It was not exactly a normal weekend in San Diego. Walking past twin Superman’s and a Storm Trooper in the Gaslight District may be assumed to be no big deal in California unless you actually live here. Isn’t this just an every day occurrence on an average day in the Golden State? This is, after all, Southern California, not too far south of Hollywood where new realities are dreamed up on a daily basis. San Diego is even closer to Disneyland which on this weekend might have actually only been the second happiest place on earth. In spite of what the average Joe may assume about California, even the locals were taken aback by what was lurking on nearly every street corner during the past 4 days. When Comic-Con comes to town, along with it’s kaleidoscope of colorful merchandise, characters, and events, it’s time to batten down the hatches, folks. There’s some serious fun to be had; let the geek-fest begin!
From the outside, it looks as though Halloween came really early. More Comic-Con attendee’s were dressed up than ever before and some of the get ups were pretty elaborate, likely taking hours to makeup and assemble. Now considered the perfect excuse to dress up as pretty much any character you like, Comic-Con had its humble beginnings back in 1970 as an annual fan convention that catered mostly to Comic Book fans. Comic Con now has morphed into a multi-genre, multi-faceted 4-day giant event that although still has roots in comics, has branched out to include many more areas of focus such as science fiction, fantasy, film, television, horror, animation, anime, manga, toys, collectibles, video games–well, almost anything goes at Comic Con.
Many upcoming big movies were being promoted at Comic Con this year, such as “The Expendables 2”, “The Hobbit”, “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2”, as well as an exciting sneak peak at the upcoming “Iron Man 3”. Many more television shows were being featured, such as “Game of Thrones”, “The Walking Dead,” and “The Big Bang Theory”. Just about every movie and tv themed costume character were there. A couple of hot new shows coming out in the future were also being touted. “Revolution”, a futuristic dramatic sci fi show will be out on NBC this fall, and a video game based sci fi thriller, “Defiance”, is set to come out sometime next year.
Even if you were unable to score tickets to attend the convention itself, there was still plenty of action all around town for those who were looking for a good time. Rob Zombie held an event called “Dawn of the Con” at the local Petco Park where attendees could be seen trying to avoid and dodge attacking Zombies. Some of the bigger gaming companies had areas set up where gamer geeks could unite and find a space to get their game on. Disney and HGTV set up a large electric garden, a huge promotional turn-on featuring the new movie “Frankenweenie”, which will be released in early October. DC Comics had a local art show featuring both superheroes and super villains. MAC cosmetics were nearby promoting their “Archie” cosmetics line. Comic Con isn’t just for comic book fans, any more folks.
Whether you are looking for collectibles, new toys, movies, games, memorabilia, comics or perhaps just want an excuse to dress up as something completely crazy, Comic Con offers a forum for all sorts of artistic expression or you could even call it a giant get-together for geeks and nerds everywhere. This is one of those times however, where it is indeed, quite hip to be square. If you are a bit of a nerd at heart, it’s perfectly all right to come to Comic Con and just be yourself. Nerdery is fully embraced here. And if you are still wondering what you should wear, well–if you can dream it–be it. Trust us, you’ll fit right in.
