SDCC ’25: Winners and Losers of Comic-Con 2025

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It’s time for our annual look back at the year’s biggest pop culture event. Who nailed itg and who failed it? THe fearless Beat staff has the lowdown. With contributions from Heidi MacDonald, Dan Morris, Gabriel Neeb, Zack Quaintance, Diego Higuera, Javier Perez, Julian Lytle, Riccardo Serrano Denis, Beau Q, Taimur Dar and Ollie Kaplan.

WINNER: The Lego San Diego Convention Center was one of the greatest things EVER at Comic-Con. A line of people had thronged to look at it at all times and the joy and wonder on their faces was infectious. A vast layout of the show floor included countless Easter Eggs that you could have spent all day looking at. The coolest thing? Exhibitors at this year’s show could go get a kit and add their own booth to the model’s show floor. The Convention Center display is a regular at nearby LegoLand but it needs to come back to SDCC every year! (HM)

LOSER: Fantastic Four Activation looked fantastic from the outside but was just walking through some hoops. It was so bad that by the second day they weren’t even letting press in. (HM)

WINNER: The Galactus cosplayer who everyone saw this weekend even if you weren’t at the con. The costume, made by cosplayer Thomas DePetrillo (Extreme Costumes), seemingly appeared in pretty much everyone’s photos from the weekend. With the Devourer of Worlds the antagonist in this year’s Fantastic Four movie, seeing a Galactus cosplay at the con seemed like a given. Who could have imagined one so massive it required a crew to clear a path to walk through the con? Cosplayers always bring their A games to SDCC but this one was truly out of this world. (DM)

WINNER: Con goers in general. With temps seldom going above the mid 70s and humidity being mild, we had weather that made the rest of the country jealous as they’re still suffering under miserable heat or catastrophic flooding. (GN)

LOSER: People who used the Escalators, and people who were affected by the Escalators. With five of the six breaking the first day and causing entry to be delayed, it’s going to be hard to remember this con without thinking of something we never really thought of before: escalators! (GN)

WINNER: THE NAKED GUN advertising campaign. They figured out how to make every male know that the movie is coming by placing ads in the urinals. Gross but effective. (GN)

LOSER: Ghibli’s 45th Anniversary panel. The real losers were the hundreds that were shut out because the room used to host it (6DE) was too small. I know the Committee realized their mistake but this choice was a drastic underestimating of the subject matter. (GN)

LOSER: Everyone stuck on Harbor Boulevard south of the Convention Center. San Diego is making road improvements (I guess) so the road is down from four lanes to two and a couple of side roads are blocked off. Anyone trying to get to or out of their parking space at the Hilton and Convention Center was going to be waiting. (GN)

WINNER: Daniel Warren Johnson. He was the unofficial start to the con with his event at Now or Never, a day before Preview Night. It was nice to start the week with a community-based event, which set the tone for the entire week. I also happened to catch his Storytelling Master Class panel. It was a packed house, and it felt like a victory lap for one of the hardest workers in the comic book industry. The sky is the limit for DWJ, and I’m so thankful we get to witness it as fans. (JP)

WINNER: Elijah Wood. The actor was everywhere — from the Hall H Toxic Avenger panel to the library panel on Oni Press’ new High Strangeness, to after parties — and he was always smiling and delightful. It felt like Wood (obviously a famous actor…Lord of the Rings, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, etc.) came to have a real con experience, rather than for a quick promo appearance. There’s something very charming about that. (ZQ)

WINNER: Fanbase Press. It’s been a joy to watch Barbara and Bryant Dillon grow their publishing and comics media imprint, adding cool book after cool book to their table in the Small Press Pavillion. This year their offerings were headlined by the really nice deluxe hardcover edition of Ripple Effects by Jordan Hart, Bruno Chiroleu and team. Plus, Barbara was all over the con, moderating or participating in more than 10 panels! That’s deep con commitment. (ZQ)

WINNER: The Dread the Hall H cos-player. If you haven’t yet read the excellent, San Diego-themed anthology one-shot, Dread the Hall H, then maybe skip this one. But if you have, you should check-out this cos-player captured on the video in Chris Ryall’s newsletter. The comic hit like two weeks ago, and here this person is executing a flawless bit right out of its pages (also, if you have read the book, don’t miss our own Javier Perez’s review!). (ZQ)

