Oh, San Diego Comic-Con. It was a HOT one this year. Literally. The heat really takes its toll when you’re waiting for hours in lines outdoors, and yet we power on. I’ve mentioned the visible signs of economic slowdowns in last year’s recap, and some of that showed itself even more this year. But the show goes on, and we geeks still show up in throngs year after year for the love of the con and everything it brings to us. On to the recap!
The critters
This year I dropped 11 critters (I added a surprise bonus critter with Pedro the Party Porg at the last second!), plus 3 guest critters by Gina! Ten of my critters were found with successful check-ins, and 2 of Gina’s were found and checked in! Although things were marred a bit by a cheating incident that wasn’t discovered until later, it was still a good critterdrop year. I didn’t get that 100% response rate that I’m always chasing after, but I’m happy knowing they were all taken! Lil’ Eleven is the only critter of mine that’s unaccounted for, and Gina’s Wolverine went without a check-in as well, so if you or someone you know found them, let me know! It’s never too late for a check-in!
As always, THANK YOU to everyone who joined the hunt, and congratulations to all the finders! This year, my critters found new homes in California, Missouri, Minnesota, Colorado, and Hawaii! If you want to see where my critters have ended up over the years, you can find my critter adoption map here!
And also a reminder that if you missed the drops for the 1-Up Mushroom, Doraemon, or Pedro the Party Porg, I have FREE patterns for all 3! Click on any of the photos below to get the pattern!
The Convention Hall
I mentioned in last year’s recap that the convention hall felt significantly lighter than previous years, missing that punch of showiness that it used to have. This year was no different, but it didn’t feel as startling as last year. Maybe because I expected it this time? The most notable reduction was the Lego booth. It’s usually one of my favorites, with elaborate Lego displays and great giveaways. This year they didn’t have as much large-scale Lego art on display (mostly giant-sized versions of Lego pieces, but not many sculptures made of Legos), and the giveaways they had were just stickers. A pretty big fall from the days when they gave away enamel pins and minifigs, but budgets are tight, and everyone has to do what they can. Even then, the convention hall was packed to the gills every day, which is great for vendors and artists’ alley! Maybe there were more people on the convention floor because there wasn’t as much going on outside the con (more on that later), but a win for small businesses and artists is always a good thing.
Panels
I went to two panels this year, and they were great! I didn’t do any Hall H or Ballroom 20 panels this time, but I visited the Indigo Ballroom for the first time in a long while, so I still checked off one “big” panel room for the year!
Weirder Together: Meow Wolf + Titmouse
Being a big fan of Meow Wolf (I’ve visited all 5 locations) and Titmouse studios, this panel was every bit as fun and unhinged as I imagined it to be. They brought in the mascots of Titmouse and Meow Wolf and held a wedding between the two to celebrate the collaboration, so you already knew this was going to be a fun and weird time. They talked about the upcoming Los Angeles Meow Wolf project, which looks like it’s going to be REALLY cool. They also announced an animated series they’ll be starting together, which I can only imagine will be filled with all sorts of fun, weird, and surreal craziness. Also, the president of Titmouse studios Chris Prynoski sounds and acts like a stoner who accidentally got the job, happened to be REALLY good at it, and stumbled his way to the top of the company effortlessly while still keeping that laidback stoner attitude. Easily my favorite panelist for this one.
Audible: Goddamnit, Donut: A Totally Professional Panel with Matt Dinniman and Jeff Hays
I’m relatively new to the Dungeon Crawler Carl series (still on book 3!), but it’s already such a huge phenomenon that I knew seeing the first major SDCC panel for the series would be meaningful. So when I saw that the line for Indigo Ballroom on Saturday morning looked reasonable (probably because everyone was waiting for Marvel in Hall H), I rolled out of bed and lined up to see Matt Dinniman and Jeff Hays do their thing! We were treated to a live read of an excerpt from book 9 by Jeff Hays (meaning we got to see him make up new voices on the fly!), and Matt talked more about his writing process and what we can expect from the series in the future. There were Carl cosplayers EVERYWHERE at SDCC this year (thankfully most wore pink Crocs vs going barefoot), so it’s safe to say that this is a massive fandom that’s only seeing the beginning of the behemoth that it’s bound to become.
The Offsite Activations
If you want to sum up the evidence of economic slowdowns affecting the offsite activities at San Diego Comic-Con, look no further than here:
The lawn across from the Hilton Bayfront was completely empty. In my 15 years of going to SDCC, I’ve NEVER seen this lawn unoccupied, and frankly, it was sad and kind of eerie seeing it completely empty like this. FX and Hulu usually took up these spaces, and this year, nothing. The IMDBoat was gone too, Crunchy Roll didn’t have their anime festivities at Rady Shell, and there was nothing behind the Marriott Marquis either. An eerily quiet time behind the convention center.
That said, the only thing that was still in its usual spot behind the convention center was the Adult Swim Party on the Green! I sound like a broken record at this point because I always list Adult Swim as my favorite offsite every year, but it’s genuinely and consistently my favorite one every time. I was invited to the media preview for this year’s party on the green and was also a selected creator, and had a fantastic time in the Rick and Morty Rambler ride, which was mercifully in the dark and air-conditioned, and a lot more intense than expected! The other games were fun, and good swag was given out at each one. If you didn’t want to play games to get swag, there was the sketchy-looking “Free Hole,” where you stuck your hand in (PLEASE only your hand), and swag came out. Easy peasy. Adult Swim consistently cranks out activations where they’re fun, there’s a variety of things you can do, there’s usually free food or drinks, GREAT staff (how are they always so excited and hyped up about everyone and everything??), and everyone walks out with swag just for hanging out.
