WonderCon 2014

I managed to score a press badge to WonderCon this year, thanks to The D20 Girls Project.

WonderCon, an annual pop culture convention, was held Easter weekend at the Anaheim Convention Center in California. It boasts of nearly 50,000 attendees, over 800 exhibitors, and approximately 250 hours of programming. WonderCon is produced and operated by San Diego Comic-Con International.

When asked to describe what WonderCon is like I often call it "baby Comic-Con" or "mini Comic-Con." With the transition being made from San Francisco to Anaheim there is a bigger draw for both the movie and television industries to make appearances.

This has been my third time attending WonderCon and I say with certainty this con is growing in popularity. This is made most noticeable by the wait time to get into panels. To get into Sunday’s Nerdist panel in the Arena, which serves as the equivalent to SDCC’s Hall H, I waited in line for two hours before the panel started. I scored amazing seats for this panel. However last year, I walked into Joss Whedon’s Much Ado panel about 5 minutes before it started and scored decent floor seats.

Another incident pointing toward growth is the selling out of badges. If you have plans to attend this con next year be sure to get your tickets early. Three day badges and Saturday only badges sold out before the con, and by Saturday morning Sunday only badges had also sold out. The badges for WonderCon are fairly priced.

WonderCon does partner with hotels to offer special discounts for attendees. I would definitely recommend staying at the Anaheim Mariott Hotel or Hilton Anaheim if feasible. If not, there are a ton of hotels and motels in the immediate surrounding area that are within reasonable walking distance.

I stayed at the Anaheim National Inn, which I booked through Expedia. I booked this hotel absolutely last minute and because it was the cheapest. I did not read any of the reviews before booking. This turned out to be an "almost" mistake. The Expedia rating was a 3 star and that was good enough for me. However, after I had booked I actually took a look at the comments and became very nervous about where I was staying. Luckily, upon arriving 

This is an excellent pop culture con to pick up your favorite comic, movie or television related merchandise. There is a great selection of tees, comics, prints and many exclusives to browse through.

This convention also attracts a high level of cosplay. Notable cosplayers at this con included Yaya Han, who signed prints at the Lion Forge booth, and Abby Darkstar, Wind of the Stars, and Ivy Doom Kitty who were featured at the Webble booth. Even if you’re not a professional cosplayer this community is incredibly accepting of novices. It really is about having fun and find other people who can share your fandom. If want a chance to view all the excellent cosplay an spot is right outside the front of the main convention hall by the water fountain. This is where many people hang out and show off their work. Of course, there is also the Masquerade, where professionals and amateurs alike compete for prizes. This year’s Mistress of Ceremonies was Ashley Eckstein.

Between all the panels offered and the huge exhibit hall you’re going to want to get food at some point. I would recommend staying away from convention food unless absolutely necessary. It is extremely over priced. Just outside the convention hall in the Marriot Hotel is a small food court that also includes a Starbucks. This is also the second year that WonderCon has hosted a small set of food trucks to set up in the main drag.

I was able to sit in on some panels this weekend as well. I caught the last half of the DC Comics: Batman panel and listened to the amazing Gail Simone talk about the upcoming Batgirl issues. I’m really looking forward to the upcoming issues #32-34 in which Gail said that everything she’s been asking to put into the comics for the last three years will finally come into fruition.

I attended both the Warner Brothers and 20^th Century Fox presentations. First up for Warner Brothers was “Edge of Tomorrow” starring Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt and featuring panelist Bill Paxton. The audience was treated to some extended footage of the movie.

Then came “Into the Storm” featuring panelists Steven Quale, Richard Armitage, Max Deacon, Arlen Escarpeta, and Jeremy Sumpter. Again, and really this is what these large movie panels are about, the audience saw extended footage of the movie.

The final Warner Brothers presentation was for Godzilla featuring panelist Gareth Edwards. This was an amazing treat presented by Edwards who gave the audience an awesome full body look at Godzilla and a special surprise story line.

