🍀 7 Lucky Tips for San Diego Comic Con Badge Sales

We are all waiting with bated breath, constantly checking our emails and Twitter for any news on SDCC badges and the time has come! Here are some tips to get you prepared for the SDCC badge sale gauntlet!

💖 The BEST Part About San Diego Comic Con

From the very first time I attended San Diego Comic Con in 2009, I knew I was home. In the beginning I was caught up in the newness of it all. The stars and the swag, but as the years passed most of that faded into the background. I had begun to attend SDCC for something other than celebrity encounters and free stuff. I had begun going for friends.

After my 4th SDCC I began this blog, with the hopes of helping people have a great time at the con. My 1 year anniversary coincided with my 5th SDCC. I was so happy to be able to meet all my Twitter friends I had been talking to for a year!

Then 2014 happened. In year's passed, I sat entire days in B20. This year, for the entire con I attended only 3 panels and I was HAPPY!

I spent all of the con trying to figure out how to meet up with my Twitter friends who were now finally becoming IRL friends! It was so great to be able to hug these people I had been bonding with for the past 2 years.

SDCC is always completely hectic, but I found small moments to connect with the reason the con exists in the first place, the fans! We all have a common interest of one thing or another and it is great to be able to carry across the cities, states and world!

I could never have enough time with each person, but I am happy that EVERYONE I met was as amazing as I had known them to be online! Even people I didn't know were kind!

Thank you to everyone who made this SDCC the best 1 yet! I wish it wasn't another year until we meet again, but it will be worth the wait!

Nerd HQ 2014 Wrap Up by Nerd on the Run

By:  Nerd on the Run aka Els

I was fortunate enough to attend Nerd HQ for the second time this year, and it has become my favorite & most looked forward to event of San Diego Comic Con weekend! 

While Nerd HQ 2014 was similar to last year’s epic event, I believe Zac & the Nerd Machine made an even better experience this year.  And of course as with the three previous HQ’s, there was no SDCC badge required to attend, and the event was free to enter!  Here were a few AMAZING changes to 2014s Nerd HQ:

*New Tech:  The Nerd Machine launched an app (available for both Apple and Android devices) making all the Nerd HQ news & alerts for the weekend available in one place. In the beginning the app did have a few bugs, but by the time my plane landed in San Diego the app was running smoothly. And it was FANTASTIC!  

The app had listings for all the upcoming Conversations for a Cause, a place for last minute celebrity and/or panel alerts, and The Nerd Machine's Facebook/Twitter/Website easily accessible within the app. The Nerd Machine also incorporated RFID technology this year. Once you downloaded the HQ app, there was a place to register.  This free registration allowed you to connect YOUR social media and mobile device to a code that would be uniquely yours.  Upon arrival at HQ, you would show the confirmation code you registered and receive an RFID bracelet (and an awesome fancy medallion necklace).  This bracelet was awesome because if you took photos at the photo booth, you could scan the bracelet and your photos would automatically be sent to your social media sites and mobile phone.  With the tech, you could also check in for panels or at Nerd HQ itself.  While the bracelets did have a few issues, they were fixed as quickly as possible and worked well for me the rest of the weekend.  

*MORE Celeb Interactions:  There were 31 Conversations for a Cause this year, and while many panelists returned from years past, there were also new panelists added this year. Some of the conversations included:  Supernatural, The Walking Dead, Zachary Levi, Nathan Fillion, Adam Baldwin, Sesame Street, Orphan Black, The Maze Runner, and Stephen Amell.  Ticket sales went roughly the same as last year, and sold out just as quickly!  There were also more Smiles for Smiles opportunities with awesome celebs this year.  Some included:  Zachary Levi, Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Nathan Fillion, Alan Tudyk, Yvonne Strahovski, Retta, Missy Peregrym, Sesame Street, and Jason Ritter.  Once again, the tickets for any Conversation for a Cause were $22 and all proceeds went to Operation Smile.  Smiles for Smiles were $20 (cash only) and also went to the charity.

