San Diego Comic Con 2014 Recap: Part 2

San Diego Comic-Con 2014

In Part 1 of my Comic-Con recap, I took you guys around the exhibit floor and all the cool booths. When I realized that part was getting way too long, I figured I would show you the panel discussions in Part 2. Getting into the panels can be a bit of a pain, if you want to get a good seat you need to come in early, so that when the next panel comes up you can move seats somewhere closer. That is a feat in itself!

If you wanted to get in to see The Walking Dead or Game of Thrones panel, you had to be there at 5:30am the day of to get a wristband. We left Thursday evening and people were already camped out waiting in line for those, so you can imagine how difficult it is to get in there. Despite the fact that Hall H, holds 6,500 people, that is still considered limited for the amount of people who want to see these panels.

At each panel discussion, there are cast members, producers, directors, writers and creators of the show or movies in question. It is usually a mixed bag, so really you do not know if you will get the main stars or not. All kinds of serious and fun questions are asked by the moderator and at the end the audience can come up and ask questions. If you want to ask a question, you have to get in a line the minute the panel stars, so you are relegated to a wall waiting to ask. Only a handful get picked and let me tell you some of these questions are interesting to say the least and some are borderline weird and crazy! If I was one of these actors I think I would be scared.

After each panel they give the audience either a sneak peak into the next season or a blooper/gag reel. Which I have to admit, those were pretty funny. Also, when you walk out, you get a special little giveaway from the show.

I saw the Hannibal, Penny Dreadful, Supernatural, The Following and Sons of Anarchy panels. Unfortunately I did miss some of the more awesome ones, but I have included snippets of them in my post in case you missed them.

Hannibal Panel: For this my camera literally died 2 photos into this. Of course Mads Mikkelsen and Hugh Dancy did not show up. Creator Bryan Fuller, Caroline Dhavernas, Scott Thompson, Aaron Abrams and Raul Esparza were there. This was a really fun panel, they mentioned that next year it will be a year out from where we left off last season. The people that we think perhaps died, consider that up in there they could all be alive. The audience for this crowd was fanatical to say the least, a few girls were actually in tears. The costumes people wore for this panel were pretty outrageous and Bryan Fuller gave out prizes to anyone who asked a really good question or had a cool costume.

   (Hard to see but this person was dressed all in black with antlers like the show)

 

Hannibal Blooper Reel

Penny Dreadful Panel: I just finished this season last week, so this was perfect timing for me. This show was actually the highlighted one of Comic-Con as it was on the lanyards that everyone was wearing with their badge. Last year was Dexter, so Penny Dreadful was the lucky one this year. Eva Green, Billie Piper and Timothy Dalton were unfortunately not in attendance, they were off filming movies. The creator of the show was there, actors Josh Hartnett, Harry Treadaway and Reeve Carney were there as well and it was moderated by the beautiful and funny Aisha Tyler. Apparently she used to tweet about the show so much, that Showtime asked her to come on and moderate. We did find out that next season, a new famous character will be introduced and we may finally get to see what Dorian Gray sees in the mirror/painting. Ps. Josh Hartnett is still hot!

 

 

Supernatural Panel: I actually have not seen this show, but figured we were there why  not try to get in and check it out. This is another show that required wristbands, but apparently there were a few spots left, so we were able to get in and sit way, way in the back. The crowd for this show was absolutely going bananas! That’s putting it really mildly. Every time I read Zoe and Natasha talking about this show, they make me want to start watching, but now after seeing this I am even more ready to start the binge process.

Present for the panel was Jared Padalecki, Jensen Ackles, Misha Collins, Mark Sheppard and some of the writers and creators of the show. Also, in the middle of the questions seqment, the actor Osric Chau asked the guys a question and the crowd literally went wild. Apparently he was on the show and snuck in with a costume. These guys were awesome! This was probably the best panel that we saw, they were super friendly and kind to the fans, they hammed it up and they made me a believer of this show.

