Comic-Con International 2009 - San Diego, CA

[Cassini90125]

Someone has to start this thread; may as well be me.

This thread is the same as the Con thread we had last year; those of us attending will be posting about what we see and do, the people we meet, and all that other good stuff, and everyone else is invited to comment on whatever we report. As I said, same as last year, so expect a few restaurant reviews along with everything else. I plan on being thirty pounds heavier when I get home.

At present I'm finishing up my packing and will soon be calling a cab to the airport. There hasn't been much on my end to tell you about, really; I made arrangements, I packed, and I lugged a gallon jar filled with a year's worth of spare change to the bank. By the stars that thing was heavy. The bank's coin return machine was broken so I ended up having to travel several miles in search of another branch with a machine that worked. That was the extent of my day.

For those interested, I'm bringing my copy of Destination Imagination, in case anyone wants to watch the next Emmy winner again, and of course my Frankie plushie is coming along, too. Can't go to the Con without her. My flight leaves in three hours so I'll be logging off shortly; I should be back in around ten hours or so. See you then.

[Lynnie]

I was thinking about starting it, but felt kind of weird doing so since I've never actually been there before.

I'm not going to be there for the whole week, just for the weekend. I arrive Saturday around 1, and leave early Monday afternoon.

For those interested, the TV station G4 will be airing five hours of live coverage of the Con on Saturday starting at 2pm. Included in this will be the entire Star Wars Spectacular panel. I'm sure some will be grateful to see that.

CN isn't even having a booth this year, which is a real bummer. But there are a few panels and signings.

Panels-

• Thursday- CARTOON NETWORK COMEDY – ORIGINAL ANIMATION
  Including some of the voice actors from Chowder (including Tara) and Flapjack
• Friday- WB PANEL: BATMAN: THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD
• Friday- LUCASFILM PANEL: Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Building the Universe
• Friday- LUCASFILM PANEL: Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Behind the mic
• Friday- LUCASFILM PANEL: The Star Wars Spectacular (to be aired on G4 on Sat)
• Saturday- CARTOON NETWORK ACTION ADVENTURE ANIMATION: BEN 10
• Sunday- MATTEL PANEL: Hot Wheels Battle Force 5
• Sunday- WB PANEL: Zoinks! Scooby-Doo! The Mystery Begins

And signings-

• Thursday, July 24
  5:30 – 6:30 p.m. Chowder & The Misadventures of Flapjack Signing - Autograph Alley
  Chowder: C.H. Greenblatt, Tara Strong, Dana Snyder
  The Misadventures of Flapjack: Thurop Van Orman, Steve Little
• Saturday, July 25
  2:00 – 3:30 p.m. Ben 10 Alien Force Signing – Autograph Alley
  Glen Murakami, Yuri Lowenthal, Dwight McDuffie
• Saturday, July 25
  3:30 – 5:00 p.m. Ben 10: Alien Swarm Cast Signing – Autograph Alley
  Ryan Kelley (Ben), Galadriel Stineman (Gwen), Nathan Keyes (Kevin)
  Alyssa Diaz (Elena)
• Sunday, July 26
  10:00 – 11:00 a.m. Scooby Doo! The Mystery Begins Signing – WB Booth
  Robbie Amell (Fred), Kate Melton (Daphne), Hayley Kiyoko (Velma), Nick Palatas (Shaggy)

And as we know, Lauren and Craig will be there at the Galaxy Girl's booth, and on Saturday (time yet to be determined) they will also be giving autographs and doing sketches of the GGs, Foster's, PPGs and Wander over Yonder for their fans.

And this is only the CN related stuff, there's a LOT more going on that's not related to CN, so just to give you guys an idea of what kind of stuff goes down there, here's a bit of a taste, if you will.

For those leaving now or soon, have a safe trip down there. I'll see you guys in five days.

[taranchula]

Have a great trip everyone, take plenty of snapshots people. (Like I need to remind you, Cass )

Oh and take care if anyone makes to the Futurama panel especially if this rumor turns out to be true...

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/...f140dbc42e7419

(Short version to anyone who doesn't have time to read it, 20'th Century Fox might be replacing the entire voice cast when the show returns to TV. )

If it is, there might be a full scale riot on their hands.

And nothing ruins a good time like "Nerd Rage", unless it happens to be on a youtube video then it's funny.

[Imaginary Light]

Safe travels, everyone! And have fun! I'll be checking this thread like crazy.

[Cassini90125]

I arrived about a half-hour ago. There were a few delays due to weather conditions but otherwise the journey went remarkably well. I even got a bonus in the seating, that being that whoever was supposed to have the seat next to me never showed up. Elbow room is a precious commodity on a plane. It's 12:15 PM Pacific time here but my stomach thinks it's 3:00 PM so I'll be seeking lunch pretty soon.

[One Radical Dude]

I arrived in San Diego just a little more than an hour ago. I'm in my hotel room right now, and I'm staying at the Manchester Grand Hyatt. The only problem I had was accessing the wrong elevator. They're a bit tricky here. One set of elevators take you to specific floors, and another will have the other floors. I chose the one that didn't have the 28th floor. Go, me! Anyway, things are good. I'm going to be stepping out and do a bit of shopping and maybe bowling, and I look forward to seeing the others soon.

[Sparky]

We got here a little while ago after a 9-hour drive (we beat our time last year by about an hour by leaving earlier). The room's already better at this Howard Johnson than those at the Marriott. By the way, best thing we saw on the way down from Sacramento to San Diego was a rest home with a big sign on it facing the freeway that said "Visit us and try our home-baked cookies!"

...has anyone seen Grandma?

[Cassini90125]

I've done nothing so far other than buy a sandwich at a nearby deli and take a badly needed nap. By the time I fell asleep I'd been awake for around 32 hours or so.

Seems that Exy, my favorite restaurant from last year, didn't survive the bad economy. Disappointing, but not too unexpected; they were a new place and didn't have time to build up much of a customer base. Eh, I'll find other places to dine; stars know there are plenty to choose from.

[Mac-a-lacka]

You guys just got there and I'm already excited about the pictures.

[Lynnie]

I'm.....

....Still in Seattle!!! As I already said, I'm arriving on Saturday. I'll be the last one to arrive, but at least I catch the grand finales of Sat night and Sunday I suppose.

I hope there's some good pictures uploaded for you guys before the event is over. I learned a few days ago that the device used to transfer pictures from a media card to the computer I'm taking doesn't take the size of card my camera takes. So I'll not be uploading any pics until I get back home on Monday night or Tuesday. Hopefully I'll have some decent shots taken with my camera phone, though. I'm really hoping to be able to share something right away with my family and friends.