Comic-Con Begins, With The Usual Long Lines, Excitement

Comic-Con 2014 is underway, and with it come long lines, dense crowds, and frustration — frustration that attendees say is worth it, CBS is reporting.

The annual festival of geek culture attracts 130,000 visitors, many in full costume regalia, to San Diego, reports the New York Times. These days, it’s less about comics and more about geek culture at large: videos, movies, toys and collectibles, and — this year especially — TV.

A giant castle dominates the trade show floor, erected by Starz to promote its new series Outlander, about a combat nurse who travels through time. A smaller castle, deeper in the building, promotes ABC’s The Quest, a new reality show that places ordinary people in some sort of competition involving medieval weapons and costumes (details are sketchy as of this post). A&E has installed a mock-up of the Terminus set from The Walking Dead. And of course, all things Game of Thrones are going to be big this year, according to Fox News.

Noticeably absent from Comic-Con this year are the cast of The Big Bang Theory, who have hosted a panel at the last few Comic-Cons. The main cast members are currently mired in contract negotiations, and uncertainty persists as to when — or even if — the show will return (See this Inquisitr article for more).

With TV being so dominant at this year’s Comic-Con, there’s little room left for movies. As a New York Times headline puts it, “TV Is Muscling Out Movies.” Still, there’s plenty for movie lovers to enjoy. According to the Telegraph, Marvel is expected to make a big announcement about the upcoming Dr. Strange franchise this year. Benedict Cumberbatch, who voices Smaug in The Hobbit franchise, will be hosting a panel, as will the co-creators of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Toys — or “collectibles” if you prefer — are always huge. Long lines for limited-edition collectibles released just for the convention are par for the course. However, they’re worth the wait. As attendee Chris Schulz tells CBS:

“You buy it here, you sell it on eBay and it pays for your whole trip.”

And attendee Lionel Torres tells Fox News:

“You can’t get this stuff anywhere else. People are fighting for a place in line, but there’s camaraderie out there.”

As usual, the attendees themselves are attractions in their own way. Many fans use Comic-Con as a vehicle for showing off their full-body fan art; elaborate (and sometimes, expensive) costumes of fan-favorite characters can be seen every year.

Have you ever been to Comic-Con? Was it worth it? Let us know in the comments.

[Feature image courtesy of: UPenn]

[In-line image courtesy of: WPTV]