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I tried my hardest to get into it. I took Thursday and Friday off from work and blocked off the outside world. I printed out and bound the Souvenir Book You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login. I made a list of places to pick up dinner from every night, which consisted of the types of places I'd go to in San Diego such as The Kebab shop and various ramen places. I also picked up packs of beer from Stone and Mission which I always make a point to stop at. I had my Kidrobot SDCC-at-home Hello Kitty x Quiccs exclusive nearby which arrived last month. It was off to a good start on Preview Nite. I tried doing what I normally do on Wednesday night and that's get most of my purchases out of the way and go around and talk to artists. I attended zoom events from artist Martin Hsu and artist-focused retailer DKE Toys. Picked some things from both. I also picked up a few Funko exclusives (as everyone mentioned in the Funko topic, there were a lot of..."issues" with the sale, so basically it was no different than the Funko booth. :P ), found a few more on Gamestop later, and tried to make sense out of SDCC's Virtual Exhibit Hall. I also had some non-work related stuff I had to finish up that I stayed up until 3 AM finishing. Although this sounds bizarre, it did have the effect of putting me in adrenaline mode for the next day, like would happen at SDCC.I set my alarm clock for a few minutes before 10 to start binging on panels, starting with Star Trek. I mapped out a schedule and tried my best to stick to it. I loaded the YouTube app on the big screen TV and loaded up my panel of choice as soon as it went live each hour. It was nice seeing panels as soon as they were available and hearing news releases as they occurred, though nothing was really groundbreaking. Still, there was a lot of interesting material. Bugs Bunny 80th and Superstore were the highlights of Thursday. New Mutants was also good.Same thing on Friday. I was glad to see the Cartoon Network/Adult Swim block that would normally be in Indigo. Spent pretty much all day watching that. Many of the new-ish ones caught my attention, especially Infinity Train. The final two which were established shows, Bob's Burgers and Archer, were actually disappointing (more on that in the panel topic.) I also finally got to see the Eisner Awards. I've been curious about it but it has never been a priority given that the DC Animated Premiere and many other events normally take place on Friday. But I took advantage of being able to watch any panel at any time by finishing my night with the Crossing Swords panel and then watching a couple episodes on Hulu. I read some of the souvenir book and then went to bed. So far, so good. Saturday is when the mood started to crack. I still had my schedule but couldn't bring myself to get up right at 10, knowing that I could watch the videos any time. So I got up at about 10:30 and began to settle into my @home routine but I felt pretty lethargic for sitting down the last two days, so I watched one panel and then went out to take an hour walk. I had started really missing the laps around the convention center. I got back and put on the Simpsons/Family Guy/American Dad block, took a nap, then put on Stumptown and Bill & Ted. But I couldn't gather the motivation to pick up ramen so I just had leftovers for dinner. Sunday...I'm mostly over it so I get up at 11 and didn't turn on the TV until 12. I tried flipping through my list, but then it hit me even more and I found it very hard to pay attention to anything. The only ones that held my attention were Looney Tunes (which was actually pretty great) and Next, which was moderately interesting. In one last attempt to salvage a last bit of SDCC spirit this year, I bought an official SDCC T-shirt and the two toucan pins. And that's a wrap for 2020. I agree with perc2100 that CCI and its panelists did a great job at making lemonade out of lemons. This isn't the con that anyone asked for, they tried their hardest to give us something rather than nothing, and I tried my hardest to get into it. I have absolutely no complaints about what CCI gave us, especially for the price of free. They did an excellent job at putting together the best show they could under the current circumstances. Overall I enjoyed the panels but watching them on TV just can't compare to the excitement that comes with being in person alongside the hundreds-to-thousands of fans. The online exhibit hall was also a cool idea but again, nothing like going booth seeing the products in person before you buy. I expected to miss those. Less expected was how much I missed the walk from one end of the convention center to the other, but now that's something I also look forward to once the real thing comes back. The only thing I don't miss is paying $1500 for the hotel room. (Or not paying $750 to split it with someone) :P
Nice post, good to see your history of attending, the changes to the event and this year.It didn't feel the same this year. I thought in theory I could watch more panels and not have to worry about conflicts, etc. But there's a certain rush you get from attending panels during the convention with your friends, waiting to get in, trying to walk across far distances and among huge crowds to get to that special panel on the other end of the convention area. There's a commitment to it that makes you want to stay in a panel longer than usual to make it worth it, and often leads to seeing good discussions you would have missed otherwise. Watching from home it is almost too easy, and thus too easy to give up on something and never come back to it. I certainly saw less panels this year than any year I attended Comic Con!