Derek’s SDCC 2019 Recap: Thursday

If you missed recap of pre-convention or preview night, head here, and you can also check out my Prime Video Experience recap right here!

It’s the first full day of San Diego Comic-Con, and unfortunately it started with a bit of a frustration. I rolled out of bed to see a tweet from Mondo that their line policy (which based on my recap last night, they seem to have outgrown) was changing. Their previous system was essentially ‘we’re full, check back later,’ but as they announced this morning, but as of today, they’d instead be handing out timed tickets letting you know what time you could return to shop.

Mikaela had an event to cover first thing, so I ran over to the convention centre (which was not yet open) to try to get my hands on a ticket for the booth. At 12PM, Daniel Danger was set to be there to sign his new IT artwork, and as I currently have three Daniel Danger Mondo prints on my wall at home (and loved IT), I was hankering to get my hands on this too.

Convention staff guided us through the E doors, up the stairs, and essentially around half of the building to stand in a massive crowd. We were told that this would be the fastest way in, and that other doors wouldn’t open until this crowd was in. Once 9AM hit, (which is when the expo hall itself opened up) this crowd started being let in in chunks, and by about 9:15 I was headed down the escalator back towards the expo hall. As it turns out, they had also opened all of the other doors, much of the crowd was already inside, and door E turned out to be pretty much the slowest way into the building.

I went over to Mondo (on the other side of the expo hall) as fast as I could, and I was able to get a ticket… for 6:00 (the last block of the day). I assumed that IT would be long gone by then (only 225 available), and I was also set to be away from the convention centre for an event starting at 6. Thankfully Matt said that he’d take a look for me at that time. He’s basically my hero.

I then ran to room 6A, as my favourite panel at SDCC, the WWE/Mattel panel was set for 11:15. There was one panel before it, the Funko Funkast Live, which was actually a really fun time. I don’t collect Pop! figures because once I start I would never be able to stop, but the group had me laughing and showed off a ton of cool reveals. There’s even a cool looking mobile puzzle came called Funko Pop Blitz in the works, which I’ll definitely be checking out whenever it ends up releasing. Also, now I need to convince Mikaela that we can collect Pop! figures.

A lot of the front area of the panel room cleared out pretty quickly once Funko ended. I was able to move up pretty much in the center, just three rows back, and ended up with the best seat I’ve ever had for this panel, which I’ve been going to for years at this point.

The WWE/Mattel Panel always features a handful of WWE superstars, and some executives from Mattel. The presentation always starts with a bunch of new toy reveals, and then ends with a Q&A with the WWE superstars. I’m not really much of a toy guy, but it’s always fun to see the announcements, and it’s need to get to see the performers in an environment like this. This year, some of the most well received announcements included a new Chyna figure, which would mark her first in 19 years, and a brand new line of WWE / Masters of the Universe toys. These looked awesome (and super cheesy), and were introduced with a special video by Triple H. They showed off a few of the designs on screen, and then revealed a special, physical prototype figure for Kofi Kingston, who is apparently a huge MotU fan, and it seriously looked like he was going to cry for a long time after this announcement. The Q&A felt fairly standard to start, with cute kids talking about being inspired, and asking performers what inspired them. Then, a guy dressed as ‘Macho Manana’ grabbed the mic, and… well, it ended up being WWE Superstar Drake Maverick, who is in San Diego on a mission to track down R-Truth and the 24/7 Championship, and to win it back so he can finally consummate his marriage. It sounds silly, but it’s the absolute most entertaining thing in WWE right now.

Following the panel, I was lucky enough to snap a quick photo with Drake, who did not break character until he disappeared into another room (even yelling “I will consummate my marriage,” before disappearing entirely). It was a fantastic moment, and a great end to the very best WWE / Mattel panel that I’ve had to opportunity to attend.

Next up, I tracked down Mikaela, we grabbed a quick snack, and stopped at the hotel to drop some things off. She left almost right away to conduct an interview, and I stayed behind to catch up on some writing.

