Hi there, my name is Hunter and I've been attending the San Diego Comic-Con for the last ten years consecutively. In that time, I have gathered enough experience and battle scars to be able to help you all out. So now, I'd like to impart some wisdom to any and all potential SDCC attendees. So sit back around the fire and let me tell you some war stories.

10. Good Luck Getting Tickets

So getting SDCC tickets is a literal nightmare from which you will never wake up. Here's a fun little questionnaire to help you see if you should go: Question 1: Did you go last year? If you answered "yes" then good news, you might possibly maybe get tickets! If you answered "no" then oopsies, the only way you're getting tickets is if you slay the dragon at the base of Yggdrasil the world tree and steal his.

I personally managed to find a way to work my way into a professional badge, and even that is nearly impossible to get most years for me. But I implore you to just try your ass off to get those passes, and if you don't, hey there's always next year.

9. Locate Your Meal And Sleeping Sites.

So you've got your tickets, now it's time to work out the finer details. SDCC-adjacent hotels are nightmarishly expensive, so you're probably going to want to find one far from the convention center. Fortunately though, there are regular busses to and from the building you can take. Or, you can take a pedal-cab if you want to make another human being work for your amusement. (Trust me, you do).

For food, you will actually have a decent experience. Across the street from the convention center is a wonderful area with a buncha restaurants and, although they will be pretty darn bust during the lunch rush, if you go at slightly off hours, you'll be good. Don't try and eat in the convention center. It's expensive and not worth it. Bring some snacks with you, trust me. And water.

Bring water or you WILL regret it.

Seriously, we're talking about San Diego in July, it gets hot as hell out there.

8. Lockdown Your Panel Choices

Half of the fun of Comic-Con is the panels. In my decade of attendance, I've been present for huge comic book news reveals, conversations between my favorite writers and artists and dozens of world premiere trailers. But the process of picking your panels is a long one. This is how it was described to me:

Step one: three months before the con, you get out the official comic-con schedule and your handy-dandy highlighter and mark every panel that looks even remotely interesting. If you even think "maybe I'll go to that" then highlight that baby.

Step two: about a week before the con, go into your closet and grab that Comic-Con schedule you highlighted. Now look through it and cross off all the panels you can't do because they conflict with other panels you want to do more and cross off anything that conflicts with any dinner reservations you may have. Oh, and just draw a big X through anything in Hall H unless you're a crazy person.

Step three: The day of the convention, wander around the con ripping up pages from your schedule because you wanna eat lunch and you're not going to that panel or because that panel is all the way upstairs and your feet hurt. If you follow these steps, you should wind up going to about twenty percent of the panels you originally highlighted. This is about average, unless you wanna do Hall H, in which case you should head on over to the next entry.

7. Hall H Is Your Entire Day

For those who don't know, Hall H is the biggest panel room in the convention center and is where most of the big movie and TV panels are held. Unfortunately, the line for Hall H is psychotic. If you want to get in on Saturday morning, you need to, no joke, get in line between 8:00 and 11:00 the night before. I've never personally done Hall H, but last year a friend of mine did, and she enjoyed it immensely.

But then again, nothing she said about the experience was enough to convince me to do it ever, so it varies person to person. Just know that if you choose to go for it, you ain't doing anything else with that day. No other panels, no lunch dates with friends, hell, you don't even get to sleep in a BED the night before. But if you still wanna brave all that, you have my utmost respect, you crazy diamond, you.

6. Be Cool To Cosplayers

Cosplayers are those awesome people who dress up in costumes and roam around the convention center being cool. I am not a cosplayer myself (I did a Hawkeye costume once for a smaller con and it was fun enough) but I have nothing but respect for those who do. Which is why I have to stress the following point: DO NOT BE AWFUL TO THEM. Just because someone is in costume does not mean they owe you anything. If you ask them nicely to take a picture with you, most will, and will enjoy doing it. But if they say no, leave them alone.

Also, this should go absolutely without saying, but sexual harassment of any kind is beyond unacceptable. Some of the horror stories I've heard from cosplayers are absolutely disgusting and infuriating. Now, most con attendees are polite, awesome people who I'm sure don't need to hear this. Hell, Comic-Con is one of the only places I've ever been where every sneeze is met by five "bless you"s. But this is for those select few jerks who ruin it for everyone. These people are there to have fun, just like you are. And unlike you, they actually put effort into their attire for the day.

