The wait is over! Comic-Con 2012 badges will go on sale at 8:00 a.m. PST on Saturday March 3rd, 2012.

Actually glad I am going to skip this madness after 9 years of attending, it's just not fun anymore, give me Allentown anyday!

quote:

Originally posted by Batman:
Actually glad I am going to skip this madness after 9 years of attending, it's just not fun anymore, give me Allentown anyday!

I gave up trying to get tickets for SDCC after the mess of 2010. I'm in the process of organizing a trip to the Philly Show in April.

According to the email I recieved from SDCC you were asked not to give out this information! Inorder to buy tickets you have to have a member ID which were available through Feb 28th. Some blogs were suggesting you might still be able to order tickets without an ID. Plain foolishness since the waiting room for tickets will only hold 60,000 and an ID is required. Even if you were able to get into the waiting room ther are no guarentees since you can purchase tickets for upto 6 ID's. Thanks...

Got my confirmation two days ago- I'm going to be going as a volunteer

I used to send a check in Feb or March and pick up my badge on preview night. No sweat.
Since Twilight and The Big Bang Theory everything has changed.
Ace

I bought my badge onsite last year -- soooo glad I get to skip the madness tomorrow

Was bad enough last year on site getting tickets!
Pure madness compared to a few years ago!
Just alienating people who want to go!
Must be easier to get on the x factor.

I think it's sad that you have to watch a video with "tips" on how to sign up for your badge.

Guess I'm done with SDCC until they move it...

Couldn't get in last year, and didn't even bother to try this year. C'est la vie!

I guess I just do not understand much of the SDCC bashing logic here - if you attended 2011 why would you not get your 2012 ticket even if there was a great and probably beyond huge wait - if you loved a restaurant and it was immensely popular you would make the effort and go and wait for a table - well SDCC is thousandfold that and yes the wait is probably thousandfold proportionate but honestly where else under ONE ROOF can you find so much GREAT STUFF - even I who hate waiting would do whatever is needed to attend and yes I do attend every year - and wait and wait I did have to do one year - but for me and THOUSANDS of others SDCC is worth the trouble of waiting & pushing just due to its unique nature

If your intrest is trading cards though i am assuming that San Diego is a bit of a waste now, there are better shows to go to without going through all the hassle.

there is a great variety of trading cards from dealers etc...- I always find stuff to buy and stuff given out - no there are probably not 30 promos as at Philly but SDCC is an EXPERIENCE that no other convention can provide and I personally LOVE IT - it is an accomplishment to come out of the 5 days with STUFF and more STUFF

well keep in mind that i said assume as i have no experiance of going to any of these shows.

quote:

Originally posted by wolfie:
well keep in mind that i said assume as i have no experiance of going to any of these shows.

I have and I'm kind of done with it. There are a lot people looking for free stuff only, autograph guests have huge lines, the physical set up is often confusing, and most things I have gone to look for are not there at all. I wouldn't call it a bad experience because the big shows are events, its just that once you see a couple of them you know what you're missing and you don't have to go back.

Personally. . . the last time I went was several years ago -- pre Twilight. . . it was the last year it didn't sell out before the show started, I think. While I had a blast at the end of it I was sort of over it too. . . It was kind of and I'm glad I did it, but I don't know that I ever need to do it again, and now that you have to plan so far in advance to go, and it's such a pain to get tickets, hotels, etc, I don't know that I'll be back for a long time. . .

That's a huge contrast from the first time I went, which was probably in 2000. . . after I left that show I was amazed and I tried to find a way to get back every year after that until that second time. . .

Thankfully there are a lot of shows in my area, and Wizard World Chicago looks killer this year (and it was killer last year), so to be honest. . . I don't miss SDCC at all. That's not to say I wouldn't go back if I had the opportunity. . . but it's not a goal like it once was.

Jon

I have not been to San Diego since V for Vendetta the movie was a big deal there. It is close to the bottom of my list of favorite cons. I tend to hit two cons a year. Usually a big one and a smaller one. For me, the giant cons SDCC and DragonCon have lost a lot of appeal. I can see and do so much more at the smaller cons. The dealers are more willing to (well...Deal). The guest take more time with you (in most cases). I spent almost 15 minutes with Adam Baldwin and could have spent a lot of time with 1/3 of the guest at Wizard World New Orleans. But like my friend, Sam, would say, SDCC is his con and there is none like it. So, to each their own.

quote:

Originally posted by wolfie:
If your interest is trading cards though i am assuming that San Diego is a bit of a waste now, there are better shows to go to without going through all the hassle.

