“Sounds a bit soppy, this: love conquers all.” – SDCC 2016, Part III

Posted by Kim and Sage

Everyone knows that a massive part of San Diego Comic Con involves making tough choices. It’s no secret that Hall H is the place to be on Saturday but it’s ALSO no secret that if you want to score one of those coveted seats, you basically have to lose all of Friday in the name of sitting in the Next Day Line. While we had a BLAST camping out for Hall H in 2015, the idea of camping out for Saturday held ZERO appeal for us, not only because we would have missed all the awesome panels Friday had to offer but because the weather was UNUSUALLY hot and humid for San Diego. People had literally started camping out for Saturday by the middle of the day on THURSDAY, leading to a veritable umbrella city being set up in the parking lot of Joe’s Crab Shack. People were ordering umbrellas from Amazon Same Day Delivery to be sent TO the line and posting pictures of their intense sunburns on Twitter. There were reports of chairs actually leaving divots in the asphalt because it was ACTUALLY melting due to the intense sun. NO THANKS. I love the Marvel Movies as much as the next person, but unless it was guaranteed that Chris Evans was going to French kiss me (Sage: or one of his costars. That would work too.) and Tom Hiddleston was going to public renounce the sham that is Hiddleswift, the idea of waiting close to 36 hours in a parking lot for footage that would be on the internet minutes later felt ridiculous. So until SDCC comes up with some way to curtail the camping (which they won’t because that’s what makes headlines), Saturday Hall H will never be a thing for us. And you know what? That’s okay.  As you will see, there is so much that SDCC has to offer that you can miss the marquee panels and STILL have a full day. Besides, we knew Benedict Cumberbatch would be waiting for us on Sunday. –Kim

Off-Site Mania

After spending the majority of Friday cramped between manspreaders and oversized cosplay in panel rooms, we thought Saturday would be a good day to stretch our legs and hit the off-sites. San Diego Comic Con is known for taking over not just the convention center, but a lot of real estate surrounding it with branded exhibitions and activities. One of the most popular set-ups is Zac Levi’s NerdHQ, which has its own sort of mini-con benefiting Operation Smile with its impossible to get into Conversations For A Cause and Smiles for Smiles photo ops. We were shut out of those tickets again this year, but it’s always worth the walk to the San Diego Children’s Museum to see what vendors are handing out free ‘ish and what kind of photobooths we can make fools of ourselves in.

Head Over Feels was here. This year’s NerdHQ was a haven for gamers, so there wasn’t much for a couple of hand-eye-coordination-challenged idiots to do there. We moved on to Entertainment Weekly’s Con-X, located at the far corner of the marina. We were among the small group gathered at the gates when it opened, so we had no trouble snagging free Krispy Kremes (best giveaway in history), screened-to-order t-shirts, and photo ops with Tony & Steve, the real American Horror Story: Hotel set, and corpulent space gangster, Jabba the Hutt.

After Con-X, we made a stop at the Hyatt where SDCC keeps its panel swag. It’s an efficient system. When a studio wants to give out freebies to panel audiences, they send in a group of volunteers to hand out color-coded tickets. During posted hours, attendees can stop by the fulfillment room to pick up their goodies. Our haul included a Colony beret, an exclusive Moana print, and a super-cute Orphan Black muscle tee. When you know this is an option, it makes it especially tacky when Hall H presenters prefer to go over time handing out swag just so they can get b-roll of Hall H fans going all Oprah’s Favorite Things. (Ahem: Warner Bros, Marvel.)

We were assured by a panel neighbor earlier in the weekend that the tiny Mr. Robot off-site experience was “worth it.” Unfortunately for our feet and nerves, we didn’t realize just how intimate or time-consuming that exhibit was. We got in line around 11:30am, half an hour after it opened. The line was a block and a half long; in SDCC terms, nothing. “This will be fine,” we said. “It’s not too bad,” we said. Smash cut to four hours later when we’re still in line, seething while the staff marches in industry VIPs and press ahead of all the fans who’ve been sweating in the sun for most of the afternoon. (We know you had a press preview night, USA. THE JIG IS UP.) Our wills were tested that day. So much that I swear, I started hallucinating Christian Slater too.

But we were committed, and hey, at least we got fsociety masks for our trouble. (I wish the street team would have been handing out those sick hoodies instead, but we’ll take what we can get.)