After the Warner Brothers came the 20^th Century Fox movie presentations. Fox kicked off with “How To Train Your Dragon 2” featuring panelists Dean DeBlois and Jay Baruchel. The audience was treated to the first 5 minutes of the movie.

This was followed up with “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” featuring panelists Matt Reaves, Keri Russell, Gary Oldman, and Andy Serkis. The audience was able to see an extended trailer with additional featured footage.

“The Maze Runner” came next with panelists James Dashner, Wes Ball, Will Poulter and Dylan O’Brien with some great movie footage. A special surprise was an extended feature trailer for the upcoming movie “Secret Service.” And Fox then closed with footage of the upcoming “X-Men” featuring Simon Kinberg.

Next I caught the Bob’s Burgers panel with panelists Loren Bouchard, Dan Mintz, Kristen Sachel, John Roberts, and Larry Murphey. The audience was treated to an upcoming episode and the “lyrics” to the opening theme before the floor was opened to a Q&A session.

The final panel I caught for the weekend was the Nerdist panel in the Arena. This panel was hosted by Chris Hardwick and featured panelists Jessica Chobot, Brian Walton, Dan Casey, Malik Forte, Ben Acker, Ben Blacker, and Jocelyn Hughes. This was an extremely fun panel with Hardwick talking about what’s up and coming for the Nerdist channel and podcasts as well as the future of the Nerdist franchise. I had a great time at this con and would definitely recommend attending if you want an idea of San Diego Comic-Con International without the headache of the crowds and chaos that surrounds it. Also, when you’re done at the end of the day you can easily enjoy Disneyland and/or Medieval Times.

San Diego Comic-Con & Gam3rCon 2012

My trip to San Diego, and more specifically to Comic-con, almost didn't happen this year.

San Diego Comic-con is notorious. Not only for the convention itself but also for the inability to get tickets. Awhile back I was given the possibility of going to Comic-con for free. How might you ask since all the tickets had been sold out for months? Well, I work for a wonderful organization called The D20 Girls Project. We put out a monthly newspaper and quarterly magazine, as such, members can qualify for press badges. And with the help of my awesome assistant manager, Cryshayn, we were able to attain press badges. However, I struggled to actually get my badge from Comic-con despite the approval. For awhile it looked as though I wouldn't be getting a badge at all, and so, I began making secondary plans. I already had a hotel to stay at and knew that several happenings occur around downtown San Diego during comic con from a previous trip. One of these happenings is Gam3rCon.

So I contacted Gam3rCon to see if they needed/wanted any help. Luckily they did. However, shortly after I agreed to help out Gam3rCon, I finally recieved my badge for SDCC. So now I had two cons to attend. Woohoo!

Day Zero: Thursday

We left NorCal on Thursday late morning and decided to stop by Disneyland, because we can. Of course, this meant missing out on all of Thursday's panels at SDCC AND missing out on Nerdcore nights at Gam3rCon. Luckily we were planning on going to the Nerdcore show later that weekend. Disneyland was great, as usual, but not being used to SoCal, I didn't realize leaving the park at 11pm would mean we wouldn't get into San Diego until after 1am - oops. Luckily our host we so generous and nice, as well as our other roommates. Yes, we were those people, and stuffed seven bodies into our hotel room at the Hilton Bayfront. Being that it was so late we just literally threw sleeping bags on the some available floor space and passed out in our clothes.

Official Day One: Friday

My Gam3rCon staff shirt (photo courtesy of  T1nk the C0n Fairy)

Awoke at a decent hour, but not early enough to grab my SDCC badge, and got dressed and then headed directly to Gam3rCon. We met the awesome Robin, our volunteer co-ordinator, and got settled in. Even H4773r decided to join in on the volunteerism. I was set up to do street team work, which meant heading down the Gaslamp district near SDCC and promoting Gam3rCon. We headed out with our beautiful mascot, Fallen Flyte (aka Olivia) and spent a couple of hours promoting the heck out of Gam3rCon.

