Hmm, where do start...Saturday was a big day, huge crowds, pretty much as I expected. There was a big line outside that looked liked it was for registering, but turned out to be for using the escalators instead. Registration was on the second floor, and while you could take the stairs, people were standing in line for the escalators. So yeah.

I preregistered, and they'd gotten all high-tech in the time I last went, so they had a table with about two dozen flat screens. You just walked up to one, typed in your name, then headed over to a desk where people were handing out the badges that you'd just printed out. Very quick.

Got into another long line, before realizing that it was for free flyers and stuff. Skipped that, then went back downstairs to enter to Con proper. Saw Stormtrooper Samurai, but didn't manage a good picture (Stormtrooper armor modified to add Samurai pieces, including a flag).

Massive...just massive. I don't know how to describe to anyone who hasn't seen it, but the place is just huge.

Um..I guess I'll just do a basic run down of all the booths I saw, rather than ramble disjointedly.

The Star Wars booth was probably the biggest one there. And it still wasn't big enough! The crowds were huge, and that was before the big name actors showed up to do autographs. Once that happened, scurity pulled out cattle prods to keep people moving. Everyone kept trying to take pictures, but the lines and the angles of the tables made that a little difficult. You had to line up to sign up for autographs (Mark Hamill's alone was $85), then another line to get the autograph. It was madness. I spotted Peter Mayhew, Kenny Baker, Ray Park, Amy Allen, and the ones that played Aurra Sing and Mara Jade (can't recall their names). I heard Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher showed up as well, but I never was able to see them.
They had lots of cool LEGO displays too. A life sized Darth Vader and R2, a diorama of the battle of Endor, and the fold open Millenium Falcon.
I saw a ton of Jedi and Stormtroopers. A couple Rebel pilots were posing near the 3/4th sized Xwing, along with Emperors, Count Dooku, and a really good looking Darth Maul. There was a Jawa there too, and I spotted a Tusken elsewhere. Saw not one, but two people in Slave Leia costumes. That really takes guts. I got a picture of one of them, but that's all I could manage. Felt kinda uneasy/creepy to ask a skimpily dressed woman to take their picture.
Then I headed to the LucasArts game booth.
Jump to Lightspeed was beautiful. The two main devs were there, Julio Torres and Kevin O'Hara. Julio seemed really excited about showing JtL off. And man...that graphic look extremely great. Had some supercomputer or something. Things flew slow and there were a couple of bugs, butit felt really nice to shoot up Y-Wings and Corellian Corvettes.
Mercenaries is looking good. I watched other play it first, so I picked up quickly once I figured out the control. Had problems driving at first, so ran into a few walls and fences. Dinged up my Humvee bad enough that when I was trying to take cover behind it, it blew up in my face. Still managed to complete all the objectives though, but I didn't have enough health to take on the dozen bad guys and head baddie.
Battlefront looks like another cool game. They were having tournaments, but the line was pretty long and I didn't get a chance to compete. Still, the variety looks good, but they might want to work on the HUD a little. I saw more than a few people shooting and killing their own teammates because they apparently couldn't tell they were on the same side (like running away from you and shooting the other team wasn't a good enough indication). Endor looked particularly nice, with speeders flying by and AT-STs stomping though. It was only 6 on 6, but there were plenty of PC controlled fighters. The effect on the Speederbikes looks nice, with a blur effect around the edges the faster you go. Plus you'll take damage if you run into something, heh.
Republic Commando was a lot of fun. I had problems getting the hang of it as first (damn battle droids are so thing, and trying to aim my gun without overshooting took a few tries), but then it was cake afterwards. Commanding the squad is easy, I like the hand signals when you order a squadmate to take a position. Plus you never really die, just get incapacitated until a squadmate can heal you, or you can heal one of your squad if they fall. Had people behind me trying to tell me what to do or what not to do, because I was fumbling pretty bad at the beginning, but I showed them all when I finished off the demo by killing the giant robot tank.
KotOR II: Sith Lords...wow. They had you playing as a Level 12 Dark Side Marauder, so I was going crazy with the force powers. Force Storm, Force Wave, Force Choke and then Kill, Force Scream and Force Drain...I was unstoppable. I just tore through anyone that was in the way.

