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.

LEGO® DIMENSIONS™_20150703082142

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.

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.

That’s right folks, it’s a brand new episode of The Flickcast. And just like last week, you thought nothing good was gonna happen this week. Wrong again.

On this week’s show, Chris and Joe discuss and debate the major announcements from Comic-Con in San Diego, including all the scoop on Marvel, DC and their respective movie franchises. They also manage to throw in a bit of comics and TV news/discussion too, just for the heck of it. Plus, we finally get our first look at Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman. And yes, there’s also the usual “more.”

Picks this week include Chris’ pick of the TV series The Strain and Joe’s pick of the upcoming Simpsons / Family Guy crossover episode. Should be epic.

As always, if you have comments, questions, critiques, offers of sponsorship, or whatever, feel free to hit us up in the comments, on Twitter, at Facebook, Google+ or via email.

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If you’ve ever wanted to soar over Gotham like the Dark Knight, San Diego Comic-Con 2014 is making that dream come true. CW’s new series Gotham is inviting fans to take a ride down the zip line as the city’s skies fly past.

San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer kicked off the annual convention by taking the inaugural ride on the zip line. Fans flocked to follow after him because everyone secretly wants to be Batman. Almost more impressive than the zip line itself is the enormous outline of Gotham city, which perfectly erases all traces of sunny San Diego as you go zipping past.

If you’re down in San Diego, experience the zip line for yourself. It’s open Thursday through Sunday 10 am – 6 pm and is located between the Convention Center and the Hilton Bayfront Hotel.

Check out the zip line in action after the break.

Be honest. You don’t really care about whatever I write when clicking on a photo gallery from Comic-Con in San Diego. I could write “Purple Monkey Dishwasher” repeatedly for two paragraphs and you’d skip right past to get to the pictures. But I won’t do that.

What I will do is mention that some of these early images from SDCC 2013 come from DC’s We Can Be Heroes charity auction which is still going on right now on eBay. There are still two days left to bid on some fantastic items that will benefit IRC, Mercy Corp and Save the Children.

Check out our full photo gallery and let us know your thoughts on the sights of SDCC 2013.

Sadly, Comic-Con 2013 is over, but luckily I survived. And that’s not just some cheesy metaphor. Every year there seems to be some fluke accident or Hall H pencil stabbing that occurs so there is always that off chance things might go awry.

For me, it could have happened when I went through The Walking Dead Escape. As we have mentioned in the past, The Walking Dead Escape is a zombie run combined with a pretty intense obstacle course which left my palms scarred since SDCC 2012. This year though I was determined to be a survivor and I had a plan.

Most importantly was that this time I wasn’t alone. Joining me on the course this time were The Flickcast’s WallE and our own social media ninja Marissa (sadly a social media ninja’s main powerset revolves around social media and not the art of ninjitsu but we made due).

Comic-Con is in full swing in San Diego so expect all manner of news, photos, video and more coming from the show. We’re taking a more low-key approach this year but we’re still going to have a few bits and pieces that interest us and, of course, you.

Speaking of interest, how about a video teasing the new villain for the upcoming Spider-Man sequel? That villain?

Why, it’s none other than Electro, of course. And yes, that’s actor Jamie Foxx behind all the make-up and high-voltage. Shocking? Yes, yes it is.

Check out the video after the break.

Even with Comic-Con fast approaching, we were able to get some time with Liam Brenner, the producer behind The Walking Dead Escape. For those who didn’t experience it last year, The Walking Dead Escape is an obstacle course built through the levels of Petco Park with a zombie invasion taking hold. Stay tuned to the Flickcast during Comic Con to get our video coverage of the event.

The Flickcast: Thanks for taking the time to talk with us about The Walking Dead Escape. How does one go about becoming the producer of an event like The Walking Dead Escape? Do you have any previous experience with the zombie world?

Liam Brenner: Yes, I’ve narrowly escaped many times and last year’s Escape event was no exception. We know the hospital in San Diego has been abandoned and is now overrun with walkers. We will be setting up the parameter around PetCo Park shortly and Survivors will only have one way out.