I’m finally caught up to present day regarding sorting variants!!! It only took 6 months, haha. I had intended to finish this in August, but as I mentioned in the Part 3 post, I didn’t have the small boxes. I ordered 15 and that actually wasn’t enough, so the week after I started this, I was waiting on another 35 boxes. They all arrived in perfect timing and I got it all done.
This is from when I started on September 2nd.
I went from 71 boxes last time to end on 99 boxes this time!
7:46-9:00am – So, on Thursday, I was in the exhibit hall and noticed people carrying posters, there are some free ones that get passed out daily. When I saw the posters themselves, I did a double-take and freaked out! It was the 20th Anniversary poster for LucasFilm Animation which was given out earlier this year at Star Wars Celebration. The moment I saw it months ago, I knew if have to probably find it on eBay or something. So when I saw that poster, I rushed around to ask where people got it. It was of course at the Star Wars booth which is not been to yet. Once I got there, I learned that it was given out in the mornings and afternoon. At that time on Thursday it was around 4pm. So, on Friday, I went there at 2 something pm and they had already been given out. I couldn’t rely on the afternoon drop, so on Saturday, I waited in line to get into exhibit hall as early as I could to get one in the morning since that was the only exact time I knew they’d be given out.
9:13am – at Star Wars booth, got the poster.
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9:18am-2:10pm – Was in the exhibit hall.
I went to the Marvel booth for a photo with the Fantastic Four’s robot, H.E.R.B.I.E. and Marvel Unlimited exclusives, including a H.E.R.B.I.E. pin, an FF button and a Peach Momoko variant cover.
Then, I got in line to meet the comic book artist Bilquis Evely at her booth! I got her to sign both the trade paperback and the hardback of Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow. I’d had Tom King sign them last year at Baltimore Comic Con, so it’s nice to have both the writer and the artist having signed them. I had meant to congratulate her on her Eisner that she won during the night before, but I totally forgot, so I’ll have to do that if I ever meet her again.
I said hi to David Nakayama again with his FF shirt on. I always like stopping by artists who I’ve interacted with a lot online and end up meeting. Especially when they remember me and we chat and catch up.
I visited with Hilly Hindi of Hillywood creation. I met her and her sister Hannah in 2022 also at SDCC. Once I showed her the photo from 2022 and my IG, she recognized me and was very happy to meet again. She does love Hillywood fans. We chatted a bit and I had to tell her that I wouldn’t be able to attend the panel because it was at the same time as another panel I always go to. She was like oh no! Haha. But it was such a lovely conversation. I’ll certainly try to meet her (and Hannah) whenever they attend SDCC. And one day I’ll get to the panel!! And this year there were huge reveals at the panel! Gahh! But yeah, I got a signed print and a photo. I also was wearing their most recent Hillywood shirt based on their upcoming parody.
You know what? Pizza pretzels are very good. That was my lunch, haha.
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2:10-4:00pm – This line was a lot. It’s of course not the longest SDCC line I’ve ever been in of course, but I think it was the longest line this year for me. I was in line for the ATLA merch panel. And it was this long because of the possibility of the MTG promo card.
4:30-5:15pm – The Merch Nation: Avatar toys, games, action figures panel. The panel itself was nice. Most of the items were things that were on sale at the convention itself. But some were actual reveals. The best part of the panel was once they revealed that there would be giveaways via a trivia contest. Once the line was formed and the contest began, the entertainment also began! It was multiple choice shown on the screen and the prizes included a couple of all the products revealed during the panel and also the MTG promo card all signed by Mike and Bryan (the two creators of ATLA and LOK). All the men who rushed up to win the card FAILED SO HARD. They clearly barely knew about the show because even with the possibly answers on the screen in front of them, they still got the answers wrong. There were even times when three people picked each of the three wrong answers! Everyone else in the audience was reacting like crazy because we were like omg how could you get this wrong??? They were all really easy questions too. Of course the deserving actual ATLA fans won the prizes and the people who just wanted the cards were publicly humiliated by their own greed. That did make up for the fact that we all didn’t get the promo cards. We did all get a post card that was being given away elsewhere at the convention though.
– I didn’t take many photos because a lot of what was shown was stuff I’d already seen on the exhibit floor.
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Before I left for the day I stopped by Artist alley again, my first stop was the famous artist Humberto Ramos’s booth. I bought some signed back-issues and talked to him about how much I enjoy his art, especially his work on Champions and Strange Acedemy. He said he loved Champions and was very appreciative of my kind words. Then I stopped by David Nakayama’s booth and chatted with him again about what I’d been doing during the day.
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7:15-9:00pm – Finally, how I always end my Saturday night at SDCC, the Kevin Smith panel started. Usually it follows the Marvel Studios panel, but since there wasn’t a lot going on in Hall H that I wanted to see, I basically just walked into Hall H for this panel. As always, I laughed and laughed for two hours. I love ending my night with Kevin Smith’s panel. He always talks a lot and is such a great storyteller. Sometimes he repeats stories, but even then, his delivery is so good that it doesn’t matter. Afterwards, I headed back to the hotel.
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– Purchases of the day!
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Sunday (July 27):
Now, there was a big panel in Hall H on Sunday, but I just didn’t want to deal with all the hassle. That panel included George Lucas making his first SDCC appearance ever. So I just stuck to the one panel I had that day.
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7:48am – get in line for Amphibia.
