… or what’s left of it.

Toy Fair begins again this year on February 17th and runs through the 20th. It all happens in NYC, on the far West Side at the Jacob Javits Convention Center, as well as a few showrooms scattered throughout nearby locations. Don’t think of showing up here, though - it’s only for retailers, vendors, and reporters. It’s no secret that I fashioned my own news outlet about five or six years ago to worm my way past the screening process, and it worked. I’ve come back every year since, under more reputable means.

In that first year, it was an overwhelming explosion of everything I’d ever wanted to see and had read about in toy magazines. My fellow writer and I wandered the convention floor wide-eyed and faking our way through it pretty convincingly. Until recently, it was THE PLACE to see everything that your favorite companies were going to release over the next year, and companies reserved their new products and surprises for opening day.

As the years have been progressing, Toy Fair has been shrinking, and it was never more clear than last year’s adventure to the ‘Toy Towers’, a popular location for smaller showrooms. They’d been almost abandoned, with showrooms locked, vacated and falling apart. During this time that Toy Fair was shrinking, companies have also been vanishing and shrinking. Palisades Toys suddenly closed up shop, and ToyBiz-turned-Marvel Toys doesn’t seem to produce anything anymore. I don’t know what this says for the toy industry, as I’m no industry analyst, but the landscape of toys is changing.

This year, don’t expect to see the amazing Sideshow Toys booth reported in photographs, as their Toy Fair attendance will be entirely online, as will SOTA Toys’. Seeing Sideshow Toys’ stuff in person was usually what motivated me to spend exorbitant amounts of money on their stuff for the subsequent year, too. Still, shipping all of their new (and often very heavy) product to New York, renting a crazy-expensive Javits booth, and shipping everything back home is surely a painful expense to have to absorb, especially when there’s no actual money changing hands - just the potential for future sales.

Many of these companies have now taken to holding onto their ‘big reveals’ until one of the two major Comic Cons in New York and San Diego, where the fans can see things in person and the impact on the potential purchaser is more direct and unfiltered. Where Toy Fair in the US is fading, Toy Fairs in the UK and Hong Kong are picking up steam. I’d love to see the amazing Toy Fair in Asia, surely filled with beautiful things that we might not regularly hear about over here. Asia has a very different toy market, which actually acknowledges adult collectors.

This isn’t to say that our Toy Fair still doesn’t have a ton to offer and a lot of crazy, fun things flying around the convention floor. While potentially boring licensing stuff takes up a lot of the floorspace (like, let’s stick Spider-Man’s face on this trampoline, this ice cream scoop and this pair of underoos kind of stuff), inventors make up the rest of it - small ideas gaining momentum, some of them inspired and some of them insipid, but it’s all interesting. There’s still so much to see that I almost find it necessary to narrow my focus to action figure stuff, or else I’d never make it down a single aisle, what with all of the bright colors and flashing lights and samples to play with - which is exactly what moves the toy industry, at its core - so maybe things aren’t so bleak after all. Just for us adults who can’t let their toys go.

So, what does this whole turn mean for action figures? For one, prices are going up. The oil needed to make the toys themselves, and then to deliver them, is more expensive than ever - and it would seem that this weeds out a lot of smaller companies hoping to make limited runs on things, and major companies are absorbing more and more licenses from smaller companies. So, the field is narrowing, but that doesn’t necessarily mean better figures and quality control - just less options. There are a few outstanding action figure lines, like Mattel’s DC Universe Classics, but this quality is usually generated by collector feedback, not plain ol’ marketing research. A certain model of transparency and interactivity is being adopted by these companies, which also explains the increased interest in fan events over media events. Everything is still ridiculous leaps and bounds above what we saw at Toy Fair 15 years ago - which amounted to lines of chunky, static action figures that didn’t do anything and only barely looked like who they were supposed to be, and the idea that a few good companies are working to increase every possible figural quality (instead of just cranking out licensed junk) is enough to keep me positive about collecting.

