San Diego Comic-Con 2025 Recap and Photos

Getting this written up before the calendar turns to August, where did the time go? Just last week I was in San Diego for my 15th visit to Comic-Con and it was another fun, hot, crowded event. This write up is just a retelling of my experience with some photos and tweets sprinkled in so if you followed me on Twitter the entire week, you probably know most of this (if not, enjoy!).

Tuesday, July 22

My Comic-Con trip this year started on the Tuesday before everything kicked off and for the first time since before Covid, I actually drove instead of flying. Upon arriving in town, it was a quick stop at the Omni to check in and get unpacked and then it was off to the beach. Almost every year before Comic-Con I make a trip to the beach as it is obligatory for all Phoenix residents to do so. After returning to the hotel and a much needed shower, it was dinner at Bub’s at the Ballpark which is usually a good time but service this year was… a little off. The night continued on with a walk around the convention center and marina checking out the progress on some of the activations such as King of the Hill and Abbott Elementary. The night ended with my first visit to Sweet Things after many years of saying “I’m going this year”.

Wednesday, July 23

The next morning started off with a visit to Copa Vida for a delicious iced coffee and continued with a walk through the “Park at the Park” at Petco Park, the Pac-Man Cafe, and the entrance to the LabuTique popup shop. Next on the agenda was the annual San Diego Comic-Con Unofficial Blog lunch where the entire staff gets together typically for the only time and enjoys a meal which was at The Blind Burro this year. We were treated to some great Ublog swag and a very special yearbook put together by Kerry and Sarah.

One interesting fact that is that I NEVER go to Preview Night at Comic-Con, I usually have other things I want to do before the chaos of the convention and this year that continued to be the case. I was able to secure an invite to the Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds press event at K1 Speed where the race track was decked out in some really cool Sonic decor, there was a Sonic arcade and a ton of free swag, food, and drinks. I don’t know if they were not anticipating how many people were going to be in attendance but the food orders were taking up to two and half hours at one point according to the staff. Regardless, still had a good time at the event and you can read a little more about it with my review of it right here.

I had one more press event to attend that night which was The Lodge from Paramount +. This is an activation I have attended before in the past which I have enjoyed so I was really looking forward to it. The event featured some cool photo ops from properties such as Mission: Impossible and Star Trek, cocktails from Landman, and more free food. This was a quick 50 minute experience but I still think it was worth the visit as I came away with some nice swag. Dinner that night was at Prince St. Pizza which was worth the walk and the wait!

Thursday, July 24

My first official day at Comic-Con 2025! I spent a lot of the morning browsing the exhibitor hall, taking photos, and keeping note of things I wanted to come back and possibly buy. Only for the second year, I was able to get my hands on the San Diego Convention Center exclusive chocolate that is made just for Comic-Con. They are $10 a bar so I picked two of the four which were the Home Run bar and Pop Star Party bar. I was also able to be the first person in line for the second chance wristband drawing for the WWE meet and greet that was taking place later that day. How that works is if there are any wristbands that were not picked up 60 minutes before the meet and greet, you can test your luck with the Comic-Con Box of Fate, a cube with a button that you push. If it lights up green, you win, if its red, you didn’t win. I was the first in line and I pushed it… nothing happened. They had to reconnect the box to their device and when they tested it, it lit up green in which I jokingly said “that was my push!” and they laughed and handed me the wristband.

The meet and greet (which was just a quick photo with everyone) took place at the Mattel booth which featured WWE talent CM Punk, Giulia, Jacob Fatu, and Jey Uso which honestly is a very solid line up. The rest of my day was just exploring everything at the convention, picking up my commission from Jacob Chabot, and having some dinner at The Field.

Friday, July 25

As has become tradition the last couple of years, I only attend Comic-Con Thursday and Friday. Maybe its my old age but man, I love having plenty of recovery time before going back to work haha. Friday was spent again mainly the exploring the con and I didn’t get attend a single panel this year. There were some I did want to attend but between my limited time and wanting to check out the invite I got from Crunchyroll to attend their Anime FanFest concert, I opted not to do any this year. And speaking of the Crunchyroll concert, they were were back at the Rady Shell behind the convention center with two full days of musical acts. This was my third year attending but it was a little bit different this year with it being an all day event. The other event I had scheduled for Friday was meeting with the team at Bandai Namco Collectibles which included a tour of some of their up coming SH Figuarts releases (which I LOVE). The team at Bandai Namco has always been excellent to me and I appreciate all their time for me during the busy con (especially Justin!).

The rest of the day included a stop at artist Julie Vu’s table to pick up some Taylor Swift art for my girlfriend as well as staying in the exhibit hall until closing time. After the convention, we stopped at Baja Rick’s for some delicious beef birria quesadillas for dinner but there was only one way to truly end the trip: Another visit to Sweet Things!

Honestly, just spending this time with both my kiddo and girlfriend at one of the events I love most was my highlight this year.