San Diego Comic-Con 2022
San Diego Comic-Con is one of the largest fan events in the world. It has a reputation for drawing out big name celebrities and it's where movie studios often make big announcements. Fans are known to line-up for days to be among the first into the famed Hall H or to get that limited Funko character. The vendor hall is large and full of fun things to see. It's truly the premiere event in the world of fan conventions.
The attendance was notably down this year, perhaps due to a smaller cap. That's not really a bad thing since it was relatively easy to move around. Cosplay is of course a popular thing, but it seemed like there just wasn't as much of that. The panels are ran with a level of professionalism that is rarely seen in the anime convention industry. The sound, lighting, video, and queues are all done in a way that shows the amount of experience this con has and the level of care that they take in running things.
If there is a downside to SDCC, it would be that it's difficult to get into. Tickets sell out quickly and unless you're a vendor or industry member, you just can't get in. They try to operate it as a closed profile event, meaning you can't even get to the area outside the doors where a lot of attendees mingle and hang out. Fortunately there's enough going on around the area that you can still have fun without setting foot inside. The adjacent Gaslamp District is filled with restaurants and is alive with people. Pop-up displays promoting the newest movie or TV series are setup in every available open space and are open to the public. It's a spectacle to see and just plain fun to experience.
The Cosplayers
For an event of this size I should have filmed over 100 individual segments, but I only ended up with around 60. The amount of cosplay just wasn't near the level that you'd see at an anime convention. That's okay though. There was still plenty of great cosplay!
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