Sunday’s Panels at Comic Con San Diego 2020 – Free, Online Edition

The last day! I’ll miss getting up and wandering over to my laptop to be a part of this each day. And I didn’t even have to figure out costumes this year! I did wear geeky fan tees.) Sundays tend to be full of the How To of being a part of the TV, film, and geek industries. You can learn a lot on Sundays. (I’ll save those to view later this week and discuss as another article.)

Usually the big name actors and directors are sleeping in after their big Friday and Saturday session/after hour parties. That doesn’t apply this year, obviously, but generally people start to leave San Diego Sunday mornings each year.

Here are the panels I attended at San Diego Comic Con@Home 2020 on Sunday:

10am — Over30Cosplay: Virtual Costuming and Cosplay Advice and Support for the Mature Cosplayer

Okay, being over 30 myself and totally into costumes, this seems like a slam dunk for me. I take every opportunity to dress in theme for anything I can, whether I’m doing it alone (during premier nights at movies) or among thousands (like at Comic Con).

Awww, a John Coffey cosplayer from The Green Mile…

Hmmm. This is really more about cosplaying as an industry in general. This is a decent panel and I want to meet these fellow older cosplayers and be a part of their tribe. It did get me to look up the Over 30 Cosplay group online. I want to find people to play with!

Description:

“Please come and listen to John D. Callison (award-winning cosplayer, CEO and founder of Over30Cosplay), Tony Swatton (a master blacksmith and world famous PropBuilder,with over 150 movies and Television credits including Pirates of the Caribbean, Real Steel, Spiderman, StarTrek Insurrection and Face/Off), Patricia Tallman (actress best known as Lyta in the Babylon 5 series as well as “Barbara” in Night of the Living Dead and 106 other credits to her name), Chad Edward Lee Evett (president and chief designer Stoopid Buddy Stoodios), Mary Sorenson Schwacher (best known for Battling Betties, and Heart of Cosplaying and Volunteering; she’s an award-winning and published cosplayer and costume designer), Anders Scott Hudson (award-winning and published cosplayer and costume designer best known for providing the costumes for Battlestar Galactica Blood and Chrome and the Star Wars Tusken Raider spinoff), and Sherman Blakley (Greenmile cosplay, best known as the John Coffey cosplayer is an award-winning and published cosplayer and costume designer), Jen Greeley (award-winning cosplayer, senior reporter at Over30Cosplay, administrator at Costumers with a Cause). Panel contributions will include celebrating the history of comic and cosplay culture, group cosplay ideas, prop design and fabrication techniques, character/cosplayer branding, community and inclusivity in cosplay and combating negative, age-related stereotypes. Plus, tips on costume choice, social media/marketing, age awareness, and how to combat bullying in the community. This panel and the ever-growing team encourages cosplayers to enter the costuming community ready to contribute to the popular art-form and culture called cosplay!”

11am – No Tow Trucks Beyond Mars

This is the JPL’s 6th annual Comic Con panel. So now I’ve seen half of them. I very much enjoyed this, into getting  look at last years’ space mission ideas. And the caving on the moon aspect totally will be useful when RunPee Dan and I write our telescript for Farside. (Ask us about this any time.)

This was really great. I was sad when they ran out of time. Once of the most interesting panels of the week.

Noon — Super Geeked Up: Geeky Improv Comedy

I had to turn this off half way though. It just wasn’t as funny or cool as the description:

“The Super Geeked Up crew discuss zany geeky topics and play super-fun geek-themed improv games like superhero sound effects, geeky worlds, and universal translator! If you like Whose Line Is It Anyway?, you’ll love these geektastic shenanigans. Featuring Jeff Burns (creator/host of Super Geeked Up, writer/director of Super Knocked Up), Matt Messerman (player on the Knights of the Rolled Table podcast), Vanessa Gritton (host on El Rey Nation, writer at Fangoria), and Omar Najam (co-host on El Rey Nation and TBD Bytes, GM of improvised RPG podcast Thank You For Questing!). Don’t miss the super-geeky fun!”

1pm — HBO Max: Looney Tunes Cartoons

Fun, fun, fun! Lots of cool voice actors doing their thing. Kind of slight, irreverent, and joyous.

We get an exclusive cartoon too.

Okay, cute. I like their enthusiasm. Amazing that cartoon shorts from the 1940s still engenders such love today.

