Going to Comic-Con in San Diego is a commitment. It’s not just the travel, the hotels, the Lyfts and Ubers, the food, and the drinks (…oh so many drinks), it’s much more. The floor of SDCC is the ultimate test of maintaining your composure and measuring your self-restraint.

And many, if not all of us, fail. New vinyl collectibles, classic non-sports trading cards, prints, sketches, autographed memorabilia, comics, nostalgia filled unpackaged toys, trades, meet & greets are just the start of the ways that your wallet can bottom out within just a few hours if you aren’t careful.

I, like many, try to go down with a plan on what I will be purchasing. As a Comic-Con veteran of nine SDCC’s (eight of them being consecutive), what I look for in advance is the list of the exclusives. This gives a good baseline for what will most likely be purchased.

In just a few hours, almost 200,000 people will meet in San Diego, CA at the annual gathering of all things geek and pop culture. The Flickcast has gone every year since the site began in 2009 (with many of us having attended before that). To help jog our memories and get things started, WallE and I kicked things off at Golden Apple Comics in Los Angeles last week and talked about some of our favorite convention moments.

With the first story happening to Joe back in 1989 and featuring Stan Lee to WallE’s Hall H line nightmare to my encounter with Raptor Jesus (Yes, that’s a thing, watch the video), this trip down memory lane got everyone ready to experience the “grand daddy of them all” again.

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Have you ever been playing Portal and wondered how The Doctor would do in Aperture Science? Thanks to Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment now you can find out. LEGO Dimensions announced at San Diego Comic-Con the upcoming inclusion of Doctor Who. It is the first time Doctor Who has ever been in a LEGO videogame.

The stars of the BBC America show have lent their voices to their respective characters in the game as well. Peter Capaldi, Jenna Coleman, and Michelle Gomez have all brought their Doctor Who personas to LEGO life in Dimensions. The game is truly a mash-up of worlds. The TARDIS could pop up in Gotham City or The Doctor could ride along with Scooby and Shaggy.

As is seen in the trailer, all twelve doctors are included in Dimensions. In fact, LEGO has pulled out all the stops to please Whovians. When the Twelfth Doctor is defeated in a level, he returns as the First Doctor and then continues regenerating back up to Twelve. The TARDIS interior changes depending on which Doctor is “alive” but can also be manually chosen by the player. A jukebox inside the TARDIS allows players to select different versions of the Doctor Who theme music.

To celebrate the home entertainment release of the X-Men: Days of Future Past Rogue Cut Blu-ray on July 14th, fans at San Diego Comic-Con were treated to a special advance screening of the extended version of the film. Shown on four screens simultaneously at the Reading Cinema in downtown San Diego on Saturday, July 11, the Rogue Cut features an extra 17 minutes of footage including bringing Anna Paquin’s Rogue into the film’s main plot.

The additional scenes add some more humor and action to the film. It’s important to note that although the Rogue storyline accounts for probably 50% of the extra footage, the other 50% is equally as golden. Highlights of the later portions include some very funny bantering between Quicksilver and Magneto and a romantic scene between Beast and Mystique. Several fans at the SDCC screening pointed out they had already seen these portions online as deleted scenes.

As for the Rogue bits, they fit and strangely enough they seem essential to the plot. Sadly, since we’ve all seen how the film carries on without, they end up feeling more superfluous than they were intended to be. That said, that Bryan Singer was able to take Rogue out and still make Days of Future Past work and work well is commendable. It couldn’t have been easy to re-work scenes, dialogue, and climatic moments all to remove one character.

Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images for A+E Networks

The Vikings season 4 trailer has landed and it points towards another season of blood, betrayal, and brothers. But could we also see the return of the god Odin? The trailer for the upcoming season first premiered at San Diego Comic Con during the show’s panel featuring stars Travis Fimmel (Ragnar), Katheryn Winnick (Lagertha), Clive Standen (Rollo) and Alexander Ludwig (Bjorn) along with Michael Hirst (writer/creator) and Dirk Hoogstra (EVP & General Manager, HISTORY).

Vikings left their mark once again on San Diego with interactive experiences for fans and newcomers alike. In the Exhibit Hall, the show’s Bludgeon Booth gave fans costumes and props to create their own battle, which was then filmed in slow motion. Special effect blood splatter was then added and the 15 second clips were added into battle scenes from the show for fans to share.  Out in the Gaslamp District those who accepted a complimentary ride on the Vikings long ship were given a drinking horn that granted them access to drink special at select venues in Gaslamp during the SDCC weekend.

Though it is History’s only scripted drama, Vikings continues to pull in strong ratings and rabid viewers. A fourth season, which will air in 2106, was announced five episodes into the third-season run.

Check out the trailer after the break.