Now every Thursday in a month through September 2018, ANIMATED INSIGHTS BY SHANNON MUIR takes you inside Shannon’s latest reflections on her passion for animation as a medium, and other animated insights about life. To catch up on all posts, check out the Animated Insights portion of the website!
I’m back from an amazing few days at Comic-Con International: San Diego 2018. Though I couldn’t afford to go Thursday, and have never been to a preview night in my over 20 years of going to the Con, I made sure to pack a lot into my couple of days.
This year, I learned to take a very late dinner to make time for old friends who come from a distance away. I’ve never been up that late into the night, and saw Comic-Con in a new way as my husband and I passed the rows of people waiting for their wristbands to get into Hall H for Saturday morning.
I would also later be forced (along with my husband) to undesirably getting forced into that line by crowd control people who didn’t correctly tell us where to go to find our way around the Hilton and back around to the Convention Center. People behind us were frustrated for us “cutting” and rightfully so! From the comments being made, I don’t think we were the only misdirected ones. Fortunately, another staffer helped us out and I made sure to let her know that someone else wasn’t doing things right.
The biggest thrill of all was to get to re-live some of the fan wonder I thought I’d lost. Over the last two decades, I thought I’d met every pro I possibly could that influenced me as a teenager and since become professional friends and acquaintances with them. Saturday night, I actually let myself arrive fashionably late at an industry party that is a can’t miss for me to hear – and later briefly meet – one person I had yet to encounter. Getting to hear original VOLTRON producer Franklin Cofod share stories (along with several other panelists) about his time in 80s animation, and afterwards shaking his hand and getting a couple minutes of his time, was unexpected magic.
A couple weeks ago, I stated I could be both pro and fan in animation.
My experiences this year proved it.
Until next week,
Shannon