*Other:  Nerd HQ is a fantastic place for celebrity interactions and intimate panels, but there was still plenty more to do!  There were green screen photo booths by Intel, a 22 minute Alien Isolation demo (you’ll have to ask The Gamer Geek about that one!), as well as time to catch up with friends and make some new ones.  

Overall, I truly believe Zac and the Nerd Machine put on an incredibly fun and successful event.  (And if you weren’t able to attend or missed a sold-out panel, the Nerd Machine has graciously put the conversations on their You Tube channel for your viewing pleasure!)  But what’s even better was that us nerds raised OVER $260,000 for Operation Smile. That is over 1000 children’s lives CHANGED forever.  I hope that Nerd HQ continues this amazing and charitable event in the years to come!!

San Diego Comic Con 2014 - The Music Maven vs The H Hall Line

By Tillie Elvrum aka The Music Maven

I’ve been home from San Diego Comic Con for 6 days and I’ve finally caught up on sleep, my feet have mostly recovered, and my voice has returned (apparently I talk A LOT during the Con).  We’ve been busy here at The Nerdy Girlie re-capping all the amazing things we did at SDCC – we’d be remiss if we didn’t talk about this year’s H Hall experience.  After all – you truly haven’t experienced SDCC until you’ve spent some time in the H Hall line.

On Wednesday we went over to the Town and Country to pick up my badge – I was the only one in our group that wasn’t press or didn’t have preview night (huge thanks to my Baker Street Babe Kristina for scoring my badge during the sale).  They started handing out badges early so I walked right into the Town and Country – picked up my badge – and I was on my way to the H Hall line!

Badge in hand and I’m off to the H Hall Line!

There’s been a lot of talk about Thursday’s H Hall programming – many thought it was a pretty lackluster line up for H Hall – but I only really cared about the  DreamWorks panel because…well…BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH!  There was a lot of hype surrounding Benedict Cumberbatch’s first appearance at SDCC and I knew that this panel was going to be my only chance at seeing him during the Con.  I knew I would never make it into H Hall for The Hobbit panel because of our SherlockeDCC party responsibilities – and the chances of him showing up to the party were slim – so that just left the Penguins of Madagascar panel to get my Benedict fix.

So, at 3:20 p.m. on Wednesday I joined the H Hall line.  I was 25^th in line at this point and pretty happy.  I was a bit surprised that the line was so short at this point – where was the CumberCollective??? Clearly no one was quite as excited to see Mr. Cumberbatch as me – I didn’t care if it’s an animated movie – this was my chance to see the actor I love the most!  I was super excited and when I got in line it took about 5 seconds to figure out that I was sitting next to a Twitter follower and fellow Cumberbatch fan.  My Twitter friend, turned new real-life friend, Cheryl, made the whole H Hall line experience so much fun and helped make the hours go by nicely.

My view from the H Hall line on Wednesday afternoon – it was HOT and HUMID.

I knew this was going to be a LONG night.

What followed was 19 hours in the heat and humidity.  This was the hottest, most humid weather that I’ve ever experienced in San Diego.  It made for a really miserable experience.  I was lucky to have really cool people camped out next to me and we all took care of each other.  No one in our group cut the line, held spots for 10 other people, or behaved poorly – I wish I could say the same for the rest of the line, but sadly H Hall ethics can be a murky subject.  I wish I could say that the new wristband system that SDCC initiated made for a good experience, but on Wednesday night/Thursday morning there were clear flaws in the system.  Not sure how the wristband system worked on the following nights but I hope it had the outcome that SDCC staff intended.  Anyway, it was a really long night in the heat, everything was moist because of the humidity, and there were ants and spiders crawling all over everything!  In 25+ years of queuing in GA lines I will honestly say this was the worst ever.  But I knew it would be worth it once I got into H Hall.

The morning after – hot, sweaty, hungry, and tired…but still excited for Benedict!

