Mikaela’s Journey to SDCC 2019: Part VI

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday! (I really hope you are hearing that announcers voice when saying Sunday 3 times in your head!) I hadn’t actually scheduled anything for Sunday, so I kinda figured it would just be a day of wandering the floor, lookin around, and not really having anything to write about. Welp, I was wrong.

Sunday did start off pretty chill, having a coffee in the lobby of the hotel so I could catch up on writing and not be distracted by wanting to hang with our posse. When I did decide to mosey over to the convention centre it was well past the early morning crush of standing in line for an hour to just get in the building. As I casually strolled in, I immediately started coming across the most amazing cosplay. I easily hung out in the lobby for a couple hours just snapping pics of all these amazing outfits. So keep an eye on our Instagram @geekscapeforever over the next couple months to see what I found, and here are a few of my favourites!

Once I’d had my fill of cosplay and Derek tracked me down, we decided to check out the harbour side area of the convention centre, to grab a street meat and enjoy the salty windy air, before it was time to go to the FX area to experience the newest American Horror Story activation. This visit with FX was a last minute gig for us so it hadn’t really been on my radar, but I am sooo glad I got to experience it. Hard to say what my top experience was, but this definitely falls into my top 3!

The FX set up was pretty sweet. It was all on the lawn between a hotel and the back of the convention centre, in these big white irregularly shaped structures that kind of formed a circular central area. In addition to American Horror Story they had an It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia sunscreen station, which I didn’t use soon enough 🥵, an Archer oxygen bar, a Mayans temporary tattoo trailer, a Fox swing station, and a What We Do in the Shadows vampire house.

We sampled some flavoured oxygen, which allowed you to switch between various fruity smells for you to enjoy through the nasal prongs pumping O2 into your face. That was a weird experience! Derek wasn’t able to tell the difference at all and said it just smelled like plastic, so we’ve decided in addition to his colour blindness, he also has oxygen smell blindness.

We then headed into the American Horror Story: 1984 area, where you and 6 other people walk into a camp councillor’s office as the new recruits, and are greeted by the friendliest and most enthusiastic camp running guy you’ve ever met! The room is set up as the perfect picture of what I imagine a camp office would be in the 80’s, with a CB radio, a rolodex filled with marked business cards, a dart board on the wall and some mounted canoe paddles. Within moments, you start to hear another camp councillor over the radio panicking that something has gone horribly wrong out there in the woods.

The friendly old man leaves to solve the problem and we are left with a bubbly ditzy terrified camp councillor, sporting the perfectly crimped hair (in a side pony) and bubblegum pink lipstick. Shortly after we all run out into the woods, which is legit terrifying, it’s so hard to see anything, there are trees everywhere and I wanted to hold onto the stranger in front of me so I wouldn’t get lost in the forest (it’s mind boggling to me that they can create an atmosphere that feels so real and creepy that I was legit scared of getting separated from our group)!

As we are rounding a corner to get into the shelter of a cabin, a man with a balaclava emerged from the bushes and started heading our way. I don’t remember the last time I was so legitimately scared by something that I knew logically was all a ruse!? I’m pretty sure I tried to push past people so that I could be further away from him.

Once in the cabin we had to search for a key, and then were instructed to hide in a closet which turned into a long hallway, while the scary tall man continued to stalk toward us. As we ran down the hallway hands were coming out near the ground and grabbing onto our legs. Once at the end of the hall we managed to close a door and lock ourselves in another room as the masked man almost reached us. At which time lights flashed and a chain saw began to cut through the wall.

Turns out the lights flashing was actually a photo being taken, which managed to capture the back of my head as I both turned away from the lights to avoid what ever terror that was about, while nervously inspecting the closed door behind me sure that the masked man was about to burst in!

I can not give this activation enough praise! It was absolutely immersive, I was on edge (or terrified) the entire time and convinced that I was deep in some creepy camp woods. This experience has me well ready to get back into watching AHS when 1984 premieres this September .