And the laser dance parties at night are always a favorite of mine. No RSVP or special invites needed. They’re usually a straight walk-in, tons of fun, and the staff are always there dancing with everyone and occasionally handing out leftover swag from the day (tip: they give out the most swag on Saturday night). I’m always shocked they’re not more popular, they’re easy to get into and tons of fun. I swear I’m not shilling for them, I just really, REALLY love their activations every year, and I feel like they’re one of the few companies that hasn’t let the tightened budgets decrease the fun factor.
OH MAH GAWD I SAID YES!!! *cue heart eyes* The guy made me say some weird “brightest day darkest night” thing, but I don’t care, I was just so happpyyyyyy.
I got some new bling! All thanks to The Green Lanterns Training HQ activation. This one may have been the most anticipated activation of the year, and rightfully so. It’s a fully immersive experience where you’re being recruited as a Green Lantern, and you’re taken through 2 challenges before everyone’s assembled in a high school auditorium to take the oath and get your ring! A fun experience, there’s free beer in the end, and you walked away with what may have been the most sought-after piece of swag of the con this year.
Hulu’s Animayhem activation was significantly smaller this year, being reduced down to what amounted to two food trucks and some photo ops. Even then, it was run smoothly, and I got a cool hat out of it. Unfortunately, I heard that the hat giveaways were inconsistent, so I guess I was lucky to get one first thing Friday morning. I’d read from other people that by the time they showed up they either ran out of food, or the hats were only given to select people. Hopefully things will shape back up next year, but for those of us who were able to get the full experience, it was pretty well run with what they had.
Another really fun offsite activity I got to experience was the Dungeon Crawler Carl Princess Donut Truck, where you got donut holes and your choice of Dungeon Crawler Carl pin or keychain, and Carl cosplayers ran around yelling at people (in a good way!). Sometimes you don’t need to have an elaborate experience, just feed us, give us some swag, and make the line waiting experience fun!
And maybe the very definition of a short and sweet activation was the surprise Widow’s Bay pop-up that happened Saturday afternoon. The line moved fast, and while it was only a small tourist information stand, there were plenty of little details to find on the walls, and you got an awesome keychain and your choice of postcard. The actors were great at interacting with us, acting as denizens of Widow’s Bay trying very, VERY hard to convince everyone that Widow’s Bay is DEFINITELY not cursed and will DEFINITELY be the next Martha’s Vineyard. Just saying I’d much rather visit spooky foggy Widow’s Bay anyway, I hear Patricia’s cocktail parties are to die for.
I also visited the Paramount Lodge, where I honestly don’t think it’s worth the wait unless you have a reservation, but that’s just me. It’s always a well-run event, and there’s always free food and booze, I’ve just never been too excited about it. This year I didn’t take any swag from the Lodge at all, because by the time I went everything was either out of stock or I wasn’t interested, so I enjoyed my free food and drinks, hung out in some air conditioning, and walked out. On the other hand, the Supertroopers 3 activation had no line, gave free food and drinks, and also had good swag! I was also able to visit the Telltale Games The Wolf Among Us Trip Trap Bar pop-up, where I was able to play the game a bit and get more free food and booze (there seems to be a pattern here, HMM). Losers for activations this year were the Audible Level Up Lounge and the Resident Evil activation. I was invited to the media preview for the Level Up Lounge, and I regret going because I gave up seeing the Spaceballs panel for it. It was an unorganized mess during the preview, and from what I could tell on social media, it was an even bigger mess when it opened to the public the next day. The Resident Evil activation turned what could’ve been a cool experience into people swarming over QR codes that didn’t work, to get prizes that ran out too quickly. It was made even worse by people cheating by scanning the codes off of people’s phones to collect them faster to get more prizes. Just…why? For a keychain and maybe a plushie? I’ll never understand.
The Swag
If last year’s swag haul felt a bit flimsy under tight budgets, this year’s was surprisingly good! Got lots of good substantial swag from all sorts of booths and activities. My favorite is easily my Master Shake mug that I got from the not-so-sketchy Free Hole at the Adult Swim party on the green. I also can’t fly a kite worth shit, but you bet your ass I’m going to see if I can make that Cromulon kite fly. I’ll be obnoxiously giggling away and yelling “SHOW ME WHAT YOU GOT.”
And with all this cool stuff — say it with me, kids — STILL NO WEIRD SWAG FROM CONAIR. I’m still going to say something about it in hopes that we can manifest the return of Conair’s completely bizarre and irrelevant swag. I’m sitting at one nose hair trimmer and a fabric shaver, as I keep my fingers crossed that maybe I’ll get a bedazzler next if they ever come back. Make it happen! The people demand the weird shit.
Economic slowdowns be damned, SDCC still brought the party. While budgets were tightened, the geekdom still showed up, and we found each other as we always do. It just shows that community is far stronger than any flashy panel or activation out there. Thank you as always to everyone who’s followed along with my SDCC adventures all this time. I say it every year, but I wouldn’t be where I am today with my silly little crochet hobby without all of you. As SDCC 2026 wraps up, here’s to looking forward to SDCC 2027!
