For a lucky fellowship of fans, Comic-
Con is beginning early on a private
train car trekking to the pop-culture
convention.
The fan-centric social networking site
Wikia picked 30 users to board a
private vintage carriage transformed
into the Wikia Fan Express, a special
expedition Wednesday from Los
Angeles to San Diego that included an
assortment of unique on-board
entertainment, including special sneak
peeks and Q&A sessions.
"Comic-Con is supposed to be all about
the fans, so what cooler way to get
some of our fans to the show than to
take them on this really beautiful train
car," said Wikia entertainment
programming director Eric Moro while
perched underneath the car's domed
glass ceiling. "The fact that we're not
only taking this really cool train to
Comic-Con, but we've got all this great
content to show them along the way is
awesome."
The Wikia-sponsored railway journey,
which served as the caboose to a
standard Amtrak train, included a
preview of the upcoming video game
"Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor," a
sneak peak at the fantasy-meets-reality
TV series "The Quest" and a
demonstration of Wikia's new
interactive mapping feature, which
allows users to collaboratively annotate
maps of both real and fictional places
like Middle-earth.
"This is the first time I've ever demoed
a game on a train," said "Shadow of
Mordor" design director Michael de
Plater before showing off a level from
the open-world combat game, which is
set between "The Hobbit" and "The
Lord of the Rings" tales. "I'm afraid
this might turn into 'Snowpiercer.' It
might be a blood bath. I will be Ed
Harris."
While the private excursion hardly
resembled the train-set sci-fi film,
Wikia did deck out booths inside the
domed Silver Splendor car, which was
built in 1956, with maps of the
villainous realm Mordor and flat-
screen monitors to broadcast game and
TV clips.
Moro and his team hand selected fans
for the expedition from hundreds of
Wikia users headed to Comic-Con.
Rebecca "cyabude3″ Lietz, who
contributes to the site's "Shadow of
Mordor" page, traveled from Germany
for the special trip. It's her first-ever
Comic-Con.
"It's really special," said Lietz. "People
from all over the world come to Comic-
Con to see things like DC, Marvel and
Archie Comics, so for me to be here for
the first time and go to San Diego this
way, it's really great."
Comic-Con, the four-day extravaganza
that celebrates film, TV, video games,
comic books and costumes, launches at
the San Diego Convention Center with a
preview Wednesday night before going
full steam ahead Thursday with more
than 150,000 fans expected to attend
the sold-out event.
Natalie "keyframegirl" Ebnet, who
contributes to the Wikia page
specifically about Comic-Con, is taking
her 10th trip to the festival. She said
she initially started posting about the
expo because she couldn't find tips
about attending with children, though
Ebnet's offspring aren't along for the
ride this time.
"I've ditched the kids for the past two
years with the husband," said Ebnet. "I
meet up with my girlfriends down
there. It's our version of a spa weekend.
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless handheld from Glo Mobile.