Best Finds of Wondercon 2012

As per tradition, here is our wrap up of the best finds on the Wondercon floor. As a Dealer's Room junkie, I always like seeing what I missed at various conventions, and enjoy providing that service for you readers as well.

Gaming Table
One of the absolute coolest booths on the entire floor, the gaming furniture created by Geek Chic is truly after my own heart. Each piece is individually made and can be custom fit for whatever type of geek you are. Need a place for your controllers to live? Done. Need a gaming table with a built in area for throwing dice? Easy! How about a simple way to organize your comics? Done! I mean, yes, these pieces cost between 2000 and 3000 dollars, but I JUST WANT ONE SO BAD. Oh man, the unnecessary items I will buy if and when I am a rich person. Beginning with a custom made table that makes playing Xbox and the Battlestar Galactica Board Game slightly more convenient for me. WOOT!

Nine more peaks at the best of the Wondercon floor after the jump!

Locke and Key Board Game
Every time I walked past this booth, I saw folks playing the Locke and Key game. From the makers of the extremely popular Walking Dead board games (or rather ONE of the Walking Dead board games), the Locke and Key game is card based and inspired by the Locke and Key comic. I'm a sucker for both card games and comic based games, so everything about this screamed WANT. Of course, I didn't have time to go buy it before Wondercon ended. Le sigh. But man, as soon as I own this, I am playing the crap out of it, don't you worry.

Quantum Mechanics EVERYTHING
Four words. Obsessed obsessed obsessed obsessed. Okay FINE, one word four times WHATEVER, the point is, QMx is the greatest company in the history of ever. The booth had items for sale on display, but also had an entire section devoted to prototypes, which had me losing my mind. Among them was a Viper model with a WORKING DRADIS. Let me repeat. WORKING DRADIS. I could have stared at that fluid blue line all day long. And on the shelf above that? A plushie viper and raider. Also, minor plus, the very nice guy working the area had a British accent. What's not to love?!

Game of Thrones Photo
After missing getting my photo taken in the Iron Throne at all of the conventions last year, I made it my mission to get my head on a pike. War is coming in Game of Thrones season 2, which means thousands of heads will roll. Thanks to some nifty green screen work, anyone who was willing to wait in a little line got to give their best dead face and see how they'd look without a body. Be sure to head to the Game of Thrones facebook account and sift through the galleries which range from extremely disturbing (some little kids partook) to the hilarious (some people are fanTASTIC at looking dead. Others? Notsomuch) and you might even catch the heads of something you know. Excuse me, used to know.

Lil Bookwormz
Hello, place where I will one day buy all of my baby clothes! If you too want your kids to get a head start on being intellectually superior to those around them (is that such a bad thing to want?!), then head to Lil Bookwormz. All of the designs are either famous quotes or graphics matched with the alphabet such as N is for Noir, S is for Science Fiction, W is for William [Shakespeare], E is for Edgar [Allen Poe] and so on. Plus a portion of all proceeds is donated to the literacy foundation, WORDs. There is no part of this I do not approve of. I wish I knew a baby for whom I could purchase a onesie! Get on it, friends.

Captain America Charm Bracelet
If only I had not already purchased @Eruditechick's birthday present, this lovely little piece of jewelry would have made the cut. Simple, sweet, and to the point, it's a great item for any Cap fan. Sad times for me, I neglected to write down the name of the company who makes this item, but you can expect me to have my eye out for them at C2E2, Comic-Con and NYCC later this year.

Watchmen Painting
I mean. That. I need to own. But like. Seriously.For only $100? I should have just bought it. Idiot, Muse!  Artist/rapper/producer/fanboy Rocom, also offered the Star Wars, Pokemon, and Fantastic Four pieces, featured above, but unfortunately none of them seem to available in his Etsy store. Dear Rocom, if you are reading this - hi! I love your work. I want to buy some. Please come to all the conventions ever. Love, Muse.

Lord of the Rings Valentines Cards
The perfect valentines cards for any geeky couples out there, made by Monkey Minion Press, who also boasted some fantastic buttons (love the ninja turtles set) and supercool prints (I will keep fighting, Cap, I will!) I highly recommend checking out their online store and perusing their goods at upcoming conventions. I fully plan on hitting them up for some birthdays later in the year.

Womanthology
This entirely female created anthology made its big debut at Wondercon, with both a panel and a booth in Artist's Alley. I contributed to the Kickstarter and am eagerly awaiting the arrival of my copy, but kind of wish I had purchased one there, just so I could have gotten it signed by some of the hundreds of women that contributed, who were present at Wondercon. The book is absolutely beautiful and I highly encourage you to pick up a copy if you haven't already!

Batman Corset
You can never go wrong with a corset. Or Batman. So a Batman corset is pretty much a no brainer. Pendragon Costumes, who created this item, had tons of other comic themed items, as well as steampunk, scifi, and renaissance outfits, covering the whole gamut. Whenever I see this corset again, I'm gonna take the next step and actually give it a try.

For more photos from Wondercon, featuring items from the floor, head to the All Things Fangirl Wondercon 2010 gallery.

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Here Are a Few Of My Favorite Things: Wondercon 2012

Cross-posted on Film.com


This weekend, Wondercon headed south to Anaheim where fans braved a stupidly intense storm and ridiculous traffic all weekend for the chance to see their favorite writers, creators, publishers, actors, directors, artists and personalities and hopefully take home a few souvenirs. We were on the scene from start to finish and compiled a list of the best this Wondercon had to offer. Details on the best finds of the floor coming in the morning.

Girl Power
Something that really stood out to me during Wondercon, especially in the main ballroom on Saturday, was the hearty amount of female empowerment. During the Sound of my Voice panel, co-writer, co-producer, and co-star Brit Marling talked about being fed up with the bland and sterotypical roles she was being offered, and after realizing her choices were get a sex change or create her own work, she began writing and producing, and soon both Another Earth and Sound of my Voice were born. The extremely well spoken creator struck me immediately as a great role model for disheartened aspiring artists out there, as well as fangirls in general. And fun fact - the film had a female DP in Rachel Morrison! Later panels saw Charlize Theron taking a real ownership of her take no prisoners sass, insisting that Michael Fassbender smells like "musk and chillies with occasional mint thrown in", and telling a small child who asked a question a. if he was single and b. if he would call her when he broke up with his girlfriend, Kristin Stewart talking about how great it was to play a strong character, and while never being unwise enough to insult Twilight, definitely seemed to have appreciated playing such a different character, and Milla Jovovich (headling the first ever series to have five films with a female action lead in Resident Evil: Retribution) discussing her weapon collection and love of She-Ra and Thundercats. Not to mention Maggie Grace and Emma Stone representing their respective movies without their male co-stars present. I felt some sort of unexpected camaraderie with the women on stage during Wondercon's Saturday that I don't recall ever feeling before. And that's not even taking into account the multiple female artists and creators with spotlight panels all weekend long, including Renae De Liz (debuting Womanthology!), Rebekah Isaacs, Carol Lay, Fiona Staples, Felicia Day and Jane Espenson. Hooray for fangirls!


More after the jump

Levity
Also very present in the main ballroom was a sense of levity. Charlize Theron and Michael Fassbender faux acting out the Prometheus trailer was silly fun and Milla Jovovich knowing all the words to Montage from Team America was a surprising bit of badassery. We also got to see lots of strong friendships inspire fantastic discussion, in the case of Brit Marling and Zal Batmanglij and Rian Johnson and Joseph Gordon Levitt, and hearty laughs in the case of Seth Grahame-Smith and Benjamin Walker, and Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum. The room had much more of a "I'm here cause I want to be" vibe instead of an "I'm doing what I'm told" one. This increased tenfold on Sunday when panels from Fringe and Community had fans in stitches, more details of which can be found in my articles highlighting those panels tomorrow.

