I've held off this blog long enough, and now that I have more free time this weekend, I'd like to share the experience I had at Comic-con 2009...which was the best time I ever had in my life! :D
Let us start from the beginning.
I knew this trip would cost me, but it was all well worth it. Flying there from Miami wasn't so bad since I had some SF books and was trying to finish up the 3rd Phoenix Wright game on the DS--so everything felt smooth throughout the whole plane ride there. Had to plane hop to Texas, but once I was on there the gears started going as everyone around me were all Comic-con people. I knew only because I saw an art pad resting on the person 2 seats next to me and asked him "You going to Comic-con?", and after I had said that just about every person seated around me just looked at me and answered, from there we all discussed all about Comic-con and what to expect from the veterans explaining and also exchanging emails near the end. Funny thing is I didn't see any of those people at the con. Either way it was cool meeting them.
Off the plane I went and was already pumped...to the max!!! For years and years I have always wanted to go to Comic-con, and this is true because I used to collect Wizard magazine and they mentioned said con a whole lot--showing pics, interviews and giving everyone the idea that its the place to go for any hardcore fan of comics and other media related to it. So yeah, it was my time finally, my time :D
(And being 28 it is time already haha)
San Diego is so different from Miami, and I fell in love because of the weather and how beautiful it was. The air was so clean and the people were simply awesome. I wanted to walk from the aiport to the hotel but I figured the first time around I'd just take a cab. And that ended up being a much better idea.
Now there is a long story that involves why I didn't get all the tickets for each day but all in all it worked out at the end. Anyway, after getting dropped off the hotel (by now the level of being pumped was getting too dangerous levels) I waited for the Man, the Myth, the Legend...Da Great Ohmi!!! That's right, Capcom-Unity's Ohmi was my hotel roommate along with his friend and it would be the first time meeting him though we've talked a whole bunch of other times throughout the forums, especially the Chat Thread where I think if not for that I wouldn't have really gotten to know Ohmi and everyone else that I ended up meeting. So yeah, I have a lot to be thankful for--and yes thanks to Unity it was all possible!!!
We settled, hung out for a bit, made jokes, got some food, and then went on over to Comic-con for preview night. My eyes went SFIV-about-to-get-Ultra'd style! Because once I saw the mecca of all cons in front of me, I turned into a kid, even moreso when I walked in and saw right in front of me what I've waited so long to see...Capcom! So yeah for me it was a big deal, and man it was great. I bought stuff immediately and just wanted to hang out at the Capcom booth the whole time. I could have too, but I didnt' want to lose Ohmi's crew so I had to part from Capcom...for the time being at least. Oh and this was all Wednesday folks, so the party was just getting started. Seriously it felt like a party for me. The best kind! After a few hours we left, went back to the hotel and that was it for that day. I'm actually going to skip Thursday since I didn't go to the con but wandered all around San Diego. It was semi-interesting but nothing compares to the con itself, since that was the only thing on my mind.
FRIDAY
FRIDAYYYYYYYYY!!!! This is where it really started! I got up early, and that was normal but this time I just front flipped off the floor (where I slept) and just rushed to put on my costume--Ryu in his alternate attire in black! I couldn't wait for the others to get up (I might mix my days up about the waiting on the others part), but yeah had everything set! Even my black Capcom bag which I bought from Wednesday. To go over that real quick:
-Objection stylus for the DS with Phoenix Wright's finger pointing
-Crazy looking Carlos Blanka shirt
-Resident Evil candy
-Cammy 1942 shirt
-Bionic Commando tag
-Lost Planet for PC
-Lost Planet strategy guide
Most of that was all from the Capcom grab bag. But moving along, I was in awe of everything, especially the dealers room. It was just so frikkan massive. I'm talking about epic here! And of course the first thing I did was go to the Capcom booth. Rep that Capcom!