Now, if we could only get these toys consistently enough into stores to prevent high auction prices when they’re scalped up to be re-sold by that greasy guy who’s banging on the doors of the Toys ‘R’ Us at 9:58, demanding to be let in. I hate that guy - but he doesn’t get to go to ToyFair, so I win. At life. And hygiene.

Stay tuned all week for images & news from Toy Fair 2008.

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.

Before New York had any conventions of serious nerd merit, we had the tried-and-true Big Apple Comic Con. The BACC has always been the summer convention equivalent of the hot cousin - it’s nice to look at, and maybe visit once in a while, but you really don’t want to GO there, if you know what I mean. Sure, it has a few goodies, but at the end of the summer, you were still groping in a damp basement because there was nothing better to do.

The New York Comic Con (not to be confused with this convention, the Big Apple Comic Book, Art, Toy & Sci-Fi Expo, oft simplified to just ‘Comic Con’) has taken over the NY convention scene, leaving the BACC in the undesirable position of ‘that other, smaller convention that isn’t really as good’. The BACC was held at the Penn Plaza Pavilion, in the convention area of the Pennsylvania Hotel, which is across the street from Madison Square Garden. For the past handful of years, it’s been held in that general area (with at least one summer in which it failed to make an appearance at all), from some weird attic area of Madison Square Garden to its new home in the Pennsylvania Hotel.

For those of you looking to attend the convention at any point in the future, let me note that the Pennsylvania Hotel is one of the older, more historical structures in NYC, and it shows. And if you happen to stay in room 933, pull UP on the handle to flush the toilet. I know, it sounds like some kind of crazy Bizarro World hotel, but trust me. I spent about ten minutes playing safecracker with the shower knobs (one of which defied logic by being attached at a nigh-unturnable diagonal angle), trying to find a combination of temperatures that didn’t remove my flesh from my bones, but only found it when I turned she shower valve halfway off. And that ringing, whistling sound that you hear is not a fire alarm, despite the completely alarming noise that it’ll wake you up with at 2 AM, it’s just someone in another room showering, and the pipes clearly rebelling against it. The TV remote is pretty much vestigial, and you’ll need to chisel away at the dirt on the windows to see the glorious view of the 9th floor rooms across the alcove from you… but at least you’ll have a place to sleep. Kinda.

Accommodations aside, we awoke semi-refreshed for the BACC in the morning, after attending the MOCCA Festival on the previous day.

The BACC took over a large area of floor immediately to the left of the Hotel’s entrance and up an escalator. The United States Post Office was stationed at the base of the escalator, selling Star Wars stamps and pins, and giving away first day bird stamp packets. In my early days of attending the BACC, it was a great place to score some discounted, hard-to-find toys and comic collections, meet big-name artists and get tons of free stuff, but over the years, it’s evolved into something far less rewarding. There were no company-supported giveaways, most of the larger artists were either over at MOCCA or had already attended NYCC instead, and most of the toys there were being sold at inflated scalper prices. Most impressive was the guy who was selling pins that were available for free from the DC Comics booth, which could be found at every comic convention ever. His price? Only one dollar each.

This decline in overall Convention quality has had two positive results for the remaining attendees - the attendance on Sunday was sparse enough to allow us plenty of walking room, and because of this limited population, the nerd-smell usually present at these conventions was barely noticeable. My only brush with it was the guy breathing Dorito vapors directly into all of my five basic senses (and irreparably damaging my sixth one). The BACC can’t be blamed for the malodorous nature of those who view bathing and deodorant as bi-monthly endeavors, though. My cohort remarked that this Convention was very much like picking through someone’s grimy basement - an environment that nerds are likely very familiar with, but which might deter the casual attendee.

Much of the floors were taken over by long boxes of comics at various discounts, as well as walls of non-discounted, rare comics, so the BACC is a gold mine if you’re looking to fill up on back issues and original printings of things, with half-priced boxes of things and dollar comics at every turn. There are also a good number of tables selling ‘bootleg’ DVDs, mostly of TV shows that are not yet on DVD. Of course, there’s a large number of things being released on DVD lately, and some of these bootleg DVDs duplicate published works, making them extra illegal. If you need your fix of The Real Ghostbusters cartoon though, here’s the place to go. None of the DVDs are going to be any better than fuzzy VCR quality, so proceed with caution.

