*Sighs* Well, I guess it's time to do this. After more than two months, it's time to bring things to a close. But if you think I'm gonna start August off on a sad note, you are gravely mistaken! Comic Con may be over, but the coverage still continues with this year's show! And boy was it a doozy! But we'll get to all that as we progress. The stage is set and the pics have been selected. For the last time this year, cap up those Code Red Mountain Dews and throw on a clean pair of Batman Underoos because the CRAZY Comic Con Countdown is pulling in fast! Enjoy...
Last time we saw Bob, he was looking a bit flat. Glad to see he's out and about and doing better!
I think Homer Simpson may have helped design some of the Fantastic 4's vehicles!
The infamous Abbott Elementary Block Party. Last year's offering was a fun, fast and efficiently run experience that left everybody who came to it happy. So naturally they went in a completely opposite direction with this year's offsite! When I read about the six-hour-and-longer wait to get in, I skipped it altogether. No offsite or swag is EVER worth a wait that long. Sadly, it was often the same story at other offsites like Brawl Stars, Percy Jackson and Hulu. Given some of the reviews I read later on and firsthand accounts of people who did go, I think I made the right call.
Way out on the other end of Downtown San Diego, the Super7 Store transformed their tiny-but-fun space into an AWESOME popup shop celebrating the Big G himself, Godzilla!!! In addition to the insanely detailed signage, they also had a 6ft tall statue of the King Of The Monsters on display as well!
MIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!!!
The super cool Doctor Who offsite offered exclusive merch and photo ops in addition to many props and set pieces from the actual show on display inside! While not as encompassing as the current exhibit featured at the Comic Con Museum in Balboa Park, they made the most out of the space given. As a bonus, they even had a nighttime version of the offsite that included a game that led to prizes for those who attended!
His name is Inigo Montoya, and he has come to get revenge on those that spoiled Deadpool & Wolverine for everybody last year!
Always a fun time at the Peanuts Museum offsite! Although the weather was actually VERY agreeable this year, it was still hot enough for some Sno-Cones, and the volunteers were more than happy to serve them up out of a giant replica of an original Snoopy Sno-Cone Machine!
The brick wizards at Lego certainly outdid themselves this year with a Lego replica of the San Diego Convention Center! Although not 100% accurate (There are steps in the center of the building on either side where Halls C and D meet), it's still a remarkable feat!
Sad to say that the glory days of the Petco Park Interactive Zone may be over. The line to get in varied throughout the day and was pretty terrible at opening. And I'm totally okay with bag checks by the way. This is a wild world we live in, unfortunately, and I always prefer to be safe. But with so few offerings, it really wasn't worth it this year. With only four activations, and one of those was merely photo ops for something called Winx, the big offender here was the booth for Avatar The Last Airbender. The line for this thing reached five hours numerous times, and what, pray tell, was causing it all? A friggin photo op! That's right, instead of just letting people who didn't want a photo with the beleaguered Cabbage Vendor go ahead and get there bags and cards, they made EVERYBODY wait in the blazing sun while people taking pictures took their sweet ass time with it! If the Padres, who run the event, aren't gonna put any effort into it, then maybe the city should find somebody who will or just nix it altogether. It's sad to say because I and easily millions of others have throughly enjoyed the Interactive Zone for over a decade now, but it's clearly falling short. Hopefully things will improve next year.
After being rescued from the Planet of the Apes, Col. Sanders moved to the Moon of Vega and married a Dink. They happily live in the now, now!
Crunchy Roll continues to kill it at Comic Con with their offerings both at their booth and with the awesome free concerts they put on behind the Convention Center at the Rady Shell! This year they even added activations around the courtyard of the venue offering swag and photo ops!
Leave it to the Adult Swim Lawn and Rick & Morty to make sure that all attendees at Comic Con 18-and-up got plenty of ass this year! Sorry, folks. I'll go wash my mouth out with soap right now!
These Gremlins clearly aren't down with Christmas in July either!
