Review San Diego Comic Con 2007

[Michaelangelo]

Surprise!

Fae and I decided to go down to San D con, wanted to leave it as a surprise for everyone so haven't posted anywhere online about this.  Though if anyone noticed American Idol try outs down here are the same weekend as San D con than you may have caught on to our little surprise  So there was a hidden hint *G*

Wednesday was the drive down here, we left at noon and drove till 5:30am.  The drive was pretty, as we got to see a lot of mountains some of which were snow caps, and others looked like they could be Valcanos.  We didn't stop much, infact we only stopped a total of 4 times, 3 times were just to get gas and if at that time we needed a bathroom break we'd take it, the 4th was when we were almost here I needed to rest my eyes for 5 minutes and move around a little to wake myself up for that last half hour of the drive, so we stopped at the only Rest area that we stopped at on the way down here.   So 17 hours and a half after we left we got down here.

The original plan was to go straight to the convention center and park down in the parking garage.  But we got some upsetting news about our hotel on the way down here, for some odd reason they didn't have the reserv for us!   But Fae booked it!!   Once we got in, it was straight to the hotel and going over the problems at hand, like "Here's the email showing us that we got a room here for these dates!"    Fae booked it through a 3rd party, and while the 3rd party confirmed July to Fae, they booked the room for June with the hotel!   So the hotel didn't have the room marked down for us, for this weekend!!!!!!!!!!!    Lucky for us they were able to squeeze us in.  Just meant a lot of confusion in the hotel cost and stuff we're going to be going through.   Oy I hate when things like this go wrong.    We couldn't check in till 4pm, and we wanted to get to the convention so after we got things settled here we decided to make our way to the con.

Now how to go....

Cab?  -   Not sure maybe...
Bus? -  Sounds good... wait, people at the front desk tell us traffic is thick it'll take forever on the bus.
Trolly? - Ask the front desk... "Is it in walking distance?"   "Well I can walk there" was her reply.  So I looked at it on the map and talked it over with Fae.  So we both got some money out of a cash machine and started the walk.   First there was a side walk for us, as we walked over the express way on a bridge with cars speeding  by.  Than we walked passed the park and ride, and realize the side walk is gone... there's people with golfing stuff getting out of a car so I asked them "Is this the right way to the Trolly?"  "Another 6 blocks that way" the guy said pointing towards the street with no side walk that people are speeding down.   So hoping back and forth across the street to stay with a side that had a curb, we finally made it to another side walk and could see the Trolly all the way down the street.  The walk felt like forever, and the no sleep at all factor on top of it was eatting us alive.

We get to the Trolly station and next thing I knew things were a bit more annoying.  They won't break a $20 unless you buy something and they make you use the machine to get the train ticket, and the machine won't give back more than $5 change!  We didn't need that many tickets and the ATM we went too only gave us $20s!  I asked people around the station for a few minutes if they could break a $20, no one would.... so Fae ended up going in and buying something for 25 cents to break the $20... annoying, I could understand if we were asking to break a $50 or $100, but a $20?  *sighs*

We took the Trolly and got to the convention center, than had the long line of Pre Reg standing out in the sun, just waiting for it to move.  I was so happy to get in, and get our badge, the set up for badges is a lot different than what I'm use to.  They send you into a room, and there's all these tables where you can go stand in any line and just pick up your badge.  LOTS of tables, so Fae and I got our badges and went in.  

We were lucky enough to make it to our first panel, the Biker Mice From Mars panel with Rob Paulsen.  I video taped the panel, though as the rules on videos state I did not record any of the video they were playing.  Man I wish I could of, they showed a lot of clips from the new series, including a music clip from an episode done like a Rock Concert as they put it.   Than they showed something from a horror type cartoon called "Freak Show" and lastly they showed a short where Rob did the main character's voice called "Change for a Dollar" THAT WAS GREAT!!!!!!  I don't want to get in detail about it here on TMNT-L, but if anyone wants to ask me on IM sometime, I'll tell ya about it... let's just say it's a guy needing to break a dollar for something *G*

After that we did as told and went and sat in the hall on the exit side to see Rob after the panel, others stopped him in the room so it was a bit of a wait.  Brinatello joined us, so we got to say hi to her for a little bit, and Tokka called her while we were there, so we waited for him out there.  When Rob came out I got his autograph on a Zak cell, and I got to talk to Jess (the voice of Wakko) and get his autograph as well!  Yay!     Wish Dot made it!!!!

Tokka showed up shortly after that and we visited with him, but he had a meeting to go too so he couldn't stay too long.  Fae and I were both tired so we didn't think we'd stick around any how.  We went down to the dealer room, it is huge, and a lot of stuff going on.   Fae wanted a Harry Potter bag so I told her to go and check on that and I'll meet her at the Heavy Metal booth.  I went over there and Kevin has stepped away for the moment, so I just hung out and talked with some of the staff members I know.  When Brin and Fae got back to me, we walked over to the Stylin booth so far no new shirts that I don't have or that I'd want.   I talked to a worker there I never met before, he normally does the Chicago show he told me, I haven't been there in 10 years!   Than we went back to the Heavy Metal booth, Fae picked up Kevin's TMNT book and I introduced her to Kevin.   He picked on us a little, than we went on our way.  

We said our good bye to Brin and caught a taxi back to our hotel, where we ordered a pizza... watched a little Ranma 1/2... after eating though, we crashed.   It was EARLY!   Maybe even 5pm... but I was too tired to stay awake.  I wanted to get a nap in than wake up for a bit, and charge batteries and stuff, and than get back to sleep... didn't work that way.  I've been up since 3:30am here (7:30am Easteren) and can't get back to sleep.

I'll give a review on our hotel room, later.  I don't think it'll be the nices review for a hotel, I can say that right now.   We are happy we got a room, just wish it was somewhere else.

Any how, here's the review topic please post your reviews, pictures and videos here!!!!!!  

Take care everyone!

[Raphael]

Sorry you had room issues...I've heard so many horror stories about booking through a third party company that I won't do it. Glad you at least got a room - considering how crowded the area gets, that's a miracle in itself.  Hopefully the rest of the con goes smoothly.

[CriticalCrittles]

I wish I could be there with you guys, getting to meet Yakko AND Wakko!! lol I'm sorry you guys had trouble with your room though. And I thought that was pretty funny, the one time you don't want me to answer I do lol...I can't wait to see those pics of those Hank and Dean cosplayers!!! My phone totally lost it's signal, so sorry if you couldn't call me back...and I called you from my house phone btw, in case you don't reconize the number heh. You guys don't forget to get your sleep now! Have fun, and can't wait to hear more stories!

[Shredder]

Rumor has it TMNT sequel news is coming out of San D, and it seems too be good news.  What's been said, and is it OK too report?

Tell Kevin I said hi .

[CriticalCrittles]

Hey Ivey, hope you guys are having a blast! I was flipping through late night tv tonight and totally found the con on tv via G4! And I watched and watched just in case you might randomly pop up! If you see people from G4 wandering around say hi and you might get on tv! lol I'm thinking of you guys and wishing so hard I could be there!

[Buslady]

Someone who we can not say, says things do look positive for another movie.

