After a full takeover of San Diego from Thursday through Sunday, Comic-Con International 2013 is in the bag. The expo continues to grow, with an estimated 130,000 attendees crowding the San Diego Convention Center—the configuration of which is intricately orchestrated by organizers—and brands hosting countless related events at surrounding venues like hotels, parks, and parking lots. This year's lineup included three ships, an inflatable fun house, and more than 20,000 ping-pong balls.
Here's a look inside some of Comic-Con's biggest and buzziest events and exhibits.
Hadley Media is the agency behind the Adult Swim Fun House, a 40- by 60-foot inflatable structure that offered 15 interactive hallways and rooms. Wild elements included a hallway that appeared to be moving, a mirror maze, replica rooms from various shows, a crying adult baby, and a karaoke cage. Fans were encouraged to take videos of their favorite parts of the fun house and upload the shots with the official hashtags using Vine.
Entertainment Weekly hosted its annual Comic-Con party at Float at the Hard Rock Hotel. The bash visually represented the vivid, playful comic aesthetic, and the pool was filled with more than 20,000 ping-pong balls. DJ Michelle Pesce spun for the crowd.
Guests found candy and ice cream stations in the pool's cabanas.Â
Throw pillows mimicked the look of magazine covers.
On Saturday, A&E and The Hollywood Reporter hosted a celeb-packed party celebrating Bates Motel at the Gang Kitchen restaurant. Producer MKG turned the venue into a creepy version of the iconic motel. A flickering neon sign punctuated the space.
A Bates family photo wall displayed talent photos, artwork, and a collage of framed pics of Norma’s home, as well as two LCD screens playing clips from the show.
A secret "weed room" was adorned with marijuana plants, and guests could scoop up so-called pot brownies in branded gift bags.
Blue lighting and neon signs juxtaposed against taxidermy pieces made for a clubby, if slightly eerie, backdrop. The character Norman's dog Juno was intermixed with other pieces on the taxidermy wall.
Pockets of lounge seating were made up of vintage props and midcentury furniture to create a dated yet modern feel that mixed the old with the new and reflected the look and feel of the show.
A social photo booth activation used the authentic Bates Motel bedroom set featured in the show, where guests could recreate the campaign image. Guests could then pin their printed photos onto a wall made to look like a bookshelf.
Social calls to action were integrated into props such as brass reception desk signs and price tags on lamps as well as on cocktail napkins and brownie bags. A live Twitter feed was displayed on a social visualizer.
"I Survived My Night at the Bates Motel" theme gift bags included bloody Mary mix, Advil, Emergen-C, branded mints, a toothbrush set, hemp lip balm, and inserts with a link to download the party playlist, curated by the Embassy.
Taking over a 38,000-square-foot lot in the middle of the Gaslamp District, the Visionary Group installed the massive, buzzy Walking Dead event over the course of three days. A custom-built bar façade masked a hydraulic lift that propped the so-called "Zombie Survival Machine" six feet in the air. Visionary built more than 110 linear feet of set walls using apocalyptic-looking scrap materials, treating them with a mix of heat-branded and hand-painted partner logos. A live performance by Weezer got more than 1,500 guests singing along.
Lining two sides of the lot were distressed building façades that shone with line-art images depicting prison scenes from the comic.
A 60-foot-long green carpet was meant to resemble a forest from the series. More than 200 live trees lined the walls, which were decked with live sod and fake rocks to seal in the fake-moss carpet. Four Hyundai vehicles were positioned into the carpet, making it appear as if the vehicles were driving through the forest.
More than 150 logos suspended in the trees fully branded the arrivals area and made it appear as if the partner logos were floating.
Drinks came from PatrĂłn and Green Flash Brewing Company, and Miho Gastrotruck provided the bites.
Schick Hydro teamed up with Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag to offer shaves for men aboard the Jackdaw ship—an element from the upcoming video game—on Friday and Saturday.
Two Schick Hydro barbers offered the shaves using the Schick Hydro 5 razors, which also served as giveaways.
More than 200 Hollywood celeb types gathered aboard the TV Guide Magazine yacht for the Nintendo Oasis at Comic-Con. Nintendo showcased its latest games with a fully equipped Nintendo 3DS gaming bar and Wii U units.
