Comic Con Day 1: Hunger Games Mockingjay Part 1

It was Day One at San Diego Comic Con and the crowds were assembled en masse for the event. The hot ticket items at Hasbro sold out quickly and excited fans carried their huge bags with glee.

This year Lionsgate took The Hunger Games outside of the Convention Center.  Last year there were too many people crowding the booths during the Mockingjay pin giveaway, so instead there was a cool photo op with Capitol guards and a few posters, but in order to get the pin you had to go across the street to the Hard Rock Hotel.

After a two hour wait in line (during which time we got to see celebs like Adam West, Jeff Bridges, and the stars of Gotham leaving the hotel through the side entrance) we finally got to go inside.

It. Was. Amazing!!

We got to choose a treat from Peeta’s Bakery and Haymitch’s Elixirs.

There were costumed staff members and movie memorabilia everywhere:

You could make a custom t-shirt or backpack, take the District Quiz (I’m District 5), and take a picture in the throne with a hologram image of Peeta and Johanna.

It was well worth the wait.  And the pin at the end was the icing on the cupcake….

SDCC Badges…May the Odds Be Ever In Your Favor

Are you sitting in the waiting room trying to get tickets for SDCC 2014?  Comic Con badges are fast becoming the most elusive ticket around. 

New this year–you get into the waiting room and then you are randomly assigned a number.  You can wait for hours or you might wait for minutes.  Either way, no one is guaranteed a badge.

What this means is that the San Diego Convention Center absolutely needs to expand.  As a San Diego native, the expansion is the only major construction project I support.  Screw the Chargers stadium. We need more room for SDCC.  The folks at SDCC also need to start thinking outside the box…and outside the Convention Center.  Frankly, if they utilized the surrounding hotels and the Gaslamp more, they could have a world class venue.  And why not transfer Hall H activities to Petco Park? Think about it–what a great way to increase the size of the venue and stop the awful lines.  Why not require tickets to the big panels…no charge, just pre-registered, so that people can do more than just spend their time in line.  Less time in line means more people out spending their money, after all.

But these are just random musings.  What do I know?

Good luck to the people in the Waiting Room this morning.  As they say in Hunger Games, “May the odds be ever in your favor.”