For those who haven’t been able to purchase a Comic-Con 2013 badge, there’s another opportunity for you to try and get your hands on one.

Special Section: Comic-Con 2013

Convention organizers say several thousand returned or canceled badges and other reserved badges will be for sale.

There’s no need to be online or attempt to beat the system to try and purchase one of the limited number of badges.

The resale will be a random drawing.

Of the badges available, 3,100 are Saturday badges. Badges for the entire convention, also known as 4-Day badges, are sold out.

To enter the Comic-Con 2013 Resale Drawing, go to the event’s website and look for the blue graphic with language that says “Click Here to Enter a Drawing to be Eligible for the Comic-Con 2013 Badge Resale.”

The deadline to enter is 10:59:59 a.m. PDT on Wednesday, June 12. Check this link for rules.

On or before June 17th, event organizers say they will send an email to those who can purchase the badges - giving anyone time to figure out travel plans.

Single-day passes for Thursday through Sunday are $42 for adults and $21 for juniors, U.S. military and seniors.

The convention runs from July 18 - 21 at the San Diego Convention Center with a preview night on Wednesday, July 17.
 

Comic-Con International 2013 may be more than five months away, but tickets to San Diego’s most famous four-day pop culture extravaganza officially went on sale at 9 a.m. Saturday.

According to San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC) organizers, badge sales attendees were required to register for a valid Comic-Con Member ID prior to the day of the sale.

An email was sent to fans holding member IDs. The email contained a link to a waiting room. Once inside, the user received a number to indicate his or her place in line.

“At 9:02 I get this ‘We are sorry, but the EPIC online waiting room has reached capacity and it is unlikely that badges are still available’," Julie Howard Salmons posted on NBC 7 San Diego’s Facebook page.

Jeanette Ocampo posted, I got into the waiting room with #1373...30 seconds passed and I was booted out and given that ‘We are sorry blah blah blah.’ Oh well, not meant to be.”

The Member ID system closed Feb. 12 and will not reopen until badge sales are over, according to the SDCC website.

This year, Comic-Con runs from Thursday, Jul. 18 through Sunday, Jul. 21. There’s also a preview night Wednesday, Jul. 17.

That being said, the prices for badges are as follows: $175 per adult for a four-day badge with preview night included and $87 for juniors (ages 13 to 17) and U.S. military and seniors.

For a four-day badge without preview night the price is $150 for adults and $75 for juniors, U.S.
military and seniors. Single-day passes for Thursday through Sunday are $42 for adults and $21 for juniors, U.S. military and seniors.

For a single-day Sunday only badge, the price is $24 for adults and $12 for juniors, U.S. military and seniors.

As always, the event is being held at the San Diego Convention Center located at 111 W. Harbor Dr. This year marks the 44th annual SDCC.

For details about Comic-Con 2013, including the latest news on scheduled panels and celebrities appearing at the show, visit the event website.

Did you see a celebrity or two in San Diego this last weekend during Comic-Con 2012? You weren't alone.

Dozens of celebrities, producers and entertainment industry insiders crashed in San Diego hotels during the four-day event.

So want to know who stayed or partied where? Here's our roundup of the A-listers who danced and slept in San Diego over the weekend:

• "Iron Man 3" superstar Robert Downey Jr. checked in at the Andaz, where he was treated to the star suite complete with a shower that can hold up to 15 people.
• Joe Manganiello of "Magic Mike" fame walked into Hotel Palomar Saturday night clutching two decorative pillows.
• Author of the high-in-demand "50 Shades of Grey" E.L. James rested her head on a pillow at Andaz. The staff left a grey necktie on the pillow in reference to her main character Christian Grey.
• "Trueblood" actress Rutina Wesley sank her teeth into Hotel Palomar after the Playboy Trueblood party in the Gaslamp District.
• Bryan Cranston of the immensely popular "Breaking Bad" was seen with his signature hat on in the lounge of Salt Box in downtown San Diego.

There were also plenty of celebs seen speaking at panels and partying downtown throughout the event.

Who did you see? Let us know! Follow NBC7 for the latest news, weather, and events: iPad App | iPhone App | Android App | Facebook | Twitter | Google+ | Instagram | RSS | Text Alerts | Email Alerts

For many fans at Comic-Con, the success of this year's juggernaut film "The Avengers" has only whetted appetites for the next installment in the Iron Man franchise.

Good thing they only have to wait until next year for "Iron Man 3" and the return of characters Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) and James Rhodes (Don Cheadle).

Downey Jr. and Cheadle were on hand Saturday, the penultimate day of Comic-Con - to promote the film - currently in production - and talk up the Marvel Universe. While much of the plot remains closely guarded, the cast and filmmakers did reveal that the next installment will delve more into the background lives of the main characters - without sacrificing any of the jaw-dropping action, of course.