I had a blast friday. I was sure surprised you were there Ivey! I had fun being Leo's technical assistant

Meeting Kevin finally was nice, I asked for a Raph drawing(naturally!) and for him to sign the copy of the Artobio book i got last year. It was funny though, later when me and Chris were leaving we drove up Gaslamp...we're in traffic and I look over to a chow house restaurant and on the patio was a familiar person...I go to Chris, hey there's Kevin! I looked again, putting the window down...Chris suddenly yells "HEY KEVIN!"  OMG I about died. I was like 'chris dont bother him when hes on his own time!'  But Kev is such a good guy; he waved and motioned what he was up to, a few drinks and such. I go "I'll join ya!" hehe  I think he remembered us, Chris rambled while he drew my Raph pic so he might've. He sees a gazillion folks during these events I don't expect him to remember us.
Driving home though, that was an adventure...I was so tired I had to get off the 15 & stop 2x to rest a bit. somehow we got home. it really is a long drive, just about 100 mi...

I was THRILLED to have finally seen the Biz...OMG what a character Simon Bizley is.....and I got my Lobo sketch I've always wanted.


I was happy to see a whole table with all the new DrWHO toys and stuff, my TARDIS usb thingy is SO FREAKING COOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My cat missed me.

for getting friday off, i had to suffer and work tonite...fair shuttle...bleah. its 2.30a and im still up
i better get off and sleep

[cynlee]

I've never known the Con to be "sold out"-- I've seen it way more crowded on a Sat. than it was yesterday, but then I did panic when the line for Ballroom 20 (which was hosting "Heroes", "Battlestar Galactica", "Futureama", and the Joss Wheadon thing) stretched out all most as long as the first day I was there to pick up my four-day pass-- which I had never seen a line THAT long and took me over 90 minutes just to get my pre-reg. badge.

When I heard Ivey was there, it floored me.

Anyway, it was a cool Con, but I have to miss today's-- which means missing VA panel part two.  The Futurama thing was great but I couldn't get closer than the middle of the room.  VA was good, FINALLY got the nerve to ask someone to let me take a pic with him (Rob P!).  Zkarlette was there with me on Friday, and that made it extra-fun to have someone to walk around with.  Some of the pics I took for Leonardo I forgot to take with my own camera, so Buslady or Leo or Zkarlette, I'd appreciate seeing the ones we took at Stan's booth-- and I didn't get a pic of Leonardo with the rep. from Playmates.

Hope you all have/had fun today on this last day.  The drive wiped me out, and coupled with the strange walking patterns one has to adopt to wade through the millions, my right ankle is wrecked-- even this morning it's still giving me trouble.  

*sobs*  I wanted to go one more day!  Ah well....

[Michaelangelo]

Part 1 of Friday at San Deigo Con, being written while in line with Fae for American Idol, what am I doing up this early?  

I woke up very early Friday, 3:30am.  I started to do computer stuff, and loading the videos onto the spare hard drive.  Than checked a few of the videos, and after that started to get ready during the day.  While Fae got ready, is when I posted my last review.  So I will pick up there.  

I went back to the room, and had a fast breakfast with Fae than we went to the bus stop which is about a block away at the Motel 6.  The wait was getting annoying as not one bus has come into site.  We both wanted to the convention center faster than this!  So while waiting, others were around as well but no one was that talkative, most of them had IPods or phones in their ears.   So I picked on Fae with the video camer, than a double decker tour bus pulled up asking if we were heading to the Trolly station and we all said yes.  She told us to jump on, and gave us a FREE ride to the Trolly station!!!! YAY!   Instead of the $1.75 the bus would of cost!   So we jumped on, and even got to ride on the top part of the bus, as we went over.  I had my tense unit on, though it didn't help too much against the wind I still couldn't pass up this chance!  I always wanted to ride up stairs in one of those!!!!!

We got on the Trolly and met a young man from FL who was also going to Comic Con, so he hung out with us till we got into line to get in, there really wasn't a line, you just stood near the door you wanted to get in.  But the crowd got thick behind us, and everyone around us was getting worried about my arm and saying the crowd will plow me down.   This made us a bit more nervous, since we were right at the door.   I stood there, ok till somebody went by and tapped my arm really hard.  It was the actor who played the Hulk in the old TV series, he just wanted by and even was saying excuse me, though the pain shot through as if he broke my arm and it felt bruised for hours later... that was kind of the main worry point to the people around us to see how fast I'd go down.   So one of the guys went and got premission for me to get to wait inside so I'm not stuck in the crowd.  I didn't like this too much, cause I hate specail treatment, but they all wouldn't let up on it.  So Fae and I went in, but it didn't seem like it helped too much.   Main thing it helped with, was getting us into the air so we weren't dieing from the heat.

Once we got in, we raced towards this booth that was giving out Harry Potter bags, where I got my right arm touched again, hehe this time it was our Leonardo who was trying to get my attention cause I wasn't hearing her.  She was standing with Leah-nardo!   Whom I haven't had the honor of meeting before.  They were in the front of the line that we were just trying to get into.   Than we went and stood in line for the bag, just a few people in front of us was Brinatello and Roseangelo.  Leo got her bag fast, than came back and said hi to us real fast, and left since our line was taking forever to even move (just for bags they're already passing out???)  than they moved the line on us, seemed their was confusion on what happened to the the line.  So a group of people came through our line finally with boxes of bags and just passed them out, so both Fae and I got Harry Potter bags.   Than we went on our way, I wanted to find Leo because I remember Michael S saying he was going to be here, and I thought I knew a panel he'd be in.  But everyone was like 'That panel room is too hard to get into' so we didn't even go into the room.   We were going to wait around the exit for when they came out, but Brinatello wanted to shop and we just got to the shopping area around the time the panel let out.  

While in the shopping area we got in touch with Buslady, Cynlee, Buslady's son, and Zkarlette!   We walked around and talked for a bit, I'm embrassed to admit this, though my reading skills are HORRIABLE!  So sometimes, I don't really relate how things are said to how they are spelled.  When Zkarlette was introduced to me, it sounded like she was a more personal friend of their's that was tagging along, and I didn't realize this was Zkarlette from here   I'M SO SORRY!!!!   And you know I kicked myself even harder when I did realize, cause I remember reading all the post about her coming on Friday with Cynlee.   *sweatdrop*  It was GREAT to meet you Zkarlette and I'm sorry we didn't get that much time to talk one on one.     I'm really sorry that I didn't match up with your nick name, I didn't really realize till I got back to my room that night and thought about it.  I'm so sorry!!!!

I took out my Kermit puppet during this time, and had a lot of fun just goofing around with that.   Kermit became a fun part of my San D trip, I only thought I'd bring him that day, though seeing the reactions and having as much fun as I did with him, this made me decide to bring him each day.  We realized it was 12:30 and told Brin we're going to head back and hope to see Mike coming out.   We would call Brin if we saw him.

We did get over the area but it was about 15 minutes after the panel let out, and we didn't see him.  I don't have a clue if he was in there, though I was really hoping to help some of the West coast fans to meet him.  I had Brin trying to call some of the other fans that were there, though they were not answering their phones, I really wanted everyone there to get this chance.  Though since we didn't see him, I guess it's good that not everyone made it to the exit area to wait.  

Leonardo had to go get on her Leonardo costume, so Fae and I offered to go with and help.  So we hopped onto her bus and road it to her hotel, wow a real nice  hotel... blows the motel that Fae and I over.   We went up to her room, and started to help with putting on the costume.   The process of this is a lot different than I would of excepted, a lot more loop tieing and new tricks than I've normally seen for Turtle costumes, so it was fun and interesting to watch Fae help Leo get the costume on.  I helped when ever I could, which wasn't much.  A tuck here, a pass a strap through the shoulder here, and a grabbing the cell phone and handing it over to Leo when it rang type thing.  Fae was on the ball though, keeping up with every beat of getting the costume on and it was great team work at the pace.

