Another San Diego Comic Con, another four days that most of us spend in abject agony, knowing that we’re (yet again) missing the fandom event of the year.
We know, we know. The Hall H lines are misery. But frankly, a 4am wake-up call doesn’t sound so bad to those of us watching it all go down through the lens of Tumblr and Twitter. (Especially when one of the Supernatural men brings you your caffeine fix.) Anyway, Kim and I are New Yorkers. We majored in line waiting.
Until we can finally make it there for Sesame Street panels and running into DanRad on the floor in full Spidey garb, we’ll have to settle for live tweets and dispatches from the TV Guide yacht and hope that a little bit of stardust from the lucky bastards who were there can rub off on us. For now, here are the eleven ways that SDCC completely ruined us.
1) The Avengers assemble for a massive lovefest.
Not since The Lord of the Rings have I been so obsessed with a group of men (and bonus ladies) so genuinely in love with each other. Every member of Team Marvel is a delight on their own (don’t even get me started on my feelings for Mark Ruffalo right now) but something magical happens when the Avengers assemble. Lots of hugging and kissing. Lots of rough housing and shenanigans. Lots and lots of fangirl hearts exploding. It’s all just too much. It’s going to be a sad sad sad sad when this group no longer has legitimate reasons to all gather with cameras everywhere to document their love. I think Comic Con should just have a panel with them every year from here on out…even after the movies are done, because we should never live in a world without them together. –Kim
You probably heard that RDJ took the Hall H stage to the tune of Michael Jackson’s “Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough” and thew roses into the audience (“Playing” Tony Stark? Who’s playing?), but you may have missed it when he told a reporter the real deal about his castmates: “We don’t just hang out on press lines, you know. They’re like family to me.”
Of course the unapologetically bright Marvel-verse would cultivate this type of cast camaraderie. And maybe it’s not totally necessary for the protectors of our planet to be so damn lovable, but it certainly helps. I’ve got little use for dour superheroes. Dour superheroes aren’t gonna dub Chris Evans “Dorito” for no apparent reason or launch a full-scale assault on their fellow male friends’ pecs or publicly shame Mark Ruffalo (who we like, very much, just as he is) with their inhumanly large biceps.
In addition to flaunting their enviable friendships in our faces, the Avengers were in San Diego to drop an Age of Ultron teaser. Which certainly didn’t leak and which we certainly didn’t watch. Contraband trailer or no, we anxiously await that movie…and the kindergarten press tour that’ll come with it. –Sage
There wasn’t much information at this panel regarding the miraculous sixth season of Community that will be airing on the internets (where most Community fans watched the show in the first place…hey-o!) mainly because I think contractual details are still being hammered out and writers are being hired, as much of the current staff has already moved on to new projects. We DO know that Yahoo Screen is raging against the Netflix model by planning to release episodes weekly (THANK YOU JESUS cause you KNOW that it would all get binged and therefore spoiled for the people like me who can only binge on weekends) and that the show will probably be returning in early 2015. As for how it will be received? I think it was summed up perfectly when the panel said “Ratings? Where we’re going, we don’t NEED ratings.” It seems like Community was always destined for this and I think it will feel right at home in its corner of the internet.
It was a little sad only seeing 3 of our principal cast on the stage, as previous Comic Cons have featured almost the entire cast. But Joel McHale, Gillian Jacobs, and Jim Rash were delightful as always and clearly still in awe that they were even THERE celebrating a sixth season. A SIXTH SEASON you guys! We did it!!! The most overwhelming thing to me about Community at this year’s SDCC was the sheer amount of promotion that Yahoo gave it. All the bathroom signs were the Greendale Human Being. There were banners everywhere. The local Subway turned into Shirley’s Sandwiches for the day on Thursday. It was more promotion in a weekend than 5 seasons on NBC combined. My heart swells with gratitude. Thank you, Yahoo.
Also, Joel McHale? I CANNOT WITH YOUR FACE. How DARE you, sir. –Kim
What she said. — Sage
3) Benedict Cumberbatch attends. Against all odds, not ripped to shreds.
While he did sit on The Hobbit panel too, Benedict was actually at SDCC to promote The Penguins of Madagascar, of all things. Attendees were strictly forbidden from asking any Sherlock-related questions, so it was up to Ben to entertain a gathering of adoring Cumberbitches, none of whom had any idea Dreamworks was still making Madagascar movies. How’d he do it? Dick jokes, obviously.