10:35-11:30 – The panel that day for me was the Amphibia panel with Matt Braly (the show’s creator). It was a wonderful look-back at the show and an intriguing look forward to the upcoming comic miniseries. It was nice to have this panel because as Matt said, when the final season of the show aired it was the pandemic, so there was no SDCC, and thus, no Amphibia panel. He said he really would have liked that to have happened. He and the other panelists (who were storyboard artists from the show) talked about the show’s art book and Marcy’s journal that were both made in collaboration with TokyoPop. I had actually forgotten that he was creating a comic set after the events of the show. So it was great to hear news about it. We got to see some promo art and then some unfinished pages from the first issue, the last page of which had us all tearing up from the emotions it brought down on us. I really enjoyed this panel. On the way out I saw podcast host Hector Narvarro sitting in the front row, he was there because his girlfriend is an anime voice actor and she was one of the panelists on the next one. We fist-bumped quickly. I had seen him back at SDCC 2019, also very briefly.
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Right after that I met the voice actor Zeno Robinson!! I told him how much I enjoyed his role as Hunter on The Owl House and his other roles. I told him that he’s the second Owl House actor I’ve met, last April I met Mela Lee (Kikimora) at AwesomeCon. And I mentioned what I got to see at the Amphibia panel and he was excited about that.
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Next, I was in the exhibit hall for a while. I stopped by to chat with David Nakayama again. Later, I went to the artist Kehusak’s booth. I’ve met the artist a number of times at AwesomeCon and past SDCC’s. We chatted for a while on how the convention has been and stuff.
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Last year I saw Ryan Meinerding’s booth on Sunday but he was gone already. He’s the Head of Visual Development for Marvel Studios!! You’ll have seen his concept designs all over the place over the past 19 years. I told him I love his designs, that I have all the art books and his comic variants, and thanked him for his hard work over the 19 years. I took a photo with him. And then I left and came back to buy a print and get my marvel poster signed since I was like oh, I should definitely have him sign it!
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As I walked over to somewhere else, I said a quick hi to Timothy Zahn (creator of Grand Admiral Thrawn and Star Wars novel author). I told him I’d met him at a couple different conventions. I also stopped by David Mack’s booth for a moment and told him I’d see him again at AwesomeCon or next year’s SDCC.
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On my way out, I said goodbye to David Nakayama, he was happy to have chatted with me again and we said we’d see each other at next year’s SDCC.
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The final SDCC thing I did was go to the Doctor Who pop-up at The Harbor Club. UNIT’s Black Archive. It had a bunch of props and prop replicas from Doctor Who. It hd two parts, a photo-op out front in front of the current TARDIS console and a room that had all the props and stuff. It was made to look like the Black Archive from the show. There was also a nighttime version of the pop-up where it seeming like an escape room or something where you find clues and such but I couldn’t go to that. I will make a separate post about this and another Doctor Who-related thing I did on Monday.
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Posters I got from the Black Archive:
I head back to the hotel after that. And that’s that!
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Like other years, I really enjoyed being at San Diego Comic Con. I love the grandness of it all and how the city embraces it like with decorating building with ads and stuff. It’s just an amazing experience. Till next year!
(I did visit the Comic Con Museum on Monday July 28th, so I’m going to make a post about that too, though that will mainly be many photos.)
SDCC 2025 is over! I will miss it even with all the walking. I always enjoy the experience and some things are always the same, and others are sometimes different. I flew back yesterday afternoon. I was at a hotel again this year, though not the same one as last year. I did like last year’s better, but this one was fine. This year, there was a much reduced presence in Hall H, and therefore, I didn’t need to do any late night wristband line-waiting. Here’s the trip!:
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Tuesday (July 22nd):
Left for the airport at 6:18am, took off from Dulles at 8:35am. And landed in San Diego at 10:20am and was in my room by 11:26. It was nice to arrive early in the day so I could check in and just have the full day to relax and get to know the hotel. I caught up on social media and started checking up on the SDCC exclusives I wanted, organizing my schedule more and just enjoying the time before everything started. I ended the night with a nice dinner at the hotel and ordered a pint of ice cream from Salt & Straw (as the brand came highly recommended (IYKYK).
Oh also, I loved the ceiling in my room!
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Wednesday (July 23rd):
I had breakfast at the hotel, then I spent 7 hours throughout the day looking at SDCC 2025 screenshots I’ve been taking for months, to see which you can maybe make. Also typing up my schedule here took longer than I thought it would. I only ended up typing out Thursday’s schedule. That trend kept going each day, I had to find time to type it out for each day, on each day before.
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Thursday (July 24):
I ended up waking up at 5:30 each day of the convention. And on this day, there were a couple exclusives that were available online, so I got those before I left. I took the 7am shuttle each day. I got there at 7:30 and walked in to get my lanyard and merch bag that we get every year.
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My first panel was in Ballroom 20 (one of the large halls) at 10:0am and it was the Avatar: The Last Airbender 20th Anniversary panel. It was moderated by Janet Varney (VA of Korra) and the panelists were the two creators of the Avatar franchise, Mike DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko. The others on the panel included Jeremy Zuckerman (the composer of all the music from both shows), Zach Tyler Eisen (VA of Aang), Dante Basco (VA for Zuko), Michaela Jill Murphy (VA for Toph), Dee Bradley Baker (VA for every animal voice and random other characters from both shows), Jack De Sena (VA for Sokka), and Jennie Kwan (VA for Suki). It was great seeing so many of them on one panel! It was also nice that by now I’d met three of them before.
