Have you ever looked forward to something for so long and when it finally happens, it seemingly comes and goes in the blink of an eye? That’s how the trip seemed to flow this year to San Diego for the Comic Con 2012 (“SDCC”).

The objective of this blog is to for you to live vicariously through my experiences and to feel the SDCC through dynamic illustration and colorful commentary, but be warned. The sheer amount of images in this blog may crash your computer.

For the novice, this event may have “Comic” in the title, but there’s very little about this show that involves comics. MediaCon would be more of an apropos title because of the show’s evolution over the years.

During SDCC 2012, I took over 1100 photos using two different cameras with a smattering of videos. I had to abandon my Canon Powershot because I completely filled up the SD card. That was a definite first for me, but I had 3 cameras with me so I was more than prepared.

This year, my wife and I were blessed with good fortune during the Hotel lottery. We scored the Omni which is right across the street from the convention center.

I requested as many Hotel keys as they would allow as souvenirs and they happily obliged.

I laid the Sylent charm on one of the cute desk clerks (NOT like Kobe) and managed to score one of the highest-up rooms they had which offered a spectacular view overlooking the convention center, Marina and immediate surrounding area.

On the way up to the room, I noticed the elevators were decorated with Game of Thrones advertisements just for the SDCC.

We were pleasantly surprised with the attentiveness of the staff at the Omni. They were polite, cordial and willing to assist us with any needs we may have had. Our only ministerial complaint was the water pressure in the shower was non-existent, but hey. You can’t win them all.

Once I hit the street, I noticed the surrounding area was all decked out in SDCC garb, geekiness and other events relating to the con.

Buildings downtown were also decorated in preparation for the con.

Even murals were being painted to signify the event.

After checking in and getting things squared away on Wednesday afternoon, the first thing I did was pick up my 4-day badge with Preview night. The process was easy like Sunday morning and within 5 minutes, I had my badge, WB souvenir bag a with the programming guide and SDCC booklet. It was still fairly early in the afternoon, but there was already a long line forming to get into the main exhibit hall.

For those that don’t know, Preview Night on Wednesday is only 3 hours long. In a nutshell, it’s for the hardcore collectors (or dealers) that are big into purchasing exclusives. There’s a limited amount of passes sold for this day and they’re only available for purchase with the 4-day pass. There weren’t many exclusives I was interested in so I used this day to check out some of the booths and get green screen booth photos.

I always have to do Justice League photo-ops and my boy Jay joined in for some DX posing fun.

I got in on the Falling Skies photo booth as well for a quick harness.

For the last couple of years, the members of the Green Lantern Corps Message Board have made it a tradition to meet up at San Diego’s Tilted Kilt for drinks after Preview Night. The scenery at the Kilt is pretty darn good, the food is decent and the drinks are reasonably priced. In addition, it’s a good place to chill and unwind after a hectic Preview Night, hang out for drinks and place actual faces with the posters on the message board.

Our traditional group shot... (without the photobombing guy)

The nightlife is hot and poppin’ in the Gaslamp district during SDCC time.

All the restaurants are crowded, the nightclubs packed and the streets swelling with throngs of humanity. Even if you don’t have a badge to get into the convention center, there’s still plenty to do, especially at night.

If you’re lucky, you can get into one of the afterparties where the celebrities hang out. The Hard Rock Hotel is a good spot to meet celebrities if you have the clout to get an invitation to one of their soirees.

There are all kinds of hotties out at night in the Gaslamp, including the Pedicab Taxi babes or "Rickshaws." As a gag, my friend Jay and I told them that we were having a poll/contest to determine the hottest of the hot. This got their competitive juices flowing so most of them allowed us to take their photos for the website. Some even flirtatiously posed for us. Sylent presents: You make the call.

#1 is my personal favorite. She's adorable.

For those that have never attended the SDCC, it’s a great time out, especially if you're with a group of friends, but it's not as glamorous as G4 and the local news coverage illustrate. They never expound upon the darker side of SDCC.

At least Eighty-Five percent of the con consists of waiting in line or wading through hostile crowds.

