Ingvild Deila Madness Comics

Madness Comics in Plano, TX brought in some actors for signings. Being an addict I had to go to see what I could see. The much younger looking than I expected Ingvild Delia was there. I walked in just as the last person was leaving.

We chatted the normal chat: Welcome to Texas…Ever been here before?…Nice accent…Oh, from Norway…

She had several photos and all of them showed her with a bad case of freckles…yes, I know that was done for the image overlay…

AH

The Most Interesting Man in the World – July 2017

The Dos Equis icon, Jonathan Goldsmith AKA the Most Interesting Man in the World, came to town to publicize his newest endeavor. Now that his ‘Most Interesting’ responsibilities are over, he is now the spokesman for Astral Tequila.  I went to the restaurant called Mexican Sugar to track down his autograph.

When I got there I learned that I needed to purchase a shot or mixed drink of this tequila. As you may know I don’t drink. So I gave the waitress the money and told her to skip bringing it out.  She gave me a sad look and hesitated but still took my money.

 

I had printed two photos of Jonathon. One that I thought was classy but not Dos Equis and one from Star Trek. If you are on Facebook, you ‘know’ he was a red shirt that wasn’t killed in the episode. While I couldn’t verify the truth of that one way or the other, I still printed the Star Trek photo as it was too great of an opportunity to pass.

Jonathon was seated in a high back leather chair with 2 young ladies standing behind to dress the ambience.  With cigar in hand he waved me over. I sat, said hello, and asked if he’d sign for me. I did mention I had 2 photos if he had time. He nodded that that was okay.

He signed the first one and then I revealed the second one as I told him I was big Trekkie. He sat back in his chair and told me polity that he was never in Star Trek. He didn’t know who was in that photo but it wasn’t him.

I told him I wasn’t sure but HAD to ask. I sheepishly smiled, posed for a photo, thanked him, and left.

AH

Tawny Kitaen SDCC 2017

If you are a child of 80's MTV music videos (yeah, they played music back in the day), you know Tawny Kitaen from the Whitesnake songs.

I also know her from Hercules. I tell you, I really enjoyed that series. She played Herc’s wife. Not a character that got a lot of airtime but she was in 3 movies and 3 episodes for the series. Even though she had to die (in order for Herc to be on Legendary Journeys), she still was able to reprise the role after they killed her.

This was the last autograph I got at SDCC. My convention was officially over. I slowly made my way out of the expo hall saying goodbye to a few people that worked the show.

AH

Cas Anvar SDCC 2017

I could have gotten Cas Anvar’s signature years ago. He does the convention circuit.

I’m glad I waited until now as he is in The Expanse.  It’s a show I enjoy. It’s a show that you need to pay attention to and not play Word with Friends while it’s running.

Cas Anvar feels the same way. He likes the show and it’s one you need to give it some attention. He was excited to add: It’s Slingshot time!

I picked this up on my relaxing Sunday. I slept late and spent a lot of time in Hall H.

AH

Westworld Cast signing SDCC 2017

Saturday morning I had The Wife get in the WB line. I headed straight to the DC line. I had dreams of getting the Justice League wristband. As I was walked down the stairs at the back of the convention center and passing hundreds of other fans in the same line, I should have given up then. But I hoped against hope...aka I was stubborn.

I was past the point of no return with the WB line. So I might as well stay where I was. However, once I heard the announcement filter to the suburbs of San Diego that Justice League was done, I left the line. I hustled (well, a hustle for me) over and joined the line to get onto the expo floor. I didn’t hesitate nor cry about my failure.  SDCC is all about lines and getting into the right one as quickly as possible. I would have time later (like with this blog) to bemoan my luck and my decision.

After I was in my new line and embracing my inner cow, I updated The Wife and friends about where I was so they could join me. Then I got the news that all three of them won Westworld wristbands.  That gave a nice rush of adrenaline to a slow morning.

This image is from IMDB

While the love of my life and mother of my cats could slip her prized wristband off, I could not slip that treasured bracelet on. We would need to visit the WB booth and ask how they would handle a transfer from her to me. Based on everyone’s schedule, The Wife’s, mine, and The WB’s; the only time we had was when we needed to line up for Westworld.  We politely asked the security guard at the booth’s entrance.  He politely explained that we could both go through the line but only I could get a poster and interact with the celebs.