After getting Leo's costume on we got to ride the bus back to the convention center, Fae went with Leo to the Dark Horse both to TRY and make it for the Stan meet up, I ran to the Henson booth to get an autograph, and met the creator of a new series the creature shop is working on, Skrumps!

- More later with Part 2 of Friday

[mrpliggins]

sounds like everyone had a blast! I watched the coverage on G4....it seems this con is getting more "mainstream" every year.....I've heard the comics have started to take a backseat to everything else. I wonder if I would enjoy this con as I mainly go to look at comics!

[Buslady]

i love that kermit puppet...sooo cuutttteee

[zkarlette]

Yep we did have a great time or at least I really did I had a lot of fun going with Cynlee and also it was really fun meeting you guys some of you for the first time.

 And don't worry Ivy I may be hard to remember since I barely even post lately (damn schedule *kicks a can*) as you can see I'm finally posting this until now but oh well better late than never I guess...

some pics of Leo at the con

[cynlee]

OOOO you should really share that one pic with Stan Sakai's site!!

And I truly LOVE that second one of Kim and Kevin!  *swipes!*



LOL!!

[Michaelangelo]

When I got to the Henson booth, the same guy who told me to come to this autograph session was the one doing the autographs.   I found that funny, so I grabbed up a post card and noticed there was toys of the characters.  At the time, I didn't know what the characters were, so I didn't mind that they were only giving the toys to kids.  I walked up and got him to sign my post card and he smiled seeing that I made it, as I was standing there I heard the people at the booth saying "this is the last autograph for now" so I made it really just in time.  After he signed it, I thanked him and said I'll see him at the Henson panel.

I ran down to the Dark Horse booth, it was crowded so I had to call out asking anyone if they've seen a Ninja Turtle, a guy said "Over there" and I looked to just see Leonardo through the crowd only a few feet away from me.  So I walked over and started to video tape Leo, while pictures were being taken.  I hung out with Leo for a few minutes, but when they went to head to Kevin's booth, I ran upstairs to get seats for the Henson panel.   It was already crowded, the first group of seats we got was in the middle of the room blocked by the conventions camera.   So they were bad seats, and than we start trying to make our way forward.  Problem was, there was other people doing the same thing, so to save seats was nearly impossable.  I got in the first section middle, but as soon as I sat down like 5 other people sat next to me taking up all but one seat, so I was a bit annoyed, but they got there the same time I did, so I couldn't say those seats were saved.   I figured it'd be a decent spot to video tape from, but Brin and Fae were up in the front row and pointed out that Michelan was in front of them.  That was the reason I was at this panel, so I decided instead of having strangers by my side to join them.

Sadly though we were not able to save seats for everyone else like I wanted to.  I do feel bad about this, cause I really enjoy being able to do events with others, though really it was a very tight fit with everyone.  Once we got our seats I'm happy to say that Michelan was right in front of us.   Next to me was Fae, than Brinatello and than Roseangelo.  Once the others got to us, I had to break the news.  I really did feel bad about that

The panel started, and we watched as Michelan played with the puppeteer computer stuff in front of us.  He was so funny.  They talked about up coming Projects, including Skrumps where they showed us clips from it.  All the clips we saw can be found at http://kids.yahoo.com/experiences/skrumps/index  They also put Raisins up on the screen live, showing just how the CGI Puppet worked, that was amazing, Michelan was working the body movements of her.

After the panel we went up and talked to Michelan, he had work to do though was willing to go out in the hall and give autograph to the fans that were around him.  We got some photos taken, and Thanked him for doing this for us.  Though after Michelan went back in the room, we realized Tokka did not get Michelan's autograph.  We felt bad about that, I was hoping everyone got the chance to get it.   So we stood around trying to work out our plans, this was my first time getting to meet GreenWillow so we wanted to do dinner as a group thing.   After talking for a bit, they decided to go back to their room to get ready for dinner, and headed out.  I resorted my stuff so that it'd be easier to carry around for the evening.  Fae and I stood up and I turned to leave just in time to see Michelan and some of the other puppeteers walking by.  I called him over and asked if he could do one more autograph for a friend, and dug through my stuff for something to give Tokka, and found a TMNT 2 trading card of Michaelangelo.   Michelan signed it and I gave him my card and asked him if he'd be interested in being a Guest at Turtle Con 2009.  Here's hoping.  We said good bye so he could catch up with the others, than we headed down stairs and walked a little bit around the dealer room till closing time, than we had to find our way to Brinatello's hotel, cause that's where we were doing dinner.

Once we got there, Brin and them had a table, but no one else could sit with them so we had to get a different table.   Leo and Leah was standing up at the counter so we got it so we could at least sit with them.  Which was great cause it was the most time I got to talk and see Leah.    We had to wait 45 minutes to an hour before we even got a table!  While waiting Mica, Mandy & Mandy and another friend (I remember her real name, but not the nick name of this friend) showed up and tried to get in line for a table as well.  Though I swear these people didn't want us eatting there with how long it took.  After we finally sat down at the table, we looked over the menu, Fae and I decided to split a dish to help on cost.  

Mica and crew ended up splitting cause of how long it was taking to be seated.  Really that was a clue that this wasn't the best place to eat, esp when you look and see most of the tables open.  True I understand enough people to work a section, though if they see a group that wants to sit together and there's enough table and chair, the same waiter can take care of them and look forward to the tip.  I eat out at a LOT of places and I've seen places where they'd open closed sections to sit a big group down and have one of their waiters take care of the group just to make sure the people were happy.  Though this place was like slow, with barely anyone there!   I give this place an F in their customer service.  

Tokka showed up and sat at the bar with a friend.   I got to give him the card that Michelan signed, and I hope he's happy with it.  We talked a little bit, than I went back to the table as they're taking our order.  Fae already ordered our dish, so I placed my drink order and we sat around talking till our food got there.  I asked for a water not long after the food got there, and even that took awhile before they brought it back to the table.  I was really disappointed with the place.   Fae and I had to go, she had to wake up early for American Idol stuff on Saturday and we still had to get our way back to our hotel.   The wait for our check was insanely long!  Than the first check they brought us was the WRONG check!   So we sent it back and got the right one, and paid our stuff.   We traveled back with Leo and Tokka to the convention center than headed to the trolley Station, taking it to our stop than a taxi the rest of the way to our hotel.   We didn't get to the room till 12:30am, and crashed for a few hours only to wake at 3:30am the following morning, though more on that next time.

[Michaelangelo]

And don't worry Ivy I may be hard to remember since I barely even post lately (damn schedule *kicks a can*) as you can see I'm finally posting this until now but oh well better late than never I guess...

Awww I didn't forget about you, it was really the name that threw me off.  Cause I remember reading all the posts that you were coming.   Though really I was excepting the name to have a Z... sound to the start of it.   And I do feel bad about not really getting to chat with ya, I love meeting fellow fans.  So I'm truly sorry.

[Michaelangelo]

Saturday Morning at 3am the alarm goes off.... we ignore it till 3:30am than it came rush time. We get a Shuttle to American Idol and get there by 4am, so we were making good time. The line by that time was already long, so we went and got into it. Though to my surprise Fae got registered just minutes before 8am. Things that we learned, she could only bring one friend with her.... lucky enough I was the only one traveling with her. There was of course many other rules, not going to go into them all though.

After that we went back to our hotel and cleaned up a bit. Than headed to the convention center. The bus annoyed us BIG time that morning, as we waited over an hour for it. So at this point we were really getting fed up with San D trans system. NYC is better!!!! We got there, and went to the voice actor panel, and saw them do a fun act of "War of the Worlds" and Rob did the "Yakko's World" song. After that we spent most of the day hanging around the dealer room. I wasn't feeling all that well, my arm did not like this convention at all. While Fae, Brin and I were walking around we learned that Molly and Mark Bode was at the convention, so we called Leo and told her. Leo and Roseangelo came down and met up with us while we were with Molly than we went and talked with Mark for a bit. He did some sketches for those of us who asked him.