Hungry or thirsty? Wait in long line. Do you want to see a panel featuring your favorite tv shows or actors? Wait in a longer line. Want that sought after con exclusive? Wait in an even longer line. Need to drop a deuce? Wait in line… so stay away from the spicy foods or the Tin Fish restaurant on 5^th street. They have tasty food, but it goes through you like Crystal Drano. There’s nothing like being in a line for an exclusive or signing and having to step out in a huff for an impromptu, unexpected bout of mud butt.

What’s great about SDCC is there’s something for everyone: Movies, TV shows, Sports, Video Games, Toys, Anime, TCG’s, etc.. You name it and there’s probably a panel or specialty room dedicated to it. Even Ron Jeremy was in attendance, although I’m pretty sure there weren’t any X-rated panels scheduled, however, comic book parodies are currently big business in the adult industry so you never know.

Another bright spot is the abundance of delicious Booth babes.

Even outside at night, there are booth babes!!

...and in the daytime.

One of the first things you need to realize when you attend SDCC is that you WILL miss something, probably a lot of things, so count on it. There are multiple panels, exclusives, celebrity appearances, giveaways and signings going on simultaneously, so unless you can clone multiple copies of yourself, you’re going to miss something. The sooner you realize this, the better off you’ll be. If you want to remedy this issue, “you’re gonna need a team.”

Even with a team, you’re still going to miss some things here and there, but you will have a better chance of scoring exclusives and getting to see a panel or two. You can have a friend hold your place in line (or vice versa) while you go exploring. If someone is signing and it requires tickets or wristbands, you can have a friend grab a few extras for you, IF they allow it. This is how I got to meet some of the WWE superstars.

Right at opening, a representative working at the Mattel booth handed out tickets for the WWE meet & greet so this was the first booth I hit.

This year, Shaemus, CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, Arn Anderson, Alicia Fox and a few others were in attendance.

CM Punk was a bit of a jerk and kind of acted like he didn’t want to be there, at least that’s what I gauged from his body language and demeanor. I tried to coordinate and get all the guys in one photo shot, but as the picture was being taken, (I think) he intentionally looked the other way.

Not cool, man! It kind of soured my experience. Furthermore, they herded us through like cattle to keep the line moving on the first day so my friend decided not to come back for future signings, but I hung in there.

The following day, Arn Anderson was kind busy talking with the WWE handler and kind of in his own world, but I'll give the Enforcer a pass.

As you can see, Alicia Fox was beyond AWESOME! Alicia even gave me a few poses. She was really into the SDCC... and I was definitely into her.

Alicia and Layla were accommodating and went out of their way to take photos with people, especially the children... and that's what I like to see.

YES!! YES!! YES!! YES!! Daniel Bryan was cool. Everyone chanted "YES! YES! YES!" when he came out. He got a good chuckle out of it.

I don't ask for much; just smile and look at the camera. I'm not trying to get personal and carry on a 30-minute conversation. I just want a photo commemorating the occassion.

Here, I'm sharing a moment with the lovely Layla.

  

The Funkasaurus, Brodus Clay.

While in line, we noticed a guy walking around with a John Morrison sign in an attempt to steal thunder and get people to leave the WWE line and go to his booth. After the signing, we went over there, but he was charging $20 just to take a photo with him. No thanks.

With the popularity and demand of SDCC at an all-time high, there has been a proliferation of jerks attending the mid-Summer classic, so while navigating the treacherous waters of the main exhibit floor, there are three things you need to be wary of:

1. Toy cops/Security- Most of them are cool and do a good job of keeping the peace and maintaining line flow and crowd control.

We nicknamed this gentleman "Stone Cold" because of his resemblance to Steve Austin.

Despite his rough exterior, he’s a good guy. Unfortunately, there are a select few that take their jobs WAY too seriously and get their rocks off by yelling at people and exercising their fleeting authority.

During opening on Saturday, I was in costume and coming down an escalator en route to entering the main floor. It was hot so I had taken off my trenchcoat. A guard noticed my holstered air pistol, which was part of my outfit and asked, “Did you get that thing checked?” I said, “Yes” and proceeded to show him the tags that supported my statement. As I reached to show him, he forcefully grabbed my arm and tried to subdue me and put me in a hammerlock; like I was going to attack him.

