Pictures from the 2015 Comic-Con International, part 1: Tuesday (TMNT art show and more!)

Comic-Con 2015 is in the books and the show is as big as ever.  2015 was my fourth year in a row at the San Diego event, and I feel like I'm just starting to get a handle on things.  I had a great time and took a lot of pictures...those two things bring us to this new addition to the long-running blog tradition of inundating the Internet with pictures from the show.  So let's get started and see where it takes us.  All of the pictures, including the picture of someone's grandpa riding a Conan O'Brien escalator at the San Diego International Airport, are from the Tuesday before the show.

Conan had a big presence at the convention, and he filmed several episodes of his late night talk show  near the convention.  Tickets to these tapings went fast (of course) and I wasn't able to get any.  Apparently, Funko gave away an exclusive Conan bobblehead at each taping, many of which naturally were then sold for lots and lots of cash online.

After checking into out house for the week, I took a drive downtown and saw some of the Comic-Con setup.  I highly recommend arriving in San Diego at least a day before the convention to battle jet lag, and also to get some bearings for the days to come.  One of the signs of Comic-Con's imminent arrival are, well, the literal signs that hang from lampposts all about town, but especially in the Gaslamp district.  Many of this year's banners featured Ant-Man.

I wonder what happens to all of these banners after the show?  They remain hanging for a few days after the convention ends, and I'm always tempted to get a ladder and try to grab one.

As in years past, many of the exhibits were still being constructed on Tuesday, with some not reaching completion until just before the doors opened on Wednesday (and sometimes even later).  I guess the show "Heroes", for whatever reason, is being revived by NBC this fall, and there were a lot of promotional items for this across the convention hall and outside.  Zach Levi, he of NerdHQ fame, has a role in the show, and he even got a giant standee of himself.  If I was on one of these, I'd probably try to take it home with me.  But where would you put it?

Here's the outside of the convention center.  This was taken after the hall was closed to exhibitors for the evening, and a lot of people wearing pink badges were streaming out at this time.  Even though I had a badge of my own waiting for me (an orange professional badge), it's hard to not get anxious seeing other people with access to the inside.

THE EYE!

Walking up the steps to the top of the convention center, you could see inside the Sails Pavilion as it was being put together.

Across the street, the Hilton had a giant tongue banner draped over its side.  Okay.

The Adult Swim attraction, always one of the must-see outside exhibits, was located behind the convention center this year, right along the water.  There was a carnival theme to it this year.  In the background you can see the Meatwad's Dome exhibit, the only holdover from 2014.

Rick and Morty (one of my favorite new shows) had a big presence at Comic-Con this year.  This display wasn't interactive at all...but it was still pretty cool.  Again, what happens to this after Comic-Con?

Here's the back.  You can see Rick carrying a bag.  I took a peek in it once or twice, thinking that there might be some kind of prize inside, but as far as I could tell, the staff just used it for trash.  That might have been a cover...who knows?

This was the last picture I got before some of the security workers yelled at me to stop taking pictures.  I suppose Adult Swim didn't want their setup leaked before the show started.  Being outside, though, I'm sure that was impossible to prevent.

And here are some bridge shots, a requirement at Comic-Con.

Here's the convention center from the bridge.

I never actually made it to the offsite area across from the convention center.  This was partially because the Adult Swim event moved away, partially because the events that took its place didn't really inspire me to make the trek across the bridge during convention hours, and partially because there was so much to do in other places.  The above picture is the framework for another carnival-style ride, which was apparently a pretty popular theme this year.

Later on the convention, they brought a terrifying, giant mutant dog to lay on top of the house.

The Pirates were playing the San Diego Padres this night and a few nights during the convention.  They were of course playing in Pittsburgh, but I thought it was funny that we switched places for a week.  I was also lucky because I was able to catch some of the games on local tv and radio while we were in town.

The big event for the night was a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles "Shell Shocked" art exhibit at the Basic: Urban Kitchen and Bar in downtown San Diego, just a few blocks from the convention center.  There were also some official Comic-Con events going at the year-old library this night, so Comic-Con has formally started to take over Tuesday night as well.  I went there and, what do you know, the Pirate game was playing, so it was a double treat.

There were a number of displays, as well as some live art going on.

This was probably my favorite of the art displays - a senior turtle and mouser.

I don't know who these people are - I just thought it'd be fun to take a picture with them.  And it was!!

Someone involved with the exhibit also had some of his collection on display.  I ended up buying some cheap art and spending about an hour at the bar before heading back to get ready for Comic-Con's first day.  Won't it be fun to see some of those pictures as well?  YES IT WILL BE.  And oh, we'll see them.  Soon.