Okay, so it WAS pretty fucking cool. Even through my grumpiness, I could appreciate the work that went into the off-site. The waiting area was a replica of the Mr. Robot repair shop, all for the touching. We rifled through work orders, read jotted phone messages, and held an original Gameboy in our hands for the first time in about 25 years.

Most of the paperwork in the exhibit looked like the standard business of an electronics shop in the ’80s. But Easter eggs were here and there for those observant enough to catch them. This one was my favorite:

The waiting area could MAYBE fit 10-12 people at a time. By twos and fours, those people were led into the next room where we were handed our virtual reality equipment. (VR was all the rage at SDCC this year.) Then we were directed into a full-scale replica of Elliot’s apartment and instructed to take a seat wherever we liked. (We chose the bed, for obvious reasons.) After some brief instruction, we pressed play on an original Mr. Robot vignette, written and directed by showrunner Sam Esmail and starring Rami Malek and Frankie Shaw (Shayla). It was beautiful and melancholy, with the added benefit of the sensation of Rami speaking to you right in your ear. You jerks don’t have to stand in line for four hours to watch the scene; the official Mr. Robot website has the clip in various formats, including regular old desktop. (Spoilers for season 1!)

We snagged some extra shirts from the off-site (with permission!), and we’re giving them away on Twitter! Go follow us and RT this tweet for your chance to get one. –Sage

Follow us and RT this with your best Season 2 theory to win a #MrRobot tee from the show's #SDCC off-site! #DatBot pic.twitter.com/Gh1h3NSRlw

— Head Over Feels (@HeadOverFeels) August 4, 2016

Geek & Sundry Afterparty

We emerged from the Mr. Robot site in desperate need of food and ice-cold beverages. Being hangry is NEVER a good thing at SDCC and there’s only so much satisfaction Cliff bars and trail mix can bring, so we set off in search of sustenance. With most of our usual Gaslamp haunts being backed up to 45 minute to hour-long waits (“I CAN’T WAIT IN ANOTHER LINE RIGHT NOW.” = us), we opted to ignore my carefully curated list of places we wanted to eat in favor of just going to whatever joint that would be able to seat us right away. Lucky for us, we discovered a new go-to place for next year in The New Yorker. GUYS. The San Diego pizza (spinach, bacon, pepperoni, and gorgonzola) changed my life. BONUS: we were able to go halvesies on our pizza, which let us try the Buffalo Chicken version as well. It just goes to show that you can rarely go wrong food-wise with ANYTHING in the Gaslamp District.

Revitalized by pizza and beer, we made a quick pass through the convention center to pick up some art and then we made our way home for a disco nap before getting dressed up for the Geek and Sundry Dance Party. (Sage: We WILL put on something cute and dance tonight, DAMMIT.) We’ve said before that Comic Con parties are a massive crapshoot and rule held true here. We arrived at the club an hour before the party was set to kickoff and found a minimal line, which blessedly assured that we would make it in.

Here’s where I am gonna go off on a rant about line etiquette though. We got in line at 8 PM, an hour before the doors opened. There were two girls in front of us who we chit-chatted with because what else are you going to do when you’re standing there for an hour? One girl left to go to the restroom, and when I scooted over to make room for Sage to sit on the ledge, the girl’s friend snapped at us for trying to take HER friend’s spot. We assured her that we were just trying to give each other room so we could all sit, we were in no way trying to push her friend out of line. Later, as the line started to condense, more and more people started JOINING these two girls in line. At first it was just two…then two more…then three. Soon, there were TWELVE new people ahead of us in line. A line that now was stretched blocks long. NOT COOL. I realize that we were ALREADY fragile from the 4 hour wait for Mr. Robot earlier that day but that is what kicked us into Sage-Rage and K-irritation. You don’t DO that. We knew it wouldn’t affect US…but what about the people at the end of the line who had been waiting just as long? Sage tried to be nice, but these girls KNEW they had pulled a fast one, as they blatantly ignored Sage when she tried to confront them. One of the latecomers dared to have words with her about how she needed to RELAX. HAAAAAA. While I furiously ranted about the bad form on Twitter, tagging Geek and Sundry every time, Sage tried to flag down a security guy to report the line cutting. The security guy offered to escort us into the party but did nothing to remove the offending parties, which was upsetting. The line-cutters KNEW we were trying to get them kicked out, which resulted in more than a few salty remarks being tossed back and forth between us. TL;DR: people are assholes and Sage and I are ALWAYS looking out for the people in line behind us. You’re welcome.

