AggroCast — SDCC 2025 Preshow, pt. 2 [Episode Seventeen]

TRANSCRIPTION

Raymond Bruels: Hi, you’re listening to the AggroCast. This is Bray Bruls.

David Hades Becker: And this is David Hades Becker.

RB: And we are talking about San Diego Comic Con. This is our part two. We did part one last week. And this week we are just gonna kinda go back over some of the things we’ve got rolling in, because we’ve had some more activations, some more panels. Also to talk about some of the stuff in, in San Diego, in the Gaslamp District.

DHB: Yeah, because there’s plenty to do down there, like on, if you have split days that you go into the convention, because not everybody is able to get a five day, five-day pass. So you might have a day where you’re there Thursday and Friday, but have Saturday, you gotta burn before you get back to Sunday. It’s good to know little things around there to go do, especially since, since there’s more news coming out for some of the places outside of town also doing, not like specific Comic Con stuff, but extended hours or things, because everybody’s gonna be there.

RB: Let’s go ahead and get into some of the, some of the activations and panels. Any that you have seen that you’re super excited about?

DHB: Uh, well I know we teased it in part one, and then we got, it was while we were recording, got the email coming in, Peacemaker is gonna be out there with Peacefest 2025.

RB: Woo!

DHB: To help pr- yeah, to help promote the season two of the show, as well as give everybody a fun experience to go in and kind of, what was it? Th- there’s a merch sec- section for, uh, Vigilante. Hardcourt’s gonna have a bar. You can get a photo op with Eagly, like they’re actually gonna have a real eagle there to take a picture with.

RB: And there’s a couple of bands playing, I think.

DHB: Uh, yeah. I don’t, I don’t remember the name of the bands, but, uh, there’s so much news coming in.

RB: Foxy something. Yeah, it’s great to see that they’re actually gonna be doing Peace Fest when we hadn’t seen anything, they weren’t gonna do anything for Superman, and then all of a sudden, here he comes with Peacemaker.

DHB: Yeah, the, the rumor became true while we were recording. And, uh, and then not only that, they’re, they’re doing a big panel. James Gunn’s gonna be out there, and then one of the days John Cena’s gonna be at Peace Fest doing autographs and a meet and greet with everybody. So we have that, we have that off site, uh, cropped up a little bit more. We had more news come out about the Alien Earth activation they’re doing, and it seems like it’s gonna be a weird two-parter where from 11:00 ’til 4:00, I think it is, it’s gonna be kind of a just general walkthrough, take some photos, see some set pieces, and kinda get the vibe of the show.

RB: And then…

DHB: Yeah, and then a- after the lights go down, it turns into Alien Earth Code Red, and you’ve gotta… It, it sounds like it’s an escape room as well as like a whole like kinda horror activation that goes with it, on top of doing all the photo stuff and all that on top, so…

RB: Yeah, it sounds like FX is really put, pulling out the stops for that A- Alien Earth, which I hadn’t seen anything about until I started seeing this stuff roll in for Comic Con.

DHB: Well, I’d seen a couple of things, but it was like such minor things. Like at the IGN there was a little photo booth where they had like a, a screen that had a, a face hugger that was h- flopping around behind you. That was it. And like, and like giving out little buttons. And now Comic Con’s coming up and I’m like, “Okay, hold our beer.” (laughs)

RB: We’ve seen some more stuff about Toxic Avenger.

DHB: Yeah, the massive Hall H panel, and they’re doing a fan screening pretty much all day of Thursday as well.

RB: Yeah, it’s like three different times.

DHB: Yeah. And it’s, uh, if I, if I’m looking at it correctly, I’m pretty sure it’s, uh, there’s one at 10:00, 10:00 to like noon or something like that, and then 1:00 to 3:00. And, uh, I think I mentioned this a while, before we started recording, there’s a weird gap, then the Toxic Avenger panel happens in Hall H, and then the final fan showing happens at 10:00 PM.

RB: And they were advertising that each one of those instances there was gonna be some special guest.

DHB: Yeah, with the, with the 10:00 PM one having a very special guest. You kind of assume who those special guests are gonna be based on the cast list and everything that’s gonna be at the panel. So…

RB: I’m holding out hope that it’s, that the 10:00 is Peter Dinklage.

DHB: I, I am almost certain Peter Dinklage is gonna be at that one. That, that one is probably gonna have the executive producer, the s- the director, Peter Dinklage, and all the other major roles in the, in the show. Whereas throughout the day, they’ll probably have other random people that have worked on the movie show up and kinda hype everybody up. And they’re also doing like giveaways during it, so…

RB: Panel, uh, another panel that I saw come up was something about the Jason Universe.

DHB: Yeah, the, the Jason Universe where there’s the giant anniversary going, I wanna say it’s like 40 years now. And then there’s the new Crystal Lake TV show they’re pushing out there.

RB: Yeah, which I guess there’s gonna be some kind of sneak peek or special message about that during the panel.

DHB: Yeah, which doesn’t surprise me.

RB: Yeah, ’cause that’s going on Friday like 5:30 to 6:30.

DHB: Yeah.

RB: And then Marvel Rivals. I just keep getting emails about Marvel Rivals.

DHB: Yeah, Marvel Rivals is coming out strong.

RB: But a lot of their stuff isn’t in the convention center proper. It’s over at the Marriott?

DHB: Yeah, so the Marriott, which is just right next door to the convention, and there’s a huge gaming area over there anyways. Like Nintendo for the last many years has kind of had the ballroom rented out to show off all the new Nintendo stuff. I don’t think they’re doing that this year. I haven’t seen anything for that. But then Marvel Rivals has stepped up and they’re like, “We’re doing signings, we’re doing g- uh, gameplay tournaments,” all sorts of stuff over there.