Cutest question at the conference went to the young fan with the drawn-on Tony Stark goatee who asked what it meant to Downey Jr. to play the hero. "It's an odd thing," Downey Jr. said. "I take it as seriously as Shakespeare."

Serious is good word for the fans who waited patiently for hours in the sweltering humidity outside Hall H at San Diego's convention center for a glimpse of director Peter Jackson's prequel to the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy: "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey."

If reaction to the footage shown is any indication, it looks like Jackson has a couple of major hits on his hands. 12 minutes of clips were screened of the first installment based on the J.R.R. Tolkien novel - the story will be split into two separate movies - featuring Martin Freeman as the titular Hobbit Bilbo Baggins, along with other returning characters Gollum, Gandalf and Galadriel. To fans delight, Jackson even showed the seen where Bilbo discovers the ring.

Alongside Jackson on the panel were Ian McKellan (Gandalf), Andy Serkis (Gollum) and Richard Armitage who plays the dwarf Thorin Oakenshield. "The Hobbit" begins its journey in theaters December 14.

"Django Unchained," the latest from "Pulp Fiction" director Quentin Tarantino, follows Django (Jamie Foxx), a black slave freed by a bounty hunter, King Schultz (Christophe Waltz). The pair embark on a bloody quest to rescue Django's captured slave wife, Broomhilda (Kerry Washington). Tarantino, Foxx, Waltz and Washington were all present on the film's morning panel.

Some of the assembled 6,000+ fans had waited overnight to hear Tarantino speak. He, and the clips shown of the movie, received a thunderous applause. While Tarantino downplayed "Django" as a slave movie (likening it more to a spaghetti western), Jamie Foxx tackled the race issues without flinching, recalling moments from his adolescence that helped shape his character. "In Texas, being a kid, it was racially charged to be honest with you," he said. "Being called ni---- as a young kid growing up, by grown people, it's something I had to deal with coming from the south. Having it done to me, I was able to grasp that in the script." 

Also on Saturday, the penultimate day of Comic-Con, fans of returning small screen series were treated to panels from "True Blood," "Shameless," "The Vampire Diaries," "Family Guy" and a look at the new NBC fall series "Revolution" set in a post-apocalyptic world without power.

Those present for the discussion panel featuring "Pushing Daisies" creator Bryan Fuller expected the focus to be on his new series "Hannibal," which looks at the early life of psychiatrist-turned-serial-killer Hannibal Lechter.

But when Butch Patrick, the actor who played the original Eddie Munster on the hit 1960's television series "The Munsters" took the podium before Fuller, fans knew they were in for a treat. Almost ten minutes of Fuller's pilot of the reboot of the classic show that centers around a close-knit family of monsters was shown to rapturous applause. "Mockingbird Lane" as it is titled - after the Munsters' address: 1313 Mockingbird Lane - is a dark, stylized take on a family that may look freaky on the outside, but are the same as you and me within.

"There is no traditional family anymore," Fuller told the crowd. "It doesn't exist because there are so many different types of families. This is about embracing the freak of your family and being proud."

Gone is the campy B-movie makeup and knee-slapping gags. Herman (Jerry O'Connell), the patriarch of the family no longer sports neck bolts. In their place is a what appears to be a freshly-sewn scar encircling his entire neck. His wife Lily, played by Portia de Rossi, is agelessly beautiful (she is undead, after all), and donning Grandpa's (very) bloody vampire fangs is the cross-dressing comedian Eddie Izzard.

Fuller announced that NBC has ordered additional scripts, saying, "The fact that they spent a lot of money on the pilot, they're clearly invested in doing the show in a spectacular fashion." They'll be monsters doing monstrous things, he said of the Munster clan, adding that the show "would be darker" than his previous series "Dead Like Me."

Inspired by the Tim Burton art exhibit in New York three years ago, Fuller described his vision of "Mockingbird Lane" so: "We wanted this to look like if Hitchcock was directing a Harry Potter film."

Comic-Con International is the location where pop culture fans cross paths - regardless of whether you are Superman obsessed, a dedicated follower of "Doctor Who" or just wild about "The Big Bang Theory."

The four-day festival of comic books, movies, television and digital games drew to a close Sunday with the San Diego Convention Center packed with final-day attendees - many in costume - making last-minute purchases and posing for pictures with life-sized Star Wars' droids and blood-thirsty zombies.

Over 125,000 conventioneers witnessed more than 600 hours of official programming and crowded the trading floor to snap up limited-edition merchandise and hard to find back issues. The event has an estimated $180 million impact on the city each year, according to the San Diego Convention and Visitors Bureau.

