San Diego Comic-Con has come and gone and with it always comes a slew of news from all forms of media including Movie, TV, Comics, Toys, and more and each year 135,000 attendees from across a multitude of fandoms descend on San Diego to enjoy their favorites. Whether it is getting into panels to hear their favorite stars talk about a show or a comic creator discussing where their series is headed, a booth showcasing their newest releases, or a in demand new collectible there truly is something for everyone at this show.
Switching things up from my other coverage it’s time to get into what happens after the show floor closes.
As the fever for the convention intensifies so does the need to increase the experience your time there to the fullest and once the show floor closes for the day, and even before, the Gaslamp District which is just on the other side of the street from the convention center sees thousands of fans pour down it’s streets and take over the area.
With it also comes a company’s desire to continue engaging with their biggest fans in other ways; whether it be a free event that you need to win tickets for, a low-key exclusive events which sees smaller and sometimes invite only crowds, or a paid-to-attend event this is where after hour events come in to play. These events allow companies to provide exclusive experiences and interact with their fans in vastly different ways. They also let attendees to cool down and get a drink and some refreshments after a long day at the convention and catch-up with some friends if they are also there which is what makes attending any of these experiences special.
While I’ve always enjoyed running around the show floor and getting the rarer convention exclusives and swag as well as getting into the major Hall H panels but as the years roll along (I’ve been going to San Diego Comic-Con since 2013) I’m always evolving in my interests and the last few years has seen me looking forward to the various after hour events being held and this year I think I struck an pretty even balance between show floor, panels, offsites, and after hour events. So let’s look at a few of the after hour events happening during San Diego Comic-Con including the Fandom party, Den of Geek events, and the RSVLTS Panel Party.
The Fandom Party
Fandom, the world’s leading platform for in-depth information on entertainment, in partnership with Universal Orlando Resort and Bandai Namco Entertainment America Inc. held their 8th annual party at the Float Rooftop Bar in the San Diego Gaslamp District’s Hard Rock Hotel.
ALL FOR THE LOVE OF FANS the Thursday night Fandom party continues to be one of the hottest parties to get into at San Diego Comic-Con. Not only is this one of the few events that both fans and celebrities attend but year-after-year it continues to delight with food, drinks, sponsored giveaways, and always closes the night out with a musical guest.
The night featured immersive, fan-first experiences with Universal Orlando Resort on hand to showcase their newest theme-park – Universal Epic Universe. Fans were treated to custom interactions from the five worlds within the park: Celestial Park, Dark Universe, How to Train Your Dragon – Isle of Berk, Super Nintendo World, and The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Ministry of Magic. Some fans that completed a scavenger hunt or visited the Harry Potter area also walked away with an Interactive Baby Niffler plush.
Meanwhile Bandai Namco Entertainment America Inc were on hand to celebrate the release of their upcoming epic action RPG “Code Vein II,” with an epic photo-op with a life-size Motorcycle Forma replica featured in the game. Set in a post-apocalyptic world where humans and Revenants coexist Code Vein 2 sees you and your partners explore, battle, and uncover a story that transcends time.
Other sponsors included familiar face Z2 Comics who gave fans their own celebrity moment with a 360 red carpet camera, Santaverse™ character The Elf on the Shelf® who delighted fans with his dancing and themed scavenger hunt, and Mike’s HARDER Lemonades.
But what good would a Fandom party be without special guests. Every year Fandom rolls out the red carpet for photo-ops and interviews with celebrities, creators, and influencers which this year included Dan Aykroyd & Stella Aykroyd (The Blues Brothers), David Dastmalchian, Matilda Lutz (Red Sonja), Robert Sheehan (The Umbrella Academy), Dante Basco, Zach Tyler Eisen, Jennie Kwan, Olivia Hack and Jack DeSena, Michaela Jill Murphy (Avatar: The Last Airbender), Tut Nyuot (The Long Walk), Katie Stevens (Faking It), Holland Roden, B.J. Britt (Hallmark Channel), Jim Lee (DC Comics), Anthony Bowens (AEW Wrestler), Jon Bailey (Honest Trailer), Matthew Lawrence, Joey Lawrence and Andrew Lawrence, and Chyler Leigh.