Fallen Flyte (photo courtesy of T1nk the C0n Fairy)

As soon as I was able, I ran down to SDCC and grabbed my badge and then spent what little time I had left wandering around the con. I had missed most of the panels already so I decided to check out the vendor hall and see if I could meet any of my D20 Girls in person. I found Cryshayn in the "gaming room". I use the verbiage "gaming room" very loosely. The gaming room is located on the Mezzanine section of the main convention center, which in of itself is hard to find (I actually had to look it up on the FAQ section to just find it). And then you make a turn and wander down a hall. Seeing as how I'd just come from Gam3rCon earlier that day, with 3 floors of gaming, I wasn't impressed. I also found Leah Rose from our Arizona location on the main floor.

Ermahgerd! Cermic Cern! (photo courtesy of T1nk the C0n Fairy)

After I enjoyed the wonders of the vendor hall and met a few other D20 Girls by just wandering around I headed back to Gam3rCon. I decided to walk back and enjoy all the sights of the Gaslamp district, but I could have taken the free shuttle that was being offered by Gam3rCon. There are so many restaurants in the Gaslamp. I was really disappointed that I wouldn't be able to eat at most of them because we were trying to save money on this trip. Although I did enjoy a delicious veggie burger at Hodad's earlier in the day.


Every evening Gam3rCon hosts some type of rooftop event/party. This night was the showing of Video Game High School, which also had a few of the stars making an appearance. I had actually caught this YouTube series earlier in the year in one of my random, geeky news feeds and was familiar with the opening episode. H4773r and I are big fans of Harley Morenstein from Epic Mealtime. I was a bit disappointed he wasn't able to make an appearance. Overall the cast was super nice and I enjoyed watching some more of this hilarious series before I decided to call it a night.

Day Two: Saturday

Saturday's outfit (photo courtesy of T1nk the C0n Fairy)

I woke up at a fairly decent but still not early enough to get to anything at SDCC. Instead I made sure to get breakfast and stop by a Starbucks on the way (not the one at the Hilton though because the line was out of the door). I made my way back to Gam3rCon and made swag bags until it was time to start my next shift doing street team work again. I had debated on wearing a costume that day, but overall decided that since it would be a long day I probably wouldn't have the stamina to tolerate a costume.

Fun story that happened while working for street team: A guy with a microphone and camera man approached our street team and asked Olivia if he could interview her for a segment. I only glanced at him and couldn't quite see his shirt to identify what company he was with, but I did notice he had what looked like a Fleshlight in his other hand. She immediately said yes and then he asked her what she thought about Fleshlights. (So it was a flesh light!) Her face drew a blank as she asked aloud, "What's a Fleshlight?" I immediately made some kind of face at Olivia who took one look at me and then told the interviewer that she changed her mind. I piped in with, "So that is a Fleshlight you're holding?" To which he responded yes, and then asked if I would be interviewed. To which I said, "Yes!" I was asked which superhero I'd have sex with (answer: Tony Stark), which superheroes I'd have a 3-way with (answer: Catwoman and Batman), do I own a Fleshlight (answer: no), would I consider buying one (answer: no, but if someone gave me one that'd be cool). He then mentioned Fleshlight/Hustler Magazine would be having a party that night and I should stop by. I said maybe, but I knew I wasn't going since I had a concert to go to that night.

I trekked back to the Cryptozic store with everyone to get picked up and then stopped in to check with H4773r and another friend to see how they were doing at Gam3rCon. I knew I had missed all the panels, again, but decided to head back to SDCC and into the vendor hall to pick up swag and maybe meet some more people. I did manage to find Adrianne Curry getting interviewed on the street and snag a photo, thanks to her awesome manager/friend.

Could I have more of derp face? (photo courtesy of  T1nk the C0n Fairy)

Honestly, I kind of forgot that getting swag at SDCC is it's own thing to do. You have to wait in line and run around from place to place hoping you'll make it before the line is either cut off or they run out of stuff. I managed to pick up a few things and make a couple of purchases for some friends who missed out on joining us. I also ran into/met Lili for the first time. She's one of my new hire for the California D20 Girls and has a great girls gaming group that she works for, The Mos Eisley Girls.