2pm – A Conversation with Nathan Fillion

YAYAY! I’m as excited for this one as I was for the Star Trek Universe panel….and there he is: Nathan Fillion. With a terrible mustache. I’m going to guess it’s a cop mustache. Even Gina Torres (hi Gina!) asked what that’s about. They also ported in Alan Tudyk and Joss Whedon. I never get tired talking about Firefly.

Alan is correct: it’s a science fiction geek rite of passage to watch this sadly cut-off show from 2002.

COOL, they mentioned how Dr. Horrible came as a direct response to the writer’s strike. I wonder if Joss will make something fun during this pandemic? (Nothing was mentioned…too bad.)

Also discussed: The Waitress, Buffy, Castle, The Rookie. Alan as K-2S0 in Star Wars: Rogue One. He mentioned playing two robots (I, Robot besides K-2) and how immense the fandom of Star Wars is, but how nothing came close to being Wash in Firefly. (My second choice with Alan is actually Wat in A Knight’s Tale.) And apparently there’s a second season of Con Man (I didn’t know it grew beyond the pilot episode).

Really, this was a great panel. I could listen to these guys talk all day. Literally. Big damn heroes. 😉

3pm — Robotech: The Next Phase (35th Anniversary Panel)

I loved Robotech in high school, and rushed home every day to see it. It reminded me of my childhood passion for Battle of the Planets, but was even better, more intelligently written. I never knew an animated show could tell serialized stories. Robotech kind of blew my mind. So I was excited for this panel, after all this time.

Ooo, there will be a Robotech marathon on Pluto TV (which I think is free), Redbox and Amazon Prime…I need to set aside time for this! There will be bonus footage too. Cool.

Oy, ten minutes in and they are only talking about toys, models, games, comics, and merchandise.

Almost 20 minutes in and they are finally talking about how Sony bought the Robotech franchise to create a live action film! Oops. That was the entire panel. Over now, and I’m sorry to say it was a total waste of time.

3pm — Wakanda Forever: The Psychology of Black Panther

A great MCU movie, and described by the cast here as a Black Camelot. I kind of see it as a Black Star Wars. Although this has been a topical Marvel story, with Black Lives Matter being so crucial right now, this is a bigger deal this year. And now I want to get a copy of Black Panther Psychology: Hidden Kingdoms.

From the description:

“What do people mean whey they shout, Wakanda Forever! Join Scott Jordan (Westworld psychology), Alex Simmons (Blackjack), Victor Dandridge, Jr. (Vantage Inhouse Productions), Daniel Jun Kim (Black Panther psychology), Vanessa Hintz (Joker psychology), Eric Wesselmann (Wonder Woman psychology), and Stanford Carpenter (Institute of Comic Scholars) as they discuss the psychological issues addressed in the Black Panther movie and comics, including topics such as micro-aggressions, cultural representation in media, and the power of love and empathetic leadership. By the end of our panel, you, too, will be shouting, Wakanda Forever!”

4pm — Villains: We’re Misunderstood!

Live action fun! Dolores Umbridge, the Winter Soldier, Captain Hook, The Master, King George III.

Well, damn, this isn’t as funny as I hoped. King George is the most amusing, followed by The Master, and those are the two characters I know least. Go figure. I’m bummed about Dolores Umbridge being totally dull, since I think her character is one of the best villains in books/movies, ever.

4pm: Careers in Geek Fashion

20 minutes discussing the panelists’ background. Arg. What’s nice here is I can fast forward through this part.

As posted on the CC schedule: “Fans can express what they love and connect with most in pop culture through fashion now more than ever. From clothing to cosmetics, the industry expands every year and fans can be more than just consumers of it. Moderated by Lisa Granshaw (GeekFold, Backstage), panelists Rosa Menendez (Esports Makeup), Dan Madsen (Svaha), Jeff Trexler (Fashion Law Institute), and Dan Richard (DPI Promo, Bethesda Gear) will discuss different ways you can work in geek fashion, their career paths, how the current situation with the coronavirus has impacted the industry, and more.”

It ended up being pretty helpful. These guys have good advice. And they believe you can succeed if you have a passion, can keep up with the news, keep educating yourself, be kind, be authentic, and never give up.

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Okay, Wednesdays and Sundays are shorter days, so it all ended at 4pm officially today. But I have a lot of panels I can catch later tonight and all day tomorrow. I’ll keep you all updated with my ‘leftovers.’

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