By San Diego Comic-Con 2015
Outside Events
Outside Events
There are so many events and activities going on outside the Convention Center which don’t require a SDCC badge and many are free. In this post I’m focusing on the daytime free events which were open several days of SDCC.
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| Outside of Nerd HQ |
FX had overtaken the largest lawn area behind the convention center (and directly across from the Hilton Bayfront). I didn’t have enough time to do anything, but managed to get a couple lanyards and the Archer card (there were several cards you could collect). I liked that they had a large covered area with seating (and a sunscreen dispenser) for people to take a break. There was a Fargo “snowglobe” photo op, American Horror Story hotel to walk through (No, thanks! I’m a wuss!), and something for the Bastard Executioner which I’m guessing was some sort of duel. There was also a building for The Strain, but I don’t know what was inside.
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| FX Area |
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| The Strain building |
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| Fargo Snow Globe photo op |
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| Shaded seating |
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| Sunscreen dispenser! |
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| Archer drinking fountain |
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| Archer drinking fountain |
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| American Horror Story Hotel |
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| Bastard Executioner interactive |
I pre-registered online for Adult Swim’s On the Green a few days before the convention started. There isn’t a specific time for you to sign up for, but it does speed things up a bit as they need you to sign a release form. I printed it (but you could also show the confirmation on your phone) and brought it with me. I just showed it with my ID (you must be 18 years or older to participate in Adult Swim events), and got my admission bracelet without having to wait in the line of people registering. It was already about 11:30 in the morning and there were long lines for all of the games so I went directly to the free shirt line which ended up taking me about 2 ½ hours to get through. For the shirts, you selected a shirt from boxes which had the type (mens/womens/tanks, etc), then took a sheet which had the design options, and gave it to the counter and your shirt was printed on the spot. It was cool, but it also is what caused the line to take so long. I was still able to get into the convention center a little before 3pm.
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| Adult Swim dome |
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| Flunko Carnival Game |
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| Trade tickets from playing games into prizes |
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| The line for free T-shirts |
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| Free T-shirts booth |
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| Aqua Teen Hunger Force Memorial |
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| Dread-A-Geddon Carnival Game |
There was also an Assassin’s Creed obstacle course on the lawn across from the front of the convention center, which I’m not in any shape to attempt. Similar to the Assassin’s Creed boat they had in 2013, they also gave free shaves to men as Gillette was one of their sponsors.
NBC usually has their outside set up at the Tin Fish restaurant and in the open area next to the restaurant and this year was no exception. There was a very large screen showing promos for the new show Blindspot which seemed to be running 24 hours a day throughout the con. The Tin Fish was also “wrapped” for Blindspot. For their dome, they had Heroes Reborn interactive exhibits. There were two parts to this, one of which I didn’t get to do as the line was very long. I opted for the shorter and faster line for the Heroes Gallery and photo op. The photo was actually a GIF with flames coming from my hands. It was pretty cool. They also gave out a Heroes Reborn tote bag upon exiting the Heroes Reborn interactive.
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| Blindspot wrap on the Tin Fish Restaurant |
I was wearing the first Tesseract necklace I ever made, and the girl working the photo op complimented me on it. I still had one left from my giveaways so I thanked her and told her that I had made it while giving her the one I still had. I actually got another compliment on it at the Gotham photo op in the Petco Interactive zone.
Inside the Petco Interactive Zone, they had some sort of Snoopy activity going on, but I didn’t go inside. The only thing I really did in there this year was getting a photo taken at the Gotham photo op. There was a Scream Queens amusement ride which was basically a long drop, a Scout’s Guide to the Zombies Apocalypse camp area which seemed to be aimed at kids which taught them to pitch tents and tie knots, and a video game demo of The Witcher: Wild Hunt. There were a few food trucks there for purchase, and seating provided by Dark Souls III.
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| Gotham photo op (Left) and Scream Queens Ice Cream (Right) |
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| Scream Queens ride |
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| Knot Tying instruction |
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| Tent Pitching exercise |
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| Seating and Dark Souls III display |
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| Snoopy Interactive |
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| This shot was taken of the Petco Interactive area on Thursday from the pedestrian bridge |
There were other areas around the Gaslamp District which had other interactive events, but I never got a chance to get over to them. I also missed out on the Nerdist Conival at Petco Park.
There were several ice cream carts along the North sidewalk which parallels the trolley tracks across from the convention center which were part of the Scream Queens promotion. They recorded you screaming, which you could post to social media, and they gave you an ice cream cup.
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| Free Ice Cream courtesy of Scream Queens |
These pictures were taken outside of Petco Park (on the East side) where the Walking Dead Escape was taking place.
There are also plenty of other sights to see when walking around in the Gaslamp Quarter during San Diego Comic-Con.
If you live in San Diego or can afford to spend a few days in San Diego during Comic-Con (ALL of the hotels in the county raise their prices during the con), it would definitely be worth the trip even if you don\’t have a SDCC badge. This post only lists a small portion of FREE events (without a badge) that you can do at San Diego Comic-Con. There are also parties, concerts, podcasts, etc. which don\’t require a badge, but do cost money. Many of these sell out weeks before the con starts so I would check out Outside Comic Con for updates and schedules of events by at least February. Many of the events won\’t be announced or for sale until a few weeks before, though, especially the free stuff. Just make sure to take time to walk around downtown for anything else happening. There are always people promoting shows or movies and handing out free stuff. Many of the restaurants offer discounts as well.
Hope to see you around next year!
TTFN,
V
Weird Life of V 