After that we said our good byes to Mark and Molly and walked around the con for a bit, though this was not an easy time as someone backed up and their back pack went straight into my bad arm, I was down and the pain wasn't going away. I forced myself back up, and tried to keep going. But with both Fae and I feeling very tired and out of it, along with the pain we realized we were not going to be able to join the others for dinner this night. So we caught a Trolley back to the hotel area, and once again got pizza'ed off by the bus. It was a good 2 hour wait from the Trolley station before we got the 5 minute drive away! We would of walked it, but with us both tired and sore, the walk along the dangerous curve where there is no side walk did not sound appealing.

We once again crashed as soon as we hit the hotel room.

[Buslady]

dont think i posted this:

[Michaelangelo]

ooooooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh  Thanky for posting!!!!!!  

I'll be posting my pics and stuff soon, trying to finish reviews first, one more day to go.  

[Michaelangelo]

We woke up and Fae has decided she had enough of the bus in the area so we got a taxi to the Trolley station.  And got on a very CROWDED Trolley to the convention center, we had to stand on the steps near the door just to fit in.  This was not comfy for either of us, but it got us where we needed to go.  We headed into the convention, and went straight up stairs where we sat in on two panels, one of which only because it had Grey in it, an extra voice actor for the TMNT Movie.  I met her before at Motor City Comic Con, but I didn't get her to sign my shirt than cause it would of been $20.  So this time right after the panel I got up to the front and asked her to sign it, she seemed to remember me which was cool and she signed the shirt.  Than I went back to my seat for the next panel, which was the VA panel.  A different set of Voice Actors doing the War of The Worlds act that was done the day before.

I did find this more interesting than people would think, the reason was by seeing how many VAs did the same thing as the set of VAs from the day before.  Like for one line, both the guy doing it Saturday and the guy doing it Sunday did Bush for the same line!  Talk about wow!   I also enjoyed getting to see this set of voice actors, as I learned who some of them were up on the stage, like Sponge Bob and Brain (from Pinky and the Brain) and one lady who does like a Million voices from "South Park"  So that was a fun panel!

After the panel we went in the hall and I got Brain to sign my program yay!    We stood out in the hall and talked with a few people for a little bit, Leo was wearing a different costume, she met us there.  Brinatello was also there.  So after we were done there, we went down stairs to walk around a bit.  Brin took off to do her own thing for awhile, as Fae, Leo and I wandered around the convention.  Leo had a photo shoot to disappear too so we split ways from her and found ourselves a little later at the Heavy Metal booth.  I finally got to see Simon, I knew he was here for the weekend but kept missing him everytime I came by the booth.  So I got him to sign my shirt.  After he signed that I went over and got Kevin to sign the handful of stuff I brought for him to sign.  Mica and crew showed up while we were getting my stuff signed by Kevin, so we said hi to them.  I also got him to do a Donatello sketch for me.  While Kevin was drawing I looked up to see a face I knew very well walk by and I raced off to say hi.

It's Mike S.  I think he was shocked to see me, we said hi real fast and he told me he got sick and this is his first time in the convention for the weekend.   Though he's rushing to a meeting.   I asked him if there was a place to meet up, cause there was a big Leo fan there that would love to meet him, though to my surprise Leo showed up at the Heavy Metal booth just as I was saying this.  Mica realized this guy had to be someone so she came over to find out who he is, and so I waited till Leo was there to introduce him to the both of them at once.   Leo was honored, Mica seemed a bit shocked.    Fae joined us a few minutes later, as Mike said a few words but than did have to run he took a few photos with the fans before splitting to his meeting.

Leo and Mica decided to hang out with Fae and I as we wandered around the convention a bit.  Mica went to show us a Tales artist that's there, but it wasn't Trist, whom we were all looking for.   The artist she showed us, already signed my T-Shirt even.   It's getting bad if I'm bumping into people I didn't realize has already signed the shirt.  hehe  So we went on walking around, I got some Skrumps toys and a few other things here and there.   We went to see Stan and I bought a shirt and graphic novel from him.   After that Mica and Leo split ways from Fae and I as we wandered some more.  We went to WB Tower, than through the Pirate Ship set up for Pirates of the Caribbean display.  We also got our picture taken at the Golden Compass booth.   We went to Heavy Metal and said our good byes to Kevin and crew, saying I'll see them again at NYC Comic Con.  After that we went to the Henson booth and said our last good byes there.  By this time Leo was back with us.

We wanted to go out to eat together with Brin.  Though Leo had to get her car from her hotel.  So we went and met up with Brin while Leo went back to her hotel, Brin's mom showed up and we went getting Brin's stuff from her hotel and than went looking for Leo's hotel.  None of us knew where it was, and I was without my GPS (really could of used it).  Though because we couldn't find it, we ended up calling off that bit of a meet up.  Though when we were getting onto the express way Brin swears she saw Leo in her car getting on in front of us.  Hehehe So we may have seen her one last time after all.  

Brin's sister treated us to this Mexican food place, that Brin wanted to go to.  After that Brin got us a tour at a haunted house called the Whaley house, which wasn't far from our hotel.  We went through the tour and Brin's sister was cool enough to get us some shirts from there!  THANKS!!!!!  We had a great time, and got back to our hotel after 9pm.  I checked online a little, but seeing as how that's after midnight there wasn't many people up.  And we didn't have the best internet connection (and we paid for it!!!)   It kept breaking, I was trying to talk with Crittle and everytime I turned around I was disconnected GRRRRR

Got to bed and than was up by 4am to get things packed up and out off the room to go to American Idol (that review will be going back in my hanging out with Fae topic! :   http://www.tmnt-l.com/index.php?topic=2632

Hotel review:

This hotel had a lot of problems and I'm going to share them all here.

1.  Booking, everyone but the hotel had our room booked for July, the hotel had it marked in June!
2.  Hard Beds
3.  Smell of Mold in bathroom
4.  Air being turned off by house keeper while we're gone so coming back to a muggy room
5.  House Keeper being required!  You couldn't skip the service if you wanted to.
6.  No Clock in the room at all!
7.  No ATM or any other type of business center, we were sent to other hotel in area.
8.  No Coffee Maker (most hotels at least have that in the room for people)
9.  Internet cost $10/Day

I could go on, Fae and I were both not happy at all with our hotel room, and we will not return there.  They had only two good points from me....

1.  Nice Morning person, she would try to help as much as she could.
2.  A Refridge in the room.

I've stayed at many better places for cheaper.

[Aignatius]

Interesting stuff, there! Wanted to add, it's difficult to find a good hotel room on short notice in San D during the Con. The one at the Hyatt which is a block from the Con center wasn't that great. Durn Con specials... some people can get in if they book early to nice rooms, but sometimes even those reservations can get messed up. San D is a busy place.
I haven't been since 98, because of finances, family stuff, and it's terribly hectic. Not to mention I don't have anything to promote right now. Not to mention I used to get in as a pro, which didn't cost me anything, but I haven't worked Pro in a long time.
Nice to see pics, of course.

Mike, I'm wondering about your hand in that last pic. You're wearing a support thing for your arm, but are you wearing a glove underneath that? Your hand seemed lighter skinned than the other.  

[Michaelangelo]

Yes my right hand has a glove it wears, it's an electric glove to send shocks into my hand to help distract the pain.  It's part of my Tense Unit.  I got it right before leaving on this trip.

