We’ve entered the fourth and final day of the San Diego Comic Con, the largest and most extravagant geekfest of the year. Somewhere out in sunny California, fidgety nerds are eyeing up new toy lines, meeting demi-celebrities and shaking sweaty palms, and finally mustering up the necessary wherewithal to drop some serious coin on that back issue they need to complete their collection.

And I’m sitting at home, on the internet, playing a game of anxious nerd catch-up. The news is fast and furious, and I struggle to keep on top of it, jumping from site to site, scanning photos for hints and wallet-redefining prospects for the rest of the year and beyond. Sure, I‘m usually the guy reporting live from Toy Fair or the New York Comic Con - both sacred destinations for collectors of my inclinations - but it’s mildly disconcerting to be stuck at home while the plastic, articulated world continues to turn…. without me.

Here’s the thing about conventions, though : I hate them. Maybe ‘hate’ is a strong word, but I have an intense discomfort with crowds and noise. It’s not debilitating as it once was, but I cope with it through distraction and keeping escape routes in view . I don’t like being randomly touched and brushed up against, and I don’t enjoy finding myself squished to the back of a Marvel Legends kiosk with the warm, eau de hot dog breath of a thousand nerds entering my facial passages as my muscles tense in potential fight-or-flight energy. Hearing this year’s message board reports of some of the behaviours at this year’s Comic Con has almost completely allayed any regrets I have about being stuck in upstate NY for the time being.

These reports have included, among other things, shameless nerds of the portlier variety deciding that shirts were just far too warm for a San Diego day. This, plus left-than-deft navigations of the cheek-to-cheek crowds in the convention halls, have resulted in some less than pleasant, and fairly moist, situations. At least during Toy Fair, everyone’s in February-sensible suits. The worst we got there was a guy in a suit holding a Water Wiggler in front of his groin and shouting, “C’mon, Jen, it’s only me!” across the Con floor.

Of course, despite this well-known unpleasantness, us distant nerds commiserate and get a telling twinkle in out eyes at the mere mention of ‘San Diego’. San Diego has almost always been the only opportunity for collectors to see the new wares in person before they hit the shelves, since Toy Fair is an industry-only event, and New York Comic Con is still relatively brand new. With the meager showing at this year’s Toy Fair, though, and many companies (including the comparable and omnipresent Sideshow Toys) simply not going to Toy Fair next year due to the associated costs and relatively low yield of visitors and buzz, let me say that SDCC is the new Toy Fair. I’ve said it. Toy Fair is a dying animal, and we’re only going to find it under the canoe in the back yard in a few years, looking for a cool place to spend its last moments on this Earth. While Toy Fair was always a place to get great photos in relative tranquility, at least we’ll have the shuffling, shoving claustrophobia of the Comic Cons to score our worthwhile press coverage.

I’ve personally been watching San Diego Comic Con coverage for news announcements relating to the things I collect. NECA’s Castlevania figures are on display for the first time, including a mysterious strip of obscuring tape covering up the chest of the Succubus figure, leaving collectors asking, “nipples?” It would seem unlikely that a company would cover up a small patch of cleavage, but stranger things have happened.

The biggest announcement of all came with the revelation that Mattel is now allowed to make action figures of any DC Comics character they want, when previously they were limited only to characters relating directly to Superman and Batman. Indeed the DC Superheroes line was the best of 2007, featuring great articulation and sculpting, even if many of the more interesting figures were near impossible to find. Now, with the addition of Red Tornado, Etrigan the Demon, Orion, and a build-a-figure of my favorite, Metamorpho, the possibilities seem endless. I just hope that my local Wal-Mart, which hasn’t restocked the DCSH line since late May, will deliver this gold unto me. Additionally, Mattel’s animated ‘The Batman’ line will begin to incorporate additional DC Characters, such as Hal Jordan and Hawkman, into its lineup.

In further DC Comics news, my very recently-voiced prayers for Jack Kirby New Gods action figures have been answered by DC Direct, and we’ll be getting a line of those before too long. Also, a 13” Green Arrow just about makes my life complete… never mind that he comes with more arrows than I’ve ever seen together in one place.

Hasbro’s also landed one of the most requested movie properties of all time : Indiana Jones. SDCC had a display of these figures in both regular and ‘Galactic Heroes’ forms. For those of you who don’t know, and I bet there are many since our readers tend to be of the ‘have a life’ demographic, they’re cute-ified 2” figures of various characters from Transformers, Star Wars, Marvel Comics, and whoever else Hasbro has the license to at the time. So, for everyone who’s always wanted a 2” Indy… here’s your chance.

Along with a handful of interesting comic book announcements which are probably too obtuse to go into detail about here, (because this IS a comic con, remember?), SDCC seems to be a volcano of information the likes of which we’ve never seen.

And as long as I can absorb it without absorbing the volatile essences of perspiring, agitated people jostling around me, that’s okay by me.

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This entry was posted on Sunday, July 29th, 2007 at 5:00 am and is filed under collecting fyi, events. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.