LOSER: Video games. SDCC has never been a huge videogame show, but they always have a somewhat noticeable presence in the panel rooms. This year, however, there didn’t seem to be many videogame panels, and when I looked I found maybe half a dozen, if that (and one was a retrospective about the PS2). As SDCC continues to broaden, it seems some fandoms might fade, and if this year’s schedule is any indication, that could mean videogaming. (ZQ)

LOSER: Funko. With the advent of Labubu, it felt like the Funko Pop! formally passed the Beanie Baby memorial collectable-of-the-hour crown. Sure, there were still show exclusives and a giant booth in the corner, but behind that booth, I think I saw some writing on the wall. (ZQ)

WINNER: The Energon Universe Panel. In general Transformers, G.I. Joe, and Void Rivals have ramped up in popularity over the past year, in part due to Daniel Warren Johnson and Kirkman revitalization of the series. However, to see so many fans in one panel losing their minds over what’s coming up next, amidst DWJ leaving the series very soon, it was amazing to see. With Robert Kirkman, Daniel Warren Johnson, Joshua Williamson, and editor Sean Mackiewicz up as panelists there was rarely a time attendees weren’t laughing. You even had Hasbro execs excited alongside all these other longtime fans, it was no wonder they had released a Void Rivals toy set so quickly. With exciting lineups, humor, and some bombshell reveals it’s one of those panels that when you tell others about it, it makes them dream of going to San Diego Comic-Con. (DH)

WINNER: Offsite Fan Activations. Between HBO Max’s Peacefest, 20th Century Studios’ Predator Badlands, FX’s Alien Earth crashed ship, along with many others, they are getting better at trying to make this a whole experience versus just some place to get a few little Tchotchkes or bags. Their competition with each other, especially on these huge genre films and shows, has them incorporating these elements into the story leading up to their premieres. Complete sets with actors and effects. The Badlands one even had an excellent jump scare in it. While the long line waits were like those in a theme park, they never felt like they were worth it in the end. [JL]

WINNER: Pop Mart’s Labubu and Blind Boxes. The Labubu craze fully invaded Comic Con. There were numerous booths with stacks of blind boxes, surrounded by crowds, along with the official Pop Mart booth, which had two separate lines for exclusive items and one for a vending machine. Those items sold out quickly, and the collectible desire spread to every other type of blind box and bag booth at the con. You could see more than comics, games, books, and movies on the show floor and in the bags of attendees. [JL]

WINNER/LOSER: Wrestling. While The Beat had some great interviews set up in the media room with Vampiro, Swerve, and Speeball in attendance, wrestling’s presence on the show floor was barely felt. AEW showed off a few action figures along with WWE, but no big panels or matches were in the program this time around. Last year’s edition of SDCC saw AEW partner up with Adult Swim for a short tournament between some of the promotion’s stars and known characters from the animated side of things. It was great. No wrestling matches this year? Not so great. (RS)

WINNER: Did I see more comics sellers on the show floor this year? It’s no longer snarky to say SDCC is not about the comics. It’s been a known fact for years now. And yet, I noticed a somewhat larger comic book shop presence on the show floor. Discounted comics were easy to stumble upon, and so were Golden Age and Silver Age comics collectors love sifting through. Thing is, comics booths always tend to get people rummaging through their longboxes. Maybe it’s time big conventions remember that. (RS)

WINNER: Magic The Gathering x Spider-Man free deck event. Magic has been on a roll with its latest expansions. The latest one, Final Fantasy, has been a massive hit and has soared in sells despite being priced higher due to demand. The upcoming Spider-Man expansion looks like it will be a worthy followup. Wizards of the Coast organized a Magic event at the Hard Rock Hotel, which required registration, that netted fans a free deck, food, drinks, and photo opps with oversized Magic cards and Spidey-themed sets. It was colorful, bright, fun, and exciting. Those who didn’t know how to play had the chance to learn the game in small groups with Wizards of the Coast trainers. Simply, it was a smartly put together event. (RS)

LOSER: Picking up free merch at a site separate from a panel. Free stuff is a great attendance attractor for panels, and the expectation is that you’ll get the swag either on the way in or on the way out of the panel. Maybe it’s never happened to me before, but once the “Jason Universe” panel was done, attendees were instructed to get a ticket on the way out to claim the free merch at one of the hotels OUTSIDE the convention center. It felt like an unnecessary waste of time and energy and no one in the room was happy about it. The Jason Universe wasn’t the only one doing this, so I imagine that particular bit of hate was always being shared elsewhere. (RS)

