Introductions/Welcome Thread

[Zero]

Tell us a little about yourself (perhaps your background as an SDCCI attendee, where you're from, etc.) as well as welcome new forum members in this thread!

[Transmute Jun]

I guess we're all 'new' right now since Alyssa put up this new version of the board! Besides, I don't think it's been around that long? It's a great resource though, and I'd like to see this stay for future years.

I've been attending SDCC every year since 2008. I meet up with a big group of friends every year and we all have fun (like a giant sleepover party that goes on and on and on...). I'm from northern California, but my friends come from all over the US and Canada.

[Rainer]

Greetings! I live just about an hour north of San Diego. This will be my tenth year attending this Granddaddy of the Geekfests.  It is my annual treat to myself to experience Nerdvana at its finest. This forum is a valuable resource for seasoned veterans of the con and those testing the waters for the first time. Hmmmm, can't think of any more cliches or trite phrases for the moment...

[tarrbear]

Hi! I'm Tarra and this is my first year attending San Diego Comic Con, I'm coming from the Gulf Coast of Florida (Tampa area) and I'm so excited because I've dreamed of attending SDCC since I was 13, so five years later, I'm finally going!

[luna13darke]

Hi...I'm Danni. This will be my first time attending the Con. I live in Ontario, Canada. I will be going with my friend Sean from Wales. We are both super excited to be going. Trip of a lifetime for me. I've been a big fan of the horror genre since I was 5 years old. I  love comics and graphic novels and am a voracious reader of everything. I wear my geek badge very proudly. Sooooo excited to be going!!! Eek.

[MegaDoug]

Hi, my name is Doug, and I have a comic-con problem. (Hi Doug). Is there a 12 step for this? I attended my first con in 1989 at the old Concourse up by Horton Plaza. Missed 1990 because my spouse was pregnant with our first-born, but I have since forgiven my son. I started reading comics because my friend MadMax told me that there was a comic book based on my favorite TV show of the time, Robotech. So each year at the show, I try to close in on completing the collection of the three series. I first volunteered in 1990, which was the first year at the new convention center, and worked in the photography department for a few years. I've recently returned to the volunteer pool, mainly to have more pocket money to buy stuff, if on a rare chance you can actually shop in the dealers room ;-)

[Transmute Jun]

What I love about this board is the wide variety of ages and con experience! I think it really makes a difference to the quality and variety of information posted.

[tehlilone]

Hi Everyone! My name is Jennifer I've been going to SDCC since 2004 (the year before my senior year in high school). I would've gone earlier if brothers would just let me tag along (they started mid 90s I think). Since I've started going most of my family/friends have stopped due to the crowds and stuff so I guess I'm a little more hardcore than they are. I attend mainly with my boyfriend and you'll find us on the exhibit hall floor 90% of the time.

I usually go around the Toy Growers Cultyard (altho I think they changed that name last year?) and the main booths. I mainly collect dunnys, plushies, mighty muggs, and pop vinyl. I used to buy a lot of manga and comics but it just costs too much for me to keep up all those hobbies and I can read through novels in less than a day, so I stick mainly to collectibles. I love sci-fi shows altho they keep killing my favorites

Before the convention I try to create the biggest list I can regarding SDCC exclusives from both individual artists/creators and the larger booths since most lists disregard the smaller companies.

[Zero]

Welcome to the new and improved Friends of CCI forum, everyone!

I guess we're all 'new' right now since Alyssa put up this new version of the board! Besides, I don't think it's been around that long? It's a great resource though, and I'd like to see this stay for future years.

I've been attending SDCC every year since 2008. I meet up with a big group of friends every year and we all have fun (like a giant sleepover party that goes on and on and on...). I'm from northern California, but my friends come from all over the US and Canada.

