COMIC-CON APPROACHES!! Which means the hunt will be starting soon! I’m a stubborn hooker and even though I’m still recovering from my hand injury, I’m hoping to crank out one more critter before I leave for San Diego (taking it VERY slowly so I don’t hurt myself again), but in the meantime I’ve been getting questions about how the drops will work from newcomers. The general guidelines for my drops will be the same as previous years, so here’s a recap:

facebook or twitter, but I highly suggest twitter for drop-tracking. Facebook does a weird thing where it doesn’t show my posts in real-time based on whatever magical algorithm they use to control people’s newsfeeds.

Follow me either onorFacebook does a weird thing where it doesn’t show my posts in real-time based on whatever magical algorithm they use to control people’s newsfeeds. Follow @GeekyHooker The Geeky Hooker

Search for the hashtag #CRITTERDROP to filter for critterdrop-related updates. I’m sure a lot of you will be following lots of other people/organizations on various social media venues during Comic-Con, so hopefully the tag will help sort things out. Set up a twitter mobile alert on your phone! This isn’t required, but it’ll help! This way your phone will buzz every time I make a post on twitter, so you won’t miss a single drop! You might end up with your phone buzzing like crazy if I’m geeking out over something, but otherwise I’ll try to keep it tame. Instructions on how to set this up can be found here If a clue involves you giving a password/passphrase to an individual, you need to say it directly to the person in question. Finding the general location and shouting the password/passphrase into a crowd will not work. If you find a critter, let me know that you found it! Please, please, PLEASE check in if you find a critter. Each one is tagged with a card with my contact info. I just ask for two things if you find one: 1) Send me a photo of your new friend, and 2) Let me know where the critter’s new home will be so I can add it to my Please, please,check in if you find a critter. Each one is tagged with a card with my contact info. I just ask for two things if you find one:Send me a photo of your new friend, andLet me know where the critter’s new home will be so I can add it to my map ! I do this knowing that there’s a potential that anyone could swipe the critter and never get back to me on it, but it doesn’t make it any less disheartening when one goes missing. Critters will be dropped one at a time. No “bulk drops” in one location. Check out @shozumi, @carmenscorner, and @dsgnjenn for other kind folks who are dropping works of art around for people to find! And see point #5: PLEASE check in with them if you’ve found their work! I’m not the only one doing drops this year!And see point #5: PLEASE check in with them if you’ve found their work! Full list of guest artists here. Couldn’t find a critter? This year I’m doing drops for guest artists, and many of them have etsy shops!

As for WHERE the critters might be:

I never drop critters out on the main exhibition floor. WAY too crowded, and I feel like the critters would get lost in the shuffle. So no worries about trying to fish for one in the mad sea of geekiness. EDIT: This year I’ll be getting some help with the drops and there’s been some talks from one of the volunteers of possibly working with booths for critters. Otherwise tradition still stands that no critters will be dropped “freestanding” on the main exhibition floor! However, I HAVE dropped critters in the hallways outside of the main exhibition floor, both upstairs and downstairs. No badge? No problem! A majority of my critters are actually dropped outside of the convention center in the Gaslamp Quarter! I’ve left little dudes in trees, in random flowerbeds outside of restaurants, etc. etc. I only do Gaslamp drops when there’s still daylight outside though. No drops at night…I feel like there’s a higher likelihood that it’ll end up lost when it’s dark out. If I’m in line somewhere (like for the infamous Hall H), I might step out now and then to drop a few critters. If we’re all going to be in line for hours, I may as well try to make things fun.

I don’t have any insight in terms of specifically what times I’ll drop the critters, but drops will happen from Wednesday-Saturday (7/19-7/22). No drops on Sunday. Otherwise I try to evenly distribute how many are dropped per day throughout the course of the con, and I just drop them whenever it’s convenient and if I happen to spot a good drop location! That being said, I’ve got a LOT more critters to drop this year since I made an open call for guest art (like a ridiculous amount), so I’ll be splitting up the load between friends and family. Because of this drop locations and trickiness of clues will wildly vary depending on who’s dropping, but I like to think it’ll make things more fun for everyone. 🙂 Hopefully this means more chances for everyone to find something to take home!

Final roundup of critters: 44 critters for dropping, plus 3 for blood drive donation prizes

7 critters of my own:

A whopping THIRTY-SEVEN guest critters:

And 3 blood drive prize critters! More information on the blood drive here.

And most of all, HAVE FUN. It’s Comic-Con, for pete’s sake. There’s always something awesome going on, so enjoy yourself. And while sleeping is optional, don’t forget to bathe. Comic-Con stank is a very real thing. Happy hunting!