[Buslady]

what a crappy hotel!

I try to stick with Hamptons when we do road trips, every one has been perfect.

[Eclipse]

YAY!!! Thanks for the awesome review Mikey~!!

[Aignatius]

Yes my right hand has a glove it wears, it's an electric glove to send shocks into my hand to help distract the pain.  It's part of my Tense Unit.  I got it right before leaving on this trip.

So ka.  Thanks for the explanation.   Chronic pain can be, well-- a pain.  

Yet it didn't slow you down too much, good for you!

[Danceingfae]

Here's my little tidbit from the con. But it won't have as much detail as Michaelangelo's post  

The trip down to California, for San D Con and for American Idol was fun but hectic. The drive down was a straight shot and Ivey and I were so tired. Thursday we went back to the hotel early and got some much needed sleep. Friday we were awake very early because of that but got to the Con and were able to meet up with a few people. I'm very happy to say I got to meet more turtle fans and more online friends I have been wanting to meet.

There was Leonardo, Buslady and her son, Cynlee, GreenWillow, Zkarlette, and I got to meet up with Brin again and got to see who Roseangelo is. Rose and I have never talked online but I knew that she was friends with Brin and such, so it was nice to be able to put a face to the name.

Friday was the Jim Hensen panel with everyone and we got to meet at Mitchelen Sisti!! It was so cool!! And he is so nice too! He did work with puppeteering during the panel which was really awesome to see. After that Ivey and I went back with Leonardo to her hotel and I helped her get into her Leo costume. I had fun with that, kept making jokes about how I got to tie Leo up *G*.

Saturday the the day that I had to go and resgister for Amercian Idol. Ivey and I had gotten to the stadium at 4am and got in line to wait for the registering to start. By the time it started to the time we got our passes, we were out of there by 7:40am. Enough time to go back to the hotel, clen up and go to the convention.

Sunday we spent time at the convention taking time to look at the displays and really got time to talk to Kevin. That was a big yay for me at the con, getting to meet Kevin. He is so sweet and totally cool. He drew me a Mikey sketch! I also got to meet Mark and Mollie Bodi, both very nice people. Once the con closed, Ivey and I spent time with Brin, her sister and their mother, both awesome people! We were suppose to meet up with Leonardo for dinner but that just didn't work. Timing was not agreeing with us and she had to get home for work.

So us women went to a mexican resturaunt suggested by Brin that was suppose to have great food. Heh, change that to they use to have great food. The spices were too much for Ivey. After that though we stopped at the Whaley House which was a lot of fun! We had to get out of there pretty quickly though because in the morning I had my audition for American Idol.

http://tmnt-l.com/viewtopic.php?p=25483#25483  There's more in it there

[reincarnated_turtle_fan]

Hey, all.

Things changed at the last minute and I wasn't at the convention again this year.  I wanted to apologize for not telling you all that sooner.  I know many of you might have been wondering where I might have been.

I will try for next year though.  Hopefully you guys can forgive me.

[Leonardo]

Here are pics!

SDC 07 friends and fun pictures
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v503/taleoryn/SDC%2007%20friends%20and%20fun/

And a San D Con 2007 gallery with general convention pics and cosplayers
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v503/taleoryn/San%20D%20Con%202007/

I didn't caption everything. And I'll write up the rest of a report to post and add it to this thread later.
 

[Buslady]

aw man i didnt see those two tauntaun statues! i love tauntauns...

[Leonardo]

If it's one thing I've learned about looking at Comic Con pics from others...it's all the stuff one didn't see.
 
It's that kind of a convention...that's for sure! Secret nooks and crannies, surprises...makes it always unique and an interesting life lesson about the impossibility of seeing it all.
Glad I posted the pics for you to enjoy. They were at the Gentle Giant booth, so that is who will be selling them. I loved the detail and lifelike look of the tauntauns--considering they don't really exist...

I'm looking forward to seeing everyone else's pics!!!
I'll tell my tales later....

[cynlee]

I will only say that I’ve never had to stand in such a long line as a pre-reg. as I did that Thursday-- took me over ninety minutes to get inside-- missed my most desired panel-- found out the delay was mostly to blame on their deciding to try something “new” in processing everyone, with the result that it “broke down”.  First batch-- Thursday-- btw, I just like taking pictures.  Please forgive the quality, these and the next two days are my BEST.

THURSDAY-- and the first batch are of the damn LINE that stretched all the way around the convention center and MOST of the length of the back of it for a while...


DAY TWO-- Where I go with Zkarlette and meet up with many peoples from this site as well as a few others....




DAY THREE-- SATURDAY-- my last day it turns out as my ankle was so freaking wrecked by Sat. night that I couldn’t walk on Sunday... *sobs for missing Mike S.!!   I shall never meet the Turtles it seems...*



Best line of the convention:  Someone, while I snapped a pic of the Voltron shoes, said to his friend,  "So, do the shoes join together to make one giant shoe?"

[Eclipse]

OY. Well imagine, MY sadness to find out that I missed both Mike S. AND Joe Alaskey~!!!

*cries* Thanks for the pictures everyone

[Leonardo]

I guess I should post something of a review....
This was the most fun convention for me in years. I really had a great time!

Getting to the Con and Preview Night

I didn't get out of work as early on Tues as I had intended. Instead of a bit after 3, it was after 4:30, and after dashing home to complete the loading of the car, got caught in the local rush hour traffic. (Note to self: doesn't matter if I block my calendar at work with Out of Office starting at 3 to keep from getting meetings then--they just run right over it. Sometimes being a Responsible person has drawbacks.   )
If one wonders why I didn't totally load the car in the morning? It's because of delicate costume things that should not be left in the heat, in case it got sunny during the day at work. Might find it funny to think a ninja turtle has a delicate side...but more about that later.  
I stopped for a fast visit to see my Tage horse, then pointed the car south to LA. I looove my new car! It handles so nicely, and flies along so nicely..."oh!...hm, I think I better slow down a little!!!" Helped make up for the much-delayed start of my trip. And it's great on gas, too. But I got to LA a lot later than I had wanted.
In LA, I stayed overnight at a LotR friend's place, and we had wonderful chats but that kept us both up late. Fortunately, I wasn't hitting the road to San D until after rush hour traffic would be over. So I even got to enjoy an awesome breakfast!
Then I had a fast drive into San D with only one short slow spot, the 15-thing rocks!!
At the hotel, I found a destroyed lobby and no Leah to be seen. The lobby area was being totally renovated. But when I finally got up to the desk, she had already checked in.
I have to say while the hotel is a ways out, it was super easy on/off freeway, and the room was huge!! The beds were nice and comfy, too. I don't really have any major complaint about the hotel aside from that lobby mess. And then Leah found this awesome dessert place right near it, too...but that was another night....
Slipping upstairs to the room, she was in bed, sleeping--no surprise at all considering she came in from Hawaii. I was sorry to wake her, but after I got the 3 loads done, I quietly settled in for some snacking and reading. Even took a short nap, too.
Mid-afternoon, she awoke and we grabbed a late lunch/early dinner at Horton plaza, aka the MC Escher-ese mall. Fun to realize I've been there enough times so I can navigate all the way up the food court with no wrong turns. But...I wonder if everyone else wonders why it was so difficult to find a way through there those first times, it just doesn't seem like it should've been that hard?  
Over to Preview Night, the lines flew into the place for fast badge pick up. I read that there were some times that didn't happen due to a glitch with computers, but overall, for the size of this convention, there are conventions that get less than 10,000, or less than 5,000 and pre-reg pick up can take over half a day at their best. I have to applaud the San D Con folks and the volunteers for their efforts on making badge pick up as painless as possible!!
Then it's the camp in line until opening time, and read through the program book for the unannounced surprises....which I guess is the theme behind this year's Con for me.
So...into Preview Night, one of the most crowded times of the Con--probably because there's no other events going on, so everyone's going in there for the exclusives and shopping. The floor was insanely packed.
I discovered the Sideshow "12-inch hobbits" Frodo and Sam on display as a special Con announcement (even though most LotR fans had already made a good guess on this.) They call them the 12-inch figure line, even though they are really 6-inch hobbits to go with the already created Aragorn, Boromir, Faramir and Legolas. Sam's packs are awesome, he's got all his stuff--even the sausages!! And then, I discovered--pre order!!! Now at the Con!! So 10 minutes later I was holding my paper that meant I didn't have to do any online pre-ordering.
Also fun to look at the other Sideshow goodies, the Chewie's 'chess set' is really fun.
I said the usual hello to Kevin E. and visited Stan Sakai, of course!!! I got my Usagi poster picked up, which was nice, because I didn't have to carry my poster tube for a whole day of the convention, just the Preview Night time.
For Kevin, the only thing I had him sign this year, was those silly silly bobble heads of "Biz an Buzz". I got them for Ninjara, because she had to cancel out coming to the Con....