Giveaways
One of my favorite parts of any convention is giveaways, and this Wondercon had an eclectic mix of awesomeness. Fox handed out Weyland Industries business cards and 3D mini posters for Prometheus and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, Battleship handed out heavy duty mini posters, Once Upon a Time created notebooks reminisicent of the book from the show, the Sound of my Voice booth had tattoos like Maggie's in the film and posters demonstrating the secret handshake, and the Fringe panel gave out raffle tickets, rewarding 50 of them with a free Fringe comic penned and then signed by Josh Jackson. 

Watchmen Prequels Calming Fears
Wondercon seemed to act a coming out party of sorts for the Before Watchmen series, set to launch in June. The beautiful #1 covers for each character were displayed at the DC booth and at their Saturday panel, the creators showed plenty of concept art as they talked about the process. Lots of people have been complaining about this series, but I am all for it. Why should Alan Moore's characters be untouchable? He who created the League of Extraordinary Gentleman will not condone his characters being used by anyone else? Really? The talent behind the upcoming prequel series is INCREDIBLE and they all radiate passion for this project, Len Wein in particular. Newsarama live blogged the panel and I highly recommend checking it out to assuage any fears you may have. 

LOOPER
Perhaps the best panel of the entire Saturday was Looper. The debut trailer brought the house down, stealing the show for many more than just me, and I felt like I could listen to Rian Johnson and Joseph Gordon Levitt talk forever. The panel was a regular love fest, with Levitt comparing Johnson to Spielberg and Nolan, noting that all three truly love movies, which shows in their work. More than one question directed love for Hit Record towards Levitt, and the admiration for him only grew when he expressed his love of The Matrix, Quantum Leap, and Isaac Asimov. When the audience reacted to his sci-fi shout outs, Levitt noted "You know you're in a cool room when Quantum Leap gets a bigger reaction than The Matrix." Johnson gave a much appreciated shout out to Primer, a film he loves, adding "I'm convinced Shane [Carruth] actually knows how time travel works." Consider this film now in my top five most anticipated flicks of 2012. Well done, boys.

Cabin in the Woods Screening
Although it's a damn shame this movie had no panel, robbing thousands of the chance to hear Joss Whedon, Drew Goddard, and that incredible cast goof off and talk shop for an hour, since this is a movie to best go into totally cold, perhaps it is for the best that my first true exposure to any part of it was a screening itself. Hosted by Geoff Boucher of the LA Times, the Cabin screening held at the Ultraluxe theaters (supposedly the most state of the art theater around, and yet, the screen was too dim...hmmm) was one of the major highlights of our Wondercon experience. Attendees randomly received passes to the event in issues of the Hero Complex magazine being passed out in front of the Convention Center. And this movie. THIS MOVIE. An absolute treat for horror fans, but accessible enough to be enjoyed by everyone, I cannot recommend Cabin in the Woods enough. The film is distinctly a Whedon/Goddard joint, and will fit perfectly into the oeuvre of work from all the Buffy-creators-post-Buffy. Speaking of Buffy creators post Buffy, the lovely Jane Espenson was in the audience as well and we have it on good authority that she too enjoyed the crap out of the film After the screening, there was a Q&A with Whedon and Goddard that answered some lingering questions and provided plenty of laughs. 

Nowhere To Go
Although I disliked everything about the layout of the Anaheim Convention Center (despite there being two sets of two escalators connecting the 2nd and 3rd levels, you could only go up one set and down the other. Why not have one up and one down in each set? WHY?!) and disliked the fact that getting anywhere in Anaheim is a pain in the ass, the fact that no one had anywhere to go actually made hanging out at night a whole lot more manageable. The Hilton Anaheim acted as what the Marriott next to Comic-Con used to be - the main hub for all libation consumption. Being the closest hotel to the convention center, the Hilton lobby was where professionals and fans alike spent their evenings. This led to the afterhours having a nice communal, classic con feel. Oh and the photo of Tintin has nothing to do with this, I just had to put it somewhere because ZOMG CUTENESS.

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Meet leetUP. Best. Idea. Ever. [Event]

If you've been keeping an eye on the social scene in various cities, specifically London or LA over the past couple years, you may have noticed more and more the emergence of the Art Party - a giant bash that encompasses fantastic underground music, art (live, displayed, interactive and multimedia), food, drinks, great people, and creative ways of letting attendees and artists interact. I've truly grown to love these types of shindigs, and the strong community building they promote, and am thrilled to let you know that a whole bunch of people we love and respect have found a way to merge the Art Party with the Convention, my other favorite kind of event, to create what has been referred to as a "Nerd Carnival". The idea of these two worlds coming together is just about the best thing ever and mark my words, this is not an evening you'll want to miss.



leetUP, developed by Attack of the Show darling Kevin Pereira, creator of G4 Charles Hirschhorn and company Iam8bit, appears as though it will hit all of these notes. An Art Party for the Geek crowd.

leetUP, a new live events series, designed as a celebration to share in the experience of nerd art and culture, will debut at Club Nokia in Los Angeles Thursday, March 1. The event is poised to bring an intimate dialogue, a social and conversational setting, to a festival of nerdly delights through panels and podcasts, music, games, and movies, as well as tech and toys.

“We wanted to celebrate all that is nerd — our love for the Internet, podcasting, tech, music, videogames — and remix them in a way that makes us social again,” said Pereira. “We’ve basically designed an intimate and experimental playground, for the discerning nerd, that will constantly evolve at each stop.”

The event will be hosted by Kevin Pereira (host/producer of G4’s Attack of the Show), with programming that includes on-stage podcast sessions with Kevin Smith (Clerks, SMODcast), Chris Hardwick (The Nerdist), Doug Benson (Super High Me), Felicia Day (The Guild), Greg Fitzsimmons (The Howard Stern Show), Jimmy Pardo (NeverNotFunny, Conan), Alex Albrecht (Diggnation, Totally Rad Show), Epic Meal Time and Ask a Ninja, with a special musical performance by VJ extraordinaire Mike Relm. DJ R-Rated will also provide ambience throughout the evening.

leetUP will also treat attendees to a variety of experiential zones, created exclusively for the event. These one-of-a-kind interactions with futuristic technology, videogames, and other lifestyle products will provide for the carnival playground between performances.

Tickets are available through Ticketmaster, the Staples Center box office or the iam8bit store in LosAngeles (2147 W. Sunset Blvd, LA, CA 90026)

For more information visit leetup.com, follow @leetup or fb.com/leetupshow.

Um. WHAT? Yes please. Wait. WHAT? This is real? This is a real thing? How has this not happened before? What will it even BE? You bet I'll be on the scene covering however this giant pot of awesome turns out. And hey, maybe if it's a hit, we can expect a similar version held during Comic-Con this year? But just in case we can't expect leetUP to reappear anytime soon, mark it on your calendar now - March 1st, 7pm, Club Nokia, cosplay encouraged. Can't. Wait.

Check out Complex for more details on what to expect

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Geek Girl Con THIS WEEKEND!!

This weekend is the first ever Geek Girl Con in Seattle and I am EPIC UPSET that I will not be there.

What IS Geek Girl Con, you ask?

From the press kit,

What is the first image that comes to mind when you hear the term geek? The boy who always knows the answers in math class? The men who wear their favorite super hero
emblazoned on their t-shirts? Or would it be of a woman? A woman who shares the same love for science, whether fact or fiction; can spout Tolkien’s Elvish; or who loves
to frag a few n00bs after work just as much as her male counterpart. Her image is not synonymous with geek, but that’s all about to change. GeekGirlCon is a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting awareness of both the current and historic involvement and contributions of women in all aspects of Geek culture.

Comprised of a group of volunteers, GeekGirlCon is an unapologetic coming together celebrating the female geek and is a convention that welcomes all ages, races, sexual orientations, genders and gender identities, creeds, physical and mental abilities, and familial statues. We are a gathering for the trekkie, the mathlete, the gamer, the otaku, the braniac, the engineer -- a home base where all tastes of geekdom can be sampled and savored. We are GeekGirlCon.