Just a little after 10 a.m. Thursday morning they finally let us into H Hall!  At this point I was probably 60^th in line because there was a lot of line cutting and holding of spaces ahead of us – which was disappointing since I had stayed in my spot all night and only left to use the bathroom.  Others went and slept in their beds and showered, and showed up just before they condensed the line.  But whatever – at the end of the day I know I put the time in and didn’t participate in any shady behavior.  Once inside I was in the 8^th row and pretty much near the center of the room.  I was pretty pleased.  

I’m in!!!!!!!!!  Bring on Benedict!!!!!

Much to my surprise the H Hall never filled up for the first panel.  People were walking into the room right up until the DreamWorks panel started.  Weird, by H Hall standards, but there was a nice crowd once the panel started.  Craig Ferguson was the panel moderator and we had a nice sneak peak of DreamWorks’ upcoming animated feature Home.  It looked cute and we got to hear from the Big Bang Theory’s, Jim Parsons, who is the voice of the main character.  That was all great, my apologies to the rest of the panelist, but I was really ready to see Benedict at that point!  And then…it was finally time!

Benedict was introduced and there was a level of fan-girling that I’ve never experienced – and I’ve been in an H Hall panel with the Twilight cast!  Once things settled down we were shown several clips from the upcoming Penguins of Madagascar movie – everyone was in agreement that the Penguins have been the real stars of the Madagascar franchise and it was high time they got their own movie.  The movie looks great and as with any SDCC panel it’s insightful to hear from the makers of the film.  Of course whenever Benedict spoke there was utter silence in the room.  I didn’t really get the feeling that being at SDCC was one of his most favorite things to do – that may be just my own feeling and to be honest, when it comes to an animated film there really is just so much an actor can say about it.  The depth of the conversation comes from the actual directors and animators of the films – and Benedict and John Malkovich said as much during the panel.  I think another reason the panel felt a bit flat was the total lack of screening of questions from the audience.  Benedict was basically asked the same question four different ways – by the time the last person asked “What’s the difference between an animated film/live action, how did you prepare for an animated film, how was this different than other projects,” Craig Ferguson AND Benedict were a bit aggravated – there really wasn’t much more he could say and the whole moment was awkward for the panel and the audience.  Of course people were told NOT to ask about Sherlock or his other projects – so that really limited what people could ask him and that’s unfortunate because fans have so many questions.    But, in the end, it was still a good panel – John Malkovich was his usual quirky self, the other panelists were very gracious, and Benedict purposely got the crowd riled up when he said things like “I like to use my body.”  He’s a cheeky one that guy!

Here’s a bit of video I recorded from the audience Q & A’s.  I apologize for the shakiness – what can I say I was pretty excited for this panel!

So, was it worth 19 hours in line?  You bet!!!!  It was a fun experience with cool people and I got to see the actor that actually makes me want to watch TV or go to the movies.  My suggestion for his next SDCC – he just needs his own panel!

San Diego Comic Con 2014 - GIVEAWAY!!!

Though I wasn't too lucky with swag this year...YOU will be!  I have a HUGE amount to give to YOU my lovely readers who couldn't attend SDCC this year!  Here is just a bit of what will come in your awesome SDCC swag bag:

*SherlockeDCC tea, prints and posters

*Sonic BIG bag

*Grub Hub swag

*Bart Man fan

*PINS PINS PINS

*SDCC souvenir book and guide book 

*Gotham lanyard

*Nerd HQ necklace

*AND MORE!

Please only enter if you did NOT attend SDCC this year!  Let's give those people a chance to have a bit of fun!  Contest is only open to USA citizens.  SORRY, shipping is SO expensive.  I hope to do more International giveaways in the future...you guys know how much I LOVE YOU right??!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Contest begins on Friday August 1st and ends Friday August 7th!

GOOD LUCK!!

xo

BONUS GRUB HUB has provided me with FIVE $20 gift certificates!  So we will have one BIG winner and FIVE gift card winners!!

San Diego Comic Con 2014 - The Swag

Since my first year at SDCC the swag count has gone down dramatically.  This year has been the least I have ever seen.  But that means that the things I do acquire are of higher quality and mean more to me.  Here are a few of my favorites and a few things that took my money!

