The Outhouse - The Greatest Comic Book Forum

by **~Alima~** » Tue Jul 17, 2012 10:24 pm

Since Wednesday evening consisted of "obtaining" a badge from the hobo on the corner, channeling my dowsing powers to find my favorites booths, consoling Xaraan from the mass of tweens who beat him up over his spot in line for hall H's Twilight panel, confirming interview appointments in which half did not realize they had any, and passing out as soon as I hit the bed (still wondering who's it was), there isn't much to say about that day other than SENSORY OVERLOAD. How is it possible to have so many things I love in a quadrupled sized stadium, yet have my entire body in a constant state of distress? Many times I felt like sitting on the floor amidst the gaggle of geeks and let the smell of two day smelly unwashed feet of Line H'rs take me. Just when I thought I couldn't make it any longer, the announcement that it was all over - for now. It was a rough start, but I survived!
So the good?
1. As I said - Everything awesome and cool was in one location!
2. Everyone seemed to rocking the Melange and acted pretty jovial. Even when I was stabbed a couple times by bags, people were very apologetic and not assholish.
3. I thought the Comic-Con did a great job with organizing the different areas. They kept the bulk of the heavy traffic areas in the middle and made the perimeters manageable for the most part.
4. The bathroom attendants were kick ass cleaning machines! I don't think I ever saw a bathroom without a cleaning person in it.
5. The blue shirt security were on it. I know this from personal experience in which I'll get to in another day.
6. SAN DIEGO! God it was nice to be home.

by **sdsichero** » Tue Jul 17, 2012 10:57 pm

So, you want to go again next year?

by **xaraan** » Tue Jul 17, 2012 11:22 pm

I have to say that for me, this experience was like someone took all the geek things I love and molded them into my own personal hell.

But yea, I'd go again.

Edit:
As to your Alima's points, I'd disagree about the organization.
I mean, it wasn't horrible, but there were common sense things that could have been easily addressed.
Both the Hobbit and Walking Dead are HUGE right now, so let's put a statue of Michionne with a walker for people to pose with right across the aisle from huge statues of the three trolls from the Hobbit (which everyone wants pictures of/with) and just fuck anyone that wants to actually walk through that section. Every second of every single day of the con that intersection was a nightmare of bodies.
DC's booth was awesome, it was set up perfectly where fans could get inside and play games, check out figures, line up for signings and watch presentations. From a coordination standpoint of one of the big companies there they did it best.
I'm sure most would say Marvel did the best with buzz, but their booth was only one step better than the Hobbit/Walking Dead situation to where the aisle would get packed in just from people stopping and not having anywhere to go to see stuff except to stand right where they are in the aisle.
A couple of the movie booths down at one end were horrible too. Right before you hit congestion of people lined up for video game demos (which those lines were handled ok, but still it crowded in) you had the WB or one of them with some stage thing set up showing stuff all the time and no where to stand and watch it other than the main aisle. So traffic just went to a complete stand still there.

So I guess I think if they had addressed those congestion areas ahead of time and thought about that, the crowds would have been more manageable. It would still be crowded as hell, but at least you would be able to move... mostly.

by **~Alima~** » Tue Jul 17, 2012 11:27 pm

sdsichero wrote:So, you want to go again next year?

Hell YA!

by **sdsichero** » Wed Jul 18, 2012 12:33 am

by **covalesky** » Wed Jul 18, 2012 3:54 am

Alima and xaraan i admire your stamina and odor resistence. Cool recap. I would love one day be able to enjoy the geekness of comic con.

by **Psivage** » Wed Jul 18, 2012 11:01 am

Did I miss the pictures of you?

by **Victorian Squid** » Wed Jul 18, 2012 11:25 am

Ever since they became entertainment expos, all the big conventions became all-but-unbearable unless you really make the endurance test out of it.

In contrast to the local Wizard con here coming up in a few months where the list of guests is already shaping up to be exactly the same as last year and the year before that. :roll:

by **Victorian Squid** » Wed Jul 18, 2012 11:26 am

P.S. Did people REALLY smell that much?