Seemed simple enough. But this is SDCC and just because one person said it, did not mean the next one would agree. When we reached the head of the line (where they cut off the wristband), the head of security came over. He remembered The Wife from the morning. He said hello. He asked if this was the hubby she mentioned. Think about that. How many people had he seen over the course of SDCC? How many people had he seen that morning? How many people had he seen since then?  He remembered The Wife after a few seconds. I have seen him the last 5 years or so. This guy and I see each other a couple of times each day. I even exchange words with him as I try to butter him up.  He doesn’t know me from Adam but remembers her and how she said, my hubby really wanted this. Wow.

Is that a complaint? No, it’s an observation. No wonder the Wife thinks this is easy.

Head of security repeated that we both could go through the line but she needed to stay behind me so she was out of the way.

The WB booth was packed with Westworld people. It was insane how many people were signing. As I made my way through the line, I would see the next guest and just say ‘wow’. I muttered to Ed Harris how much I liked Kinghtriders.  He lamented the loss of Romero. As he followed up, security gave me a gentle nudge forward.  All I said to Thandie Newton was Mission Impossible. Her smile grew even bigger and told me that was the best of the Mission Impossible movies.  She admitted she might be slightly bias. And then she stated talking. Security moved my poster and me to the next guest. I tried to be good after that.  To Jimi Simpson I only said I was amazed how EVERYONE was here. He turned to Shannon Wood and asked if EVERYONE was here. Apparently that was a running joke and they laughed and bantered about stuff that was meaningless to me. And then security moved me again. I swear it wasn’t my fault.

14 people signed my Westworld poster!

Rodrigo Santoro (top right), Jonathan Nolan (Top center), Lisa Joy (top right), Angela Sarafyan (middle right), Shannon Woodward (middle left), Ben Barnes (middle right), Jeffrey Wright (middle center), Evan RachelWood (middle right), Ed Harris (lower left), Thandie Newton (lower center), Jimmi Simpson (lower right), Ingrid Bolsø Berdal (bottom left), SimonQuarterman (bottom center), James Marsden (bottom right)

This signing ended my Saturday and it was best thing I did at this year’s SDCC.

AH

PS: The Wife gave me some grief. She asked if I was ‘that person’. I didn’t follow. She told me I had just finished complaining about the Wynonna Earp signing and the Sisters that talked to every guest.  Then I did the same thing at WB.

My feelings were hurt. I hate being a hypocrite (we all are more than we think we are) but I think I was just being polite. I wasn’t trying to join the Scooby Gang like they were. She laughed at me as a reminder to be little more sympathetic and more self-aware.

AH

Outlander SDCC 2017

Last year, the Starz booth was American Gods. That was a tough autograph to get. This year, Starz brought back Outlander. This is something the wife and I watch and I would have loved to have won the cast signing. This year I just didn’t have time to make it over there.  I was trying not to push myself to hard and I was only going to try  this booth if I really had a decent break in my schedule.

Like many of the booths where you have to do the ‘experience’ to even get a chance to win the raffle, there was a line. And not just a line at the booth. There was a line at the back wall. On the back wall where you aren’t really allowed to get into line. A small amount of lucky people can be officially queued and then the rest must disperse.

You end up playing a game of milling around and then trying to jump in the line when space opens up. Then you wait 30 minutes or so to be moved to the booth to wait in a line. Then you pull a ticket out of the hat/basket/bag to see if you won.  The odds are not forever in your favor.  A typical cycle of this is 45 minutes to an hour.  If you spent all day working on this, you might only pull 10 times.

While I never told The Wife I wanted the Outlander signing, she decided on her own to check out the booth.

I now hand this blog over to her:

As The Husband said, I wanted to see what they were giving away. I heard they were giving away t-shirts. It was Friday morning and he already was busy doing something and ignoring me. So I told him I was going to visit the Starz booth.  I think he distractedly waved me goodbye.



this is cross stitch based on a photo

I walked through the crowded floor and found the booth. A nice bearded guy told me if I wanted to try for a prize, I need to find the line on the ‘back wall’. He pointed and said there would be someone from the booth there to help me. So I walked to the back wall.  A young lady was just handling out tickets and ran out before me. She said to wait here and she would be back in a moment to give me a ticket.  Seemed easy enough.

