Tag: downtown

Costumes of Doctor Who and Star Trek at Comic-Con!

Costumes worn by actors in both the Doctor Who and Star Trek science fiction franchises are now being displayed in San Diego for Comic-Con 2024!

The free-to-the-public exhibition is titled Friendship is Universal. It’s located at two separate locations: 226 and 230 Fifth Avenue in the Gaslamp Quarter. The original television and movie costumes fill the latter address, and that’s where I took these photographs yesterday afternoon. (I’m afraid I accidentally missed two Star Trek costumes as I moved through the exhibit–Seven of Nine and Kathryn Janeway.)

If you’re in San Diego during San Diego Comic-Con this year, check it out! The offsite activation opens each day at 11 am. There is a photo op and merch to be had at the second address, just a few steps away. The lines for both locations tend to be small.

If you can’t see these costumes in person, please enjoy some cool photos!

Through fifteen Doctors and their companions and over a dozen brave captains and their crews, we’ve traveled on journeys spanning the cosmos…

Doctor Who costumes:

Left: Amy Pond, Vincent and the Doctor Costume. Right: Eleventh Doctor, Various.

Left: Yasmin Khan, Flux Costume. Right: Thirteenth Doctor, Various.

Left: Fourteenth Doctor, 60th Anniversary Costume. Right: Donna Noble, 60th Anniversary Costume.

Left: Ruby Sunday, Boom Costume. Right: Fifteenth Doctor, Boom Costume.

Star Trek costumes:

Left: Beckett Mariner, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. Right: Brad Boimler, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.

Left: Nyota Uhura, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. Right: Hemmer, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.

Left: Emperor Philippa Georgiou, Star Trek: Discovery. Right: Michael Burnham, Star Trek: Discovery.

Left: James T. Kirk. Right: Spock.

Visor used by Geordi La Forge.

Hat and pipe used by Data playing Sherlock Holmes, Star Trek: The Next Generation.

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If you’d like to view my coverage of Comic-Con so far, which includes hundreds of cool photographs, click here!

A fun Friday stroll around Comic-Con!

If a traveler had arrived in San Diego today, not knowing our city is in the middle of Comic-Con, and if they were to walk anywhere downtown or near the San Diego Convention Center, they’d conclude people have gone completely nuts. And to a certain extent they’d be right! Nuts can be good!

Check out these photographs I took while strolling outside Comic-Con today. The crowds were enormous. Super creative cosplay was everywhere. Some silly, bizarre sights designed to attract attention certainly attracted my camera!

A throng of Deadpools riding unicorns? Marketing genius! Funny, too!

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

If you’d like to view my coverage of Comic-Con so far, which includes hundreds of cool photographs, click here!

Genshin Impact fan art exhibit at Comic-Con!

Even those who’ve never played the video game Genshin Impact will probably enjoy a great, free exhibit now showing during San Diego Comic-Con 2024. You can find it in the gallery across L Street from the Omni Hotel.

Teyvat Fashion Show Genshin Impact Fan Art Convention is the full name of the exhibition, and should you walk through the door you’ll be wowed at the really great anime-style artwork. There’s art from the video game and lots and lots of fan art. The submitted fan art is so good it appears to have been created professionally! While there’s an emphasis on fashion, the art depicts many aspects of the game.

In addition to all the art, there’s Genshin Impact merch, many photo ops, and a cool video backdrop with a treadmill that allows you to take a video of yourself walking slowly through the fantasy world of Teyvat! How cool is that?

The exhibit opens at 9:30 am each day through Sunday. I was told that some of the first fans through the door get free swag!

These photos are a tiny sample of what you’ll encounter…

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

If you’d like to view my coverage of Comic-Con so far, which includes hundreds of cool photographs, click here!

San Diego Comic-Con fans enter toxic spill site!

In San Diego, hundreds of Comic-Con fans walked through a toxic waste site today. A truck hauling biohazardous material overturned overnight, spilling a slime-like blue substance in a downtown parking lot. The toxic waste is thought to have mutagenic properties.

