Every year around mid-July I get giddy. No, it’s not the same kind of giddiness I get on my last day of work every week before my two days off kicks in.
The reason for my excitement is because every July at this time is when the Comic-Con convention, now in its 48th year according to comic-con.org, in San Diego happens.
There, thousands of fans, young and old, from across California and the country, maybe even the world, arrive dressed in their Halloween’s best as their favorite characters from comic book, television and movie franchises. It doesn’t have to be the year’s current trend, which is Pokémon. Thankfully, the four-day event is not filled with fans dressed up as each year’s most popular character. I mean, what fun is there to see men and women dressed as either some sort of yellow retarded looking dog or whatever it is, while the other half are dressed as iPhones exhibiting a screenshot chasing down Pokémon?
That does not mean there won’t be a Pokémon or several Pokémon's walking down the halls of the convention center. The list of costumed characters is endless. Over the course of the four-day weekend it won’t be that unusual to see a swarm of comic book superheroes and villains, Jedi Knights along with several characters from that Star Wars "galaxy far, far away" as well as an assortment of Starfleet crew members, Klingons and aliens from the Star Trek universe. Perhaps there will not be one, but many women scantily dressed up in that famous Princess Leia slave girl outfit from "Return of the Jedi" (1983).
“SDCC”, as it is called in short, is a chance for those like me who don't want to grow up to see the latest offerings several toy companies will have on store shelves in the coming months and early next year. For years, as I browsed various websites that covered the conventions, I saw it as an opportunity to gaze at pictures of only the latest Star Wars toys. That has since changed to where my interests not only cover “The Force” but a little of anything I grew up on and am still interested in, or I just think the stuff looks cool.
This year's convention featured upcoming images of Hasbro’s continuing six-inch line of Star Wars figures. With the Star Trek franchise celebrating its 50th anniversary, two toy companies, Mezco Toyz and Quantum Mechanix, offered 12-inch figures of the original crew which included Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock where in the future I could take my pick as to which company to buy from. Unfortunately, the determining factor would be the price tags. Do I want to pay $180 bucks from Quantum Mechanix or $80 from Mezco Toys? Perhaps it will be a question of quality versus quantity.
While I am not a fan of the Hellraiser horror movie franchise, I got to say Sideshow Collectibles naughty black latex preview of their 22-inch female Hell Priestess pinhead suddenly made me forget about longing for the distributor’s 22-inch version of Michelle Pfeiffer’s Catwoman from "Batman Returns" (1992). I was now at a loss as to which statue I wanted to have sitting on my desk at work. I longed to learn how long it’d take the powers that be to privately invite me for a personal chat in Human Resources to not only tell me that such things are not politically correct for the workplace but falsely accuse me of promoting the sadomasochistic Fifty Shades of Grey lifestyle with $500 plus movie statues.
My only disappointment at this year’s convention is that The Lego Group did not unveil the next ultimate collector set in the Star Wars line, the Death Star, due out this fall. The set is obviously meant to tie in with this December’s release of "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" (2016) given that the “ultimate power in the universe” will play a large role in that "galaxy far, far away.”
I sure hope the $500 plus set is not a dud like the company’s May release of the UCS Assault on Hoth playset which was just a compilation of previous Lego sets. Then again, as an unofficial AFOL (Adult Fan of Lego) member, the whole point behind Lego building is when they release a new set, albeit an exclusively expensive one, it’s their way of saying, “Here’s what we did. Now let’s see you top ours?" It’s all about imagination.
I don’t know if my interests in collecting toy related movie/TV merchandise will end as I get older, when I turn 50, or if I will still be interested in such things when I am in my 80s. I suspect Lego will be the last hobby of mine still standing when I reach my twilight years.
One thing I do know is how great it is for just one mid-July weekend every year to feel like a kid on Christmas morning seeing all the new products before reality kicks in the day after the Comic-Con convention is over and I start asking myself, “How the Hell am I going to pay for all this stuff?”
©8/3/16
The reason for my excitement is because every July at this time is when the Comic-Con convention, now in its 48th year according to comic-con.org, in San Diego happens.
There, thousands of fans, young and old, from across California and the country, maybe even the world, arrive dressed in their Halloween’s best as their favorite characters from comic book, television and movie franchises. It doesn’t have to be the year’s current trend, which is Pokémon. Thankfully, the four-day event is not filled with fans dressed up as each year’s most popular character. I mean, what fun is there to see men and women dressed as either some sort of yellow retarded looking dog or whatever it is, while the other half are dressed as iPhones exhibiting a screenshot chasing down Pokémon?
“SDCC”, as it is called in short, is a chance for those like me who don't want to grow up to see the latest offerings several toy companies will have on store shelves in the coming months and early next year. For years, as I browsed various websites that covered the conventions, I saw it as an opportunity to gaze at pictures of only the latest Star Wars toys. That has since changed to where my interests not only cover “The Force” but a little of anything I grew up on and am still interested in, or I just think the stuff looks cool.
While I am not a fan of the Hellraiser horror movie franchise, I got to say Sideshow Collectibles naughty black latex preview of their 22-inch female Hell Priestess pinhead suddenly made me forget about longing for the distributor’s 22-inch version of Michelle Pfeiffer’s Catwoman from "Batman Returns" (1992). I was now at a loss as to which statue I wanted to have sitting on my desk at work. I longed to learn how long it’d take the powers that be to privately invite me for a personal chat in Human Resources to not only tell me that such things are not politically correct for the workplace but falsely accuse me of promoting the sadomasochistic Fifty Shades of Grey lifestyle with $500 plus movie statues.
I sure hope the $500 plus set is not a dud like the company’s May release of the UCS Assault on Hoth playset which was just a compilation of previous Lego sets. Then again, as an unofficial AFOL (Adult Fan of Lego) member, the whole point behind Lego building is when they release a new set, albeit an exclusively expensive one, it’s their way of saying, “Here’s what we did. Now let’s see you top ours?" It’s all about imagination.
I don’t know if my interests in collecting toy related movie/TV merchandise will end as I get older, when I turn 50, or if I will still be interested in such things when I am in my 80s. I suspect Lego will be the last hobby of mine still standing when I reach my twilight years.
One thing I do know is how great it is for just one mid-July weekend every year to feel like a kid on Christmas morning seeing all the new products before reality kicks in the day after the Comic-Con convention is over and I start asking myself, “How the Hell am I going to pay for all this stuff?”
©8/3/16
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