Our Comic Con 2012: The Journey Was Great

Each summer, Comic Con rolls around and serves as a marker in time for my family. It's a reminder that a whole year has yet again passed.

Last year, I wrote a and so I thought that this was a good time to reflect once again upon this year's experience.

In many ways, Comic-Con is much like it's been in past years. There are the familiar rhythms of the Con: fresh excitement in the air on Wednesday's Preview Night, an ever-growing crowd with each ensuing day, building up to Saturday's climax, and then Sunday's semi-sad-feeling goodbye.

Thus, in the span of five days, attendees get to experience the emotional and physical whirlwind of beginnings and endings.

This year, our five-year-old son started talking about Comic-Con at least several months ahead of time.

After LEGO released its Lord of the Rings line, he fell in love with Tolkien's world and decided that he was going to dress up like Frodo, with his kid sister faithfully tagging along as Sam Wise. We pieced together their costumes little-by-little and found our home being transformed into Hobbiton on a nightly basis.

This past Wednesday, we picked our little Hobbit up from preschool and he excitedly waved goodbye to his friends yelling, "I'm going to Comic-Con!"

Whenever something is highly anticipated, you never know if it will really hold up to your expectations or if you will end up disappointed. In the case of , it's been a little of both.

For our kids, there have been many moments of complete awe.

With our son, he soaked in every detail of the Exhibit Hall's many toy displays. He enjoyed checking out Masters of the Universe since he recently discovered his dad's old collection of figures from the 1980s.  He was happy to find even a small display for Annoying Orange since that's his new favorite TV show. But, we spent the most time at Hasbro, where he intently studied the Transformers, KRE-O, and Star Wars cases.

For our daughter, she was most impressed by just the sheer size of the floor and all of its diverse inhabitants. I try to imagine the crowds from her perspective and am amazed that rather than displaying any fear, she charges ahead full of excitement.

While her brother was busy examining the Star Wars Fighter Pods display case at great length, our little girl happily flitted back and forth between some Darth Vader and Chewbacca statues.

She was delighted to get her picture taken with these light saber and laser gun toting two, and she was even a good sport when we next went and took our picture with Weta Workshop's traffic-stopping giant trolls. What was it that brought our gleeful girl to tears and a blood curdling scream?

Snoopy.

Poor Snoopy even seemed like he got his feelings hurt when she suddenly started screeching terror when it was our turn to take a photo with him.

And thus we arrive at some of this year's disappointments. At the top of the list is the loss of our son's sword: Frodo's famous Sting that lights up when detecting Orcs.

The toy-version of Sting has been his favorite part of the whole costume. We had heard rumors about Comic-Con implementing a new weapon policy this year, but we hadn't looked into the specifics, and so we were a little worried about whether or not we'd be allowed to bring it in with us.

As luck would have it, we happened to enter the Convention Center right where the Weapons Check Desk was located. We got a pink approval sticker applied to it without a hitch, and continued inside.

Our luck changed when we stopped at a booth to check out some toys. I was the keeper of Sting by this point, but I was also busy attending to our daughter as she complained about her hands being sticky.

I knelt on the floor, out of the way of traffic while continuously keeping her from running out in front of people. I got her a wet wipe for her hands, and then she decided she was thirsty. I got her some juice, and then she wanted her baby doll. By time we got back on our feet and ready to move on, I realized that Sting was gone.

Poor little Frodo was devastated when he learned that Sting had been taken. He broke into tears and sobbed, and as we continued on our way, he moped.

We talked to him about how it is sad when we lose things or when other people do things that hurt us. But, we also talked about how we still had the most important things that matter: all of us, all together. I told him that I understand why he is upset, but that he has the power to let this event ruin his whole day or to choose to enjoy the rest of the day.

In a little while, you could tell his whole demeanor changed. He was ready to forge on ahead, and he told his dad, "It only ruined half my day."

Wearing this new attitude, good things seemed to start coming our way once again. We looked up and who did we spot up ahead? Gandalf! 

Now we had seen other Gandalfs on previous days, but this one was the best one by far, the most authentic. We tried to catch up to him, but the crowds were thick, and we feared we might never reach him. At long last, we caught up and our little Frodo got to take his picture with Gandalf the Great.

I told my son he was like a real life Frodo. He faced adversity and foes, but he never gave up, and in the end, his journey was great.

I mentioned earlier how Comic-Con Sundays always feel kind of sad. Everyone seems tired out and as much as you might find it hard to see the end coming, you realize you're also really ready for it to all be over.

It's kind of like the "super long" freight train that passed along Harbor Drive when we were trying to leave Comic-Con one night. At first, our daughter was really excited. She's become a bit of a Thomas the Tank Engine fan, and so squealed "Train!" when she saw it coming our way.

It was a treat that the conductor waved to the Comic-Con crowd, and it was amusing to see the large cars pass by one after another. Ten minutes later, though, the excitement had worn off for even a little Thomas enthusiast. All that anyone wanted was to see the last car pass by so that we could get home and go to sleep.

And thus, we too find ourselves ready to say goodbye to Comic-Con once again. We've seen wonders, we've traveled distances, and our journey has indeed been great. Choo-Choo!