Comic Con 2006 !

HI! Well, this year was the 17th anniversary of Comic-Con in San Diego, and it did not disappoint. Unfortunately, Pat couldn't come with on this trip, he used up all his vacation time and needed the hours to help pay for some "legal fees" he's piled up over the past few years. He did drive me to the Mosinee airport though, so Grandma didn't have to. Well, flights are boring as you all know, so I'll just skip all that if it's okay with you guys and get to the California SWEET! part of the trip. YAY!!!

As you guys may or may not know, Kevin lives out in San Diego now and he helped me out on this trip, first off by picking me up at the airport. Although I really wanted to stay with him by the beach, he told me his place was too small and that it was nothing personal against me, but he'd probably end up cutting me in half with his samurai sword before my trip was up. So, he set me up with his friend Mikey who lives further south in Imperial Beach, near the border of Mexico. After Kevin showed me his place and we ate pizza at his favorite pizza joint Hoboken, he drove me down to Mikey's place. Kevin said I'd get along well with Mikey's son Michael Pablo, which I did! Imagine a straight haired, partly Mexican version of Napolean Dynamite, and that's "MP" as I call him. Actually, he's like Pedro and Napolean put together, which is totally sweet if you ask me. If I was a teenager, that's how I'd like to be, because it's cool to be a geek now, I hear. He also hates showering, just like I do, so we made a pact to not shower the entire time Comic-Con was happening. Anyway, Kevin also said it'd work out better for me staying at Mikey's cause I could ride along with his kids to CC every day since they were going too.

After dropping me off at Mikey's and chatting about work for a while, Kevin took off and I got comfy on the floor of MP's bedroom. MP was borrowing his cousin's PS2 and thought he was some champ at Soul Caliber 3, so we stayed up all night playing against each other. He's one of those kids that likes to use the big powerful characters instead of learning moves with a faster, smaller one and combo-ing people. He always used Astaroth, and I whipped on him with Mitsurugi a bunch, then switched over to Voldo (in tribute to Kevin who had left earlier) and beat on him some more. Eventually he started using his custom character with these little tiny knives, so I toasted him with Maxi. Boy, do I love playing people I can beat over and over. Anywho, we were up so late that night, we had to re-engergize in the morning with a few cans of Red Bull before the show.

The drive to the Convention Center wasn't too bad, we missed traffic and I got to sit uncomfortably through a father/children arguement. It kind of reminded me of the scenes from Howard Stern's Private Parts where the young Howard asks his dad dumbs questions and his dad keeps telling him to shut up. So, we get to downtown and Mikey uses his secret parking spot where we don't have to pay at all. YES! That's one more limited collectible item for me! Unfortunately, shortly after we got to the show, I had to go to the bathroom, and when I was done I left my camera in the stall, and when I came back for it, it was gone, so I only ended up with a few pictures of my own from the show. Luckily Mikey had his along, and I grabbed it to snap the photo of the entry lounge and a cute princess pushing some near dead old lady around. See, even real life zombies go to Comic-Con!!

First, I happened across the area for the new TMNT movie, which is all CGI. That's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for those who don't know. I got to see a few movie clips. It looks like it'll be pretty good. Although I thought the live-action movies were pretty SWEET! I think this will work better for the hardcore fans and new generation of fans. It's based more on the original comic book feel, darker and grittier. Shredder doesn't have as major of a role in this one though, and it deals with the family values dynamic of the group after Leonardo's return from his year long overseas warrior training. The only thing cooler than Ninjas, is Ninja Turtles, I know MP would agree with me on this one.

I also checked out Mr. Badass Jedi Samuel Jackson talk about his new movie, Snakes on a Plane. Boy, it sure was neat to here him swear in person just like he does in all of his movies (besides Star Wars), even though Grandma doesn't really approve of it. During the Q&A a fan asked him how the snakes get on the plane, and Samuel replied "Why don't you spend your money on the f@(king movie and find out?!" Everyone laughed at that guy. He also went into a bit of a rant about the path of the snake being beset on all sides, just like in Pulp Fiction!

Due to space and time, as well as Ray and Kevin's interests, I was told only to talk about things I saw pertaining to the LTC and such, like (obviously) Star Wars, and movies and material that Kevin and Ray would like. So first off, let me say I was super relieved that I bought a new 12 pack of underwear for the show, because I shit myself multiple times each day of Comic-Con. Sometimes in excitement, sometimes in disappointment. Anywho, this event was one long blur to me, I don't even really remember what days I saw what. I do know one of the top things on my list was finding any info on the new release of the Classic Star Wars Trilogy. Well, Ray and Kevy sort of said that if I didn't look into it for them, I could expect to never ever post again on the LTC, so I made sure I checked it out. Of course Sansweet was there talking it up, about how great the transfer quality was and all for the original re-re-re-release. So first I shit myself in anticipation because of his excitement on it. Then, right after I managed to change with no one seeing me, they showed some previews, and I shit myself again, but this time in disappointment. It was obvious I wasn't the only one disappointed either if you check out some other website's comments on it. I also heard some negative reactions from the crowd. Blah, it made me want to take off my Boba Fett costume in disgust and change into my Harry Potter one. Sansweet also talked about the 2 different SW TV series coming out. The live action one we can expect sometime between now and the year 3000, but more like 2010 or so, but at least the animated series is due sometime in 2008. The animated one takes place late in the Clone Wars, where the live action one will happen between Episodes III and IV. Also, on the sort of similar front, the new Indiana Jones should go into pre-production late this year or early next year, so that made me happy.

Most of the rest of the time was spent checking out the miniature version of the E3 Show, since the gaming industry was there big time this year. I got to play some more Nintendo Wii, and MP and I also snuck down what Mikey refers to as "Anime Porn Alley," to get a few glimpses of finely drawn boobies. I also ended up having to buy another suitcase to lug back all my limited collectible purchases! Kevin shook his head in disbelief when he picked me up to take me to the airport. I kinda felt bad for him, because I had just gone about 5 days without showering and it was pretty warm in San Diego, not to mention I was wearing my last pair of underwear which were soiled in the front, if you know what I mean, from Anime Porn Alley. So I think I kinda stunk worse than Pat's old, room temperature crab meat he leaves around the basement. Well, thanks anyway to Kevin and Mikey's whole family! See ya next year MP!!