"The zombies freak me out," said Brooke Corson, attending for the first time alongside her brother Heath. The siblings, who grew up in Chicago and now reside in Los Angeles were both taking positive experiences away from the event.

Heath, in town for Stan Lee's World of Heroes Youtube Channel panel is the executive producer of "Super.Model," a new web series set to air on the channel and has attended since 2006. "My sister is amazed at how nice everybody is here," he said.

"I've never seen anything like this," added Brooke. "I'm having a great time. This many people being so happy in this space. I know most conventions people go to are work conventions. So to have this opportunity and have the people see the shows that they want to see. If I get into the "Doctor Who" panel - I'll be bouncing off the walls." Brooke got her wish and gained access to Sunday's panel, albeit after a two-and-a-half hour wait.

The most common complaint at Comic-Con always involves time spent spent queueing. Especially if, like the "Who" fan-fest, the subject of their adoration is being hosted in the biggest venue of the convention center - Hall H which seats 6,500 people.

Many fans waited over five hours for the big Hall H draws such as "The Walking Dead," "Iron Man 3," "The Hobbit," the final appearance of "The Twilight Saga" and "The Big Bang Theory," where one lucky fan won a trip for two into space. Some even camped out overnight in an effort to ensure a glimpse of the actors from and a sneak peek at their favorite franchise. "Maybe next year they should just take over Petco Park and have room for everybody," quipped Heath.

Perhaps the 42,000 seat stadium adjacent to the convention center and home to the San Diego Padres may be overkill, but the extra capacity and multiple entries and exits would alleviate some of the current time constraints.The organizers of Comic-Con did not return calls for comment at the time of publication.

For many like regular attendee Heath, it's still all about the comic books. Though he does have reservations about having to trek to the far end of the convention center floor where the majority of purveyors have been relegated. "It's the comic book ghetto these days," he says of the demand for space from big studios and gaming companies.

Location didn't appear to be a concern for Melissa Morales. She was fielding brisk business Sunday afternoon working the Comic Central stand. As throngs flipped through stacks and asked questions regarding hard-to-find issues and story lines, Morales admitted that for the business "Saturday wasn't as busy as it has been for the past couple of years, but today has been extremely busy." Based out of Sanford, Fl. the store has been a constant at Comic-Con for the past 16 years and business appeared to be up in 2012, according to Morales. It has been year on year. And the customers? "Every one is being really friendly."

It's that a sense of camaraderie that helps maintain smiles throughout the long waits and constant jostling by crowds toting over-sized and often over-stuffed bags. "You chat to people in line. We're all here for the same reason," said Heath.

"I think if you have any interest in this realm, of any piece, you should totally come," said Courtney Herring, attending for the first time with her husband Dan (dressed as Thor Saturday). The Southern California natives are in the process of moving to Minnesota and were happy to witness the pop culture festival before trekking east.

Long lines aside, the Herrings are glad they came but warn those considering attending next year to get organized and get informed early. "The past couple of years we talked about coming but we couldn't get tickets," said Courtney. "This year we followed the Twitter feed and the website enough that we knew when we could register to get tickets."

Some regular attendees were angered upon learning that pre-registration for ticket purchases for 2013's convention will now only be available online. Previously, ticket holders could join another line at the event to ensure they were eligible to buy passes for the following year. Under the new rules, only those that have purchased a Comic-Con 2012 4-day attendee or 1-day attendee badge will be eligible to participate in 2013 online preregistration.

According to Dan, once you get the registration it's a very fair process. Still, would they consider making the voyage next year all the way from Minnesota? The response was in the affirmative. "We went to the Star Trek convention in Vegas a few years back and it was twice as expensive for one topic," said Dan.

Comic-Con International ends today at the San Diego Convention Center, but the agenda is still pretty packed.

Here's some of the biggest events on Sunday, July 15:

Buffy Turns 20!

"Buffy the Vampire Slayer" celebrates 20 years of slayage with a panel that includes castmembers from the TV series (Nicholas Brendon, Clare Kramer), writers, producers and artists from the comic books. Even the original Buffy - actress Kristy Swanson - from the 1992 motion picture will stake her claim along with surprise guests. Fingers crossed for Sarah Michelle Gellar!

"The Amazing Spider-Man"

Hot off the new feature film reboot's success at the box office and on the eve of his 50th anniversary, Marvel reveals all the secrets behind the franchise and offers fans a peek at what's to come for everybody's favorite web-slinger.

"Doctor Who"

BBC America's resident Timelord dematerializes in San Diego. Series' stars Matt Smith, Karen Gillan and Arther Davill join executive producer Steven Moffat to showcase footage from the new season and take questions from fans regarding this groundbreaking TV show that first appeared on screens in 1962.

Marvel: Women of Marvel

Women from every discipline in the creative process at Marvel gather to discuss the current state of the industry from a female perspective and what it means for the future. Panelists scheduled to appear include editors Jeanine Schaefer and Sana Amanat.

