Just this recently I had a hellish weekend. Friday I went to “The Roxy” to see “New Year’s Day” perform. Quick recap of Roxy time. Matt Toka was meh. “Goodnight Sunrise” has the potential to be the next band that hot chicks will love like “Incubus” & “Dashboard Confessional”, “The Material” was all over the place from being a great band to all “Evanessecene-y” but I bought an EP from them because the lead singer of the band did perform with “New Year’s Day” so I paid back a little good karma, & “The IT Boys” was such a “3Oh!3” clone I was hoping they would bust out the “Diamond Cutter” sign so DDP can sue them (last thing I heard DDP had some Mediation with 3Oh!3 over it.).
As per the restrictions, others can only do half of the Diamond Cutter, and DDP has to be in the room with them.
Now for what happened the next day. I went to the annual “USA Today Pop Candy Meet & Greet”. Truth be told I didn’t think I was going this year for financial reasons & other reasons beyond my control but thanks to what I heard was going to be the giveaway for free schwag this year & how everything was falling into place I figure…What the hell?!?
So after doing laundry PLUS fighting traffic & spending $25 on parking, I finally arrived at the Meet & Greet…which was already full & under way. DAMN IT! I thought I lost a shot at the free schwag, usually I don’t care about schwag but fighting at least an hour-and-half of traffic to get some awesome DVDs (“Battle Beyond The Stars: 30th Anniversary Edition”, “Rocko’s Modern Life: Season 1” & Blu-Ray of “Marvel Digital Comics: Iron Man: Extremis & Spider-Woman: Agent of S.W.O.R.D.”) & to come away with nothing! Your damn right I would be pissed off about it! So after waiting what seems like forever I finally got some schwag.
Here’s what I got:
Some Japanese etching of a Transformer I had no idea what it is.
Some notebooks with a fancy cover on them.
The previously mentioned DVDs/Blu-Ray (That made me a Happy Panda!)
This right here? The secret of total happiness. No joke.
A business card stand.
And…THIS!
Awww...who's da cutest widdle web-spinner? Who is? You are! Yes you are!
A “Mighty Muggs: Cloth Spider-Man” Figure. Comic-Con Exclusive.
So after lugging around schwag from last year I thought this time I go back to my car, dump off the schwag, & then head back to the Meet & Greet. Once I returned I started to mingle since all the tables were full at the time. First bunch of people that I met was a couple that was cosplaying as “River Song” & “The Doctor” from “Doctor Who”. Unfortunately this “Doctor” was a redhead & the running joke over the 40+ years during the show was whenever The Doctor would regenerate he’s hoping to be a redhead so this “Doctor” dressed as the redhead of his dreams. Talked to them a bit & I went a WEE bit nerdy because “River” didn’t have a gun while the River Song on the show did, she said she had too much stuff to carry so she couldn’t use it then after that I talked to “The Doctor” about random “Doctor Who” stuff which thanks to yours truly he came up with some better ideas for his costume & they left.
Tables were slowly emptying up because most of the people at the Meet & Greet this year just simply came up, get their schwag, & left. Most likely the reason why they did this was because they had a lot of things to do at Comic-Con or they were there simply for the schwag. Remember that guy in the random costume from last year’s Meet & Greet? Well he was telling people this year that he gets what he wants & he was always lucky in getting the good schwag. Oh BS! Last year when I got the “Blaster” collectible & he didn’t get one he whined all the way to Whitney’s friends who were giving out the schwag & demanded for “Blaster” in exchange for the schwag he received. I hate liars!
Anyways off track for a second back to the empty tables. Once again I enjoyed the “Vesper Martini” a.k.a. the “James Bond Martini” from “Wine Steals” but this time I tried something different in their Fish & Chips as well. I kind of learned something by eating that meal. “Wine Steals” Fish & Chips & the “James Bond Martini” is a BAD COMBINATION! I didn’t get sick it was just the combined tastes overwhelmed me! So every time I had some fish, drank some martini, overwhelmed beyond my control. It was some sort of sick cycle during the entire meal.