After running around all day I barely managed to pull myself away from SDCC to meet up with H4773r so we could attend "Nerdcore Nights." This was an event I wanted to attend for a few reasons. One, I absolutely love any chance I get to see MC Frontalot or MC Lars live. They're great performers and the concerts are fun. Also, I knew that Devil's Playground Burlesque would be performing and I wanted to network with people from The Gamer Girls. I had a great time for the time I actually spent there. Please check out this blog for my review on the show.

Sunday: Last day in San Diego

I decided to wear my costume, Alice from American McGee's Alice, on this day since I knew it would be a short day as far as work. I checked in with Gam3rCon and did my final day of street team work. There weren't any panels of interest on Sunday so I didn't feel horrible missing out on anything. And I did spend my last day back in the vendor hall picking up more swag, because really, that's all I could afford.

H4773r and friend playing Starcraft II (photo courtesy of T1nk the C0n Fairy)

After SDCC shut down I had planned a D20 Girl dinner meet up at the Hard Rock Cafe. It was a very small, but great event. I love when I get to meet other D20 Girls in person and just chat about geeky things.

The D20 Girls (Cryshayn, Leah Rose, and JC) at Hard Rock Cafe (photo courtesy of T1nk the C0n Fairy)

I ended the night back at Gam3rCon for their "Deconpression" event. It was a great day to end a long weekend.

At Deconpression as Alice (photo courtesy of T1nk the C0n Fairy)

Where we stayed

View from our room (photo courtesy of T1nk th C0n Fairy)

H4773r and I, in our old age, prefer to stay in hotels connected to the convention center. In this case it was the Hilton Bayfront. However, I honestly had no idea what price we'd be paying even splitting the cost amongst 6 people. In the future, I think we'll look into staying somewhere farther away and using the shuttle buses or the trolley to commute to and from the San Diego convention center. This year SDCC helped those out by extending the trolley running hours as well.

What we ate
H4773r and I usually try to be thrifty when it comes to food. We often bring our own snacks and items to make meals out of. H4773r has a huge preference to using MRE's. But we did eat out a bit. In general, the Gaslamp district offers a huge variety and pricing scale for places to eat. I enjoyed meals at Hodad's and the Hard Rock Cafe. H4773r ate at Cremolose. And then I did have an emergency meal at Papa John's pizza. There are also a few Starbucks around if you're in need of caffeine.

Veggie foods: I always bring vegetarian/vegan snacks with me. I also usually break my no dairy rule on vacations just because I have such a hard time finding decent protein sources. At Hodad's I enjoyed their veggie burger and fries (no cheese). At Hard Rock I had the Veggie Leggie (sooo good!) and enjoyed my side salad with a vinaigrette.

Parking
H4773r and I didn't have any problems with parking this year since we were hotel guests. We opted to pay the $27 per day to park at the Hilton Bayfront parking lot.


Overall trip
This trip was a wash for me. While I did get assistance in get my SDCC tickets and got a share a room (albeit, very expensive room), this trip was highly expensive. In general a trip to SDCC is expensive. I had quite a few of my roommates spend hundreds, almost a couple of thousand on purchasing SDCC exclusives. And this is in addition to hotel costs, travel costs, food costs, and cosplay costs (if you're into that sort of thing). Also, because of my  obligations I really feel like I didn't get to enjoy either con as much as I wanted. I didn't game at Gam3rCon and I didn't catch a single panel at SDCC.


I honestly don't know if we'll be heading back to SDCC next year. We've already missed out on purchasing the passes and since my article was never submitted to D20 I don't know if I'll be eligible for a press badge next year. If we do go next year, I plan on making the most of it by spending my day at SDCC and then joining Gam3rCon in the evening as an attendee.

Strategicon: Gateway 2011

Strategicon

On Thursday, after what seemed like exceptionally long drive, we made it to Los Angeles and our hotel. Seeing how H4773r and I are pretty broke right now I opted to stay at a Motel 6 about 2 miles from the con location, the Sheraton.  The Sheraton did have rooms available for the con, and it definitely would’ve been preferable, however it just wasn’t within our budget to afford a room here. Seeing as how the con runs almost 24-7 for the weekend I will definitely be looking to stay at the Sheraton next year when we attend Orccon. I thought the Motel 6 was fairly decent. It has clean beds and working plumbing, and that’s all we really need for a place to sleep at.

