Ann, one of our site reps, sent us her report from Comic-Con! (The lateness is my fault, not hers!)

Let me start out by saying this was not my first Comic-Con experience. This was my fifth Comic-Con (my last one being six years ago) and I can definitely say that this year was a whole new experience. Gone were the days of lazily showing up on the day of the con and buying a pass at the door, strolling around the booths and walking into Q&A panels that were half to three-quarters full. Here is my tale of Comic-Con 2009 and my quest to get a close-up of Rob Pattinson…

My niece and I arrived in San Diego around 8:15 a.m. and found a parking spot fairly close to the convention center for $12.00. Now, that may sound pretty bad, but it was actually a bargain…I paid $20.00 on Sunday for a parking place that was triple the distance from the convention center! I had prepared myself (sort of) and purchased our passes ahead of time, but still had to pick them up at the convention center. That was my first mistake. After waiting for over an hour in a line that wrapped around the back of the building, we got our passes and went over to find the line for the New Moon panel.

My second mistake was not leaving my niece to save a place in line while I picked up our badges. By the time we walked over to where the line was forming, the crowd had swelled to nearly 8,000 people (at least that’s what a Comic-Con rep told me!) I sought out my fellow Pattinson Online representative, Griselda, (who had smartly split up her party in order to get in line early) and she hooked us up with a place in line next to her. (Thanks, Griselda!) We eventually got herded into the hall and settled into our seats which were two-thirds of the way back. Definitely not great seats, but it was the best we could get. There would be no close-up of Rob here, that was for sure. We then sat through about two hours of previews and panels for other movies (A Christmas Carol, Alice in Wonderland, Tron and others) before the New Moon panel. When it finally came time for the New Moon panel to be introduced, the crowd erupted into screams that got louder and louder. First came director, Chris Weitz, then Ashley Greene, Kristen Stewart, Taylor Lautner, and finally Rob. The first portion of the panel discussion was drowned out by all the screaming and I could barely hear some of the responses. I actually had to watch the entire thing on YouTube the following day! The two clips that were previewed (which I’m sure everyone has already seen a million times on YouTube) also got a tremendous amount of screaming and applause. The Q&A portion of the panel was actually quite good since some of the crowd had settled down by then. Most of the questions from the audience were well thought out and the panelists were all very gracious with their responses. I especially enjoyed hearing the actors discuss their experiences working with new director, Chris Weitz (who confessed to an enormous man-crush on Rob…very funny!) All in all, it was a great panel session. Afterwards, much of the room filed out of the hall. I could hear many fans outside recounting their experience with great excitement. We then made our way through the crowd and walked through the exhibit hall for a while and eventually walked over to the movie theater for the Twilight screening scheduled at 5:30 p.m.

Now for mistake number three…we didn’t get to the theater until 4:00 p.m. What a terrible mistake. By the time we arrived, the line for the screening had snaked its way around three downtown city blocks! Apparently they were staggering multiple showings in order to allow the cast to take the time to answer questions beforehand. We were in line for over three hours! As we finally neared the theater entrance at around 7:00 p.m., we saw some people leaving through the back exit. We spoke to a girl who had attended one of the first screenings and actually saw Rob. She told us that some people got a bit unruly and that both Rob and Kristen had already left. As we entered the theater, we saw Taylor walking out and waving to the fans. We finally got inside and took our seats around 7:30 p.m.…this time we had great seats in the second row! I was secretly hoping that the rumors weren’t true…that Rob was still there and that he would come out to meet us. About 20 minutes later, the cast filed in. No Rob! I was totally bummed. I had so hoped this would be my chance to see him up close, but it looked as if the Fates were against me that day. A sad story, indeed, isn’t it? (Not really.) But never fear, dear readers…this story ends with a happy ending! Just as I sunk deeper into despair for having missed my chance to see Rob, something great happened. As we left the theater, we were told movie posters were being handed out by the back exit. I didn’t really feel like walking out the back, but I figured we might as well get a little something for all the time we spent waiting in line, even if it was just a crummy poster. I walked over to the table on my way out and was handed a poster with a big swoopy “R” on it. Then, the girl standing by the exit said, “Oh, that one’s signed by Robert Pattinson.” How cool was that? Hmmm…maybe the Fates were with me after all.