Well, this is not the SDCC we expected or wanted but it is still Comic-Con, though sorely lacking in octopus tacos, bacon cocktails and Kona cold brew, alas. However there is still a reflexive tizzy of PR and news and stuff. All the marketing and PR folks are just as sad not to have their big week, and doing their best to whip up some excitement. In its own way, it’s still kind of fun! Here is all the bonus news from Comic-Con@Home Day 1! (Of course see all the news at our SDCC ’20 landing page!)
Of course the locale is still there, just eerily peaceful:
We always prefer it in #ComicCon gear, but it still looks fantastic without it. #SDCCOnline #SDCC #ComicConAtHome #ComicCon pic.twitter.com/QmSVKJKOo9
— Parks And Cons (@ParksAndCons) July 24, 2020
§ The trains are still running, and blocking traffic, but now unfestooned with Family Guy stickers.
Adding to our list of things in 2020 we didn’t expect: enjoying the nostalgia of the train blocking the path between @SDConventionCtr & @GaslampQuarter #SDCCOnline #SDCC #ComicConAtHome #ComicCon pic.twitter.com/n715sYXAbP
— Parks And Cons (@ParksAndCons) July 24, 2020
§ The flood of exclusive merchandise is also being sold online, but some traditions are being upheld: it seems the Funko site crashed when the exclusives went live.
https://twitter.com/mikekalinowski_/status/1286163399588450304
https://twitter.com/malliakokkinos/status/1286495693646041090
Or for those who get their news from YouTube, a video entitled “SDCC 2020 Exclusive Funko Pop Drop Dumpster Fire” may get the point across. (I have not watched and do not endorse!!!)
Perhaps we can find comfort knowing that even in the midst of an unprecedented global pandemic and looming recession that have changed everything about how we live our lives, people still want their goddam Funko Pops. JAYSIS PEOPLE, are you never going to get tired of those things???!!??
§ As with a nonvirtual con, some companies are making stealth announcements. No Hall H extravaganzas, but the the Disney+ “Marvel 616” docuseries looks good!
Sterman explained that “Marvel’s 616” was designed to feel as tonally and thematically disparate as the vast universe of Marvel Comics, so that each filmmaker for the series eight episodes could dive into the history of Marvel “in their own unique way.”
To demonstrate, Roché played clips from Jacobs and Scheer’s episodes that Disney Plus released wide on Wednesday. The clip from Jacobs’ episode, “Higher, Further, Faster: Trailblazing Women of Marvel Comics,” tracks the creation of Ms. Marvel, the first female Muslim superhero in Marvel comics history. Jacobs interviewed Sana Amanat, vice president of character and content, Marvel Entertainment, about how her experiences as a Muslim woman inspired the company to create a character who spoke to her experiences. Amanat then recruited Muslim writer G. Willow Wilson, who couldn’t quite believe what Marvel wanted to do.
Or just watch the panel!
§ Aside from actual news – Star Trek! The Boys! – the quirkiest thing about the YouTube con is that some of the videos were blocked by YouTube for copyright infringement, including the Star Trek one!
On Thursday, Viacom CBS livestreamed an hour-long panel for this year’s virtual SDCC to showcase properties in its ever-expansive Star Trek universe such as Picard, Discovery, and the upcoming Star Trek: Lower Decks. The stream briefly went dark, however, after YouTube’s copyright bots flagged the stream and replaced it with a warning that read: “Video unavailable: This video contains content from CBS CID, who has blocked it on copyright grounds.”
The hiccup occurred as the cast and producers of Discovery performed an “enhanced” read-through of the show’s season 2 finale accompanied by sound effects and on-screen storyboards. Evidently, the video sounded enough like the real deal to trigger YouTube’s software, even if it was obvious from looking at the stream that it wasn’t pirated content.
It only took about 20 minutes for the feed to be restored, but the irony of CBS’s own panel running afoul of its copyright (even accidentally) was too good for audiences to gloss over. As noted by io9’s Beth Elderkin, a later Cartoon Network panel livestream was similarly pulled offline over a copyright claim from its parent company, Turner Broadcasting.
Still so much to learn about streaming!
§ Director Colin Trevorrow showed off a model from his scrapped Star Wars movie, and oh god, let this Trevorrow Cut thing die soon.
§ And if you are really missing Classic Beat SDCC coverage, I reunited with my Four Women in a Hotel Room comrades Deb Aoki, Brigid Alverson and Johanna Draper Carlson – and special guest Leonard “@englishmanSDCC” Sultana, to talk about cons past present and future via the live streaming thing everyone is doing.