There are several fast food places nearby: El Pollo Loco, Little Caesar’s, Panda Express right near the Motel 6 and on the way to con locale is McDonald’s, Subway, Starbucks, Taco Bell and Carl’s Jr. As far as restaurants go the Westin has The Grill and there is a Denny’s near the Hilton. As well as within the Sheraton are some very nice restaurants: Rendezvous Lounge, The Brasserie, Paparazzi and a Starbucks. And within very short walking distance of the Sheraton is a Subway.

Wi-Fi in general was a bit hard to come by. The Motel 6 charges $2.99 per day (not bad, but not great). The McDonald’s offers free Wi-Fi and we passed by a local coffee place called Internet Café.  The Sheraton offers free Wi-Fi in their lobby area, but when hundreds of gamers are using it all at once you imagine it’s pretty slow.

We woke up fairly early on Friday, the first day of the con, because I had decided for the first day we were going to walk there. There are several parking lots nearby. The one right next to the Sheraton $10.90 (not including tax), was probably one of the cheapest. All other parking goes up from there. There is also street parking available. Right next to the Sheraton it’s free street parking for 2 hours between 8am-12am. Further down the road is a very small strip of street parking that’s free on Saturday and Sundays, 2 hour parking Monday through Friday. We did end up driving to the con and parking after Friday as walking seemed more inconvenient when I have to pick up and transport people.

My Friday was spent meeting my fellow D20 Girls in person,Rayne Stransky and Ammo Larribas. And then running around the con exploring and taking photos. H4773r spent all of his weekend playing Pathfinder/PathfinderSociety. I learned how to play a new board game coming out this week, Orbit. Doug, one of the developers, is a great guy and wonderful game player. Check out his game if you have the chance. We also did play a round of Munchkin (one of my favorites) Friday night. I also met some casting directors for a new upcoming reality show called “King of the Nerds.”

Early Friday morning board game room (photo courtesy of JC)

Games Library, Friday (photo courtesy of JC)

H4773r plays Pathfinder (photo courtesy of JC)

H4773r attempts to explain Munchkin (photo courtesy of JC)

Saturday I worked with the D20 Girls to give free guided tours for Strategicon. We gave a great one to a Girl Scout troupe (I hope I inspired new girl gamers!). Once we were done with the tours we had some time to take more photos (another project we’d been hired for) and I also just relaxed around the con. Along with my fellow D20 Girls we also met a couple of guys promoting NeonCon. Hopefully we’ll get some D20 Girl representation out there. H4773r and I spent our Saturday night participating in a con event, Dungeonmaster. (I will hopefully get some photos/footage later.) It was actually a lot fun for us D&D/Theatre people. H4773r was voted audience favorite and we won passes to future events.

Sunday was also another day working with the D20 Girls on tours, photography, and judging a costume contest. The costume contest was a little light on participants, but we had fun anyway.

The D20 Girls Project with winner (photo courtesy of Rayne Stransky)

Steampunk LARP GM

Angry Birds the board game

Video game room

I spent my evening hanging out in the video game room playing Left for Dead 2. I’d love to finish playing the single-player campaign.

Monday as our last day we were able to wander around the con and take in some more games. I think I was just too exhausted by this point to function clearly and mostly just people watched. After another exceptionally long drive we made it safely home.

I definitely plan on participating more next year and will make it a point to learn at least 3 different board games and play in at least one D&D/D&D-like game. I’m also looking forward to the convenience of staying at the Sheraton hotel. Maybe if I can get enough funds together I’ll treat us to an awesome dinner at one of the hotel restaurants.

Thanks to everyone who supported the D20 Girls Project and thanks to Strategicon for hosting us.

