Comic Con operates on a different level from any other con I have ever attended. At any other show, you either buy the tickets ahead of time or line up as long as it takes, and Comic Con used to be that way. Somewhere along the line though, they hit critical mass and changed everything so that all of the big names are raffled. What this means is that you have to line up, wait for hours, and then pull a ticket. Maybe you win (yay!) and maybe you lose (boo!), but there are no guarantees for Comic Con autographs. I have been on both sides of this - I have lost things I have waited 8 hours for (Game of Thrones season 1, iZombie) and I have won things I really wanted (Game of Thrones season 2, Edge of Tomorrow with Tom Cruise). Sometimes a ticket draw can determine your entire weekend.
Years ago, Russell T Davies was at the con and signing on Thursday. I told my wife that it would ruin my entire weekend if I missed it (exaggerating, but still - RTD is hard to get and it would have bummed me out). I ended up winning and getting my copy of The Writer's Tale signed and I still treasure it. Four years ago, Matt Smith and Karen Gillan were a ticketed signing and we waited all morning to pull tickets. When I got to the front, I put my hand in the bag and there was one single ticket left... and it was a winner. I have had decent luck with Who at SDCC.
This year, I wanted to pull a ticket for the current Who crew of Peter Capaldi, Jenna Coleman and Michelle Gomez.
A friend of mine got in line very early in the morning, and we joined a few hours later. The person who runs the autograph area told us it wouldn't be an issue if we were not there early, because most of the tickets were losers to allow more people to try and pull and make it fair, so I knew that going in to the draw. As we got closer to the front of the line, I started getting nervous. I was chanting 'pleaseletmewin' like a crazy person. I see one person win, three people lose, one person win. 'Pleaseletmewin, pleaseletmewin' and then I pull the ticket... and I win. I lost it a little, and was honestly shaking from relief and excitement. I was going to meet Peter Capaldi!
Before that, we attended a signing for the new Amazon Prime show Hand of God starring Ron Perlman. At the end of the signers was a young British guy who asked us what we were doing next. 'Doctor Who!' I yelled and he asked about Peter Capaldi. 'Tell him Julian Morris says hi. He used to live upstairs from me and he and his wife are the nicest people. Seeing him on Prime Suspect is what made me want to be an actor.'
Based on past experience, BBC America does not provide items to be signed which is nice. It's nice because when they do provide items - like when we went to the signings for Being Human and The Mighty Boosh - they just do small postcards. Instead, they allow two personal items per person, so I had my photo and one for my friend. As we waited for the signing, the person running the line came over and told us no personal items, they would provide an item. We were disappointed, but it was better than nothing. Ten minutes before the signing though, she announced again that there was a communication error and we would only be allowed to have personal items signed. This was an issue for the people without personal items because they didn't have time to run and get something from the show floor, they would never make it back in time. The Who signing was not on the convention center floor, it was sequestered in a separate room (sort of like how Chicago TARDIS had Billie Piper) and they do not allow photos of any kind. I had my 11x14 and I was ready.
In the room we go. My heart started to race. We get to the front where the handler tells us that we are not allowed two items, and can't get our friend's photos signed. I tell him it used to be two items, he tells me that it's not anymore (the security there are not the nicest people in the world). I get to the front and hand my photo to Michelle Gomez and she gushes over it, asking me where I got it. It did take me quite a while to find a photo with all three of them on it - plenty of shots with any combination of Twelve, Clara and Missy but no combos of all three. She called the handler over and asked them to get her a copy of the photo. Next was Peter Capaldi. He also mentions how much he likes the photo, and we tell him the story about Julian Morris. Turns out he had lived in the same building when Julian was a kid, and Julian would walk the Capaldis' dog. 'What is he doing these days?' 'He's on a tv show on Amazon Prime.' 'So glad to see he is doing well.'
Then I say to him 'Mr. Capaldi, I am never nervous when I meet people at these things, but I am shaking like a leaf to meet you.' 'Oh, don't be nervous and just call me Peter.' Seriously, nicest guy in the world. Jenna was last in the line, and she was also very nice. She's a gorgeous woman (although she's no Karen Gillan. Karen was genuinely breathtaking.) She signed the photo and we headed out of the room.
All weekend, I was happy about the signing (even when the other parts of the con were not so great - but no complaints, that's just Comic Con). I plan on matting and framing the photo. I think I am going to do the work myself because it will save me literally hundreds of dollars to start doing my own framing for my signed pieces. I also bought a Funko Pop! of The Twelfth Doctor. I couldn't get into the exclusives line for Funko to get the Eleventh Doctor/Handles or Twelfth Doctor in spacesuit that I wanted, though.