RB: And I’ve seen some of the, the art for some of the Marvel Rival characters and it, it’s pretty cool. I was a little thrown off at first. I saw Galactus and it’s this kind of cheesecake gal…

DHB: Yeah.

RB: …dressed up as Galactus. But I guess they’re gonna have a bunch of the voice actors and a bunch of the artists and things there doing signings.

DHB: Yeah.

RB: So that’ll be kinda cool if you’re into Marvel Rivals. Adult Swim.

DHB: Yeah, Adult Swim, so th- they’re kicking it off like they do every year where they’re gonna have Purring Pirate Party out back where they’re gonna ha- take over the entire back with their own carnival like they normally do every year, showing off things for like Rick and Morty, Solar Opposites, all their, all their TV shows they’re bringing out there, as well as have a pirate-themed party out back.

RB: Yeah, at The Green.

DHB: Yeah, The Green, which is the, that area right behind the convention center.

RB: Have you seen anything for the Voodoo Ranger or the, the boats?

DHB: Yeah, the Voodoo Ranger’s doing their, their boat again, uh, th- where they have the pirate ship out back and they’re showing off the random beers they have. And it’s like, it’s a smaller, kinda like a little more intimate affair ’cause obviously you can only get so many people on a pirate ship. You can hop on and, and drink, drink some beer on a pirate ship, uh, and that’s gonna be out back as well where The, The Green is at for our Adult Swim as well as the Abbott Elementary giant block party they’re doing.

RB: Yeah, I’m really hoping that we can possibly get into the Abbott Elementary. I know you were really excited about it.

DHB: I, I wasn’t till I, uh, bar- binged that show and then, and then on top of that,I watched the crossover episode they did again with- so they did the one in the Abbott Elementary, the very first show for It’s Always Sunny-

RB: Always Sunny.

DHB: …was the crossover episode and, uh, it- it- it hit. It slapped so hard.

RB: Did raccoon piss come up again?

DHB: It did. (laughs)

RB: (laughs) Nice.

DHB: And- and it makes more sense watching the second half-

RB: (laughs)

DHB: …why, and it’s so good. But on- but on top- so that’s all back there and then I wanna say somebody’s building a floating barge out there to do a different carnival.

RB: Oh.

DHB: And it’s another- it’s like a mobile game, uh, Battlestar so like- it’s, like, some weird just mobile game that I’ve seen on.

RB: Yeah, I had a- a notification come in in my email about a game that I hadn’t heard of.

DHB: Mm-hmm.

RB: That they were trying to- they were trying to solicit, you know, media to come check out.

DHB: Yeah, I got- I- I got a bunch of those as well and I was trying to piece it together and I just dug into their press release and- and it’s- I- I saw a bunch of, like, rumors online because there was, like, a bunch of permitsthat showed up where they’re trying to get a floating dirigible out back and people are trying to, uh, figure out what that is because I- I remember this one year they did something for the TV show Wrecked and they did the same thing where they built a desert island for people to go be on the crashed island. But this one, they’re doing it enough to where they could build a small little carnival to show off their- their mobile game and do all of their little activations out there.

RB: And then Dan Aykroyd is gonna be out for a graphic novel about the Blues Brothers.

DHB: Yes, I saw that.

RB: And that is going on in the Indigo Ballroom.

DHB: Okay.

RB: I was gonna- it’s not Hall H. Originally, I thought it was gonna be in Hall H, but.

DHB: Indigo Ballroom’s like the- I wanna say it’s probably the third biggest, so that makes- that makes sense.

RB: Yeah.

DHB: Because, like, usually it’s Hall H, Ballroom 20, the Indigo Ballroom are, like, the big, big ones. Which make- makes- bring- kind of brings it back to the original thing we were talk- we brought up. Every year at The Werewolf they do the Ghostbusters get together.

RB: Oh, yeah.

DHB: So it’d be interesting to see, since Dan Aykroyd will be out there, if he’s gonna actually show up and participate ’cause they’re doing the massive charity event that they’ve been doing where they did it out in New York at the firehouse and everything. So it’d be interesting to see if they bring that to San Diego, ’cause that’d be the perfect place.

RB: And a plug for The Werewolf because that place has an amazing breakfast menu.

DHB: It really- I think, what was it, last year we went there almost every day.

RB: Yeah.

DHB: And as all- like, I think two of the days it was because we would buy into places we wanted to go to were closed, but we’re still there like, “Hey, The Werewolf’s here, let’s go.” And did not disappoint at all.

RB: Yeah, they… And- and it’s really fun because the wait staff always dresses up for whatever theme for the day that they’ve picked and so it’s really kind of cute to see what they’ve dressed up as.

DHB: Yeah, like, a bunch of- a bunch of places down there do- do that where they tell their employees to dress up and s- sometimes you see people who are just like, “Oh, I’m gonna grab whatever I can get from Spirit Halloween,” but The Werewolf they’re like, “No, we have themes,” and, you know, you get a couple of people who show up wearing the- the Spirit Halloween type things, but there’s been other people that they show up and they’re like, “No, I’m bringing my A game because I can’t go to Comic Con, but I’m gonna be serving the people all the- this entire time so I wanna look as good as they are.”

RB: Have you noticed that there’s a lot of comic book artists and s- and writers showing up for panels?

DHB: Yeah, I’ve seen a lot more of the- the smaller comic book artists and all that stuff kind of showing up.

RB: I was- I was really kind of surprised by some of the notifications I was getting for that, and then I saw that Bandai was doing, uh, Bandai Namco-

DHB: Mm-hmm.

RB: …was doing a bunch of collectible stuff. They were trying to- to push that out.

