By Diego Higuera
San Diego Comic-Con is well regarded for its panels in notable spaces like Hall H or Ballroom 20. SDCC has always had a wide assortment to choose from, never falling short of a fandom to present to or someone to entertain. It’s these experiences that have made Comic-Con the powerhouse that it is today, and these panels show the connection between creators and the fans they represent. This couldn’t be more obvious than G4’s Attack of the Show: Who Let Us In?–It’s possibly the biggest mistake of 2022.
“ATN! ATN!” The crowd chants when the beginning of the panel starts.
With the energy that filled the room, the host, WWE superstar Xavier Woods came on stage and introduced the quirky guests: Gina Darling, Will Neff, Fiona Nova, and Kassem G dressed as the Black Power Ranger. The emotion that filled that room was astonishing; it made you feel invested in the panel.
Their contagious energy welcomed chaos, and that’s exactly what they used to their advantage.
From the moment they appeared on stage there wasn’t a time when there wasn’t laughter or the roar of support of their fans. This was spurred on by the occasional chanting of “BILLYNOSH”, Will Neff’s iconic nickname, which can only be explained by his larger-than-life personality. This was followed by “happy birthday” being sung by the attendees to Fiona Novaas (their panel happened to fall on her birthday).
The panel continued on with a video playing the intro of Attack on the Show! and the panel getting right into the swing of things by doing the “Around the Net” segment. This is where each panelist showed a video they saw on the internet and the attendees were given the chance to rate the video from 1 to 10. They even tried to recreate one of the videos shown which lead to their “Will This Science?” portion of the panel. This is when the panelists wore tiny hands and tried to bounce a small ball as many times as they could.
Continuing the videos, attendees were able to see videos that they couldn’t show on their usual segment since this was their comic-con special. At the end of the segment, they had a special appearance from Case Blackwell, which brought even more energy to the room.
Nova then moved the segment to “The Feed,” which consists of her thoughts about Comic-Con through social media. From people lining up for more than 24 hours for the Dungeons and Dragons panel at Hall H to the animatronic and expensive Grogu on the exhibit floor. She even showed how the popular Pokemon Squishmallow was gaining traction online.
G4 wanted to also include their fans in the panel, so Darling introduced the “Janky Cosplay Challange” which was spelled like that to show how “janky” it is. Three random attendees were chosen to go up on stage and work with three of the other panelists to do a quick 60-second cosplay challenge with random items. These attendees were dressed up either as Wonder Woman, Tanjiro from Demon Slayer, or Patrick Star. With the challenge being judged by the fans’ cheers, Patrick Star cosplay won with how hilarious it was.
At the end of the panel, the floor was open to the question and answer portion where fans were able to ask their burning questions, such as “If you could have one of the many failed consoles from ages past come back on a flaming chariot and take over the industry what would it be” or taking a dig at host Gina Darling by asking “when would Suzan come back and replace Gina,” a running joke in the show.
This show was an example of the amount of fun and fan involvement you can have at a panel, and how fans cultivate the culture of SDCC. This was a prime example of a “you had to be there” moment here at the convention. With their attack finally over, make sure to catch Attack of the Show on both their YouTube and Twitch channels!
Miss any of The Beat’s earlier SDCC ’22 Coverage? Find it all here!