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10:00-11:07am – ATLA 20th Anniversary panel. They chatted about the anniversary itself of course. Each person gave a little intro. Then talked about what they’re all doing currently. We always got a video message from Mae Whitman (VA for Katara) saying she was sad that she couldn’t be there but was excited for the anniversary. Similar to last year’s Braving the Elements panel, we got some table-reads of some scenes from ATLA! The first was the Sokka and Suki scene from the station when they tried to enter Ba Sing Se the first time and then after that at Serpent’s Pass. The next one was at the Western Air Temple when Zuko wanted to join the team. Differently than last year, for each scene there were new sketches to go with the scenes drawn by Bryan. He also mentioned that he was working on something watercolor-related for Avatar Studios. Zach talked about his time after the show and how much the show means to him. Janet talked about Greg Baldwin and Mako (both the VA’s for Uncle Iroh)for a bit, before Dante reminisced about Mako. Each of them talked about which characters they related to most. The last table read was from the Sozin’s Comet finale, right after defeat of Ozai and up to Zuko’s speech at the end. Mike Talked a little bit about merchandise coming out. We were reminded that the day of the Aang movie is Oct 9, 2026. And finally, we got to see the first promo image from their next animated series (Avatar: Seven Havens)!! And lastly, Jeremy gave us a musical preview of the 20th Anniversary concert tour via Secret Tunnel! And Dee (and the others) were singing with all of us. This was such a fun panel!
There will be blurry photos just because a lot of the panels had low lighting.
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11:15-12:15pm – Panel two was The Dragon Prince: The Next Arc panel (also in Ballroom 20, so I didn’t have to leave the room). The panelists included Aaron Ehasz and Justin Richmond (the creators of the show), Jack De Sena (VA for Calem) and Dante Basco (VA for ___ (don’t want to spoil that reveal from last season). They spoke about the next arc. Which included a big surprise. The next guest dropped in and it was the director of product at Kickstarter. The third arc of the series is called: Azymondias: The Last Archdragon!! And we got to see a mini teaser! The title of the next version of the show is: The Dragon King!! And we got to see a promo image of adult Zym and Ezran!! The next season will be funded via Kickstarter!! The pre-launch page is open and available to follow. It’ll launch soon, not sure when. Then we got a sneak peak of the opening title card. It looks great! And we were introduced to one of the new actors, someone from Critical Roll who will play a dragon. We ended off with a Q&A time. Regarding some of the questions: The creators have known what the last minute of the show’s story would be from early on in the first season. There will be call-backs from throughout the show in this next season. They may look into how Calem and Ezran’s powers work within the world’s rules. I loved swing at this panel! I was very surprised by the kickstarted aspect. I can’t wait for more from this series!
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Before this next part, I had tried to go to the ATLA 20th Anniversary signing, but I didn’t realize that it was a ticket distribution activity, and tickets of those are given out in the morning. 12:35-1:30pm – So then I went back upstairs and got in line for The Dragon Prince autographs. I met Aaron Ehasz and Justin Richmond!! I told them all how amazing their show has been and I’ve been waiting since last year’s panel to learn more about the future they have planned. Last year they suggested that they had ideal for future.
I also said that I’d only recently finished season 7 so I was ready for the next arc! I asked about if we’re going to get another art book! They hope to get one made. Justin asked where I was coming from and when I told him DC, he mentioned family that went to AU. If someone hadn’t scheduled both show’s signings at the same time, at least Jack and Dante could have at this signing too.
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I was a bit early for my next signing. 2:00-3:23pm – I waited in line to meet a podcast host I’ve followed for over a decade, Maude Garrett! I told her I was a Jedi Alliance fan (the first podcast she co-hosted that I saw her on) and I showed her my Twitter in case she recognized it from back when I’d live-tweet during the podcasts. She remembered, which was nice. I started watching JA in March 2015, caught up on all old episodes by February 2016, and was there for the end of the show in August 2017. We talked about the Popcorn Talk Network (the YouTube channel network that those podcasts used to be part of. The network went under when the pandemic hit. And we chatted about some of the other hosts and and what things they’ve moved on to do. She was excited to know where I knew her from, it was a very fun conversation!
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3:27-6:00pm – For the next few hours I was wandering around the exhibit hall.
3:35-3:40pm – got a kid Goku figure at Tamashi Nations
3:50-3:54pm – got a 3D bag clip set that was themed on the Lilo and Stitch animated series.
4:00-4:20pm – I met Robert Timothy Smith! The young actor who played Neel in the Star Wars series: Skeleton Crew! And I was wandering around looking for a particular SW poster.
4:26-4:28pm – got a copy of the Daily Planet produced by the DC booth. It’s styled like a newspaper and includes information about comic history, present and future. It was vey creative of them.
4:40-4:42pm – I met the comic book artist Chrissie Zullo-Uminga!! Got some stuff and told her I love her work and style and I love when I see her animal themed variants. She appreciated that.
4:50-4:52pm – stopped by artist Jason Palmer’s booth and saw his Superman print. Loved it. I have one print from him from 2019’s SDCC.
Then, I was back at the hotel by 6:45pm. I ordered dinner and then also some cold sandwiches for breakfast the next morning.
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Friday (July 25):
This year’s Friday was different than previous ones. The major studios didn’t have big Hall H panels as they normally would have. So, I didn’t need to attempt the dreaded Hall H wristband line for Saturday! Since I was free, I did a bunch of other things. One of those things is something I’ve wanted to do since my first SDCC in 2019!
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7:33-7:40am – I got my wristband for a signing later that day. This was one of the two exclusives lottery things I got. This was a signing by the showrunner (Noah Hawley) and cast of the upcoming series: Alien: Earth.
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8:00-8:30am – For 30 minutes I got to finally hang with Bella while she waited in the exhibit hall line
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My next panel was the Lucasfilm Publishing panel. Which was about the next bunch of books, comics and audio in the franchise.