DHB: Well, yeah, ’cause there’s the new… And this is, I think, a permanent fixture down in San Diego as well, down at the Gaslamp. There’s the Pac-Man, uh, Cafe and they- that opened up, uh, I wanna say like two weeks ago from when we were recording this and they’re kind of- like, they- they, I wanna say it’s a soft opening and their big first opening is gonna be during Comic Con for obvious reasons and it’s, like, just a Patna- Pac-Man themed, uh, cafe that’s just right in the little heart area of that place.

RB: And we- we saw an email come through for Gen V.

DHB: Yeah, we saw it was for Gen V, like, Gen V’s doing something and- as well as… Not anything for The Boys, but it’s the same people, uh, same company that’s doing for Twisted Metal. Like, it’s- it’s Sony for some reason, which is weird since it’s an Amazon show.

RB: So Sunday, Hall H.

DHB: Oh, you’re- you’re coming out with the big guns here.

RB: I’m sw- I’m swinging it out. We’ve been sw-

DHB: Oh, you’re swinging big?

RB: We- we-

DHB: Not- not- not for the other big- big important thing that happens Sunday?

RB: Well, okay, if we’re gonna roll it back.

DHB: Well, for- for me the bigger announcement is Gwar, or at least some of the members of Gwar are going to be there to show off their new comic book on Sunday, but I know that’s probably not the big one you’re talking about where-

RB: I’m talking about, and it wasn’t even the big name, it was the other name. So for those who don’t know, George Lucas is coming to Comic Con, first time ever. It’s gonna be on Sunday in Hall H, but Guillermo del Toro, who I love, is going to be there as well as it’s being moderated by Queen Latifah.

DHB: Yeah. It’s a weird star-studded thing for, well, pretty much everybody. I don’t- I don’t know a single person that would be kind of left out.

RB: Yeah. It’s the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art and so he’s coming out for this and the award-winning artist Doug Chiang is gonna be there and it’s… Yeah, it’s gonna really dive into this museum that they’re opening and advertising that and diving into narrative art and what that ex- what- what that even means.

DHB: Right, and- and it’s so interesting that he’s coming out for the- like, George Lucas has never been to Comic Con, for anybody who’s listening. This’ll be the first time ever and it’s interesting he’s coming out for that over any of the billion other things he could have shown up for.

RB: I guess it shows how much he really cares about this project, especially since it’s got his name on it.

DHB: Yeah, right.

RB: (laughs)

DHB: Well, but at the same time, you- you would figure Luc- anything LucasArts did in the past has his name on it, and I don’t think he’s… You know, obviously he’s never shown up for any of that and I’ve done many Star Wars video game stuff out there.

RB: Yeah, but this is like, you know, when you open a muse- uh, a library.

DHB: Yeah.

RB: Like, you put your name on it. You gotta- you gotta cut the- cut the ribbon. Uh, to roll it back into some more mainstream or- or not as big as George Lucas, did you see The Strangers: Part II?

DHB: Yeah, I saw The Strangers: Part II was gonna have a, um, a panel as well as kind of like a s- like a mini screening of everything.

RB: But sadly, that was on Thursday.

DHB: Yeah, exactly, right? So it’s on Thursday also when they’re doing the Five Nights at Freddy’s and Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 movie.And it kinda like, going back to back. And those are, uh, Five Nights is in Hall H and Strangers is in Ballroom 20. So it’s like, those two locations just need to be hammered.

RB: I, I wish there wasn’t so much stuff on Thursday.

DHB: Yeah.

RB: They really front loaded, I feel like, this year.

DHB: Well exactly, ’cause like even, even looking at our schedules, like we have the King, King of the Hill’s new, new seas- seasons coming out. And they’re doing a giant backyard barbecue, so we have that, like, first thing in the morning. And then right after that we have the, uh, Twisted Metal bumper cars we’re doing. And that just kinda like, feed into it, one after another. And we’re not gonna have much of a stop until the Toxic Avenger, uh, Hall H panel and then right into the Fandom party.

RB: Oh, yeah. The fandom party is gonna be pretty lit.

DHB: Oh, yeah. With everything I’ve seen so far, it’s n- not only just All American Rejects, but CODE VEIN II is gonna be out there. Epic Universe is gonna be out there showing off stuff, which is gonna be the, also the Universal Monsters thing.

RB: And all the ph- th- they’ve been advertising a lot of photo ops and experiences there.

DHB: Yeah. Well, that and, uh, it’s also fun to… ’Cause me at, me and Jenna did at, did last year, some of the just random vendors you run into. ’Cause we ran into the people from Z2 Comics and they do pretty much every musician who has a comic book out there for like… From GWAR to Weird Al to, uh, I think All American Rejects has one. They’re the ones who publish all these comic books. And they’re just kinda out there chillin’ and hangin’ out and talkin’ to people.

RB: That’s really neat.

DHB: Kinda, kinda pushing us all.

RB: Yeah. That’s, that’s great to have an opportunity to go and talk to people.

DHB: Yeah.

RB: Again talking about Thursday, I saw that Ballroom 20 was gonna have The Dragon Prince: The Next Arc.

DHB: Yes.

RB: And I’m like, “Aw, man,” ’cause anyone who’s a Avatar: The Last Airbender fan that really likes that stuff, they’re also doing an autograph signing with the series creator.

DHB: Yeah.

RB: I wish, I wish so much stuff wasn’t on Thursday. It, it really makes it hard to, to try to pack everything in.

DHB: I- i- it really does. But at the same time, like, like for the Airbender thing, while it’s… Having that one big thing, I know they’re doing something over at Petco Park, eh, where it builds into the Magic: The Gathering thing, which we, we spoke on the last one.

