Are you going to Comic-Con this year? If so, prepare to have lots of fun!
I walked around downtown San Diego this morning, Wednesday, the day of Comic-Con Preview Night. Most of the following photos were taken in the vicinity of the San Diego Convention Center or Petco Park.
Most offsites are approaching completion, but it looks like a few are still just setting up in the Interactive Zone at Petco Park. It’s impressive how quickly various activations are assembled and readied for the public with just hours to go.
I’ve already photographed tons of stuff on walks during the past few days. Here’s some new discoveries I noticed this morning…
Krapopolis graphics are now all over the place at the FOX offsite, which includes a big slide!The Bandai offsite near the Marriott Marina now has lots of huge action figures providing awesome Dragon Ball photo opportunities!Comic-Con attendees will be soon be lining up along the bayfront, even camping overnight to get good spots for favorite panels and exclusives.The IMDb boat has returned to Comic-Con. A good place to watch for Hollywood celebrities crossing over from the convention center for interviews.Willard R. Abbott Public School has appeared at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront’s Promenade Plaza! The offsite promotes the ABC mockumentary television series Abbott Elementary.Someone has a swag bag, walking by the big FX offsite. Most offsite activations open tomorrow, Thursday.Here I am walking over the Harbor Drive pedestrian bridge.The Lexus Premier Lot by Petco Park is filling up with activations for the Interactive Zone. Those campsite tents below are Pinecone Trooper Pete’s Friend Zone. It promotes the CBS show Ghosts.Nintendo Switch will have a lot of cool video games and stuff, too.A cool graphic. Mario Strikers: Battle League.And here’s Kirby and the Forgotten Land.These friendly guys set up by the sidewalk early with great comic books! I got a few!
If you’d like to view my coverage of Comic-Con so far, which includes hundreds of cool photographs, click here!
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
The three Audible sand sculptures that are being carved along MLK Promenade for 2022 Comic-Con are nearly complete. And they are beyond amazing!
Check them out!
The artistry is right up there with that of world-class Sand Masters. You know, those internationally famous sand sculptors who’ve come to San Diego to compete many past summers, before the COVID-19 pandemic struck.
The extraordinary Comic-Con sculptures promote three of Audible’s original spoken word shows…
My favorite sand sculpture of the three promotes the Audible original Impact Winter.A second amazing sculpture promotes The Sandman. (Those figures are definitely sand!)And lastly, an intricate sand sculpture that promotes the Audible original Moriarty: The Devil’s Game. Looks to me like more sand carving will be done on this one before Comic-Con officially opens tomorrow!
If you’d like to view my coverage of Comic-Con so far, which includes hundreds of cool photographs, click here!
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
Cosplayers converged in the Gaslamp this morning, the day of Comic-Con Preview Night, to take part in an MTS press conference.
2022 Comic-Con is right around the corner, and downtown San Diego is abuzz. My camera is now in high gear.
Check out these cosplaying members of the Science Fiction Coalition!
Dude Vader has become a San Diego and Comic-Con fixture over the years. Christopher Canole is a super nice guy, too!It’s Ms. Marvel and Alvin, here to save the day!Arwen Evenstar is joined by an elf friend from Middle Earth.Spider-Man and Moon Knight join forces for a photograph!Supervillains in San Diego better make your escape now.Here comes Ms. Marvel again with a steampunky character.A classic Spidey pose!
If you’d like to view my coverage of Comic-Con so far, which includes hundreds of cool photographs, click here!
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
If you’re walking up Fifth Avenue during Comic-Con, and you’re wondering what happened to the Chuck Jones Gallery, fear not!
Even though the gallery itself moved some time ago to San Diego’s Little Italy neighborhood, a pop-up Chuck Jones activation can be found in the Gaslamp Quarter at 530 Sixth Avenue! (A few steps north of the Dungeons & Dragons offsite, inside the Sparks Gallery.)
I previewed The Chuck Jones Comic-Con Pop Up Gallery this afternoon as pieces by popular artists were being arranged for public display and sale. There’s something for everyone, including Star Wars, Marvel, and DC Comics art by well known artists, like Alex Ross.
For 2022 Comic-Con, the Chuck Jones pop up will also present several artists and animators that the public can meet. You can see the lineup at their website here.
The Chuck Jones Gallery Pop Up opens up tomorrow, Wednesday, July 20 during Comic-Con Preview Night!
If you’d like to view my coverage of Comic-Con so far, which includes hundreds of cool photographs, click here!
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
Bugs Bunny came out of his hole this morning, emerging on a sidewalk in San Diego. Walking around, chomping on a carrot, what did he see?
He saw that preparations for 2022 Comic-Con continue downtown at breakneck speed!