10:00-11:07am – Tessa Gratton, Soo Lee, George Mann, Ian McCaig, Cavan Scott, Charles Soule and Harvey Tolibao were the panelist authors and artists. For me, the biggest thing they announced was that regarding the High Republic, this (5-year) initiative is over but they’re not done with the HR Era yet!! They talked about stuff from the second volume of art of THR. Talking about novels.
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11:10-12:30pm – Waiting for this next panel took a while. This year there were a lot of MTG (Magic the Gathering) collaborations both inside and outside the convention center. And some MTG wanted the promo cards to resell. So, the lines for any of these panels or activities were very long.
12:32-1:27pm – MTG Spider-Man first look panel (Room 7AB, a VERY small room). We saw a bunch of Spider-character card reveals, learned about new mechanics and stuff. It was enjoyable. Though, there was no free promo card at the panel. That’s one reason why there were so many people lined up, almost every MTG panel had some kind of social media post suggesting that there could be cards at the events.
– Another panel with very low lighting.
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1:35-1:53pm – Went to the exhibit hall. Went to Hasbro and got marvel and MTG stuff. Went to TokyoPop booth 1837 for Amphibia prints.
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Sometimes while walking through the exhibit hall, you see unexpected people, famous or not. At 1:48pm, I saw the actor who plays the geologist Bert Kibbler in The Big Bang Theory, Brian Posehn!
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2:48-3:35pm – I got in line for my first signing via the exclusives lottery. I did get a signing one other time in my first year, but it was on Saturday and I was in Hall H all day. This was the aforementioned Alien: Earth cast and showrunner signing!! I met the cast of the show, and I let them know that I saw an early test version of the pilot last year and I was hooked! They were visibly very excited that I’d seen the episode and that I liked it.
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3:40-3:44pm – I chatted with comic book artist David Mack. He remembered me from Baltimore Comic Con last year and from AwesomeCon earlier this year.
3:50-4:08pm – I saw the wonderful Amy Jo Johnson (original US Pink Power Ranger) at David Nakayama’s booth. I met him for the first time last year and I always am commenting on his Instagram posts, so he remembers me. Amy Jo was there because one of the BOOM! exclusives was a slipcase for her Pink Ranger comic volume which as art from David on the front. I said hi to him and chatted a bit, mentioning that I’d be there tomorrow wearing his shirt design.
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4:24-5:00pm -I then made my way to the Geekscape network’s booth to meet up with a couple people. And on the way there, 4:28pm I briefly saw and chatted with Markeia McCarty, another former Popcorn Talk network host of a podcast I watched!! She remembered me by name!
4:35-5:00pm – I met with Christian Bladt (who I finally had met here at last year) and Katie Hampton, another co-host of Christian’s!! We chatted about various things, Marvel and otherwise . I showed them what I got that day and Christian showed me his items too. We took some group photos.
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5:06pm – On the way back to the shuttle, I saw Ashley Ekstein at Lego booth! I was on my way back to the hotel early because I had something to go to later in the evening.
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7:34-7:50pm – I was back near the convention center after having gone back to the hotel to shower and change into some new clothes. I walked to the Hilton.
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8:00-11:00pm – I attended the 37th Eisner Awards!! All SDCC attendees are allowed to attend these awards each year. Normally, I’ve always been in the Saturday Hall H wristband line and was never able to attend this ceremony. I was very happy to be able to. The Eisners are the big awards for writers, artists and such in the comic book world. We are kept separate from all the big names of course, but it was still an enjoyable experience. I learned about some new books and celebrated some artists and writers I know of who won awards that night. Then I went back to the hotel to sleep.
The visuals were amazing. I am seeing this twice more, one of those times will be in IMAX 3D, and I can’t wait to see the visuals in that format. I already know which ones will look glorious. The music was brilliant. As always, Gunn and his team know where to place music and make it all flow together.
The cast all did a phenomenal job. David Corenswet was fantastic as Superman. And he was fantastic as Clark (though I certainly want to see more of him being Clarke around others). He brought so much heart to the role. He showed strength and kindness. He exemplified what Superman and Clark represent in similar ways to how Christopher Reeve and Tyler Hoechlin both have represented those roles.
Rachel Brosnahan played a wonderful Lois Lane. Lois is a tough character to get right. I’ve loved most of the live-action versions of her. But the on-screen version of her that has always represented her the best for me has been the one from the Superman: The Animated Series. And I think Rachel felt the most like that version of Lois. She brought strength of character, conviction and heart to the role. I can’t wait to see more from her in the years to come.
Nicholas Hoult was an intriguing Lex Luthor. I think I still need to see more of him, but I like the way he was portrayed. It was similar yet different from other versions we’ve seen before. He held such command when things were going his way, but when things go wrong, you see who he is underneath. I certainly want to see more from Lex. I wonder where he’ll pop up next.
The rest of the supporting cast was also fantastic. The Daily Planet group was colorful and held such a presence. I need to see more of them in a normal setting though, I enjoyed them a lot.
The other heroes were a fun bunch! Guy felt like Guy, and I honestly wasn’t sure about Fillion in the role, but he was perfect! Mr. Terrific was so well-portrayed, he will be fun to see more of and how he interacts with other heroes. And I did enjoy Hawkgirl, but I need to see more of her character. But either way, Isabela Merced did a great job.
Lex’s group was frustrating on purpose, not the metahumans, the others, you’ll see what I mean. I understood why they were the way they were, but I still got annoyed, which is how we’re supposed to feel.
The antagonists were fun to see work. Their powers were cool. I do wish we’d have more about one of them, since she seemed to hold a lot of anger. The other, well, all of what they were made sense.
