Game of Thrones: Panel vs. Autographing Chances

[mlgagne]

One more thing - generally on the morning of this particular draw there are several drawings going on at the same time and you can only draw for 1 when you get to the table. If you do not win on the first shot you can get on the line again for a chance to draw again so do not give up if you are unsuccessful at the first attempt. Patience Is key.

Oh, I did forget about this - thanks for the tip! I'm assuming that a person will probably only end up with one chance for something on the scale of GOT because the line is probably super long, but I think I would definitely do this for the less popular drawings! 

[Mel]

I am very experienced in the autograph lotteries. You have to camp all night in the everything else line to even get a shot at GoT autographs. No matter what else is in the drawing that day, GoT will be the one that runs out first and it will run out fast. Last year we got in the line at 5am and by the time we were up to Sails to get in the line, GoT was already gone. The year before we got there at the same time and actually spent a good amount of time in the line for the drawing before GoT was gone. Moral of the story is, 2014 it was VERY hard to even make it to the table to draw for a chance at the most popular autograph sessions. So much so that this year I think I'm going to give up that part of my Con b/c I can't get there before 5am since I drive in.

In my experience though, the WB drawings (which GoT is a part of) have a lot of winning tickets. More than the others. So if you actually get there before your show is gone, you have a pretty good shot. I'd be devastated if I camped for it though I drew a loser, which is possible.....and yes you can get back in line, but it's gonna be long long long gone by the time you get to the front again.

[vegasndn]

I've done the autograph WB drawings and it's hard not to get a winning ticket like cracksback stated, but the FOX drawing is really tough to get a winner. Near ballroom 20 they have the Sony drawings that I have not tried so I don't know your chances there.

[ahbbb]

Personally, wb is the worst for me. I think I have won 3 times in 20 chances.
BUT my friends all win consistently. In fact , they believe there wasn't any losing tickets at WB until they saw my dejected face.
Fox is the reverse for me and them.
I had no idea Sony had drawings by ballroom 20. What shows did they offer?

[mlgagne]

Ooh, these are good things to know - thank you! I don't mind camping out all night for the autographing if my chances with WB are decent. Though it does depend on which actors end up going, which I'm sure won't be announced until like two weeks before. I think that well help solidify my choice between the panel or the autographing.

[vegasndn]

Personally, wb is the worst for me. I think I have won 3 times in 20 chances.
BUT my friends all win consistently. In fact , they believe there wasn't any losing tickets at WB until they saw my dejected face.
Fox is the reverse for me and them.
I had no idea Sony had drawings by ballroom 20. What shows did they offer?

honestly I don't know. I know Robert Kirkman autograph tickets are there other than that I have no idea.

[Transmute Jun]

That's really interesting, Cracksback! I was debating doing some autograph lineups this year, but that sounds ridiculous!

Interestingly, I thought that last year WB started handing out autographs at 6 am? And you got in line at 5 am and they were gone? Or you got in line at 5 am, and it took you until after 6 am to get in?

[Mel]

Ooh, these are good things to know - thank you! I don't mind camping out all night for the autographing if my chances with WB are decent. Though it does depend on which actors end up going, which I'm sure won't be announced until like two weeks before. I think that well help solidify my choice between the panel or the autographing.

Well, you'd think, but often they don't announce at all who will be present. You find out when you show up for autographs. Last year I felt bad because Mad Max autographs went real fast. They were the second ones gone. I believe people thought they would get Charlize Theron or Tom Hardy or both.  It ended up being just the director. If people knew that those would have been the last tickets left.

They were banking on it being like the previous year where we got Sandra Bullock for Gravity and Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt and Bill Pullman for Edge of Tomorrow.  None of the big movie stars seemed to show for the WB movies that did autographs last year. (There were no autographs for Superman v. Batman)

[mlgagne]

Well, you'd think, but often they don't announce at all who will be present. You find out when you show up for autographs. Last year I felt bad because Mad Max autographs went real fast. They were the second ones gone. I believe people thought they would get Charlize Theron or Tom Hardy or both.  It ended up being just the director. If people knew that those would have been the last tickets left.

They were banking on it being like the previous year where we got Sandra Bullock for Gravity and Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt and Bill Pullman for Edge of Tomorrow.  None of the big movie stars seemed to show for the WB movies that did autographs last year. (There were no autographs for Superman v. Batman)

Ooh, that's a little rough. Can you ask the WB booth the day before if they have any idea of who might be there? If not, I'll probably have to use my better judgment, haha 

[Mel]

That's really interesting, Cracksback! I was debating doing some autograph lineups this year, but that sounds ridiculous!