One end of the convention hall was taken over by ‘celebrities’, but please note that when your biggest celebrity is David Faustino, the kid from Married With Children (and who is roughly 16 inches tall), you might have a problem. When you include the son of some guy who was an extra on that sci-fi show that no one remembers on your list of celebrities, you’re well into the danger zone. I did get to glance at Captain Lou Albano, and a couple of mummified porn starlets. The aging porn starlet tables often remain unvisited at these conventions, with nerds still uncomfortable in their own sexuality and usually not ready to admit that they’ve seen said starlet in whatever tawdry publication they’ve appeared in. What do you say to one of those lovely ladies anyhow? I venture it’s something along the lines of “It’s great to finally see your breasts in person!” Which is why I’m still single. And I genuinely don’t recognize them anyhow.

One other table had a couple of people from Ghost Hunters, including ‘Brian’. You know, the guy who breaks all of the expensive equipment, has tantrums when he has to go back and get something he forgot, quits the show, comes back, and runs away terrified anytime he ACTUALLY sees a ghost, failing to get any valid footage besides that of him wetting himself. I chose not to talk to him, mostly because I didn’t want him to run away screaming if I moved too quickly. The BACC didn’t even attract Peter Mayhew, the mighty Chewbacca, and he’s at every convention I’ve ever been at.

Big Apple does well enough for itself, though, and it’s not a bad convention if you’re looking for actual comic books and little else. By the end of our meanderings, we only saw a few Jedi and one guy in an apparently hand-painted Blue Beetle costume, whose enthusiasm didn’t seem to match his costume. After I took his photo and had walked away, the following conversation took place between him and his friend :

Guy : “Why are people taking photos of you?”
Blue Beetle : “Blue Beetle died a few years ago and now everybody likes him.”

I refrained from turning around and telling him that I dug Blue Beetle well before his untimely demise, but it wasn’t about to engage in a public Out-Nerding Competition. At least he was gracious enough to pose for a photo for me.

I bought a handful of shiny superhero fridge magnets for fifty cents each and headed home. Check out a few extra photos of the event in our Community section - and when you’re done, upload a collection of your own!

Because of the very brief time span between Toy Fair and New York Comic Con this year, a few companies decided to hold onto some ‘big reveals’ until NYCC and show them off to the public at large, instead of just members of the industry. This made for what some collectors have called ‘a disappointing Toy Fair’, but an exciting NYCC.

One such company was Hasbro, whose Marvel Legends line is the talk of the town. You know, if you’re talking about a town entirely full of XBox 360s and Doritos and people with breathing issues. Despite this popularity, they didn’t show off anything new at Toy Fair, but had the next two waves safely displayed and encased at NYCC, confirming rumors of future character lineups (which crafty techo-nerds had already gleaned from Wal-Mart stock charts and lost bits of HTML on Hasbro’s website). Wave three will include Bucky (the Captain America sidekick), First Appearance Captain America, Marvel Girl (and variant), Black Knight, Astonishing X-Men Cyclops, X3 Colossus, Danger, and a HYDRA soldier (and variant) with a Brood Queen Build-A-Figure tying them all together. These are pictured in the photos above and in the NYCC photo gallery. The late reveal of these might seem unnecessary, but the manner in which they were revealed presents a very collector-friendly stance that Hasbro is trying to make, in spite of allegations that figure quality has dropped significantly since they took over the line. I don’t care what anyone says - my Annihilus is probably one of the most awesome things to ever fall over onto me while I’m sleeping, excluding of course the array of clumsy but beautiful women that I find myself with.

