san diego comic con 2014 {personal}

I realize I am a little behind in posting these photos, but a little late than never!

So. Comic Con. Yes, we got to go.

I knew Comic Con was something that was on Jake's bucket list, so when an opportunity came along for us to go, I jumped on the chance. I surprised him with the tickets for his birthday, about a month before we went, & while we had such high hopes for making super cool costumes, it just didn't work out. Next time!

Our morning started a little rough. There was a little bit of confusion regarding train & shuttle times, so we ended up getting there about an hour later than Jake wanted to be there. As soon as we arrived downtown, we made a mad dash to get in line for our first panel. I had told Jake I didn't care what we did, that the day was all about him. But, I had only one request. I wanted to go to the Once Upon a Time panel. I absolutely love that show! If you don't watch it, go catch up now! It started right after Jake & I met, & I quickly got us hooked, so it's kind of been "our" show. One of many. Much to our delight, we made it in the hall! We were pretty much on the back row, & you could barely see the people on stage, but, hey! We were there! You'll just have to settle for photos of the screen.

Jared Gilmore (Henry), Lana Parrilla (Evil Queen/Regina), Emilie de Ravin (Belle), & Robert Carlyle (Rumplestiltskin/Mr. Gold)

Kitsis & Horowitz (writers), Josh Dallas (Charming/David), Jennifer Morrison (Emma), Colin O'Donoghue (Hook), & Ginnifer Goodwin (Snow/Mary Margaret)

Jake had his heart set on going to the big panels, but finally gave up on that dream when we learned that we should have gotten in line a week earlier. So, after the Once Upon a Time panel, we had some time to breathe & look around at everything. Honestly, the photos don't do it justice. I realized at one point that I wasn't taking near as many photos as I thought I would. There was just so much. So. Much.

When we first entered the Exhibition Hall, we walked around for a little bit, trying to get the lay of the land. I realized I was getting dizzy because I kept turning my head trying to see everything. With every step, I'd turn my head the other way. Look right. Look left. Look right! Oh, wait! LOOK LEFT! Finally, we pulled off to the side to clear our heads & to grab a snack out of our bags.

Be sure to get to the video at the very end!

There were plenty of people in costumes, but only a few truly impressive ones. I did learn that it is impolite to take a photo of someone in costume without asking permission first, which is understandable.

The second panel we went to was a voice actors panel featuring the voice of Winnie the Pooh! Yay! This panel was very entertaining, especially when they read Snow White in their many voices.

The panel directly after the voice actors (& thankfully in the same room) was all of the higher-ups at Marvel discussing the new things coming up in the comic books. Honestly, I found this one quite boring, only because I don't read the comics. But, when Spider-Minion was invited up on stage to sit with them, I got a good laugh out of that. (see below)

The last panel we attended featured several big names in the fantasy writing world, including George R R Martin & Diana Gabaldon. When we went, Jake was in the middle of a book by the guy on the far right (Patrick Rothfuss) & I finished Outlander by Diana last night. (I picked it up without realizing she had been on the panel.) Overall, this was the best panel we went to, in my opinion. It was informative, entertaining, insightful, & hilarious. The five of them got off talking about whether or not you needed to include a map in your story. Who knew that could be so entertaining?

We spent the rest of the day elbowing our way through the exhibition hall exploring.

Paul Rudd

Manu Bennett (Arrow)

Michael Emerson & Jim Caviezel (Person of Interest)

Grant Gustin & Danielle Panabaker (The Flash)

To get a better idea of how many people & how cray-cray it can get, here is a brief video I took while attempting to walk by the Marvel booth. Paul Rudd was signing autographs at this point.