I met up with Poesters PrfktTear and Sped this weekend at the Boston Comic Con, which was much more of a comic convention than I thought was possible in this day and age.
PrfktTear, Poe, Sped
(That photo was taken by my friend Hannah of New England Comics, by the way. Say hello if you stop in at their Harvard location. Or say Hellboy–she really likes him.)
I went hoping for some good action figure scores, but most of the showroom was taken up by actual comic books. It was good to see that, frankly–other comic conventions seem to have largely forgotten the comics themselves–but it made the trip a bit disappointing for someone who’s primarily a toy collector. I’m hoping that the Super Megafest in Framingham next month has better toy pickings.
Still, I did score a loose-complete vintage Casey Jones (Ninja Turtles), as well as a 1998 Kay-Bee re-release Shredder, for $5 each. I also got a McFarlane Conan “Fire Dragon” for another $5.
Admission was free for cosplayers, and the best outfits we saw were this group of Bat-villains.
No clue what the deal is with that Robin. Looks like he’s trying, albeit failing, to bring sexy back.
*Contrary to my Twitter update, I did not ask Walt Simonson for directions to the bathroom. I found it without his help.
Kid Nicky
Ben-
It's never going to be like the 90's again. The vast,vast majority of today's collectors are well aware these figures are just desk decor that will never be worth any money. Back then the hobby was brand new for most people,too. You thought a Boba Fett figure was cool because you hadn't already seen 20 different versions.
PrfktTear
Con goers can be a fickle bunch I guess. I was talking to the artist with my friend's brother, and he said that he does more business/gets more requests at smaller, more intimate venues, rather than the ones taking place at larger convention centers.
Ben
I was set up at a strictly vintage toy show on Sunday, and attendance was kind of low in general (I didn't have high expectations, and I unloaded extra junk and made money in the process, so I can't complain). But I do wonder if toy dealers are struggling now with the economy. It's more expensive just to hunt for toys, and with the prices going up, I really can't see them making the profit margins they could on this stuff in the mid-1990s and early 2000s.
But hey, I still love going to cons. Even if I don't find anything, at least I know it's one location that I'm allowed to be as nerdy as I can possibly be without getting stared at awkwardly.
Poe
@Novelty: That's just the face I tend to make in photos. I can't smile on command.
Novelty
LOL, I wonder why Poe is smirking…
MechaShiva
Haul pics!
googum
Awww! I'd love to see Walt Simonson!
PrfktTear
Overall I was a little under whelmed, I was hoping for more collector stuff, but I guess since I wasn't planning buying anything I wasn't too disappointed. In addition to meeting up with Poe & Sped, I stuck around to meet with Jumper11, who gave me the Chemo C&C pieces that he'd promised me (thank you!!!). While I waited I ran into my friend's brother, Zeke Savory, who had an artist's table there. When I finally met up with Jumper, we walked around for a bit and went down a local bar for a couple cold beers while he waited for his wife to finish shopping.
As a little side story, my phone’s battery was on its last bar and finally died sometime while we were walking around. Poe & Sped had already left, and I had no way of contacting Jumper or even knowing what he looked like having never met him before. So I was standing outside and randomly asked a guy handing out Comic Con flyers if he had LG Envy, and fortunately he did, and was nice enough to let me borrow it. Later on, to my surprise, I found there was a charging station set up in the little cafe/video screening area where I could have charged up. Hindsight is 20/20 I guess!
Sped
I got a loose super powers Hawkman for five bucks and a schweeeeet stack of trades.
The comic focus is a good thing for me since this is usually where I go to catch up on buying my reading.
But like Poe said hopefully Megafest will be where we find more plastic crack.
Newton Gimmick
Very cool. Wish I lived in B-Town I would totally hang out with you guys. That Catwoman has a really good costume it looks like and not just because it's a chick. It just actually looks right.
Crazy
Having gone to several Boston ComicCons now, this show had a much smaller representation of non-comic stuff than past shows. There were actually quite a few more artists this time around as well.