Security did come by and yell at the people to ‘move along, move along’ but I ignored him because the young lady was coming back.

And a few minutes later she walked up and gave me a ticket that allowed me to stand in line. Not long after that I was at the booth. That’s when The Husband walked up to say 'hi'.  And it was all over in an instant. I reached into the basket hoping to get a ticket for one of the t-shirts.  I got a ticket that said ‘cast signing’. The girl holding the basket got all excited. The Husband’s jaw dropped and I was looking around for my t-shirt.

Then the Husband walked over to the nice guy with the beard and they chatted. It seems that they know each other.

The signing was the next day. I was planning on showing up at the time of the signing but Mr. Micro-Manager told me to get there at least 45 minutes early. I’m glad I did. I was next to the booth and could see inside as they set up. The ladies around me were excited and we just chatted the time away. One lady cross-stitched a gorgeous image of Jamie. It was amazing. She and her friend were from the Frisco/Plano area of Texas.  Small world.

As the signing started, bag pipers lead the procession of actors. They all walked past me. It was really fun.

Everyone was so friendly and I couldn’t believe how nice everyone was. The poster was beautiful and there was 8 people signing; 5 of them actors.

Diana Gabaldon (top left), Richard Rankin (top left), MarilDavis (top right), Sam Heughan (middle right), Caitriona Balfe (middle left), Sophie Skelton (middle left), Tobias Menzies (bottom left), Ronald D. Moore(bottom right)

Once I left, I rolled up the poster and waited until The Husband found me.  He carefully added this poster to his collection of booty his tube like it was gold. He didn’t even kiss me hello.

Really, I don’t understand what all of the fuss is. He must not be trying very hard. He probably doesn’t even need to sleep on the sidewalk.

Mrs AH

Wynonna Earp SDCC 2017

I already mentioned I got in line at the IDW booth for a wristband for Wynonna Earp Saturday morning. That was when I serendipitously got a Kevin Eastman wristband too.

The 20 or so people in front of me all paused at the cash register and purchased an item for the signing. The line waited for the sale to end and then those people got their wristbands. No one skipped the people making a purchase. The line paused. It made for a very slow process but that what was happening.

So I did the same, I picked up the ‘yearbook’ and I paid for the item. Then I got a wristband.

The last wristband.

The girl behind said I cut into front of her. Hmmm, I did not like hearing that.  I turned and explained I never left the line; I only purchased my officially licensed IDW Wynonna Earp Season One Yearbook, which I pulled out of the bag to show that I was really a fan.

Ignoring my freshly bought copy of the ’yearbook’, she continued that she was counting the wristbands and counting the people in line and she should have gotten the last wristband.

You know me. I’m fairly 'comme ci comme ça'. It is only an autograph. I normally would have been chivalrous. I would have had the band taken off me and given to her.

Yes, time slowed down. Lots of thoughts flashed through my brain. It was Saturday. This was day 4 of SDCC and day 3 of sleeping on the sidewalk for a few hours. My back was hurting and I had followed the ‘wristband’ process. I was feeling bummed about missing out on Justice League. I was not happy I missed on Marvel. The ‘joy’ of Kevin Eastman was quickly fading as I saw her face turn red.

I knew tears were coming.

I said: Sorry. Then I turned and causally walked away.  I heard the start of a rebuttal but I did not pause. My only regret was leaving the heavily padded carpet of the IDW booth that felt so good to my aching feet to step out in the hard as concrete carpet that covers the Expo floor.

Was I heartless?  Maybe.

Since the line moved extremely slow last year, I got to the 4PM signing very early. I didn’t want to be too deep in the line. You never know when they might end the signing because they ran out of time. I also had something else to be at 5:45 PM.

Because I was so early, I was the 10^th person in line. I had a family of 4 in front of me: Mom, her sister, and each of their pre-teen daughters. The mom and her sister were uber fans. Like the stereo-typical Star Trek fan from the 70’s.