The world James Gunn has given us is very much lived-in. I felt the DCU everywhere. Yes, there were cameos (and they were PERFECTLY done), but the small things also made everything feel like a universe that just started but also one that’s been here for a while. Big Belly Burger for the win! I can’t wait to see more of the DCU. We’re finally here!
As I said before, I’m seeing this two more times. I’m very excited for those screenings!
So, for the a period of 7 days during the last 10 days, I finally continued to do another variant sorting session. But, unlike last August when I sorted 1 box of 8 weeks-worth of variants, this time I stored 6 boxes of 48 weeks-worth of comics!! So this ended 2023 and dipped into 2024. It was doable since it was spring break and the schools I work at all had the same week off. It was also Star Wars Celebration last weekend in Japan, so I was watching those livestreams at night which gave me daytime to do more.
The only thing I have left to do is just move the little boxes I sort variants into back downstairs.
This is what I started with once I’d finished arranging the first bunch into categories. Once I got done with this, I sorted the easiest sections into their boxes.
Once I’d done that, I had only the Complete Collections left to photograph and then sort, which took the most time. But before then, I saw that I added I think 7 boxes to the number I had before!
Next will be all the completed variant sets from this session. I will divide them into 4 posts I think. And they’ll be in the completed collections section.
That was such an amazing feature to watch. As I said before in my social media posts, I knew bits and pieces of what happened to him, but never most of these other things I learned today.
I loved seeing so much footage from home movies throughout this. It went back and forth from before to after the spinal accident as it went.
He was such a wonderful person in life. And even though he would say he wasn’t that person he played in his role as Clark/Superman, he certainly has been a figurative hero and a literal hero to billions of people around the world and will do so you decades and centuries beyond now, both thanks to his work as an actor and an activist (both before and free the accident). And his family will also continue to be a huge part in that activism as they continue that aspect of his legacy.
I still think he has been the best portrayal of Clark Kent/Superman that we’ve had in live-action on-screen. Tom Welling did a great job as Clark and a good job in one episode as Superman in Smallville. Tyler Hoechlin has been doing a great job as both roles on the CW during the past few years too. Henry Cavill just had the bad luck of bad writing and barely any character development or screen time to really tans out as either role. I believe he would have been amazing with the correct version of those things. And we’ll have to see next year what David Corenswet will bring to the icon role.
I am so grateful that Christopher Reeve was cast in the role and for him as a person to exist. He will forever be remembered for so many aspects of his life, and we love him for so many of them.
Happy 72nd Birthday, and thank you for so much. ❤️💙💛
I know that this came out last week, but as my last post showed, I was at San Diego Comic Con, and I didn’t get into the Thursday panel where they showed the movie. Hence me watching the movie and writing this up a week late.
Also. I wanted to do it like this so that this would be my 600th post!! Woooo! I still haven’t finished typing up the SDCC post yet, so when I post that, I’ll post this. (Just finished, so here we go!) I can’t believe it’s been this many posts!
First off, I enjoyed this very much. I still like the first DP the best out of the three, but this was so much more that just a Deadpool movie or just a Deadpool and Wolverine movie. This was a goodbye to the Fox Marvel universes. It was very well done in that regard. I assumed it would be something like this, but wasn’t sure how they were going to play it. The movie went by surprisingly quickly.
The way everything we’ve seen meshed together so well was fun. The buildup of what Logan did was well stretched out. The team-up aspect was so perfect. Two characters who’ve had their positives and negatives as stated by the fans over the years got so many things we’ve wanted, and other things we never knew to think about.
It was a bit sad that the cast from the Deadpool movies took a back burner, but that’s just because there was a lot to do and many many guest stars to see. Though, we’ll probably see them all again at some point I’m sure.
There were some cameos spoiled for me, but in the moments they happened, I was still so happy to see them that that didn’t matter really. And others I didn’t know about at all and thus, they hit like they should have.
Wade and Logan’s character development was clear and of the norm. They both went on journeys and they learned oh so much. I can only imagine what Wade will be used for beyond his actual appearances in a show or a movie going forward.
There was heart as always and total utter chaos everywhere else, haha. The humor and acting were amazing of course. Ryan was just born to be Wade. And Hugh did such a great job as another version of the same character he’s been playing for so very long. Everyone got some version of what they wanted with all these characters.
I’m happy I finally saw this and can be on the Internet normally again haha. It certainly will be great to see if again’
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Mid-credit scene: not really, but it’s just so lovely.
End- credit scene: Yes, it’s a fun little call-back.
Another SDCC has passed. It was at it usually is, chaos and amazing. Most things went well, a couple small things didn’t work out, but I had a wonderful time! Last night I flew back to DC, and Sunday was a busy day so I didn’t have time to make this post. At some point I’ll go with people and things will be a bit easier haha, but being at a hotel was really nice this year. One closer would have of course been better, but it was manageable. Here’s the trip!:
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Tuesday (July 23rd):
Went to the airport, my flight boarded at 5:38 but took off at 7:05, a couple little delays. Landed in San Diego at 8:45pm instead of 8. And it took me a while to figure out there wasn’t a shuttle so I called an Uber to the hotel. Got there at 9:50pm. I checked in. I asked about the free daily breakfast burrito and shuttle schedule. Got that information and went to my room. I was in my room by 10:08. It was a decent room, small but had pretty much everything I needed. before sleeping, I looked at screenshots of been taking over the past month or so of exclusives I wanted to try to get at SDCC, and see which I could maybe go for.
