SDCC 2014 – Camping for Hall H, Nerd HQ, and Panels!

If you’ve ever talked to multiple people about San Diego Comic-Con, you’ve probably realized how everyone’s experiences at SDCC can differ so much. There’s people who never walk the floors and only go to parties, people who only cosplay, those who camp Hall H for 4 days straight, and some people who only focus on getting the toys and exclusives. For me, SDCC has always been about doing a little bit of everything – cosplay, panels, walking the floor, buying toys, and lately, even a little Nerd HQ.  And that’s exactly what I did.

In terms of panels, this year we decided that instead of showing up in the middle of the night at 3am for Hall H, we would just show up the night before and sleep outside. Our goal was to get into Hall H on Friday for The Walking Dead/Game of Thrones panels. This actually worked out much better than last year since we were actually able to get a good 4-5 hours or sleep and actually feel coherent during the panels! And although we were somewhat prepared, note to self that next time I should really bring a pillow and a sleeping mat! For those new to camping out for Hall H, here are some basics as to what to bring:

• A yoga mat or some sort of camping mat (to sit or sleep on)
• If you’re not going to sleep, bring a good camping chair
• Pillow or something you can use as a pillow (maybe a backpack or hoodie)
• Snacks
• Water
• Games to pass the time
• Extra portable charger such as an Anker (this is great for cons in general since you’re always on the go)

On top of that, SDCC introduced a new wristband system for Hall H this year. Basically from about 9pm-12am, they started going down the line and handing out wristbands. The whole point of the wristbands was to gauge the number of people in line and give people an idea of what their chances were of getting in to Hall H. So if some of your party wasn’t there at 9pm and they ran out of wristbands by midnight, you basically had no chance. BUT you could also wait until 5am when they handed out wristbands again, get one, and then join your people in line (that is, if wristbands were still left). A bit confusing, but if anything, these new rules hopefully prevented the frustrations of groups that would wait in line and have 10 friends cut with them 1 hour prior to doors opening. So not a bad idea, but I’m not sure how effective it was in the end.

Once in Hall H, we sat through a very cool Last of Us movie announcement, an incredibly entertaining Walking Dead panel w/sneak peek for next season (plus Chris Hardwick is one of the best moderators in my opinion) and then the Game of Thrones panel, which showed a hilarious blooper reel and had an amazing line up of cast members from this season. However, because I also happened to score some Conversation for a Cause tickets at Nerd HQ with none other than Yvonne Strahovski, I had to leave the GOT panel 10 minutes early and sprint over to Nerd HQ to make her panel. Out of all the panels I went to, this one had to be my favorite as listening to “Chuck and Sarah” together again made me feel incredibly warm and fuzzy. This was actually my first experience over at Nerd HQ and I have to say I was impressed. Nerd HQ felt very welcoming and relaxing, not overly crowded, had good food stands, and being able to sit in a small intimate panel 10 feet from Yvonne and Zach was incredible. I still can’t believe I captured these photos!

Definitely check out her Conversations panel and other Nerd Machine panels since they are all online!

As for the other panels, here are some pics from The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones panels. It’s always pretty exciting to see the actors in real life and not either covered in blood or wearing full suits of armor. :)

On top of all these incredible panels, one of my favorite panels was also the spotlight on Jim Lee panel. As many of you know, Jim Lee was pretty much my childhood hero growing up and as luck would have it, I not only got to meet him, but also ended up with one of his #50for50 sketches that he was giving away throughout the 4 days of SDCC (see his Twitter or Instagram for more details). I’m not going to go into the details, but I just have to say that luck was definitely on my side when I ended up with this Flash sketch.

Although there are plenty of other stories, events, people I met and things I saw, I guess you could say this was definitely my favorite SDCC so far. I don’t think this year can be topped, but who knows what the future holds!