San Diego Comic-Con 2007

This last week, from Wednesday to Sunday, was the 3rd--and most probably the final--of my visits to Comic-Con in San Diego. I'm the sort to embrace my nerdiness, and there are plenty of interesting, and quite nerdy attractions at Comicon, but in the end, I just didn't feel like it was worth it.

In order to get into the popular panels (for example, the Heroes panel, in which all of the main cast of the TV show Heroes were present) it was necessary to wait in line for 2 full hours, longer than the length of the panel itself. In all, each day probably entailed more waiting in line than a day at Disneyland, which is saying alot.

On top of that, I think the novelty of seeing previews, and getting "inside scoops" on your favorite shows or upcoming movies has worn off, after attending for 3 years straight. The first year around, it was fun because it was all so new. The next year was somewhat of a let down, but since Tania joined us the second time around, and we both cosplayed from some of our favorite animes, it was fun getting a taste of "fame" when fans of the show run up and ask for a photo with you, simply because you are in costume. While that aspect was still somewhat entertaining, the novelty of this aspect has also worn off, to a large degree.

So, in the end, most of comicon is just roaming the convention floor, in what is, in essence, a 3-4 block long, 1-block wide video game / anime / scifi & fantasy store.

If I lived within driving distance of the convention center, would I spend the $50 next year to get a 4-day pass, just in case I wanted to attend for a few days? Yes, probably. But with every 2-star hotel in the area knowing full well what week comicon is, and increasing their rates by upwards of 300%, in the end, it's really not worth it.

If the group of us that went had decided, instead, to simply stay in Irvine, at my place, and go to the beach everyday, or perhaps Disneyland one day, or just hung out and done nothing particularly unusual, it probably would have been equally entertaining, for a fraction of the cost.