Harry Potter Fandom in 2012

It's been 15 years, seven books, eight films and one theme park since J.K Rowling's boy wizard discovered his powers. This panel will look back at the international phenomenon and casts an eye to the future of where Harry & Co. could possibly go from here.

The cast members of NBC's fairytale cop show "Grimm" are so excited for the upcoming season, they actually sat down and watched the first episode together.

And good news -- they aren't disappointed.

At least that's what David Giuntoli thinks, as he goes deeper into his role as the main character Nick Burkhardt, the detective-turned-creature-killer.

"It's fun to go dark," Giuntoli said with a grin. "You're licensed to behave like you never could behave."

Executive producer of the prime time drama Jim Kouf also revealed that the main characters will be more exposed this year. Meaning, the back stories of each person will finally be a little more clear.

Get more coverage in our special section Comic-Con 2012.

Kouf said he is glad they have the creative license to make Nick and the rest of the cast more genuine with detailed history.

"Nothing is too dark or too funny," said Kouf. "Real is better for us, it helps to explain the world we are living in with a 'Grimm' twist to it."

Sometimes, though, there are production issues. For example, one of the main characters Bree Turner is 7 and a half months pregnant with her second child.

"It has been hysterical," she said. "But thankfully the crew has been very flexible with my current situation."

No word yet on whether or not Juliette will wake up from her coma, you'll just have to tune in to Season Two to find out. "Grimm" will air on Fridays at 9 p.m. beginning on Sept. 14. 

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It’s hard to imagine a bigger undertaking than killing Hitler. But Quentin Tarantino insists upon it.

“'Django Unchained' and 'Kill Bill' were my two biggest adventures,” Director Tarantino said at Comic-Con Saturday morning. “And we’re not even done shooting Django.”

The bounty-hunting plantation-destructing blast of revenge has been a seed growing in Tarantino’s mind for 13 years now. It taps into the darkest most hateful time of American history, when southern plantations were cesspits of bondage, cruelty and surreal inhumanity.

Jaime Foxx, who plays the liberated slave and co-bounty hunter next to Dr. King Schultz (played by Christoph Waltz), said even experiencing the racial hatefulness as a child growing up in Texas couldn’t have prepared him for his role.

“You live your life as Jaime Foxx, a celebrity,” Foxx said. You have your ego. But Quentin told me to just throw that out the door so we could get to work -- strip yourself all the way down and start all over again.”

The spaghetti western takes place two years before the civil war and bends both western and slave narrative to their limits. Django sets out with Dr. Scultz – a dentist – to find his wife and kill his enemies. Picture the split second clip of blood spattering across a field of white cotton tufts as the two cowboy heroes gallop off, leather-bound fables in the making.

Viewers at Saturday’s panel got a first look at the from an extended eight-minute sizzle reel of the first half of the film. One scene from the reel remains burned in every viewer’s memory. Django makes his first kill – a plantation brother furiously whipping one of his slaves for dropping an egg. Before the brother can lash another blow, Django stops him, shoots him in bull’s-eye the chest and delivers the line most characteristic of Tarantino’s western genre-bending finesse: “I like the way you die, boy.”

The next scene in the reel has Django, in a ridiculous blueberry colored colonial-period suit, furiously wielding the brother’s whip at the plantation’s shocked devotees. It’s the same savage unleashing of anger and passion spread across Dominic Decoco’s face as he shoots Hitler to death in a theatre exploding in flames in Inglourious Basterds. Or the very sneer of the Bride as she emerges from her premature grave in Kill Bill Vol. 2.

There’s no question Tarantino has mastered unabashed revenge to its very core. Django Unchained is the perfect platform for that mastery, as it remains a point of raw tension in the American fabric.

Other nuggets revealed during the panel include the addition of Jonah Hill as one of “the regulators,” the men who preceded the Ku Klux Klan in the south. It’s one of the funniest things Tarantino says he’s ever written. Knowing his humor, it’s likely also extremely disturbing but nevertheless clever.

Broomhilda von Shaft, played by the charming Kerry Washington, sports a German accent that nearly brought Waltz to tears during a rehearsal as she sings a nineteenth-century lullaby.

“It was so beautiful and it was perfect,” Waltz said. “There was nothing to coach.”

Washington offered up the most powerful argument in defense of her character. While modeled after the damsel in distress waiting for her prince Siegfried, she represented one of the most courageous ideas of the time – that a black woman in that time could be capable of love, at a time when blacks were considered just a fraction of a human.

Also, after the panel, Tarantino made a surprise appearance at a DC Comics panel to announce that "Django Unchained" will also be a comic.

The film premieres December of this year.
 

