Day 2 - San Diego Comic Con

After this mornings workout I headed back to my room and began transforming into a Hobbit. I debated on cosplaying or not this time around. I didn't want to do the same Frodo/Bilbo Baggins that I've done the past five years and I was working on updating my feet and building a backpack so I could cosplay as Samwise Gamgee. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get new feet and I ran out of time for making the backpack. So I decided not to cosplay but last week friends started posting pictures and tweets about their cosplay and I started to feel the itch so just to be safe I brought my Frodo/Bilbo cosplay and my five year old feet. And I'm so happy I did as when we pulled into San Diego and I saw all the craziness of comic con I knew I was going to cosplay.

So I started by shaving off my beard as Hobbits don't have beards. This being my fifth year of being a Hobbit I'm pretty good at putting on my own ears and had them on within ten minutes. I suited up and dawned on the wig. I had to curl a bit of it but in the end I think it looked pretty good. Now it was time for the feet. I have had cracks and tears in the past but super glue is my friend and for the most part the feet have really stayed together pretty well.. goes to show you the quality of Greg Aronowitz's work. One foot always seems to go on with ease and the other is a struggle and this was no different. But by 10am I was ready to head to con.

Michael and I met up with Chris and Hayley down the hotel lobby and we headed over to con. Along the way there was this tree that I thought would be perfect for me to pose at. So I stopped and Hayley took a few pictures of me.

We got to the sales floor and walked around a bit, I got stopped here and there for pictures as did my friends who were also cosplaying. Around noon we headed out to lunch and went back to the Syfy Cafe as it was close to the convention center and Chris was cosplaying as Admiral Thrawn and couldn't be in the sun for a long period of time. Usually when we go to the cafe we wait ten, fifteen minutes but we had a very large party so it was going to take a bit longer but the table that could accommodate us was being occupied by another large group who were taking their time and meandering. So we waited almost an hour for our table and just when we thought we were getting the table they grabbed another large group that was after us.. well we jumped into action and made sure we got the table next, which we did so we finally ate.

During lunch I got a text from my buddy Brett who was in Ballroom 20 and he said that there wasn't a line to get in for the Shield and Agent Carter panel happening in a few hours. So when lunch was over we all headed back to the convention center and I departed my group to head up to Ballroom 20. By the time I got there the line was long, but I figured I had an hour and a half to get in so I jumped in. Unfortunately the line moved extremely slow and doubt started to sink in. Friends Eva and Steve joined me in line and we waited and hoped. Finally 20 minutes after the panel had started we gave up. We were still 100 or so people out and there was no way we were getting into the panel. I said my goodbyes and headed over to another panel.

Side note... while I was in line for Ballroom 20 I noticed that the big toe on my right Hobbit foot split in half. Luckily it was located right on the tip and didn't seem to get any bigger when I walked.

I made it to the Tolkien "What's Next" panel, this was hosted by TheOneRing.Net fansite. As always it was an interesting panel with some cool information about the upcoming blu-ray and what's next for the world of Middle-earth. After the panel about 20 or so of us headed outside to do a Middle-earth photo shoot. Talk about a frenzy, when we got down there we as a group took several pictures but then we stayed around for another 30 minutes or so having our pictures taken by passerby's, it's was kind of fun.

After the photo shoot I headed back inside to find my buddies who were roaming the sales floor. Soon my friends headed back to the hotel to change and I hung out at the con until the sales floor closed at 7. On my way back to the hotel I ran into my brother in his Wheeljack cosplay heading into the Gaslamp district to cause some madness.

I de-hobbited and headed back out to a Guildies get-together at a local bar. While I was walking I walked passed Ashley Eckstein (Ahsoka Tano from The Clone Wars/Rebels). I adore her, she's an uber geek and seems to be one of the nicest people on the planet. She was actually in the panel before the Tolkien one so I got to see her talk for a bit there... anyways all I managed to do was say Hi Ashley as I passed by her.. she turned her head, smiled and said hi in return. It was a quick exchange but it was pretty awesome.

So I made my way to the bar and in the back sat about 30 or so Guildies. It was great seeing everyone. I quickly made my rounds and made sure I said hi to everyone. I got a one on one picture with everyone as well. I hung out for an hour or two before teaming up with Brian and Bryan and heading over to the Legendary/Nerdist/Geek & Sundry Party. This was one of the top 10 parties to be at according to the Hollywood Reporter. I wasn't going to go as I'm not really a "big" party person but Brian said that I should at least stop by and thank Felicia (Day) for the invite.. and he was right.

Now there is a story here. I got an email inviting me to this party. I responded with my name and a +1. I spoke to several other people and they told me that they were not allowing plus ones but somehow I got one. I doubled checked my email and it said that me and my plus one were on the list. So I asked my best bud Chris if he wanted to go but, as expected, he declined as he didn't want to go without his girlfriend Hayley. I debated on asking other close friend of mine who was at the guildie party but then thought better of it. If I invited one of them and not the others someones feelings would be hurt. So I opted to invite my friend Bryan. We've worked together on The Guild but he's not really part of my inner circle of friends.

We got to the Petco center (where the party was happening) and there was a large group of people hanging outside. Some were lookie loos hoping to spot a celebrity and some were people trying to get in and having issues. I was a bit worried about my plus one thinking that maybe it was just a mistake but when I went up to the front and showed them my drivers license, they asked if my plus one was with me, so I quickly grabbed Bryan and said.. right here. We got in with no issues. The party was already in full swing. It was open bar until midnight so we grabbed a few drinks and ventured deeper into the crowds. We found Felicia fairly early on. She greeted me with a giant smile and hug. As she was hugging me she said into my ear "Oh you are one of the lucky few who got a plus one". She said they had to turn away 2000 requests to come to the party. I asked her why that was and this is the best part of the story. She said her boss at Legendary saw my name on the list and said to Felicia "Oh you know Kenny Mittleider", Felicia of course said yay and he then went on to tell her that he use to PA (Production Assistant) for me many years ago. I asked Felicia what his name was and she said Chris Michael. My jaw dropped, Chris was a PA on a show I did about 10 years ago. We use to hang out outside of work here and there but really haven't talked or been in contact with each other for a while. But when he saw my name he said.. Yeah let's give Kenny a plus one. So I guess it goes to show you, be kind to your underlings because you never know when they might be the big shot. But the mystery was solved and I think it's a pretty awesome story.

So after that I had to find Chris to thank him and we grabbed another drink. I ran into a few more friends and chatted for a bit. The entire thing was pretty surreal. There were actual celebrities there, I recognized a few like Lana Parrilla who plays Regina from Once Upon A Time, or Misha Collins who plays Castiel from Supernatural or Carlos Valdes (Cisco) from The Flash. And that's just to name a few. I got to actually talk to Felicia for a bit while she took a break from the party. It was funny because Joss Wheadon was behind us chatting with a soaked shirt as he was a mad man on the dance floor.

Though I planned to only stay a very short time I didn't leave until 1:30am but I did have a pretty fantastic time. I got back to the hotel and chatted with my brother for a half hour before finally going to bed around 2am. Yeah no NerdStrong workout for me tomorrow morning.

You can check out all my 2015 San Diego Comic Con pictures HERE.