SDCC 2018: Derek’s Long-Winded SDCC Recap – Thursday
Read pre-convention and preview night here.
Today started off a bit rough.
Naturally, it’s the first full day of the convention, there are new volunteers all over the place, and it’s one of the busiest events in North America, let alone San Diego.
This morning I was in a bit of a rush, as the panel that I’d wanted to see more than any other (the WWE/Mattel fan panel, naturally) was set to begin at 11:15am. Last year there were several panels prior to this one, so after each panel a myriad of people would leave, and I would creep up to get a better seat. This year there was just one panel before, so I needed to get there quickly.
But that didn’t exactly work out.
The San Diego Convention Centre is huge There are doorways (8 doors wide) marked A-G, and then a separate entrance for the ~6000+ seat Hall H (which holds the biggest announcements, and which people began lining up for on Tuesday). The auditorium was set to open at 9am (though was always advertised for 9:30), and in trying to find where to line up at 8:45, I started at G, was told to go to A, who told me to go to C, who told me to go to F, who told me to go back to G where I (and eventually thousands upon thousands of other people) gathered (likely after going through the same runaround that I did.
Then 9AM came and went. Then 9:30 came and went and it was hot as hell and there was absolutely no shade and everyone was shoulder to shoulder so it felt like forever. At 9:40 an employee came out and told us that the doors next to the ones we were gathered at would be the ones to open first and people started freaking out. Screaming, yelling, swearing around little kids, probably some crying, wailing out “You’re killing us,” the works, really. Sure, it was annoying (and warm… so warm), but turning into a freaking baby was not at all appropriate.
Eventually I made it into the convention centre, and still made it into the room where the WWE panel would be held with time to spare. I grabbed a single seat in the front row, albeit at a super extreme angle, hoping that after the first panel finished I’d be able to move in a bit more central.
The first panel was about kids who do voiceover work, and included talent such as Zach Gallison, Kristen Li, Layla Hayes, Justin Felbinger, and Sean-Ryan Petersen reading scripts in character, chatting about who they’d like to work with, and a bunch more.
The panel ended, almost nobody left (I managed to move two seats closer to the centre) and after a short time the panel began. Cathy Kelly came out first, followed by two dudes from Mattel (sorry, I don’t remember their names), Curt Hawkins, Zack Ryder, Becky Lynch (who was a surprise), AJ Styles (who was a huge surprise), and Matt Hardy (who was announced for the panel, but who I’d forgotten would be there. The crowd went freaking crazy for nearly everyone.
The panel started with some Mattel announcements, including some amazing new additions to the Elite series of figures and a technology called True FX which is a new inkjet printing process that will launch in 2019, and will add even more detail to the already impressive figures.
they showed off a bunch of new figures (including a Vanguard 1 and Mower of Lawns figure in the Elite series) before taking audience questions. Many of the questions felt similar to those asked at last year’s panel, and the guy who yelled at the Mattel lady last year about missing figures was back again to yell about the lack of B-Team figures even though the B-Team has only been a thing for like five seconds.
One fan asked the superstars to choose someone who no longer wrestles for WWE that they would fight if they could. One crowd member yelled out “BROCK LESNAR” and all of the superstars laughed really hard. It was a freaking hilarious moment.
After the panel ended, I made a quick pit stop at the Wired Cafe for a bite to eat and something to drink (a huge thanks to Wired for hosting us again this year, and be sure to look for some expanded thoughts on this year’s cafe from Shane in the next day or two) before meeting up with Shane and Courtney for the Shadow of the Tomb Raider offsite event at the Moonshine Flats (344 7th Ave).
This place was bonkers. The bar had been completely transformed into a jungle-like setting, complete with real snakes, tons of foliage, pieces of ancient (I assume) temples, and way way more – there was even a pit of skulls that made for a cool photo op. The most unique part of this offsite however, was the eating challenge. Three volunteers would go to a table that had three covered plates on it, and at the count of three they’d reveal the “exotic” food underneath. On the plate could be a Black Forest Scorpion, a Manchuria Scorpion, a Superworm, a Giant Water Bug (which was regarded as the short straw in this challenge), a Grasshopper, or some Silkworms. If you could eat the entire insect(s) you were able to spin a prize wheel, which could net you a shirt, a year of Xbox Game Pass, a copy of the game when it releases, or raffle tickets that could win you an Xbox One X.
