Fear the Walking Dead cast signing SDCC 2016

In 2015, Fear the Walking Dead had a limited presence as SDCC.  They had a static display in the Gaslamp area. For 2016, they brought the Abigale. Okay, we all know it’s not the real Abigale. This Abigale only kind of looked like the prop on the set.  However, Fear the Dead was doing more this year at ComicCon including a cast signing.





2015 Fear the Dead

On the pseudo-Abigale, they were doing tours and afterward, you could submit a message on some form of social media to try to win a place in line for the cast signing.  The Abigale was behind the convention center and the tour was long.  Knowing the odds of winning an autograph at the Walking Dead booth inside the convention center, I wasn’t willing to invest time on a Boat Tour in the hot San Diego sun to only fail.  Did I mention the heat wave during SDCC?

However, one of my SDCC buddies did the tour. He made his submission. He won a place for the cast signing on Saturday. He beat the odds. I was proud and jealous of him.

His winning email mentioned he could bring a ‘plus 1’.  While I wasn’t his ‘plus 1’, he did suggest I wait by the boat and see if someone was sans ‘plus1’. A very good idea. We all know nerds don’t have many friends.





In fact, it was such a great idea no one else thought of it. When we walked up at 10:30 AM, I explained my situation. I was told I could wait behind the very cute young lady that was ‘over there’. She was a submission loser.  She had done the tour and submitted a millions entries and did not win. She was waiting at the yacht since 6AM for the people to show up and explain her situation and BEG to be added to the end of the line. The ‘powers that be’ created a line just for her. No promise was made that she would get in.



2016 Fear the Dead

As I mentioned, she was very cute.  I am sure, if I did the same (handsome though I am), I would not have been as easily accommodated. So, the two of us waited in her special line. We chatted. She was actually a nice young lady and our discussions were interesting.

As we talked, I discovered she had slept on the sidewalk next to me Thursday morning. While we never saw each other, the conversations that I overheard as she kept me up that morning matched with what she was retelling. What are the odds that two people out of 150k randomly lined up to sleep on the sidewalk would randomly meet in another line 3 days later? Could this be a positive omen?

Another auspicious event occurred when heat wave abated that morning.  While the day started out sunny and warm, when we left the convention center to walk to the boat, the fog rolled in. The wait at the faux Abigale was pleasant. The temperature must have been in the low 70 degrees.

As the time neared for the cast signing, the Cute One and I watched the zombies leave the Abigale. They shuffled over to another boat and were allowed to drop out of character and have lunch.  We watched the cast arrive in SUVs and walk onto the yacht. We watched the winners start to enter the yacht for the signing.



The Fog

Nervously the Cute Young and I watched one of the ‘powerful ones’ walk over to us.  In her hand were two wrist bands that would allow us to join the winner’s line.  We were granted access to the signing.



After another wait, we entered the Abigale.  We were greeted by the surviving members of the crew of the yacht. They were splattered in blood as they defended the boat against zombies.  Then we were led to the tables where the cast was signing. 

The order of the signers might be slightly off. In attendance were:

Kim Dickens, Colman Domingo, Mercedes Mason, AlyciaDebnam-Carey, Frank Dillane, Danay Garcia, Lorenzo James Henrie, and CliffCurtis.

When Kim looked up, I mentioned how much I enjoyed Dead Wood.  We exchanged a few sentences and then Colman got interested. Kim was downplaying her role and I was defending the character.  Yes, I was arguing with the actor.  No, not really arguing. I was just insistently praising the other character.

Everyone at the signing was willing to chat.  I knew I was slowing the line so I just toned it down to ‘hi’ and ‘thanks’.  Then Lorenzo commented on my shirt.  Yes, I was wearing a UofA shirt.  He saw my confusion and told me he grew up in Phoenix.  So I said something about him being a Sun Devil fan. He said they had better football. Then I said the UofA had a better basketball.  Meanwhile Curtis leaned over to listen but I could tell he was confused.  I said to him that this probably meaningless to him. He admitted it didn’t make much sense.  I gave my thanks as they both were done signing.  As I was turning away, I paused and confirmed with Curtis that he was a ’Kiwi’.  He smiled.  I told him I knew a guy from New Zealand and he was a great guy.  Then he stuck his hand out to shake. I also asked about him being Maori and as he was answering I was gently led away by one of the crew members. I had over stayed my welcome. They were polite about it and I didn’t resist. I was pretty excited about this signing.

As I was leaving, ‘The Captain’, who was wearing a clean uniform, whispered ‘Bear Down’ to me. UofA fans are everywhere.

I need to thank my SDCC buddy for suggesting/insisting I wait and the Cute One, otherwise I would have missed out on a great signing.

AH

P.S. I mentioned 8 people at the signing.  The poster has 9 autographs. The top right corner, in silver is the one I can’t identify. Did I overlook someone?  Did someone sign the poster before the event?