less than 70 days till comic con 2006. instead of writing a speech, i went trawling on the net (when do i not) to the tunes of the ff7 soundtrack. snarkisms and general smart-assery commences in between the tidbits of useful advice:
bryan k. william’s massive site for comic con newbies and junkies
a hobo’s guide to out-smarting the jungles of comic con
my personal advice? hmmm, lessee…
- make it a digital camera with a ginormous memory card. take a bajillion pictures and don’t bother erasing them on-site unless the result is ultra-blurry. you never know what random stuff you’ve caught in each shot because there’s always just so much going on at the con.
- carry a huge lightsabre/wooden katana over your shoulder. force miscreants who didn’t shower to keep their distance from your space lest they wish to get a big whack across the head.
- watch your time there buddy. if you plan on going to popular panels (e.g. kevin smith, ray bradburry, sg-1), git yo ass in line at least half an hour before the doors open. otherwise your seating (or most likely lack there of) will suck, you won’t be able to see much, and you’ll hate the fat dude who didn’t wash his hair sitting in front of you guffawing and taking up the space of three normal peoples.
- save the shopping till friday afternoon. spend thursday scoping out the booths for prices, saying hello to friends, stalking that one particular artist you always wanted to have a drink with. the dealers’ room is always jam-fricken-packed on saturdays. further, the best events are always planned for this day, so wait out to your little heart’s content for panels on saturdays.
- if you’re a bargain whore, buy your loot on sunday afternoons. massive discounts and really tired booth people who’s attention spans are short. good times.
- fer chrissakes, don’t buy cawfee at the con’s starbuck’s. you’ll lose much precious time waiting in line. precious time that could be spent gawking at that statue of clone wars yoda.
- drink and be drunk. nothing funnier than to wander the dealers room slightly tipsy. do that at least for one of the days.