We know what it’s like to be the egg-heads, the nerds, the dorks. We know that confused expression when we accidentally ask if anyone saw the last Doctor Who episode or mention that we spent our weekend raiding dungeons. We get it. You’re a different kind of woman. But you are not alone.

On October 8th and 9th, 2011 at the Seattle Center Northwest Rooms in Seattle, Washington, GeekGirlCon will be an unprecedented event that will allow geek females to congregate, mingle, and share facts and fandoms with geek girls of all kinds. We want to meet you. We want to make this dream and our first annual convention a reality. To put it simply: Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to visit GeekGirlCon.com and join us. With support, attendance, and donations, we can make this happen. Help us, Obi-Wan Kenobi, you’re our only hope.

And according to the website, Geek Girl Con has *all* the classic Con staples like craft workshops, tabletop game tournaments, a masquerade, signings, a stellar programming line up featuring discussions on everything you could imagine and a dealer's room, plus some extra special events like Whedonesque Burleqsue and a GeekGirlConcert featuring Molly Lewis, Marian Call and the Doubleclicks.

Everything about this convention screams professionalism, fun, and comradery. The venue where the event is being held this year is unavailable next year, so the group is currently looking for a new location for 2012. I REALLY want to go next year, so if you know of a place in Seattle that can accommodate up to 2,000 people, get in touch with the folks at Geek Girl Con and make it happen!

And if you are attending the Convention this weekend, PLEASE tweet at me about it, link me to write ups and live blogs and photo albums! This Con sounds truly amazing and I can't wait to hear all about how it went and how much fun all you ladies had there.

For those of you who found this website from our All Things Fangirl bookmarks in the Geek Girl Con swag bags, welcome! We're thrilled to have you as a new reader :). Just head here to apply to join our Fangirl Academy.

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The Highs and Lows of D23

As you may have been able to tell by my incessant tweets and articles, this weekend marked my first D23 and boy was it an experience. What began innocently enough with a drum playing Mickey and a look at the new attractions being developed all over the world, ended with a panel that upset me to my very core, and of course, a nice batch of food poisoning from the Convention food. What happened in between had some good, some bad, and a lot of Deadpools wearing Mickey ears.

HIGH

Panels On Art & Artists
My favorite panels of the Convention were the sit down with Michael Giacchino and the look at the Character Design of Monster's University. What these had in common were a focus on the art, as opposed to a focus on the money behind the art. Taking Disney almost completely out of the equation allowed for enlightening discussions, genuine quotables, and the ability to actually learn something. Even though in both cases, a good majority of the audience left when the Q&A began (unfathomable to me), the people who stuck around got to see some lovely interaction, like a woman asking Giacchino about a specific refrain from the opening of Star Trek, Giacchino revealing the scores that touched him most (Lawrence of Arabia, Planet of the Apes, The Accidental Tourist, Star Wars), and a fun moment when the director of Prep and Landing, posing as an audience member, asked Giacchino when we was going to compose a musical to go after getting his EGOT. For details on the Monsters University panel and Q&A head here. I've heard similar things about the Art of Brave and Imagineers panels - when the event at hand is focusing on the art and interaction with fans, and not the theatrics and Disney Dog & Pony show, it's actually a wonderful way to spend an hour.

LOW

Arena Panels
Every panel in the arena was a regular potpourri of Disney propaganda, dripping with desperation and so enthusiastically egotistical that by Sunday's Marvel panel, I just about couldn't take it anymore. Instead of Q&As and genuine fan discourse, every person on stage read from teleprompters and left a cold, dead feeling in the room. I couldn't help but be bothered by this seeming need to control the show on Disney's part. Nothing real was permitted to happen and there was no room for surprises. With every single little thing written and planned out beforehand, the energy in the room was bizarrely minimal. I myself only felt compelled to clap a couple of times during the Studios panel, which showed off upwards of 10 new films over two and a half hours. Instead of being comfortable with us seeing what they had to offer and making up our own minds, we were constantly bombarded with the notion that "Disney rules!" as if them saying it enough times would make it true. And while certain films did stand out like Wreck It Ralph or The Muppets (which showed off stellar footage and a delightful live bit between Jason Segel, Kermit and Miss Piggy), they only could have benefit from a less controlled forum. Can you imagine Kermit and Miss Piggy answering fan questions, the way Pee-Wee did at this year's Comic-Con? How brilliant would that have been? In perhaps the strangest move of all, at the end of the Studios panel, the entire cast of The Avengers was brought out and except for Robert Downey Jr, no one said anything. This may have been acceptable as a surprise button at the end of last year's Marvel panel at Comic-Con, when nothing had been shot or read and they were simply announcing the official cast, but over a year later, with two weeks left of shooting, to bring the cast down just to stand there? It shows a complete lack of understanding where this film is concerned, where the fans are concerned and where marketing is concerned. No substance. All talk. Unacceptable.

HIGH

Pixar's Presence
On a similar note, everyone from Pixar seemed genuinely enthusiastic about their involvement. I believed that they were happy and love their jobs and every one of them was an inspiration. I got to know the faces and names of the creators (Right: Monster's University Dan Scanlan was kind of hot in college, no?....) and hear them talk about their profession that brings them so much joy on a daily basis. In all the mess that I find Disney to be, Pixar continues to stand out, with higher standards and a positive attitude that stems from something true.

LOW

Marvel & ABC's Presence
For some inexplicable reason, neither ABC nor Marvel had a booth on the floor. There were no ABC or Marvel exclusives, no comics or DVDs. Why? Why when you own these two companies, both of whom could provide products I would actually buy, why would they not have booths at your convention?! Not to mention the horror show that was Marvel's panel and the fact that there was exactly ONE panel for ABC. If there is any hope of my considering going next year, both Marvel and ABC have to have more of a presence. And not a Disnified presence, simply Marvel and ABC, doing their things.

HIGH

Dealer's Room Cosplay
One of my favorite aspects of D23 was the cosplay. I'm so used to people dressed up at anything Disney related being staff members, that every time I saw a prince or princess, I just assumed they were working. More than once I made the mistake of asking where something was only to be met with "Oh, I don't work here." I had no idea this many people were eager to dress up as Disney characters! And hilariously enough, the only non Disney character I saw the whole time was Deadpool. TONS of Deadpools. Many of them wearing Mickey ears. Why Deadpool?! Perhaps the least family friendly Marvel character of the bunch?! Whatever the reasoning, it was awesome.

LOW

Dealer's Room Booths
What an odd Dealer's Room this was. It seemed much more like a trade show, with an area dedicated to showing off the new Parks & Resorts plans, a whole stretch that featured only liscensed Disney products, most of which weren't for sale, and then the back part of the room, filled with Disney collectibles, that were for sale, but why on Earth would I ever buy any? It was fun enough to look around, as there were no crowds and barely any lines anywhere (except to get into the Disney Store booth, of course), but it was just kind of boring. I don't have kids to play in the kids area, I have no interest in owning parts from old Disneyland rides, I'm not about to buy any clothing with Disney designs on them and why tempt me by showing off your Muppets makeup line, if it's not available to buy, huh?

HIGH

VoluntEAR Booth
 One thing I did appreciate on the floor was the Volunteering booth, where throughout the weekend attendees could write notes to soldiers, make relief kits, plant seeds and more. In exchange, they got a sticker and a bag, but more importantly, got to do something good.

LOW

"Health" Booth
As someone who actually has an understanding of health and nutrition, I was a bit more than mildly offended by the booth focusing on how to have good health. Anyone who still propagandizes that milk plays any role in a healthy lifestyle needs to do a little bit more research and I was really bothered by the Disney branding that went with it. "Walking at Disneyland burns x amount of calories!" "Disney toothbrushes are really popular!"