by **Cat-Scratch** » Wed Jul 18, 2012 11:32 am

~Alima~ wrote:Since Wednesday evening consisted of "obtaining" a badge from the hobo on the corner, channeling my dowsing powers to find my favorites booths, consoling Xaraan from the mass of tweens who beat him up over his spot in line for hall H's Twilight panel, confirming interview appointments in which half did not realize they had any, and passing out as soon as I hit the bed (still wondering who's it was), there isn't much to say about that day other than SENSORY OVERLOAD. How is it possible to have so many things I love in a quadrupled sized stadium, yet have my entire body in a constant state of distress? Many times I felt like sitting on the floor amidst the gaggle of geeks and let the smell of two day smelly unwashed feet of Line H'rs take me. Just when I thought I couldn't make it any longer, the announcement that it was all over - for now. It was a rough start, but I survived!
So the good?
1. As I said - Everything awesome and cool was in one location!
2. Everyone seemed to rocking the Melange and acted pretty jovial. Even when I was stabbed a couple times by bags, people were very apologetic and not assholish.
3. I thought the Comic-Con did a great job with organizing the different areas. They kept the bulk of the heavy traffic areas in the middle and made the perimeters manageable for the most part.
4. The bathroom attendants were kick ass cleaning machines! I don't think I ever saw a bathroom without a cleaning person in it.
5. The blue shirt security were on it. I know this from personal experience in which I'll get to in another day.
6. SAN DIEGO! God it was nice to be home.

STRICT!!!

by **Dragavon** » Wed Jul 18, 2012 11:43 am

McDarkseid wrote:P.S. Did people REALLY smell that much?

I don't know about this year but when I went it was pretty bad. The AC system simply could not keep up with the number of people in the building. I had to take a shower in the morning and when I got back to my hotel room.

by **Cat-Scratch** » Wed Jul 18, 2012 11:50 am

Things I'm learning from Alima and Xaraan's adventure.

1 - Take a can of Fabreeze. Several actually.
2 - Take a rucksack for the rucksack wars.
3 - Take lots of pain killers.
4 - Do not go alone, take a partner to watch your back.
5 - Wear great footwear.
6 - Take camera.
7 - Take one of those folding chair canes.
8 - Take food and drink.
9 - Have a room with a comfy bed near to the place to crash and make sure you get the right place.
10 - The toilets are safe, leave the potted plants alone.

by **xaraan** » Wed Jul 18, 2012 2:43 pm

Cat-Scratch wrote:Things I'm learning from Alima and Xaraan's adventure.

1 - Take a can of Fabreeze. Several actually.
2 - Take a rucksack for the rucksack wars.
3 - Take lots of pain killers.
4 - Do not go alone, take a partner to watch your back.
5 - Wear great footwear.
6 - Take camera.
7 - Take one of those folding chair canes.
8 - Take food and drink.
9 - Have a room with a comfy bed near to the place to crash and make sure you get the right place.
10 - The toilets are safe, leave the potted plants alone.

This is a good list actually.
Although it wasn't as smelly as what I've heard from stories in the past. Most blogs I saw emphasized hygiene this year. But you still have some people that just don't get it plus you have people camping out all night for some of the big panels.

I would recommend a backpack over a shoulder bag even though a shoulder bag is easier to get to, but honestly I wouldn't be the jerk carrying a huge one.

Painkillers, yes.

Footwear, yes, but make sure you take breaks too. No footwear is that good.

If you can get a hotel room nearby to take breaks, change, shower, rest.. whatever that would probably be the best option. We stayed with family out in the burbs, so it was a train ride for us to go home.

And if you want to go to any panels in "hall H" or "ballroom 20" i.e. the good panels, be prepared to have to camp out all night, lines started around six and seven PM the night before. If you want to go to any of the other good panels, but not that crazy like Marvel or DC or whatever, be prepared to stand in line for four or six hours. In other words, if you want to go to any popular panel, that will be all you do that day. (And you still might not get in, b/c prior panel audience does not have to leave, so only ten seats could open up from one panel to the next for all you know).

That being said, I would recommend checking out some small panels that are not that popular, they can still be very cool and interesting and if there are any creators hosting them you sometimes actually get a chance to great and talk to them afterwards.

by **Victorian Squid** » Wed Jul 18, 2012 2:45 pm

Dragavon wrote:I don't know about this year but when I went it was pretty bad. The AC system simply could not keep up with the number of people in the building. I had to take a shower in the morning and when I got back to my hotel room.

Well, if the venue can't keep it coolish inside, I guess you can't blame the packed crowd for getting sweaty.

by **Victorian Squid** » Wed Jul 18, 2012 2:50 pm

Cat-Scratch wrote:Things I'm learning from Alima and Xaraan's adventure.

1 - Take a can of Fabreeze. Several actually.

Please don't, actually. The perfumes in that stuff make me sick as hell.

True story, there's no real reason for them. Febreze worked just fine in the original unscented formula, but people didn't believe it worked unless they added some sickening chemical perfume to it.