Well, it was that time of year again! Thousands of pop culture fans from all around the globe gather in San Diego, California for the annual Comic Convention! Four (five, if you got preview night) fun-filled days of panels, exhibits, trailers, and more, Comic-Con is a massive celebration of today's pop culture! Fans have an opportunity to meet their favorite celebrities, artists/illustrators, and authors of a variety of medias. This is one convention in which badges are sold out within minutes it goes on sale! Wow!
This year, my daughter, Mariah, and I were lucky to get badges for all four days. We were pretty excited that we did...not many people were able to get all four days...let alone preview night. But, if ever, I would be happy to just get one day, if it came down to it. Even one day is already exciting enough. This year, our focus was the exhibit hall, and the select few panels for anime, authors, and other television shows (that's if we can get in the room...haha!). We decided that we weren't going to camp out for those limited signings this year. We were already exhausted from our trip up to Davis for Mariah's orientation at the University of California, Davis! Yup! We did all that in one week...Davis then San Diego! Whoa! A lot to do, but all well worth it!
On our very first day, we got there early so we decided to walk about the Gaslamp district to see all the attractions that have been set up for this epic weekend! And...wow! They are always outdoing themselves every year! After the doors of the convention center were opened, we headed up to our first panel, the Shonen Jump: Naruto panel...that's one of Mariah's favorite animes. It was pretty cool. Speaking on the panel were those who work on the anime, game, video game...even a sculptor! Yes, every aspect of Naruto was in attendance for all fans and collectors alike! We were even treated to a great treat when Junko Takeuchi attended! She is the Japanese voice actor for the character Naruto! Mariah was so thrilled about this surprise! Junko Takeuchi also did a signing at the VIZmedia both later that day! Mariah was so thrilled to have met her! You know that we had to be there! Mariah even posted about this panel! Check out her post, here!
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| Junko Takeuchi, voice actor |
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| Junko Takeuchi signing a Naruto poster for Mariah! |
After the panel, we walked about the exhibit hall checking out the booths and stuff. There was a lot to take in, so, of course, we didn't get to everything in one day...hahaha!!! But, the booths were amazing! Many just like last year were interactive, fans were able to enter and "experience" favorite television shows, such as: The Walking Dead, Outlander, etc. The day isn't complete without grabbing some swag from various booths...hahaha!!! Also, individual signings are also a possibility at these booths! On this first day, it was a day full of authors! First, we finally met author/actor Amber Benson! Yay! We missed her at a Mysterious Galaxy event months ago, but on this day, we were able to meet and chat with her! Now, this time, I was the one that was absolutely thrilled...hahaha!! Not only that, we also caught up with another favorite author, Ann Aguirre! We even caught up with Leigh Bardugo! We were so bummed out that we missed her Ruin and Rising launch party, that it was important to catch up with her at SDCC! And...we did! Got my copy of Ruin and Rising signed and chatted with her briefly! It is always amazing seeing our favorite authors at various events!
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| Mariah with Amber Benson |
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| Jasmine with Amber Benson |
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| Mariah with Ann Aguirre |
While walking about the exhibition hall, after catching up with all these amazing authors, we passed by the 20th Century FOX booth, we glimpsed a signing with the Legends cast & crew! Whoa! Of course...it's a limited signing...hahaha!! But, we were able to get some photos of them, especially Morris Chestnut and Tina Majorino! Loved him from various television shows and movies, but the ones that stand out for me, that he starred in, was G.I. Jane, V, The Game Plan....and, can't forget, The Best Man movies! As for Tina Majorino, I remember her best from True Blood and Grey's Anatomy....both are my favorite shows! Didn't get the signing, but it was just-so-majorly cool to see them!
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| Morris Chestnut & Tina Majorino |
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| Morris Chestnut |
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| Legends cast & crew |
The first day was amazing! Checking out the cool displays and booths! Every year, it keeps getting better and better! After all the walking and meeting cool people, we closed out the day with final signing with the illustrator of the Teen Wolf bestiary...Swann Smith! Yup! This was an SDCC 2014 exclusive! MTV was giving out a Teen Wolf bestiary to fans that participate in any of the activities that they had set up. However, Swann Smith was signing the bestiary, so it wasn't necessary to do an activity at the time. How cool was that!
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| Swann Smith |
Wow! What a day! What a start for an amazing SDCC 2014 weekend! The exhibition hall was full of amazing and cool displays and set ups. It definitely would take more than one day to get through the entire exhibition hall and all its activities...and, boy, was it full of activity! But, for now, this was all the excitement we had on our exhausting first day at SDCC 2014!
View the full SDCC 2014: Day 1 album, here!