DC Direct revealed series seven of Justice, a continuing series of figures based on the artwork of Alex Ross, but the showing was unfortunately confusing. Two of the figures included in this wave are Armored Superman and Armored Aquaman, both of whom were slated to appear in a canceled wave comprised entirely of armored heroes (along with Batman, the female Nightwing, and Flamebird). Both of these figures appeared to be almost completely solid colored, with no paint detailing. In addition to that, a Gorilla Grodd figure was on display that re-used the body of the previous Grodd figure, and a John Stewart Green Lantern that re-used a Hal Jordan Body and the head of another previous Stewart figure which looked nothing at all like the artwork of Alex Ross. Since series 5 only just came out two weeks ago, and every figure to date has been excellent, we can hope that the figures on display were only placeholders for the actual figures being sculpted and painted. If not, I have to say that this is the first wave of Justice figures I’m going to completely skip.

Mezco didn’t allow photography of their Goonies line at Toy Fair, where we saw them in their full, painted glory, but unpainted prototypes were on display at NYCC, along with a few replica movie props. As mentioned in the Toy Fair coverage, these still present exceptional likenesses. While Mezco sometimes pursues cartoon figures, or portrays properties in a cartoonish manner, but they’re more spot-on with likenesses than any other company producing toys.

WizKids also displayed at NYCC, revealing the entire line of DC Heroclix : Origins figures for the first time, and a few crucial figure game stats. I haven’t been this excited for a wave of Heroclix in a long time, usually just buying a case each wave to keep up on my collection for the next time I actually sit down and play. I recall discussing a DC Comics based Heroclix set with former brand manager Jason Mical at Toy Fair about two years ago, and putting in my formal argument to do a set based on Golden Age characters, or at least classic ones - mostly to satisfy my jones for an Alan Scott Green Lantern. Finally, my dream set is being released, and in only three days! It will feature such characters as First Appearance Batman and Superman, Mirror Master (with an additional sculpt depicting him in a mirror), Shadow Thief (with another additional sculpt depicting him in his flat and flexible alternate form), Doom Patrol’s Robotman, Mister Mind, Golden Age Sandman, Shazam (with a neat, but suggestive, sculpt of him transforming from little Billy Batson). Overall, very exciting to be able to add these characters to an army. The only Marvel Heroclix figure on display was the colossal Fin Fang Foom, two of which were being given away in gaming competitions during the Con. These are not available yet, but will become so during the summer convention season, much like Galactus and Spectre were in past years.

Next year’s NYCC will happen in April, increasing that divide between Toy Fair and itself, and giving companies more time to prepare their annual exclusives, so there’s hope yet to establish a higher volume of new items for sale by then. The Con will also have increased space, hopefully delaying (or preventing entirely) that good ol’ New York Shuffle, wherein you can’t really place one foot more than three inches in front of the other.

Overall, NYCC has become a convention worth attending, so if you’re in the NYC area, check it out. But don’t get in my way.

Any good convention will have its material rewards and souvenirs, in addition to that whole ‘life experience’ thing. New York Comic Con 2007 was no exception, and had a fair share of exclusive and unique items to motivate attendees to storm the booths and spend their hard earned student loan repayment money. What’s one more week at a soul-rending job if it means you can have that new Stargate figure that you can’t get ANYWHERE else? Depending on how hardcore you are, the tradeoff might seem minimal.

Check out the photo gallery of everything that the Con had to offer here!

Since NYCC is still in its nascent years, it does not yet have a significant number of exclusive items allotted to it like the Wizard Worlds and San Diego Comic Cons do. Some companies create exclusives for a singular event, and some create items that are sold throughout the entire convention season at multiple events. If you can’t attend an event, there’s a minimal chance that you’ll ever be able to obtain the item in question without paying inflated secondary market prices. A few companies have heard the frustrated outcry of collectors who can’t complete their collections due to this exclusivity and have created special ‘collectors clubs’, which allow dedicated fans to purchase these items after a small membership fee. Rainbows sprout from the foreheads of unicorns, pixies enchant small children into their glens, and everyone chills out.

