Sunday, July 21, 2013

Comic-Con 2013: Sunday Wrap-Up

Today could have been called "Disney Day," at least for me. As I outlined originally, revisiting childhood classics was a big theme for the day. I had initially planned to go straight for the "Ducktales: Remastered" video game panel, but instead I made a hasty decision to visit the floor first, and I'm glad that I did. My husband told me that the video game was actually available to be played at the Capcom booth, so we rushed right over there, and the Xbox version was open, so I jumped in and played. It is a beautiful game. The same basic premise, settings, levels, and characters, but ever so much more phenomenal than 8-bit would allow. Like a fool, I selected the Himalayas level, which many probably remember as the "hardest" of the three worlds in the game (Amazon and Transylvania being the other two if you're not familiar). It took me a little bit to remember you could use Scrooge's cane to whack blocks and how to make him super-jump with his cane-pogo-stick, but it was fun. It was set on some sort of infinite lives, but I only played about five minutes, out of respect for the line. Afterward, I received a poster and could have had my photo taken in a "moneybin" replica, filled with stuffed coins. Instead, I headed off to the panel about the game.

The hour opened with a sing-along of the Ducktales theme song, and I had a big smile on my face as I belted out the lyrics. I was actually surprised at the number of people in the room who were there more in support of Capcom than Ducktales, but I didn't spend much time thinking about that - so many interesting tidbits were explained! More later, of course, but I was hoping that someone on the panel had worked on the original game, as it would have been pretty fascinating to hear about the original concept and execution as well. After the panel, I headed back to the floor and meandered around a bit more, though I didn't get any great swag. I did find most of the rest of the booths on my list, and passed a few more 3D printers along the way. I got shut out of the Once Upon a Time experience twice more, but I wasn't that upset, and I'll talk about that more later as well. I met up with Jonathan for lunch, and we ate while watching some medieval LARP action, which is always fun. When we separated, I cruised the floor a little longer, admiring the $8,000 hand-painted Disney original posters and the $175 cels from such classics as Oliver & Company and The Little Mermaid. I was on the hunt for Wreck-It Ralph stuff, but I came up empty. I wasn't able to find a single drawing or piece of merchandise anywhere, and I had been looking and asking for days. I'm still dumbfounded as to why nobody's making it!

I wanted to be certain to get a spot in the "Disney Afternoon" panel, so I headed up early and sat through the last 10-15 minutes of a fiction-writing panel first. I'm glad I went early, as the room filled up with the latchkey kids of my generation, all of whom squealed with delight and applauded loudly as the creators, voices, and other affiliated folks were introduced. The hour was amazing. While I would have preferred a Rescue Rangers sing-along to another Ducktales one, I understood, as we were treated to the tale behind the creation of the theme. We also learned about the history of Gummi Bears and a similar show to The Wuzzles, as well as how Gargoyles came to be. Every panelist was excited to tell stories and answer questions, and I think the highlight was watching the original pitch for Goof Troop, which contained quite a few differences from the show you and I know. When the hour ended, the room was quiet sad, but many of us crowded the hallway to talk to the panelists some more. I was able to compliment Jymn Magon on his creative brilliance as he autographed my Ducktales DVD set, and I was so happy tears welled in my eyes as I walked away.

If I hadn't gotten the autograph, I might have made it into the next panel on my list, which was about Disney Pin Trading. But, I'm happier I talked to Mr. Magon. When I arrived at what would be my final panel, the room was already at capacity, and there were several people in line ahead of me. Two more skipped me very intentionally, but it wouldn't have mattered, as I gave up after about 20 minutes and left. It was time for one last pass around the floor, this time primarily for swag-trading purposes, as there were a few items that we were after which we weren't able to get on our own. Surprisingly, we were completely successful, though I'm glad I had Jonathan to do the talking - I just spotted the items we were after, LoL.

I don't think I've ever felt so weird leaving Comic-Con before. As our shuttle pulled away from the convention center, I was hard-pressed to believe that it was already over - it just went so quickly! I felt the same way when I sat down on my living room couch four hours later... it seemed like the schedule was just released and yet the experience was over for another year. (more than that, actually, as the event has been pushed back to July 24-27 for 2014.)

New readers, thanks for checking us out. Everyone, stay tuned for more posts, photos, details, and pilot recaps as we get caught back up to life! All those television recaps that should have gone up at the end of last week will be appearing as well. And, don't forget about our giveaways!
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