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Outlander at San Diego Comic Con: Wrapup, and My Feet Still Hurt

Some fun facts (well, impressions… well, I made these up) about San Diego Comic Con – the Convention Center is 5 miles long, end to end. The floor is made of specially-constructed super-hard concrete. They bring in extra San Diego residents to fill in all the extra spaces that might be unoccupied by convention attendees. This year, they decided to do a social experiment and ordered only half the food needed to feed all the people there. And you know what – none of it mattered, OUTLANDER HAD A BOOTH!!!

There was also a panel with Diana, Ron, Maril, Sam, Caitriona, Rik and Sophie (and special guest), with a showing of the first episode of Season 3. More on the panel in a few, but I know some of you are thrill junkies and don’t care about spoilers, and some of you get stomachaches at the thought of encountering a spoiler here in the wild. So I’ve written a mini-review of that episode and attached it here as a PDF. Be warned, you’re on your own if you click that link. If you really don’t want to know anything (more than you’ve accidentally come across so far), DON’T CLICK. There, you’re warned.

And make sure you get all the way to the bottom of this article for a chance to win a swag pack, which includes a Diana autograph and lots of other fun stuff!

THE BOOTH

The Outlander booth was terrific. Set up as A. Malcolm’s Print Shop, it featured the lovely sign hanging at the entrance, lots of great print-shop decor, and TONS of swag. The ceiling was covered with sheets you might see printed here. There were type boxes and other bits that looked period. It was a little tight to walk through, it was very crowded, and there was a lot to look at, so I didn’t get the best pictures. But here are some from the booth.

Also in the booth were shelves for t-shirts and boxes of flasks, piles of posters, and baskets of bandanas. Lots of swag to win – including beautiful sepia-toned prints, tartan bandanas, gold temporary tattoos, leather-wrapped flasks, totebags that said “Outlander Gives Me All the Feels” and customized t-shirts, with 5 different sayings. The top prize, at least on Thursday and Friday, was a ticket to Saturday’s autograph signing. T-shirts? They actually had a silk-screen shop set up within the booth! Those lucky enough to pull a t-shirt ticket (that’s how you got the swag, you pulled a ticket and it indicated what gift you would receive) got to choose their size and pick one of 5 shirt styles, then have it custom screened RIGHT THERE by kilted hotties! And there were more Kilted Hotties manning the booth and the lines.

Lines? YES, THERE WERE LINES. For everything. I suspect that half the people in the Outlander lines couldn’t have cared less about Outlander, and were only there for the resellable swag (look at Ebay and see how much you’ll find there), and that kept many true fans from getting in, at least from getting in as often as they would like, but how do you manage that? There wasn’t any kind of test. So we just had to put up with the entrepreneurs grabbing our stuff. If you didn’t get to go, and you want something, look on Ebay. Seriously. (OR…. go to the bottom and find your chance to win an SDCC Prize Package!)

THE PANEL

I won’t try to summarize the panel for you; here it is, watch it yourself. Like everyone else, I loved it when Graham McTavish crashed the party, shouting “Tulach Ard!” We were missing our Dougal, and he knew it. (Graham was at SDCC to promote Preacher.)

Following the short panel, we were treated to the entire first season 3 episode. As I mentioned above, I’ve written a mini-review for those of you brave enough to want spoilers, but you have to click to get it, so that those who don’t want to see anything won’t.

While I wasn’t at all expecting the full episode, and while I won’t complain that we got to see it, I will say that I think it might have been better to show us just the first 10 minutes or so, and use the rest of the time for more interaction with the cast, producers, and Diana. After all, we’ll all see the episode at some point not too far from now, but how often do we get to see Sam, Cait, Rik, Sophie, Rik, Tobias, Rik (ok, yes, I know), and of course, Ron, Maril and Diana, in person? Moderator Jenna Dewan Tatum wasn’t too bad – even if she did inadvertently possibly maybe give us a spoiler during “Truth or Dance.” Which, personally, I preferred to Lynnette Rice’s drinkfests – am I in the minority, or does that bother anyone else?

But it is what it is, and it was fun. If you don’t want to watch the panel above, or if you did and you’re not done, here are some stills from the panel. A big thanks to Sam Andaya, who sat next to me, and decided to stay throughout the panel despite having an opportunity elsewhere, for sending me her excellent photos. And to Koko Pipkin, who always takes great shots and shares.

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AUTOGRAPH SIGNINGS

There were two signings this weekend! Diana made it to SDCC, and we weren’t sure she would be there – her daughter gave birth to her first child earlier in the week. But Diana must really love us, and she made it and signed nearly anything people put in front of her on Friday morning.

The more difficult-to-get signing was Saturday afternoon. Diana, Ron, Maril, Tobias, Cait, Sam, Rik and Sophie took over the Outlander booth. Only those who had pulled the prized ticket from the swag bag were able to attend. While the rules were tight – one item, must be the same item for every signer, no photos once you were in line – they weren’t well regulated. Diana had already signed my copy of Dragonfly at another event, so I asked her to sign one of the Season 3 cards they had available (want it??? you could win this very card), and everyone else signed my book. They had large posters there that you could have signed, but I wasn’t too confident about being able to get it home. People farther back in line did get some photos – and selfies!

There was a Starz camera crew outside the booth, and stopped several fans to be filmed (including me, so if you see it anywhere, let me know).

GIRLS JUST WANNA HAVE FUN

I heard from some of our fellow fans. Patricia Helfrick said, “I have 2 favorites 1. I got to get a autograph and the other was the viewing of the first episode.” Jody Chang didn’t have Convention badges, but there was so much to do outside the hall that she had a blast! Jean English said, “My favorite experience this Comic Con was at 63 sleeping out in the Ball Room 20 line with my line buddies Christina Salinas and Christine Montemayor. I really only knew them from our SoCal site but Comic Con and Outlander brings us fast friends.”

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Want to win this card signed by Diana and a bunch of other Comic Con Outlander swag? You only have to click the “Enter Here” button below, and you can come back once a day to click again and increase your chances. Good luck!

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Follow me on Twitter: @OutlanderTIBS, @ErinConrad2 and @threeifbyspace
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