[Outside the Convention]
About 2 weeks ago, San Diego Comic Con (SDCC) was held in San Diego, California. It was my the first time attending. I started my convention-going this spring with WonderCon (put on by the same organization as SDCC). Since then I have been to the Big Wow and FanimeCon. -Before this spring, I had never been to a comic or fan convention. This has been a year of discovery for me in terms of the whole cosplay and fan convention world. I am enjoying every convention thus far and each one has it's own unique and good aspects.
[Photo Op at the Hasbro Booth with Chicken Pinkie Pie]
SDCC was by far the biggest convention I have been to. I was told there was over 130,000 in attendance of the actual convention and that did not include fellow visitors to the city who didn't actually attend the convention and city goers who came out to the surrounding events. While at times I felt like I couldn't move and it was too much, I also had fun meeting some really great people, artists, cosplayers, and vendors.
[Myself with Felipe Smith - Creator of Peepo Choo & TMNT Artist]
I wasn't able to cosplay myself. I wasn't feeling 100%. I have been working on trying to embody characters that I have come to enjoy through comics, Anime, mangas, cartoons, and books, but I have yet to be able to actually do it. Hopefully at the next convention I will be able to!
[Myself with a Trooper Cosplayer]
Now onto the fun part! Let me share what goodies I was able to pick up at SDCC! I was wise enough to do research before going to the convention. I knew what was going to debut, yet be permanent there (in other words- products I did not have to purchase at the convention) and what was going to be exclusives to the convention. I went with a list of what I wanted. Sadly, I was not able to purchase everything I wanted to get, because some products sold out. It was ridiculous, in my opinion, just how high-in-demand certain items were and how little supply there actually was, but in the end I just had to live with what I could get.
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Tokidoki Unicorno Blind Boxes Series 4 - photo taken at Henry's Pub/Villain's Pub]
The only items I purchased that were not SDCC exclusives were 2 Unicorno Blind Boxes from Tokidoki. Series 4 was debuted at SDCC, so if you were there and waited in the long line to get into the Tokidoki booth then you could have been 1 of the first to get your hands on some. I only purchased 2, as I will wait until they arrive at Hot Topic to buy more (cheaper that way), but I couldn't resist seeing the new ones. - Left to Right: Yuna and Cremino.
The other item I bought.....er.....I should say, that I received....as a gift from my convention partner, Afronauts, heh. Yeah, I didn't actually buy the t-shirt, but was gifted with it. This was an exclusive to SDCC and when we were in the Tokidoki booth, we were told that the handfuls they had left were all they had of it and that there were no more behind the counter, so once they sold out they would be gone for good. -From that statement, I would assume this tee sold out at SDCC and if you want one your best bet would be on eBay.
***Note: For future reference and to anyone who plans on buying TokiDoki tees- I bought a size "S" or "small", because I was afraid the XS would be too small. After putting it on, I now wish I had gotten an "XS" or "x-small". These shirts are true-to-size. I normally wear an XS and I should have just stuck with that.
[Myself next to a giant Hulkbuster]
So, the Tokidoki booth was literally my first stop for purchases. While I was standing in line, my fiance went roaming to other booths and this was also the first failed attempt at trying to buy something from Funko. My partner was turned away and told to come back later. After Tokidoki, we went looking for art. - Convention Art has become a huge thing for me! And by "thing", I mean- a memorable way to commemorate each convention I go to; an expressive way to show off my fan love; and to meet a lot of great people who are the artists themselves!
[Art I purchased by Whitney Pollet]
I did not find too much art that I wanted to purchase at SDCC. Normally my art hauls are a nice handful or more, but most of what was at SDCC was commercial and that's not really what I collect. However, I did pass a table that had a print of the Sailor Scouts that I couldn't pass up! Not only was it original, but it was cute too, and that's the print on the left in the picture above. On the right you will see an original sea goddess print. I was fascinated by this! It's so beautiful and unique! I was fortunate to talk to the artist, Whiteny Pollett, about it; The sea goddess is based off of Hindi gods and she is completely original. I believe Ms.Pollett said there would be an actual doll or figure made of her and it would be coming out next year. I will definitely be on the look out for that! My print also reads "35/100" and while I did not ask, I am assuming that means these were limited edition prints and the one I purchased was #35 out of 100.
[Taylor Sterling - Author of Okemus]
While searching for art, we were ushered to a table by a girl who said we had to check out Taylor Sterling. Turned out he was a nice, humble guy and it was great talking to him! We ended up buyin his comic "Okemus" and I look forward to reading it!
[Art Print by Wardell Brown]
Next, we found some awesome original art by an artist of the name- Wardell Brown. I picked up this print of an African girl and a lion. He had some other neat prints of females who looked like original super heroes. If I ever come across him again I may have to pick those up!
After that, we headed back to Funko and once again were turned away and told to come back at around 4:30pm. So, we went to find the UCC booth, which turned out to be on the completely opposite side from the Funko booth. This meant a pretty hectic trip for us, because it was so crowded!
[Felipe Smith - Author of Peepo Choo]
On our way to finding the UCC booth, we discovered a man by the name of Felipe Smith! He had his own manga which he wrote and drew while living in Japan! He was a great guy to talk to and it turned out he also is the an artist for the new TMNT show on Nickelodeon, which I am a fan of! (If you scroll up, you will see a picture of him and I together!)
[Sporties MLB Pinkie Pie SDCC Exclusive Figures]
Once we finally made it over to the UCC booth, it wasn't hard for me to spot what I came for! I saw the MLB Pinkie Pies advertised before the convention and knew I had to get some!
[Sporties MLB My Little Pony Pinkie Pies - SDCC Exclusives]
[photo taken at Henry's Pub/Villain's Pub]
We picked up both the New York Yankees & the Detroit Tigers, which are the MLB teams from our native states.
[Miku Hangers]
While I was also at the UCC both, I bought these 3 Miku Hangers. They were 3 for $20. I love blind bags/boxes and couldn't resist!
[3 of the 6 Miku Hangers]
Here are my 3 Miku Hangers! I'm so happy I opened 3 different ones! The unfortunate part is that I have not been able to find them online and so I'm not sure how to collect the other 3?!?!
[Outside of the Villain's Pub]
To wrap up Friday (our Day 1) we ended at the Villain's Pub for some good food, drinks, and games from HISHE! We did end up going back into the convention afterwards, specifically for Funko, but again were turned away and told they were sold out of everything for the day. Funko was a very frustrating part of the convention for me!
This entry is so pic heavy and there is so much content and so I'm wrapping up this entry, and I will be posting "Part 2" from Saturday soon! Leave comments, questions, and links to your blogs below!
