San Diego Comic Con badges on sale 16 February

1 FEBRUARY 2013


At long last, we have our date: 16 February, 9:00 am PST.

Once again, you'll get an email with the secret link 48 hours in advance - I say "you" meaning "you who have Member IDs." If you don't have a Member ID? Then go get one NOW, because they're shutting that down on 12 February.

Who's eligible: anyone with a Member ID except these two groups: people who pre-registered and got a four-day badge with preview night, or people who've registered for professional badges. Let me be clear about this: if you did pre-register, and you got a single day badge, or a four-day badge without preview night, you're in the clear to participate in this go-round. Anything overlapping will be cancelled.

How many people you can register: 4. That includes yourself.

How it works: same way it did last year. You'll click the link, which will take you to an online "waiting room." There will be a number announcing your place in line - and then you just wait until suddenly you're pushed into a different area where you choose the badge you want. You have to pay on the spot this time; it's possible your badge choice will sell out even as you're typing in your credit card numbers, and then you'll be forced to select from what's available. Confirmations will go out a few days later.

My advice: have multiple laptops and browsers on the job, and have your information - name, credit card number, etc - all typed out so you can just cut and paste. Oh, and go into the CCI site now and check your Member ID to make sure everything looks like it should.

If you've never participated in Registration Day before, be prepared. You might get incredibly lucky, you might encounter an inexplicable technical snafu, you might get totally different badges from your friends. Or none at all. Use every Jedi-Zen trick you know to become calm and detached before it all kicks off, because trust me, you'll need it.

See CCI for more details. Good luck.