I couldn't believe it and shouted, “Really?!?” He unsheathed my air pistol revealing the security tags and felt like the horse’s ass that he is. He then tried to justify his actions by saying, “It looked real.” He didn’t even apologize! He was probably hoping for a promotion by catching a real terrorist, but he ended up looking like a prick. Keep in mind, this is before the Colorado Batman shootings.

2. People with strollers- As a rule, strollers should not be allowed inside the convention center. This is not the place for infants. In addition, a good deal of people use them as weapons to part crowds and clear paths for themselves. This lady annoyed me to no end.

My wife and I were in a crowd and she repeatedly hit the back of my shoes with the front wheels of the stroller and appeared not to care, even after I turned around and gave her heat-vision. I was wearing my new Jordan’s too. I moved to the side and she then began hitting the back of my wife’s shoes with her death cart. The worst part is, she didn’t even have a child in the darn thing, but she used it to part crowds like Moses parted the Red Sea. If I was a girl, I would have parted her ass with my foot.

3. The big, fat guy in a rush- Some people don’t realize or are just oblivious of the power they wield in a crowd due to their large frame and plow ahead at warp speed. I witnessed a Father about to shoryuken some guy after he laid an NFL style shoulder block on his young daughter. I can’t blame him either. Roll your shoulders with the crowd, folks!

This year featured some religious fanatics outside the convention center trying to spread the word, whatever the heck that was supposed to be.

They were well-organized and had signs, microphones, speakers and megaphones to spread… the word?

At one point, one guy started preaching that ComicCon was evil and all the attendees would go to hell. As if...

A few guys decided to crash their religious party, make a joke of it and spread their own word in response to the antics.

Because of the high demand, quite a few people don't get tickets to all 4 days. Still, there are things you can do that are related to the SDCC that don't require a badge. Several Hotels in the area have events going on that you can just stroll into.

This year, the Marriott Hotel next door had a Nintendo Gaming lounge where you could hang out and play video games all day long. Free!

They even had their own booth babes... Dancing ones!

...and mascots.

There were stations set up for the Wii, 3DS and even some of the classic Nintendo systems.

They even had a "Just Dance" contest going on.

Next door on the opposite side of the convention center, the Hilton had their own thing going on. They had all the movie Batmobiles on display.

There was even a stage with live bands playing.

There were some incredibly beautiful women attending the con this year, in particular, an influx of Asian cosplayers. There were a multitude of times where I literally said to myself, “Wow!” I mean these hotties were jaw-droppingly gorgeous.

It’s great when these hotties are awe-inspired with my outfit and want to take photos with me. There’s no greater ego boost than an attractive lady chasing you down to get a photo with you… and that’s one of the reasons I cosplay. In addition, it’s fun and cool to make other people's day.

This year, we kind of noticed that some of the cosplay got a bit lazy. All they would wear is a colored wig, a cute dress and nylons. As long as you're cute, I suppose it works... or perhaps I'm showing my ignorance and don't know enough about anime characters.

When you cosplay, you’re granted great power, and with that power comes a great responsibility to not be a d!ck when people want to take photos with you. Personally, I love the adulation and attention and I will never... EEEEVER (Jericho) get tired of it.

If you wear a costume, be careful because the humidity of San Diego can really work you over if you’re in something heavy like a thick mascot outfit, suit or leather trench.

To further the cosplay thought, dressing up will sometimes attract celebrities which is great for photo-ops. On several occasions throughout the years, I’ve had celebrities invite me into their circle or allow me to cut in front of hundreds of people to take photos with them just because I cosplay as Morpheus, which a fairly unique character.

This year, being Morpheus helped me catch up with Biz Marke. His security team let me walk right in and get a quick photo with him.

"YOU! YOU GOT WHAT I NEEEEED!!" "Auto-matick-kally!!" 

I also caught up with "the whole f'n show," Rob Van Dam.

Then, there are mainstay cosplayers.

Stormshadow! He and I have been doing these ComicCon shows for years.

Here, I caught up with my good buddies from Dublin's Comic Ink., Derek and Julie. There's your plug, Derek.

