Wednesday – 7/21
Preview night is always the worst and best day of the con. The first hour is being reminded of why you hate this place and how much better it used to be. Every company has a massive line for figures, the crowds are bigger than the Saturday horde a decade ago and all you can do is fight to survive. But once you find that first purchase (Batman and Joker Nlammoids for $3 each, in my case) the whole thing starts turning around. You get into the fun of the hunt once perusing seller booths and by gum you’ll see some really cool reveals at big companies.
We got the to Hall about an hour before Preview Night kicked and were met by a very long line for the Professional/Press registration, a new occurrence in just the last two years. Oddly, there was no visible queue for “normal” attendees–were they all fully registered and waiting upstairs, are Normies just not into Preview Night? We may never now. Once in line I was met by the second big surprise – the line moved relatively fast and we were inside and registered well within half an hour. Go Comic-Con! At that point it just become a massive build of anticipation until 6pm when they let us in. Mobs are never fun and the funnel to enter is one of the worst. One guy in the crowd started a 10-9-8 countdown at 6 which pressured Elite Secruity into letting us on time, another pleasant first and away we went.
Entering right at Gentle Giant and Hasbro booths I was confronted with the second worst thing about the modern SDCC – lines for exclusive figures. And as you can see, people were, as ever, buying responsibly from our friends at Hasbro. I thank God almighty for Mattel’s voucher system [Rustin thankful for something Mattel did? Satan must be snowboarding. –PG]. I still want an Orko so I’ll give it a shot, but it’s SUCH a relieving feeling looks at the lines knowing the pressure is off.
A few quick stops by a couple booths revealed some cool new stuff but, of course, nothing major yet. Grizzlor looks pretty good in person. Saw some new Iron Man figures at Hasbro, boy do I hope they get released. I loved the toys but either no one else does or stores grossly overbought.The Four Horsemen’s Symbiotech actually looks pretty amazing in person, and smaller than I thought. The big guys are about 8 inches tall.
From then on it was into the seller booths scrounging for deals and cool things. For this first time in several years, “deals and cool things” were actually there to be had. Once sufficient shopping was accomplished I went and made my exclusive purchases from AFX, Mezco and NECA. Because they had no lines…. aaaaaah, the way it should be!
The Hall closed at 9 and we got the boot. I was fully ready to do more shopping, but alas the fates felt different. It was then back to the hotel for a drop’o’the haul and then off to dinner. Day 0.5 done!
Highlights:
– Got Environmental Suit Hoshi completing my ST: Enterprise set
– Got MOTUC Zodac and Tri-Klops for $25 each
Lowlights
– The crowds, dear god the crowds.
– The lines – so goshdarned daunting it makes one want to pass entirely on exclusives.
jack
The kid in me wants to nutpunch you because he's jealous of your haul.
The adult in me is SO glad not to be in those crowds. Not worth it.
bambam
I read reports that the Preview Night crowds were not as bad as last year. The SDCC committee cut back on the number of 4 day passes with Preview Night to lighten the atmosphere. Can any of this year's attendees confirm this? Or is the madness here to stay?
After registration badge pickup, they queue all the "Normies" in the Sails Pavilion before Preview Night. It's not the most comfortable experience sitting on the hard concrete floor for 3 hours.
dayraven
glad to hear preview night went relatively well. there are times i'd really like to be in the crowd… and times when i'm damned glad to be armchairing the con!!