Among other things…
A big silver Vulcan salute will greet visitors to Star Trek’s cool Starfleet Outpost. Most Comic-Con offsites open to the public on Thursday. (I believe I saw this big hand at the Comic-Con Museum during their Gene Roddenberry exhibit.)The second Severance building wrap on the Hard Rock Hotel is done. Looks like some coworkers I’ve known.More photo op panels have appeared at the NBCU Corner.Boxes full of Good Guys. The clerk needs to check the shelves. One isn’t completely unwrapped.The Rookie wraps are completed, decorating Petco Park.Many box trucks in line. It’s the Comic-Con move in at the San Diego Convention Center. Here come the big exhibitors!The Bandai offsite behind the Marriott Marquis is taking form.A wall provides the history of Dragon Ball films.Very cool!The Krapopolis super slide now has Greek graphics. Where are the oars?The Gray Man offsite now has rubble.The Audible sand sculptures, still being created, are like works of art.Another amazing sand sculpture.The Peanuts offsite activation on MLK Promenade will feature The Armstrong Project.The House of the Dragon castle’s appearance just keeps getting more awesome. This might end up being one of the coolest ever Comic-Con offsites…A very sedate, tranquil Fifth Avenue in the Gaslamp Quarter, on a quiet Tuesday morning. That will change drastically in two days!
If you’d like to view my coverage of Comic-Con so far, which includes hundreds of cool photographs, click here!
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
Walk into the lobby of the Omni San Diego Hotel during 2022 Comic-Con and you might, for a moment, think you’ve been transported to ancient Greece. Then, looking around more closely, you’ll see you’ve been transported into the future–of FOX television!
Krapopolis, a new animated series that is coming up, has an unusual cast of characters, from the look of it. I think I see Medusa and the Kraken, too!
The graphics are on columns in the lobby and at the elevators–inside the elevators, too!
You won’t mistake the place for the Parthenon on the Acropolis. Because it’s Krapopolis!
If you’d like to view my coverage of Comic-Con so far, which includes hundreds of cool photographs, click here!
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
A full-size, working Spanish galleon docked this morning behind the San Diego Convention Center for Comic-Con!
San Salvador, a replica of explorer Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo’s famous ship, will be hosting a special 2022 Comic-Con offsite. Visitors will think they are boarding a pirate ship to sample Voodoo Ranger IPA adult beverages!
Of course, they’ll actually be on a ship of the Maritime Museum of San Diego. The San Salvador was built on Spanish Landing near the airport seven years ago.
If you’d like to see photographs of this amazing Spanish galleon replica being built, click here!
If you’d like to view my coverage of Comic-Con so far, which includes hundreds of cool photographs, click here!
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
The amount of cool stuff popping up for 2022 Comic-Con is mind-blowing! A walk around downtown San Diego this Monday afternoon yielded more fun photos!
Among the burgeoning pop culture sights are vampire drinks, a large, rampaging Great Ape, a Starfleet Outpost, amazing sand sculptures, and some large, creepy dolls. And loads of the other stuff that I’ve already covered during previous walks!
I suppose what I really like about this time of year is how thousands of creative ideas suddenly come together and flower simultaneously in one place. It’s like some sort of human miracle.
Of course, the dreamers, creators, planners, builders, deciders all contribute innumerable hours of combined effort. But look what can suddenly arise if many minds and hands come together!
Why does so much of the popular culture center upon fantasy, science fiction, absurdity and horror? Because, I suppose, our brains are wired for survival. They become excited and active when faced by unknowns…
Crates that were marked Picard have been unloaded into the Starfleet Outpost, a Comic-Con offsite by Paramount+. The public can swing by starting Thursday. It’s located at Happy Does on Fifth Avenue in the Gaslamp Quarter.Lots of colorful building wraps cover the Hilton Gaslamp. All four sides, in fact!Yikes. I knew Butt-Head would eventually show up.The three Audible sand sculptures on MLK Promenade are becoming more incredible as the sand artists do their thing.The modest Krapopolis offsite by FOX is a bit hidden, across from The New Childrens Museum. Hopefully people can find it. Look for the Super Slide sign above some trees.The big The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power wrap is coming along on one of the Marriott Marquis towers.It’s Great Ape Vegeta rampaging through the Bandai offsite behind the Marriott! I don’t think it can do much damage without its hands, however.Spotted in the distance between two crates.Looking at big The Rings of Power wrap from the San Diego Bay side.Forklifts lined up behind the San Diego Convention Center, with the American Horror Stories dolls wrap on the Hilton looking ever more creepy.Here come The Incredible Hulk! Thank goodness he’s in a good mood.Flying a kite where the Adult Swim on the Green has been in past years. I thought Abbott Elementary was going to set up somewhere back here, but I don’t see them yet.As I crossed the Harbor Drive pedestrian bridge, I saw several large The Rookie wraps going up on Petco Park. Those workers on super duper cherry pickers work fast.Well, whoever is going to build the Petco Park Interactive Zone here better get busy. They have two days to do it!The Rookie: Feds is being promoted by ABC at 2022 Comic-Con in a big way!And the big Krapopolis wrap on the Omni, promoting an upcoming animated FOX show, is almost done.Someone checks their phone beneath the IGN balcony outside the Hard Rock Hotel. Keep your eyes on this balcony for celebrities during Comic-Con.NBCUniversal is getting their NBCU Corner ready now. I see a bunch of Good Guys graphics. Those might be going into the Tin Fish.Quantum Leap is back on NBC this Fall.And here is Reginald the Vampire, coming to Syfy. No, I’m not thirsty. Thank you.