We're at the halfway point for Comic-Con, but the fun isn't slowing down.

Here's some of the biggest events on Saturday, July 14:

"The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey," "Man of Steel" and "Pacific Rim"

News that the latest actor to inhabit Superman's red underwear - Henry Cavill - will appear today at Warner Bros. upcoming movie preview of "Man of Steel" had fans cheering in anticipation. But it's "The Hobbit" that fanboys and fantasy-freeks are really excited about. Set 60 years before the first "Lord of the Rings" film, the prequel follows Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) as he is swept along with the wizard Gandalf (Ian McKellen) on a quest to reclaim a lost Dwarf kingdom from a fire-breathing dragon. Can't get more Comic-Con geeky than that!

"Revolution"

What would you do without power? Produced by J.J Abrams ("Lost") and directed by Jon Favreau ("Iron Man" films), "Revolution" explores what a post-apocalyptic American landscape may look like. The full pilot (debuting Sept. 17 on NBC) will be screened and then followed with a panel featuring castmembers and behind-the-scenes creators.

Gays in Comics: 25th Year Celebrations!

The comic world's longest running panel gives itself a well-deserved pat on the back in 2012. 25 years ago creator and author Andy Mangels moderated the first panel covering queer comics to an audience of around 600-700 people. "Most of those attending the first year were just curious," says Mangels. Today, the panel draws around 3,000 people each year to discuss stories, characters and issues surrounding the community. And with the recent mainstream success of gay marriage issues of Northstar (Marvel) and "Archie," and the continuing lesbian storyline of DC's "Batwoman" once again the venue should be packed to the rafters.

"Iron Man 3"

Producer Kevin Feige and special guests (fingers crossed for Robert Downey Jr. and Gwyneth Paltrow!) will offer fans a special look at the latest installment of the adventures of industrialist Tony Stark and his crime-fighting alter-ego. Currently filming, the movie was given an extra jolt of energy this year thanks to the box-office busting success of "The Avengers," in which Iron Man played a major role.

A Conversation with Bryan Fuller

The force behind "Pushing Daisies," "Heroes" and "Dead Like Me" will discuss his two most highly anticipated projects: "Mockingbird Lane" - the television reboot of "The Munsters," and "Hannibal" - a look at the early life of psychiatrist-turned-serial-killer Hannibal Lechter coming to NBC.

The cast of the Big Bang Theory radiates a down to earth quality and a light sense of humor that closely mirrors the witty dialogue of the show.
 
Likely the most beloved young physicists on television have been busy greeting Comic-Con fans—even sending one lucky contest winner on a trip to space!
 
What people may not know about this charming bunch is their enthusiasm for San Diego, a city with the perfect “cool, young vibe” for Comic-Con.
 
Cast members spoke with NBC 7 San Diego about their favorite spots in the city.
 
Melissa Rauch
“I love San Diego! I’d definitely go to Coronado head to the beach, maybe go to brunch there, I think that would be my go-to!”
 
Kunal Nayyar
“SAN-DI-EH-GO! GO CHARGERS! I would probably eat dinner at Searsucker, which is this really cool restaurant -- I’ve been there before. And then I’d probably catch a Chargers game.”
 
Kaley Cuoco
“A couple years ago we took a boat out and it was just gorgeous! There’s amazing restaurants, and the main street is amazing it’s just really kind of a fun young town. It’s fun to go out and have a beer… I like to sit by the pool, that’s more my style, like just a full relaxation. I love that San Diego is so cool it’s got just a cool vibe and a young vibe, I like that.”
 
Johnny Galecki
“I’ve spent quite a bit of time down here, you know what I love to do I had a friend who was doing a play down here years ago and I’d come and stay with her…There’s that launch out of Torrey Pines, I think it is, where the parasailers go and I’d just sit out there and watch them take off and come in and it’s just gorgeous out there. And there’s some really cool people too to talk to. So that’s what I would do every morning, I loved it.”
 
Simon Helberg
“The water’s looking pretty awesome now, I could flop around in there, I could see that happening. I’d like to go back to the zoo too it’s like one of the best zoos in the world. I like a good elephant sighting when I can! I haven’t gotten to hang out here too much beyond Comic-Con, so the city is my oyster!”
 
Mayim Bialik
“I was born in San Diego and I lived down here pretty briefly, my grandparents lived here. But I come down, we’ve been to Legoland with our boys a couple times. We like Legoland just for the age our boys are, but it’s beautiful, I mean people say L.A. weather is great, but I actually think San Diego weather is, if you like this kind of weather this is really the place to be. It’s quite stunning, we’ve had a great day!”

This may be a man’s world. But the Zombie Apocalypse would be nothing without a woman.

At Friday’s Comic-Con Walking Dead panel, fans got a look at what will be the series’ new hero: Michonne.

