If you haven’t heard of SDCC before, you probably don’t care or believe it but it’s true, right now, over 130,000 people are getting ready to invade the beautiful city of San Diego. Each one of these people who were lucky enough to go through the hell that is getting badges and hotels for the week go through the stress for any number of reasons: the hope of getting that one (or dozen) exclusive collectible item to add to their collection or to meet their idol cos-player or possibly to rub elbows with their favorite artist, actor, director or really any of the random celebrities who show up for any number of reasons.
For me, it’s about everything. I love everything about SDCC. The weather is the best in the country. The free swag that’s handed out like candy at parades covers anything you could be at the con for. The panels, while sometimes difficult to get into, consistently cover anything you could care about in pop culture. Even the lines, while often hectically long, aren’t as bad as most think because everyone around you is just like you! Obviously, they wouldn’t be there unless they cared for at least some of the same things as you and most of them (at least from my experience) are extremely nice and helpful people who can turn into great friends. In recent years though, Hollywood and the abundant celebrity sightings have made SDCC bigger and bigger each year with thousands of people hoping to bump into celebrities they admire and, as long as you are kind and respectful, they are too.
Ultimately, though, if I had to narrow down the best thing about SDCC, I would have to say it’s all about the memories you make with your friends, the ones you arrive with and the ones you make during the week. The memories are what you cherish more than the toy, photo, autograph, or work of art you get on any of the days you spend inside the convention center or outside it at all of the offsite events.
This year, I have Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday badges and, with all of the panels released, I still have no idea what I will end up doing each day. Obviously, I have gone over the long list of panels and events with a fine tooth comb but when you are there in the crowds you never know what you will find. I mean, I looked over the schedule for the past two years for hours and hours before getting into San Diego but nowhere in any of the books did it tell me that I was going to meet Rob Corddry, Brian Posehn, or have the most randomly obscene conversation with Jason Mewes. Even though we knew about the panels, we didn’t know that my buddy would talk to Kate Beckinsale and Colin Farrell after getting booed by 6,500 people. No matter how much you try to plan each second of SDCC, things will change and it’s impossible to see everything anyway so it’s best to just roll with it. You never know who you might meet.
Andy Comer