Wednesday
Wednesday was my relax and plan day. I ended up waking at 6 or 7 each day which is always good for SDCC. I continued to figure out my exclusives before going down to get my first free breakfast item. it was a breakfast burrito. then I finally looked at the SDCC app so I could go through the schedule to arrange my own. after I finished that. I spent the rest of the day doing stuff online so I could get them done before the whirlwind of the convention hit. I then decided on ordering some Japanese food, some stuff I’d had before others I tried for the first time. It was a great dinner! Then I slept.
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Thursday:
On Thursday I woke at 5:45 because there were exclusives that were being sold online at 6 and 7am respectively, so I had to be awake to snag those. That went well. then at 7:35am left for the convention center on the shuttle. I got there at 8 and walked in to get my lanyard and merch bag that we get every year.
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My first panel was at 10:30 and it was the Avatar: The Last Airbender podcast hosted by Dante Basco and Janet Varney, the voice actors for Zuko and Korra respectively. It was exciting to be watching a Braving The Elements show live!
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10:30-11:30am – Janet, Dante, Michaela (Toph), Greg (the second VA for Iroh) and Cara O’Neil (works for the publishing side of ATLA) we’re the panelists. They first chatted about Iroh and then read quotes and then read some scenes together. Those scenes included: from The Chase: Toph and Iroh meeting. From The Old Masters: Zuko and Iroh reuniting. Iroh’s speech to team Avatar. Another person arrived to the panel, Isabella Boettcher she works on current ATLA stuff that welll be getting next year. She’s been on the podcast before. She vaguely talks about upcoming things. Cara mentions the upcoming Iroh comic. Iroh’s Adventure Guide roleplaying game mentioned. We got a LOK comic reveal, the Mystery of Penquan Island. Then they asked us trivia to win prizes. The trivia questions were quite difficult! Haha.
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12-4:45pm – this chunk of time was essentially my shopping day. I was at the exhibit hall exploring. I ended up getting around 7 out of the 17 or so items I was interested in. But I also found stuff I didn’t know about. I got DW stuff from Titan, CMON, the DW booth, DSTLRY, Matsumoto, Kehsuk, and finally Dark Horse. I was surprised that I got even this many of the things I’d wanted.
1:00-3:10pm – at the Unknown Comics booth, I got a photo with Alison Sealy Smith (the VA for Storm in the X-Men Animated Series and the recent X-Men ‘97). I got a photo with Cal Dodd (the VA for Wolverine in the X-Men Animated Series and the recent X-Men ‘97). And a photo and signing with Allyson Court the VA for Storm in the X-Men Animated Series and the recent X-Men ‘97).
Then I met the comic book artist David Nakayama. I’ve followed him for years and it was fantastic to finally be able to meet him! He was lovely to meet, once I showed him my IG he realized who I was (since I leave comments on many of his posts), he was excited to meet me too!
As I left that booth, I walked by others and something caught my eye. I saw some images of various X-men evolution characters and the Swan Princess. I had to do a quick google search and realized that the character designer (Steve E. Gordon) for those (and other characters) was here and is had no idea! I always loved X-Men Evolution after the 90’ X-Men animated series ended. I learned about new characters that hadn’t been in the first show and I loved the character designs. So when I realized who he was, I said hello and mentioned that stuff. He was appreciative and I had to get a few things from him that he signed for free.
Next I went back to Unknown’s booth and Lenore Zann (the original voice of Rogue) was back from lunch. I met her and told her the same I did to the others. She said Thank you Sugah to me : ). by the Marvel booth and showed a screenshot of an email that got me a Peach Momoko (famous comic book artist) variant cover of a comic. As I walked around some more, I eventually passed by another comic book person I didn’t know would be there. I got to meet Marv Wolfman! I told him that Raven and Deathstroke are two of my favorite DC characters and I thanked him for his work and his creativity. I also mentioned I hopefully would be at Baltimore Comic Con to get things signed by him. He wrote so many famous stories and created some very well-known characters.
4:36-6:00pm – On the way to a panel, I passed by a hall that sometimes has celebrities at booths for signings. And I hadn’t realized that Michaela Jill Murphy (Toph) would have a booth up there! I thought she was supposed to only have signings down at the Nickelodeon booth in the exhibit hall. I had enough time before my panel that I decided to meet her. Eventually, I met her!! Took a photo with her and told her how much I love Toph and love her portrayal of her. And said I was at the panel and thanked her for being here.
7-8pm – the panel was held by BatInTheSun to promote the movie Legend of the White Dragon. This is the final project that the late Jason David Frank (the most famous and popular Power Ranger) was a part of. He’d wanted to create something in his own vision with his PR character Tommy for years but never was able to by any of the companies who owned the rights to the Rangers. So, this movie was his dream creation. It’s been in the works for a few years and we got to see a scene from the movie. That was the end of that day, I waited for the shuttle and went back to the hotel.
Friday:
Friday was an interesting day, because this year, there were no panels in Hall H on Sunday. So, some panels that would have been there on Sunday were moved to Thursday or Friday. One of those was the Doctor Who panel, which as most people know, is my number one franchise that I follow. So I had to get into Hall H on this day. But I also had to get into the wristband line for Saturday’s Hall H too. So, when I got to the convention center, I got in line for Friday’s Hall H, got in after two hours, and happily got to see that panel along with two others.
The others were The Boys and The Rings of Power. Both great panels.
12:30pm-1:30pm – The Doctor Who panel itself was wonderful. Seeing Ncuti and Millie there was fantastic. And their personal chemistry on stage was delightful. They really did seem like best friends. And Russell T. Davis was there too. He’s the person who successfully brought the show back, in 2005, from its long hiatus. And he’s been brought back again for his second era of running the show. They talked about the season that just ended recently, the upcoming Christmas Special, a little bit about the next season of the show, and an official announcement of a spin-off miniseries.