Once in the party, we were greeted with a dance floor full of nerds. While that sounds promising, everyone knows that the success of a dance party hinges on the DJ.  This DJ was THOROUGHLY committed to the whole “geek” theme. While he had flashes of excellence, playing our jam “Africa” and half of “Backstreet’s Back at one point, most of the music consisted of house mixes of TV theme songs and video game music. That’s right. At one point we were actually expected to be dancing to music from “Final Fantasy” which is basically like asking us to get down to the Shire theme from The Lord of the Rings. (Cue me standing in the middle of the dance floor making a turtle face and wondering what in the hell was going on.) And after witnessing an entire room of fanboys losing their SHIT over the Pokemon theme playing, we NEVER want to hear shit about demanding to hear One Direction EVER again. EVER.

But still, parties are always what you make of them, and we had a grand time surrounded by our lady friends who were all dresses as Sith Lords in Corsets. We laughed at the ridiculous music, drank overpriced beers, danced with glowsticks, and gulped down the poorly made mixed drinks we scored when Felicia Day finally announced the open bar. Parties, much like SDCC itself, are what you make of them. As much as we would have liked to party all night, Sunday Hall H was calling our name, leading us to retire before midnight. Just call us SDCCinderellas. –Kim

Sherlock

Thank you movie studios for continuing to leave Hall H be on Sunday. That meant that for the small price of waking up at 4:30 in the morning, we were able to snag group C wristbands and pretty okay seats for the Sherlock panel. We owe a huge debt of gratitude for friends who bring us greasy breakfast food and keep us line company. The condensing of the line went fairly smoothly, except for when me and HOF contributor Kayti went off to get everyone their second coffees and got lost in the tents looking for our shifted group. The situation was complicated by precious puppy Misha Collins continuing his tradition of bringing the Hall H line treats on Supernatural day. The fans trying to catch a selfie or a cereal bar from Mr. Collins were unbelievably gracious as we ducked around them, and eventually we found our way home. PHEW. Coffee is important.

Even on a light day, it’s a fantastic feeling to walk through the convention center doors and into Hall H. It was the final stretch of the con, and volunteers and staff were still peppy and welcoming, offering high fives and congratulations. As a non-athlete, this is as close as I’ll ever get to the feeling of walking in a championship parade.

• Anyway, the Sherlock panel consisted of Benedict Cumberbatch (breezy and thoughtful); Mark Gatiss (sass, sass, and sassier); Steven Moffat (our endearing curmudgeon); co-executive producer Sue Vertue (with her hands full); and Amanda Abbington (irreverent and lovely); moderated, of course, by Chris Hardwick.
• Amanda had been announced already, but the panel treated her presence as a surprise for some reason. I won’t quibble, because it gave us this adorable video with feminist hero Louise Brealey and the most silver of silver foxes, Rupert Graves.

• The panel began with that gorgeous trailer, promising some very high stakes for our damaged heroes. My favorite bit: Molly retaining her status as Sherlock’s conscience and screaming “THIS ISN’T A GAME” in her former crush’s face. We also had glimpses of Toby Jones’s villainous character, more Moriarty, and why am I telling you this? You’ve probably watched it a dozen times by now.
• “It must be said, Guy Ritchie’s only made two, and HE doesn’t get any hassle.” – Moff, tired of getting grief for the long waits between seasons.
• On Series 4, Gatiss said, “A lot of things are resolved…a lot of things are raised.” Benedict: “I’m not saying ANYTHING.” Very helpful, guys, thanks.
• Mark Gatiss knows where the drama lies. “You’ve got to put the characters through the emotional wringer.” Gird your loins, Sherlockians.
• Sherlock will never fit into society as some fans may wish him too, but he still shows growth. Moff: “You can’t write a show about a genius and not let him LEARN.”
• A conversation about the deep abiding love Sherlockians have for his signature Belstaff, Benedict makes a compelling argument for ditching it from time to time. “That coat has to come off, for 2 reasons,” he said. A fan catcalled from the audience. Benedict: *instantly saucy* “Yeah. That reason too.”
• Moffat insisted that the show will always have its comedic side. “The advantage of a drama is that if a gag doesn’t work, we can always pretend it was a serious bit.”
• Amanda didn’t know the details of Mary’s past as she filmed the first two episodes of Series 3. She’s glad of it, because it made it impossible for her to try to play to that history. Mary remained mysterious until the truth outed.
• And Amanda LOVES Mary. “She’s tricky and she’s independent and she’s sassy and she’s dangerous.” So do we, for the record. The hate Amanda has received online for Mary being an “obstacle” to Johnlock is childish and ridiculous. MARY AND JOHN ARE CANON. It’s time to get used to it, ya babies.