Shortly afterwards, I figured that it was probably a good time to peruse the show floor, as my next appointment wasn’t until 6 (and I needed to see how those IT prints were coming along), so I eventually wandered back to the convention centre to check out some of the show floor that I hadn’t visited yet. Mondo said that IT was probably still going to be in stock (phew), so I started making my way back to the Geekscape booth (#3919 if you’re in San Diego), and promote got distracted again trying to see what the Entertainment Earth and Mattel booths were like. As it turns out, they were capped. They’re always capped, and both the Slim Jim Macho Man doll and Mario Kart figures were sold out for the day anyways. Dang.

Things were (are always) pretty hectic on the show floor, so Mikaela and I decided to head out into the Gaslamp to see what we could see. As always, protesters were out in full force, and the conventiongoers were spilled out into the area by the hundreds, filling the streets still blocks away from the convention center. We caught the tail end of a Syfy drum line (I love that they do these things), and then wandered over behind the Omni hotel to take a look at the Detective Pikachu activation. The movie releases on digital in just a few days, so Warner Bros Home Entertainment is in San Diego showing off a few pieces of Ryme City. The activation starts in a Pikachu-ed our train car, before moving into other rooms, including Howard Clifford’s office, a small piece of the Ryme City market, and a room with a Pikachu photo-op. Take a look at some photos from the activation below!

Next up, we went over to the Panda Express pop-up, which I thought was absolutely hilarious. Now, I love me some Panda Express, but everyone here was just so energetic, the staff was freaking screaming out in excitement, there was a dancing Panda (and the playlist was all fire or heat related songs which I thought was so funny), and again, this store won’t exist in a week. It was all in celebration of a new limited time dish, the Sichuan Hot Chicken. They even created a character named Pep-Pep the Sichuan Wonderpepper, who is a a little fireball looking dude who is pretty cute. The place was fun, the line was less than 5 minutes long, and the place offered up free samples of this new and delicious chicken, as well as beverages. Thank you Panda Express!

We were both pretty exhausted at this point (long before this point, actually), but there was still more to do. Next up we were headed to the Oxford Social Club for an event revolving around upcoming EPIX series Pennyworth, which is set in “1960s London, where Bruce Wayne’s legendary butler, Alfred Pennyworth, forms a security company and goes to work with Thomas Wayne, Bruce’s billionaire father.”

The event was held at the Oxford Social Club over at 435 Fifth St. The offsite is open to the public for Friday and Saturday from 10AM-7PM, and potential attendees will need to give a secret password to “access to the Velvet Rope, a high-society London lounge filled with gambling, drag, and cabaret performances, plus live music from the era. You’ll also find yourself inside a library that leads to an eerie poetry reading in the posh hidden headquarters of the Raven Society, as well as a dank dungeon where the membership’s darker deeds become clear.”

We went down some interestingly lit stairs which were guarded by some creepy looking… well, guards. I was actually wearing a Finn Balor shirt, and one of them even gave me a too sweet on my way in. Once inside, everything was styled like the 1960’s, even the cocktails that the servers were offering us (an Old Fashioned, renamed ‘The Alfred’, and another drink, called ‘The Esme’). Inside we were treated to musical performances, secret poetry readings (a guy was even hand-writing these poems for the event, and according to him his wrist was very tired). There was a library where ‘Raven Society’ members were giving attendees postcards, which they could fill out and address to their friends, and drop in a box to actually be mailed out, and also a torture chamber which made for a pretty neat photo op. Overall, the event was a fun way to be introduced to some of the themes of the show (and get a couple of cool photo-ops), and it definitely made me hopeful that the show will be picked up in Canada, as EPIX simply doesn’t exist there.

Following the Pennyworth event, a sleepy Mikaela headed back to the hotel (and even saw a DeLorean on the way), and I headed over to Seaport Village to meet up with Jonathan, Matt, and Gui for some food. Everyone else had pretty much already eaten when I arrived, and so everyone just sat around telling old convention stories and we laughed our asses off for something like an hour.

At this point, I was beat, and decided to call it a pretty early night. For Friday we were set to be up early (and probably out late), so it was important that I get a decent sleep as I’ve been simply exhausted so far. Matt and I returned to the hotel room, while Gui and Jonathan went elsewhere, and after a bit of chatting we all turned in pretty damned early.

Until tomorrow, this has been Thursday at SDCC!