1:30-10:23pm – Then back outside I went to get into the wristband line. The wristbands essentially are supposed to guarantee that you get into the first panel of the next day. As you can see in that timing, I was in line for a very long time. I have gotten into Hall H in the two previous times I’ve been to SDCC without a wristband, but this time I really wanted to get to that first panel of the day. Finally, at 10:23pm I GOT A WRISTBAND! Now, the only problem with going for the wristbands, is that you don’t have much time to sleep between getting a wristband and needing to get in line the following morning. I slept just after 2am and woke up at…
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Saturday:
3:30am!! – So, I had a whopping 1.5 hours sleep! Because I was leaving so early, I couldn’t take the shuttle, so I Ubered.
5:26am-9:00am – I waited in line to get into Hall H with the other wristband people. Many of them had chosen to sleep in the line so the line was already pretty long. But, it wasn’t as far back I it could have been. While I was in line, I happened to see MiniSuperHerosToday ! I was a bit slow on realizing who I was looking at so he passed by and left before I could say hi.
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By 10:30am I finally got into Hall H!!
• 11:15-12:15am – The first panel was the Superman & Lois panel. This is the last CW Berlantiverse/Arrowverse show that’s still airing. This was its final season’s panel, so I had to attend. The actors for Clark and Lois were there and the showrunner was there. We were the first people to see the trailer for the final season. And it was a fantastic trailer. We also got to see, I think the opening scene of the season. I’m very glad that I got to see this panel.
• 12:30-1:30pm – Next was the BRZRKR panel, which is the comic that Keanu Reeves created. I haven’t read it, but I know it’s been very popular and it’s his passion project. The panel itself was pretty good. Seeing him in person was wonderful. He was joyful over this comic series and was announcing a number of things to come with his creative team. Plus he was awarded an Inkpot on stage!
• 1:45-3:15pm – Next was a longer panel because of was the collective Star Trek Universe panel. This includes all the current Trek stuff that is coming out or has come out recently. We saw trailers and scenes and it was pretty fun. I didn’t take many photos since I’ve not remotely gotten started on Star Trek. But I do enjoy Rebecca Romijn.
• 3:32-4:32pm – I always forget that this panel happens, but it’s always an amazing panel. EW’s Bold School panel which was exemplifying women in storytelling. There were female showrunners and actors who are all very well-known that get chosen to be on this panel each year. And they talk about the industry and their lives and experiences and how things have changed and have gotten better and what needs more changing. I enjoyed it a lot.
• 4:45-5:45pm – Spinning out of Matt Reeves The Batman, The Penguin is getting his own series on Max. I was already excited for this show, but the panel certainly increased my excitement. We saw a trailer and a scene. Colin Farrell was at the panel via video chat. And some of the other cast members, showrunner and Matt Reeves were all on stage.
• 6-7pm – Next is the biggest panel, the Marvel Studios panel. So much happened. We got a trailer for the next Captain America movie, a scene from it and from Thunderbolts*. We also got a kind of themed promotional trailer for the Fantastic Four. The main highlight was the casting for (a) Doctor Doom. We were all going crazy over this big reveal on the room. I always enjoy the Marvel panel, though since Marvel splits reveals between SDCC and D23 as of a few years ago, essentially since Disney+ started, it’s always felt like we want more from both.
• 7:30-9:00pm – and as always, Kevin Smith’s panel is the last panel of the day. I always love Kevin’s panels. By the end of them I’m always laughing and feeling heartfelt and happy about things. He is a person truly living almost every aspect of his dream life. It’s wonderful to experience.
• I slept around 1:30am.
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Sunday:
As I said before, there was no Hall H this time, so I didn’t need to worry about that. But I did have a couple panels to get to and some people to meet.
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8:12am – got in line for Exhibit hall
9:00-9:13 – I went to see Steve E. Gordon again to ask him to sign my Marvel poster and to tell him how much I loved his designs of Magneto, Wanda, Sabretooth etc. since I’d forgotten to on Thursday.
9:50am – I got into the room for my next two panels (as they were in the same room and one after the other). But before those, there was another panel.
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10:30-11:30am – Stargate’s 30th Anniversary panel. I think I’ve seen maybe one or two episodes of Stargate SG1. I remember the shows being on the air, but I never really got into them. But this was still a nice panel to watch.
11:45am-12:45pm – The first of the panels I was on that room for was the World of X-Men 97 and X-Men TAS. This was a wonderful time with a few people who had worked on the original show and one of the people who worked on X-Men 97. It was celebrating the past and looking forward to the future. We learned so much about what was happening during the original show! I think the last time this panel was happening at SDCC, I was also on the room, because that was when 97 had been announced but they only had concept art really for the show.
1-2pm – The second panel was the X-Men Fandom panel Celebrating X-Men 97. This had the whole main cast of the show present minus maybe one or two people. Season 1 was talked about a lot and season 2 was mentioned a bit. But mostly it was just us hearing about the experiences that were had by the old and new cast. Some of the actors from the original show reprised their roles and others just didn’t sound the same, so they were recast as other characters in the show and mostly new actors took those places. It was such a fantastic panel!
3-4pm – My final panel of the convention was the Jurassic World Chaos Theory panel. It’s a sequel series to the JW: Camp Cretaceous animated series from around when the pandemic first hit. The first series took place after the first Jurassic World movie and this second one is 6 years later, between the second and third JW movies. It was so lovely to see the cast together. Season one was talked about a lot and season two was hinted at a bit. And the panel ended by us, and the cast and crew watching the first episode of season 2 together! The season won’t drop until mid October, so it was really great to see the episode now.