• Moffat and Gatiss have mastered the art of promoting their shows by not saying anything concrete about them. And in some chases, they purposely misdirect. Moffat: “In fairness, I DO say that I’m lying. And then I lie, and people get cross!”
• I feel a dull and constant sadness over just how much Benedict dislikes his Sherlock curls. They don’t sound easy to maintain, however. Chris asked him for the routine, and the Internet’s Boyfriend proved once again that he’s very familiar with the fervor of his fans. “Oh, they all know: twist and fuse.”
• Honestly, that voice. *shiver*
• Writing the Victorian episode was enormous fun. (Fun fact: it’s the only Sherlock installment that Gatiss and Moffat wrote together.) And though they love the idea of opening up that alternate reality where the present day episodes are just the imaginings of their Victorian Holmes, they have no plans to return to that time period.
• Chris asked about the dog in that single Series 4 promo image; LOL at him expecting a straight answer. The panel wouldn’t say whose dog that is and what role he plays, but they did reveal that he was quite the diva on set. Benedict: “All we could do on the day with the dog was take pictures…because it wouldn’t fucking move!” The dog was supposed to pull Mary through the street in one scene. But since he wouldn’t budge, a PA had to yank on the lead from outside of the frame. Redbeard would never.
• Moffat was baffled by reports that had circulated a few days before SDCC claiming that HE indicated that Series 4 would be the last. He never said any such thing, the showrunner insisted. Gatiss chimed in to confuse matters further: “We can exclusively reveal that there won’t be a series 5. *beat* But there WILL be a series 6.”

• Chris asked Benedict if the “cerebral” characters of Sherlock and Dr. Strange had anything else in common, and Benedict gave a perfect soundbite of an answer: “Sherlock’s a lot more strange than Strange is. Strangely enough.”
• P.S. Chris kept saying that the Sherlock team had taken a break two weeks before filming and flown themselves out to San Diego “just to see you guys!” Us: Annnnnnnnd because Marvel was footing Benedict’s bill.
• *to Benedict* “What’s the longest monologue you’ve seen on the page?”
  Gatiss, with fiendish glee: “Tuesday.”
• Benedict gave a long and eloquent answer to a query about Sherlock’s deepening humanity. He was very clear that Sherlock still sees relationships and alliances as a means to an end. He is better at his job because he is better at relating to people; and for Sherlock, efficiency is still king. But, Benedict made sure to add, that doesn’t mean that the attachments that Sherlock has to friends and family aren’t profoundly felt on the detective’s part. “Sounds a bit soppy, this: love conquers all.”
• After reading them on Twitter for the last few seasons, I finally got to hear the announcement of the three key words for these upcoming episodes direct from the creator’s mouths. For Series 4, the key words are names: Thatcher, Smith, and Sherrinford. Sherrinford provoked a strong reaction from the audience, since it’s the first name of the third Holmes brother that appears only in Sir Conan Dolye’s notes. THIRD HOLMES BROTHER. Will Gatiss and Moff make him canon? We only have the rest of the year to wait to find out.
• That was all good and fine, but I have to end this section with a fandom rant. As I was live-tweeting the Sherlock panel, I noticed that lots of tweets were being taken out of context and re-framed as “proof” that Johnlock was becoming canon this year. Everything from Gatiss’s cheeky comment about making Benedict memorize blocks of text to Benedict’s fear of spoiling even the smallest plot point was given the Johnlock treatment, and I found it super bizarre. Let me tell you from sitting right in that room: at no point was Johnlock the topic of conversation. There was a lot of coyness and secrecy, but none of it was in any way baiting shippers. Moffat and Gatiss gave an interview at SDCC to the site WithAnAccent and vented their frustrations about fans demanding a storyline that they have been crystal clear is never going to take shape on the screen. The fandom’s willful delusion is so bad (“This has to be fake!”) that Gatiss actually had to verify on Twitter that the interview was real and accurate. The co-creators tell the site that they are in support of fans interpreting their show and its relationships however they like, but that a happy ending with Sherlock and John in romantic bliss is not in line with their plans for Sherlock. Moffat called out fans for minimizing their comments on their commitment to representation, reducing them only to shipping fodder. Fan entitlement has been a topic of pop culture conversation this year for better or for worse, and this is a case where that term applies. Shipping is awesome and fun and amazing, and Sherlock gives us plenty of fodder for that. (I respect those who argue it, but I personally don’t think the show has utilized queer-baiting. I think the show depicts a close, ambiguous friendship in a really refreshing way.) And Moffat and Gatiss AT NO POINT in this interview say that Sherlock and John have no feelings for one another or even that there isn’t an attraction. They leave that up to you. But this isn’t a romance that we’re watching, genre-wise. And Sherlock isn’t your average leading man. So either appreciate the show that you’re watching and fill out your experience with fic and fan art, or just walk away. These people don’t owe you anything except a well-told story. –Sage