Artist extraordinaire, Greg Horn... with his Galactus hat and avaitor glasses.

I picked up some prints from him, one of which is a 2012 SDCC exclusive and the other he kind of got in trouble for so he had to keep it hidden. I'm pretty sure you can figure out why.

The Queen of Konami and Yugioh, Julia Hedburg allowing for a quick "hello."

Here, my buddy Dennis from the East coast finally caught up with me for a brief chat.

It's painstakingly hard to meet up with people inside of the convention center. The place is huge and it's nearly impossible to talk on a cell phone because of the echo and noise so I had to text most of the time. When you're constantly on the move, it's hard to feel your phone vibrate, let alone hear the ringtone. There are a few friends that I didn't get the chance to meet up with because of time, schedules and our failure to coordinate. That's something I'm going to have to work on for future shows.

If you're lucky, you may get to see and meet some celebrities during signings.

Lavar Burton (Geordi LaForge) and Brent Spiner are cool and all, but $30 is a bit too much.

Lucy Liu looked incredible during her signing.

The cast of the Expendables 2 were on hand. Terry Crews was really into it.

G4 was in the house and well-represented.

Periodically, news stations, radio stations or television crews show up wanting to interview people in costume. I was posing with the Avengers and a crew approached us for a wacky, little interview.

These things are fun and I get a big kick out of them.

...and here's the REAL reason, I cosplay.

My God! She raised her leg and then put it up against me... The devil on my shoulder said, "YEAH BABY!!!" The Angel on my other shoulder said, "Hey, idiot! Wipe off that huge grin! That's your wife taking the photo!"

Yeah! That's what I'm talkin' about!

Yeah! Hotties!!

I like doing "vs." poses with cool cosplayers.

All the characters I'm up against would probably kick the crap out of my character so I decided to do some unlikely team-ups instead.

The first time I've seen someone cosplay as Stan Lee. He sounded just like him! "Excelsior!"

While I’m somewhat on the subject, cosplay is one of the main attractions at SDCC. They have an event specifically for cosplaying called “the Masquerade.” It’s on Saturday night and for anyone that wants to be a part of it. If you want to attend, you'll need tickets.

Panels are a huge part of SDCC, but chances are you’ll be unable to attend the larger ones because of crowd issues, unless you have plans of camping out, which is not my cup of tea. I adore Kristin Kreuk like no other...

But I’m not spending more than half my day in line for her Beauty and the Beast panel. There are too many other things going on so I can’t have my time monopolized by standing in line for more than a few hours. After all, the show only lasts 8 hours.

Attending panels is great and all, especially if you’re an avid fan, but for me, the con offers far too much to be relegated and confined to a room for the duration of an entire day. In addition, if you ever want to see a panel in Hall H, the largest auditorium at the convention center that houses the most popular shows, plan on spending at least half of your day waiting in line for it.

For those wondering, Hall H holds roughly 6500 people, give or take a few. I really enjoy the Big Bang Theory, but I’m not waking up at 4 a.m. and sitting in the grass under a tarp while hungry gnats and mosquitos bounce off my dome like a pinball only to see an hour panel with MAYBE a few minutes of additional show footage.

I like to balance out my days by attending some of the lesser-known panels in the smaller rooms. Typically, panels in rooms 6BCF and Ballroom 20 only require a few hours of the day at the most. Furthermore, the smaller panels are a good way to get some R&R and give your aching feet a break. Quite a few people plan on spending entire days in Hall H, and sometimes the duration of the con, but that doesn’t work for me. I’m energy in motion so I can’t sit still for that amount of time.

This year, I caught the Nikita and Falling Skies panels. It was good to sort of get up close and personal with Maggie Q, Lyndsay Fonseca and Melinda (best legs on tv) Clarke.

The Falling Skies panel was loads of fun. Even better, it was moderated by Wil Wheaton.

I’m not into blondes, but Sarah Carter is beautiful.

Jessy Schram looked great as well, and much better than she does on the show.

If you decide to make it an all-dayer in Hall H, one of the benefits of staying there all day are the tickets they hand out.

During the larger panels, they hand out tickets which you can take to the Fulfillment Room at the Marriott Hotel next door and redeem for free SWAG (“Stuff We All Get”).