HIGH

Free Cupcakes!
Call it bribery or call it good old fashioned friendliness, cupcakes were given away on multiple occasions, first by John Lasster in the Arena, celebrating Pixar's 25th anniversary and again on the show floor at the booth dedicated to children's birthday parties. While the Lasseter cupcakes were AMAZING, the floor cupcakes were still good and they definitely made me forget about any of the Convention negatives for a good ten minutes every time.

LOW

Convention Food
Tasted awful, was way too expensive, and made me sick. I've never encountered convention food THIS terrible before. Id you ever find yourself at this convention center, do yourself a favor and eat at the Hilton food court instead, where you can find Baja Fresh and freshly made Sandwiches.

HIGH

Plenty Of Free Time
With no crowds and very few panels, there was plenty of free time at this Convention to wander around, get free cupcakes, not buy anything, and if you were a member of the press, sit in the media room and write up the panels you just saw.

LOW

Plenty Of Free Time
My GOD, was I bored at night. I shouldn't have been bored, Louis CK, I know. I could have been watching TV or reading or using my imagination, but I was at a CON! A Convention! These are normally spent going out and drinking with friends or going to screenings or SOMETHING. Instead, I could have been found drinking in the lobby while reading or drinking in the hot tub starring at hot German men. Not that these are horrible ways to spend your evening, but seriously, some evening events wouldn't kill them.

LOW

Organization
For all of the control surrounding the panel content itself, myself and many others, were baffled by the lack of organization when it came to other areas, especially getting into panels. There have been many reports of attendees organizing lines themselves, without the help of any staff members, lines that in some cases were dissasembled when staff members got involved. The instructions for press remained unclear throughout the entire process, as they were told to wait in line, then not to wait in line, then to wait until everyone who was in line got in (despite having already left the line to wait in another line) to come up right before the panel for press seating, to do so only to discover there is no press seating, and so on. There was so little consistency, that a lot of the time, people didn't know when to wait in line, where or for how long, and would end up dedicating hours of their day to get into a panel that was so far from full, they could have just walked in five minutes before and not had a problem. To add to this frustration, there was only one - ONE - door we were allowed to enter the convention center from. Which meant if I had to go to the Arena or had a meeting at the Xbox booth, I still had to go all the way to the far side to enter.

So that about does it for me. I could include the LOW of I woke up Saturday morning with 15 bites on the small of my back, but since that concerns the Anaheim Hilton, not D23 itself, I can't exactly fault Disney, but it does mean I may be trying out the Marriott next time if I ever come back. All in all, a strange experience that has done a good job of putting me off Disney for the time being. If you're wondering about going yourself, all I can say is, if you loves you some Disney, sure. If you aren't obsessed with Disney? So not worth it.

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D23 - Disney Chomps Off Marvel's Balls And Marvel Likes It

Today at D23, in a Herculean display of awfulness, Disney forced Joe Quesada to explain to a half full audience what Marvel was and what it has in common with Disney. He explained to us how in lieu of talking about actual Marvel properties or making any sort of announcement, Disney specifically requested that he give the audience a history lesson. So, the one Arena panel I thought *wouldn't* be one big Disney dick sucking session turned out to be just that, yet again. Even down to the Mickey Mouse shirt and professment of love for old school Disney from Quesada himself. To his credit, he put together a great lesson and really did his best to seem like he was enjoying getting raped through the ear, but I skipped out on free Breakfast to spend an hour learning what I already knew, on this occasion infused with Disney Ego, so I was not a happy camper.

Thankfully, the Q&A portion of a normal Cup O'Joe was retained, though this also demonstrated that they *could* have done a Q&A during the Walt Disney Studios panel and simply did not. But the Q&A, bizarrely consisting of way too many Boom Studios questions from Disney fans (how many times can the man say Marvel isn't working with Boom?!), still didn't feel like the right experience, as most of the questions Joe could not answer. On top of that, the session was extremely short and when a fan asked if they could show the Avengers footage from the day before and Joe said yes, he was quickly shut down, much to the disappointment of the actual Marvel fans who stayed in the room after the massive exodus took place at the beginning of the Q&A.

While it was interesting enough to learn about Marvel's history straight from Queseda himself, it was inherently so skewed towards convincing the audience how well Marvel meshed with Disney, that I felt like I was somehow being lied to or deceived. Something felt very wrong about being hit over the head with what Marvel and Disney had in common (If you're wondering - "Storytelling, Community, Accessibility, Appeals to all ages"), when one of these companies I love so much and the other, I have such a massive like/hate relationship with. A relationship that wasn't helped by ANYTHING at D23, I'll tell you that much.

And you know what I kept thinking of during this Disney & Marvel making a baby love-fest? Jack Kirby. The family and estate of whom Disney fucked out of their rights earlier this summer. Work for hire blah blah blah 1909 bullshit laws, I don't give a shit, someone should have had some compassion, and that someone is never Disney. Awfully devilish in the courtroom for all their hemming and hawwing about being about love and family, aren't they? Yeah, your family values really show when you screw Jack Kirby's family out of anything that should rightfully belong to them. I won't argue about the invalidity of an archane act, developed before artists even understood the meaning of what not owning the rights to your own work meant, but I will say that I was not the only one with Kirby on the mind. A giant section of fans screamed wildly when his name was announced as one of the first to create for Marvel.

Ultimately, the panel was an utter disappointment for Marvel fans with no news, no information, no sneak peaks, no special guests, no title specifics, no giveaways, nothing. And while the majority of the people in attendance had never been to a Cup O' Joe panel (Quesada had audience members raise their hands), the room was still only half full to start. So okay, several hundred Disney fans learned about the history of Marvel today. Great. Doesn't change the fact that any Marvel fan who bought a ticket and came to Anaheim for this convention would have been sorely disappointed by the entire experience and certainly doesn't change the fact that Disney fans are in no way the right target audience for Marvel. You know who is? Other genre fans. Like the ones who don't necessarily read Marvel yet, but go to Comic-Con to find out if they should.

But enough of my bitching. If you'd like to know what information was relayed at the panel, I've provided my live account after the jump, beginning with the history lesson, skipping past all the "Disney and Marvel were made for each other "expository bullshit. Maybe you will find some value in it and my missing free Breakfast won't entirely be in vain.

*****

There are over 7,000 characters and two years into the Disney partnership, there are 8,000 partners.

Then we go into the history of Marvel. In 1938, Superman came into being, in 1939, Batman came into being. In 1939, Timely Publications published the first ever Marvel Comics. In 1941, Captain America, created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby has his first comic. A large portion of the audience claps for Jack Kirby. Yeah. That's right. Eff you, Disney. 19 year old Stan Lee wrote his first piece of comics in Captain America #3. When superheroes weren't selling, Timely started publishing comics of all different kinds.

In the late 50s/early 60s, superheros came back into style. Legend has it that Martin Goodman was playing golf with some publishers who were bragging about their superhero comics and their Justice League. Martin went back to the offices and said Stan, I want you to make a superhero team. Stan thought about it, came back to Martin and said, a superhero team with major problems, like real people. Martin said, no, you're crazy! They solve problems, don't have them! Stan Lee said he wants them to be everyday shlubs, not matinee heroes. Martin said no, that's not what superheros are. Stan Lee went home and said he couldn't do this anymore. His wife said, hey, why don't you quit and make your own comics? He did and in 1961, he created the Fantastic Four. This is when the modern Marvel universe started. One year later in 1962, Stan created Spiderman.