Maybe I should have made notes, not much else comes back to mind about Preview Night.
I explored and did a little shopping. Then met or re-met up with most of the TMNT gang by the end of the night. Some of us went to Wendy's, and it was quite a boisterous group. I was really overtired by this time, had been up late for a number of nights leading up to the Con. I'd done my best to have my costume work 100% finished before the Con, and almost made it! I only had two simple things to do that didn't take long that I did at hotel over the next days. But I was on days of sleep dep, and the Angelo Crew was something else: Mica and the Mandy's.    I felt glomped even though I wasn't being glomped, they were overpowering!!!
       
 
(Makes more notes for that book I keep saying I will write: Too Many Angelos.)

Jokes aside, it was great to meet them!!

However, FOGU at Comic Con is dead.
There was not one GU to be seen. The Queen was not there and her loyal subjects were silent. No GU passwords, taunts, or songs....very relaxing, that.  
 

[Leonardo]

Thursday
I spent most of the day shopping, Bleach and Rurouni Kenshin goodies. Sought for the several Archie TMNT issues I am still missing, but the comics dealers brought next to nothing on TMNT comics. "We have stuff at our store...." Told some of them to bring stuff next year! grr  
And I attended the Viz media panel, my only panel for the day.
One thing that is confirmed, is there is no longer a "quiet day" at the Con, which Thursday's used to be. At best, in the late afternoons it clears out a bit. Mornings and early afternoon...packed.

Off and on I met up with GW and Brinatello. Heard a tale about an Ivey and Fae would be appearing....

All through the day, I couldn't get connected with the M-crew. We played tag-style games over phone, but by the time they couldn't get into their movie in the evening, I was already coming out of Ralph's with dinner.
Dinner was Ralph's sushi. They actually make very good stuff! Yum! I also picked up some fruit and other things to enjoy for breakfasts.
The only bummer was the shuttle bus...there'd been some sort of driver switch and so there was a loooong gap between buses. Then when an Orange bus finally showed up--we had a large crowd getting ready to rumble when the driver clearly wasn't going to stop to pick us up!! Other people got quite a show of a crowd of 30+ yelling people running after the bus. The "I didn't see you" excuse didn't exactly cut it once she did stop. So it was an Adventure in getting dinner!  
Back at the hotel, I watched tv and worked on the little cosplay stuff I had left to do. It was very relaxing and pleasant.
Sushi is a good thing.
 

Friday
Saw Ivey go by while we were in the Scholastic line for the Harry Potter bags. I had gone over to the line first thing in the morning with Leah. And we darn near missed her, too. I certainly didn't intend to get her bad arm, but if we hadn't gotten her attention, we might not have connected for many hours, or even another day.
After the bags, met up with Buslady, her son, Zkarlette, Brinatello...Cynlee.... goofed off, shopped...I got to catch up with Rob Kraus, the small press publisher I used to know and help from Ohio.
Then time was passing, and finally with Ivey and Fae's help, went to the hotel to get the Leo costume on. Fae is a wonderful costume dresser!! She did a great job. We didn't go through quite as much detailing on velcroing and pinning stuff like we had to for the Masq., and we didn't have the time. Ivey was a filmographer....
The buses are certainly not the fastest way to get around, but it was a mile to the Con from the hotel, and I wasn't going to walk it in the costume. (Too warm and humid in San D, plus it would have been really bad for the costume feet. I don't exactly have flip flops or zori to fit that foot size!! <smirk> )
Due to the crowd size, I decided I would keep the head off while moving between places, just a lot safer that way!
Missed the UY dojo meet up by the time we got there. But along with other people that wanted pictures, we met someone from Playmates, then someone from the 4th movie because they saw the costume!! It was great to talk with them!
Went to Kevin's booth for a short time, and did pics there.
Then to Stan's booth.
It was such a lot of fun doing all the pictures with kids, adults, even security guards!
I had that head off and on a ton of times, and I have to thank my helpers, they were wonderful spotters and costume assistants. Cynlee and Buslady, you are wonderful!
And then it was time for the panel....and I was not going to have enough time to change out, whiiiich we'd already had a feeling was going to happen. And then while I had my bags to put the costume parts into, change of clothes, wash rag and small towel, something to pleasantly scent myself with--the shoes had been forgotten at the hotel. This was combined with certain TMNTers saying I should wear the costume to the panel...I had to go to the Henson panel still in costume.
Buslady and I got a seat at the end of the front row.
The panel was awesome. I love the variety and creativity coming out of the Henson group. Dark Crystal news, Farscape news (yeah!!!), the Skrumps presentation, the Puppet Up demonstration....
Ben Browder as a puppeteer was hilarious!! I loved it.
I had a nice clear view of Michelan Sisti, too, dancing around in the rigging.
At the end of the panel, we went up to the front center group where Ivey and others were. Ivey and others were talking to him to try to set up a quick meeting with him. Someone helped me shove my head on, and helping shove me forward toward the stage--"he has to see you" I heard someone say in the dizzy crowd. When Michelan saw me in costume--and at that point, I could see him through my eye holes--he looked surprised--"I have to come down to meet you!!" he said to our group. So our group tactics worked! He loved the fact I was there in a costume, and said how we were rigged up like they had been. How he'd really hated the first suits in particular. I told him he and the others had been an inspiration for our group to do the costumes, and how to put them together.
I would like to comment that Michelan went above and beyond nice for us--he was supposed to help pack stuff up and they had to get out of there. And he made the time for us, to quickly chat with all of us, do pics, and then even sign things for us. He's awesome.
After that, I finally had my chance to meet up with Todd Shogun from the Usagi Yojimbo Dojo. He got a pass to get out the Hall H mess and met me for some quick photos.  
And at last it was time to go back to the hotel and change out for dinner. I really enjoyed wearing my costume into the hall. It was worth all the sweat and discomfort, to see how much other people enjoyed seeing a Ninja Turtle and wanting pics.