I did the challenge.
I didn’t want to do the challenge, but Shane and Courtney were being little babies, and if we were going to cover this offsite someone had to do it.
Naturally, I drew the short straw, and had to eat a giant water bug. It was freaking disgusting. Super salty. Super dry (though I think I felt a couple of weirdly moist bits in there too). The other two people finished eating their bugs (I’m not even sure what they had) and then they watched me continue chewing for what felt like forever.
Naturally, we got this on video, so look for that in the coming days. For now, these photos will have to do.
I also had an opportunity to play a new demo for Shadow of the Tomb Raider which felt fantastic, and would have had me pre-ordering the game if I hadn’t already done that months ago. Naturally, the mechanics in Tomb Raider are already rock solid, so it’s the plot and atmosphere that are really going to make or break this one – we didn’t see too much story in the demo, but of course the game has an incredible team behind it, so I’m not worried at all.
Once we finished up at the Shadow of the Tomb Raider offsite, it was time to get back to work. We went back to the hotel (I wanted to scoot there but nobody else did), and Shane, Courtney, and I all published some articles before heading out again. You can read about my experience at the DC Universe offsite that I mentioned yesterday right here, and additional thoughts on the LAIKA Live experience right here, and you should probably check out this amazing transit station themed after Stranger Things.
Once we split up, Shane and Courtney went back to the floor to check out the Star Wars: Heroes and Villains clothing line, while I went over to PetCo park to check out the Rocket League third birthday party. Somehow the line was tiny (it didn’t stay like this for long), and I was pretty much able to walk right in. I received a cool (and understated) t-shirt, along with a coupon for a free Salty Shores popcorn and drink. The party was actually right on the field, which was pretty cool and made for a few neat photos. The field had some fantastic real-life licensed cars that have in-game counterparts like Batmobiles, the Jurassic Park Jeep, and the DeLorean. There was a gaming area where you could play Rocket League on Switch or PC against other attendees, and a stage with live DJ (and sometimes Greg Miller). There was an awesome looking weird inflatable soccer game that had quite a lineup, and a ton of people were just chilling on the field absorbing everything that was going on around them.
I knew that WWE Superstar and UpUpDownDown creator Xavier Woods was set to be present at the party, but the event had already been on for an 90 minutes or so when I arrived. It turns out that he and Becky Lynch (who is my favourite female WWE Superstar) were filming an episode of UpUpDownDown on the field. Xavier saw my shirt and called me over (I was wearing my UpUpDownDown shirt) and I made some sort of awkward fool out of myself while he tried to talk to me on camera (sorry Xavier). I was even almost on Xavier and Becky’s team for the inflatable ball soccer thing, but just before this would have happened the WWE decided that they just wanted Becky vs. Xavier. I hung around for a bit longer (which included seeing Xavier face off agains a little kid in Rocket League, and seeing Xavier and Becky dance away at what would be the end of the episode) before heading out to meet up with Shane and Courtney. It was freaking amazing, and it made my convention.
The rest of the night was pretty relaxed. Shane, Courtney, and I decided to hit up a party sponsored by Lions Gate Games for the Power Rangers Legacy Wars. We didn’t end up making it inside however, as the building was at capacity when we arrived and as we didn’t really feel like waiting (though we were pretty close to the front), so we just grabbed some shitty sandwiches at the first place that didn’t have a line, and returned to the hotel to finish up our articles for the day.
Today was great. It’s now been a full day of San Diego Comic-Con… and I still haven’t even hit the show floor yet. Tomorrow I’ll be busy checking out activations for Amazon Fire TV, Mr. Mercedes, The Purge, and more… plus I need to get my hands on some Mondo prints (which I’ve missed out on so far).
Thanks for reading this far, and I hope that you come back for more!
Note – sorry about the weird images. Geekscape is having major issues uploading images currently, so I’m making it work any way that I can!