Ha ha.  It took Alyssa and I some time to figure out the best way to organize the forums, but I'm definitely happy with what we've come up with (whew, moving all those threads and creating the sub-forums).  Before, there wasn't a place for us to introduce ourselves to get to know each other as a forum community, so I thought this thread would be the perfect place to greet people (of course, we'll have point it out to any new members). ^_^

Are you from the Bay Area or further up north in California?

Greetings! I live just about an hour north of San Diego. This will be my tenth year attending this Granddaddy of the Geekfests.  It is my annual treat to myself to experience Nerdvana at its finest. This forum is a valuable resource for seasoned veterans of the con and those testing the waters for the first time. Hmmmm, can't think of any more cliches or trite phrases for the moment...

Greetings, Rainer!  Oh, are you in Irvine?  (I'm in San Diego myself.)

Hi! I'm Tarra and this is my first year attending San Diego Comic Con, I'm coming from the Gulf Coast of Florida (Tampa area) and I'm so excited because I've dreamed of attending SDCC since I was 13, so five years later, I'm finally going!

Hi Tarra! I'm glad that you're able to come out to SDCCI this year!  Maybe we can have a forum meet-up... (Like dinner or something on one of the days at con.) ^_^

Hi...I'm Danni. This will be my first time attending the Con. I live in Ontario, Canada. I will be going with my friend Sean from Wales. We are both super excited to be going. Trip of a lifetime for me. I've been a big fan of the horror genre since I was 5 years old. I  love comics and graphic novels and am a voracious reader of everything. I wear my geek badge very proudly. Sooooo excited to be going!!! Eek.

Hi Danni! Wow, Ontario and Wales.  Quite a bit of traveling!  Don't hesitate to stop by in some of the transportation or parking info threads to learn how to get to and from the convention center from the airport.

Hi, my name is Doug, and I have a comic-con problem. (Hi Doug). Is there a 12 step for this? I attended my first con in 1989 at the old Concourse up by Horton Plaza. Missed 1990 because my spouse was pregnant with our first-born, but I have since forgiven my son. I started reading comics because my friend MadMax told me that there was a comic book based on my favorite TV show of the time, Robotech. So each year at the show, I try to close in on completing the collection of the three series. I first volunteered in 1990, which was the first year at the new convention center, and worked in the photography department for a few years. I've recently returned to the volunteer pool, mainly to have more pocket money to buy stuff, if on a rare chance you can actually shop in the dealers room ;-)

Welcome to the new and improved forums, Doug! Ha ha, I don't know... we might eventually have a 12-step process for this. *laughs*

What I love about this board is the wide variety of ages and con experience! I think it really makes a difference to the quality and variety of information posted.

Absolutely, I would definitely agree. It's great that we're able to connect because of just one convention. ^_^

Hi Everyone! My name is Jennifer I've been going to SDCC since 2004 (the year before my senior year in high school). I would've gone earlier if brothers would just let me tag along (they started mid 90s I think). Since I've started going most of my family/friends have stopped due to the crowds and stuff so I guess I'm a little more hardcore than they are. I attend mainly with my boyfriend and you'll find us on the exhibit hall floor 90% of the time.

I usually go around the Toy Growers Cultyard (altho I think they changed that name last year?) and the main booths. I mainly collect dunnys, plushies, mighty muggs, and pop vinyl. I used to buy a lot of manga and comics but it just costs too much for me to keep up all those hobbies and I can read through novels in less than a day, so I stick mainly to collectibles. I love sci-fi shows altho they keep killing my favorites

Before the convention I try to create the biggest list I can regarding SDCC exclusives from both individual artists/creators and the larger booths since most lists disregard the smaller companies.

Hi Jennifer! Ah, an avid collector of the awesome exclusives at Comic-Con... Very cool. ^_~

[Rainer]

"Greetings, Rainer!  Oh, are you in Irvine?  (I'm in San Diego myself.)" Zero

Hello!  Actually, I live north off of the I-15/215 in Murrieta.