At the hotel, Leah helped me get my hands off (sounds real strange, doesn't it? ), then I was able to get the rest of the costume off myself.
And like dealing with a horse at a horse show, the horse comes first. Once I got all the pieces off, I got out the baby powder and did every piece before I took my shower.
Yes, as hinted, a ninja turtle has a delicate side.  
But the reality is if you leave the stuff not taken care of, it could stick to itself and be ruined. And the powder helps it dry out faster--and being scented powder, helps immensely with the distinctive latex smell.
All cleaned up, and stuff left out to finish drying overnight before packing in the morning--it was off for the walk to dinner at the Holiday Inn by the Bay with the other TMNTers.
Lovely sunset with the ships in the background, and although the service was absolutely horrible (way understaffed!!), dinner was very good. Shepherd's pie and the good company of fellow TMNTers.
Once dinner was done, I got on the bus to ride over the Con, and my Viz friend called me just as the bus was pulling up at the stop. She was free for the night. I went over to meet her at the Mariott, then we went to check out the late night anime, but weren't thrilled with any of the 3 rooms we visited.
So we sat at the tables in the anime area and talked with some other people she knew, then just her and I. It was the only chance I really had to spend time with her!! I went to two of the three panels she was on at the Con, and I saw her once at the booth....then I rode back to the hotel and happily went to bed.

And I'd like to make a comment here that goes beyond the Con itself....
In TMNT fandom, like ALL other fandoms, there are many personalities. It's sad we will never all be able to get along, those splits and schisms that go back in some cases to the first time the old TMNT-L list split in two, will never be healed. There are gaps in how people view the world and how they view TMNT, and other things that cannot be bridged. People make mistakes, none of us are perfect, but sometimes it's not possible to repair things. Sometimes people can't overlook another's faults or weaknesses, can't even attempt to communicate to see if there's a chance for at least peace and understanding, even if there can't be a close friendship. It's easier to cut others down than talk to them to try to understand their view, and then find it in yourself to respect where they come from if it's not your view. To drag people down, especially on public message board forums. Or step on or use others just to grab the most autographs, merchandise, contacts and secret inside info...negative focused things that good things cannot possibly come out of.
Things that go against the message in the original TMNT comics and movies and toons that we love. Things about family, sticking together, helping each other, respect....
And in this case, I saw something that reminded me of what true TMNT fandom was about.
In the speedy rush of those minutes with Michelan, one person did not get his chance for an autograph.
And another person had a fluke situation happen after everyone else had left, and used that moment to get that autograph for the person....
This is what fandom should be.
Thank you. I really needed that moment, too....

[Leonardo]

Saturday
This was my autograph day.
I started the day lining up for the Johnny Yong Bosch signing. One of his current projects is voicing Ichigo in the Bleach series, and he does a great job with the character! I had some Bleach cosplayers in line behind me, which made it even more fun. He seems like he's quite a comedian, and was very nice to meet!
Then I went up for the Farscape group signing, this time to get Gigi Edgly's autograph in my book with the others I've already met. (Also a signed photo for my dad.) Meeting her was a very enjoyable experience.
Not surprisingly, I was able to deliver the Henson panel Farscape news to the actors. As Lani says, they are the last to hear anything. I hope the news means good things for all of them, and they will appear on the new webisodes.
Then I had a Viz panel to attend, which I enjoyed. Arina may be a talented and popular mangaka, but she is also a lovely singer! With no warm up and on the spot, she sang a beautiful Japanese song for us. And I enjoyed seeing my friend up there as an editor. I know she worked very, very hard to get into the job as an editor. And I know she worked really hard at the Con itself, too, but how exciting to be involved with your dream in such a way. I got such a kick seeing her up on a panel like this.
Checking out the book publisher section, I found the new Dragonlance novel, with Margaret Weis there happy to sign them. She also gave out two of the Dragonlance animated movie cards, that's being worked on. (I hope it will be good!!) I really like the new novel series, because it goes back to my fave time for DL, before the 5th age chaos war stuff.
In the afternoon, I met up with some of the TMNTers, like GW, whom I hadn't seen too much of at the Con. I was hoping to hear a little of how the writing panel she went to had gone, but then my phone rang....(still getting used to the whole phone thingy.) Brinatello and Ivey had met up with the Bodes downstairs and wanted to let us know in case we wanted to meet them. Considering I had missed every signing Mark did the last time he'd been at the Con, and hadn't seen Molly since the mid-90s--I was going! So I announced it to the table to let everyone know, and off I went with Rosemary.
We met Molly first, with Ivey and Brinatello at the Starbucks. Mark was in the hall. Got to talk to Molly for a couple moments, she's changed since my last memory of her, but her lovely warm smile has not!!
Between the walk with Molly and then what we heard when we got to Mark, it sounds like he has some possibly really cool things that could happen for him! I'll cross fingers and hope it does!!
It turned out that because I had nothing with me for Mark to sign, having heard my story about missing him, he offered to draw me a sketch. I still don't quite know where that paper was found, but I am grateful! Mark drew me a great Mikey sketch (I'll post a pic of it soon.) I'm honored to have it!!
Then we wandered around shopping some more, and I still failed to find a medium Leonardo movie character tshirt. I believe that GW found the only medium they had at the Con!!
Said good night to Fae and Ivey, who were understandably tired and sore! With something like a 3 am start to the day for registering for the Idol competition? ugh!!
At last it was dinner time, and it was off to the Horton Plaza for dinner, to meet up with other TMNTers again. I selected sushi for dinner...hm, again.  
I finally got to see all the lovely Lolitas, the M-crew! With their TMNT plushies. What a fun bunch they make. They were trying to convince me I should make a Lolita costume.... while I applaud their efforts, that is not a costume I will make, nor wear. The closest I will come to such a thing is going to be my Renaissance Faire dress I will be making, and that is certainly not Lolita fashion....
Also got to see Tokka with his costume that was a bit like something of Little Shop of Horrors with his flower pots of venus fly traps he could animate with his hands! Wild!!! And see his current portfolio. Amazing stuff, and I hope someday he finds the right place that gets him published and making money with his art!
Dinner was a fun affair and we had a great time sitting around chatting on our last night at the Con, on the uppermost deck.
Last year, the Masq, this year...away from the Con.
On our heading for the hotel, there's a funny story to tell...although maybe I shouldn't tell it?? Ah, heck with it, it's the Con! These kinds of things are what make legends to laugh over later....
We guided Tokka down to the shuttle bustop at the Horton Plaza. Having stayed there one year, I knew where the stop was. Saying good night to Tokka, one of the Mandys was still with Leah and me, and we were going to get her to the other Mandy and Mica so they could head back to their hostel. Leah led the way with what she presumed was the direction the other Ms were.
We wound our way through the place, and then...I realized it. "We've been here before!" moment. I could see up ahead, there was the bus stop and there was Tokka still waiting for the bus. I hope we didn't confuse him too badly, as we went by laughing, having just made a big circle.
(I wonder if I should redub the Plaza the Emyn Muil....     )
Leah got on the phone again, and after some chaos about various streets and directions, we finally found them (we could hear Mica's laugh before we got there, letting us know we were heading in the right direction). Happy to reunite the Lolita's together, we bid them a good night.
As we started to walk back to our hotel, I enjoyed the view of the lovely Grand hotel (I think it was the Grand?) all lit up at night.
On the way home, Leah and I decided to investigate the dessert shop by the hotel, and to do that we had to double back a block--I shan't comment about Leah's wayfinding skills, because she WILL get to you where you are going (just may have some extra turns is all), and so far always in one piece for me!!
So there was the lovely oasis at the end of our dark walk...to find that even late at night, the "dessert restaurant" was open and it was jumping!! Full crowd. And oooh all the lovely choices to eat...hard to make a decision. But we did.
Back to the hotel, I forced myself to get some packing done before I enjoyed some of my dessert. yum!!!
And Leah showed off the goodies she bought at the plaza, a lovely dress, shoes so high I can't quite understand it with her height to begin with   ...and other things.
We ate our gold foil from our desserts and considered it for bringing luck. Then to sleep....