This was a large signing. IDW was able to squeeze in 9 people for the signing. Uber mom and her sister had to spend 3 or 4 minutes with each actor. They asked if the actor remembered them from last year's 'meet up'. They explained how they thought they must be friends because the show’s official Facebook page had photos of both of them with one or more of the actors. Yes, the actually asked if the actors remembered them from last year. Then they detailed their stalker like activities from last year.

So okay, I have also geeked out with celebs. While I wasn’t happy that I was standing in line so long, I didn’t mind too much. I agree that security should keep an eye on these two but they were mostly harmless.

What had me concerned was I lost sight of my officially licensed IDW Wynonna Earp Season One Yearbook. Beau Smith started signing on a page that made the signature pop. The cast followed suit. Well, most of the cast.  As the line bogged down because uber mom and sister, the handlers started moving items forward in the line. The handlers didn’t care where or what was signed. They needed the line to move forward. My officially licensed IDW Wynonna Earp Season One Yearbook left my sight. As the yearbook closed, the handlers opened any page and got the actor to sign.

At the end of the counter was a stack of items that were signed and waiting to be picked up. Uber mom and sister started looking through the pile. Their stuff never left their hands. They thought this was freebies. I had to tell them that ’that’ book was mine. They moved a few steps aside to take photos but not enough steps to allow people to move past them. Even while out of line, they were still causing delays.

I wouldn’t have stressed over this if it was a promo poster. However, this was something I bought to get signed. This is what made the girl cry in the morning. This was karma saying, oh you know what…you were heartless.

IDW and a few other booths will allow you to bring a personal item to get signed. You can’t bring a stack of items but you can bring a photo. I did that last year. This year I had 2 more photos.  I got Katherine Barrell and Tim Rozon to sign. Both were very nice and friendly. Tim leaned over and said if I liked his character, this season will be great. So maybe Karma was right, I was slightly heartless but not ruthless as the signing was great.

Barrell, Katherine (front page top left), Provost-Chalkley,Dominique (front page top right), Duarte, Tamara (front page middle left), Anderson, Shamier (front page middle right), Smith, Beau (front page lower left), Scrofano, Melanie (bottom center), Andras, Emily (back page top left), Saranga, Varun (back page top right), Rozon, Tim (Back page center)

AH

MST3K SDCC 2017

Wow, that title has a lot of acronyms…that is Mystery Science Theater 3000 San Diego ComicCon.

The Shout! Booth had a signing for MST3K. All you needed to do was buy some MST3K merchandise. I bought a bottle opener.

And that opened my opportunity to get the mini poster signed. ‘Opened’ get it?  See what I did there…I used the bottle opener to open an opportunity… Hey folks, the jokes are just as bad on MST3K. You should be rolling on the floor with that…

I digress.  I got to the Shout! Booth early. They told me to come back about 15 minutes before the signing. Oh how naïve they are.  By then they will be drowning in nerds. They have been at SDCC a very long time. They should know better.

One we got past the line management issues and setting up the booth for the signing after the start time, and doing a press interview to delay the start time more, things went swimmingly. (See, I did it again: drowning/swimmingly… phooey on all of you…)

They rushed us through. That was okay; I had other places to be.

It was a good signing, and considering the cramped location, it’s amazing I have 8 signatures on the poster.  I think I correctly identified the named and locations. And NO, Patton Oswalt was NOT there. I guess the next time he comes to town I can try to get his ‘graph.

Felicia Day (middle left), Rebecca Hanson (middle right), Joel Hodgson (center), Jonah Ray (bottom middle center), Baron Vaughn (bottom left middle), Hampton Yount (lower center), Tim Ryder (lower right), puppeteer Grant Baciocco (Bottom right)

AH

TMNT SDCC 2017

Saturday morning, as I entered the Expo floor, my friends and I headed to the Marvel Booth. I’m slower than they are. I could see they had already joined the fray that was around the Marvel booth. The chaos was much worse than Friday. I could already hear the shouting from the booth workers that the lines were capped. You can choose to believe that (and about 1/3 of the time it’s not true) or you can change plans.  I changed plans.

