*NOTE 1* OK< this was posted in my FA account yesterday, so, if read there, just skip ^_^*
*NOTE 2* I will not go into the hell my flight back was...just that they will get a very scathing letter...onto the con goodness.
How to describe San Diego Comic-Con...FUCKING HUGE...might describe it slightly. I have been attending furry cons and scifi cons for years. Big ones, lil ones, fun ones and crappy ones. This con just cannot be described, you gotta see it to believe it. Much like pictures cannot show the massive scale of the Grand Canyon, words just cannot do justice to the magnitude of this con.
OK, to anyone that thinks Anthrocon is "too big" or "I gotta walk all the way from the con hotel to the convention center" I do not wanna hear it anymore. The dealer room alone at SDCC is the length of 2 football fields. JUST the dealers room alone if overlaid onto the Pittsburgh convention center to the con hotel, would drape it on both sides. The amount of people is staggering. Anthrocon, the largest furry con in the world has a total of about 2,800 attendees....SDCC has over 125,000, being capped by fire marshals, otherwise there'd be even more there. Just more to give it some scale...you could fit 9 Anthrocon dealer rooms in the SDCC con hall. Let's say this...the Mach 5 for the new Speed Racer movie was there..I never saw it. I missed a huge white sports car!! THAT is big.
How was it for furries. Well, I was at the Clubstripes booth and first wanna thank EVERYONE who stopped by to just say hi, get a sketch, buy a CD or our new all color book "The Best of Clubstripes". It was a real blast. It was also fun to see "norms" approach the table, some seeing it was furry, giggling and turning away, or like the majority, at least taking a look inside our book and some even buying it. I'd say the feedback from con-goers in general was really positive, which really made the time there so much fun.
Usually at furry cons I do not buy that much stuff, I stick to my table, nose down in sketchbooks. Since SDCC is 4 days long and most days open from 10-7 I was able to walk around and buy some cool stuff and score some con swag. You name an interest, it was here. Comics, toys, Japanese collectibles, fashions, movie studios, celebrities, video games, comic creators, actors, writers, all were here. Panels for tons of upcoming TV shows, movies, you name it, it was here. I din bother with em since lines were so long to get to them. I do regret not attending the masquerade, but got to hang with some cool artists and learn some new techniques I definitely will be using. I even got to meet the man who voices Grr from Invader Zim! Heck I got to see Stan Lee get into a cab, we all cheered him, hehe. So much geekery was never so concentrated in one place.
The city itself was great too, definitely a tourist trap, but one I loved. Gorgeous weather, great places to eat and walk around on. First night there I ate at a place called Basic. They serve flat bread pizza that was soo good. They also had huge boards you could paint on, was a fun atmosphere to start off my con trip with! Had dessert at Giordelli's, they do great chocolate, uh, other places I ate at during the stay, this cool mongolian style place at the Horton Plaza mall, and Sushi Deli II..DAMN good food and lots of it, we were all stuffed
Clubstripes is getting a booth next year and I am definitely planning on attending. For me the con was worth it. It was huge beyond comprehension, crowded, hyped to death, but an experience I loved! AGAIN, I wanna thank all those who stopped by the booth and chatted, bought stuff, you all made it such a fun time there. Some I wish I had the time to hang out with more...you know who you are!
Personal cool moment..meeting Rikki Simmons, the voice of Grr!! I even drew Tristan Oakenrod, my HUGELY hung human barbarian for a friend of his in her sketchbook (I totally did not catch your name, was so hard to hear with the crowd!), was soo cool!
Oh, go buy the Best of Clubstripes book!! It will look great on your coffee table or shelf, you can get it here: www.clubstripes.com Heck, join the site if you can too, there is some great talent there. I am glad to know them. OK, plug over! ^_^