If you’d like to view my coverage of Comic-Con so far, which includes hundreds of cool photographs, click here!
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
The pre-Comic-Con action is really picking up in downtown San Diego. Today is Monday, several days now before SDCC 2022 opens.
Look at all the new offsite activity, and the new building wraps, and all the rapid construction that’s going in the Gaslamp and near the convention center!
The Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves offsite activation for 2022 Comic-Con is being prepared at Sixth and Island.The Star Trek: Picard offsite will fill the outdoor patio of Happy Does on Fifth Avenue. I noticed lots of cool graphics ready to be installed.A huge Severance building wrap is now being applied on the Fifth Avenue side of the Hard Rock Hotel. Your orientation begins here.At the NBCUniversal offsite, by the Tin Fish, those mastodon tusks look rather familiar. Didn’t I see them here during Comic-Con Special Edition?Now that the Padres have finished their home series with the Diamondbacks, workers have begun putting up big wraps on Petco Park. I learned this one will promote The Rookie.The Star Trek wrap over on the Marriott Marquis is beyond awesome.Another corner of Petco Park getting started.This will be the entrance to the FX offsite near the Hilton San Diego Bayfront, behind the convention center. Looks amazing.I see a columned building and a stringy tunnel in the FX labyrinth. Various shows will be promoted.It looks like a small nursery along a stretch of the bayside boardwalk. Lots of trees and shrubs are being used for this year’s epic FX activation.Vendors are now unloading their stuff in a parking lot behind the San Diego Convention Center. The massive Comic-Con move in has begun!At the Bandai offsite near the Marriott Marina, something has emerged from a crate. Are those two huge limbs that belong to Great Ape Vegeta?Here’s a better look at the Batman Cartoonito banners on the parking structure of the Manchester Grand Hyatt. They went up yesterday.Looks like a combination of Batman and the movie Cars.Here comes another gigantic wrap on one side of a silvery Marriott Marquis tower. It promotes The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power!The CW has banners all over the place advertising The Flash and Superman & Lois.The Gray Man offsite is taking shape. You can see parts of the race/obstacle course. You better put on some fast shoes!I learned this is the beginning of the Peanuts offsite. Their pop-up will be called All Things Armstrong. That Charlie Brown orange looks familiar.Beavis has arrived in San Diego. Butt-Head can’t be far behind.HBO’s offsite promoting upcoming series House of the Dragon looks cooler and cooler as time goes on. Was San Diego suddenly transported to medieval times?Even downtown’s Ace Hardware is getting ready for Comic-Con!
If you’d like to view my coverage of Comic-Con so far, which includes hundreds of cool photographs, click here!
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
The Comic-Con crowds typically gather within a few blocks of the San Diego Convention Center. As you head north up Fifth Avenue you see fewer and fewer attendees–mostly those walking to and from downtown hotels.
But there are a couple of cool shops on Fifth Avenue on the block just south of Broadway that you might want to check out!
You might remember BAIT hosted a special Gundam event a few years ago. Well, they’re still there, and the store has plenty of pop culture merch, including some super sized collectible figures…
And check out a brand new shop located just a few doors up from BAIT.
Bard & Cards is a game store, with a big selection of board games, miniature games and RPGs…
I noticed as I walked by their window this afternoon they’ll be hosting several Comic-Con events, too. Check it out!
On Thursday, July 21 at 7 pm there will be a Kraken Dice Ultra-Chonky D20 Launch Event.On Friday, July 22 at 2 pm there will be a New Game Launch. Card game Trickdraw.On Saturday, July 23 at 1 pm there will be a signing and meet and greet with B. Dave Walters, the author of Dungeons & Dragons: A Darkened Wish.
If you’d like to view my coverage of Comic-Con so far, which includes hundreds of cool photographs, click here!
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
Cool San Diego Sights! 