The most visible part of San Diego Comic-Con – and the hardest part to explain to non-geeks – is the costumes. I was trying to explain to a friend who had never been to any con before (talk about sink or swim, your first public geek experience being SDCC) that Comic-Con is like the prom, and everyone who dresses up is totally Prom King and Queen of their own personal universe. People who maybe are too shy, or just not attention-seekers normally can dress up as a kick-ass superhero and feel like a rockstar all day at con. All day people want to take pictures of you, tell you how awesome your costume is, tell you how much they love your character (and the more obscure, the better accolades). I have never dressed up for a con, but I have hit more than a few halloweens in NYC dressed up as Lara Croft, Dark Phoenix, assorted Jedi, and a few vampires, and it is kind of a heady experience. I can only imagine to do it at a con is even better. (more…)

I had high hopes of blogging my first San Diego Comic-Con as it was happening (or at least, at the end of each day) but I woefully underestimated the sheer craziness going on every minute of the day and night. Even prepared with multiple cameras and an iPad, there wasn’t a spare minute to post! So, I’m going to be catching you all up now, categorically.

There is so much thorough SDCC coverage around the web that I’m going to try to keep this stuff edited to unique pics taken by me (or Orbit/Yen team members) and try to keep it edited down to a few topics. But don’t doubt for a second that I have a bajillion pics of bespandexed cosplayers posing like they practiced all year…and you know they did. (more…)