In the years following, Stan and other creators "shifted the paradigm" and started the "Marvel Age" of comics. Characters that were more honest than the ones that came before. Then, some mild DC bashing begins. Superman and Batman put on this facade of secret identities in order to live among us. Clark Kent is bumbling, Bruce Wayne is a playboy, nothing like their actual persons. Marvel is different. "Every best Spiderman story is a great Peter Parker story"

In the 70s, Marvel began to enter the zeitgeist. A pop culture phenomenon. In 1971, The Hulk was on the cover of Rolling Stone and they wrote a story on Marvel and its popularity in colleges. In the 80s, there were tons of TV shows based on Marvel properties.

In the 90s, there was an "unprecedented growth" for Marvel. But Marvel started to focus away from story and attracted speculators instead of readers, more on artwork than story, more about collectables. The bottom then fell out of the comics market, Marvel went into Chapter 11. Why? They forgot what was in their DNA, lost track of that.

This is a story very similar to Disney, when they had to rediscover what made them great in the first place.

So in the year 2000, a new management team came in and began "Project Rebirth" and rebirthed the house of ideas. Had to start at the foundation.

Content: Storytellers. Went out and found the best writers possible. Focused on stories and an interconnected universe and story lines. Their characters all live in the same world.
"Content is King!" became the motto

Connection: Fanbase creates a universe within a universe, tell them what they want to see, and they try to provide those things, along with a great story. "True Believer Experience" begins when fans can connect with them. Cup O Joe is a weekly column where Joe answers fan questions. Runs a clip of Marvel's "open video letter" to 30 Rock, after 30 Rock destroyed an issue of Marvel Academy #8. Pretty cute video. Also mentions Marvel.com as a great place to connect. Also played clip of Isaiah Mustafah as Luke Cage.

Characters: Remembering that they are real people with real lives, living in the real world (cue: Iron Man issue featuring Tim Gunn). Use the real world as the canvas - if the Fantastic Four needs to go to the White House right now, the president would be Obama. Diversity is a big part of Marvel, characters in all shapes, sizes and ethnicities. Black Panther was the first African character in comics, created in 1966. Joe remembers reading this story and thinking, these are books about my world, my life, people in this book are reflecting the people around me, in my neighborhood, in my city. Was attracted to the real world aspect.

They put all the pieces together and became the #1 comic book publisher in the world. Over 60 titles a month & 45 trade paperbacks a month. Published in 75 countries and in 22 languages. #1 digital comics publisher in the world. Marvel App has 3,000 downloadable titles. Streamling library, subscription based, has over 10,000 comics.

Marvel Studios. Was none in 2000. Started licensing out the characters to other studios, but weren't produced by Marvel. The tides turned with Blade. New Line saw something in the character, made it into a great movie, and other studios started taking note and wanting to make movies with the characters and Marvel took note too, they wanted to produce their own titles.

Showed clip that played at the end of the first Iron Man.

Proud of that interconnectivity that helped define Marvel in the 60s tgar *should* be an aspect of the films to be truly Marvel. Proceeded to show all of the clips from all of the Marvel studios films displaying this incerconnectivity.

Joe mentions his daughter was too afraid to meet Tom Hiddleston.

Fun Fact Alert: When the first draft of the Captain America script came in, Joe mentioned that the broadcast was of a Yankees game, but Rogers is from Brooklyn, so it should be the Dodgers. So they changed it!

Marvel Television started happening a few years before the Disney purchase. Used to have many animated shows, but they werent necessarily made by Marvel. But then Marvel made Superhero Squad and The Avengers and next up is Ultimate Spiderman, produced solely (for the most part) by Marvel creatives. Showed sneak peak at the show, which looks fun.

Showed trailer for animated show available on iTunes, taken from pages of Thor Loki. Kind of like a motion comic, but animated a bit more fully through CGI. A little edgier than other Marvel animated content.

So everything is going great, when Disney knocks on the door, inquiring about purchase. Joe shows some fun Marvel/Disney mash up artwork.

But what this partnership really looks like is that Disney promised they could operate autonomously, provide the content that they provide - "Just be Marvel" and let Disney make you "as big as we can."

The audience leaves as I try to listen to the Q&A and it annoys me

Do they have any Marvel stage productions in the works?
Nothing right now, but you never know, especially with Disney now


Why is there no booth here?
First D23, decisions not made by creative, so he doesn't know, but hopes next time there is one

When you reboot the comics, do you find it difficult to bring in new crowd while still paying homage to older generations?
They try not to do hard reboots - they still have their history from back in the 60s. What they did do is create a serpate universe, th eUltimate Universe, what if they were creating the universe in 2001, how would universe be created?

Future for Marvel in the Disney parks?
They are having some talks

Can we hope that Spiderman, X-Men and FF will be incorporated some day into cinematic universe?
Would be fantastic, but no plans right now.


Any plans to redo Howard the Duck and will it be revealed he is related to Donald?
Coming upon the 25th anniversary of the movie, so there might be something there

Has there been any interaction or conflict with existing Disney comics?
No conflict. Haven't worked with Boom studios at all.


Who are your favorite villains?
Galactus, cause he just kinda stands there and everyone is scared of him. Such a heady 70s idea that he eats planets.

In the 90s, they got a huge slew of characters from the Alterverse, are we seeing them soon?
No, but he can't tell them why, it's a legal question

(Someone named Bob asks if we can see yesterday's Avenger's footage. He is wearing an X-Men First Class Xavier shirt from Comic-Con)
Joe says yes and asks tech if we can.

If Boom isn't publishing old titles anymore, would Marvel take anything over like Uncle Scrooge?
Hasn't heard anything about anything Boom Studios at all

How about Darkwing Duck?
Not working with Boom

What is happening with Marvel rides at Universal?
They will remain there


Is Marvel going to be touching on the end of the world in Dec 2012?
The world ends in Marvel every week!

How do they choose who is going to die? And how do they handle the blowback?
Very simple- all comes out of story. If there is a great story there that involves the death of a character and a plan afterwards, then they'll do it. Doesnt what they do at Marvel, there is always someone who writes and hates it, but that's okay, at the end of the day, any mail is better than no mail, because passion is what they want from their fans.

Is a Deadpool movie in the works?
That belongs to Fox, so they have no control over it. Hears there is stuff in the works.
"Ryan Reynolds will make a great Deadpool, much better than he was a Green Lantern."

Any more shows like the old Black Panther show coming out?
Maybe Marvel Knights is closest. Working a lot at Marvel TV to create shows for XD. More coming.

And that was that. A clip reel of cosplay ran, every photo being from Comic-Con, natch. And I started counting down the hours until I could get the hell out of D23.

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D23 - A Look at Walt Disney Studios' Upcoming Animation Slate

 Saturday marked the massive Walt Disney Studios panel, which brought lots of footage. In fact, pretty much only footage, along with a couple of announcements and staged bits. Some Q&A would have been nice, but apparently, Disney can't handle wild cards like "people" so there was very little room for spontaneity. Still, we saw some interesting stuff, so to jump start our Saturday coverage, here are my impressions of what Walt Disney Studios Animation had to offer.

PLANES
First up was Planes, a film that takes place in (or as the teaser points out, "above") the Cars Universe. The director's father was an aviator, which sits nicely with the Pixar folk as they loves them some authenticity. The main character is Dusty, voiced by Jon Crier, who appeared on stage to talk about what an honor it had been to work with Pixar on this project - "Every so often I get an email that says I have a Planes session and I'm like ::cue guttural sounds of joy::". John Lasseter, present to run the whole Animation portion of the show, gave some insight into the work of a voice over actor on a Pixar film. He explained that the lead actor would typically come in for 10 sessions over the course of two years, and it's not uncommon for the character to design to change with every session, as it is molded and transformed by the actor's performance. The teaser clip was cute enough and I can say without hesitation that this *will* be a movie I go in theaters, unlike Cars 2, because flying through the air in 3D makes me a happy.

More after the jump!