Workers in pink hazmat suits and gas masks proceeded to open the rear of the truck, allowing curious Comic-Con fans to walk through it. Inside the tanker truck fans discovered all sort of cool toys adhering to the gooey walls! With any luck, these happy visitors won’t mutate into some sort of horrible monster or beast!

Yes, you’ve realized by now that I’m kidding. The truck and the blue slime are actually part of a Comic-Con 2024 offsite activation produced by MrBeast Lab. They make all sorts of cool toys.

When I exited the offsite, I got free swag! A monstrous miniature figurine!

I believe the offsite will be open throughout Comic-Con during the day. Look for it north of MLK Promenade and east of First Avenue, on the back side of the Bathroom Battlestation!

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

If you’d like to view my coverage of Comic-Con so far, which includes hundreds of cool photographs, click here!

Inside the library’s Cosplay Repair Station!

Russell from movie Up cosplay in the Central Library’s special Cosplay Repair Station.

Are you attending Comic-Con 2024 in San Diego? Is your cosplay costume sadly torn, falling apart, or in need of repair? Head a few blocks over from the convention center to the San Diego Central Library–you know the building with the big metal lattice dome!

On the fourth floor of the Central Library you’ll find the Cosplay Repair Station. They have everything you could conceivably need. Sewing machines, tools, tape, different glues and adhesives, you name it!

I swung by the library today to take a peek inside…

You can even make your own cosplay repair kit and take it with you!

You can make buttons, too!

Got some swag you don’t like? Swap it for something better!

The Cosplay Repair Station is open during San Diego Comic-Con on Friday and Saturday 10 am to 4 pm, and Sunday from 1 to 4 pm.

And what’s more–down in the Central Library lobby, at the used book store, there are comics to buy for only a buck each!

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

If you’d like to view my coverage of Comic-Con so far, which includes hundreds of cool photographs, click here!

Photos of Dragon Ball offsite at Comic-Con 2024!

The vast entertainment empire that is Dragon Ball is on full display in San Diego during Comic-Con 2024. Their free-to-the-public offsite activation, on the Marina Terrace behind the Marriott Marquis hotel, is a feast for the eyes to anyone who loves the movies, television shows, anime, manga, video and card games produced by Dragon Ball.

I must admit I’m no expert when it comes to Dragon Ball, but I love looking at all the graphics and detailed figurines on display. And there’s the gigantic statue of Goku, too!

I saw excited kids and adults wandering about trying to take it all in. Visitors to the offsite can try their hand at video games and learn how to play the Dragon Ball card game. They can even make Son Goku models. I was told that if you arrive at the offsite between 9 am and 11 am, you get free stuff including an awesome swag bag. I’ve done that in past years. It’s well worth it.

I wandered about like everyone else on Thursday and took some cool photos…

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

If you’d like to view my coverage of Comic-Con so far, which includes hundreds of cool photographs, click here!

Comic-Con fun in the Petco Park Interactive Zone!

Every year at San Diego Comic-Con the Petco Park Interactive Zone offers lots of free family fun. In 2024, if you like being creative, playing games, winning prizes, getting free stuff, and chowing down on tasty food, there’s a lot of fun!

On Thursday I entered the zone to see what I might see. And it was hard to miss the 21 foot tall Exploding Kittens statue of Devilcat. From its feline derriere I extracted a super cool Exploding Kittens Good vs Evil party card game!

Then I checked out the Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree photo op. Something weird was hatching from an enormous egg…

Then came perhaps my favorite activation. The Sharpie Creation Station! Visitors could check out a new line of Sharpie Creative Markers by making art by the Sharpie bus. Cool!

Then I entered the Attack of the Metallic Menace, which informs people about the dangers of smoking. Check out the creature inside! I believe I remember it from last year…

The ever popular Hello Kitty Café truck is here…

And other food trucks are present, including “We Slaughter Barbecue” with its The Texas Chain Saw Massacre 50th Anniversary graphics!