Though Rick has played the knight and shining armor in the series so far, Michonne will take over in the upcoming season – wielding a Katana sword, to be sure.

The actress who plays Michonne, Denai Guerrero, reeked of authority and certainly sophistication in her snakeskin stilettos, shaved head and off-the-shoulder romper – positively elegant compared to her character, who in the comic, sawed off her zombie boyfriend’s jaw and arms so he wouldn’t attack her.

Walk though the Zombie Apocalypse at PETCO Park with creator Robert Kirkman.

Falling into the alpha female role was no easy chore for her, she said.

“I had to work hard to really bring out the lioness,” she said.

The Governor will also make a debut in the third season, and by the looks of the short preview clip, he won’t be trusted. His introduction as an overly accommodating diplomat will certainly stir government-takeover conspiracies among dedicated fans.

Another change panelists prepped fans for was the shifting role of Rick, played by Andrew Lincoln.

“Rick’s been pushing people away to protect his son, and in so doing he loses his humanity,” Lincoln said. “He has isolated himself from the group and his marriage and that’s the way he’s protecting everybody.”

Now, he said, he’ll need the help of his group as they try to take over the prison – which, by the way, looks completely cold, terrifying and chillingly realistic.

It’s clear the producers of the show are putting their all into the third season, with the zombies more decomposed and the characters more developed than ever.
 

For more coverage, pictures and video from Comic-Con 2012, check out our special feature page.

If those who attended the "Twilight" and "Expendables" panels on Thursday thought they had seen stars, Friday's roster of bold-faced names hawking new movies and returning television series shot straight into the stratosphere.

Half the working actors in Los Angeles seemed to be at Comic-Con on day two of the four-day fest. And they weren't to be found only sitting on panels in front of screaming hoards. Eagle-eyed fans could have spotted "Falling Skies" actor Noah Wyle strolling the Gaslamp district around midday, sans bodyguards or publicists. With so many attendees dressed as their favorite sci-fi or fantasy character, nobody paid Wyle any attention.

That's part of the beauty of the event. While fans are willing to line up for hours to get a glimpse of a celebrity and hear them speak about their latest project, the free-for-all dress code in San Diego this weekend allows everybody to be a star, albeit briefly.

Simply dressed as herself, Emily Blunt reclined in the sun a few floors above the pool at the Bayfront Hilton, which is adjacent to the convention center, or Comic-Con ground zero. "It's just fun," she said of the crowds that welcomed her and the cast of "Looper" with screams and applause. "All that unbridled passion emanating towards you - it's a tsunami of passion. It's always a good crowd to show a clip of your movie to. I'll take that over a jaded critic any day."

The cast of CBS' "The Big Bang Theory" also had fans enraptured - and it wasn't just the chance for one lucky attendee to win two tickets for a space flight from XCOR Aerospace on the Lynx Experience. The flight was first offered to co-star Simon Helberg. His character, Howard, blasted off into space at the end of the fifth season. But the new dad eventually declined the offer, joking that he's a picky eater and "altitudes give me a lot of gas." Mercedes Becerra of Paso Robles, Calif. walked away with the out-of-this-world prize.

The biggest news for fans of AMC's zombie series "The Walking Dead" was that the first episode of season three would debut Sunday Oct. 14. Series stars Andrew Lincoln, Sarah Wayne Callies, Norman Reedus, Laurie Holden, Steven Yeun, Lauren Cohan, Danai Gurira and David Morrissey were all on hand, joking that after complaining for so long about the constant heat while filming outside, the air-conditioning on the prison set is freezing.

HBO's "Game of Thrones," AMC's "Breaking Bad" and NBC's "Community" piled on even more star power to Friday. Joel McHale of "Community" quipped to NBC that next year the event should be held in Tijuana, adding "It would be a really different conference."

Jodie Foster and Matt Damon couldn't hide their praise for "Elysium" creator Neil Blomkamp, both stating that once they had viewed his previous film "District 9," they were desperate to work with the South African-born writer-director. The roughly 6,000 fans that made it into the convention center's biggest venue were granted the first ever glimpse of Blomkamp's gritty follow-up movie that is set in a future where the Earth is so diseased, overpopulated and polluted that the wealthiest citizens live in a utopic environment on an orbiting space station.

Randomly, when the Matt Damon marionette in the Matt Parker, Trey Stone spoof "Team America" was raised, the actor shot back "Some people think that's my best work."

Foster brought the focus back to "Elysium" and Blomkamp by saying she was so blown away by "District 9" that she wished she'd directed it. Her opinion of his latest work in which she co-stars? "I need to see the movie," she replied with a smile, referencing the secrecy that has surrounded the project for so long.