The D20 Girls Project

(photo courtesy of The D20 Girls Project Facebook)

So I've become involved in a new project. Specifically, The D20 Girls Project. I stumbled upon the D20 Girls Project FB when searching for geek gamer girls. I liked what they had to say about promoting geek/gamer girl awareness in the world and signed up. My first gig with them was at Wizard World Anaheim Comic Con. It was quite exciting because we got to help judge the costume contest.

In the last month or so I've been promoted from D20 member to D20 Assistant Manager of California to D20 Manager of California. It was rather unexpected and right now I'm focusing on organizing myself and the girls under my charge.

Honestly, I joined because I wanted to meet other girls with similar interest and possibly get into cons for free. Now I get to be in charge of setting up which California cons we go to and promoting the con and ourselves.

Photos from my D20 Photo Set (photos courtesy of Lisa Duarte)

 
 

Our Mission Statement/Purpose:
"The D20 girls try to promote a very positive image of female gamers, We break down stereotypes, we aren't barbie dolls, we don't come in one size, and we don't come in one shape... We are Gamers, and yes Girls Game Too!

The D20 Girls is a semi-unique business that combines Social Networking, Talent Management, and Event Services. Yes, there is a business angle to what we do, but we also push the social aspect much needed in the industry.

We also arrange with manufacturers, publishers, and conventions to use our girls as trade show models and spokes models at gaming and fandom related industry conventions across the US.

Why? Our project is crucial, because the gaming industry and related fandoms should be promoted by girls who are actually a part of it – NOT over-paid models who know nothing about the industry, or the people who are a part of it."

So, if you're a female gamer/geek over 16 years of age and want to meet more girls like you and go to cons for free please apply here. If you're a vendor/exhibitor and want a booth model with brains and knowledge and/or a customer service/sales representative please contact me. Or if you're in charge of a con and want the D20 Girls to help promote as a street team please contact me. Also, the D20 Girls are looking for advertisers and writers for our upcoming magazine. Advertisers should know that our magazine is distributed to over 3,000 people.

So yeah, we're a pretty awesome group and I'm excited to see what I can do with California cons next.

Anime Expo 2011: Day 0

Mood: Unimpressed

So we woke up fairly but as I was still trying to pack and had some last minutes errands to run we didn’t get out on the road til 9am. It turns out we still left at an ok time. And I felt like we made decent time. I was quite happy I didn’t get too car sick so we didn’t really have to stop as much. We did make one stop…somewhere to use the bathroom and have a snack. And then a second stop right before the Tejon Pass for Chipotle. (I can’t help myself.) I made H4773r listen to the latest musical tracks I downloaded-Wonderland, Addams Family, and The Little Mermaid.

We arrived in Los Angeles about 3:30pm (not bad). We got lost for just a second looking for our hotel but managed to find it thanks to VG Navigator (I love that “app”). We literally drove by the hotel and went “Oh! There it is” and then kept going to the convention center. They had pre-reg open til 9pm, yay!

We had parked downtown at our favorite lot, Joe’s Auto Parks, on Figueroa and paid only $10. (Stilll cheaper than SJ.) We then got in the line to get in the line. I am still not sure how the line was organized, but I do know that we waited in a line, in the sun, that didn’t move for almost an hour. I heard something to the effect of: they were letting people inside in massive chunks at a time. And we were the last chunk. So we waited about 2 hours to get our passes. I don’t think I would’ve minded much if I had been prepared to wait in the sun. Luckily, getting the passes themselves was easy, although I did threaten to kill one girl who tried to jump the line in front of me. She smartly backed off.

We did have a bit of an experience trying to get our stuff to our room. LisaLisa had already checked into the hotel but we didn’t have our room number. So there was something of a trial trying to get the car checked in by valet. And then for some reason I didn’t think to pull into the main hotel front to unload our luggage so we ended up doing it in the valet lot, but the valets wouldn’t let us use the dolley. So it was either haul the luggage up ourselves (about 15 bags worth) or have it sent up and then tip (because you should always try to tip). We had it sent up.

