Last week I had the opportunity to go to San Diego Comic Con for the first time! If you don’t know, this is one of the largest pop culture events out there. Everything from Marvel to Anime and everything in between is represented in some way. I got to be a part of the Luca Film pavilion with my work and it was an incredible experience! I can’t wait to share it with you!
Exhibitor Life
Since Corkcicle makes amazing Star Wars inspired bottles and cups, we were invited by Lucas Film to be a part of their pavilion at San Diego Comic Con. Along with some other incredible businesses, we made up a sort of Star Wars marketplace in the pavilion. Rosevelts, Spirit Jersey, Hero’s & Villains, Her Universe and more were all there too. It was very cool seeing the pavilion come to life on set up day. I can’t show any pictures of that, of course, but seeing the props come together was amazing! Babu Friks ship was put together right in front of our booth and the guys working on it were so nice. Was I totally nerding out, ABSOLUTELY! But they were so cool about it.
All of the guys working on the props at San Diego Comic Con had also worked on the new Mandalorian and Grogu movie! They were the puppeteers for Grogu and Babu, made Mando’s armor and many other props. It was fascinating to watch them work and listen to their stories about the movie. Such nice guys and it was obvious they absolutely love what they do! Everyone we met from Lucas Films, Lucas Museum and Skywalker Ranch were so nice and clearly doing a job they love. It was such an honor to be a little part of Lucas Film magic for a week.
The Crowds
If you have ever been to San Diego Comic Con then you know it is a LOT of people! And when those doors opened they were ready! People were lined up hours before the doors opened everyday to get into the showroom floor. That didn’t include the people who slept outside to get into Hall H for the big panels like Marvel Studios. It was just a never ending stream of people all week. But overall, most people were very nice and not rude to each other. I am sure there were cases but we didn’t see a lot of that. Seeing people lined up outside two days before a panel though was wild! That is dedication I am not sure I have!
Comic Con Exclusives
I guess I didn’t realize how much of a shopping experience San Diego Comic Con would be. every booth had Comic Con exclusive items and those were the things EVERYONE wanted. Corkcicle did a Comic Con Exclusive Death Star canteen and if we had not held some back we would have sold out on the first day! This being our first time we didn’t realize how important those exclusives would be and ended up selling out our last 9 on Saturday morning in the first hour. We will plan better next time for sure! Of course my child had a very specific exclusive he was wanting me to bring back.
I will say this, it’s not easy as an exhibitor to get that stuff. Which is fair, they are protecting it for the paid attendees as they should. But I didn’t realize it was that serious and tried to get it each morning unsuccessfully. That is until I met a nice stranger who helped me acquire said item on Saturday afternoon! Sometimes it pays to talk to strangers, haha!
I won’t name names but the people at this booth could have been a little less rude to people and I am kind of glad I ended up buying it from this lady instead of them. Other than that I was able to get some exclusive Spirit Jerseys for my kids and some event exclusive Rosevelts for the boys and my husband as well. There was no lack of shopping options and these businesses really outdid themselves with the designs on these exclusives!
Cosplays
We saw so many incredible cosplays at San Diego Comic Con! The creativity and work that went into these is just mind blowing. being in the Lucas Film pavilion, I feel like we saw all the best Star Wars inspired cosplays. But we did see some others as well. I have so many pictures and I feel like they all deserve a place here because they were just fantastic! I love the ones that are an off the wall take on a character. We saw so many great iterations of the Mandalorian. I think my favorite was Evil Knievel Mando!
Past the Star Wars characters, some of my favorites were kind of a blast from the past! I saw a lot of Shera Princess of Power. I saw a great Merlin in his vacation clothes with Mad Madame Mim who is my favorite villain. There were a few Speed Racers, a lot of Dungeon Crawler Carl characters (I think I am going to have to read these books), Lord of the rings characters and so much more! There were just so many amazing cosplays it was so cool to see!
Celebrities
There are obviously so many celebrities at San Diego Comic Con. We didn’t see a bunch because they weren’t just walking around. Well unless you’re talking about Ryan Reynolds walking around in the grey Deadpool costume. People were taking pictures and videos with him all day and had no clue it was actually him, so funny! We saw Michael Mando from Breaking Bad, Guillermo Del Toro walked by at one point too. Johnny Depp, Green Day, Vecna himself, Jamie Campbell Bower was there. It was definitely a star studded week.
San Diego
San Diego is such a beautiful place! We were at the convention center most of the trip but we did adventure over to Seaport Village a few times for dinner and fell in love. Seeing all the sailboats on the bay, mountains in the distance and all the food was sensational! We found a little coffee and sandwich place called Spill the Beans that we really enjoyed. A taco/burrito place that was so delicious and we went to a restaurant called Malibu Farm that was just….chef’s kiss! The vibe in this area was so chill and serene. But I will say, the prices of food made Central Florida prices feel cheap, that’s really saying something! Haha! I would love to go back for a real vacation that wasn’t work related, it was truly beautiful and there were so many things I wanted to explore.
Conclusion
San Diego Comic Con was an amazing experience! Am I exhausted, yes! But would I volunteer to do it again, absolutely! Corkcicle had a great week at Comic Con too. We heard from so many people how much they love the product and brand and we sold completely out but the end of the show! I am so lucky to work for a company that I not only love the product but enjoy all the people I work with too. There were only three of us at Comic Con and we had a great time together.
It felt like a dream being part of the Lucas Film pavilion and talking with guys that worked on the movies with these incredible characters. A lot of them will be at D23 in a couple of weeks as well so I hope I get a chance to say hi there. If you are a pop culture fan of any kind, I highly suggest going to San Diego Comic Con. There is truly something there for everyone and so much energy! I hope we will be back next year but until then, have a magical day!