Vince Gilligan, the brain behind AMC’s Breaking Bad, asked a packed auditorium at Friday night’s Comic-Con panel if they thought his main character Walter White was as bad as he was going to get.

The answer was a definite no.

Walter, played by Bryan Cranston, will walk into the fifth and final season of Breaking Bad this Sunday after making a complete transformation from benign chemistry teacher to ruthless methamphetamine cook.

He has killed all his known enemies, and is left now with the most evil character in the entire show: himself.

“Perhaps the happy ending would be when he dies,” Cranston said. “He’s become so dark. It’s cancerous in-and-of-itself.”

After four seasons, the show has just 16 episodes remaining before it finishes forever.

Now, the writers are left to tie up all the loose ends scattered throughout the series. And, as Gilligan noted, the writers leave no ends un-tied. This means the show will expand beyond Albuquerque city limits to the origin of his nemesis Gus Fring’s equipment manufacturers in Hamburg Germany.

“We’re going to be reading a lot more German subtitles,” Gilligan said.

It also means the return of a certain household product that appeared in the first season, Cranston hinted.

Details aside, there’s the question of Walt’s ever-worsening badness. Gilligan warned the audience Thursday that Walter would continue to lose sympathy in the coming season. In fact as a viewer, he said, he's "lost all sympathy.”

Cranston agreed that his character has surpassed a point of no return – and yet, there’s something more than the money that’s propelling him. He has more cash now than he knows what do with.

“After narrowly avoiding being killed and having your entire family being threatened, a sane person would get out of there,” Cranston said of his character Walter White. “But not Walter. He’s found a new power, and it’s his ego.”

See pictures from the panel and the crew's outrageous entrance here. 

Viewers will no doubt get a compelling final season. Aaron Paul, who plays Walt’s accomplice Jesse compared the season to one scene in the fourth season, in which a defeated Walt manically doubles over in laughter after it looks like his entire plan was blown.

"This entire season is just creepy. It’s unsettling," Paul said.

Gilligan appears to fear success as he sees it through Walter White – where Walt reaches success and pushes the envelope further, Gilligan seems reluctant to even accept he’s reached success with the show, lest he push the envelope at all.

“As squarely middle-aged as I am, I don’t want it to be all downhill from here,” Gilligan said.

But at the end of the panel, as the auditorium gave the crew a standing ovation, and roared as Paul threw his meth suit into the crowd, there was no denying that success had found him. He'll be putting his all into the final season.

“When you win a lottery,” Gilligan said, quoting one of the episodes, “the first thing you don’t do is buy another lottery ticket.”
 

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It’s a skill getting into the line at Hall H.

The key is getting there early, having patience and making friends along the way.

On Day two of Comic-Con 2012 the line started in the wee hours of the morning and by 8 a.m. had wrapped around the convention center and along the back near the water.

The line intimidated some people, but some people were on a mission if they chose to accept it, and that was to get into Hall H no matter what.

Four friends knew the lines would be bad and planned accordingly, 27-year-old Jonathan Lee from Mira Mesa was dressed up as a Warbler.

Those who watch the show “Glee” know the Warblers are a rival all-male choir.

And Lee who was with his friends, Kristen Ballungay and her boyfriend Elliot Hung and their friend Stephanie Liu said they arrived in the line around 7 a.m.

At one point they thought they weren’t going to get in, but Lee kept thing positive.

“This thing has gotten super crowded, I feel the spirit of Comic-Con is still here. Everyone just wants to have a good time and enjoy the show.”

Get more coverage in our special section Comic-Con 2012.

Also in the crowd were two Comic-Con newbies. Sean Gibbons of Long Valley, N.J. and his friend John Francis of Leesburg, Va., were watching local news broadcast and when they saw how long the lines were, they made a plan.

“I knew we needed to get here as fast as possible because that line was insane,” Gibbons said.

The guys were in town because of a belated 40th birthday gift from Gibbons’ wife.

“I said to her I wanted to go to Comic-Con and I guess she remembered so she gave me the weekend off so I could go to this.”

Francis said he was in on the plan and said the lines didn’t really bother him because there was some good programming for that day.

All of them went pleasantly surprised by “ParaNorman,” a stop-action movie about a boy who sees and talks to ghosts and zombies.

But they were really happy to see “The Walking Dead” which airs on AMC and “The Big Bang Theory.”

They went crazy when “The Big Bang Theory” gave a way a trip into space for those brave audience members who went to the microphone to ask the cast a question.

Lee said he was a little jealous.

“Dude, now I wish I would have asked a question!”

Ballungay had a liked a different part of the “Big Bang Theory” panel.

“I loved it when they sang “Warm Kitty, Soft Kitty’ but I did think it was awesome they gave away a trip to space”

And despite the lines, Lee summed up the day in just three words: “Best. Day. Ever!”
 