We’re staying at the Westin Bonaventure. Originally we were going to stay in the Kawada, but got bumped to the Westin because the Kawada couldn’t accommodate 4 people to a room. The Westin is pretty nice. The room feels a bit cramped, but that’s because we have 4 people and a ton of cosplay stuff and food (the Westin has a fridge in the room). The layout of the Westin is a bit confusing, but I do enjoy the “food court.” It’s moderately priced, probably just slightly higher than a mall food court, but they seem to have a nice selection, especially for vegetarians.

After getting settled in I then spent some time on a conference call for my new work/project – The D20 Girls Project. I am currently the Manager for the state of California. I’ll mention more in depth about the D20 Girls Project in a separate post. Through the D20 Girls I managed to land a paying gig at AX by working for a vendor, Anime Gift. I feel quite lucky to have landed a paying gig even though I’m still a bit unsure of what exactly I’ll be doing and that I’ll be the only representative tomorrow. But I’m a trooper and this isn’t the first time I’ve had a situation/job like this.

So until the joys of tomorrow, I’m going to enjoy my nice, comfy hotel bed.

Night World,

T1nk C0n FaIrY

Anaheim Comic-Con: Day 3

Last day...we finally got to sleep in. Again, H4773r didn't have to be at the Armor-Geddon booth til 1pm. We grabbed "brunch" at the Carl's Jr. by the hotel. As a note, they don't serve "grilled cheese" when you ask for it. They will however, serve a Famous Star with cheese, sans burger. Same damn thing in my opinion, but whatevs.We made it to the con and I was...confused. All the fan tables were pretty much devoid of fans. For a moment I thought maybe everyone had packed up early and went home. Turns out since a bunch of the celebrities weren't going to be there on Sunday, the fan tables were allowed to move to the celebrity tables.

I couldn't find Kryssie anywhere. I was told by the Orange County Star Wars Society that she was out on the floor networking. So while I waiting I finally did some shopping. New microns from Blick, Creepy Susie & 13 Other Tragic Tales for Troubled Children by Angus Oblong, a copy of The Maxx vol. 4 by Sam Keith, a copy of Preludes and Nocturnes by Neil Gaiman, and a copy of The Devil's Panties vol. 4 by Jennie Breeden. I really wanted Nigel Sade to sign by his strip, but I just ran out of time to find him.

When I finally found Kryssie she mentioned that she was going to spend the rest of the con networking and since we no longer had a booth I just took the day off. I hung out a

round the Armor-Geddon booth serving as back up when people kept coming by to take photos of H4773r's co-worker C.J. (she was dressed as Morrigan, sans wings). I think we've decided

that for future cons we're all going to try and co-ordinate cosplay outfits.

"Lunch" was procured from the Baja Fresh (I love burritos!).

As the con wound down I was able to help Armor-Geddon break down the booth. And here's where I get annoyed. Armor-Geddon paid to have people help us load. So we start breaking down the booth and are going through it pretty fast and we have no sign of the boxes that were supposed to have been saved. I go looking for someone to ask about what's going on. There was no one around for about 10 minutes. I finally find a guy who tells me that they're delivering the boxes right now. I go back and finish help breaking everything down. We're nearly done and still haven't seen any sign of our boxes. So N.B.L. goes to talk to someone. And, of course, our boxes were thrown away. So now what? They eventually let N.B.L. drive her van into the con hall and we loaded everything ourselves. So not complete bullshit, but definitely annoying. We really could've been done about 1-2 hours earlier.

When we finally got everything loaded out H4773r and I decided to spend one last night at Downtown Disney. We had dinner at the Rainforest Cafe and saw Rio at the Disney AMC theaters.

Tomorrow we get to sleep in a bit before hitting the long road home. I had quite a bit of fun at this con and wouldn't mind coming again in the future.

Anaheim Comic-Con: Day 2

Today has been a pretty damn awesome day. Since H4773r didn't need to be at the Armor-Geddon booth until 1pm we decided to take a trip to Disneyland. It meant another early morning, but I love Disney so it was worth it. We went on our favorite main rides and met up with a friend for lunch. Somehow I missed this gem in the all the years I went to Disney. We sing this song all the time around the theatre.