NYCC saw at least three exclusive items at the Diamond Comics booth - a Spider-Man Icons bust in black, a Venom Icons bust (both numbering only 600), and a Star Trek Nemesis Geordi LaForge figure. Only 1,701 Geordis were made and were hand numbered. Were I a capitalist and had a pack mule with me, I’d have stocked up on these items, as they’re now selling at almost triple the convention price on the secondary market… but then, what kind of person would I be?

Mezco was not offering any new items, but they did make available their 2006 exclusive items which had not sold out yet, including a Family Guy Herbert figure and a Comic Hellboy with Japanese Floating Heads, neither of which are any longer available through Club Mez, their online collectors club.

And while many booths were selling insanely heavy statues and busts, one must question how many they sell to the already weary traveler whose arms are already full of nerdaphenalia and has a long trip back to their parents’ basement to still make. By way of tiny collectibles, Wizards of the Coast had the right idea. For every game demonstration that you watched or participated in, they’d give you a promotional miniature piece. I walked away with a Naboo Starship, a Star Wars Mistryl Shadow Guard and a Dreamscape Freakazoid, none of which are available at retail. Additionally, I got a scorecard checked off at each demo and finally, at the end of the booth, I got to roll a giant, foam d20. I rolled high, and won a free (discontinued) copy of Betrayal at House of the Hill, an absurdly fun, complex board game distributed by WotC, retail value of $36. WizKids, unrelated to Wizards of the Coast, were offering a Vlad the Impaler HorrorClix miniature.

Other tiny collectibles included an array of free pins at the DC Comics booth, and a collection of (not free) blind-boxed art toys at the Toy Tokyo booth (who also had some art toys exclusive to NYCC). When you’re carting around a convention’s worth of awesome, small is key. And it never hurts to ask if the retailer can either hold the larger items for you until the end of the Con, or even have them shipped to you. Of course, pre-payment to an unknown entity that decides to pack up and go home early is always a risk that one must take for maximum personal mobility, and some sellers are very, very ornery and want those dang kids offa their lawn as soon as possible. Dagnabbit.

Comics are relatively easy to carry, if not deceptively weighty. By the end of NYCC, I’d purchased a copy of Spiral Bound, Mutation (which has a neat Bruce Timm style to it), and four signed comics from King Tractor Press. Of note is ‘Family Bones’, the true story of a elderly couple of serial killers, made notable by the fact that the story is written and illustrated by the couple’s nephew, who had spent his summers on the same farm where the murders took place, unbeknownst to him. I’m a sucker for surreal, biographical tales, and hope that my support for indie publishing will one day karmically come back to me when I start publishing my own work.

I’m always amazed by the tenacity of those conventioneers who bring wheeled carts full of 50-pound longboxes full of old comics into convention centers, hoping to get a vast array ofbooks signed by creators and taking out the shins of everyone who threatens to get in the way. More sensible was the gentleman who’d brought a backpack full of comics, alphabetically arranged and tabbed by artist and author so as not to miss a signature, or suffer the penultimate embarrassment, handing a book to a creator that he had nothing to do with. No distance that you can retract your head into your body can protect you from that, and I always get an irrational moment of panic when I hand something over to be signed, just in case I make a similar faux pas.

The aforementioned Bill Plympton was kind enough to sign my Mutant Aliens DVD and give me a free sketch of his Guard Dog character on a postcard. Of course, when I told him I was a huge fan from back in my junior high school days, and he asked what of his I’d seen, my brain froze and I probably said something like ‘my mom cooks bacon in the microwave!’ Unfotunately, and despite a table FULL of things he’d created right in front of me, I failed to mention ‘The Tune‘, the well-known ‘Your Face‘, ‘Plymptoons’ or his contributions to The Animation Show. Regardless, he was easy to talk to after that and showed a marked interest in his fans. Coincidentally, I work with one of the camera operators that he’d used for many of his earlier animations.
In my overexcited haze, I surely missed out on a good deal of free and exclusive items. Please feel free to comment below and let me know what egregious omissions I’ve made, and please stay tuned for tomorrow’s NYCC 2007 conclusion.