Sunday
And this was my cosplay day! (Along with being a 2 VA day.)
 
Leah got up and started packing...she had a fairly early flight out to go to Hawaii.
And for the Bleach costume, which was picked for Sunday because that's what the group voted on the boards--have to have one "disaster" it seems first time out for a costume. The hair stuff was not what I had wanted, and didn't work that great--but hey, as it turned out, the other cosplayers had a litany of woes of their own, hair, props, and otherwise, so I was in good company.
Leah departed and I finished with my costume, and the last bits of things to the car. I checked out and rode the bus over to the Con.
I had a little time before the Bleach group gathering, so I tried to find GW and Brinatello. Turned out when I saw GW I should have wished her a good bye, that was the last I saw of her at the Con.
As for the Bleach gathering? I had the best time!! Everyone of the cosplayers was great to talk to. And as we started gathering, Nancy paused by, and then Robb from work. Robb managed to get some nice pics for me on my camera.
Then we started getting in the bigger group, and it was like...a wall of people with cameras instantly formed.
The Masquerade had been a wild thing in terms of the photographers, but this was actually crazier....people on their knees, crouched, taller people standing behind shorter people, cameras held overhead....
 
Finally they gave us the countdown and let us free. So we could go outside and set up more shots!
We did lots of different groupings. I enjoyed watching the 7 Yoriuchi with the 2 Urahara, we all had some fun comments over that. We also had fun going through the 13 divisions, commenting on those with lack of representation, and the "guy character" shot with 3 crossplayer captains....
So I met some great people I hope to meet again. Had a lot of "you have to come to Anime Expo!" and I promised I'd post a tutorial on how I made my swords. (Even though I had to rush a bit to finish them and am going to back and fix the hilt work up a little over the next couple months.)
By the time we were done, I had missed Nancy's last panel....so I gradually made my to the Viz booth for the green screen pics. They were doing it from 2-3 and I had been waiting to do it with my costume. They'd take a pic of you with a green screen background, then drop your pic onto one of the several manga/anime backgrounds of your choice. Obviously, I was choosing the Bleach background. It came out great!! Much fun!!
Then I stashed the swords for a bit, taking someone up on an offer to stash them at a booth. And then I moved around a bit, looking for last things to do or see. Amazed the floor was extremely crowded, worse than Saturday!! The most crowded Sunday I've witnessed, and that's been every year since 93 but for 2 years I think I didn't go in the later 90s.
I think, though I won't claim to Know...that Sunday got crowded because Friday and Saturday were sell outs. So there may have been more day passes than usual for Sunday? And maybe those who avoided the hall on Saturday or were in the Hall H/Ballroom 20 all day were now shopping fiends??
Another fun moment was two of the Bleach cosplayers coming up behind me--"Ukitake--have you seen Urahara?" The fun of cosplay when you don't know people's real names, or maybe not even board names...I told them which way I had just come from and that I hadn't. They were wanting to get to the Viz booth for the green screen, I hope they made it!!
I headed over the Heavy Metal booth to get the Biz an Buzz for Ninjara--and while there, waiting for Kevin to come back from a break so he could sign them for her, I happened to turn my head to see Ivey a short ways off. And I just went over...to find she was talking to none other than Mike S.
I couldn't believe it, it wasn't a picture of him, it was him!
Ivey had hoped he was going to be there on Friday, but he was unable to make it. So I'd expected there was no chance to meet him. Maybe my gold foil on my dessert was a lucky thing after all!
Ivey introduced me, and Fae showed him a pic from her camera of my Leo costume from Friday.
When we went to take the picture with him, I laughed that I was wearing the wrong costume for it, but Mike said it was fine.
We only all had a few minutes with him, but it was great! He's like they said, really nice and awesome. I hope I have another chance someday to meet him under less hurried circumstances. (And I still want to meet the over VAs too...and Kevin Munroe....ah well, good to have things to hope for in the future, to keep one going, right?)
Then Kevin E. was back at the booth, and we finished up there with the stuff for Ninjara. Kevin was quite cheeky, and then Biz followed suit, oh yes....
And then more good fortune! Brinatello had gotten a hold of her sister and Wally...so we found them and I got to meet another Bleach VA for the English dub, for Renji!
I'd picked up the Bleach #5 dvd at the Viz booth, it was out before it hit the stores and I wanted it for watching on my work Chicago trip--seeing as I was going to have a laptop to travel with.... So I pulled out the dvd to show what Renji looked like in our group discussion. And we used it in the picture with Wally.    So awesome to get to meet him, too!! The gold foil was certainly working!
The rest of Sunday was the slow wrap up...and I took Mica over to meet Stan.
I'm so used to meeting Stan at the Cons, it's like you forget that for some people, it is their first time to meet him....and it's a joy to behold.
 
We met back up with Ivey again, I think we made our final good bye kisses to Kevin E.
Then visited the Skrumps booth. We chatted with John, Ivey'd visited before, but I said how much I enjoyed the presentation at the Henson panel, and wished them great success. We got signed postcards, soon after that, it was the end of the Con.....

We made our way out to the buses, I had the intent to get to the hotel, change out of costume, and clean up. Then Brinatello's mom would drive up with everyone to meet up with me and I'd follow them off for dinner.
The first parts went well. The bathroom off the lobby was spacious and easy to get changed and clean up, then up to the parking garage for the car. I liked the fact the car was in a garage out of the sun, even if it was a bit warm in there, meant stuff wasn't all hot. I'll admit it, being a coastal person, I'm not used to the heat and humidity anymore!
The cel phone was working and when they sounded like they were close enough, I went out to the street and found short term curbside parking.
But then they got delayed going the wrong way, and then they stopped at Ralph's...and I was doing math calculations on when I'd get to LA.
My problem was strictly due to the fact the next day, I was intending leave LA at around 5:30 am, and finish the 5 1/2 hour drive home, have a couple hours to empty the car, empty the luggage, and reload with the work stuff. Then be at the airport at 1:30 for a 2:30ish flight to Chicago for a week....
I regretfully had to bow out of the dinner. It made me very sad, but the good news was I got to LA at a reasonable hour. Had a nice simple dinner at my LotR friend's house, then went to bed at an early time.
The 5 am wake up was icky, a rude reminder that Comic Con was over...time to switch gears for work....
But I had a super smooth drive home, with no delays. Even had enough time to visit my horse for a few minutes as I passed by.

And I will say, in work's defense, that trip was a great trip, too. I had a wonderful time in Chicago, and getting to meet two of my direct reports face-to-face for the first time was awesome. Around the work we also managed to have fun.
And it doesn't hurt, that many of my direct reports, are geeks, too. And I showed them the pictures and told them tales of the 2007 Comic Con. One of my most enjoyable for a number of reasons, and thanks again to those who helped me with my costume, who helped me meet up with the special guests, or who provided great conversation and good times.  
 

[Brinatello]

Hey, all, just wanted to let everyone know that my Comic Con photos are up for viewing.  I also included some of the giftie/autograph photos I received along the way.  There's a total of 93 pictures, yes, I know, I went overboard this year.  Enjoy!

http://s14.photobucket.com/albums/a320/brinas-photos5/comic-con2007/

[Leonardo]

yeah! more pics!!!
Thank you, Brinatello!!
 

Nice to see pics from the Henson panel when I couldn't take pics.
 
I wish I had some pics from the angle we saw Michi at, that rigging from a side view was actually crazier than the view from your pics of it straight on. wild!!!