Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with my first report from San Diego… already. Goddamn. I remember when preview night used to be the ease into the Con and now it’s pretty much an official day (I’ve already had to RSVP for a 1:1 and photo op on the floor tonight). Those days are long gone and I’ve had to resort to sneaking onto the floor as it’s under construction to stay ahead of the curve.

Don’t ask me how I did it this year… all I can tell you is it involved blood, anal fissures and Kraken sobbing all day… those Elite Guards are suckers for tight fish holes, I’ll tell you that much.

And to my great shock… there’s actually very little of interest up right now. What is interesting to me is walking the aisles when not accompanied by 75,000 not so close friends. It’s kinda spooky how empty it felt even with all the booth building going on.

I’ll make sure Kraken sucks it up and takes some pictures during tomorrow’s preview night to compare and contrast with these for those who have never been and have no idea why this is such a creepy image:

Here’s a few new collectibles from Weta, including some new Halo goodies:

And a banner for Rob Zombie’s THE HAUNTED WORLD OF EL SUPERBEASTO… this might have been seen before (I know the Grace poster has been out there), but it did catch my eye.

Lego Toy Story! To Infinity and Beyond!

And Gentle Giant has some Star Wars dioramas that looked pretty neat.

I don’t know why there was a line of Electric Chairs at the Con (one of them even had a gnarly fake (I hope) corpse in the hot seat), but I’m sure all will be revealed officially tomorrow as the doors open for Preview Night.

Speaking of “Wait, did I just see…” here’s an original Tron Suit. How low tech and sweet. No clue what it’s for, but it was next to the Miramax mini-booth. Don’t know if it shows up well, but they also had an Old Bob from THE BLACK HOLE in a case. Is it just a booth filled with shit that makes the inner kid in me jump for joy?

Stark has a booth this year, too. Sorry for the blur, but it was a quick snap… pretty clear that it’s the line-up of suits from the first still released a while back, but with an empty slot. Maybe a photo op? That’d be awesome…

And of course… with AVATAR being such a huge presence this year, I wasn’t very surprised when I saw this:

What’s that I see peeking over the top there? Why, it has to be a Power Suit!

And here’s a final overview of the floor as it was under construction. We’ll try to snag another pic either tomorrow night or sometime during the Con to compare/contrast.

Now on to some other fun stuff… I want to link you to the Comic-Con page with a list of their exclusives. Check here for that list but you can also check below and see Hasbro’s stuff up close and personal-like.

I arrived home for my 36-ish hour break between my trip to New York City and this Comic-Con adventure and found a giant box waiting for me. I get some SWAG sometimes, but not often, so it was a major surprise to me to find it filled not just with toys, but with Hasbro’s Comic-Con Exclusives.

Before I left I brought Kraken over to take some shots. Forgive the messy kitchen, but it was a last minute set-up.

I’m not the world’s biggest GI Joe fan (loved RESOLUTE, though), so the stand-outs for me of this group were the Marvel Exclusives, Star Wars and the sweet-ass retro Soundwave. Check them all out below:

Strangely enough I didn’t get sent the My Little Pony exclusive. I don’t know how I’ll complete my set…

And now a few things to highlight. The schedule is out there. We know the big stuff, but what you might not know…

- Thursday, 1pm at the Sony Pictures Booth director Fred Dekker will be signing some NIGHT OF THE CREEPS memorabilia to promote the upcoming DVD. Tell him Quint sent ya and he’ll draw a heart around your name… with sparkles and fireworks.

- The 2k Games booth will be giving out this awesome limited edition Bioshock 2 print from artist Jhonen Vasquez Saturday from 2-4pm, with Vasquez onhand to sign them. Limited to 500 pieces… I don’t think I can make it, but I’d be there if I could. Awesome:

- This is the Comic-Con exclusive THE BOOK OF ELI poster done by artist Tommy Lee Edwards that he’ll be signing and giving away at the Warner Bros Booth right after the Warners panel on Friday. It’s also the first time we’ve seen the look of the film if I’m not mistaken. Check it out:

- If you want to see my ugly mug live and in person, I will be moderating the SOLOMON KANE panel 12:15pm-1:15pm Saturday, Hall H. The panel will feature never before seen clips from the flick and two much more handsome men than I will be joining me on the stage: Director Michael J. Bassett and star James Purefoy. I will be trying to play it cool, but know no matter what you see I will be shitting my pants being up in front of so many people.

And here are the known screenings taking place at the Con… Hopefully we’ll update this with how to grab tickets, but at least it’s on your radar:

Thursday:

District 9 (7pm, Location unknown)
Mystery Team (8pm Horton Plaza)
Ninja Assassin (Location and time unknown)
Trick R Treat (9:30pm, Ballroom 20)

Friday:

Ponyo (8:00pm, Location Unknown)
Angel of Death (9pm, Rm 6A – No need for tickets)
Spike & Mike Animated Shorts (10pm. Rm 6BCF – No need for tickets)
Thirst (9pm Gaslamp Stadium 15)
Zombie Girl (7pm, Rm. 26AB – No need for tickets)

Saturday:

Inglourious Basterds (8pm, Reading Gaslamp – follow @theRealBasterds on Twitter for instructions on getting tickets)
Watchmen: Director’s Cut Blu-Ray Live Commentary recording by Zack Snyder (8:30pm, Rm. 6BCF – No need for tickets)
Give ‘Em Hell Malone (10pm, Rm. 6DE – No need for tickets)

That’s not a comprehensive list, but that’s what I know of. Okay, time to get some sleep… I’m gonna need it. More pre-con Coverage tomorrow, then the big event. I have some crazy awesome interviews lined up and crazy-ass day Thursday. The flurry has begun!

-Quint
quint@aintitcool.com
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