Why else

Well you can't argue with that.

quote:

Originally posted by Graham:
Special thanks goes to Harris, Bob (Batman), Chris, Sheri and Mr & Mrs Toser all of which made my trip so much more worthwhile than just visiting a Con.
I must give a special mention to Natalie (NL) for going above and beyond for me. Not only did she go out of her way to get some Spidey clothing for a fanatical 4 year old at home, but she lead me by the hand and jostled, barged (and I think at one time, there may have been a kick ) to get me some freebies I must have walked passed a hundred times. She is a star

Thanks Graham! We did some barging, but no kicking this time. And yes something has to be done about traffic obstructing the main walkways on the floor. Unfortunately, it was mostly lookie-loos that hemmed up the WB area as there were alot of signings that way.

It was my pleasure shopping for your 4 year old friend! I have to say that you are such a gentleman and so gracious as well as generous. I hope to see you here again in SD.

As for taking you on my tour, fellow Connies joke that when I take people on a tour of the floor all others BEWARE!!!

Glad you made it home safe.

I want that tour next year, Natalie! Harris will have to wait until 2011!

Graham, it was great seeing you again, Natalie is right, you are a true gentleman, and thank god someone was there to have shorts with me!

all Rittenhouse promos were given away for free at one table for sure - no purchase was ever required -

quote:

Originally posted by sherlock2:
all Rittenhouse promos were given away for free at one table for sure - no purchase was ever required -

I went to some of the booths asking for Rittenhouse promos. On Sunday, I spent money at all of the booths who just gave them to me and made a note to not spend money at the ones who required a purchase. Correct me if I'm wrong here, but dealers didn't pay for these, they were supplied by Rittenhouse?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Jason00,

I didn't have a problem getting promos from most dealers without purchasing anything. Most were nice enough to give me full promos.

So what were the high and low points of Comic Con for everyone?
High Point: There were so many but to me having John Kricfalusi (Hope That's right) The creator of Ren and Stimpy did caricatures of my wife and myself and Kevin and Olivia from Attack of The Show: They were 15 minutes early for their signing and made sure everyone in line got their autograph so they stayed after their time to make sure. They were also as nice as could be and I a pic of Kevin for my wife and a pic with myself and Olivia
Low Point: Teri Hatcher at the Coraline Signing:
There were myself and 8 other people at the end of line and she decides to do an interview and just stands up fixes her make up and does the interview doesn't say a word to Neil Gaiman, Henry Selick or Keith David, keeps them waiting until Neil Gaiman calls us over after a few minutes to get our stuff signed, when she's done she talks to the reporter a little more, looks around and sees the exit doesn't say a word to anyone and leaves with her assistant. The funny thing is during the interview she was saying how she was there for her fans but she couldn't take 2 minutes to finish the whopping line of 9 people who had to wait so she could do her interview.
Not sure what the deal was but it was very uncool But Mr. Gaiman, Mr. Selick and Mr. David were great and made it very worthwhile.

Some additional memories...
- Joss Whedon announced that work is in progress on a new Serenity comic book based on the character Shepherd Book.
- During the Star Wars fan film awards, Steve Sansweet announced a contest where the winner will be announced next year at Celebration V. But I can't find anything on an actual date or location yet.

More stuff:
- There was a hole in the wall labelled "Free Stuff" at the adultswim booth. You stuck your hand in there and someone gives you something. Some got cups, dvds, stickers and pins. I got a handshake!!!
- I got free books from the Tor booth: Inside Straight by George RR Martin, Darth Bane: Path of Destruction by Drew Karpyshyn and Battlestar Galactica: Sagittarius is Bleeding by Peter David.
- I got free t-shirts for 2012, Iron Man 2, Mike Judge's upcoming Extract and Zach Snyder's upcoming Sucker Punch.
- I bought a new watch from the Namco booth Here's an image of it from the clubNamco site: http://www.clubnamco.com/image.php?productid=253

Did anyone here attend the Stargate panel? If so, was anything said about the new, upcoming Stargate: Atlantis and Stargate: SG-1 DVD movies?

Highlight: Riding in an elevator with Denzel Washington and Gary Oldman

Lowlight: The damn line for Hall H. It gets worse and worse every year.

quote:

Originally posted by chen12:

- During the Star Wars fan film awards, Steve Sansweet announced a contest where the winner will be announced next year at Celebration V. But I can't find anything on an actual date or location yet.

They don't have dates or a location yet. The only thing they announced was that Celebration 5 would be in 2020.

quote:

Originally posted by Kennywood:
Did anyone here attend the Stargate panel? If so, was anything said about the new, upcoming Stargate: Atlantis and Stargate: SG-1 DVD movies?

My understanding is that there is that the Atlantis movie is still up in the air. It has not received the green light yet.
There are videos of all SYFY's panels - the entire panel, not just bits and pieces. If you can't find them on SYFY's site, I'm sure they're on YouTube. I like the fact that a lot of companies decided to record their panels for internet broadcast this year.