WRECK IT RALPH
The non Pixar joint of the bunch, Wreck It Ralph, in short, looks absolutely wonderful. Yeah. Wonderful is the word I am using. And I mean it. Get this film on your radar NOW. Set in the world of video games, Ralph is an 8 bit video game villain struggling with his role as a "bad guy." Determined to find a way to be a good guy in the world of gaming, he heads to Game Central Station, on a quest to find a place that could use him as a hero. His trek takes him through a modern FPS where he has to battle space bugs, as well as to a car racing game set in a land made of candy, where he uncovers a dark secret, and my guess - saves the day and becomes the hero he so yearns to be. We got to see the first four and a half minutes of the film, which was a combination of 8 bit animation, pre-vis and black and white storyboarding, set against an absolutely hilarious voice over from John C. Riley, who is voicing the titular destroyer of buildings, Ralph. In this opening to the film, we get plenty of back story, as well as a peak inside a "Bad-anan" meeting, where Ralph and a group of famous video game villains discuss how to accept their bad-ness. The delightfully goofy and clever sequence ends with the Bad-Anon oath, which goes a little something like "I'm bad and that's good, I will never be good and that's not bad...."

Brought on to stage were Jack McBrayer, looking entirely too tan, and Sarah Silverman, two of the voice in the cast, along with Riley and Jane Lynch. Director Rich Moore informs us that "this is a great cast." Which I definitely knew already. Oh Disney. Telling us how awesome you are any chance you get. Keep on keeping on. Sarah entertains the crowd with some of her trademark humor. Highlights included "I've always wanted to go Anaheim but not go to Disneyland!" and in reference to why she has a love/hate relationship with Disney-Pixar, "I hate that they make me feel."

Long story short, the film looks hilarious, endearing, fun and truly different from the rest of their slate and anyone else's slate. I cared not a whit about this movie before today, and now it's easily one of my most anticipated.

BRAVE
Brave is an exciting movie for Pixar in many respects. As Lasseter pointed out, it's their first "sort of fairytale", their first period film, and their first film with a female main character. We got to see a featurette that had clips of their research in Scotland, images of and information on all the characters, storyboards, sketches, finished animation, still frames and more, taking us through the story. The featurette didn't particularly pique my interest, as it seemed like, well, very much previously tread territory. I found nothing original or inspiring about this, my only interest resting in the accents and score possibilities. The cast is certainly impressive, including Kelly McDonald, BIlly Connolly, Emma Thompson, Julie Walters, Craig Ferguson, Robbie Coltrane and Kevin McKidd (two of which were there in person - Thompson and McKidd), but I wasn't truly intrigued until a work in progress scene was screened for the audience. In this scene, three suitors vying for Merida's attention compete in a bow & arrow competition, which yields some unexpected results. The producers requested that we not spoil the scene, so I'll refrain from specifics, but the scene did actually get me leaning forward in my seat a bit. There was tension, the animation was beautiful, there were Pixarian laughs - it definitely seems to be on its way. I'm still not sold, as the story seems wholly uninspired, which is a shame considering if it fails, there will no doubt be grumblings blaming the fact that it has a female lead, as people did with Princess & The Frog, but hopefully I'm wrong and they are simply withholding the details that will make this film as special as I hope it to be.

MONSTER'S UNIVERSITY
My most anticipated animated film going into this panel, hands down. And although Billy Crystal was there and we got some glimpses of the character and location design, I still would have liked some actual footage. Monster's Inc is my favorite Pixar film and I am ecstatic for this film. Director Dan Scanlan took us through some design slides, showing us smaller, college aged versions of Mike (sporting a retainer) and Sully (significantly skinnier) and their cohorts - cool monsters, nerdy monsters, gothic monsters, the lit professor, the drama teachers, the coach, the frats, the sororities, the building where Mike & Sully learn to scare, the dorms, and more. We also got a little more insight into the story itself. Mike and Sully have apparently known each other since grade school, but as they both wanted to be famous Scarers, they hated each other with a passion. Monsters University is where we get to see them grow from enemies to lifelong friends. As research, the team traveled to many different colleges, as they "went to art school and don't know what real college looks like", which I, having gone to NYU, completely relate to. They also announced Steve Bushemi returning as Randall, and brought Billy Crystal on stage (to a standing ovation! Interesting. Huh.) to pretty much just say "Trust me. It's hilarious." (Disney, if you keep hitting me over the head so much with the fact you are so great, I'm gonna start to wonder why you feel the need to say it so much over and over. Overcompensating much? Cut it out!). Although we got to see no actual footage, I'm completely on board, and was glad to see what and learn what we got to see and learn.

ANNOUNCEMENTS
The panel ended with two new announcements. One from producer John Walker, of The Incredibles and director Bob Peterson, who wrote Finding Nemo and Up, and is best known by me for voicing Dug, was "The Untitled Pixar Movie About Dinosaurs." opening Holiday 2013. There was only one piece of concept art, but it was gorgeous.

The second announcement was from producer Jonas Rivera and Director Pete Doctor. Set for release in Summer 2014, all we really know is "Untitled Pixar Movie That Takes You Inside The Mind." Oh hell yeah. I'm so in, Pete Docter. You're my favorite.

The panel concluded by John Lasseter announcing that we all got cupcakes. And then we all got cupcakes. I'm not kidding. They were delicious. Like, unnaturally delicious. They may have been drugged with happy thoughts for all I know, cause it is Disney after all, and maybe they sensed I wasn't completely sold on Brave. But whatever the intention, bribery or genuinely wanting to do something nice for the fans, I appreciated the gesture and in any event, Nov 2, 2012 is already marked in my calendar for Wreck It Ralph.

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D23 Live Blog: Walt Disney Parks & Resorts

Coming to you straight from day one of D23, where I will be reporting from all weekend long, is the first recap of many large events taking place this year - the look at what's new with Disney Parks and Resorts. My favorite part of Disney, aside from the animated films, are the parks, so I've been looking forward to this one. My live-blog, with updates on the Fantasyland Expansion in Florida, the new Hawaiian spa & resort, the Shanghai park, and the massive California Adventure add-ons await below!

*****

The parks & resorts panel starts a half hour late. I'm a half hour late. This works out well for me.
I immediately notice that instead of having someone signing for the deaf, there is a screen with written text that shows up as its said. I don't know how I feel about this, as I know many interpreters who make a living precisely with jobs like this. Hrm.

The panel begins with a video, followed by the D23 band with Mickey on drums. Tom Staggs, chairmain of parks & resorts, comes on stage to chat with Mickey about Dancing with the Stars or some such nonsense. They mention the new Disney resorts in Hawaii and Shanghai, before hokey jazz finally plays Mickey off and Staggs gets on with the show.

Staggs - "We are in the middle of our largest expansion for Disney Parks & Resorts"

Staggs talks about launching the Disney Dream (Cruise Ship) and the Shanghai Disney groundbreaking as great moments this past year. Specifically notes enjoying spending time with the "cast members" aka people who work at Disney resorts. What runs next is a video of Staggs moonlighting as one of these cast members, sketch style, singing in a Barbershop Quartet, giving out balloons, piloting the Jungle Cruise (to rousing applause - people love the Jungle Cruise) and more. Okay. Sure. Why not.

I notice that people sitting in front of me are some of these Disney "cast members" Staggs is talking about. I hope they didn't have to pay for tickets to be here.

Staggs brings up the largest expansion in the history of the Magic Kingdom, the Fantasyland expansion, opening in Fall of 2012. He brings the Chief Creative Executive for Walt Disney Imagineering, Bruce Vaughn, on stage.

More after the jump



Vaughn explains that they build a detailed model for every new attraction to get a true feel for what it will look like and it also helps with logisitics like sight lines and guest flow. The model is pretty impressive with full topography. We start on the Little Mermaid Ride. They took a classic dark ride and added new animatronic figures and special effects. At California Adventure, the Little Mermaid facade is at Paradise Pier. But in Florida, the ride has its own dedicated site, where guests will walk along the seashore and enter through Eric's castle. The rendering looks pretty gorgeous, not gonna lie.
The new Fantasyland will "take the meet and greet to a whole new level." With the Belle meet and greet, kids can enter her cottage and can help Belle act out and tell her stories with Lumiere, who will be hosting the attraction. Vaughn notes that Lumiere is one of the most difficult animatronics they have ever worked on.