Meanwhile, half of me is convinced that Benedict braved the San Diego beast just to have more things and people to point at in pictures. –Sage
4) Stephen Amell’s got abs and he knows how to use them.
We’ve seen our friends live-tweeting and screaming about Arrow for two seasons now. Sage and I both held out on watching though…for reasons neither one of us can remember now. What we DO know is that we’ve both watched half of season one since Comic-Con ended. And that Stephen Amell wearing a shirt is a crime against humanity. –Kim
Part of the reason I embarked on the Arrow marathon is that Stephen Amell is already a confirmed guest for New York Comic Con in October. And now I know what I’m asking him to do in our photo op. –Sage
5) No one is safe from the charm of the Sleepy Hollow cast.
I spent most of the weekend in the Tom Mison tumblr tag yelling “OH MY GOD I HATE YOU SO MUCH” at my computer screen. Our reigning Sexiest Man Alive and Best Actor in a Drama was in rare form all weekend from playing MFK with historical figures to constantly expressing his love for John Noble to having the world’s SASSIEST eyebrow (how does it NOT have its own Twitter handle?). The Sleepy Hollow delight didn’t stop with Tom though. Nicole Beharie continued to prove that she has the world’s best facial expressions, Orlando Jones expressed his desire to be a unicorn (don’t we all want that?), and the rest of the cast gushed with love for their show and for each other. I need this show back on my eyeballs post-haste. Is it September 22nd yet? –Kim
Sleepy Hollow is a show that was surely conceived with the Comic Con audience in mind. And if the concept wasn’t enough to hook the fandom, Fox went ahead and cast it with actors who seem born to sit on an SDCC dais. (“Hashtag Ichabbie!” – Tom Mison) I don’t anticipate a second season slump, but it’ll still be interesting to see where Sleepy takes its season one momentum. SDCC brought us new artwork, which seems to indicate that this new crop of episodes will be heavy on both the mythology and the scares, and a new clip of Crane in a bank, which seems to indicate that Ichabod has made little progress in conforming to the little inconveniences of the modern world. We wouldn’t want it any other way. –Sage
6) Lee Pace selfie game strong.
I don’t know if anyone won Twitter as quickly as Lee Pace did. And I genuinely hope he didn’t wake up the fan sleeping in the Hall H line and that the fan later logged on to Twitter and said “HOLY SHIT”. –Kim
I love everything about what Lee Pace chose to be at Comic Con, because this is what I’d do if I were famous. Fuck with people while also making their day and giving them a story to tell forever. –Sage
7) Fellow celebs fangirl Tatiana Maslany.
If Comic-Con were to name a Prom Queen, it most certainly would have been Orphan Black‘s Tatiana Maslany (there is a reason she won our Feelie for Best Actress in a Drama by the largest margin of any winner, y’all). What I love the most about Comic-Con is seeing other celebrities fangirl just like us. It’s so easy to forget that people like Sarah Paulson and Matt Smith (the Doctor himself) like to spend the occasional Saturday binge watching shows too and they can get as excited to meet their favorite stars as we do. Stars…they really are just like us.
Another Maslany highlight was when a fan poured her heart out about how Orphan Black helped her come to terms with her sexuality and helped mend her relationship with her mother. Maslany and everyone else on the panel was reduced to tears. Moments like those are why we HAVE conventions, people. –Kim
Sure, SDCC is about selling stuff to the masses. But it’s also about bringing together legions of fans to spend an entire weekend celebrating liking things. And it’s about how every celebrity, no matter how untouchable, has a shameless talent crush (and maybe a regular crush) on Tatiana Maslany. Sarah Paulson blatantly moved name cards around so she could sit next to her on the “Women Who Kick Ass” panel. Who needs an Emmy from that stuff old academy when you’ve got adoration and respect like that? –Sage
8) The Walking Dead cast blows minds with Season 5 trailer; pretty much everyone teases Bethyl.
I was at the gym when the trailer for season five of The Walking Dead hit the internet. Cut to me watching it on Sage’s phone a few hours later. The whole time I was screaming “WHERE IS BETH?” and Sage was screaming back at me “SHUT UP AND KEEP WATCHING”. And then I started screaming for a whole other reason. Season 5 looks like it’s going to be ridiculous. It premieres the night New York Comic-Con ends…and we can only HOPE that they may screen the premiere for us in advance. We will be in that panel, come hell or high water.
