Scarily enough, Comic-Con in San Diego is already on its way. Pre-registration is done. Media credentials are due soon. And the mad rush for tickets and hotel rooms will soon be upon us all.

But unfortunately, there are some people who have not gotten to experience San Diego Comic-Con for themselves. So to help let you know what it’s like, we’ve put this together.

If you’ve touched social media (especially Facebook) in the last two weeks, you’ve undoubtedly seen the Ice Bucket Challenge. The challenge was started with intentions to go viral as individuals challenged their friends to dump buckets of, you guessed it, ice and water on their heads. It has evolved past awareness for the ALS foundation as it has lead to record donations by the people icing themselves. Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis was most commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease and as Gehrig’s name has begun fading from the public consciousness even after a rekindling during Cal Ripken’s major league run in the 1990’s, ALS’s notoriety had fallen by the wayside as well.

With the challenge going viral like many other trends on social media such as the Cinnamon Challenge or the Fire Challenge, this one was one that pretty much anyone could pull off with relative ease and gave a quick laugh to those watching. With celebrities like Charlie Sheen and Lady Gaga putting their own spin on it, ALS charities raised over 15.6 million dollars so far and the number continues to grow.

Getty Images/Ethan Miller for HISTORY

At the end of season two of Vikings, Ragnar (Travis Fimmel) took the title King of the Danes by force when he and those loyal to him defeated King Horik. Now Ragnar is set on conquering England and even France as the HISTORY series continues to serve up epic battle scenes for viewers.

In one of the most shocking announcements at San Diego Comic-Con 2014, the cast revealed a major character would die this season. They were quiet as to who would get the axe (literally, most likely) but teased a major battle in Paris. Season 3 is bringing Alexander Ludwig’s Bjorn Ironside into the battle even more as he joins his father and uncle, Rollo (Clive Standen), in claiming new lands. Ragnar and his brother are finally moving forward together after nursing a strained  relationship for much of the last season.

Click through for more, including a sneak peak at season 3. After the break.

At Comic-Con in San Diego we got the opportunity to take a closer look at the latest additions to Skylanders with Skylanders Trap Team. While we had already gotten a peek at the title, there were still some awesome announcements behind the game along with some great insight from the designers as well.

First came the announcement of the Skylanders Trap Team Dark Edition Starter Pack. Like last year’s SWAP Force Dark Edition, the set will come with some special dark paint variants of characters. Unlike last year’s though, there will be only three new Trap Team members without any sprinkling of classic characters.

It will also come with a new Portal of Power which will have a new feature in addition to a new look, the ability to use Traps to capture villains in game and use them while playing. The Dark Edition will come with a limited edition over sized trap allowing players to capture Chaos.

Comic-Con International 2014 is set to kick off in just over 48 hours and after selling out 130,000 passes in just 90 minutes, San Diego is about to be descended upon by hordes of Con newbies. Every year those of us who have survived and live to tell the tale make sure to pass on our knowledge (whether or not they ask for it) to try and help these rookies get the most of their SDCC experience.

The best most important piece of information to take from this article is to have a game plan. Without knowing what your goals are for the show, there is a serious risk of wasting a lot of time only to not get the experience you’re hoping for. Luckily there is no shortage of information about the show, the exclusives, the panels, the autograph signings, the celebrities and everything else going down in San Diego during the show.