Next up: The Snow White dwarf mine family coaster. They have been building a new ride system from scratch. First time in any parks that they are focusing a ride on the seven dwarves and their stories. The imagineers felt inspired by the mine sequence in Snow White and really wanted to get the ride right. Needed the units to sway the way the mine carts do in the film, and based on footage of testing the car on the back of a pick-up truck, looks like they nailed it. And may make me nautious. To quell my fears, or make them worse, they showed bits of a computer rendering of the first person experience of the ride. It seemed most reminiscent of a Splash Mountain or not-as-fast Thunder Mountain. But not as nausea inducing as some of the earlier graphics of the mine-car instilled in me.

That was it for Vaughn. Damn. I could have used more of that. Next up are details on Aulani, the Hawaiian Disney resort. It certainly looks beautiful, but I'd like to know what makes it different from other spa resorts. My answer arrives in the form of singing Hawaiian children and ukuleles galore! Hmm. No. Still not sure why I would pick a Disney resort in Hawaii over any other. But this music is providing a nice ambiance as I type!

"Answer to families that want a great Disney experience but also what everything Hawaii has to offer." Okay, I guess that's quite literally an answer. There will be spaces for kids, teens, adults and an area for everyone to be together. There is a beach house just for kids with games, Disney characters, crafts, and more. For Teens, there is a place with computer stations, events, lounge stations, yogurt bar, and spa experiences designed just for young adults. For adult adults, there is 18,000 square foot spa and fitness center. Complete menu of traditional spa services and new ones based on ancient Hawaiian traditions. There is also a pool, water slides and lazy river for the whole family.

A video from the lead designer of Aulani from Hawaii is then screened, showing off the decor of the lobby and the outside valley that boasts special effects spread secretly throughout the mini water park. The resort opens August 29th and does look beautiful. Though I'd personally rather NOT be surrounded by anything Disney if I'm not specifically going to Disneyland, you know? I'm sure this is all kinds of exciting for the hardcore Disney vacationers out there, but for me? Not so much.

Tom Staggs is secretly a ham and this audience is eating it up. People really love Disney this much, ay? Fascinating.

Staggs announces that one family will win a trip to Aulani and tells the audience to searc
under their seats for a sticker. It's won by a young boy wearing glasses and my heart kind of melts.

Next up - Shanghai Disney Resort, the third resort in Asia and sixth in the world. It broke ground in April and is being built now. Imagineer Bob Weis, who is the head designer of this resort is welcomed on stage to talk specifics. "Literally building this from the ground up." The audience is amused by the slideshow as the photos from the site are nothing but dirt and enormity. But some fancy computer effects change the dirt into a resort in front of our eyes. Which fine, is kind of cool. Weis says it will be classic Disney, but influenced with the culture and traditions of China as well. Working with Chinese historians, authors and more to help make the park as authentic as they can. Hints that dragons will play a role. This castle in particular with be unlike any of the others in any of the other five parks. They showed us a piece of CGI that takes us through what the castle will be like. Five full stories with a gorgeous wrap around staircase in the lobby. So kind of an actual castle, it looks like. "Huge," Staggs point out. I think I got that much on my own, thank you very much. This enchanted storybook castle will represent ALL the Disney princess, not just one. There will be a stage in the center of the lobby. Highly immersive, boutique in the lobby with character meet & greets as well. 3rd floor will have an immersive attraction that takes you through stories and the 2nd floor will have a full restaurant. Immersive features and special effects all throughout the castle. Announced just today - this will be the first castle to feature a ride going through it. A ride going through Fantasyland will have a finale in the grotto of the castle, with a music, color and water experience.

Finally to the expansion of California Adventure! Infusing the park with "more Disney DNA", there will be a brand new main entrance that leads to Buena Vista street, sending guests to Los Angeles of the 1920s and 30s. Will completely reshape the entrance experience to the park with new archetecture, shopping and dining. The "Main Street" of Disney California Adventure (DCA). "Red Cars" aka trolleys will be available to take from the main entrance around the whole park. Showed 3D fly through of Beuena Vista street. Omg. California history, Walt's history, pretty awesome. End of street is new "icon" for DCA, which is reinvention of Carthay Circle theater, which will have restaurant inside developed by Andrew Sutton of Napa Roads.

They are building a 12 acre area called Cars Land for DCA, which includes a giant mountain range. Kathy Mangum, who is heading up Cars Land, is welcomed on stage to chat a bit about it. I'm still bothered that the biggest part of DCA is going to be based on Cars...I didn't even see Cars 2. Is how little I care. Mangum says they watched the movie "about a hundred times" during the research and development phase, then took an 8 day trip on route 66, to "get to know the people and places that inspired the movie that is inspiring the land." In this land, we can enter establishments owned by every character of Cars. Route 66 will be their "Main Street" in Radiator Springs. Showed slides of where the construction is right now, next to final renderings. The audience was bizarrely excited by a tire ride which is in the spirit of the old space saucers ride at Tomorrowland, testing in the next couple weeks. Radiator Springs Racers is the main attraction of Cars Land. They are also creating attractions for Cars Land inspired by back story that didn't make it into the movie and are building the original Radiator Spring.

Finally, the president of the Disneyland Resort, Gerorge Kalogridis, comes on stage. The staff members sitting in front of me LOVE him. They are working on a series of special experiences to allow guests to interact in a whole new way, like having dinner in the Haunted Mansion with imagineers, a tea party with your favorite princesses, or experiencing attractions from old school Disneyland. Peoplemover or bust! Because Club 33 has a closed waiting list, they are also announcing an expansion of sorts, more details coming in 2012. The biggest announcement? They are expanding Fantasyland and creating Fantasy Faire. For some reason, the staff member in front of me doesn't like this. At the heart of Fantasy Faire is Tangled Tower. Fantasy Faire will have a new stage at at certain times of day there will be maypole ribbon dancing fun times. There will still be dancing at night. To which the staff members in front me respond "Thank god" and clap wildly. Huh? Always nice to end a panel on a highly confusing note.

But not gonna lie, if the goal here is to make me want to go across the street to Disneyland...yeah, I do, it worked. Can I? I want to. I think I'm going to. Damnit, Disney.

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Swag Bag: What I Brought Home From Comic-Con 2011

Thanks to having a grand total of four hours to explore over 5000 booths, I purchased nowhere near as much at Comic-Con as I did at its little sister, Wondercon, but thankfully, included in my small bounty was almost every item I coveted going in, and once you include the incredible freebies available this year, a whole lot more. Here’s the rundown of the best items I walked away with at Comic-Con 2011.

Purchased
 
Britney Lee Print
Ever since purchasing a large Britney Lee print at Wondercon a few months ago, I’ve been thinking about a wonderful smaller print I passed up that also, of course, featured a girl and a cat. So the second I had a free moment on Sunday, I sought out Britney’s booth and snatched up this adorable print.

Dollhouse Epitaphs #1 Comic-Con Exclusive Edition
Created by Jed Whedon, Andrew Chambliss, & Maurissa Tancharoen and taking place in the post Dollhouse world we got glimpses of at the end of Seasons 1 and 2, this comic was high on my list to pick up. Especially because one out of every five was signed by the creators. Unfortunately, I didn’t get one of those, but I’m excited to read it nonetheless.

Harley Quinn Mimobot
The moment the doors opened Wednesday evening for Preview Night, I made a mad dash to the Mimobot booth and was the first person to pick up one of eight hundred Comic-Con Exclusive Arkham City Harley Quinn Mimibots – 16g. Greatest purchase anyone has ever made ever.
 