I switched course and went to the IDW booth. I wanted to get a wrist band for Wynonna Earp. As I was in line, another booth worker with a fistful of wristbands walked out from behind the counter. He looked over the crowd of young women and meekly asked if anyone was here for Kevin Eastman. No one responded.

I never watched the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle cartoons or read the comics. I have seen the movies and I enjoyed them.  I do know that Kevin Eastman is a big name. While he does lots of signings at SDCC and is available if you work on it, I never got a chance. He was not even on my radar.

There I was, the lone male at the Wynonna wristband line, seeing an opportunity. I meekly asked if could get a wristband for Eastman. He looked at me.  I could tell he was about to ask me to leave the line to get it. But he took pity on me. He walked over and put the wristband on me.

Wow.

After I was done with these lines, I needed to find something to get signed. Huh, I wonder where I could go to find some Turtle stuff? The only problem is SDCC had SOOOOO much to look at. I found a reprint at the IDW booth and bought that.

At the signing they had: Kevin Eastman, Tom Waltz, Freddie E. Williams, and Bobby Curnow. The item I bought (and the free comic book) did not have Freddie Williams work on it, so he didn’t sign.

As Eastman signed, he did ask which was my favorite. I said Raph (like I’m too cool to say Raphael).  He nodded and said, I thought so. I wondered what kind of personality test I just took and left with my very cool signatures.

AH

Midnight, Texas cast/book signing SDCC 2017

Since the convention center is already packed with booths and displays, there are many large interactive displays set up in the Gaslamp district. This is very convenient for the attendees as it’s across the street and next to a lot of restaurants that my fellow nerds eat at every day.

Between the convention center and the Hard Rock Hotel, is an island of concrete for the trolley stop.  The area is large enough to contain some of the convention overflow displays.  At the Midnight Texas display, there was a cast signing for the new TV series. I must admit this was a surprise and as far as I know really under-publicized.  This makes me wonder how many more events outside the convention center occur that I never hear about and miss each year.

A buddy of my SDCC friend clued us into this. I got in line about 90 minutes early. The signing for Midnight, Texas overlapped the time for The Originals signing. Thankfully The Wife was flexible and attended that signing for me. The sun was brutal but I had my foldup stool and a neckerchief soaked in water which I wore on my head.  The people around me were nice and friendly. A rarity. I even let the mom use my stool for a while.

The studio didn’t provide posters. They handed out copies of Charlaine Harris’s book which inspired this TV series.  Getting a book is different and I kind of like the idea. Having the cast sign the book is slightly unstable.  With 9 people signing, the title page can get crowded. I did see that other people used the promotional bags to have the cast sign. That was a good idea as it had the 8 actors displayed on the bag.

While I know some of the actors from other roles, I didn’t recognize most. However, I did recognize Peter Mensah from Spartacus.  As I told him I really enjoyed Spartacus, he bowed his head in acknowledgement and said this show was very different. Yeah, I would imagine. Not too many vampires in Rome.

As I stood in front of Charlaine Harris, I mentioned I got her signature at a book store in Plano, TX. She smiled and told me that was a while ago. Then I followed up that it was before True Blood. I got a bigger smile, and ‘oh, that was ages ago’.

Arielle Kebbel (top left), Dylan Bruce (top center), PeterMensah (top center 2nd row), Jason Lewis (middle right), Parisa Fitz-Henley (middle left), Charlaine Harris (middle center), Yul Vazquez (beneath Harris), Francois Arnaud (lower left), Sarah Ramos (lower right)

AH

The Originals cast signing SDCC 2017

For years, I have seen the commercials for The Originals. For years I have resisted watching The Originals. However, that does not mean I would turn down a chance for some autographs from the cast.

If you remember, in the morning I pulled and won The 100 raffle. Since I had The Wife as backup, I had her pull for The Originals. We were going to have her slip off her wristband and I would stand in line. Well, it’s San Diego; I could not make the signing. The Wife needed to attend this signing for me in my absence.

This is not the normal process and autographs are not The Wife's ‘thing’.  As a sign of her undying love and generosity, she allowed me to skip this signing and brave the WB booth to get the mini poster signed. As you ohhh and ahhh over how romantic that last sentence was, realize she is an enabler.

