San Diego Comic Con 2018: Preview Night megapost…

Today, Wednesday, July 18th (or tonight, as I type this) was San Diego Comic Con “Preview Night.” Not many major events were scheduled, so I had a chance to get a quick lay of the land and see some of the new attractions and exhibits.

Tomorrow is the official first day of San Diego Comic Con, but since I will be cosplaying and attending events myself over the next few days, this relative ‘calm in the storm’ made for a nice opportunity to share some sights from the convention so far…

If you stay at the San Diego Gaslamp Quarter Marriott Residence Inn? Quick tip: Don’t make the front desk angry…you wouldn’t like them when they’re angry!

That new Kent guy makes one hell of a bouncer for the hotel bar.

“Star Trek: Discovery” ad, right across the street from our hotel. Next month is the big Star Trek convention in Vegas, so I’ll have other opportunities to cover “Discovery” in-depth at that time.

The San Diego convention center is pretty freakin’ BIG. This is where *most* of the convention takes place, but lots of events/panels have to take place off-site for sheer lack of room. This center is the size of a small airport and yet it’s still not quite big enough. Nice way to rack up some FitBit steps…

The **Laika Studios**‘ live exhibit (off-site, in the Gaslamp Quarter). Laika produces some gorgeous, high-quality stop-motion animation films such as “Coraline,” “Kubo and the Two Strings” and “ParaNorman.” My wife and I are huge fans of their work, and we REALLY wanted to see this today, but sadly the line was maxed out. They weren’t taking any new visitors for the day, but I will definitely try again soon…

Giant-sized ad for Fox Network’s “The Gifted” plastered on the side of one of the hotels downtown..

Another Gaslamp Quarter advertisement; this one for a new NBC series called “Manifest”, which has a bit of a “Lost”/Stephen King-vibe to it. We’ll see…

Matt Groening (“The Simpsons” “Futurama”) has a new animated fantasy series coming to Netflix next month called “Disenchantment.”

Then it was on to the Dealer Hall…

**Anovos Studios** beautiful, *made-to-order* replicas of “Star Trek: Discovery”‘s revised take on the classic USS Enterprise starship design. The level of detail is staggering.

Actual screen-used costumes from “Edward Scissorhands,” “Planet of the Apes” and “Superman: The Movie” (as worn by the late Christopher Reeve).

Screen used jacket worn by Harrison Ford in 1980’s “Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back”; it’s much *grayer* than I expected…

A skinless, T-800 (CSM101) terminator from “Terminator 2: Judgment Day” (1991). This is one of the actual screen-used maquettes seen during the ‘judgment day’ battle in the beginning of the film.

Michelle Pfeiffer’s screen-used Catwoman cowl from “Batman Returns” (1992).

A small corner of the MASSIVE Dealer Hall; this was a section where the foot traffic was relatively light.

Screen-used costumes from “Star Trek” (Captain Kirk’s original outfit, worn by William Shatner in the show’s third season), and Tobey McGuire’s suit from “SpiderMan” (2002).

***“He’s on a hoverboard!”*** Michael J. Fox’s screen-used hoverboard from “Back To The Future 2” (1989).

The actual helmet from 1991’s “The Rocketeer” and Indiana Jones’ whip (*“Throw me the idol, I throw you the whip!”*).

Original screen-used phaser pistol from classic”Star Trek” (1966-69).

Miniature X-wing fighter from “Star Wars: A New Hope” (1977).

Original screen-used TIE fighter miniature from “Star Wars: A New Hope” (1977)

Darth Vader’s helmet from “The Return of the Jedi” (1983)

***“What have they got in there, King Kong?”*** Welcome to Jurassic World….booth!

From Mel Brooks’ “Spaceballs” (1987); “Yogurt” and “Dot Matrix” (both screen used props/costume pieces).

Original screen-used “golden ticket” from “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” (1971) and an authentic ‘blaster’ pistol from “Forbidden Planet” (1956). Um…***wow*** (!!).

**Famous Monsters of Filmland** booth; FMOFL was my *very first* magazine subscription as a kid! Nice to see it’s still hanging in there after its return to print a few years ago, following the passing of its legendary editor, Forrest J. Ackerman.

BBC’s **“Doctor Who”** booth; my wife got a 13th Doctor sweatshirt. The 13th Doctor is the new and highly-anticipated female incarnation of the Doctor (played by Jodie Whittaker). Sadly, I didn’t get much closer to the booth than this; there was a *blockade* of people surrounding it when I got there… next time (and space)!

Tomorrow, I’m going to cosplay in my Fred Flintstone suit (I have several versions of it with me here at the hotel), and there are some panels/events that I hope to attend (‘hope’ being the operative word; there are 130,000 people here). I promise that there will be plenty more pics on this site in the days to come, as well as a big recap afterward.

Thanks again for reading, and stay tuned for more… lots more.