Saturday, December 18, 2010

Testing, Testing!

After the two failed ticketing registrations with Epic, SDCC decided to have a so-called "test-run" on December 15th, 8 AM PST.

1,000 4-Day Comic Con tickets were offered up for sale online that day.

It seemed that Ticketleap - a social ticketing platform company - has also been pulled into the registration procedures together with Epic. And when you buy the SDCC tickets, funds will be paid to both companies for different types of charges. For the test-run, each registrant can only order for two tickets!

Red Dot Diva thought the entire procedure sounded overly-complicated. (Click here for Comic Con's explanation.) Going into two websites just to secure a registration? People usually just want to click, buy and pay. What happened to a simple ticket ordering process?

However, it seemed Red Dot Diva's good friend @eserei27 did manage to secure two tickets for herself and @beckyb731. And after the test-run, there were reports that SDCC blazed through majority of the limited 1,000 tickets within the first two minutes. (Read Ticketleap's test report here.) So perhaps it was considered a .. erm.. "success"?

Apparently, another batch of tickets will go on sale in January 2011. Just gotta keep checking SDCC's website for the next registration date.

Red Dot Island-wise, the Singapore Toy, Games and Comic Convention 2010 (STGCC) saw over 30,000 folks stream into the Suntec Convention Centre last weekend.

This year, there was more balance in the programs planned between Toys, Games and Comics, with a distinct slant on the first and last. Granted that one can't ever quite escape the grasp of anime and otakus in our Red Dot Island, where there are way more fans who are into such things.

Like many of her cohorts - who are labelled as the "more Westernized" pop-culture and comics fans - Red Dot Diva didn't have much to complain this year round. For rather than being ignored like in previous years, they had quite a lovely group of guests to interract with, and spent the weekend blissfully geeked-out.

Still, there was no pleasing everyone. There were gripes from some folks about not enough anime (SERIOUSLY, people!??? There's already AFAX for you to cosplay to your heart's desire!), fewer toy companies (quite true. Hazbro/ Lego should be there), and uninteresting games being showcased (Red Dot Diva admits she can't comment on this as she is not a gamer).

As a whole though, Red Dot Diva thought it was a good starting point for Reed Exhibitions. And she thinks that things can only get better for STGCC 2011.

And if you are wondering about her pop-culture/ comics guests wish list for next year? This is the list of folks whom she has suggested to Reed so far:

- Dennis Calero, artist
- Marjorie Liu, writer
- David Marquez, artist
- Ray Park, actor/ stuntman
- Daniel Logan, actor/ stuntman
- James Marsters, actor
- Jane Espenson, writer/ producer
- Clare Kramer, actor
- Juliet Landau, actor/ writer/ director

Wishful thinking? Red Dot Diva thinks not.

For a few years ago, one could never have envisioned Lucasfilm having an office right here on our Red Dot Island. Nor Universal Studios plying their brand of theme park fun here. Nor an awesome bunch of comic creators from Marvel and DC Comics coming to meet us at a convention.

So, perhaps, for those who wish even harder, a Stan Lee visit may be possible .. yet. ;)

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