Also…if Norman Reedus and Emily Kinney’s actions (along with comments from showrunner Scott Gimple and other BTS folk) are ANY indication…Bethyl IS happening. Get ready, people. –Kim
It’s almost inconceivable how many people watch The Walking Dead. So this cast of pretty people strolls in to con after con knowing that they’re on the top of everyone’s list but flat out refusing to ever take it for granted.
Pre-#ReedusProblems, I sat through TWD’s panel at NYCC 2013 being one of the few dummies left in the country who wasn’t already watching this post-apocalyptic drama. Even as I was being spoiled for death after death, I couldn’t help but be swept away by Team Walking Dead’s humor, enthusiasm, and graciousness. I’ll be there again this year, this time as just another rabid fan counting the seconds until the Season 5 premiere. –Sage
Oh, and about that trailer…
9) Misha Collins delivers early morning coffee service to fans camped out for the Supernatural panel.
Really…the only season I am trying to push through the early seasons of Supernatural is because I want to get to Misha Collins (and don’t tell me to just skip to him, that won’t happen). What a delightful human being he is. –Kim
There are fans who overstep boundaries. And there are fans who have expectations that just can’t be met. But for a show like Supernatural that’s been around the fandom block quite a few times, there has to be a solid bond between the people who make the show and the people who love it. Whether the coffee idea came from CW Publicity or Misha himself doesn’t matter. What matters is the gesture – the “we’re all in this together” mentality of it. And Mr. Collins’s kick-ass wolf t-shirt. That matters too. –Sage
10) Game of Thrones cast proves life is better in San Diego than the Seven Kingdoms.
BRB, weeping over that portrait of the Stark Children together forever. Also, I don’t think anyone had more fun at SDCC than Pedro Pascal. Except for maybe Lee Pace. –Kim
I was feeling very meh on Game of Thrones this season, but I’m never feeling meh on this stylish and likable cast. Probably because they’re usually flung out far and wide on separate location shoots, the GoT folks always seem so delighted when they’re physically in the same place.
Also, Pedro Pascal was second only to Tatiana on the celebrities-lovin’-celebrities wishlist. Errrrybody wanted to meet the Red Viper, though this non-famous guy’s selfie wins by a mile. –Sage
Besides their bad selves, Game of Thrones also brought this little goodie with them to SDCC. (It’s better than 80% of the season, shhhhh…)
11) This.
YES. –Sage
And that’s a wrap for San Diego Comic Con! Now we turn our eyes towards New York Comic Con. We’ll be there with our shiny press passes ready to bring you all the feels and flails from the Javits Center this October. Until then…share YOUR favorite SDCC moments with us in the comments!
Kayleigh Butler says
That Walking Dead trailer killed me. I know pretty much everything is probably a big red herring and won’t actually happen like it is in the trailer but that didn’t stop me from screaming when it looked like Glenn was about to get his head bashed in. I also screamed when they finally showed Rick holding Judith!!
Apparently Misha promised people in the Hall H line last year that he would bring coffee, so twitter probably reminded him. I’m also glad you are not skipping the first 3 seasons to get to Misha because as much as I love him, I look back so fondly at seasons 1-3.
Can we talk about the Supernatural teaser btw? I knew Jensen was going to rock being Demon!Dean but it’s just so…hot. His voice somehow got even deeper and I just can’t wait for Sam to be on the track of saving Dean and even though he’s a demon I’m really excited for them to be brothers again.
WE ARE ALL MARK RUFFALO
Kayleigh Butler says
Oh and I forgot to talk about my love for Zachary Levi and Nerd HQ. The livestreaming of the panels was pretty much all I watched all weekend and this year got even bigger with the Supernatural cast AND The Walking Dead cast. I love how Zach really does care about the fans and just wants it to be an enjoyable experience for all and all the proceeds go to Operation Smile. I think they raised over $200,000 this year. Nathan Fillion and Alan Tudyk were wonderful and it was also great to see Zach join Yvonne Strahovski on her panel since I’m in the middle of a Chuck rewatch 🙂
HeadOverFeels says
Nerd HQ is so brilliant because it fills a need for fans who want more and more content and access and on top of that, raises money for a great cause. I’m glad he’s getting the flagship shows over there now on top of his own buddies! –S
Kayleigh Butler says
Yeah, it was great seeing Jared there for a few years but having the whole cast was awesome!