Some shows bring the goods. They’ll have the main characters show for the panel and the signings. The Originals is one of those shows. And kudos to the actors for signing close to their image on the poster. It’s makes it SOOOO much easier to identify the signatures.

Daniel Gillies (top left), Joseph Morgan (Top center), Charles Michael Davis (center left),  PhoebeTonkin (right center), Yusuf Gatewood (bottom right), Riley Voelkel (bottom center), Julie Plec (bottom center)

AH

Firebrand SDCC2017

This was unplanned and just a random item that appeared in the Sails Pavilion. Legendary has a signing of Jessica Chobot, Erika Lewis, and Claudia Aguirre.  It will be a digital comic.

I would have passed it and moved along except for the name Jessica Chobot. That’s not saying the other 2 ladies were unimportant but Jessica has been on my graphing radar for a while. In fact, I thought about printing a photo of Jessica to bring to SDCC ‘just in case’.  Of course, I didn’t print a photo and that is why I met her. Goofy universe.

All three were very nice. They didn’t ask my name, they just read it from my badge.

This was a nice bonus to add to my poster tube.

AH

Diana Gabaldon SDCC 2017

I was able to pull a winning ticket for Diana Gabaldon. I was surprised. And I’m sure the women in the raffle line were surprised there was a guy standing among them.

I got in line toward the end of the signing. Luckily, they still had books to sell and the let me join the queue.  Even with a winning ticket, you can be too late.

While I never read her books, I know a few people that have and they really enjoyed her books. The Wife and I have watched the show on Starz. We enjoy that.  I was excited I was finally getting the chance to get an autograph.

Diana was friendly and asked if she could personalize. It seemed she REALLY wanted to personalize, so I asked for ‘SDCC 2017’. It’s a Lit Con thing. I don’t think she got it but she did it anyway. That seemed to make her feel better about the not appending my name.

AH

Robin Hobb SDCC 2017

Yes, Robin Hobb was at San Diego ComicCon. I have wanted her signature for a while and I took advantage of that on Friday.

She had a long line so I didn’t get in her line right away. I multitasked. There were several things occurring at the same time and I was being greedy.  I looked to see if I could do another signing before I got back in Robin’s line.  That plan didn’t pan out.

The line was stocked with huge fans. Robin accepted the accolades graciously.

She signed. We exchanged pleasantries. I add the book to my backpack and joined another line.

AH

R L Stine SDCC 2017

I have never read one of R L Stine’s books. But I sold the snot out of them when I worked at Waldenbooks.  He had dozens of titles in the kids’ books section. The books are short but perfect for kids’ attention spans. For the most part they are ‘scary’ and the kids gobbled them up.

I was glad he was at SDCC. I’m glad he is having success with goosebumps on TV.  I was glad I could add him to my signed book collection. A nice tribute to his success, they only allowed us to buy 1 book. They had sold so many books the previous day, they needed to ration them.

AH

100 cast signing SDCC 2017

Thursday night, much like Christmas Eve, we had visions of Game of Throne wristbands dancing in our heads. When we woke, we found the Grinch had stolen Christmas.

As we neared the WB corral, a mosh pit broke out and security shut the line down.  The Wife and I were caught on the edge of the mess. I knew where they were going to send us and I tried to tell The Wife but it was loud with angry nerds.   Once I heard security shout: to the stairs, I tried to drag, guide, push The Wife in the right direction. I’m sure she thought I was some strange nerd dragging her away. It was human salmon swimming upstream against humanity.

For the most part, we navigated through the crowd and headed to the stairs quickly. The next problem was the 3 flights down and some people move quicker than me. Then navigating through the corrals at the bottom of the stairs was challenge.

While we queued up unharmed, we were deep in the line.  The dreams of Game of Thrones success was quickly fading.  As we slowly inched toward the WB drawings table, we heard the dreaded cry: GoT is done.

As with everything at SDCC, you have alternate plans. For me, Plan B was The 100. I was dragging The Wife along as insurance. If failed, she would also pick The 100. If I succeeded, then she would try for The Originals. We were both lucky and we both won.