LOSER: Everyone who wasn’t Peter Dinklage at the Toxic Avenger Hall H panel. Peter Dinklage was very insistent on giving everyone on the Hall H stage props and kudos for their roles in the upcoming Toxic Avenger reboot. He went out of his way to say he was only in the movie for like 25% of its runtime. Once his character turns into Toxie, actress Luisa Guerreiro steps in for the physical performance. Dinklage provides the voice from then on. Despite reminding everyone of this and telling the audience to just ask everyone else about their experiences, the audience questions all went to Dinklage. He did his best, but in the end the audience wants what it wants. (RS)

WINNER: The Alien Earth activation. Stepping into the wreckage site at the Alien: Earth activation meant being immediately transported to the universe Ridley Scott brought to life in Alien back in 1979. It’s fascinating how much of the original film still finds its way into every entry in the franchise. The activation made sure the connection was palpable. At night, the site became a haunt, and those brave enough could use a VR headset to get an entirely new, and scarier, experience of the activation. Well played, Alien: Earth. (RS)

WINNER: TRON AND NIN. The sudden drop of a Nine iNch Nails vinyl at the Tron booth had us all remembered that the 90s were the greatest decade. (HM)

LOSER: Anyone who tried to fly home on Sunday. Flights out of San Diego were incredibly messed up with some people who had flights on Sunday morning not getting home until the wee hours of Tuesday morning. Flights were cancelled or delayed all over the place. While the causes were varied – bad weather on the East Coast definitely played a part – most blamed it on general Comic-Con overload. (HM)

WINNER: Godzilla! Had a bunch of panels and they were all well attended (on the low end) to packed on the high end! As the world spirals towards chaos, it’s good to know somebody is out there to smash cities! With that in mind, I wonder if the Big G takes requests?

WINNER: The Beat and the entire Beat team! At the Eisners. For Best Comics-Related Periodical/Journalism. Finally. [BQ]

WINNER/LOSER: The Assassination of Funko Pop by the Monster, Labubu. With resellers shifting their entire SDCC overhead to Pop Mart’s Labubus, unofficial lafufus, and/or the many 52Toys’ Labubu-likes, the same alleys dominated by soulless IP-slop have been taken over by soft, fuzzy, menacing rabbit keychains. What once were zones to avoid of exclusive hunters have fully become female dominated spaces with folks cashing out for the Labubu-like pulls. It’s sad to see IP-slop replaced with gambling marketing strategies, but until Pop Mart starts trotting out Labubus for every IP under the sun, it was more a welcome sight to see than a desert of over-supplied, under-demanded vinyl toys. [BQ]

LOSER: Booth Babes. Several exhibitors, street teams, and even some artists’ booths decided this was the year they would bring back the oft-disdainful tactic of paying [ideally] an adult cosplayer to advertise their wares with their body. In a time and country particularly violent about how it wants to police and/or censor female-presenting bodies, predominantly male-targeted exhibitors decide now was the time for the booth babe comeback. Marry this unfortunate series of events with less Hall H panels driving con-goers off the floor and one particular local strip club advertising with flyovers, drive-by billboards, and street teams– and it started to feel like the manosphere had a collective idea about making SDCC about their male gaze fulfillment again. [BQ]

WINNER: Chaos. Every SDCC is challenging in its own way, but this year seemed especially chaotic particularly for publicists and those of us in presss. So many interview opportunities that came to us the last couple of days before SDCC and even in the midst of SDCC itself if you can believe it. In certain cases, a lot of last minute cancellations. Make no mistake, I do not begrudge any of the publicists because I know how incredibly hard and stressful it can be managing everything during SDCC. (TD)

WINNER: King of the Hill. By the time I started attending SDCC regularly as press, King of the Hill had long been over. I don’t know what kind of presence the animated series had at SDCC (if any) during its original run, but I’m willing to bet it was nothing compared to this year with the upcoming revival on Hulu. Based on the tremendous positive early reviews, the promotion for the King of the Hill revival was certainly warranted. The series was all over SDCC this year especially for those lucky to stay in the Hilton Gaslamp hotel where images plastered the elevators. The true highlight had to be the King of the Hill activation recreating Hank’s hometown of Arlen, Texas. Various activities included photo opps with iconic show landmarks including Hank’s prized lawnmower and a hat customization station. As much as I wanted a hat similar to Dale’s from the show, I wasn’t about to risk sporting anything remotely resembling a red baseball cap for obvious reasons. (TD)