This year everyone at the SherlockeDCC party got an awesome swag bag!  I am so excited to read my High Voltage Magazines!  They are THE people to talk to if you want to learn about awesome music {other than our very own Music Maven}!  Make sure you check out their weekly podcast and follow them on Twitter!

Thanks to Adagio Teas, I will be sipping some yummy SherlockeDCC tea blend while writing all my wrap up posts!  

One of my favorite swags from the very beginning has been the HUGE bags that are given out.  I always collect as many as I can and a LOT of them went into making my Swag Bag Dress this year!  None have ever come more in handy than NBC's Constantine bag!  There was a freak summer shower while waiting in the Lego line and it kept me nice and dry!  I had to take care of my shoes :)

Speaking of the Lego line, I won my very FIRST Lego Mini Figure...UNI-KITTY!!!!  It was a two hour wait in the rain for one second of pure fright, but I won!!  Four out of six in our group did.  I have never worked so hard for swag in my life and it was completely worth it!  I cannot wait to try again next year!

It seemed like outside the con was where it was at for SDCC swag!  You didn't need a badge to play the Simpson's carnival game outside the Hilton Bayfront!  Pink donuts?  Yes please!

Nerd HQ had its annual mini con at Pet Co Park and jumping in the photo booth for some free pictures was one of my favorite things to do!  They even upload them straight away to your Facebook, Twitter, email and Instagram!

The best swag inside the con goes to The Outlander booth!  Along with highly attractive booth cosplayers, they were one of THE busiest booths around because of their gorgeous set up and awesome swag!  The Music Maven {Outlander's BIGGEST fan} went to the booth everyday!  She sadly missed out on the tee and tote, but was happy with the badges, shot glass, iPhone cover and bandana!

Now for what I bought!  My very first stop on Preview Night was the BBC America booth!  It was there that I bought Sherlock stuff for The Music Maven and Doctor Who stuff for myself and The Gamer Geek.  Upon exiting the booth though, I didn't see the heart tee and David Tennant tank!  It took until mid Sunday for me to make it back and purchase those.  I was so happy to have them take my money for a second time!  I was even wearing my hat on Sunday and they remembered me!

What was your favorite swag of the con?!  Did you notice the lack of it on the floor?!  One I'm sad I missed out on was the HUGE Reptar swag bag and the Jurassic World poster.

San Diego Comic Con 2014 - Night Two {SherlockeDCC}

By Tillie Elvrum aka The Music Maven

Last year The Nerdy Girlie co-hosted the first SherlockeDCC Party at San Diego Comic Con along with the Baker Street Babes, Being Geek Chic, Sherlock DC, and Cara McGee.  Almost as soon as last year’s party ended we started making plans for this year’s party, and with the absence of any official Sherlock panels or events at SDCC, the fans were really clamoring for a party to celebrate all things Sherlock.  It was our absolute pleasure to play host to 500 party guests on Friday night.  

Our fabulous view from the 9th floor of the San Diego Central Library

The party took place on the 9^th floor of the beautiful San Diego Central Library.  The venue was amazing with stunning views of Petco Park, the bay, and the Gaslamp District.  We can’t say enough about the amazing staff at the San Diego Central Library – they went above and beyond to make sure the SherlockeDCC Party went off without a hitch.

Gemeni performs at SherlockeDCC

Swag bags, food, Sherlock themed drinks, a Shoot Sherlock game, custom Sherlock manicures, merch, vendors, and a huge raffle awaited party goers.  The party was a huge success and we couldn’t have done it without our generous sponsors and contributors.

SherlockeDCC attendees had fun wearing Sherlock attire and deerstalkers provided by Elope, Inc.

Thanks to the following sponsors and contributors – please visit their websites and support them! Remember to tell them you were at the SherlockeDCC Party!  Thank you to the SherlockeDCC Sponsors without which we would have no party!

Adagio

Espionage Cosmetics

Go Pop TV

High Voltage Magazine

Watson and Holmes

Gold Bubble Clothing

FYeahCopyright

Quirk Books

Raffle table swag!

