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awe4one's Megacon Ramblings, Ruminations, and Observations

98 posts in this topic

Be kind...this my first major US convention I've been to in 15 years...

 

Part One...

 

The day started early with me leaving early (0530 Central) from the Panhandle on my way to Orlando. Surprisingly, there wasn't many troopers out...or much construction. Despite me losing an hour due to moving into the Eastern timezone, I drove into the convention parking lot at almost exactly noon...which was my goal. Averaging 85 MHP will do that...gotta love the Charger. :grin: Despite all those pretend cyclists going to Daytona for Bike weekend who tended to be a pain for stretches of the trip. Someday someone will prove to them a car is much bigger, and can cause more damage, than their custom hog when cutting them off...

 

Getting in to the convention was relatively painless despite the long lines for advanced sales. For one of the few times in my life I'm happy to have a last name near the end of the alphabet. When entering the convention hall, I saw a line about a football field long for advanced booking. My first thought was why I bought a pre-order three day pass, even if I was only going to be at the Con two days, if I wasn't going to get in an hour before the crowds due to the line. Luckily, and it sucked for the others, that line was for those with a last name ending in M-S. The T-Z line was four people deep... :headbang:

 

Waited in line, and a very nice elderly woman called me forward. I gave her my ID and she came back with a green wrist band she said was good for all three days. I asked her if I could take it off. She said not likely. I mentioned that maybe some comic fans took daily baths. She laughed, half heartedly, and said the wristband looked to be waterproof. I laughed, half heartedly, and asked the way to the convention floor....

 

Part Two coming up...

 

Jim

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I'm having serious WiFi problems...I

 

I hit the convention floor and my first impression? It's much smaller than what I imagined. I thought it would be a mini-SD but in reality the con is a bigger genre convention than what I've been to. Not complaining mind you but I thought I'd be somewhat shocked by the size of it all. I wasn't. Here are some pics of the floor...

 

floor1.jpg

floor2.jpg

 

I cruised the floor checking out the layout and ended up at Qualitycomix as my first stop. I've always wanted to meet Brent since we served on the NOD committee together. I selected a couple comics and handed them to the person manning the booth. As a joke, and pretty seriously since I do so at most booths if it's not obvious by the comic, I asked if the comics were pressed, Jiveturkeymojo was unfortunately manning the booth at the time. Curious immedate initial response. It was like the air was sucked out of the room. Brent jumped up, checked the comics and stated they weren't pressed. You can definitely tell that dealers are not asked the question much... :eek:

 

By the way, picked up a nice HG Monsters on the Prowl #14, GL #78, and an Unexpected #161 that I found was from the Kubert Collection after I returned to the hotel room.

 

Afterwards went to Apocaypse Comics booth who had probably the best deal of the first day of the con. They were blowing out Bronze comics at 3 for $5. Picked up a stash of HG Marvel horror as well as some sweet Charlton horror, westerns, and a very HG copy of Ghost Manor #77...the last issue that is near impossible to find in HG.

 

Afterwards I decided to check out the media area...

 

Jim

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Not much to say about the media guests other than most of the BSG actors were missing on the first day other than Seelix and...Kat. The actress who plays Kat is MUCH hotter in person than any scene in BSG. I didn't get a pic today but I'll definitely get one tomorrow, She is a gorgeous hispanic hottie in person...

 

Some pics of othersthat were there....

 

Anne Lockhart - Didn't know her mother was June Lockhart...

 

anne_lockhart.jpg

 

Margot Kidder - Giving the gang sign

 

margot_kidder.jpg

 

Mickey Dolenz - I actually met him as kid, with my sister, while on vacation in Key West in 1974. He actually remembered the meeting...and it wasn't bull as he mentioned events that happened.. :o

 

mickey_dolen.jpg

 

I saw no one at Ferrigno's table the whole day...

 

Jim

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OK...my WiFi is screwing up big time so I'll wrap this up quickly...

 

Got a great deal, since he pointed me to the same comic at a better grade and a lower price, from Crazy Ed on some HG Charlton horror...

 

Talked to to Tim Gordon at length about the state of the hobby and bought a HG X-Men #95 for a steal...all his comics are 50% off for the first time as a test...

 

Bought a very very nice My Love #2 and other comics from Dale....

 

And got a F/VF TOS #54 for $20 as well as a NM Bronze Cap for $6 from Fast Willy...

 

All in all there are some GREAT deals to be had at this con and I'm going to buy a bunch of them tomorrow since I only blew a quarter of my budget today....

 

Here's today's comic loot...

 

comicsday1.jpg

 

Jim

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Some additional pics/observations I didn't have the chance to post last night...

 

This is the section devoted to on-line and PS3/X-Box 360 gaming. I tried to convince my kid to come with me to the con...after seeing this pic he may regret staying home...

 

Gaming.jpg

 

Also there was a display near the media area of a local club who build working replicas of TV/movie robots. Pretty impressive. All the old guys were talking pics or Robby the Robot and the LOS Robot whereas the kids were taking pics of C3PO and R2-D2... lol

 

Robby.jpg

Robot.jpg

 

Finally, there was a booth set up by Megacon staff entirely to certify signatures. For $1.25, you get a signed certificate indicating the signture you acquired from a guest was authentic. Never heard of this before and it seemed a way for collectors to get a sig certified without having to pay CGC to do so for you and save slabbing fees. Business was brisk at the booth. Is this service common at other cons?

 

Jim

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]

 

Finally, there was a booth set up by Megacon staff entirely to certify signatures. For $1.25, you get a signed certificate indicating the signture you acquired from a guest was authentic. Never heard of this before and it seemed a way for collectors to get a sig certified without having to pay CGC to do so for you and save slabbing fees. Business was brisk at the booth. Is this service common at other cons?

 

Jim

 

Avatar did this last year at Wizard Chicago for Warren Ellis signings which I thought was cool.

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]

 

Finally, there was a booth set up by Megacon staff entirely to certify signatures. For $1.25, you get a signed certificate indicating the signture you acquired from a guest was authentic. Never heard of this before and it seemed a way for collectors to get a sig certified without having to pay CGC to do so for you and save slabbing fees. Business was brisk at the booth. Is this service common at other cons?

 

Jim

 

Avatar did this last year at Wizard Chicago for Warren Ellis signings which I thought was cool.

 

I assume they certified any signature...which is kind of weird as the booth was away from the actual comic guests. The booth was set-up near the media area...

 

Jim

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Mickey Dolenz - I actually met him as kid, with my sister, while on vacation in Key West in 1974. He actually remembered the meeting...and it wasn't bull as he mentioned events that happened.. :o

 

mickey_dolen.jpg

 

I saw no one at Ferrigno's table the whole day...

 

Jim

 

Jim this is very cool. Can't believe he remembers....I'd be interested to hear more about your meeting with him.

 

Guy hasn't changed in decades.

 

(thumbs u

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margot_kidder.jpg

 

 

who is that chick walking behind MK? Not bad.....Fantastic rack.

 

Wife/girlfriend of one of the media guests...dude with the blonde hair in the photo. Have no idea who he is...

 

Jim

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nice report...what grade was your Unexpected #161? Most of Kubert's books have been around 8.5 or so (the few I've seen and/or purchased)

 

Brent graded it a 8.5. Will pull it out and take a good look once I get home...

 

Day 2 coming soon...

 

Jim

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