As you know, I have lamented my results at the WB drawing
over the years. I never had much luck but my friends have had some success. This
year our whole crew struck out. On Thursday we had back luck. Friday was a mix
of bad luck and too many people ahead of us. The amount of people ahead of us was much more
than expected. By the time we got to walk through the line, the pickings were
slim.
To combat the Friday results, my friends actually camped out
for Saturday. They slept on the sidewalk. I must admit to feeling guilty that I
slept in a comfy bed with my wife while they enjoyed the hard cold concrete. The
effort paid with good results. They were fairly close to the front of the
line. When I joined then with donuts and
red bull, we were less than 300 people back.
That is REALLY close to the front of the line. When the
front doors open, a lot of people head to the Ballroom 20 line. A lot of people head to the Hasbro line. Realistically, that’s 200 people that moved
out of our way. Additionally, a nice chunk
of people will splinter off to the Fox signing line and others will join the
Sails Pavilions signing line. We
expected to be no more than 50 people back in the WB line.
When we passed the front of the WB line we knew something was
remiss. The line was way too long. By the time we got to the end of the line,
we were 200 people back. We had no clue where those people came from and how
they got in front of us. Before long, we
heard reports that The Hobbit raffled was done. 5 minutes later, we heard that Mad Max was done.
As we inched our way closer more raffles had ended. Before even had a chance to
play, we no longer had an interest in any of the remaining signings.
My friends slept on the sidewalk for nothing. My wife joined
us in line for nothing.
We heard rumors that a few vendors found a way to sneak in
their friends. Those friends were able to jump in line a few minutes before us.
That paid big dividends. They could cycle though the very short line several
times before we could even queue.
This colored our whole morning. We all had a sour taste in
our mouth.
Saturday is normally a tough day but with lots of potential
for reward. The marathon known as SDCC is tough. By Saturday, you have already
shorted yourself sleep for at least 2 days. You have stood in line and walked many
many miles on concrete for 3 days. You have planned and replanned and
re-replanned for weeks before you even hit the ground. And to have the possible
of getting your reward taken from you unfairly knocks the wind out of you.
So we pouted. We regrouped. We carried on. We found our
successes in other places. It’s SDCC. You adapt. You breathe and place one foot in front
of the other and soldier forth. You collect your autographs and tell you friends
about the one that got away.
AH
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