San Diego Comic Con 2026 underway
SAN DIEGO (KYMA, NBC) - Thursday marks the first official day of San Diego Comic Con (SDCC) 2026, and News 11 is there to experience the fun.
Comic Con International, SDCC's organizers, have secured a new agreement to remain in San Diego through at least 2030, according to NBC affiliate KNSD.
This has ended years of speculation that the massive event could relocate.
City leaders announced the deal as they officially kicked off this year's convention at the San Diego Convention Center.
More than 135,000 fans are expected over the four-day event, which generates an estimated $160 million in regional economic impact.
Organizers say Comic-Con features more than 1,000 exhibitors, over 2,000 hours of programming, and nearly half a million square feet of exhibit space, making it the world's largest convention dedicated to comics and popular arts.
During our coverage of SDCC 2026, there were plenty of pop-ups, costumes, toys and games.
Over on the waterfront, there was a Nintendo gaming lounge that brought players of all ages through some of their latest games.
Just down the street from the Convention Center, the parking lot at Petco Park was transformed, with fun food, toys and trading cards, and photo ops.
"What's great about the interactive zone at Petco Park is that it's free and open to the public," said Jaclyn Lash, Senior Vice President for the San Diego Padres. "You don't need a badge to attend. You can come right in and experience Comic Con."
Also set up at Petco Park, pop-up toys for casual and serious collectors like Pokemon, Marvel and K-Pop Demon Hunters.
"So many items from the San Diego Comic Con floor," said Samantha Connell, associate editor for Pop Insider.
A hot ticket item this year is K-Pop Demon Hunters trading cards.
"You're going to find five different K-Pop Demon Hunters themed trading cards with all of your favorite characters on it. So the Classic Edition has five, and the Energy Edition has eight," Connell said.
The costumes and cosplayers came decked out as their favorite characters, and comic fashionistas had options for accessories and comic-themed clothing.
Nostalgia is big these days on social media, with kids and teens discovering toys their parents once played with. One of those toys is Tamagotchi.
"Now, Tamagotchi never really left, but we have some updated versions here from Bandai," Connell explained.
Connell said the new versions have similar play patterns and different colors.
"You can feed them, take care of them, play mini-games. It's really fun for collectors and fans to have all these different shell colors, like the white and the orange, and kind of get back into that gameplay that we grew up with and really dig into that nostalgia," she said.
The Pokemon card games have been going strong for decades with new card games popping up all the time.
"We have an Elite Trainer box here.This is actually our Chaos Rising box. So this is going to include everything that fans need to play," Connell said.
The costumes and cosplayers came decked out as their favorite characters, and comic fashionistas had options for accessories and comic-themed clothing.
"This features one of our favorite characters from One Piece, which everyone knows and loves. There's so much hype right now," Connell shared. "But it has so many great features. It comes with a coin purse It has so many incredible details on the inside. You can really take anything you need to the con, to work, wherever you need to go with this Loungefly backpack."
Another unique clothing item displayed was the Marvel themed button-up shirts from RSVLTS
"What's really cool about this is that it has the Kuniflex technology. So this is going to be really comfortable to wear out in the heat," Connell explained.
SDCC 2026 will go until Sunday, July 26. For a complete schedule of events and panels taking place during the four-day event, click here.
