TOSHI STATION: San Diego Comic-Con 2005

Nerd Vegas! Closed the door on yet another fun-filled pilgrimage to the San Diego Comic Con July 13th-17 of aught-o-five. Attendance was reportedly a shoulder-to-shoulder 100,000 (up 15k from last year). As in previous years, there is an SDCC feature over on Rebelscum highlighting the Star Wars angle - check it.

Ended up flying out a little earlier than past years, but there were still plenty o' highlights:

Wednesday had lunch with woodworker (and host of TV show "Wood Works") David J. Marks. Matt "Darth Grievous" Wood joined us for dinner that evening. Day One was breakfast in Detroit, lunch in Dallas, and dinner in San Diego.
Took in the Warner Bros panel featuring V for Vendetta footage (Natalie Portman in attendance), new Harry Potter Goblet o' Fire material, a 10-minute preview of Darren Aronofsky's The Fountain (Darren and Rachel Weisz in attendance - movie looks fantastic), and footage from Tim Burton's Corpse Bride.
Chatted with Sam Hiti for a spell and snagged a bit of original artwork.
Met Natalie Portman. She's a delight. Poorly scanned Polaroid below.
Won (more or less) one of those high-end $350 replica ROTS Yoda Lightsabers at the Master Replicas party on Friday night. Which was all kinds of awesome. Stood behind Ben Burtt at the LFL party later that same evening.
Found the E-Ville Press booth - stocked with a friendly group of Pixar artisans (one of whom was a Lucasfilm alum). Picked up Afterworks and Colossus.
Snagged the following convention exclusives: Mattel's The Batman - Catwoman (got the "antique" version with the brown and yellow statue), Hasbro's Holographic Leia, and of course Sideshow's Patient Zero 12" zombie.