Capcom
I got in line to sign up for the RE: Darkside Chronicles demo (which would take place later in the day), so after that I just circled around the Capcom booth, stopping by the Dark Void vacation photo stand, where you take a cool pic which I have yet to upload. Met Seth Killian, Snow (didn't take a pic with Snow until Sat though), and other Capcom employees, who were all awesome. I don't think they actually knew how happy I was to be there, but I had to contain it or else I would end up looking like some super crazy fan hehe I kept my cool, but was definitely hype! DA HYPE WAS FELT!!!
S-Kill and me Street Fighter posing!
I lined up to play Tatsunoko VS Capcom--immediately picking Alex for 3rd Strike goodness and just to rep SFIII, and picked Batsu from Rival Schools. I must have played 8 I think, losing and winning but it didn't matter for me because the game was so much fun. Playing as Alex was a blast--he can even Hyper Bomb that one character that takes up the whole screen. Talk about beastly.
Friday madness never stopped for one second. Because I even hung out with Will from Capcom-Unity fame. He cosplayed as Abel and we definitely had a great time repping Capcom cosplay. Abel and dirty Ryu just diving into all situations, especially the often visited Stargate booth portal picture taker! Check it out!
Street Fighter: Fighters in Time!
Stick that fist out! Chunny where are your spiked bracelets at!? :O
Ultra time with Abel (Will), me (Dirty Ryu), and BigMex as BigMex
Yup, caught BigMex and I was happy about that since I mentioned I would like to run into him at Comic-con--he mentioned he would be there Friday and I caught him. He was awesome! He writes the best blogs and I always check on his page for any updates. They are always so in depth with tons of info. Too bad we couldn't hang out for long, so here is hoping for next year and more epic pics!
The Dark Void character walking around let me take a pic with him while handing me that blaster to let me control the crowd. Any fans who got out of hand, I shot them. No worries though since the blaster was set to knock out rather than destroy >D
Don't jump the line!
I even met Jun! Which, arrghhh I can't spell his last name since I always call him Jun--the producer of RE5! I even showed him my cosplay pics of when I was Chris Redfield, holding a Alligator for a prop, making it look like it was eating me. Jun found it amusing hehe
Jun is calm even when I was yelling (not really yelling)
Alright so here is another moment. This is one I loved. Next to the Capcom booth was the Ninja Turtle booth, which they were promoting the new TMNT fighting game for the Wii, TMNT Turtles in Time remake, and letting fans take pics with a creative background (if you were lucky two Ninja Turtles would appear to take pics too, which happened to me). I didn't play the games, because I enjoyed just watching and taking pics. Well while waiting in line, I saw Ernie Reyes Jr to my left, just chatting with one of the employees. I was shocked, because I've known about him since the Enter the Dragon days, the one that had Bruce Leroy and Sho'nuff! Who is da mastah!? Sho'nuff! Ernie was also in Surf Ninjas and the Breakdown. Anyway, I approached him and he was really nice, and then took a pic. Did I forget to mention that everyone in Comic-con was extremely nice? Because they were!
Me and Ernie!
Every booth gives stuff away for free like it was nothing. I mean just everything! No matter where you went they would constantly offer and give--everything was just amazing and I had my share of items. I even got to play Ace Attorney investigations: Miles Edgeworth for the DS! It was great for the few minutes I played, but then just handed it to this one dude who was waiting a long time. I didn't finish the demo but that happened a lot. So many other things would catch my attention, so I'd drift towards the direction of a new event. Even saw the Bayonetta cosplayer repping it for Sega! She was very pretty. She even got her camera to take a pic with me! Woo hoo!
I'll protect you from the creeps!
Another whoa moment was when I was standing near the Capcom booth, which was no surprise, and I look behind to spot Karen Dyer, the model and voice actress that was used for Sheva Alomar in Resident Evil 5. She was great as well, giving me a photo, letting me take a photo, and smiled because she saw my tag said Miami on it, since she either grew up or repped Miami at some point, or just South Florida in general. I'm not sure, I gotta look into it >:P
Get ready, Karen! Zombie battle time!
And that wraps it up! Part 2 should be coming up soon. I honestly can't remember what happened the rest of the day, but I highlighted the grand moments. I do know that when I went back to the hotel I was knocked out from walking all day. Oh man, San Diego Comic-con is ...the best!