RB: Yep.

DHB: But that’s all been, like, fully confirmed that’s gonna be over at Petco and does not require anything other than to be down in the downtown San Diego area.

RB: The, the other game that I, I kept getting stuff for was Brawl Stars.

DHB: That, that’s the one that’s talking about doing the, uh, floating thing out back.

RB: Okay. Yeah, ’cause Brawl Stars originally they were gonna have their con panel Welcome to Starr Park on Friday, and that’s, like, between 2:00 to 3:00-

DHB: Mm-hmm.

RB: …in room 6BCF. And I had never heard of this.

DHB: Eh, from what I’ve seen it looks like it’s a small little mobile game and they’re just trying to push it really hard. Like, like last year there was the, the new Marvel… It was another Marvel game that came out specifically on Android, and that’s why they had the giant Ferris wheel and all that kinda stuff out there. And it was like, you download the game and you get to ride the Ferris wheel for free. And yeah, it, it was them pushing, it was Google Play was trying to push it a bit more.

RB: The, uh, the other game one that I saw, which I was, I was again confused. Pudgies. Pudgee Party. It’s pudgy penguins?

DHB: Yeah. Uh, it’s, it’s a weird… I wanna say it’s like a weird blockchain game. ’Cause I, I, I remember seeing some of that stuff and it just seemed dated, but at the same time an i- interesting way to push that forward at Comic Con.

RB: Yeah.

DHB: There’s also a small thing, they’re also doing like a weird after-party.

RB: Yep. They’re doing their after-party on Friday at B8.

DHB: Yeah.

RB: Uh, co-hosted with Mythical Games.

DHB: Yeah, and it was the Mythical Games, uh, that cau- caught my eye on that. But I think that’s the actual developer of everything.

RB: I was just, I was like, “What the heck is this?” And then I saw Rob Liefeld is again gonna be at Comic Con.

DHB: Yeah.

RB: ’Cause they’re doing a Youngbloods.

DHB: Yeah, I saw the Youngbloods. Uh, they’re re- doing that which is a massive shift from him being out there every year for Deadpool.

RB: Yeah.

DHB: He finally gets a break from Deadpool.

RB: Well, and Liefeld gets so much flak. He’s gotten flak for decades because of not only his art style, but then sometimes he has clashes with wh- whoever publishers he’s working with at the time.

DHB: Yeah.

RB: I, but I feel like sometimes he gets a bad rap for some of that. It gets overblown.

DHB: Mm-hmm.

RB: But it’s cool that he’s gonna be out there.

DHB: Yeah, which speaking of Fridays, a ton of stuff going on on Friday. ’Cause I wanna say that’s, that feels like when all of the big animation stuff’s going down. ’Cause I was, I was looking through the, the list of everything, and like, I think the day I have planned out… It starts out with Resident Alien in the morning, which is an animation, but again based on a comic book turned into a live show. But that’s also the same day where you have the Rick and Morty panel, Solar Opposites, I wanna say like Bob’s Burgers, Family Guy, Futurama. All that stuff is happening the same day.

RB: Well, and I pointed out to you earlier when we were talking about Friday from 12:00 to 1:30, uh, Stern, the pinball company, is hosting Cold Slither.

DHB: Yes.

RB: A band based off of Cobra. Members of, from G.I. Joe, The Cobra, so it’s Zoltan and a bunch of his, uh, Ripper, Torch, and Buzzer. Evidently these are all performers from established bands, but they are stepping in the persona of this Cobra band.

DHB: Kinda like when they were, Metalocropes was pushing Dethklok and they would have, like, the actual performers so it wasn’t just Brendan Small playing all the, all the instruments. And they had a bunch of, like, performers from b- other bands taking on the roles for a little bit. That sounds interesting as hell.

RB: Well, and they’re gonna be doing limited edition box sets and signed prints and-

DHB: Mm-hmm.

RB: …things like that. It, it could be really cool. Not something I had ever really thought about, but then it just kinda crossed my radar.

DHB: Yeah, I mean, I believe most of that’s gonna happen over, also over in the Marriott, where you just kinda need to show up. You don’t need a badge or anything like that to go in there, ’cause they, they have the giant pinball room in general. And I think Stern’s usually in the back where they’re showing off whatever new system they have.

RB: Which they’re doing a 50^th anniversary of Jaws.

DHB: Yeah. Which, which interesting since that pinball machine came out two years ago, I think. So that’s… Like, are you guys just-

RB: But-

DHB: …slap like, a sticker on? How are, how are you changing it up to make it-

RB: Well, I think it, they’re probably gonna s- slap something on there, but it’s also the first time Jaws has been available to play at Con.

DHB: No, we, we played it there two years ago.

RB: Oh. That’s-

DHB: ’Cause we, ’cause we did the one w- the one year we did the Venom one, and then literally the next year was the Jaws one. And then the year after that was, they were working into the D&D one.

RB: Yeah, ’cause I remember the D&D one and I remember the Venom one. I didn’t remember the Jaws.

DHB: Yeah.

RB: But I love s- I, I keep telling Juliet that when I graduate with my master’s, I want a pinball machine. And so we, we’ve been hemming and hawing about, “Okay, well, maybe the D&D one.” It’s super cool.

DHB: Yeah, the D&D one looks really cool.

RB: Uh, come to Vegas, we have the Pinball Museum. Um…

DHB: (laughs)

RB: Hazbin Hotel has a singalong.

DHB: Yeah, I saw that. And which is interesting, it’s usually like, I wanna say that it’s taking up the slot where they normally do the Dr. Horrible sing-alongs. So it feels hor- it feels bad that Dr. Horrible feels like it’s kind of getting pushed aside.