SWAG consists of T-shirts, caps, posters, buttons, pins and a wide array of small trinkets and souvenir items. Some SWAG goes for big bucks on the secondary market so hanging out in Hall H might be a good idea to make some extra cash… or make some money back after overspending on the trip to San Diego. The SWAG this year wasn’t as good as previous years, but hey. Free is free. This was my haul on day one.

Speaking of SWAG, there are booths that periodically give away SWAG. Problem is, there’s no rhyme or reason to when that’s going to be. The Fox and WB booths are notorious for giving away good SWAG...

Aside from being at their booths when the convention center opens, there’s no way of knowing when they start giving things away. All you can do is be there at the beginning of the day or hang around the booth and hope. This is where the aforementioned team concept comes into play. You and your team member(s) can grab as much free crap as you can get your greedy, little mitts on and split it later on, but be warned, free-for-alls typically turn into a Piranha feed so people can become quite aggressive and even downright rude. I think WB was a bit more organized than Fox when they gave away swag...

...and they had that cool Superman suit from the upcoming Man of Steel film to stare at. The glare made it almost impossible to take a good photo of it.

The people at the Spike Booth were really cool. At one point, a few of them jumped from behind the booth to take my picture.

The Lionsgate booth had some pretty cool swag... and the booth babes were pretty darn hot.

The Konami Booth people were giving away pins.

Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right... Well, you know.

Over the years, there have been quite a few recurring cosplay characters ad nausem, in particular Harley Quinn, The Joker, Batman and Slave Leia. I never turn down a photo op with a hot Slave Leia, but with so many of them walking around, I’ve gotten Slave Leia’ed out and stopped taking their photos, unless, well...

She's hot and interviewing a Sith Lord.

Here's a Harley with the Joker.

...and another Harley.

...and another.

...and another, although this scene was kind of cool.

...another Harley.

 Look! It's Harley!

That same Harley photobombing someone!

Is that Harley?

Harley in a group!

And now for some more cosplay fun!

I always have to give the original "V" series some love.

This Iron Man was bad-ass!

I've seen these two several times, and in different outfits.

Because of their cuteness, they could wear any costume and get away with it.

This Spidey played the part to a tee. He was even annoying and never shut up!

The Green Luchador!

This Black Lantern Wonder Woman outfit was cool. She was with a guy dressed as Aquaman, but he was bent out of shape because she got all the attention. The lesson here is 'DON'T cosplay as Aquaman!' I guess he never watched that episode of the Big Bang Theory.

This Tron costume was cool. It reflected whatever light was around and brought her costume to life!

This guy looked just like Christopher Reeve, just without his height.

I even caught up with this Misfit!

As the show started to wind down, most of the exclusives were sold out, well, the good ones.

Those that had plently of exclusives stopped with the wristband and ticket nonsense and tried to sell whatever they had remaining.

When everything was said and done and I got back home after a short, slightly delayed flight and grueling drive, I could rest my barking dogs, kick back and tally up the SWAG. I had a decent haul, but it pales in comparison to previous years. They got cheap with the giveaways this year and even made you jump through a few hoops, but in the end, you can’t argue with free.

This Resident Evil Earpiece/light was way cool! You needed a ticket to get it and that allowed you to play the game for 30 minutes. I suck at it.

After everything was over, the smoke cleared and the dust settled, I wondered to myself, “How could have 5 days have come and gone so quickly?” They say ‘time flies when you’re having fun’ and that adage holds true here. It was a good time out, I got to meet a ton of cool people, hang out with friends and make some folk’s day by posing for photos with them. All in all, a fun trip and a great time out.
As always, before signing off, I have to give a big shout out to my life-long partner and reason for being, my wife Cherry. She never says anything when women grope all over me when I'm in costume, although she probably wants to claw their eyes out. Additionally, she doesn't say anything when I'm drooling all over Asian hotties in costume... or when I'm writing about it. Throughout the years, she's been a great sport about these shows, especially since they're not her thing. Here's to you, babe!

Until next con... and I already have my tickets for 2013!

This blog is brought to you by the letter 'P.'

Peace.