During the meal I was re-acquainted with the 4 people from last year’s Meet & Greet where I thought they ran into Shelly Martinez but they didn’t. Nothing new happened there so they said hi & left. Another couple came across me eating & one of them was apparently a HUGE “Hello Kitty” fan by what she was wearing. The “Hello Kitty” woman left & I was left with her husband & we talked for a bit & he was interested at why I was here so I told him then he left.
Okay meal done so I was walking the room for a bit trying to find some people so I can talk to hoping to find some material. I mean this is a “Meet & Greet” not a “Meet & Mope” now is it? Met a married couple who was enjoying “Wine Steals” version of “Bangers & Mash” Corn-dog style. We talked mostly about Comic-Com & I told them about the hectic week I had including the time I was at The Roxy. They were happy with “New Year’s Day” ‘s recent experience & they liked “The Material” a little bit. They took off for a bit so I decided to wander around some more.
The Meet & Greet was getting as boring as a WWE Diva Match so I killed some time just waiting around. Saw Graphic Novelist Tony Lee pop in & out for a bit. One of their employees named Justin came up to me. I kind of figured either he was curious about me or thought I was a nutjob. Well for those that know me I’ll take C: All of the above. I explained to Justin why I was here & what I was writing about, he was very curious about that. I told him about what happened at the time in Comic-Con with the whole CM Punk crashing the WWE Mattell panel with Triple H as the guest & I included the whole Punk back story up to it, Justin laughed at the whole idea of Punk leaving the WWE Title in the refrigerator. Justin thought I was a good guy & left.
Normal people were slowly filling up the room & I found out this very interesting thing. All of the women were wearing White Pants! Now if you go to urbandictionary.com “White Pants” refers to a man or woman who loves to receive anal sex. So…most of the women in the room, I would say about 25%, love to get anal! So yes I got a chuckle out of that. Some HOT woman came up & greeted me thinking that she knew me. Of course I thought of that as odd since I barely knew her. Talked to her later & she thought I was a fun person, so I was going to hit on her when I found out that…she was drunk out of her mind! Good one!
Thanked Whitney for being there since the place is now DEAD so I left. Walked around for a bit & found out that SyFy was holding that same even as last year when I saw Kane & Jack Swagger there. I figure I might run into some Smackdown stars for this year. Yeah so far it was nothing. I did see some of the cast of “Warehouse 13” (*squeal* HUGE fan of the show) then I saw some of the cast of “Sanctuary” pass by. Eric Balfor from “Haven”, asked the security guard if he can jump the security fence to greet the fans; the guard didn’t mind so he signed some autographs, took pictures, & left.
So after Eric Balfor left there were various celebrities & unknown people who paid to get into the party. Then Felicia Day walks out, the fans want her to come over & meet her. Felicia Day’s Response? She mouthed out “I can’t. I’m not allowed to do that.” Other celebrities started to jump the gate embracing the fans. Allison Scagliotti, who plays Claudia on “Warehouse 13” (who I have a major crush on because she’s not only nerdy but really hot) jumped the fence & signed an autograph for a fan. Kevin Perrera from “Attack of The Show” jumped the fence & went nuts for the fans by posing for pictures, hugging the fans, everything. Efren Ramirez, the guy that played “Pedro” from “Napoleon Dynamite” not only jumped the fence to take pictures for the fans but the guy ran a victory lap for the fans! Even when things got slow for the party, Ben Lyons, the guy that’s a film critic who was there with Brooke “Dancing With The Stars” Burke covering this party who’s barely known yet hated more so in his field than John Cena is in pro wrestling, jumped the fence to pose for pictures for fans & to talk to them!
The only WWE Wrestlers that showed up were Cody Rhodes & I think WWE “Un-Diva” Naomi & nobody even recognized them until I recognized them! Cody noted I said his name on front of the crowd & he waved at me but other than that…YIKES!
After seeing a fat guy with what looks like 75 pounds of camera equipment on his body do a quick sprint for the fans to get a shot it was time for me to get the hell out of here. Stopped at a 7-11 for my patented “Cherry Slurpee” & enough supplies & went home.
So let’s see…Roxy was meh except for NYD, the “Meet & Greet” was the worst ever but I got some awesome schwag, nobody was there to actually meet people, ran into a drunk girl, Cody Rhodes wasn’t known to people, & Felicia Day’s a douche!
Lesson Of The Day: What a great Comic-Con for this year!