RB: But like the series creator, the composer, it’s being hosted by Chandler Pulling. Not somebody I’m familiar with, unfortunately. Yeah, so there’s just all these little things popping up.

DHB: Yeah. And it’s, and it’s all over. And like some of them, yeah, you need the badge if you wanna go to any of the stuff like any of the big panels, like the Hall H, ballroom 20 or any of the other stuff. Like we mentioned, like the Jason thing’s in a smaller room, but you still need a badge for that. But you know, the battle, the Battlestar, or not Battlestar, I wanna say the Brawl game you talked about, that’s mostly gonna be out back or over at the Marriott. Same thing with like certain pinball and almost all the activations we spoke about, like the Paramount Lodge, that one’s still going on out in the, like, in the middle of the, the Gaslamp. Same thing with Peace Fest. And those all have standby lines that you can just hop in. Granted, you’re gonna be waiting most of the day, but if you wanna do it, you, most of the time it’s a fun experience to go through.

RB: I’m sitting here looking at their, the press releases as we’re, we’re chatting and you’re right. For Outlander, Gen V, Twisted Metal, The Boys, all of these things, Sony pushing it.

DHB: Yeah. It’s Sony pushing it, not Amazon, which is an interesting take on it.

RB: Yeah. I’m surprised that Amazon’s not the one really pushing that forward. But all of this is branded Sony.

DHB: Yeah. Like I think the only thing Amazon’s pushing is they have their audiobook thing that’s gonna take over like a small building across the street and that’s just to push some of like the new audiobooks they have coming out. Nothing major.

RB: I’m hoping that I can get into the, the Gen V. I, I tried to email them-

DHB: Mm-hmm.

RB: …and ask if I, if they had press seating. It could be really cool. Then of course, Twisted Metal.

DHB: Yeah.

RB: The bumper cars is gonna be great. The, the panel-

DHB: The panel and-

RB: …is gonna have a bunch of, of stars. Of course, Anthony Mackie. But I don’t know if it’s gonna be, how hard it’s gonna be to get into Hall H this year.

DHB: Yeah. Well, some people I’ve seen say it could be walk right in. Other people could be like, you have to wait days.

RB: Yeah. And there are a lot of times that we’ve walked by and they’ve had those giant tents where people are standing in line for days.

DHB: Yeah. Like I have, I have a feeling those tents are gonna be used specifically for Sunday ’cause I guarantee everybody’s gonna get in for George Lucas. But like the, the first big one I remember seeing for Hall H is gonna be The Toxic Avenger. That doesn’t feel… To me, like I hope the movie does well. I hope it, it branches off and it does amazing things and de- deserves the Hall H. But hearing that, that doesn’t sound like a Hall H panel ’cause that’s usually like, “Here’s the next Iron Man movie,” or, “Here’s the next, you know, giant DC movie that’s coming out.”

RB: And just remember, if you’re out there standing in the heat and waiting in line, here at Aggro Gamer, we’ve got a motto: hydration is fun.

DHB: Yes. Hydration is fun.

RB: (laughs)

DHB: We have, we’re working on getting shirts for that. Let’s hydrate, stay shaded. Sunscreen’s your friend.

RB: Yeah. Please don’t die.

DHB: Yeah.

RB: It’s, it’s all fun and games until somebody passes out.

DHB: It, it should be the, the number one rule that we see in all the tabletop and live action role playing game. If you’re not having fun, why are you doing this?

RB: Wow. We could have just ended it right there. (laughs)

DHB: We could have, but there’s still so much we could have talked about.

RB: Yep. And so we were gonna talk about Gaslamp.

DHB: Yes.

RB: We were gonna talk about some of the things that aren’t necessarily activations when you’re running around town.

DHB: Yeah. ’Cause there’s, there’s fun little things to do all throughout town. And………………………. the hotels are, they just have things going on everywhere at every restaurant, every store. Everything has something ’cause they, they, obviously they’re gonna make a ton of money the entire weekend, so they wanna draw everybody in, but they’re just, they’ve enjoyed embracing how much the, the Comic Con fans and just kind of the nerdom in… takes over the area.

RB: Well, and you get to see so many amazing cosplayers. You get to see the Kirk and Spock who are always out there.

DHB: Yeah, like the, the authentic looking ones.

RB: And they’ve been out there forever.

DHB: Yeah. I wanna say it’s like, I think they, I think last time I saw them they had like one of those 30-year badges or whatever.

RB: Yeah. Well, and then I saw two years ago, three years ago, Deadpool was driving around in one of those open air cars with Harlequin.

DHB: Yeah, I remember seeing that.

RB: Blasting music.

DHB: Yeah. And I will say it was like, it looked like it was the same car that they used for, uh, the Joker in really the Juggalo version of the Joker. In th- in Suicide Squad, not The Suicide Squad. (laughs)

RB: Just as a, a little disclaimer. Always consent. You see a cosplayer, ask for their permission to take their picture.

DHB: Mm-hmm.

RB: Don’t get touchy feely. You know, be, be respectful.

DHB: Yeah.

RB: We here at Aggro Gamer love our cosplayers and we wa- we wanna keep everybody safe.

DHB: Yeah. And, and if you’re ever worried, just know they want the picture. They, they want you ’cause, at the same time, you’re d- you’re showing it off. But as long as you’re respectful, they’ll love it even more.

RB: And ask them for their Instagram.

DHB: Yeah.

RB: Like share it, tag them in it, because that just, that helps amplify them as an artist and it gets you some traction too ’cause people will be looking at your picture.

DHB: Yeah, exactly. You can get some cross-promotion, all that stuff. And you could maybe get your viral moment as well as help out some cosplayer who’s been trying to get in like the masquerade or the Her Uni- Her Universe, uh, events.

