MTVP Comic-con International 2014 Coverage: The Floor Experience

We came to Comic Con with a plan (can you blame us…we’re two attorneys). We intended to spend the first real day of the Con exploring the floor and doing a little cosplaying. We only ended up in costume for part of the day due to wardrobe malfunctions but we still got the experience. Jen dressed up as Oswin Oswald from “Asylum of the Daleks” and I went as The Moment from “The Day of the Doctor”. We saw one other Oswin and no one else dressed up as the Moment. We did happen upon a guy in a pretty solid Arrow cosplay though. I even managed to nab a photo of him. That’s one of the things that always makes me smile about cons. People are so willing to let others take pictures of them. I guess when you put that much effort into something like a costume, it makes sense to show it off.

Having only ever gone to small cons in the past, I was kind of shocked at just how massive the Convention Center venue is. After herding us through badge pick up and getting our tote bags we finally managed to make our way onto the floor. At first it seemed rather chill which was a shock to both of us. We’d come with expectations of pandemonium and chaos. As it turned out, it had more to do with the section of the floor we started in than anything else. We started at the Peanuts booth so Jen could get a shirt (which was finally acquired). We also got free buttons.

Our next destination was going to be the Funko booth to get a souvenir for a friend but as we made our way that direction we realized just how packed an insane the floor was becoming (and it was still relatively early). We couldn’t even get to the booth because the line was so long. They had to turn people away. Needless to say, we didn’t stop and try to pick up what we were looking for. We next made a pit stop at the Warner Brothers booth because we’d been told there were some specific souvenirs there as well. It was really disappointing. They just ushered us through and gave us TV Guides with covers of new and returning genre shows (including Arrow, Constantine, Gotham, The Following and Supernatural). That was it. No other items to be purchased. Oh and they were also trying to hand out tote bags with less desirable designs. No one wanted them.

We took a little break to grab lunch and regroup (oh and find out that for panels the next day if we got a disabled pass we’d get in a separate line…but more about that in another post) before diving back in. The afternoon was actually more interesting than the morning. We got some good shots of some of the various signs (including an Orphan Black poste and a Doctor Who posted with the Twelfth Doctor on it).





And we finally queued up to go through the BBC America booth. The line was so long that the volunteers who were corralling people had set up a line-up point on the far side of the floor and were taking people over in groups of 10. Once in line at the actual booth, we both debated what to buy (and whether to use cash or credit because a lot of the items sounded exciting). Ultimately, the designs on a bunch of the shirts weren’t eye grabbing enough and for some bizarre reason all of the fridge magnets hadn’t yet cleared Customs. WE can’t have been the only ones wondering how in the hell magnets get held up at Customs. Anyway, we each walked away with a T-shirt (both Doctor Who themed) before meandering past the ABC booth which was also mobbed due to an autograph signing. It was a giant castle which was actually kind of cool. Unfortunately the signing that was going on wasn’t something either of us were really interested in.

Near the end of the day (before heading out for food and our evening entertainment), we changed focus and found all of the publisher booths. I got to have a chat with a guy about some of our favorite authors and he recommended some series by them I hadn’t read yet (I’ll be adding at least two new series to my to-read pile for next year). We got some free books out of our booth visits which was cool. Both Jen and I prefer e-books but those are a little more difficult to give out as swag.



While there are tons of booths on the floor, we felt like we covered pretty much everything we wanted to on day 1. We will be spending a little time back on the floor on Sunday to see if there are any other bits of swag we want to pick up (that haven’t already been snatched up by the masses). We will also see if the BBC America booth has gotten in those bloody magnets. But our next visit to the floor will be a much chiller affair. And of course we will have an idea of what we are doing this time.

Overall, I think we both enjoyed the first day of our epic Comic Con extravaganza. We got some good pictures and it was rather impressive how many people were there. It was pretty amazing that we managed to get in and see most of what we wanted to without a lot of hassle. As you will likely see from the rest of our posts, the con is turning out like we planned for the most part and that is truly amazing. As always, check back for more recaps of our trip. See you soon nerds!