Absolutely true, sad to say.

As the producers of cards have dwindled, the overall presence of card manufacturers and retailers at the San Diego Convention necessarily has as well, and many of us primarily card collector-types are vanishing from the grand hall along with them.

But it was quite a different thing though, and not so long ago, when the show was a must for nonsport card enthusiasts (and remains of interest to them as I hope to illustrate), but certainly the golden era was from about 1995-2007 or so, and seems to be long gone these days. (A Cryptozoic booth would be great this year!)

But during that span of 10 years or so, one could, in short succession, visit the Inkworks, Fleer/Skybox, Rittenhouse, Comic Images, Dart Flipcards, and Topps (and a few other I'm leaving out, I'm sure) booths and all of them had a handful of promos and other items for you, without huge throngs of people around fighting for the same.

And virtually all of these manufacturers loved to talk about what they had planned for the future. I especially loved visiting with the guys as Topps, and talking about upcoming Star Wars cards. A lot of it came to pass. The Inkworks booth was great, but I miss Topps at Comic-Con the most.

And to expand on Sherlock2's post, with which I heartily agree:

quote:

Originally posted by sherlock2:
there is a great variety of trading cards from dealers etc...- I always find stuff to buy and stuff given out - no there are probably not 30 promos as at Philly but SDCC is an EXPERIENCE that no other convention can provide and I personally LOVE IT - it is an accomplishment to come out of the 5 days with STUFF and more STUFF

Even with the steep decline of cards being made in recent years, a collector, willing to walk the (massive) hall up and down a few times, and to keep their eyes open, can to this day gather a tidy stack of promo cards and limited edition sets from various sources.

Last year, Avatar Comics sold an exclusive 90 card set based on the Garth Ennis series "Crossed". Purchasers of a set were given a Comic-con exclusive promo and an autograph ticket for 2 signatures from Garth Ennis himself. I asked him to sign a card from the set and one of my favorite issues of his classic series Preachers.

Bear in mind, the "card" experience could only have happened in San Diego (this was Ennis' first visit West since 1997, I believe he said). This was one just one of the card related highlights of the trip, yet I only attended on Thursday and Sunday and even had time to watch a couple of panels on Sunday, satisfied with the many cards I'd acquired (including boxes from most if not all of the few remaining card retailers and a handful of the absolute-musts that are Breygent Comic Con Mystery packs, purchased from Tom Breyer himself (via Julio's Non Sprots cards, who Tom has set up with the past couple of years) always a welcome sight on our western shores!

So with all of that and my other main interest, autographs from artists (signed on cards when possible), also having been successfully pursued again in 2011 and every year since 1996, I do submit that the San Diego Comic-Con shouldn't ever be fully discounted where cards are concerned. While the general craziness of its sheer size is now unavoidable, it remains a great opportunity for motivated card collectors specifically to add some unique items to their hoard.

quote:

Originally posted by sherlock2:
I guess I just do not understand much of the SDCC bashing logic here - if you attended 2011 why would you not get your 2012 ticket even if there was a great and probably beyond huge wait - if you loved a restaurant and it was immensely popular you would make the effort and go and wait for a table - well SDCC is thousandfold that and yes the wait is probably thousandfold proportionate but honestly where else under ONE ROOF can you find so much GREAT STUFF - even I who hate waiting would do whatever is needed to attend and yes I do attend every year - and wait and wait I did have to do one year - but for me and THOUSANDS of others SDCC is worth the trouble of waiting & pushing just due to its unique nature

I'm from the U.K., when I've attended in the past I could not guarantee that I could make the following year due to work committments or cost. It can cost $1500 to $2000 just for travel and hotels. So unless you can get there every year it becomes impossible to get tickets now.

My wife and I will be making our annual trip to SDCC. It's kind of weird, even though for most people the cost of attending (including airfare, hotel, etc) has gone up quite a bit, ours has gone down by the same degree.

We quit fighting for a hotel room and now stay at my friend's house who goes with us to the show every day anyway. This also eliminates the parking problems for 2 cars down there every day. (the prepay for parking the last 2 years has been awesome and EASY)

Having gotten an artist into drawing sketch cards also qualified her a pro badge for SDCC. So as a perennial thank you, she adds us onto her pro badge and we pay her for them. So we don't have to stress over the stupidity of the online sales or lines.

For those that are going, if you have a car while you're down there and want to try to save a few bucks, look for hotels that are further away from the convention center and consider driving in. There are some deals out there that are MUCH cheaper and far out weigh the cost of gas for driving back and forth. Just my 2 bits