Before I get into my Comic-Con recap, I want to extend my thoughts and prayers to the people of Aurora, CO. It’s still hard for me to wrap my head around the senseless shooting that occurred there last week. It’s been on my mind all week long.

On a lighter note, it’s been over a week now since Rob & I got back from our 4th trip to Comic-Con. We had a blast as per usual. 🙂 Thought I’d share some highlights!

Wednesday, July 11

Well, hello there San Diego! I’m back again!

Comic-Con doesn’t officially start until Thursday but we like to get to San Diego a day ahead of time to check in to our hotel and scope out off-site events that might be happening. This year Warner Bros. held Extra at Comic-Con, an outdoor festival that took place just outside of the convention center. They were still setting up but the Batmobiles were already on display!

The original from the 1960s TV show!

From Batman and Batman Returns.

From Batman Forever.

And of course, the Tumbler from Christopher Nolan’s most recent Dark Knight trilogy.

I guess I forgot to take a picture of the one from Batman and Robin. I think that’s a sign.

Anyway, SO COOL to see all the Batmobiles in person. Speaking of which, I still need to see The Dark Knight Rises. STAT. Rob & I even watched Batman Begins and The Dark Knight over the past few days to get ready. 🙂

Another one of our traditions is to eat at Maryjane’s at the Hard Rock Hotel. The food isn’t great but SyFy takes over the restaurant during the Con and brands it based on one of their properties (this year it was the upcoming new show Defiance) so it’s always a fun environment.

After dinner, we walked around downtown and ran right into Jabba the Hutt.

And before heading back to the hotel we stopped by the arcade that Sega set up right across from the convention center.

Thursday, July 12

First day! We stayed at the Marriott Marquis, which is adjacent to the convention center (it’s the closest we’ve ever stayed!), so we woke up and saw the end of some crazy lines forming outside.

Can you see the line?! WOW!

While we didn’t get in THAT line, we headed out around 9a to get into a different one — for Ballroom 20 where they would have the Psych panel at 2:30p.

I KNOW. We waited in line for 5 hours. Surprisingly it went REALLY fast. We lucked out and had great conversations with the people around us.

Oh man. The Psych panel is always one of my favorites. I’m not going to bother detailing the panels — the entertainment sites are FAR better and more timely for that (check EW, Hitfix or TVLine) — but I’ll highlight a few of my favorite funny moments —

– If Shawn & Gus switched bodies, James Roday said the first thing Shawn would do as Gus is try to dunk. LOL.
– The entire cast called out Dule Hill for being over-protective of his food.
– Tim Omundson moderated the panel and showed a mini-slideshow of photos featuring Dule sleeping anywhere and everywhere.
– Dule poked fun at James & Maggie Lawson for the way their voices get super high-pitched when they see a puppy. James responded by saying that “only true dog lovers would understand.” SO TRUE.

I LOVE THIS CAST SO MUCH!

We’ve never been to a Dexter panel at past Cons so it was fun to see a different cast interact. But there was a strange moment when a fan asked Michael C. Hall about the worst lie he’s ever told. He said it was “that was delicious” — but then he turned and glanced at Jennifer Carpenter and I could SWEAR she gave him a death stare. SO AWKWARD.

We also saw the Beauty and the Beast and Elementary panels where they screened the pilots and the main cast and creators/producers had short Q&A’s at the end. Sadly, the former show looks… terrible. I wish it weren’t so because I like Kristin Kreuk. Though DAMN she is gorgeous. Jealous! The latter show has potential but didn’t really excite me too much. I’d probably give it a few more episodes next season to grab me.

After all the panels, we decided to check out the Dawn of the Con party being held at Petco Park by VH1.

It was lame.

So we headed out to Nerd HQ instead.

Much better.

And Zachary Levi was taking pictures for charity so we hopped in line. We only talked to him for a few seconds but he was so nice and incredibly down-to-earth. HUGE FAN!

Great way to end the first day of the Con!