This epic night concluded with a performance by chart-topping rock band The All-American Rejects who delighted the crowd by performing their top hits. They pumped up the crowd so much even the Elf on the Shelf joined them onstage and featured a surprise appearance by Brandon Routh.
One of the most fun things this year about the Fandom Party was getting to watch the set-up for the party itself which even included hearing a sound check by The All-American Rejects from the comfort of my hotel room!
Den of Geek
Den of Geek continued their San Diego Comic-Con presence known with a trio of parties. A mainstay at most conventions; Den of Geek is always on hand to cover all things pop culture and related events throughout the convention. This also usually includes special issues of their magazine!
Den of Geek x Nickelodeon: Avatar: The Last Airbender 20th Anniversary Party
To celebrate the 20th anniversary of Nickelodeon’s Avatar: The Last Airbender franchise Den of Geek put on one of their biggest events ever. Held at the Horton Grand Hotel, which was where last year’s Goliath Games Power Saber Launch Party was held, the Avatar: The Last Airbender 20th Anniversary Party featured a night of food, music, and mingling and to help with ambiance different rooms of the Horton were themed based on each of four nations along with having themed food and themed drinks.
What also made the night special was that this was no mere fan run after party rather this was truly a night to celebrate the shows long standing history and Nickelodeon and Den of Geek went all out in making sure it was special with a pretty hefty portion of the voice cast including Zack Tyler Eisen (Aang), Dante Basco (Zuko), Dee Bradley Baker (Appa), Jack DeSena (Sokka), Michaela Jill Murphy (Toph), Greg Baldwin (Iroh), Jennie Kwan (Suki), and Olivia Hack (Ty Lee) as well as co-creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, and composer Jeremy Zuckerman all in attendance to celebrate.
The night concluded with a message to fans and a DJ set by DJ Dante Zuko Basco!
To celebrate the event Den of Geek released a special 20th anniversary collector’s edition Avatar issue of their magazine. If that wasn’t enough The Op Games made sure no one left empty handed and attendees were able to choose one of three Avatar inspired games including Trivial Pursuit: Avatar: The Last Airbender, Clue: Avatar: The Last Airbender, or Avatar The Last Airbender: Aang’s Destiny A Cooperative Deck-Building Game! Seeing as deck-building games are my favorite board game this was an easy choice.
Overall this was certainly one of my favorite events I have attended.
Den of Geek, Nerdist, and Geek and Sundry Present: The Op Games Party Game Game Party
Another area of fandom Den of Geek seems to have embraced is the board game culture. Over the last few years they continue to host parties catering to the analog game fan in all of us. This year along with Nerdist and Geek & Sundry the Den of Geek crew held their epic Party Game Game Party game night featuring some of industry leading game developer The Op Games most popular games.
Attendees could choose to either mingle amongst themselves or try their hand at learning a few games. For those who dared tables were set-up to learn to play a few select games including Telestrations and Flip 7 among others. Being familiar with some of the games I took a bit of a 50-50 approach trying a few games but cutting out to also chat with some friends in attendance all while getting some tasty snacks, drinks, and some swag to boot!
The OP Games has really come around the last few years as a leader in gaming with a host of fun and easy to learn party games. You can check out my coverage of The Op Games from this year’s New York Toy Fair and head to our forum and see my running The OP Games thread.
Den of Geek & Upper Deck’s Super Happy Hour at Mission Brewing
Den of Geek was back at Mission Brewing for their annual community meetup. This time they partnered with Upper Deck to launch Fleer Brilliants Superman! Included in the event was a live taping of POWER-UP hosted by Sam Stone and a iHeartradio’s X-Ray Vision and Roddenberry Entertainment’s Does it Fly? podcast. Working with Mission Brewing Den of Geek had a special Mission x Den of Geek Pilsner.
