Well, another Comic Con has come to pass. Definitely one for the ages, in good ways and bad. Don't get me wrong, I had a great time. But things were very different this year. But, y'all don't wanna hear about that. You want to see some pics, and believe me, I got PLENTY of them! So, for one last time this year, cap up those Code Red Mountain Dews and hold on to your Batman Underoos, because the CRAZY COMIC CON COUNTDOWN concludes! Enjoy...
The Gaslamp Quarter on 5th Avenue was decked out like never before this year. Even the famed Gaslamp Arches got completely decorated! Apparently some thing called Avengers is coming out...
Gee Mattel, maybe if you had promoted the movie like this LAST YEAR, Masters Of The Universe might have succeeded! And by the way, this movie was awesome! Up until Spiderman came out last week, this was the best movie I saw this year.
Loves me some human chow! Sadly, this was the highlight of the severely downgraded Hulu Animayhem offsite. Think I'm just plain gonna skip this one from now on.
Nickelodeon delivered the goods this year with a much more open booth and a pretty cool offsite! But more on that later.
AT EASE MAGGOT!!! IF SGT. SLAUGHTER WANTS A NOSE RING, THEN HE'LL WEAR IT WITH PRIDE!!!
Didn't get much time to explore the Petco Park Interactive Zone this year, but I would call it an improvement over last year. Considering they literally only had a day to put it all together (The lot was being used for truck storage for a concert at Petco Park), pulling it off was an impressive feet. Still, the five hour wait for the Magic The Gathering tent was downright ridiculous.
There was much excitement heading into SDCC wondering what thrills and experiences theFX Lawn had in store for us this year! And what did they deliver? An ice cream truck... That wasn't a joke folks. FX totally killed off their legendary offsite for a friggin' ice cream truck that handed out gross flavors! To say this was a huge letdown would be an understatement. This, coupled with Hulu's Animayhem relocation and downsizing, really left many fans with long faces. With Abbott Elementary skipping SDCC as well, one has to wonder if Disney's recent budget cuts had an effect on their Comic Con offerings? Marvel and Lucasfilm certainly didn't skimp on their booths, but the Hulu booth (My gig for the last seven years) was also gone. I guess only time will tell how if this was only just for this year.
He's a cool but crude dude!
These young men came to learn about new technologies!
When meeting the King, you always bring an offering!
Party on dudes!
Even Santa Claus likes to enjoy warm weather every once in awhile!
Marvel returned to the San Diego Ballroom at the Marriott this year with a really cool gaming lounge that offered exclusive pins each day! And yes, I got all four!
After a four year absence, Nintendo returned to SDCC, this time setting up shop at the Hilton. Smaller and with less variety than their old Marriott location, this one was a lot of fun. It was a long wait, but more tolerable than other lines as they had live gaming tournaments for us to watch, and it was pretty funny, especially when dueling Marios took to the stage!
Much will be said about the Widow's Bay offsite in the future. It showed up mysteriously on Saturday morning and was gone by Saturday night! Nobody seemed to know much about it, but everybody was buzzing about it once it was done! Needless to say, these guys got it right, brief as it was! And say? What's that in the fire place?!?
So I mentioned earlier that Nickelodeon had a pretty cool booth this year. Well, they had a bitchin' offsite as well! Held at the park across the street from the New Children's Museum, it was actually pretty small compared to some of the other events that have been held there over the years. But they had some cool swag and photo ops, and for a lucky few, they could even get slimed! I was not one of them, but I did take my picture with an actual Kids Choice Award and was stoked to finally have a longtime childhood mystery solved: The Blimp Trophy does in fact have a kaleidoscope in it!
For the first time in nearly a decade, Discovery Channel came and celebrated Shark Week! Long the comfort blanket we used to get over the shock of SDCC ending, it was nice to finally get some cheaply made shark swag again!
The Tin Man found his heart and his love with Rosie the Robot!
Always good times at the Adult Swim Carnival where I watched a Rick & Morty live table read and the premier episode of a new series!
Apparently Mr. Roper has gone dimension hopping to find even more variants of wives who hate him!
The always popular Peanuts Museum that thankfully came back this year after fears somebody else rented the space. Oddly enough, the place was packed this year! One of the better things about this offsite has always been that it wasn't crowded. Add one Super7 exclusive and it all goes to hell! Good grief!
The Coneheads have infiltrated Star Fleet!
I've said it many times, and I'll say it again: The family that cosplays together stays together!
And finally, after years of Nicktoons dominating the Kids Choice Awards, I'm happy to say that Bubble Fox has finally dethroned that Bob made of sponge! I will use this acrylic blimp kaleidoscope to draw power from it!
And that was Comic Con 2026! This was a pretty odd year for the show. Outside of Marvel's typical Hall H spectacular, not many huge panels or major news drops. Offsites downgraded like crazy and the heat was so humid and muggy that many cosplayers just gave up. I actually had a lot of trouble with the heat this year myself. God bless the bartender at the Old Spaghetti Factory for giving me an ice pack to put on my neck. He probably saved me from a visit to the ER. I had a good time for sure, but it is time to start prioritizing certain things as I move on with the show, first and foremost, just plain ditching the offsites. Some are fun, but most just aren't worth the wait. Hopefully, things will be a little more agreeable next year.
And that's a wrap on the CRAZY COMIC CON COUNTDOWN 2026!!! I hope y'all enjoyed the look back at Comic Con past and present. It gives me much joy to go back and look at all these wonderful memories from a show I hold most dear. It's a bummer that it's over, but hey, we're 50 weeks away from the next SDCC! And WonderCon is just under eight months away, so Con coverage will be back before you know it, so stay tuned! We'll be back next week with some fan art that'll have you tickled pink! Until then, take care, stay safe and I'll catch y'all later!