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Looking for kick-ass women at Comic-Con? You don’t have to look far.

Five of Hollywood’s brightest starts gathered at Entertainment Weekly’s Powerful Women in Pop Culture panel on Friday to let fans know that women in the entertainment industry are more dominant than ever.

Television writer Lynette Rice moderated the discussion between Lucy Lawless (“Xena: Warrior Princess”) Kristin Bauer van Straten (“True Blood”), Sarah Wayne Callies (“Walking Dead”), Kristin Kreuk (“Beauty and the Beast”), Nikki Reed (“Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn-Part 2”) and Anna Torv (“Fringe”).

Straten was easily the chattiest of the bunch, and made a lasting impression when she entered the panel wearing her iconic sweatshirt from “Trueblood.”

Nothing seemed to be off-limits to the panelist. Topics ranged from tight clothing to women’s rights and motherhood. But one thing stood out: These women mean business.

Get more coverage in our special section Comic-Con 2012.

“You need to be a warrior for your own career,” said Lawless.

The five women are certainly not strangers to success. Reed just finished filming the final installation of “Twilight” and Lawless portrayed one of the most recognizable women on television. 

But the road to fame wasn’t an easy one. They had some battles to fight before becoming kick-ass women.

“I spent the first part of my career with nobody believing I could be smart or tough,” said Straten.

Other panelists talked about being squeezed into uncomfortable costumes that weren’t always age-appropriate in order to make directors happy.

Technological changes to the industry have also affected how women look on screen.

“HD makes things… interesting,” Torv said.

Kreuk and Reed admitted that body image issues and feel forced to conform to a certain look. The five women, all trim and toned, said the pressure to stay thin is something they think about every day.

But thanks to overcoming hardships, the women have balanced strength and grace in their characters. It’s also helped them to change how women are portrayed.

“The roles on television for are for mothers, real women,” said Callies.

Though she wasn’t on the panel, the group sighed a collective reverence for Sigourney Weaver, who helped to bring fighting female characters to the forefront of the silver screen with her role in “Alien.”

Thanks to actresses like Weaver and Lawless, the younger actresses said that they will continue to bust through barriers for the next generation of actresses.

“I don’t know if I'm a bad-ass,” said Callies, mother to a 5-year-old. “But I sure am raising one.”
 

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Where were these fans a decade ago?

Thousands of fans wait outside for hours to see the panel of cast members from TV series “Firefly.” After waiting for hours, many of these die hard “Firefly” fans were unable to get into the doors to see the cast members of “Firefly.”

Although “Firefly” only aired eleven episodes it brought writer and director Joss Whedon to produce a film based on the series, “Serenity.”

Cast and crew members Alan Tudyk, Jose Molina, Joss Whedon, Nathan Fillion, Summer Glau, Tim Minear, Adam Baldwin, and Sean Maher were welcomed with a full room of standing ovation.

Dave McCormick, a die hard “Firefly” fan had waited in line since 7:30 a.m. to hope to get a good spot inside.

“I hope I get a good seat because I have been following them for years and out of all the Comic-Con panel choices to see, this was on my top.” McCormick said.

He wanted to see the real faces that gave such a unique blend of character to this space western series. 

“Even though reality tells us this will never pick up again, I still hope that it will come back.” McCormick said. 

As cast and crew members from “Firefly” share their most memorable moments on and off set, they become quite emotional.

Director Joss Whedon spoke to the fans as he shed tears.

"When I see you guys, I don't think the show is off the air. I don't think there's a show. I think that's what the world is like. I think there are spaceships, there are horses, and our story is alive." Whedon said.

The fan community never gave up and neither did Joss.

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Friday’s Game of Thrones panel began with a recap video from Season 2 of the highly-acclaimed HBO drama and then quickly made news announcing additions to the cast for Season 3.

Castmembers Alfie Allen, Michelle Fairely, Richard Madden, Carolyn Strauss, Rose Leslie, Emilia Clarke were greeted by a packed Hall H. 

When author George R.R. Martin mentioned Clarke’s name, there were shouts from the audience, “"We love you, Khaleesi!"

Get more coverage in our special section Comic-Con 2012.

Thousands lined up to gain access to the panel, many of them waiting for hours outside San Diego’s Convention Center.

Once inside, they were treated to some interesting “behind-the-scenes” stories. For instance, Madden prefers battle scenes to bedroom scenes and series producers floated a “fake script” to Allen to keep a plotline hidden.

Among the new additions for Season 3 is Diana Rigg who will portray Olenna Tyrell, the Queen of Thorns. Rigg will be joined by Clive Russell, Nathalie Emmanuel, Mackenzie Crook, Kerry Ingram, Paul Kaye, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Ellie Kendrick and Richard Dormer.

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