this year’s trip to sdcc was a bit different than previous years (as you can see just from the amount of time it’s taken me to recap this and post it.)
for 2024 I was the plus one of Michelle, who was moderating a panel for Mysterious Galaxy. We had no plans, no schedule, no spreadsheet, so the four days I attended were very fly by the seat of our pants.
Wednesday
preview night had us with one very big goal: get to the penguin random house booth to see if we could get our greedy hands on a special edition of The Book of Elsewhere signed by Keanu Reeves and China Miéville.
we got in a bit early due to some ADA things we had going on and were able to get over to the booth right away. We spent some time talking with the people who worked for the publisher, chatting about upcoming releases, arc drops they were going to have, and I ended up talking with (I think) the art director for Water Moon.
the booth was set up to sell and we were able to get in line right away. first up was getting a wristband, then walking around the corner to pay before getting the book. the books were handled with white gloves and placed into fabric bags.
once the book was secured, we sort of wandered around, stopping at whatever booths caught our attention. (this will basically be the theme for the entire weekend.)
Thursday
Thursday was the day of Michelle’s panel. We met up early and headed to the room where the panel was being held. While waiting for her time (and for the panel guests to show up), I saw some amazing cosplayers roaming about.
Michelle’s panel was titled “Supporting Women’s Wrongs” and the panelists were CJ Leede, Rachel Howzell Hall, Cece Robson, and Kiersten White. It was an awesome discussion and of course I have no notes about it because I was just enjoying everything.
The rest of the day was spent wandering around, looking at booths and cosplayers before we broke off. Michelle and ended up getting in to see the Deadpool + Wolverine panel and movie and with that, her husband gave me his tickets to go to the Den of Geek power saber party.
I called Hubs and let him know what was going on and he came downtown and we grabbed some food at the hotel bar where the party was being held. There were a few signs up and a check in desk indicating where it was going to be, but no one had any real information. We ended up hanging out in the party room talking to the hotel staff while they set up.
Eventually, someone told us there was a line outside along the hotel building and we got to the end of it. It wasn’t too long before IDs and tickets were checked, drink tickets were handed over, and the appetizers passed around.
The line funneled into another room and from there, we got to pick if we wanted a red or green saber. Another person at a different table installed the batteries for us and then we were free to use markers, rhinestones, pearls, and glitter to decorate the handle.
We didn’t stay much longer after getting the saber (and maybe eating more of the appetizers.)
Friday
Friday had Michelle and I going to a romance panel called “Romantic Retellings” moderated by one of the owners of Mysterious Galaxy. The authors were Alexene Farol Follmuth, Christina Lauren, Nikki Payne, and Scarlett St. Clair. I loved Nikki Payne’s books, so I was absolutely ready to hear her talk about whatever.
We met up with all of the authors outside of the panel room, getting hugs and chatting for a few minutes before going inside.
Again, another panel that was a lot of fun and awesome to listen to…that I have absolutely no notes from. After the panel concluded, we walked around a bit, saw some things, and somehow completely missed the panel signing that I so desperately wanted to go to.
Saturday
Saturday morning had me on my own for a few hours. I walked the entire floor finding new artists to buy awesome things from and getting treated like shit from booth workers of other artists I used to love.
I found the BBC America booth that had set up an entire section for the new Doctor Who and his TARDIS, but didin’t want to wait in the insanely long queue to take a photo.
There were all sorts of good cosplayers, booth designs, and swag galore. I wandered aimlessly for a while before meeting back up with Michelle in the signing area. With no real plans (besides having to do adult things), I decided to call it a day and went home.
SDCC is always a lot of fun and even with this year’s go-with-the-flow plan, there was a lot to see and goodies to buy. I sort of look forward to next year’s planning and hustling.
Leave a Reply