The signing had 6 actors and a producer:

Lindsey Morgan (Left top), Marie Avgeropoulos (right top), Eliza Taylor (center), Jason Rothenberg (Left middle), Richard Harmon (Right middle), Bob Morley (Left lower), Christopher Larkin (right lower)

As in the past, The 100 people were all very friendly. The women dressed to the nines (rude of me to notice, I know). The guys dressed much more causal. As Richard Harmon signed, I mentioned I saw him at ComicPalooza. He paused and said that as in Houston. I was impressed. He said it was one of the few shows that wasn’t ‘comiccon’ and the city name. Bob Morely always gives me a look of: hey let’s go grab a beer and catch up.

It was a good signing and a nice way to forget the morning ugliness.

AH

Francois Chau – SDCC 2017

One of my favorite booths, Holzheimer's Distribution, had actors throughout the SDCC weekend. As I was walking by on Friday morning, I saw Francois Chau. I was about to continue walking when I saw a photo on the counter from Lost.  Then I recognized him.  I had to stop and got a photo signed.

He signed and I told him I could not pass up on Lost actor.  While he didn’t get a lot of air time on TV, he was a staple in the footage that was presented at the SDCC panels.  My favorite scene was with the rabbit disappearing and then reappearing and causing a panic. He admitted he never knew what the scenes were about but it was always interesting.

AH

Ghosted – cast signing mini poster SDCC 2017

While Thursday started strong, it finished with a whimper. The Fox booth was using a coin flip phone app.  You called ‘heads’ or ‘tails’ and then touched the screen. If you won, you told them which signing you wanted.  50/50 chance. While we got in line for the Fox drawings early, none of use won a raffle ticket.  I had wanted ‘Legion’.  Oh well.  The length of the Fox line was a mile long (only a slight exaggeration), going to the end of the line to try again was not an option.

I was also too late to get a wristband for Ivan Reitman (director – Ghost Busters) at the IDW booth.  As I mentioned, I had missed Alison Haislip before a panel she was on. I had used my luck with ‘It’. 

Fox does an unofficial standby line. As with anything, people start to expect it and demand it and more chaos ensues.   While I officially lost to get a Fox winning ticket, I was planning on doing stand by a few times at their booth.

I did manage to get in the Ghosted line. Yeah! There were more people in the standby line than the official line. I could tell already, this weekend the Fox standby line was going to be nasty. However, the cast from Ghosted still had energy as we walked pasted them to get our signed posters.

Adam Scott (top left), Craig Robinson (top right), Ally Walker (bottom center), Tom Gormican (lower right), Kevin Etten (lower left)

I did attempt the Legion standby line. The area was packed with people and I heard security shouting and even the heard the Fox people saying the line (and Standby) was capped.  At that point my Thursday was over and went back to the hotel for a few hours of sleep before getting in the line for Friday.

AH

IT cast mini poster SDCC 2017

While Thursday is a blur, I do know it started off with a bang. There was a late announcement for a signing of the movie, It. You are never really sure who will attend the panel.  And if that actor attends the panel, it doesn’t mean they will attend the autograph signing. Stallone is a good example of that.

So with typical SDCC aplomb, we looked over our options and decided to try for this raffle. Luckily we successfully pulled winning tickets and got our holographic wristbands. One of my buddies actually had to work his way through the raffle line a second time.  If you know SDCC and the WB autograph line, that’s a modern day menorah miracle. He got one of the last 2 wristbands.

When we lined up for the signing, we saw 1 adult (writer/director) and 6 little ones.  The kids had a good time at the WB both. They were chatty and the posters would pile up next to one actor or another. Then someone would remind them they needed to sign and not just talk to the fans.  A sudden rush would occur and they would rush to move the pile from their right to their left. The pile then became the next actor’s worry. It was comical.

While not 100% certain of the order of the graphs on the poster, this is my guess:

Andres Muschietti (top left), Jeremy Ray Taylor (top right), Wyatt Oleff (center left middle), Finn Wolfhard (center right), Sophia Lillis (lower middle), Jack Dylan Grazer (lower left), Chosen Jacobs (lower right).

This was a great start to SDCC 2017.