RB: Oh yeah. Her Universe events are huge, but they’re hard to get into.

DHB: Yeah.

RB: There are so many amazing eateries down in the Gaslamp as well, but the problem with that is you’ve gotta be really careful ’cause a lot of ’em take reservations and-

DHB: Mm-hmm.

RB: …folks have started booking up things as m- as quickly as they can as they’re working out their individual schedules. So something to be mindful of when you’re out there. Now some restaurants we’ve been able to walk in and it’s maybe been like a 15, 20 minute wait. And then other restaurants it’s taken us a fair bit of time to get into. But of course we always bring up Werewolf like we did earlier, uh, in this podcast just because it’s, it’s like a staple.

DHB: It’s a staple not only for us, but just kind of the area. And at the same time, I don’t think we’ve ever had to wait more than 10 minutes-

RB: Yeah.

DHB: …to get in there. I mean, there was a while… For a while we were doing The Garage, which was like, like right next to there. But for s- unless they’ve changed it up this year, for some reason they’re not open until Saturday and Sunday.

RB: It was so weird. We wanted to change it up from the Werewolf, but yeah, their hours are always so weird.

DHB: Yeah. It’s like we showed up at uh, 11:00 AM on a Friday and they’re closed. And I’m like, “This feels like prime time you should be open.” You, you guys serve breakfast and everybody’s heading down for breakfast.

RB: And you know, if you’re into… if more upscale dining, there’s The Butcher’s Cut steakhouse.

DHB: Mm-hmm.

RB: There’s the Chop House, Fogo de Chao, a bunch of different places.

DHB: What was the, the Brazilian place we went to last, last year?

RB: Uh, the Brazilian one that we went to was that… They’ve got two of the, like two of the three named-

DHB: Because I know it wasn’t like a Texas de Brazil, but it was, it was something like that.

RB: Yeah.

DHB: But that’s down there. The-If you want to go really vent- vintage, the bar that they filmed all the scenes from the original Top Gun is down there, right across the street from the Marriott. So you could always go down there. Although, I’m pretty sure that place is packed all the time because they have a bunch of banners saying, “Hey, Top Gun was filmed here.” Everybody goes there so they can have that.

RB: And then there’s, of course, there’s like Tacos El Gordo, Melting Pot, so there’s-

DHB: What other, there’s, there’s, what is it? There’s a bunch of, like there’s tons of places that you can just kind of like… Like Bubs is another big staple we’ve gone to. That’s kind of like just a sports bar to walk into.

RB: I can’t remember the name of the Irish place.

DHB: I can’t remember the name of it either, but I remember walking by it and just like every time, like, “There it is right there. Let’s go.”

RB: Yep.

DHB: And, yeah.

RB: The food was always good.

DHB: It’s always good. And, and if you’re not looking for restaurants, uh, there is a, a Ralphs or a Smiths, whichever, wherever you’re from in the, in the country. Just a giant grocery store you can go into and buy snacks. And they, they’ve also kind of leaned into catering for Comic Con as well where they’ll have quick snack boxes you can like walk in and grab. It’s, it feels kind of like one of those box lunches you would get at a, at a convention. So you can walk in and grab one of those. Uh, it is California, so do know if you go there, you’re either gonna have to pay for your bags or bring your own bag in. So, don’t expect to go in there, buy a bunch of bottles of water and then have something to carry it out unless you have your own bag.

RB: But, you know, you get a free bag with Comic Con.

DHB: You do get a free bag at Comic Con, the day, the first day you’re allowed to go in. So if you’ve only got a Friday pass, that gives you two days, like Wednesday and Thursday, where you might not have a bag. So just plan ahead and make sure you have a bag. If you’re going to Ralphs.

RB: Yeah.

DHB: Or any, kind of anywhere else down there.

RB: But Ralphs i- Ralphs is pretty much a staple. Like, anybody who’s gone to Comic Con knows about Ralphs, ’cause it is such a great place to be able to pop in and buy something.

DHB: Oh, yeah. We, I don’t know the number of times we’ve just popped in just like, “We need a bottle of water and a bottle of juice.” And you’re not paying convention prices where you’re paying $15 for a bottle. You’re paying your normal grocery store prices.

RB: For those who are trying to s- to stretch their pennies-

DHB: Mm-hmm.

RB: …that’s, that’s a great way. And there are, there are, a lot of the hotels have fridges and things like that, so you can maybe stash some stuff away.

DHB: Yeah. Like there w- there was one year I went with somebody and they were really pinching their, their pennies. And we like, the first night we were there, we went to Ralphs. They bought a bunch of sandwich meat and bread, ’cause that was gonna be their, their meals for the entire week. And we had a, I had a fridge and that’s exactly what he did. And he pent- paid like 20 bucks to eat the entire time we were there.

RB: Not bad.

DHB: Yeah.

RB: Especially if you wanna turn around and spend some money on merch. (laughs)

DHB: Yes. And boy, is there gonna be merch out there for everything.

RB: They are always so big on merch. And it’s not just the exclusives, the stuff that you have to sign up for.

DHB: Yeah, it’s, it’s everything. Like, I, I think we joked about this last year where it felt like even some of the off-sites felt like themed stores to go into. Like the Shaun of the Dead one, where they took over the bar. We walked in, it was like, “Oh, look, we’re in the Winchester. What can we do here besides the two photo ops? You can buy a bunch of merch.”

RB: Yep.

DHB: And that was about it, and then there was the other one we did for the D&D where it was like, “Oh, hi everybody. Here’s some candy. Want to buy some merch?” (laughs)

RB: Yeah, that was, uh, Super 7.