Unfortunately I got sandwiched in with this and two other events so my time at this event was short but I wanted to give a shout-out for the good work Den of Geek has done partnering with a wide of array companies from Netflix, Nickelodeon, The Op Games, Upper Deck, Mission Brewing, and everyone else throughout the four day convention!
Sakamoto Days AR Experience
As announced just prior to San Diego Comic-Con Den of Geek in partnership with Netflix launched their Augmented Reality (AR) collaboration with Medialife.AI, which coincided with the launch of Sakamoto Days Part 2. The AR Experience was available to experience in person at the Den of Geek events and around the Gaslamp Quarter throughout San Diego Comic-Con.
The activation with centers around Mr. Sakamoto, once the greatest hitman of all time, blurs the line between physical and digital by delivering Japanese anime straight into the physical world. The AR experience gives fans access to exclusive browser-based experience through in-store displays posters, and magazines as well as limited-edition AR-activated merchandise including stickers, magazines, and posters at over 150 comic and manga stores in North America (full store list can be found here).
Check out the full release here for a bit more insight into this exciting collaboration!
For those going to Anime NYC this weekend fans can head over to Booth 1B-110 and interact with Mr. Sakamoto and pick up free merchandise and stickers before the activation culminates.
RSVLTS Panel Party
This year also marked the first time I have ever participated in a ticketed event and while it was billed as a panel and not an after hour event I would be remiss not to mention the RSVLTS Panel Party. While I did know a bunch of people that attended so I should have taken more photos I actually don’t have any from that night but I still wanted to give some initial reactions to it.
Overall RSVLTS is a company I have come to really enjoy. I’ve gone from none of their shirts in my collection to over fifteen in just under two years and while that may seem like lightweight numbers to some Insiders having come from collecting Steelbooks and then to posters and now to RSVLTS I am disciplined in my collection buying and generally reserve purchases to mainly convention exclusives and the very occasional drops such as the recent Lord of the Rings collection. That said, I do keep up with the releases and follow them so I have become a fan of theirs and am familiar with what is going on.
So how did their first event like this at San Diego Comic-Con go; well it could have been better.
The event was held at the Residence Inn in the Gaslamp District which would have been fine except it was held in a meeting room a few floors down and while it was not completely their fault the lack of AC in the room was a bit of an issue also snacks (nachos and cookies) and beverages were a bit on the stingy side.
While I think most of that could have been forgiven what stung the most was the lack of a good piece of swag. After purchasing tickets attendees were asked for a shirt size, so going into the event there was some buzz of getting something for the ticket price, but the ultimate letdown occurred when instead of receiving one of their flagship Kunu’s attendees received a Breakfast Balls polo and while I actually do like their polos I think this was a bit of a miss from a company that is usually very keyed into their fan base. Another miss was the polo itself as instead of giving out a more appropriately themed shirt attendees were given a PGA branded polo which feels extremely out of place at a comic convention and somewhat feels like an afterthought. Without fully acknowledging some of these shortcomings from attendees who have made their thoughts known the RSVLTS team has tried to make it right by offering a 30% discount to attendees; though that coupon does expire within two weeks so a but of another miss.
The night wasn’t all horrible though. I appreciated connecting with people in the community, hearing from the team members, getting to ask them questions, and learning about upcoming releases, events, and insights. I think the team did want to engage with fans and to build up that community aspect and so I do still respect them for that.
Overall I still follow RSVLTS and am still on board with the brand. I believe they do care about their community but I think more thought and care has to go into an event like this when the ticket price is so high. If they were to decide to do something like this at future events would I go again? I have to think about it. This was the first time I paid for a branded event and while I think it could have been better and even epic if the swag given out was amazing given so many hiccups it did not quite live up to expectations so ask me next year if they do something like this again.