There are plenty of picnic benches to sit at while eating and people/cosplay watching…

Finally, I enjoyed walking by the Game of Thrones Legends activation where there are several cool and spooky sculptures! I heard an announcement that someone playing the game was winning a prize, too!

The Petco Park Interactive Zone is located in the Lexus Premier Parking Lot adjacent to the Padres ballpark. It’s right next to the Harbor Drive pedestrian bridge.

The fun opens at 10 am each day of San Diego Comic-Con!

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

If you’d like to view my coverage of Comic-Con so far, which includes hundreds of cool photographs, click here!

How an Adult Swim(s) into a Pirate Parrrty!

Is this how a pirate parrrties? If you’re at San Diego Comic-Con in 2024, the answer is yes!

The Adult Swim Pirate Parrrty on the Green is a big, happening offsite activation that the public can freely enjoy behind the San Diego Convention Center. It starts each day at 1 pm and goes late into the night until 10 pm, through Saturday.

I swam into the piratical fun this mid-afternoon after a practically nonexistent wait in line. The first 1000 people to enter each day get free merch. I missed that.

But I did get to observe lots of would-be pirates having a blast, peering into silly porthole peepholes, taking their aim at a dunk tank, climbing an inflatable shipwreck and into the jaws of an alien monster, seesawing on a shark, beanbag tossing into the mouth of an friendly alien, riding a dinosaur…

Um, a dinosaur among pirates? It’s Adult Swim. When Rick and Morty are present, anything weird is possible.

Later in the evening there would be entertainment (on Thursday, Battle For the Booty wrestling) plus raffle prizes and DJ laser sets. You know pirates can get pretty wild.

Find more details about the Adult Swim Pirate Parrrty on the Green by clicking here!

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

If you’d like to view my coverage of Comic-Con so far, which includes hundreds of cool photographs, click here!

Crazy creative fun outside Comic-Con 2024!

It might seem like chaos. It is certainly a bit crazy. It’s what happens when thousands of creative, fun-loving people gather together all at once and have a big party. That’s what it’s like in downtown San Diego outside the convention center during San Diego Comic-Con!

There is cosplay–costume play–everywhere you turn. There are new movies, television shows, video games and more to explore with fun activations. There are new discoveries around every corner. There’s just a big crush of humanity, and everyone is smiling and having a good time. Adults can be a kid again and not worry what others think. Kids can dream and see the possibilities of human creativity.

I took loads of photos today. I’ve got lots of blog posts coming up, so stay tuned! But first let me share a bunch of semi-random shots taken today (Thursday) that give you a taste of the wonderfulness of Comic-Con 2024.

I promised to mention the smiling group that’s in the the next photo. They were out and about promoting Quirkies, which offers all sorts of cool merch. Thank you for the refrigerator magnets!

If you see this Rick and Morty truck, walk up to the passenger window and you’ll probably get a cool pin!

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

If you’d like to view my coverage of Comic-Con so far, which includes hundreds of cool photographs, click here!

Evolved apes rule San Diego at Comic-Con!

It’s day one of San Diego Comic-Con 2024. This morning I walked into the Forbidden Zone at the free Comic-Con offsite Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes not knowing what I might encounter. I found a very cool activation, and evolved apes that rule!

Waiting in line for this activation, located on MLK Promenade, took perhaps 15 minutes, and was definitely well worth it. If you’re a fan of any of the ten Planet of the Apes films, starting with the classic Charlton Heston movie in 1968 (my favorite–best movie ending ever), you’ll absolutely love what you find!

There are lots of props and models and costumes and photographs from the movies, and then a live falcon for a cool photo op, believe it or not! Then you can learn how to walk like an ape, as actors have done in the making of these films. You use crutch-like arm extensions and it’s not as easy as you’d think. At the end of the activation there’s a photo booth, and you can snag a free poster.

Check out some photos. In the darker areas, my camera doesn’t perform terribly well, so I guess you’ll have to go see everything for yourself! Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is open 10 am to 7 pm during Comic-Con 2024.

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

If you’d like to view my coverage of Comic-Con so far, which includes hundreds of cool photographs, click here!