 

 

 

 

The Following Panel: For this panel most of the stars of the show were there minus Joe Carroll himself, James Purefoy, they didn’t really tell us why, but he wasn’t there. The producers and director of the show were there, Kevin Bacon, Shawn Ashmore, Sam Underwood and Jessica Stroup were present and they did a great job at interacting and having fun with the questions. Kevin Bacon had a moment where he took a pic of the crowd and said now we were all now part of 6 degrees of separation with him. I thought that was pretty funny and clever of him to do that.

They did give us lots of insights into next season, next year we will find out if Joe lived or died, who was helping the twins out, and it will be a year out and Ryan Hardy will have a new love interest. He will be dealing with trying to have a normal life, yet still recovering from everything he has been through. There will also be a new killer on the loose and it will take over all of New York City and make people afraid to leave their homes. OHHHH sounds interesting!

 

 

 

Sons of Anarchy Panel: Pretty much every cast member was present, along with show creator and writer Kurt Sutter. The only person missing and who was on the program to be there and had a name plate ready for him was Charlie Hunnam. I think every person there sighed in disappointment when he didn’t show up. They gave us a bs reason, saying he was on the East Coast and that he was supposedly filming for Vogue magazine. They segued that with a special video from him to the fans, it was him with Chibs, Tig and Bobby giving him a back rub, fanning him and serving him grapes and telling the fans he was sorry he couldn’t make it. I was very annoyed lol!!!

This show has had a long run and this is the last season coming up, so there were tons of fans there, screaming, shouting and getting rowdy. Kurt Sutter promoted his new SOA game and SOA books, which I thought was really cheesy. Although, he redeemed himself when he teared up at the support from the fans. Katey Segal was bland and boring, Drea De Matteo was acting really weird and would only give one word lame answers, she was probably the worst person to have there. The guys who play Chibs, Tig, Juicy and Bobby were the most fun. Overall, not my fave panel, despite being a long time fan of the show. They did show a clip of next season and it looks bloodier and crazier than last, Jax pulling someone’s teeth out in prison to give you an idea. If you saw last season, then you know what I am talking about, when I say it looks worst than last season. Gasp!

 

 

 

Charlie Hunnam Video

The rest of these panels, I didn’t get to see them, but I thought the pics were fun enough to share if you haven’t already read about them. I also included some other fun pics of stuff going on around Comic-Con.

Game of Thrones Panel: Seriously sad I missed this! Check out Maisie/Arya who wore a Spiderman mask and walked through the floor.

 

 

 

GOT Blooper Reel

The Walking Dead Panel: Ok even more sad!

 

 

TWD Season 5 Trailer

Avengers: Age of Ultron Panel: Even more sad I did not witness Chris Hemsworth’s arms!!!!!!! 😦

 

 

 

Orphan Black Panel: Thank you Mesh for introducing me to one of my fave shows, I so wish I could have seen this!

 

 

Women who Kick Ass Panel: Very cool ladies!

 

Christopher Nolan and Matthew McConaughey for Intestellar Panel

 

Benedict Cumberbatch at The Hobbit and Madagascar Panels: He seemed to be everywhere at the Con.

 

Expendables 3: Saw these dudes doing a signing. Wesley Snipes looked like a pimp and Dolf is still buff!

 

 

American Horror Story Peeps: They were also promoting the upcoming Freak Show season. Can’t wait!

 

 

These are some random pics and videos from my sister’s friend. He did get to meet the cast of AHS, Matt Smith and attend the Orphan Black panel. I couldn’t get the Doctor Who one to upload since it was on his Instagram.  I thought I would share these anyways because it is kind of fun to see from a first-hand experience versus online. Shout out to Marcos for letting me use his photos and videos.

     (Channing Tatum)

When Tatiana Maslany appeared at the panel: The crowd went wild!

American Horror Story Signing: And look Emma commented on his blue hair. LOL.

Hope you guys enjoyed!!

}}Melissa