SherlockeDCC Contributors who made our raffle amazing!

Radio Official Art 

Fox Estacado 

Anne Kirn/House of Darkly 

Stitchy 

Hartswood Films 

Reapersun Art 

Artbylexie 

Detectivelyd 

Machomachi
Andrea Kendrick 

Veronica Nunez – Made the mini goodie bags with the fans/charms/bookmarks

Sora Reyes

Watson & Holmes

Chris Schweizer 

Gina Jasinski Jewelry

Atelier Ciel

Cara McGee 

Jackie Lewis 

Ashley at Geek Thread 

Elope, Inc 

CatPrint 

Stickers by Azzy's Design Works 

Tote bags by Polly 

Lauren Gallaway gives attendees Sherlocked themed mani's the entire night!

And finally, thank you to our wonderful volunteers who did everything from filling swag bags to manning the many tables at the party.  You took time out of your SDCC experience to make our party amazing and you are amazing!

We are forever grateful to these amazing volunteers:
Michelle Jensen

Elly Glavich 

Dylan DoVale

Lisa Tran 

Keeleigh West
Harriet Jill Herndon
Adalisa Zárate 

Gina Jasinski
Sarah Jones and Megan
Josh Blumenkranz
Amber Cendejas
Lori S.
Amber Hoffman
Adam Giorgi
Ryan Salerno
JD Elvrum

Tomika Gotch

Shelby K.

Ivy P.

Thank you to everyone for coming out, having fun and dressing up!!  See you next year!

Feel free to check out my Facebook page with ALL my SherlcokeDCC pictures and download!  Don't forget to download all the photo booth photos on Pixster's site!

San Diego Comic Con 2014 - SDCC Photo Hunt Results

SDCC is OVER and so is the 2nd annual SDCC Photo Hunt!  Thank you all for participating!  Here are The Nerdy Girlie team's shots:

I hope that you all had fun!  Here are a few of my favorites of YOURS below!!!!:

If you have any suggestions for next year, please leave them in the comments below!!  You can continue to follow all of our nerdy-ness year round over on Instagram:  @thenerdygirlie!

San Diego Comic Con 2014 - Courtyard Marriott Cosplay King & Queen Contest

Once I received my confirmation as press for SDCC, the press releases came rolling in.  One in particular caught my eye and I was super excited about!  Kelly from the Courtyard Marriott contacted me saying they loved my Everyday Cosplay on my blog and asked if I would like to participate in their SDCC cosplay contest.

Of course I jumped at the chance!  What I didn't know when I said yes, is that there would be some very special guests involved, Norman Reedus, Greg Nicotero and George R.R. Martian!

Once I arrived at SDCC I was given four keys to pass out to awesome cosplayers.  Two boys and two girls.  Right away I knew the girls I wanted to pick.  I have been great friends with Mia Moore and Liz Locksley via our Female Geek Bloggers G+ Community and was finally able to meet them in person at SDCC!

They graciously accepted my invitation, but sadly neither of the boys I picked were able to show.  But I was sooooo happy to be there to support and cheer on my girls!

The contest took place right over the pedestrian bridge near Petco Park on Saturday night.  Norman and Greg were the special guests on Saturday.  George would be the special guest on Sunday.  The crowd was HUGE and super happy to see both Norman and Greg.

The guys took the stage first and Norman and Greg crowned Robot Chicken as the winner!  You could tell that both judges were having a great time, as well as the cosplayers!

Next it was the girls turn.  I was so proud of Mia and Liz, they looked amazing in their Game of Thrones cosplays!  Sadly neither of them won, the cosplay queen ended up being Martian Girl from Mars Attacks.  I had seen her on the floor earlier in the week and she was super committed!

Thank you to everyone at the SDCC Courtyard Marriott booth.  It was so much fun to be apart of this and I hope we can do it again next year!  Check out all my pictures from the event on my Facebook page!