Once we finally escaped from that horror, and took a minute to recovery and laugh our faces off, we headed over to the What We Do in the Shadows installation.

For Shadows you go through an elaborate door and enter into the living space of two Vampires. The space consists of dark Victorian era decorations, making up a bar area and two little living areas, with a photo opportunity in one corner. I’m not sure if the two Vampires in this place were actual characters from the show, but either way they were right on point with the shows humour! They were improvising like nobodies business with such amazing dry humour, working off of each other, as well as the visitors. Just standing around watching them bicker at each other was perfect! Once again I have another show to put on the list as a must watch!

We got out of FX shortly before their activation shut down for the day at 2pm, and finally it was time for me to try to walk the convention floor!

Almost as soon as we got in the building I wanted to escape. My previous experience of conventions has taught me that the final day of the show is usually a lot more chill than the rest of them. Oh how very wrong I was. We headed into artist alley, and I swear I couldn’t actually see any artists or their art cause there were so many freaking people!

We did manage to walk most of the show floor, but I really didn’t feel like I saw that much, and it definitely wasn’t very enjoyable. It’s so stressful trying to even move, and if you want to stop and look at something or god forbid change directions, well you better be ready for a trampling!

I managed to find my way back to Daniel Danger’s booth, where I got to meet the artist himself. He was so lovely and open, sharing with the people in the booth the meaning behind some of the quotes on his prints and what the art represents to him. He was willing to talk about mental health and some of the struggles he has faced. It was so amazing and refreshing to meet someone you admire, and have them be so kind, honest, and vulnerable. Honestly he is so talented and I am such a fan he had the opportunity to be snooty and above it all, but was the most approachable stranger I met all weekend.

After much deliberation I picked a print for my self and went on my way. About ten minutes later while searching for a gift for Derek’s dad I realized Danger had done a print of Batman standing on top of a Blockbuster building and it would be the perfect gift for Derek’s dad. His dad is into comics and super heroes, and pretty much every conversation I’ve ever heard Derek and his dad have has started with ‘So have you seen (insert movie title here) yet?’, plus we are both huge fans of Danger, so this seemed like it would be the perfect meaningful gift.

We rushed back to the booth only to find that the spot where these prints had been was now filled by something else. Knowing there had only been 2 left I was sure we had missed our opportunity, but upon asking discovered they were sitting underneath the new print, PHEW! We asked him to write a note to Derek’s dad to which he agreed and then proceeded to write the most hilarious little love note from father to son. I’m stoked. What a great experience, and lovely gift. Maybe sometimes it is ok to meet your heroes 🙂 (Now we just have to cross our fingers that it makes it home on the plane!)

Shortly after that, SDCC 2019 came to an end. Our posse gathered at the Geekscape booth and took a final group shot before immediately heading to Old Spaghetti Factory for a much anticipated (by Matt and Derek) final meal! After which we broke down the booth, said goodbye to Gui and headed to the hotel for a much needed hot tubbin! What a time!

Overall I had an amazing time at my first SDCC! The activations were amazing, everything felt like a spectacle, the floor was huge, the variety insane, the literal amount of different entertainment and products to consume were absolutely baffling. Some of these things were a double edged sword which left me with a little FOMO, such as being so I busy I didn’t end up getting to any panels, the crowds made wandering the floor less enjoyable, and getting your hands on many of the exclusive exciting SDCC products next to impossible. But the incredible experience of getting to see premieres while seated next to their stars, being immersed in the worlds of various tv shows, meeting new and interesting people, eating yummy food, and getting to meet and spend time with the Geekscape team, all of these far outweighed the drawbacks.

Thanks for following along with my journey. Keep an eye on the site for more in depth looks at a few of the things we got up to while at SDCC. And remember to follow @geekscapeforever on Instagram to catch some of the sweet cosplay we saw on this crazy journey!

Xoxo Mika!