4-5pm – For the last hour of the convention, I went back down to the exhibit hall to meet a couple people. First, I met Larry Houston (the director of the X-Men The Animated Series and consultant on 97). He had been the moderator of the first X-Men panel of the day. I got my Marvel poster signed and thanked him for all his work on X-Men and his other numerous animated projects over the decades and for his continued work on 97. He was very grateful. And when the photo was taken, he commented that he liked my lenticular kamehameha phone case. It was so nice to meet him. He fought so hard for that cartoon to be everything it was without the sensors or studios from from making changes to the show that he felt were wrong. That show, and certainly also 97, wouldn’t be anything close to what they were if not for him (and of course many others).
The next person I got to meet, was a podcast host of a podcast I’ve watched since March 12, 2015. Though this host hosts a secondary version of the podcast. His name is Christian. He’s a wonderful person who I’ve enjoyed chatting with over the years. I’ve always had good experiences with all the hosts of the podcasts I started watching back then and I’m glad that this show is still going whereas the others stopped a while ago. It was great to finally meet him! We talked about what I’d been doing at the convention and that he’d be mentioning my live-tweets from being in Hall H on Saturday on the next day’s episode of the podcast. I’m happy we were able to meet, I wasn’t sure it was going to work out.
The final person I met was back at the Unknown Comics booth. I had to meet Catherine Disher (X-Men TAS’ Jean Grey, X-Men 97’s Dr. Valerie Cooper). I told her I always enjoyed her voice as Jean and thank her for her hard work in both shows. She was so nice! I also had her sign my Marvel poster.
5:05pm – On the way out of the exhibit hall, I saw X-Men ‘97’s Sunspot’s voice actor told him I loved his take on the voice and that I couldn’t wait till more from show.
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5-5:30pm – As usual, the last thing I do at SDCC is go to Hyatt to exchange the tickets I got from Hall H for whatever items they have for me. I got some posters and a fan. While leaving I saw Tom Taylor (a famous comic book writer) and I thanked him for all his hard work.
I got back to the hotel, showered, ate, packed and then slept. After that, I checked out the next day and headed to my Aunt’s house before I will be leaving tonight.
As always, I had an amazing time at San Diego Comic Con, there were chaotic times and pains of my body and my wallet haha, but I always love attending and can’t wait to hopefully get in again next year!
As I said in the previous post, I’m still not caught up.
(OH, this is actually my 500th post!! Haha! That’s cool!)
The Oddly Pedestrian Life of Christopher Chaos intrigued me, I think I’ll enjoy it. I’m still loving the Vader BWR title. I’m not quite sure when this Warlock title takes place, I thought it was present day, but not sure. Excited for Ghost Rider and Deadpool’s stories. Daredevil & Echo’s first issue was interesting, so I’m happy to keep reading. Silk is always fun. The Thor storyline is so exciting. And this is the final Carnage Reigns issue, which is funny because I just read the first issue a couple days ago, haha. These Before the Fall of X issues are intriguing. The Harley plot is crazy, I love it. The other Dawn of DC issues are great! Can’t wait to get to these!
Covers below.
The Black Cat cover is a Pride variant. Werneck is such a graceful artist. This David Mack cover for Daredevil & Echo is just fantastic. I missed out on the David Mack artbook a couple days ago. Grumble. I liked this Heralds variant since it shows them all on the cover.
As y’all know, I love the movie poster covers.
This is the last (I assume) for the Taurin Clarke connecting covers for this event.
Of course, the next Jen Bartel cover.
I decided to put these foil covers together. I actually thought that this first one was going to be a fulfill cover, not just the title, but it still looks good. And the MMPR one is just amazing as all these foil covers.
Many of Sweeney Boo’s covers are incentive covers so I keep an eye out for them. And of course there’s another Jenny Frison cover.
I like that they did two covers for this. Though none of the other Swimsuit Variants have two. I wonder why not. I just thought this was fun, plus I enjoy the art.
So, these are a pile of variants that I had picked up from my store when comics started to print again after the Pandemic started. I had some variants in my box that I just hadn’t picked up and when I started getting all the issues that were backed up from 3 months of no comics, I had to pretty much get everything. And since I was catching up on reading alllll those piles, I put this pile of variants aside to take photos of at a later date. So, here we are three years later and I finally got to it! Haha! I literally had no idea what was in this pile since I’d not looked through it for 5 ish years.
I certainly wasn’t going to go through every single issue here since that would be way too many photos, so I just took this main image and then others of the same display.
Though I was very happy to be reminded that I got 21 variant covers of that Fantastic Four 1 from 2018 (that bottom 3 rows). It’s definitely the most variants of one issue that I’ve ever gotten. So, I think I’m going to eventually try to get all the other variants of that issue that I can XD. There are like 50-70 more, so that could take a while. But I had totally forgotten that I had all those.
I’m very happy to have finally gotten to doing this. And on a similar note, I also finally went through a ton of variants from 2017/2018 ish that I’d had in organized piles in a closet for all this time. I sat down for 6 ish hours and sorted them into the various themes and sections that I’ve been organizing variants in for the past 6 months or more. I still have to put them all in the boxes that I’ve been using for the newer ones, and I need more of those boxes, but it very nice to have taken such leaps in organizing them all after this many years. I
t was very nice to see some of the first variants for all the artists whom I’ve been collecting variants of for all this time again after 5 or so years in piles. I also now have a sizable pile of issues I want to get slabbed. I know that will take years to get through since slabbing is pricey.