How NOT to Handle a Crowd of Fans at SDCC or The Matt Smith Photo Op

I am not one to do a rant piece.  It's just not MY personal style.  I try to find the silver lining in everything and now as I look back, this experience wasn't as bad as I thought it was, but in the moment, it was a bit hard to deal with.

{sorry for the lack of pictures!}

On preview night I happened to walk by the Lightspeed Fine Art Booth and see that Matt Smith was going to be doing a photo op!  I about lost it!  I stopped and just pointed and the guy was like can I help you?  YES!  He pointed me towards the back and I got all the info I needed.

The Hunny took The Gamer Geek's money and went back to the booth first thing on Thursday morning.  It was $100 for two of us to be in a picture at 1:30pm on Saturday and get one print.  Since it was SDCC and when will we ever see Matt Smith again, we decided to do it!

Come Saturday at 1pm we arrive at the booth to PURE CHAOS!  The line up against the wall near the booth is capped and the walk way around the booth is packed with people trying to figure out what is going on.  I find out that they are handing out raffle tickets.  But have NO idea what that means.  Neither did the volunteers.  We soon find out that Friday's photo op didn't happen and both Friday and Saturday ticket holders are trying to get queued up.

Today's monologue is called "White Girl Crying at Comic Con b/c Her Matt Smith Photo Op Was Cancelled." #SDCC2014

— lindsay ehrhardt (@raptorlindsay) July 25, 2014

FINALLY when the volunteers figured out what they were doing, we were told to come back at 2:15pm, that is when they would start calling the numbers in sequential order.

While waiting around to learn all this information, they were STILL selling tickets to the photo op! 

Now that is what really made me mad and wanted to write this piece.  I only heard this from someone standing around, but why on Earth would they do this to one, the fans, two to Matt and three they already had chaos surrounding their booth.

I had to walk away.  2:15pm rolls around, we try our best to stay in the vicinity of the booth to see when our number is called, they are doing 50 at a time.  If you have ever been on the SDCC exhibition floor you know milling around is against fire code.  So we had that to contend with too.

@LSFineArt Hopefully planning will be better next year. Matt Smith photo op was the most chaotic experience I've had in four years of SDCC.

— Joey Harris (@realjoeyharris) July 29, 2014

Around 3pm we were finally let into the line.  When we were up to the front, five people at a time were taken across the busy aisle, told to quickly hand over your bags to an unknown booth attendant and the pushed through the curtain to see Matt. 

This was the glorious part and wrote about it on my Saturday SDCC wrap up.  Matt was perfect, a joy and such a trooper.

Five seconds later we were out in another aisle where you could NOT move.  EVERYONE was clamoring for their printed photos, SDCC attendees were just trying to walk by, and the Summit booth was just about to have the cast of Insurgent walk out.  Basically you couldn't move.

@thenerdygirlie and there was no way I could do a 130 photo. Plus, the company running it was a disaster. Took an hour to get a refund

— lindsay ehrhardt (@raptorlindsay) July 29, 2014

I headed back to get our bags, one of which they almost didn't find, and waited at a booth around the corner for The Gamer Geek while he got our photo.  We were both very happy with our photo, but the experience {besides Matt himself} left me with a bad taste in my mouth.

@thenerdygirlie They were so unorganized too! I tried to get one with John Barrowman, was told to come in 30 min but he had left already

— Ally Leigh (@Shadeslayer909) July 29, 2014

I'm not sure who was actually in charge of the booth, but everyone that I encountered was flustered, angry and snappy.  I know it was chaos, but it wasn't the fan's who paid $100 fault!  Maybe sell less tickets.  Maybe don't do this HUGE thing on the con floor and maybe take a page from Nerd HQ's book and have volunteers who are HAPPY to be there.  One even yelled to the crowd to be nice to the because they were "not getting paid for this."

I really LOVE SDCC as you all know, but this one event just had to be talked about.  Now that I got it off my chest, if you were involved in any way, I would LOVE to hear about it in the comments!  And the next few SDCC posts I have lined up will be WAY more happy!

Hope everyone is traveling home safe!  I'm about to head back to LA now!