Since today was the main day and the D20 Girls would be helping with the costume contest (both the children's and adults) later I dressed in the only costume I brought-C0n FaIry! I met another D20 Girl-Crumpet and someone else that Kryssie would be interviewing, GNB Cosplay. I did use today to get a few pics of the cosplayers around. After being at the booth for a bit we finally made our way upstairs to judge the cosplay. Actually we weren't even sure if we were judging the cosplay. We had so little knowledge on what we were actually supposed to do: judge? M.C.? or both? When we got upstairs there was still a bit of confusion. Wizard World wanted us to do both, as there were only 3 of us D20 Girls we trying to figure out who would M.C., who would judge and who would kid rangle. Then the Winner twins showed up. Apparently they would help with the judging as well. Cool. So Kryssie M.C.'d, Crumpet kid rangled, and I helped with judging along with the twins.

I'm going put this out right now: I had no clue who the Winner twins were. I just knew they had booth in the celebrity section and had books they were selling. I actually like it this way. Then I don't fan girl over people and can actually concentrate on what I'm supposed to be doing.

Here's video that Wizard World did of the contest.

After the children's costume contest we took a small break to re-group and get ready for the adult's contest. We knew that Jason C. Miller (yet another celebrity I knew nothing about) would be helping us and we figured that Kryssie would M.C. again and Crumpet and I would help with judging. Then as we were dicussing with Wizard World staff how we'd run the adult contest we learned that the hosts of Down the Road Show would take care of the M.C. work. Kryssie was able to join us for the judging. We had a great time with everyone and I would love to do it again.

After the costume contest ended H4773r and I booked it back to Disney to get some use out of our passes. We had a great, but exhausting day.

Anaheim Comic-Con: Day 1

Another early day for us. Breakfast at the McDonald's by Disneyland followed by setting up the Amor-Geddon booth. We only had the one booth space, which is a 10x10. But it still took the three of us (myself, H4773r, and N.B.L.) about 4 hours to get everything into place.

My biggest complaint about the setup was the lack of lighting. We're using our knives to open boxes as well as displaying items with sharp points and working in very dim lighting. They didn't actually turn on the main lights until about 30 minutes before the con hall opened.

Also, it felt like we were in forgotten land. We left the boxes out on the floor because we were told they'd be picked up. And the ones we wanted saved would also be picked up. No one ever from the union actually came around to pick anything up. One of the custodial ladies came by and asked us if the boxes were trash and took them. The save for boxes we had to take to the union people.

After set-up H4773r and I went to get lunch. We decided on Baja Fresh, which is located in the Hilton's "food court." Their food court also includes Starbucks, Just Grillin, Submarina, S'Barro, and Mix Restaurant. This is slightly better than paying for con food, where prices range from $2-$5 for snacks and $4.25 (hot dogs) - $9.50 (pizza) for actual food.

After food H4773r and I had an extended break. I decided to catch up on my internet stuff. Internet options for the Anaheim Convention Center include free wifi, exhibitor wifi ($99.95/day), and pay-for wifi. Since it's impossible to sign onto the free internet I wound up walking all the way back to the McDonald's for wifi signal. (If anyone knows of anything closer, please do tell.)

I finally had the chance to walk around the hall right as it opened. The space is actually pretty small, to me. I'd compare it to slightly larger then the Fanime vendor room at the San Jose Convention Center.

I did spend some time assisting H4773r and N.B.L. at the Armor-Geddon booth until Kryssie arrived. Since I knew she would be alone and I wanted to get to know her and more about the D20 Girls Project, I wandered over to her table and pretty much spent the rest of my evening hanging out with her.

I'll admit I felt pretty undressed in comparison to Kryssie. She was dressed as Typhoid Mary and I...well I was wearing a cute skirt, a "Kick Ass" comic shirt, and boots. I just ran out of time to pull together a decent cosplay outfit.

The hall was only open from 5p-9p on Friday, but it felt like a ridiculously long day. I also didn't see any panels because I was at the D20 booth all evening.

Before calling it a night H4773r and I grabbed dinner at the Denny's right across from Disneyland. I really like this Denny's. The customer service is fast and great.