AH

Gini Koch – SDCC 2017

It has become a tradition for me to see Gini Koch (aka the force of nature), get a book signed by her, and get a big hug.

For Wednesday’s Preview Night, I saw her earlier in the evening and I was far less sweaty. This time I did not mind hugging.  People are smelly enough and I don’t want to contribute to the malodorous assault to the nose.

I knew we recognized each other but I was surprised she remembered my name. Very classy and impressive, Gini. Thank you.

We chatted about a few things. Mostly about an upcoming move for her. As with any change, there are positives and negatives. I’m hoping for the best for her. This might be the excuse I need to change conventions I attend each year.

Our conversations are always interesting and free flowing. Even with the excitement of SDCC and the adrenaline rush of being in San Diego, it’s always a two way dialog.

Oh, and on his Preview Night, I got to tell her I actually read the first book in the ‘Alien’ series. It’s a good, fun, and relaxed read. Go to Amazon and order it today. You won't be sorry.

If you remember, I met her while waiting for another author and I had no idea who she was. At the first meeting, before I knew it we were hugging and I was buying her book and we were chatting like old friends. Now I have actually read one of her books. Yeah me!

AH

Overview SDCC 2017



Sy Fy was very active in promotion this year.
Very nice to see

If you remember, last year, I said ‘no mas’ to SDCC.  I was tired, in pain, mentally beaten, and frustrated with the results. I slept on the side walk at 9 PM and was still too far back in line to be successful the next morning. I was dehydrated and limping and had a lot of pain in my feet, ankles, knees, hips, and lower back. Our game plan for SDCC success met a fiery demise as soon as the battle was joined.

Yes, they were doing karaoke.

I could not think of another strategy to succeed. The people we were competing with to get autographs were groups and teams that didn’t care about the experience. Their goal was to get the signed poster and then sell it. If you doubt that statement, why do all 5 members of a family need a Game of Thrones poster? Especially when the kids are under 10 years old and the show is not age appropriate for them to be watching or be fans.

However, after receiving the Siren Song email about the badge sale, I repressed all memory of the pain and dutifully dived into the murky waters of registration, the anxiety of hotel registration, and the ‘joy’ of the 5 day marathon called SDCC.

This was about 10AM.

I still had ups and downs. The hotel was only secured (at the SDCC rate) about 10 days before the convention. I missed out on a bunch of cast signings. I did some things differently. I was still dehydrated and had back pain. However, I wasn’t nearly as dehydrated as last year. I rested more. I took breaks during the day that caused me to skip some signings but I ended up in less pain.

4 and 5 are sadly too true.

While every year I plan on walking long distances in the Texas heat with a heavy back pack, I never do.  This year, I started using more stairs at work.  I reorganized my backpack. In the past, I carried everything I could possibly need for a day away from the hotel.  This year instead of carrying a whole package of cough drops, I carried a few. Instead of a dozen hand wipes and lens cleaner packets, I carried 2. I dressed cooler. I normally wear my UofA golf shirts. While they are light weight, they are not as cool as a tee shirt. This year, I wore light workout tees. I forcefully drank more water and made myself sit more. While I still ‘wanted’ everything, I marked less things are a priority. Over the years, I have attained less and less swag. This year I avoided it. I only received a few items and that was because an effort was made to give it to me.

The lows: Getting in line at 8:30PM the night before and it’s still not early enough.



I probably walked more but the phone was
turned off to save the battery.
I feel I walked a lot LESS than last year.
This does not take into account
the hours standing on concrete.

After dozing off, I found 2 people in front of me that should not be there. I had to argue with them about leaving and cutting the line.

Winning the Adam Savage raffle but not being able to attend the signing because of my own scheduling conflict.

Waiting for Alison Haislip before a panel and not seeing her until she entered the room.

Missing out on Justice League raffle (but at least I was in the line before it was over). that is the second year in a row I missed Gal Gadot. Because I attempted that, I missed out on had a chance for the Ready Player One signing that had Steven Spielberg attending.

I never saw Amanda the Warner Brother Bag lady.  

I missed having Sunday dinner with some long time SDCC friends.

The highlights of the trip will be in the next set of posts.

AH