Team Charles/Erik Shirts
And immediately after, I found myself 10th in line to be one of the first 1000 people to pre-order the Blu-Ray of X-Men First Class, which meant also picking either a Team Erik or Team Charles shirt. I pre-ordered two, one for me, one for my family, so I picked both. WIN.

Ron Lego Keychain
Every year, I treat myself to one Lego character keychain. Over the years I’ve amassed quite the collection, including Hermione, Hagrid, Snape, Luke Skywalker, Catwoman, Harley Quinn and Indiana Jones. This year, I added Ron Weasley to the collection.

Captain America Minimates
I LOVED Captain America and have been building up quite the minimates collection to go with my Lego collection, hence – the entire cast of Captain America in minimate form for me to stick on my geek shelf and never look at again.

Earl Grey Shirt Genius. Gift for my dad.

Walking Dead Board Game
My Comic-Con Everest. Every day I went to the Image booth, only to discover that the new comic based board game (described as a cross between D&D and Stratego) had sold out in under 20 minutes. One morning I carefully planned my time to be in the room the moment it opened, only to discover it opened a half hour earlier than I thought it did. Saturday afternoon, 10 minutes before the hall closed, I found myself once again wandering by the Image booth. Freaked out that I had truly missed my chance to own the Comic-Con Exclusive Edition of the game, months before the regular version came out, I decided to go up and make sure they still had copies for Sunday morning. But because the dude working had seen my flustered daily attempts consistently fail miserably, he took pity on me and made an exception, grabbing a game from the Sunday pile for me. It was a bit of Comic-Con magic that I won’t soon forget. More info on the game here.

Giveaways

Signed Captain America poster
Thanks to an awesome dude at the Marvel booth, I got my hands on a Captain America poster signed by Chris Evans.

Hunger Games Pin & Poster At the HitFix party Wednesday night, multiple bloggers were sporting Mockingjay pins. Upon seeing it for the first time, I think I actually screamed a little. So the next morning, my first stop before beginning my work day was the Lionsgate booth on the floor. The pins weren’t being handed out yet, but once again, an awesome dude helping at the booth threw us a bone and snuck us some. Another case of a kind soul coming through for a complete stranger at Comic-Con this year. Love it!

Admiral Ackbar Fan
Of all the giveaways one could have made for the Star Wars Blu-Ray release, this is either poorly thought out or incredibly thought out, depending on whether or not the marketing department is aware of the It’s A Trap meme. In any event, I know some hipster geeks who would die to get their hands on one of these.

Captain America Shield Fan
Given out at the Hasbro booth, I believe,  it’s a paper fan in the form of Captain America‘s shield. I want anything and everything Captain America. So I was a happy girl to pick this up.

Buffy Paper Doll
Secretly contained in a comic preview at Dark Horse was a Buffy (comic version, natch) paper doll!! A great giveaway I didn’t even know I had!

True Blood Bag
Continuing the tradition of True Blood having the best panel giveaways at the convention, this year the stash included book #4 in the Sookie Stackhouse series, a notebook with one of the three Season 4 True Blood posters gracing its cover, a coupon for 20% off at the HBO store, and one of True Blood‘s famously clever shirts, this one with a set of fangs and the phrase “Grow a Pair” on the front.

Game of Thrones Bag
And it looks like these bags of awesome are in fact an HBO staple! Oh man, I can never miss either of these panels ever. The first ever Game of Thrones Bag contained the first book in the series, a random house shirt, a Westeros mousepad/screen cleaner and another coupon for HBO. Disappointingly while I did nab myself a Stark shirt, everyone else I know got stuck with a Baratheon. Not even a Lannister? Really? The one I wanted most was Targaryn. Oh well. Stark is still badass. And this giveaway still ruled.

Legend of Korra Shirt & Poster
At one point during the Legend of Korra panel, the creators mentioned a poster and t shirt that some people in the audience had. People that weren’t me or my boyfriend. I was not okay with this. Determined to figure out how to get my hands on these items, I ran to the Nick booth as soon as I could on Sunday. Much to my surprise, the fella said to come back around 4pm for the final Legend of Korra giveaway. I did, and after waiting in line for about 20 minutes, the poster and t-shirt were mine. Thanks Giveaway Gods!

Fringe Poster & Luggage Tag
If you made it to the Fox booth during Comic-Con, you would have found a slew of fun posters for Fox television shows. I grabbed myself one for Fringe (hey, who knows, maybe one day I’ll have the balls to get it signed). The giveaway at the panel this year was a lenticular luggage tag, featuring a disappearing Peter. On the back it reads something along the lines of  “if found in the wrong universe, please contact ______” Cute idea, though nowhere near as awesome as the exclusive giveaway I didn’t get my hands one….(see bottom)

Pan Am Bag
While not as high quality as the one the website was suggesting they were giving away, it was still on my list to get and I still got it. The process involved waiting in line to sign up for a “flight”. Then you received a boarding pass and a flight time. You then came back to Pan Am at that time, watched a short featurette for the upcoming show in a recreation of an airplane (which was actually pretty effing cool to sit in) and then got a messenger bag. Supposedly they retail for $89, but this looked more like it’s $12 knock off cousin. Still, it’s a bag, and if I love the show, I’ll be thrilled to have one.

Chuck Shirt
The giveaway at the Chuck panel this year was a shirt in the style of a Fake Tuxedo shirt, but for the Buy More uniform. I didn’t get to the panel, so got the shirt from a friend, but once I realized the Chuck panel was actually its last, since the show is headed into its final season, I got quite upset. Especially after hearing that Jeffster performed and Zac Levi teared up. The giveaway is a nice consolation prize, but doesn’t make up for missing what was a lot of folks’ favorite panel at the whole con.

Captain America Shirt
While not quite as cool as the Mondo Cap poster that was also given out at the first showing (with Chris Evans in person) screening Thursday morning, this shirt still rules and is one of the only soft ones given out anywhere at the entire event.

The River Flashlight
The giveaway for ABC’s new show The River, rather than being yet another uncomfortable XL t shirt was a The River branded flashlight. Cool!

Avengers Shirt
At least shirts in XL, when paired with belts, make GREAT dresses….?

Lord of the Rings: War of the North Shirt
Given out at the “WB Key Party” and made the whole experience worth it. I’m sure whatever happened once it got dark outside was awesome as well, but unfortunately, my group has somewhere to be so when things started running a half hour behind schedule, we had to high tail it out of there. But the shirt is soft and in my size so, win anyway!

Didn’t Get

Captain America/SHIELD Pins
RARGH! Saw these online listed as Marvel Booth giveaways and wanted both but they vanished from the Marvel booth rather quickly. Can’t win em all.

Save Peter Fringe Shirt
For the second year in a row, the actors on the Fringe panel turned the question asking around and engaged in a trivia contest with the audience. Any audience member who got the answer won a black shirt that read “Save Peter.” Why this couldn’t have been the main giveaway, I don’t know. Sigh.

Community DVD Slip Case
At the Community panel, Dan Harmon showed off their Comic-Con Exclusive DVD slipcover – identical to the normal season 2 one, but with the characters in claymation form as opposed to human form. WANT.

Locke & Key Volume One
Since Wednesday is most often spent grabbing exclusives before having to leave, I always save Sunday as my comics, toys and art day. Unfortunately, I only ended up with about ninety minutes max on the floor and when that window became thirty minutes and I still didn’t have anything on my comics list, I began my high octane mission to acquire anything I still could.  After not being able to find a single vintage comics booth to grab my old school finds, I decided I’d at least make a point of nabbing the first volume of Locke and Key and that would be enough, since at least I knew where the graphic novel dealers were. Alas, five different dealers informed me that volume one was complete sold out. Great for the comic (and for the not picked up pilot I’ve heard amazing things about), but sucky for me.

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