Old favorites and to-be-released options from Nintendo were on offer.
To celebrate the premiere of Hulu's new series, The Awesomes, the video streaming site made its debut at Comic-Con with a private event for 500 on Saturday night. Taking over the Andaz rooftop, the goal of producer the Visionary Group was to infuse color, character, and an air of playfulness throughout the space.
Visionary removed and replaced the venue's furniture with sleek, color-blocked pieces. Partner Xbox set up shop in a large branded cabana while sponsor Jack Link's sent a costumed Sasquatch to the party to photo-bomb guests during photo ops. Costumed characters and a face-in-a-hole-style photo activation played off of imagery from the show—and provided ready-made Instagram fare.
The Wired Café served as a daytime getaway on the terrace of the Omni Hotel for folks to relax and recharge during Comic-Con. The space included food and beverages, free Wi-Fi, and charging stations. HBO's Game of Thrones bar offered cocktails inspired by the seven kingdoms.
Activations included a custom-built Viking-inspired ship from the History Channel with hair braiding, tattoos, and a photo booth on board; Cubify’s 3-D printing and Kia’s 3-D painting; HitCents' gaming station; super hero caricatures to share and take home by AVI-SLP; a gadget lab offering custom laser-engraving from Epilog Laser; and new offerings from Olloclip and Nokia.
To celebrate the upcoming release of Kick-Ass 2, Playboy and Universal Pictures partnered to create an interactive event for the 21-and-up set. Complete with a live production from Axe Black Chill that featured heroines in action-packed situations, the event included activities and enormous sets inspired by the film. TK New York was behind the production.
For Saints Row IV's upcoming release, the Visionary Group created an eye-catching guerrilla marketing stunt. The team secured a branded convertible limousine and filled it with cast outfitted with guns from the video game. The limo cruised the streets in the Gaslamp District as well as the convention hall on Friday and Saturday handing out swag and performing dance routines for the crowds.
Arcana Comics' party on Saturday night offered vintage video games like Pac-Man, Skee-Ball, and air hockey in a pop-up arcade by Ploom at the Keating Hotel.
The South Carolina-based agency BFG teamed up with Cartoon Network to put on an immersive consumer experience centered around the animated TV series Regular Show. The free experience at the New Children's Museum saw some 6,000 attendees and included an arcade with simulated games, a social media vending machine, and a prize center.
In addition to a social media vending machine, Cartoon Network's activation during Comic-Con invited visitors to play a game featuring the show's characters with an oversize screen and old-school controllers. As added branding, inflatable versions of the Regular Show's stars, Mordecai and Rigby, topped the museum.
Convention-goers and media could check out the Samsung Galaxy Experience in the Gaslamp district, which offered food, drinks, Wi-Fi, and activities like the Dual Shot Super Hero photo station and a T-shirt design station where visitors could create comic-theme shirts using the Galaxy Note 8.0. Rather than a step-and-repeat, one wall held dozens of the mobile maker's phones, each showing different graphics and images.
Samsung's pop-up promotion also had an animated GIF photo booth complete with a cloud background, wind effect, and super hero costumes. The booth doubled as a showcase for the camera features of the new Galaxy S 4 smartphone.
Nerdist and Lucasfilm’s Course of the Force, the Olympic-style lightsaber relay run for charity, returned for a second go. The race began at Skywalker Ranch and ended at San Diego to coincide with Comic-Con. The event benefited Make-A-Wish Foundation, and from July 9 to 16 it took over the California coastline, with runners encouraged to be creative and wear their best Star Wars gear.
The Jolly Roger ship from Once Upon a Time appeared in the form of ABC's Comic-Con booth. Chad Hudson Events oversaw the booth project, tapping 15/40 Productions for the build. Chad Hudson's team also managed aspects of the project including the replication of the costumes from the show, video, organizing the cast signatures, and more.
The cast of Power Rangers Megaforce appeared at the colorful Nickelodeon booth at Comic-Con.
Warner Brothers Entertainment again sponsored the official bag at Comic-Con, the fourth year of the partnership. There were 130,000 of the backpacks with detachable capes provided to attendees.