[Ab3tt3r2morrow]

Hello everybody, thought I'd be neighbourly and post to commemorate that I'm digging the new look, and to show my appreciation for the change of scenery! Much thanks to Alyssa and to Zero, this is wicked awesome work.
I'm Winston, and I live in Ontario, California. I joined Friends of CCI just after I got my badges in the first sale. Aside from a query I posted soon after I joined, I pretty much just stay tacit and keep track of the goings-on, having basically done nil to contribute given how  meager my knowledge of things are, sticking to the sidelines , or I linger amongst the gargoyles in the slated rooves, whichever is the better vantage point :-) Been going since the early 1990s up until the mid-2000s when the compass I was following took me down a different trail for a few years --  at the end of which I got my bachelor's in nursing and work full-time in the hospital setting. But despite all I've gone through, reading comic books (and really just experiencing being told a good story no matter how its dressed up in) is, I have realized, a part of what makes me tick. But I don't collect, just dabble. It's quality time we are all looking forward to when we go again (or for the first time, for the newbies here), and I wish all our journeys to be transformative and as good as or better than what we imagined.

[Zero]

Hello!  Actually, I live north off of the I-15/215 in Murrieta.

Ohhhh~h, cool, near Temecula.  I actually live twenty minutes (without traffic, of course, ha ha) from Downtown S.D. *laughs*

Hello everybody, thought I'd be neighbourly and post to commemorate that I'm digging the new look, and to show my appreciation for the change of scenery! Much thanks to Alyssa and to Zero, this is wicked awesome work.
I'm Winston, and I live in Ontario, California. I joined Friends of CCI just after I got my badges in the first sale. Aside from a query I posted soon after I joined, I pretty much just stay tacit and keep track of the goings-on, having basically done nil to contribute given how  meager my knowledge of things are, sticking to the sidelines , or I linger amongst the gargoyles in the slated rooves, whichever is the better vantage point :-) Been going since the early 1990s up until the mid-2000s when the compass I was following took me down a different trail for a few years --  at the end of which I got my bachelor's in nursing and work full-time in the hospital setting. But despite all I've gone through, reading comic books (and really just experiencing being told a good story no matter how its dressed up in) is, I have realized, a part of what makes me tick. But I don't collect, just dabble. It's quality time we are all looking forward to when we go again (or for the first time, for the newbies here), and I wish all our journeys to be transformative and as good as or better than what we imagined.

Hello, Winston!  Welcome to FCCI!  Look forward to some more awesome updates--it's a work-in-progress.  ^_~

Ha ha, I love the imagery in your post, especially the "gargoyles" line.  Perhaps a hidden talent amongst working in the medical field?  ;p

[Ab3tt3r2morrow]

Hello!  Actually, I live north off of the I-15/215 in Murrieta.

Ohhhh~h, cool, near Temecula.  I actually live twenty minutes (without traffic, of course, ha ha) from Downtown S.D. *laughs*

Hello everybody, thought I'd be neighbourly and post to commemorate that I'm digging the new look, and to show my appreciation for the change of scenery! Much thanks to Alyssa and to Zero, this is wicked awesome work.
I'm Winston, and I live in Ontario, California. I joined Friends of CCI just after I got my badges in the first sale. Aside from a query I posted soon after I joined, I pretty much just stay tacit and keep track of the goings-on, having basically done nil to contribute given how  meager my knowledge of things are, sticking to the sidelines , or I linger amongst the gargoyles in the slated rooves, whichever is the better vantage point :-) Been going since the early 1990s up until the mid-2000s when the compass I was following took me down a different trail for a few years --  at the end of which I got my bachelor's in nursing and work full-time in the hospital setting. But despite all I've gone through, reading comic books (and really just experiencing being told a good story no matter how its dressed up in) is, I have realized, a part of what makes me tick. But I don't collect, just dabble. It's quality time we are all looking forward to when we go again (or for the first time, for the newbies here), and I wish all our journeys to be transformative and as good as or better than what we imagined.

