What We're Most Excited About From Comic Con 2017
Every year Comic Con shocks and awes the nerd community with trailers, reveals, news, and cosplay, (both good and bad.) This year didn't disappoint and we got plenty of panels and news snippets to sift through. Here's a look at what we're most excited about from Comic Con 2017.
Kurtis
- I loved watching the Stranger Things panel. It's always fun to see the personalities of actors and actresses in real life. The on stage chemistry of the cast was really entertaining and fun. Not to mention we also got the trailer for the second season of Stranger Things.
- My second favorite moment from Comic Con was also one of the most depressing. John Hodgman hosted a debate for Syfy where Orlando Jones, Aisha Tyler, Adam Savage, John Barrowman, and io9 co-founder Charlie Jane Anders all debated some of the biggest nerd culture questions. When it came down to the Star Wars vs Star Trek debate however, Adam Savage brought the mood down with some real life truth.
Star Trek lures you into a false sense of positivity that the world can be a utopia and recent events have proven it cannot. Star Wars’ dystopic vision is far more realistic and prepares our children for their future. - Adam Savage
While a lot of people saw this as a bummer I thought it was a relief to see where other people draw that connective tissue between their favorite fantasy properties and real life experiences. These movies and shows and comics in many ways are meant to parody real life so I appreciated his insight.
- My third favorite moment was kind of a combination of two reveals from Nickelodeon. I'm a huge fan of nostalgia and while reboots can make me cautiously optimistic, I got very excited to see that Nickelodeon is giving Hey Arnold and Rocko's Modern life a new life. I'm interested to see how the new generation of nerds perceives these two shows, especially since Rocko is so bizarre.
Joshua
For me it was all about trailers. As much as I enjoy seeing the actors out of character during their panels, it all comes down to the new looks we get at the most anticipated films and shows. A few that got me excited were:
Thor: Ragnarok
The first trailer for Thor: Ragnarok came in and blasted some of my expectations. It easily looks like the best Thor to date (and I am a fan of the first two). We get to see a bit more of Thor's story and it appears to be a real good time. With Thor teaming up with Hulk, Valkyrie, and Loki, I think we're in for a wild ride. We also learned that Thor: Ragnarok will also be the shortest movie in the MCU to date. This bodes well for it being a fun fill bit of intergalactic adventuring and action.
Justice League
The DCEU has faced a ton of ups and downs thus far. With opinions ranging across the board, expressing some of the highest highs for Wonder Woman and lowest of lowsfor Suicide Squad, a lot is hinging on Justice League so it helped to see another strong trailer. We got to see a bit more of the baddie Steppenwolf in this trailer and it left us with a nice cliffhanger (Supes? Probably, but what was with the Jurassic Park water step???). There was some short lived drama about the future of Batfleck, but he quickly dispelled the rumors he wanted out. Whether the studio wants him out is another story, stay tuned.
Ready Player One
I have to say, the trailer that got me most amoed was Ready Player One. We've heard of this nerd culture melting pot of a movie coming but we've had minimal details other that it being based on the novel by Ernest Cline. We have our first look with some very exciting cameos including *takes a deep breath*; The Iron Giant, Gandalf, The A-Team, Christine, Harley Quinn and Deadshot (or Deadpool?), Duke Nukem, Freddy Krueger... *exhales and takes another deep breath* ..... the guy from the classic Joust game, a Tron Light Cycle, the Bike from Akira, Mad Max's Interceptor, The DeLorean, all set to a version of Pure Imagination *exhales dramatically*. This a nerd's fantasy created by one of the greatest filmmakers of all time. Can't help but get a little giddy.
Clayton
One of my favorite panels this year was the one for Game of Thrones, partially because of some of the hilariously awkward questions the cast received but mostly the fact that none other than Hodor himself (Kristian Nairn) was the host for the panel. This made for some great back and forth and an entertaining panel.
I wasn't expecting a trailer for the new season of Westworld so soon and by god it got me excited. Seeing Delores riding a horse, Red Dead style gunning was the epitome of awesome and gave me tears of joy. Also in the trailer we catch a glimpse of Maeve and Lee Sizemore standing together in a Delos control room which is now littered with bodies from season one, I assume, but what might they be doing together? Writing a new narrative perhaps? I'm not sure if this made the wait for season two more exciting or more excruciating.
Lastly, after reading about all the AR/ VR set-ups, I almost want to book a flight and pack my bags for next years San Diego Comic Con; if, however, it weren't for the 4 hour lines to hall H and obnoxious fans. Apparently a Blade Runner 2049 interactive exhibit was on display with live actors in character occupying fully replicated sets from the films. It was complete with a bar from the first film and the possibility of being questioned under suspicion of being a replicant. Read more about it at Cinemablend here. HBO had a similar set up called "The Westworld Experience" where you enter a real life version of Delos to get the full experience from the show including a personality assessment, actors portraying hosts and a recreation of the Mariposa Saloon from the show. More on that here.