DC had lots of banners, that's...about all I can recall. Saw a few clips of the new Batman cartoon, looks a little interesting. The Batman prop they had there looks lousy though. The eyes were all wrong.

Marvel's I didn't get to see much of. Seemed kind of small this year.

Sci-Fi's booth looked the same as always, but the big thing this time was SG-1! I got to see Christopher Judge, wooo! He seems like a really nice guy too.

MGM (I think) had a booth, mostly to advertise Species III and Stargate. I only mention them because they had a fishtank where a woman in a bikini was laying inside, playing with a snake. No way you could get past the crowd at that hallway.

Activision had a big Xavier prop, didn't stop by there too long.

There was a really nice looking AvP stand, with an Alien and Predator struggling with each other. An orc was there taking a picture of it, so naturally, had to take a picture of him.

Lord of the Rings had another nice display this year. Saw a sneak peek of the Gift Set for RotK...mmm, mini Minas Tirith and Minas Morgul...Billy Boyd and David Wenham were doing the autograph thing, but they had the booth setup so that unless you paid for a signing, you'd mostly get a picture of the back of their heads.

I missed the Dark Horse booth, and thus missed my chance to see Jessica Alba, dang it.

So many costumes. Aside from the various Star Wars ones, Final Fantasy was out in full force. Saw a couple Trigun, Inuyasha, Hogwarts (including a girl that had a skirt way shorter than regulation), Chobits, Kill Bill, LotR (Full elven armor), the knife guy from Hellboy, Klingons and Red Shirts, schoolgirls a plenty, and of course the comic book costumes.

The Wayans made an appearance too, and I think I saw Lou Ferrigno too. Saw previews of an Elvis Cthulhu plushie, and a plastic Cthulhu figurine. Also spotted a couple Captain Jack Sparrows.

I'm sure there's more I'm forgetting, but those were the highlights.

***********

Here's the gallery:
http://www.lazarusworld.com/misc/comiccon/

And my comments on the individual pictures:
Centerpiece of the massive Star Wars booth.
Fett
View 1
View 2
X-Wing

New trooper look
Clone Trooper

Lines for autographs were really long for Auura Sing and Aayala and Mara Jade.
Got even longer once Peter Mayhew, Kenny Baker, and Ray Park showed up.
Then Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher came along, and security had to pull out cattle prods to keep people moving.
Aurra Sing
Chewbacca
Darth Maul
R2-D2

Jump to Lightspeed was looking really nice.
JtL1
Jtl2

Julio Torres in the left corner, lead JtL Dev
Torres

Kevin O'Hara in the right corner, my nemesis
O'Hara

Mm...Star Wars LEGOs...
Endor
Millennium Falcon
Vader

Lots and lots of costumes
Dooku
Jedi

Even the Fetts made an appearance, but Boba lost a contact lens.
Jango1
Jango2

Damn jawas, they're everywhere
Jawa

I saw not one, but two people in slave Leia costumes
Leia

Aren't you a little short to be a Tusken?
Tusken

Cobra's conscripting people a little early.
Cobra

Big LOTR display, including the towers of Minas Tirith and Minas Morgul from the Gift Set.
Gandalf
Towers of Minas
Nazgul
Figures

There was a really nice LOTR costumes display, but huge lines for Billy Boyd/David Wenham autographs, so I couldn't get close.
Costumes

DC's booth with a not so scary Batman
DC1
DC2
Batman

Mmm..3D poster...
Army of Darkness

The Ancient Old King
Cthulhu

Aliens vs Predator display, which even orcs appreciate
Aliens vs Predator
Orc

Sci-Fi's booth
Sci-Fi

Look, Christopher Judge!
Judge

PVPonline Panda Attack!
Panda
Skulls

Penny Arcade hard at work
PA

Megatokyo's Booth
Piro

Activision's booth.
Xavier

Even the Wayans were there
Wayans

Final Fantasy cosplayers
Trio

And outside, some giant robots from Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. They were just giant balloons though, unfortunately.
Robot

The picture wasn't taken by me (I couldn't get through the crowd gathered there), but MGM was there promoting Species III. They had a woman in a bikini laying inside a fish tank.
Species III

Posted by The Lazarus at July 27, 2004 10:28 AM