Comic-Con 2012 sold out in 80 minutes

[IronBrig4]

http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/mar/03/comic-con-fans-recount-badge-buying-process/

All I can say is... DAMN. All badges sold out in about an hour and a half. The organization emailed a link to everybody who had a member ID. Unfortunately, the link didn't work so I lost about fifteen minutes. By that time, I was number 31,822 in line. All the four-day passes sold out in a matter of minutes. That wasn't a big deal since I'd only be able to go on Friday and Saturday. One of my friends was about 10,000 spots ahead of me and offered to buy me passes (you can buy for up to six people). By the time it reached his turn, he could only get Thursday passes. Normally I'd be ecstatic, but my summer class means I can't leave until Friday. So it looks like I'll have to miss the Con this year. Hopefully there won't be yet another glitch for the 2013 Con.

I'm trying to remember when Comic-Con started to get crazy. It used to be you could buy your passes at the door (granted, you had to stand in a long line). If you wanted to get your pass online, it was as simple as buying something on Amazon. Point, click, and you were done. No crashed servers and no huge waiting periods. When the Con finally arrived, you could usually get into the panels you wanted. If it was for a really popular movie, you'd either wait for an hour or simply watch the panel just before that time slot. Now there are people who camp overnight for the more sought-after panels. I'd love to blame Twilight for the hordes of new attendees, but that wouldn't be fair because the convention reached capacity years before the first Twilight movie.

There's always next year.

 

[Hailey Knight]

Why would it have anything to do with Twilight? Twilight has nothing to do with comics.

 

[SeraRelm]

It's because Scott Bakula will be there.

 

[Frank]

What a ridiculous mess Comic-con is now.

 

[IronBrig4]

Why would it have anything to do with Twilight? Twilight has nothing to do with comics.

Comic-Con has pretty much become a movie/TV/video game convention now. They still have a row of tables for vintage comic books, and there a lot of webcomic artists like teh Kurtz, but they are largely overshadowed by juggernauts such as HBO and BBC America. A huge number of attendees are the Twilight and True Blood fans who seem to have issues with sanity.

 

[DarkAudit]

Last one I attended was in '94. and that will probably be the last one I attend.

 

[IronBrig4]

In '94 the convention center hadn't been expanded, yet there was empty space in the exhibit hall and empty conference rooms. The pen and paper RPG groups had their own sections and there was always room for another player. Things started getting a lot more crowded around 2002 but there was still elbow room. Now it's gotten to the point where it's not much fun because it feels like an endless line at Disneyland, except with less vomit.

 

[Mathias]

Hanging out with smellygeeks dressed in leotards for a weekend? Pass.

 

[Hailey Knight]

Hanging out with smellygeeks dressed in leotards for a weekend? Pass.

Agreed; it sounds like a Tuesday/Thursday activity to me.

 

[Covar]

Why would it have anything to do with Twilight? Twilight has nothing to do with comics.

Neither does Comic-Con these days.

 

[LittleKagsin]

Yeah, SDCC has moved into more of just general pop culture. I still love it though and have a good time there. My favorite thing about it is the dealers room, getting prints from Mark Dos Santos and Adam Hughes are my 'must buy' every year.

 

[kaykordeath]

I'm glad I made it to my first con at NYCC last year. I'll aim to make it this year, but I fear within the next 3-5 years it will morph from the East Coast's answer to what SDCC was to what SDCC has become...

 

[CynicismKills]

I mentioned this in another thread, but yeah SDCC has really become less about the fans and more about the products. Hell, sometime in early 00's they started expanding the video game area and it's like a tiny E3 in spots. The dealers are pretty much off to one third (if that) of the main floor, and they're really the only place to get any kind of comics/etc. The main floor is generally a big DC booth, a big Marvel booth, and then Dark Horse off somewhere to the side. Outside of that it's a ton of movie and tv show promotion. The panels are more about premieres than anything, until you get to the later evening stuff or Sunday. It's really sad to remember going in the late 90's compared to the last time I went (2004, maybe? I remember I was able to wait in line for a pass but it was only a 2 day).