Day 1 was probably our longest day, and nothing on preview night prepared us for what was to happen today. This marked a lot of firsts (not the first time in SDCC tho, that was yesterday) but I won’t jump the gun and start listing them all right now. We did start the day with a plan – a plan to stick together since our interests overlapped for the most part today, and given really horrible 3G coverage the best option was at this point sticking together. We’d later learn the mistakes of our ways, but at the very least we left with a plan in mind.
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This marked my first foray into cosplaying (Halloween doesn’t count, and I don’t recall much else), so it’s good that we did a pretty simple one known as Scott Pilgrim vs The World. Also: Possibly the first time in guyliner (I’d always denied my old emo self) and Wai did manage to get that snazzy brown suit for a really cheap price, on top of his own white suit! We threw all this together in really short notice, and I’m glad we pretty much pulled it off. Any guess for who Pete is? I’m playing Matthew Patel, and Wai is Gideon Graves, in case you were wondering.
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We then headed right to the Convention Center in costume, and I’ll have to admit I felt some embarassment / need for people to identify me. I did get that, and being stopped for photos is just fun (except I ruined my watch in my excitement). The thrill of getting into the convention hall for SDCC proper promptly overwrote those feelings and half the time I barely knew I was in costume. And our first stop once we got in? The Guild table where huge Kim Evey fan Pete got to meet, well, Kim Evey. It was really fun to have a quick chat with her, and I think Pete totally enjoyed it the most.
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We then spent the time trawling the floor together, posing with Deadpool and getting into general hijinks…
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Getting sketches and autographs from Greg Broadmoore (Weta concept artist), Ron Lim (Hercules: Twilight of a God (sob)) and Patrick Scherberger (World War Hulks: Spider-Man & Thor with Kieron Gillen!!) (and the latter 2 were at the Marvel Booth)… there were some folks getting more than one sketch each which really held up the line, and only Ron Lim was drawing with much efficiency, so we had to find our way out of the line. I also got Todd Nuack to sketch my X-Men #1 sketch cover… he wasn’t the artist, but hey… why not? And last but not least Eric Shanower was on hand to sign and do a mean scarecrow sketch on the Wizard of Oz hardcovers. Too bad I didn’t manage to get Skottie Young to sign it too – when I did see him on another day he was rushing off from his table. All in all, pretty fruitful! Getting sketches is awesome.
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Next we bade a quick exit from the hall and rushed down the the opening of the Scott Pilgrim Experience. We really wanted to avoid the queues, and we managed to – and thankfully instead of dying from hunger they provided garlic bread for everybody (and we didn’t get fat). We also ran into zombies, tons of Ramona Flowers, and a really really scary Roxy Richter, who was actually a fat dude with a 5 o’clock shadow. Too stunned for photos. We also ran into Bryan Lee O’Malley outside and got to take some photos with him. And yes – an fantastic Scott Pilgrim who was more than game to get into fisticuffs with our very own Gideon Graves.
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Then the floodgates opened and it was time to enter the Scott Pilgrim Experience! It was really quite the amazing place, from tee-shirt booths to flip book making to an autograph wall, a PS3 gaming area for the new game (yet to hit Singapore for who knows what reason), a little are to film videos and the autograph area. We were there right before Bryan Lee O’Mally and Edgar Wright arrived but we bypassed the Tee making area and went right to making the flipbooks (of Pete getting beat up by the rest of us) and get our huge signatures on the wall. Then we got in line for the autographs, having a fun and quick chat with Edgar Wright about Ant-Man (“hope it happens”) before rushing to get into line for the tees.
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We got a glimpse of the Westboro Methodist Protest (avoiding jokes about Protestants here, since I am one) from the queue, but that was quickly forgotten when we got the tees of our choice. Wai got his Gideon Graves logo, which got him a lot of love later (I’m sure he’ll share his story one day) but beyond that it was just time to catch Mark Webber (Stephen Stills) turn up to do some tee shirts for fans, get a bit of gaming done, and a bit more shenanigans before we made our way back to the hall for the panels in Hall H.
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The queues moved really quickly (and as the queue manager would say, “You guys have a chance to see JJ Abrams and Joss Weee Dorn”), and yes, we did get in! It was exhilarating to see 2 legends together onstage, and Joss Whedon (in case you didn’t get who the queue manager was talking about) did confirm that he was directing the Avengers – but in the end it felt slightly lacking because the hopes that they might actually work on something together, while mostly dim to begin with, were dashed – for now. Who knows what the future might bring?
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Next up was the Expendables, which we sat in for while waiting for the Scott Pilgrim panel – but call us converts after the panel. The whole thing was a joy ride, with even Bruce Willis making his way down to say hi, and tons of jokes about how Steve Austin messed up, much to his consternation, being a professional wrestler and all. I think everybody who watched the panel left with a very healthy respect for these thespians – except we didn’t leave the hall.
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And finally, the moment we were waiting for – the Scott Pilgrim Panel. Every clip and every word served to increase the hype, and by the time they announced that the people with the special badges were eligible for a FREE SCREENING the excitement hit fever pitch. And what? 2 more free shows the next 2 days? Count me in! Sadly I lost my pin somewhere. =( Micheal Cera did a… Cera by coming in a Captain America suit, being in the top 500 shortlisted men to be Captain America, but in the end he just struck me as a little cold and aloof, like he just wanted to do his own quips and pull his own stuns just to avoid questions. I guess I wish he was just a bit warmer towards us, kind of like how Ellen Wong is? And I know Edgar Wright was totally enjoying himself (do you love chocolate?) and we could tell he put a lot of love into the movie.
And after such an epic day – it didn’t end there. While we didn’t manage to get into the movie screening (no 1-up pin for us) we had w00tstock lined up for us… and that’s a whole other post.