Interestingly, I thought that last year WB started handing out autographs at 6 am? And you got in line at 5 am and they were gone? Or you got in line at 5 am, and it took you until after 6 am to get in?

They open the Convention Center doors at 6am and WB starts drawing tickets the minute the first people get to their corral. Arriving at 5am, we were already put in I think the 4th chute/corral of people waiting (on Thursdy due to poor Hall H programming arriving at 5am all chutes were full and we had to line along the marina!).

By the time we were let in and booked it up to Sails each day the WB line was already at Lego minifig long (its the same line used for lego minifigs). And that was at 6:30 am. And within 5 minutes they were yelling out that GoT was gone.

We ended up not doing any WB because of how huge the line got so soon last year. We did Fox drawings which don't start till 8am, so their line doesn't get as long right away. I think people think, wrongly, that they can draw for WB and get in line for Fox. Those days are over it seems.

[Transmute Jun]

Thanks for the info, Cracksback. The only line we did last year was when we went for the CCI drawing to get tickets to the Weird Al panel. And that wasn't supposed to start until 9 am, so we just joined the line going into the convention center much later. Even then, we only had 1 lucky draw, and my friend was happy to get it!

[Mel]

Thanks for the info, Cracksback. The only line we did last year was when we went for the CCI drawing to get tickets to the Weird Al panel. And that wasn't supposed to start until 9 am, so we just joined the line going into the convention center much later. Even then, we only had 1 lucky draw, and my friend was happy to get it!

You still did have a shot at Fox  by arriving at 5am last year, but as I said, it's different every year and harder. 2013 we had amazing luck at WB arriving at 5am but no chance in hell in 2014 arriving that late. So, I'm going to assume our Fox chances will be to nothing this year arriving at 5am. We were able to get The Simpsons and The Following at Fox last year arriving at 5am. The good thing about Fox, at least in previous years, is that your winning ticket is your entry to the session, so you can give it to someone else if say a group of you tries and not everyone gets it but one person is hardcore fan and you'd rather give yours to them. WB they put a bracelet on you and it's tight. Too tight for me to get off. So you can't trade it off to anyone.

We tried for American Horror Story at Fox last year and both drew losers (they did let us pick from another show as a consolation and that's how we ended up with The Simpsons, I don't know if that's normal for them to let you do that though) and the girl behind us was a hardcore AHS fan and she was hyperventilating just being in the line and we had agreed with her that if we both drew winners and she did not, we would give her one of ours. We both lost though. And so did she! However, the girl behind her won and didn't even seem too excited so she begged her for her ticket and I think paid her some money for it ahahahaha Funniest thing yet, she was there with her boyfriend (who was also in line with her and was very cool) who was there as a creative pro b/c he works on the set of The Walking Dead. Now THAT is something. They were all "ehh" about TWD, which would have had me hyperventilating!

[Transmute Jun]

Cracksback, you have been a wealth of info about the autograph process. Thank you very much!

[Mel]

Cracksback, you have been a wealth of info about the autograph process. Thank you very much!

You're welcome. Autographs have kinda been my thing the past couple years. We are truly thinking we won't do it at all this year due to not being able to get there earlier and it was rough getting there that early last year and not getting what we truly wanted. I'd rather give up on that, arrive later and be less thrashed and not deal with disappointment. However, trust that I would be doing it again if I could camp or arrive earlier. You get hooked on them and being that close and being able to say "Hi" to your faves. I was dying last year with Kevin Bacon. It's Kevin Bacon! Footloose Soundtrack was the first cassette I bought with my own money and my Dad made an illegal dub of the movie for me and I wore it out! I completely froze up when he looked at me with his sparkly Kevin Bacon eyes and said hello to me ahahahahah. I also love The Following in general and Shawn Ashmore was great and struck up a little convo with me until they yelled at me to move LOL.

Be aware, they will move you like cattle and you don't get to take pics or talk really more than a quick hello. 2013 we got Gravity and Sandra Bullock started talking to my wife, like truly genuinely asking her about SDCC and they yelled to move and Sandra put up her hand and was like, "Wait, we are talking" and the PR lady came up to her and whispered in her ear and she rolled her eyes and apologized to my wife. So even if Sandra Bullock WANTS to talk to you and tries to tell them no....they will move you LOL.

[mlgagne]

Yes, thank you, Cracksback! That is an excellent Sandra Bullock story! Though I'm disappointed to hear that WB puts the wristbands on so tight. I've seen SDCC Game of Thrones signed posters from last year on Amazon for like $300, so I was thinking about paying someone up to that much for their wristband if they were going to sell it anyway. But it doesn't seem like that will be an option!