DHB: Yeah, Super 7. Which-

RB: Yeah.

DHB: …I think they’re doing Godzilla this year.

RB: Yep, they’re doing Godzilla. Super 7 was really good the D&D year, ’cause they had a lot of D&D merch. But yeah, a lot of these activations, they’re not really activations. They’re just glorified merch shops.

DHB: Y- but, but it seems this year, it’s like… And this is specifically for the Peacemaker one, ’cause before we started recording, I got an email. There’s gonna be a merch shop in there, but that’s not the focus of it. It’s one of those, you can come in, you can check out these bands, you can check out the, uh, there’s a bar. There’s a bunch of other themed things, and then there’s a merch store on your way out if you want to do that. So… And that kind of feels like the same way they’re doing with, I think South Park is doing the same thing, where you can come in and do all the stuff for South Park. I wanna say Twisted Metal’s gonna do the same thing when you’re done with your bumper cars. There’s gonna be a little merch area on the way out so you can buy little things after. Don’t, don’t quote me on that, but that, that’s what it feels like.

RB: Usually somebody’s got some kind of tie-in.

DHB: Yeah.

RB: Yeah.

DHB: Well, yeah. ’Cause I think, uh, even the Alien one. I don’t think you have to buy it, but they’re giving out themed lunchboxes. But like, lunchbox as not as in like the actual carrying thing, but like boxed lunches.

RB: Oh.

DHB: Based on another thing that’s being tied into them. I can’t remember the name of the company, but there’s a, it’s one of those meal order companies. And they’re giving out samples of their stuff.

RB: Like HelloFresh or Factor or something like that?

DHB: Ye- yeah, some- something like that, but the food inside the box is themed around Alien and also to kind of show what they offer up as their service.

RB: Well, that’s fun.

DHB: Yeah.

RB: That’s a g- that’s a good tie-in because anytime you’re watching YouTube material, a- almost invariably, somebody that you’re watching will either be sponsored by Factor or some of those companies.

DHB: Yeah.

RB: So it’s great to, to see them mo- you know, expand their footprint. All right. We’ve covered a fair bit. Also know that there is still going to be stuff. I always like to do the whole projection thing.

DHB: Mm-hmm.

RB: We know there’s gonna be stuff rolling in. Is there anything that you haven’t seen that you’re hoping that we’ll get something from in the next week?

DHB: Oh, man. That’s, that’s a rough one. Honestly, anything gaming. There has been a l- such a lack of… I, also like major gaming. So I’ll say the, besides Marvel Rivals, I’ve only seen one other game. It’s a, the new Painkiller is coming out there, and I haven’t seen anything else. Everything else has been like smaller things or pushing older brands. But I can’t really think of anything that would work well for a comic con, outside of another Mar- one of them other Marvel games, ’cause there’s still the Wolverine video game that hasn’t come out. I’d love to see that. The Deadpool VR game, I’d love to see that.

RB: There’s like a remastered Neverwinter Nights 2.

DHB: Yeah.

RB: That they’re, that’s being pushed. I s- I got, I got an email about that the other day. Yeah, but there isn’t a whole lot of gaming stuff. Other than like, there is the gaming area where you can go and play D&D. We talked about that in the-

DHB: Yeah.

RB: …in the last podcast. But in terms of video games, there’s the mobile game. There’s Marvel Rivals, which is again, a mobile game. But-

DHB: Yeah. Like I, I, um, maybe Konami’ll show up and they’ll bring out some of the stuff they had o- out at the Anime Con for Silent Hill. That would be amazing. Uh, other than that, um…

RB: You know what I’m surprised we haven’t seen anything for? And I just watched the preview today. Stranger Things, last season.

DHB: Right? Exactly. Like N- Netflix hasn’t, doesn’t, isn’t showing off anything. Not even like Squid Game, kind of promoting that kind of stuff. I haven’t seen anything from Netflix and that would be… Especially ’cause they could do an easy D&D tie-in for Stranger Things out there. But I haven’t seen anything from them on that.

RB: Yeah. And being it’s their last season…

DHB: Yeah.

RB: Man, what a great way to send them off if they had done something at Comic Con, but-

DHB: Exactly.

RB: …but yeah.

DHB: And that’s, uh, another thing I, I’m kind of expecting to see out there now, because I’ve seen posters show up, the second Mor- Mortal Combat movie. There’s been a couple of teaser posters out there and they’ve shown Karl Urban as Johnny Cage a few times, but nothing directly for Comic Con. It’s just timing wise, it’s all happening this week before, so it kind of feels like maybe there’s gonna be a surprise with that, but I haven’t seen any press releases saying that, so…

RB: Yeah. There are still a few things I wish t- I wish would pop up.

DHB: Like, what, what, what would you want to see out there a- as a surprise?

RB: So the Stranger Things was really… ’cause I love that show. I really had hoped that they would have done something. We know they’re gonna do something for the Thunderbolts-

DHB: Mm-hmm.

RB: …which David Harbour. I’m a huge fan. The Red Guardian, hello. Uh-

DHB: I think they’re, they’re gonna be at a Petco… uh, not Petco Park, but I think over behind the, the Omni Hotel, and they’re, they’re promoting the, the DVD release of the Thunder- the Thunderbolts movie, but also giving out free ice cream.

RB: So I’m gonna, I’m gonna try to go hit some, hit up some free ice cream. You know what would have been great? Had they done a tie-in with Wheaties.

DHB: Oh, that, that would have been amazing-

RB: (laughs)

DHB: …to give out cool boxes of Wheaties.

RB: We could be the heroes on the Wheaties box!

