Art, gadgets, Gonzo, and costumes at Comic-Con (pictures)

The outside of the Lego booth was a wall covered in Legos that fans could play with as they waited. We suspect the sentiment expressed about this line applies to all lines.

With The Hobbit movies coming this fall, the marketing machine begins to churn. This is a professionally-constructed, life-sized Lego Gandalf, complete with light-up staff.

At the Hasbro booth, Super-Grover 2.0 stopped by to interview his fans. Here, he asks a steampunk cosplayer riding a dinosaur, "What kind of mileage do you get on this thing?"

San Diego Comic-Con is notorious for its crowds, and today was a busy one. Still it lacked the frenetic panic of swag-shopping that infects Preview Night.

Superbaby, whose secret identity is Curtis Reade Jr., has used his mental powers of persuasion to get his father to raise him high enough to see the crowds at Comic-Con.

These DC Comics fans have based their costumes on a Japanese interpretation of Batman, Robin, the Joker, and others called Ame-Comi.

Chantelle Luis and Joshua Collins, of Las Vegas, Nev., dressed up for Comic-Con today as the popular Adventure Time character Finn.

Ben Templesmith promised on Twitter to paint with beer, and he added a yellow stain -- intentionally -- to some of his prints with a carefully applied Guinness-based wash.

Shannon Bunting, left, and her daughter Estrella dressed as the TARDIS and a dalek. Their dresses were hand-made by a friend in their home city of Reno, Nev.

Ashley Eckstein, founder of HerUniverse.com and voice of Asohka Tano on the "Star Wars: Clone Wars" cartoon, interviews Callie Nelson of Escondido, Calif., a fan who collaborated with a friend to to turn her oversized Comic-Con swag bag into a dress.

Communications professor Scott Daniel Boras of Michigan came wearing a handmade jacket comes from the 2008, 2009, and 2001 San Diego Comic-Con swag bags. While it's not uncommon to find women wearing skirts or dresses made from Comic-Con bags, a men's jacket is more rare. The 33-year-old's fashion sense impressed enough comics creators that luminaries such as Scott Snyder, Terry Moore, and Gabriel Ba signed it for him.

Costumes are time-consuming to sew, and more than 36 hours went into both the jacket for the Adam Earnhart's Mad Hatter and 10-year Comic-Con veteran Briana Roecks' Alice. Their friend Katie Forman, who also has a decade of Comic-Con under her spandex, came dressed as the DC Comics' superheroine Fire.

A professional troupe was hired to promote VH1's Dawn of the Con event outside of the convention center, including this woman who vigorously applied a grinder to metal plates attached to her costume.

Magic J. Ellingson, creator of Henry Hemp, strolls around Comic-Con getting smiles and photo requests from a certain age group, and confused looks from those younger.

Identifying himself only as Iron Mate, we all know that this cosplayer from New Zealand is really Tony Stark. Uh, right?

This 18-year-old is attending his first Comic-Con as his favorite Star Trek captain.

Robert Kirkman, foreground, and the hat-wearing Charlie Adler are the writer-artist team behind The Walking Dead, which released issue 100 yesterday with around 350,000 preorders -- the most preordered comic since 2009. During a signing, Kirkman takes a brief moment to himself before meeting the next fan in line.

Danni and DJ, both 16 and from California's Imperial Valley, have come dressed to their second Comic-Con as Mario and the Princess.

Matt Kindt, creator of the comic Mind Mgmt, shows off the critically-acclaimed book.

This Simpsons fan, at her first Comic-Con despite having lived in San Diego "for years," strikes a pose in front of Bartman.

For those who love cards, these Peanuts Hallmark cards are layered with cutouts and a unique find in the hustle of toys, masks, and bathrobes.

Star Wars fans walk past a wall of Fighter Pods, a new mini-figurine with an interactive gameplay.

The organizers of the Star Wars: Celebration convention have gotten artists to reinterpret the helmets of Star Wars for a charity auction. This helmet shows a one-of-a-kind of a Sarlacc parasite infesting Boba Fett's helmet.

TJ and Matt Lewis, 16- and 26-year-olds from Santa Barbara, Calif., came dressed as TF2 Blu Scout and Spy.

Comics continue to invest in digital distribution, even as print sales have risen in the past year. Viz Comics, which specializes in manga, had numerous displays and demos at its booth.