5. Not All The Fun Is Inside

Tired of roaming around the con floor with tons of people? Head outside and check out some of the other attractions. Walk straight out the door and you'll stumble into a row of restaurants decked out in props and artwork from next year's hottest video game or SyFy Channel television series. Walk left and you'll find yourself in front of the hotels, the closest one being the site of Nintendo's official player's lounge and, if they do what they did last year, some Game of Thrones-themed alcohol at the hotel bar.

Behind the con is a dock lined with boats, including the party yachts for several major entertainment news sites. To the right of the building is the motherload. This majestic area is where I've seen Gotham-themed zip lines, an American Horror Story themed haunted house and every Batmoblie ever all sitting next to each other. Each year it's something different, and every year it's pretty goshdarn cool.

4. Q&A Stands For Questions And Awfulness

Now this one is my personal preference and you don't have to take my advice here, but I have never gotten pleasure from a Q & A segment of almost any panel. There is a quote (pardon me but I couldn’t remember or find the source) that goes something like this: "The easiest way to lower the collective IQ of the room is to ask "˜Any questions?'" And I gotta agree. For every one great question, there are thirty bad, terrible, or painfully awkward ones. Honestly, it is fully ok to get up and leave once the Q & A session starts. It's cool, a lot of us do it.

Oh, and if you are yourself going to ask a question, just remember the golden rules: Don't be a jerk and try to respect the time of the audience. Ask your question, be polite, and move along once it's been answered. Trust me, it makes things better for everyone.

3. Let The Fun Come To You

As much as I've talked about planning, some of the best con moments I've ever had were unplanned. Sometimes, these magical moments happened when I was waiting through a panel I hadn't planned to go to for a later one. Like when I accidently got into the Mythbusters panel moderated by Wil Wheaton. Or when I found myself in a giant sing-a-long to the Duck Tales theme song at the Capcom panel.

Or what about moments just on the con floor, like when I pushed past a swarm of dead-stopped people only to find the thing they were staring at: the entire cast of The Walking Dead. Or when I stumbled upon a Video Games Live concert and spent an hour listening to awesome music, culminating in the Tetris theme performed as an opera. That experience was one of the best I've ever had, and if I hadn't been in precisely the right place at the right time, then it never would have happened. And no one should ever have to miss out on a Tetris Opera. Ever.

2. Be Economical With Your Shopping

If you are hitting the con floor, be careful not to spend all your money right away. I always hit up the 50% off trade paperback places to grab stacks of books for incredibly good prices. My favorite of these is the Torpedo Comics booth, and I'd recommend checking them out as soon as possible. Tell them Hunter sent you, and they will look back at you confused, because they DEFINITELY don't know who I am.

If you're interested in exclusive toys, I have a tip for you: ebay is your friend. Yeah, it sucks to buy from toy scalpers, but it sucks more to wait in line all day, only to find out they sold out of the toy you wanted. To me, paying a little extra is worth it, especially if you only want one thing. If you want to buy sketches from artists or get books signed by writers, be respectful and cool about it. Also, they sell swords, if that's what you really want. I have never bought a deadly weapon at a convention, but you totally can. It is a WONDER that no one's been impaled with a broadsword during a heated argument. But like I said, people at Comic-Con are 99% super polite and awesome.

1. Just, Like, Have Fun

To give you an idea of why I love SDCC so much, I'll share with you my favorite Comic-Con story.

I was walking on the con floor, and noticed that my shoe had come undone so I stepped off to the side to tie it. As I was kneeling down, I heard something from the crowd nearby. It seemed that two friends had gotten separated in the mass of people as I heard a guy call out his buddy's name from the packed mob. His friend shouted back, but they seemed unable to properly locate each other. After a couple seconds of silence, the first guy's voice rang out, sharp and loud, belting out one word: "Marco!" A second later from elsewhere in the crowd came the response: "Polo!" They kept shouting their call and response, getting louder and louder as they grew closer together. When the two guys reached each other, the entire mob of people around them stopped and burst into applause.

It was this beautiful human moment I will never forget. And that's why I go to Comic Con. And if you want a story like that, buy your ticket and let's have some fun together. Welcome to Comic-Con, you're among friends.