On Saturday, we were mostly wandering around aimlessly because we didn’t get into Hall H for the massive WB, Catching Fire, Lionsgate, and Marvel panels. It wasn’t all a waste though because we were able to see some really fun panels that we wouldn’t have been able to go to otherwise. We also got to see some really great panels randomly between other panels. Everyone does Comic-Con differently. I think a good mix of big and small panels is a great way to fully experience what Comic-Con has to offer. Last year, one of my favorite panels was a small panel of costume designers and illustrators. I’ve been really into making clothing lately and that was a great eye opener to the world of costume design. I didn’t even know costume illustrators existed, but it’s good to know that I don’t have to know how to draw in order to be a designer.

BRAVE NEW WARRIORS: David Guintoli (Grimm), Tyler Posey (Teen Wolf), Steven Yuen (The Walking Dead), Kit Harington (Game of Thrones), Matt Smith (Doctor Who)

We love attending the panels that have a bunch of different actors from different shows, because the interaction and the content is usually interesting even if you don’t watch every show on the panel. Last year we went to the Women Kick Ass panel and the surprise guest was Lucy Lawless. Rowley freaking out was priceless and one of the biggest highlights of the Con. This year, the Brave New Warriors panel included a bunch of critically acclaimed actors who have taken on iconic characters from various shows who also happen to be heartthrobs. Swoon. This was seriously such a fun panel because all the guys were hilarious. Check it out below, but be warned that there is a lot of screaming so turn your volume down.

HIGHLIGHTS:

• Unsexiest moments of their job: Kit Harington hobbling out onto set on crutches for a nude scene with a lot of crew overlooking. Steven Yuen’s experience with bugs in Atlanta really liking the warmest parts of the body. (view all answers at 10 min)
• Most hilarious fan encounter: Steven Yuen of the Walking Dead was spotted by a fan down the street and she started walking toward him in a slow, zombie walk. Half way there he could see in her face that she sorely regretted her decision but she couldn’t just stop there. So when she did finally reach him, she stopped and apologized profusely for how embarrassing it was. (view all answers 30 min)
• Best creepy fan story: David Giuntoli of Grimm heard some shuffling outside his door at night before going to bed and then woke up in the morning with a note that was slipped under the door that said “Big Fan.” (view all answers 32 min)
• Best character demises: Steven Yuen’s crazy long death that involves him jumping a ramp on a motorcycle, killing a bunch of walkers, and a big explosion going off. He safely lands the bike, turns the engine off, and puts the kickstand down. His heart can’t take how awesome that was. He digs himself a grave and gets in and dies peacefully. Or Doctor Who’s Matt Smith who says he’ll regenerate as a female. Or Kit Harington from Game of Thrones who dies of old age leaning up against a big iron chair. (view all answers at 38 min)

Some of the actors on the Fan Favorites panel

TV Guide’s Fan Favorites wasn’t as amazing as we thought it was going to be, but it was still fun to see Clark Gregg revving up the crowd by saying anything related to Joss Whedon. The moderator of this panel could’ve made it more interesting but she was a real bore because she didn’t encourage interaction among the characters. Andrew and I practically cried every time she came out to moderate a panel. On the plus side, I really enjoyed getting to know Joseph Morgan a bit more. I know nothing about him except that he’s on a new spin-off from The Vampire Diaries called The Originals which I’m moderately interested in now.

Three screens for the three Quick Draw artists so you can see them drawing simultaneously

Quick Draw was one of the panels that we just happened to go to. It looked interesting in the description and we went there earlier and were able to get good seats before the room filled up. We had no idea that this was a popular panel and we didn’t know what to expect, but it was basically a few artists doing improv sketches. They had special guests come up to guess the drawings like Jonathon Ross and Leonard Maltin too which was a nice surprise. It was overall a very funny panel.

One of the best non-TV related panels we went to was Cartoon Voices. Everyone on the panel seem to be pretty big voice actors because they seem to be in everything. As they went down the panel, the actors each gave examples of who they play and it was pretty mind blowing to see them switch between voices. It just totally introduced me to the world of voice acting which I knew nothing about before. This was one of the most entertaining panels we went to because they did a script at the end that was absolutely brilliant. We didn’t expect to enjoy this panel so much, but I think we will definitely be going to this regularly. The video I recorded of the script reading is above. My camera ran out of memory only a few minutes before the end.

The Disney Afternoon 25th Anniversary panel was such a fun nostalgic panel. They talked about how the classic Disney animated shows came about like my faves DuckTales, Chip ‘N Dale Rescue Rangers, and Gummi Bears. What amazed me the most about this panel was that everyone on the panel seemed to do everything when it came to developing the shows. They created them, pitched them, voiced them, etc. It was definitely a huge labor of love where they were involved in every aspect. The panel was extremely popular and every seat in the room was filled. Kudos to the Comic-Con staff for being so great about filling the empty seats throughout the panel. Andrew and I luckily got there slightly earlier so we didn’t have too much trouble finding seats together toward the back. The highlight of this panel came from the nostalgia of these shows and how much these creators shaped our childhoods. Everything they had to say was interesting, but we eventually ran out of time much to all of our dismay. The staff basically had to kick us all out. The entire crowd singalong to the DuckTales theme song was pretty epic too. I hope the creators really understood how important their shows were to a lot of us. (The video above is the full panel. At ~45 min is where you get to here some of their voices.)

Joss Whedon!

Joss Whedon’s panel is probably my favorite panel of them all and Andrew’s second favorite after the Big Bang Theory panel. I’ve always been a fan of his ever since Buffy, but going to last year’s panel was really when I fell head over heels for him. Now I totally get all the shirts that say “Joss Whedon is my hero.” He is a writer at heart and I think you can see that with the way he carries himself during the panel with his wit. Basically it’s him and a microphone for an hour answering fan questions which doesn’t sound like much, but it’s totally worth it and he is able to fill Ballroom 20 (the second largest room) on his own. I was absolutely gleeful during the entire panel and I kept elbowing Andrew because I wanted to make sure he was getting everything. He enjoyed the panel as well, but he wasn’t as outwardly giddy as I was. Apparently he didn’t like the elbowing too much. Who knew. Oh how I heart Joss Whedon.