Supernatural

In which we both quit watching circa Season 2 but give this panel the ol’ college try anyway.

• Before the discussion began, we were treated to a delightful sizzle reel punctuated by the real-time reactions of actual Supernatural fans. It was completely charming.
• The very first thing Jensen Ackles did on the panel was yank off Jared Padalecki’s beanie. That pretty much set the tone.
• We’re both Dean girls, by the way.
• Bob Singer promised that Season 12 will be a return to form for the show. “We’re gonna try to get back to the basics. Good old-fashioned horror stories.”
• Despite being shot in the finale, Sam (shocker) is still in the land of the living in Season 12. “Sam Winchester is alive because he’s not a LOSEchester,” Jared joked to a chorus of groans.
• “We find out more about what family means and it’s more than just blood,” Jared said of a mythic character’s return. Mama Winchester finally gets to hang out on the show for more than just the “flames, flames on the side of my face” intro. “It presents a dynamic that we haven’t had on the show for a while,” Jensen said. Us: “Having a living woman around?” (BTW, we got 20-some likes and retweets on that post, all from SPN fans. Only one was pissy about it. It’s okay to love your problematic show!)
• Mark Sheppard won an impromptu competition to decide once and for all which cast member has the deepest voice.

• Misha tried to give a spoiler-free answer to a question about Cas’s whereabouts at the top of the season. He starts about six different sentences, systematically abandoning each. Jensen loved it.
• Sassy redhead Ruth Connell joined the panel and said that she’s not sure Rowena is ready to “be a glamorous grandmother.”
• Lucifer will get a new vessel this season in the form of an aging rock star. The panel revealed some very clever casting for that role: Rick Springfield.
• Supernatural actors Richard Speight, Jr. and Rob Benedict moderated the panel and their banter with their friends pretty much set the tone. At one point, they let a little stuffed rodent named Olivette take over. We were *emoji shrug* at the time, but Google tells me that in SPN lore, Olivette was a high priestess cursed into hamster form by Rowena. Maybe I need to give this show another try.

• A fan used up some Q&A time to propose to his girlfriend, but no one was mad at it. The rowdy boys at the dais yelled “KISS HER” until we finally got some action. (She said yes, by the way.)
• The Winchester blood runs deep. Jensen once asked his three-year-old daughter if Jared’s two sons were her friends. “No…they’re my boys.“
• Asked if he believes in the supernatural or has had any unexplained experiences, Jensen reasoned that the occult probably knows to leave him alone. “It’s like, ‘I’m not a doctor, but I play one on TV’…I feel like if I were to ever encounter a supernatural being, I could handle myself.” –Sage

Prison Break & 24: Legacy

Clearly, the requirement for Hall H on Sunday was testosterone fueled shows that feature brothers. Fox TV’s Sunday Hall H slot this year was dubbed the “Action Hour” as they trotted out their highly anticipated reboots of Prison Break and 24: Legacy. Sage was fresh off a binge of season one (I watched the first two seasons of the Scofield brothers back in the day), so we were SUPER invested in finding out what Michael, Sara, and Lincoln were going to be up to in the new season. We were not disappointed. –Kim

• The panel consisted of Wentworth Miller (Michael Scofield), Dominic Purcell (Lincoln Burrows), Sarah Wayne Callies (Sara Tancredi, also Queen of Comic Con, clutching her hot tea), Robert Knepper (T-Bag), and Executive Producer Vaun Wilmott. When asked about their first impressions of each other, Sarah declared they were “all babies” (they WERE), while Dominic did some truth-telling. “This woman’s tough as shit,” he said about Sarah while he mused that Wentworth was “a gentleman and the most beautiful man I’d ever seen in my life.” Accurate assessment of both of them, I would say.
• We’re not the only ones who saw that Dominic and Wentworth still had that magical chemistry when they reunited on The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow. “It was like we had never been apart,” Dominic admitted. Wentworth also added that the very idea of going back to Prison Break CAME from being back on set together.
• “He’s still alive? I’m so SCARED.” – Sage on T-Bag.
• The trailer is SPECTACULAR. Why talk about it when you can watch it though?