Hello, Winston!  Welcome to FCCI!  Look forward to some more awesome updates--it's a work-in-progress.  ^_~

Ha ha, I love the imagery in your post, especially the "gargoyles" line.  Perhaps a hidden talent amongst working in the medical field?  ;p

Wish I could take credit for that bit with the lingering-on-the-rooves, but Fritz Lieber came up with the original phrasing of that in a poem from Ill Met In Lankhmar. Sorry, I should've cited that source, then and there. Credit where credit's due, obviously. I get completely muppets sometimes, I apologize ^_^

[alyssa]

Hello everybody, thought I'd be neighbourly and post to commemorate that I'm digging the new look, and to show my appreciation for the change of scenery! Much thanks to Alyssa and to Zero, this is wicked awesome work.
<snip>

HA! another person on the board who say's 'wicked'  maybe it a northern thing...
*glad* you enjoy the new look!

I feel as tho most of you know me already from the CCI facebook page but...me & my son, now 12 make the pilgrimage to SDCC every year from New England.  It's the only time i can actually get him out of bed earlier then 5am for the lines<grin>.
We enjoyed all aspects of the con except for ballroom 20, i haven't quite wanted to do the line wait for that...but maybe this year.

[EnglishmanInSanDiego]

Hi, everyone - I'm Leonard from Cleckheaton in West Yorkshire. This will be my third Comic-Con in a row; my first, in 2010, was my honeymoon trip with my then-new wife Caroline, a Welsh woman born and bred.

I'd heard of Comic-Con for years before, just as it had started getting insanely popular. However, when I saw (or rather, heard) the crowd reaction of Hall H to the teaser footage to Tron: Legacy, I was determined to make my way to San Diego. It would be not only my first Con, but also my first trip to California, to America - and my honeymoon? Big trip!

As it happens, it didn't take much convincing Caroline to come with; while my interest covers from my comic book collecting back in my youth and sci-fi, Caroline's is very much genre TV (Buffy, Star Trek and the like). And when I put it her to head to Comic-Con as the high point of a California honeymoon, she jumped at it.

That first year, we were blown away by the sheer scale of the event - who wouldn't be? And to be in the room for The Avengers presentation, to meet all the artist and writer talent that had influenced me over the years, to give my wife the opportunity to ask a question at the Sons Of Anarchy panel... amazing! And we had to go back - and we did. I kind of sabotaged my personal trip last year as I was determined to attend the World Premiere of Cowboys And Aliens so spent most of Friday in a queue outside Hard Rock under the searing California heat. The appearance of Jon Favreau, giving the opportunity he was going to be handing out the prized badges, was one thing - but that was nothing compared to him sitting beside one of my personal heroes, Drew Struzan (who Jon had commissioned to produce a limited edition one-sheet for C&A). Meeting him - and getting their signatures on said one-sheet - more than made up for the lobster-pink Brit sunburn!

Then, the Saturday - a whole day, herded into the San Diego Civic Centre, was a small price to pay for sitting at a World Premiere, fifteen feet away from the films cast and crew; Favreau, Olivia Wilde, Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford (and his sour-faced bint of a wife! Clap, woman - you're married to Indy!), along with a host of people I never imagined to be in the same room with. Steven Spielberg... Ron Howard... Dr. Leonard Hoftstader...!! Amazing night! (...ropey film!)

After two brilliant years, I wasn't sure if we could top it and thought Caroline might want the holiday she always talked about - a beach, blazing sun, blokes bringing copious coconuts with umbrellas and alcoholic delights... so I didn't buy the badges that year round. But, the second the plane landed at Heathrow, the first words she said were, "...well, we're doing THAT again!" Oops! So, here we are.

I'm doing my best to pass on any help to fellow Con-ers travelling from the UK with a dedicated Group and I'm hoping I'm not over-staying my welcome on the other pages. And I'm so looking forward to meeting up with everyone, in a pub, at some point in July - don't know about calling a round in but I'll do my best! See you in SD!