DHB: Oh man, th- they could have done a… was it a scavenger hunt where it’s like you find multiple people whereas you have each of the individual characters on a different little, little, those little tiny school Wheaties boxes.

RB: Yeah.

DHB: Got to collect them all.

RB: Or even trading cards that look like the Wheaties box, but yeah.

DHB: Yeah, yeah, exactly.

RB: Something they could-

DHB: Well, because I think, uh, The Long Walk is kind of doing something like that, as well as IT: Welcome to Derry. They’re gonna have people around han- handing out posters throughout the entire area with, for The Long Walk, it’s a different character on each poster for the, for the movie, and then they’re handing out themed ice cream for IT: Welcome to Derry with people dressed up like Pennywise and other horror creatures from the show.

RB: They all float down here.

DHB: Exactly.

RB: (laughs)

DHB: So, which you can just experience that being downtown in, uh, just downtown San Diego if you’re there.

RB: Well, and somebody is doing the… I, I almost called them rickshaws, but the…

DHB: That’s, oh, the… Yeah, there are kind of r- rickshaws, like, little pedicabs.

RB: Yeah.

DHB: Those are gonna be based on IT: Welcome to Derry as well. They’re gonna have… I think some of them have big, like, sh- shade canopies. They’re gonna have Pennywise kind of, like, hunching over you to give you the shade.

RB: And it’s always fun to see when they’re doing stuff like that, ’cause there was one year they had Borderlands.

DHB: Yes.

RB: They had a bunch of guys out there dressed up for that, handing out stuff. There was the Haunted Museum. They had the ghosts. There were-

DHB: Oh, the Haunted Mansion.

RB: Haunted Mansion, yep.

DHB: Yeah.

RB: Yeah, it’s always fun as you’re walking around Gaslamp-

DHB: Yeah.

RB: …the stuff you can possibly come across.

DHB: Yeah, and, and, again, all this… m- most of this is gonna be free outside of spending your time. I will say with the, with the pedicabs, you do have to be careful on those. They’re going to be free during the day. After a certain point, Warner Brothers isn’t paying for the Pennywise one, you know, so it’s gonna swap over and be like now it’s on the actual pedicab driver to charge you.

RB: And be sure to ask what-

DHB: Yeah.

RB: …they’re going to charge, ’cause yeah, they’ll try to rake you over the coals.

DHB: Yeah, ’cause I, I had that happen one year where I was out there for… it was like Game of Thrones, so I was, like, in the, in the back of it and I was sitting on the Iron Throne as the pedicab driver was ri- driving, and then I did that to the location I was going to. I was gonna use it, the same one, same service to get back. I hopped in and they’re like, “Yeah, it’s gonna be 20 bucks to get back.” And I’m like, “I’ll just walk the quarter mile instead.”

RB: (laughs)

DHB: “Thank you.” Because it was like, it was like nine o’clock at night when the air, when… the weather is perfect out there, and I’m like, “I’ll just walk amongst the people and enjoy.”

RB: Yeah.

DHB: (laughs)

RB: Yeah, I… ’cause, yeah, the price, the pricing scheme changes.

DHB: Yeah.

RB: But you always have to be careful when you’re out there, and, and in the evening just to make sure that nobody’s taking advantage of the situation.

DHB: Yeah, but, but in general if you’re just down, like, the main streets down there, it’s, it’s gonna feel like a mini Mar- Mardi Gras for… everywhere, ’cause everybody’s still gonna be in cosplay, everybody’s still having a good time. Even though they’re not in the convention center. They’re gonna… all the… they’re gonna have little people, like there was the one year we saw a bunch of Clickers from The Last of Us walking around.

RB: Oh, yeah.

DHB: So, like, kind of group ones that show off, like, “Yeah, we’ve been walking on the floor all day.” Or, “This is not the costume I’m gonna wear out in the beating sun of the day, but I’m gonna put all this on to show it off,” and you’ll run into that stuff randomly. And they’re just out there to have a good time. You, you have some panhandlers like the guy who threw the poo- Poke Ball at me-

RB: Yeah.

DHB: …tried to force me to give a donation to something, but you know, you’ll run into those, but at the same time almost everybody else is down there just to have a good time and show off their craft. And again, just kind of have like a mini Mar- like nerd Mardi Gras.

RB: Just be mindful. Be thoughtful of your, your fellow con-goer, and for the locals ’cause, you know, they still have to live there.

DHB: Yeah.

RB: So don’t, don’t make a mess. Don’t throw shit around.

DHB: ’Cause we want to keep coming back.

RB: Yeah. All right, well, this has, uh, been our Comic Con Part 2, kind of talking about the other panels and the Gaslamp District and the things you can do in San Diego.

DHB: Before we do a fully sign off, I just want to mention while we’re on the floor, we’re not gonna be able to do, like, a traditional podcast, so keep an eye out for the, for some of that. We’re gonna try to do maybe some live type content. So it’ll be a little less oriented as we have in these traditional podcasts, but we’re gonna try to keep giving you live updates while we’re out there.

RB: Yep. So stay tuned for, like, YouTube and some, some other, uh-

DHB: YouTube, Instagram, all that. May- maybe TikTok. We’ll dip into that.

RB: But you might have to watch us eat breakfast as we talk to you.

DHB: Yes.

RB: (laughs) But we hope to run into folks there at Comic Con, and if you see us and you recognize us, go ahead and say hello. We don’t bite hard. (laughs)

DHB: No.

RB: Well, yeah. All right. This is Ray.

DHB: This is David.

RB: And we’ll see you then.

Thank you for listening to the AggroCast Resurrected, the official podcast of AggroGamer. For more gaming news and reviews, please check us out at aggrogamer.com. If you enjoyed today’s content, follow and subscribe to get notifications of our next episodes.