• When a fan called out that Michael was dead at the end of the series, Sarah quipped “We’ve all been dead, sweetheart.” Have I mentioned that she’s the queen of Comic Con? Call us, Sarah, we want to be best friends.
• “We’ll see Michael doing what Michael does best.” – Wilmott. Kim: “Whispering?”
• Sure enough, the very next clip we were shown featured that Scofield whisper as he asked a fellow inmate for a stick of gum that would change the course of history. The DRAMATICS on this show, I LIVE.
• With it being such a testosteroney set, Wentworth called the infirmary scenes with Sarah “a respite and a refuge”. My heart is not ready for Michael and Sara again, you guys.

• Sarah had a hard time thinking of a crazy memory from set that she could share without breaking all the SDCC panel guidelines.
• When asked if their Prison Break characters would fare well in the worlds of their other shows, Wentworth said that Michael had a very superhero-like quality that would fit in well on Legends  and The Flash. “He can endure what the next person would not.” Sarah said that Sara would NOT last long in the Zombie Apocalypse, but she’d be kicking ass with Katie and the resistance on Colony.
• Things got real when Dominic took the time to express his gratitude towards the Prison Break family following the on-set accident where a set piece fell on his head. You could SEE how scared everyone was by that injury, as Wentworth choked out that Dominic was “his brother in every way but blood.” In a super sweet moment, Dominic spoke about how much girlfriend AnnaLynne McCord’s support meant to him after his accident. He knew she was in the room but didn’t know where. Cue her shouting from SOMEWHERE in Hall H.

• The Panel for 24: Legacy featured showrunners Evan Katz and Manny Coto, Corey Hawkins (Eric Carter), Miranda Otto (Rebecca Ingram), Jimmy Smits (John Donovan), and EP Howard Gordon.
• DEAR HOWARD, PLEASE TALK SOME SENSE INTO CHRIS CARTER FOR THE NEXT SEASON OF THE X-FILES. LOVE AND KISSES, HEAD OVER FEELS
• The biggest takeaway of this panel? THIS IS NOT AT ALL TIED TO JACK BAUER SO STOP ASKING. Seriously. They could not have hammered this point home any harder. We will not see Jack, we will not see Chloe, this is not the CTU we knew. However, they didn’t say ANYTHING about Mountain Lions, so the jury is still out on that.
• From the trailer I posted above and the extended scene we were later shown, Legacy DOES retain the core elements of the 24 we all know. Namely, heart-pounding action sequences and people saying Dammit.
• “There’s a lot of running.” LOVE THE RUNNING.
• With Jimmy Smits being a Presidential Candidate, we’re considering this a follow-up to The West Wing.
• A fan asked if they had ever thought about tweaking with the real-time format. Howard Gordon: “Um, no.”
• With all the talking about this NOT being about Jack Bauer, Our Lady Eowyn Miranda Otto was barely able to get a word in, other than a strange question about how social media affect the world of 24. That was when we peaced out.

After Hall H, we grabbed some lunch from the same LOVELY old man who had been serving us all weekend and we were then faced with a hard choice: a panel with our boo John Barrowman or getting in line for the Animaniacs live panel. We got in the room for Barrowman (after the panel had started) and sat for about 10 minutes while Sage monitored the line for Animaniacs via Twitter. When it became clear that Barrowman was telling a lot of the same stories that he told when we had heard at Awesome Con, we popped out to get in line for Animaniacs. Well, clearly SDCC (and us) underestimated the enduring appeal of singing cartoons because the line proved to be just too long. No Animaniacs for us. We took a look at the clock and decided to beat the crowd out of the convention center and pop by the Nerdist Conival over at Petco Park before it closed. Because God knows we couldn’t resist one last photo booth.

All in all, we couldn’t be happier with how our SDCC went. We had some tough spots that tried our patience but that’s PART of the whole experience. We didn’t miss a single one of our marquee panels and we got to see almost ALL our con friends at some point (a feat in itself, considering how hard we all go). As we did last year, we left ourselves with a buffer day after the con where we were able to just enjoy being in the city and BREATHE before we broke that precious Comic Con bubble. If you ever come out and your schedule permits it, we HIGHLY recommend this. You’ll thank yourself for it when you have to go back to work. –Kim