Easily the BEST offsite at Comic Con this year, the Clown In A Cornfield experience presented by Shudder! Admittedly, I'm not too big on horror, but the standby line was short and amazingly enough, they let us in early to line up despite not opening until noon! The theming as you waited to get in was excellent, complete with props, sets and actors who were totally into it. The experience itself was incredible as a group of us were brought into a dark and foggy maze, complete with eerie green lights and even more actors as a psycho clown chased us! After an outrageous escape from a barn, we were led to a carnival area where they gave us snacks and swag and let us play games! The folks at Shudder had this down to a science and it was amazing! The only bad part was that it had to end!
The Ultimate Warrior surges off the energy of one of his little warriors! For us wrestling fans, Comic Con was a bittersweet deal this year with the passing of Hulk Hogan on the first day. Among my favorite Con memories was being at the Mattel panel with Hogan and Paul Heyman when Sting made his surprise debut for WWE. Hogan was certainly a polarizing figure, especially in his final years. At the end of the day, we must remember that while Hulkamania may have been an unstoppable force for good (And sometimes bad with the NWO), Terry Bollea was a mere mortal, as flawed and as complex as any of us. We all say and do things we aren't proud of. Lord knows I am far from perfect. A bigger person can always forgive and forget and as we move forward, try to remember the many good things he did contribute to society.
Another truly awesome offsite with surprising efficiency: Google Play's Fantastic 4 activation! Unlike most of the activations that required online pre-registration, this offsite had you get in line ONSITE to register for a time slot. I was early enough that I got an afternoon slot and it was a lot of fun! Each zone was based off of each of the powers of Marvel's First Family, though the first stop didn't work all that well, the rest were really cool and at the end, we got pins! Pretty sweet, eh?
I swear, some people are so rude. Every time I asked this guy a question, he'd just start hurling insults and spit at me!
Apparently Mr. Smee wants some of that sweet Zardoz action!
The SUPER COOL Alien Earth offsite at the FX Lawn! FX decided to simply things this year with a massive walk-thru attraction as opposed to multiple activations within the space. It worked out well as the line moved quick and the photo ops were easy to slip in and out of. Another standout among the offsites, this one was very immersive and even had a nighttime version called Code Red, which featured scare actors and some allegedly Hard R action (Nobody younger than 13 was allowed into the night version)! I really can't believe the luck I had with offsite offerings this year!
Million Dollar Chef!
Debbie was in the house and still upset over that Malibu Barbie! I mean seriously now, who wouldn't be?!?
And the award for the most random and obscure cosplay of Comic Con 2025 goes to this Max Headroom costume, complete with the background! He jokingly told me he could really tell which attendees were born past 1990 because people either got it or didn't!
And finally, we'll end this massive post with my pick for best cosplay of Comic Con 2025: Cousin Eddie! This guy was great and played it to the hilt! You wouldn't think that the Vacation movies could be cosplayed, but then we all remember the Randy Quaid trump card! Hopefully this guy will do the blue leisure suit next year!
And that was Comic Con 2025! Man, what a difference a year makes! I was so worn out heading into it last year's show that I honestly don't remember much of it! Things were thankfully more relaxed heading into this year's show and as such, I got all kinds of memories! Right off the bat, it's gotta be said though about the way these offsites are being run. I got very lucky with most of mine, but there were several others that were just F'ing ridiculous. Nobody should miss an entire day or more of Comic Con doing the offsites. There are so many better ways that these lines can be handled if only the producers putting these on would take the time to think about it. Outside of that though, this was one of my best Con experiences ever, easily Top 5, maybe even Top 3! The offsites I did try were fun and ran smoother than expected and for the first time EVER, I got every exclusive I tried for! I even scored a BUNCH of rare comics, including the three I needed the most! It's a show I'll certainly be talking about for years to come!
Well, that's a wrap on the CRAZY Comic Con Countdown 2025!!! I hope you all enjoyed this look back Comic Con past and present! I know I appreciate it. This and the WonderCon Countdown are about the only times of year my blog gets noticed anymore! But, the time has come to return to normal, or as normal as it gets at this joint! But don't be too sad about the Con pics going dormant. We're roughly six months away from WonderCon season after all! So be sure to come back next week as we get a fresh look at Bubble Fox and pals with a fresh pair of eyes and a different pencil! Until then, take care, stay safe and I'll catch y'all later!
