Hey, better late than never, right? This article covers random convention zaniness and our awesome trip to San Francisco!

We've just about covered all the relevant toy-related news and info Comicon had to offer. Now, as we take this time to look back, we can really focus on the madness that the show really brought out in people!

Starting with us!

The plane ride from Boston went smoothly; it was fun picking out the folks at the airport clearly headed to Comicon! Yes, nerds stand out. Anyway, we picked up our doomed rental car once we touched down in San Diego and checked into our hotel without incident. We rolled up on the cyclopean Convention Center(2) for Preview Night (Wednesday) and weaseled our ways in.

Mason, a veteran of these things, was cool as a cucumber...while I was somewhat more apprehensive as the newcomer. Lemme tell ya, as HUGE as the place was, it was still absolutely packed!

Now, as a first-timer, there wasn't much I could say about how this year went compared to last, but I heard more than a few grumblings that the spirit of Preview Night had been lost. In previous years, it had been an opportunity for the hardcore collectors to have some quiet, unrushed time with the sellers to browse, shoot the crap, and make leisurely purchases. This year, Preview Night was easily as busy as any of the other days (yes, that includes Saturday!)...and all it really amounted to was the most rabid fanboys running in and snatching up all the con exclusives they could get their mits on.

Nevertheless, Mason and I persevered. I made some great vintage scores here and there, and more importantly, I was introduced to some great folks I had only previously known through the internet. I met jryanj in person for the first time, and it was nice to see John from Cool Stuff From Japan again.

In fact, throughout the show, we met up with plenty of cool people. We had lunch with Rob and Amanda, two of Mason's buddies who frequent the Outer Limits in Waltham, MA--a comic book store where he works part-time for kicks. Also, we met fellow TBDX forumite, Ken-A and his brother for dinner one night. Great times!

And of course, we met up with plenty other friends in "the biz". Be sure to check out ALL of our SDCC07 coverage for more details!

But let's get back to the show, itself!

First off, consider yourselves lucky: I did NOT photograph many cosplayers at the show. *Shudder*

THAT was some disturbing stuff right there, lemme tell ya. One night of the Con was the "masquerade ball". Luckily, we had plans to get dinner with the Onell guys that night, so we successfully managed to dodge that awkward, tubby bullet.

Still, I did manage to score a couple shots here and there of some of the less(?) skeevy examples of the menagerie...

There was, of course, the obligatory Slave Leia.

Stormtrooper Elvis, one of my personal faves at the show.

And hands-down THE most disturbing of all: they hired an actual amputee to advertise the release of the Grindhouse DVD. Lovely young woman, to be sure...but can you imagine a perpetual throng of sweaty nerds pushing and shoving to get a chance to ogle the "chick with one leg"? Yikes.

Let's see...there were dudes--no lie!--smacking the CRAP outta each other in medieval European knight outfits. There were some nicely-done Ghost Busters(2). There was even an alleged Optimus Prime sighting.

They had the Batmobile from the 60's live-action show, and a dead ringer for a young Adam West. We found a dealer (The World of Mr. Toast, 2) selling--get this!--stuffed BACON! Oh, yes: someone just had to buy some!

Mason's bacon tattoo!

Oh, and we also got a chance to see Tara McPherson, Josh's dream girl! ;)

Her work really is stunning.

There were even opportunities to bump into random celebrities. Plenty of 'em. At one point, Mason and I set sail across the sea of humanity towards some far off locale, when I noticed to my right, LeVar Burton was walking alongside me! Damn, I loved me some Reading Rainbow back in the day! Anyway, I gotta be honest about the celebrity sightings--the spectacle of the Con was a bit much for me most of the time, so noticing a famous person directly in front of my nose wasn't always easy, y'knowmsayin?

Here's a classic exchange that Mason'll never let me live down:

[Leaving the Con to grab some lunch...] Mason: "Hey, Sanjeev, there's Chief Tyrol."

Me: "Where???"

Mason: "Right there...in the Anthrax t-shirt."

[Folks, I'm a hip hopper--saying "Anthrax t-shirt" doesn't help me much...] Me: "C'mon!"

Mason: "No, really, that's him right there."

[I stared at the back of Aaron Douglas' shaven head for hesitant moment and continued my denial.] Me: "No f*#@ing way!"

I walked right up to the alleged Tyrol (completely not remembering his real name), tapped him on the shoulder at crosswalk of this busy intersection, and lamely stuttered a greeting and asking whether he would mind if a "drooling fan...dude...boy" (yes, I said that verbatim) got a picture with him.

Mr. Douglas cooly replied, "No problem--I don't mind taking a picture with a drooling fan...dude...boy." Mason took the shot with a smug poop-eating grin!

"Drooling fan...dude...boy." *sigh*

From that point on, whenever I tried to deny anything Mason had to say, he would just tut-tut me, invoking "Chief Tyrol!"...and all I could do was shut up. ;)

Anyway...like I said, the show was simply overwhelming! Full-on senses overload. I can't imagine attending just for one or two days. There is just SO much stuff...just on the convention floor! And that doesn't even consider all the great programs being presented over the several days of the con.

Mason and I pretty much did our own thing when it came to programs, but there were a few we went to together. At one point, working the Con floor was getting murderous on my flat feet, so I tagged along with Mason to one of the DC Comics panels that was focussed on the future of their popular "52" series (and it's sequel, "Countdown"). As someone who doesn't read comics anymore, I had no idea what the hell people were talking about, but it was cool to see the head writers and editors schmoozing with the masses. This was a side of the comics business I'd never seen before. There was a chemistry there that really impressed me.

Next, Mason and I went to Aaron McGruder's Boondocks panel. It was packed--and here I was thinking that we'd be the only folks in there. Oh but there were more than a few fans of this Adult Swim cartoon! The panel was wildly entertaining of course...Cedric Yarbrough ("Tom Dubois", and of Reno 911 fame) and Gary Anthony Williams ("Uncle Ruckus") were on hand to add their brands of humor to the stage. Oh, one very important thing Mr. McGruder wanted to get across to fans was this: Gangstalicious is NOT supposed to be anyone in real life. Is that clear? That person in your head who you think it is? Yeah? Well, NO, it ain't him. Anyway, be on the lookout for season 2...they showed a preview and it looks bangin'.

Also on the conscious entertainment tip, I had the pleasure of attending the Black Panel. Now, most people asked about what the deal was with that because the panel had been called "Blacks in Comics" in previous Comicons. The organizers wanted to break from what had gone on before: apparently, in previous years, fans' questions and subsequent discussions decayed into complaining about the gross lack of characters of color and other diversity issues in comic books and popular culture as a whole. This year, they wanted to keep things positive and proactive. The main idea was not to wait for the white people who control the bulk of these media to make opportunities for black writers and artists. The tone was upbeat and creative--sure, there's a place and time to complain about the state of affairs, but this panel was more of a celebration of accomplishments and big things to come. It was all about moving forward and the energy there was encouraging and invigorating!

Immediately following the Black Panel was the BET Animation panel. Now, I know that BET isn't exactly known for being very...conscious...but their Animation division is attempting to rectify that. There, they announced many exciting projects...and there were more than a few laughs. For example, if you haven't had a chance to see Read a Book, check it out [WARNING: potentially not work-safe due to reality! Oops I mean, "profanity"! ;)].

The next very heady panel I attended was "The Two Rays": Ray Bradbury and Ray Harryhausen. These two legends of fiction came together to share stories from their youth, the political climate that prompted them to create what they did, and to talk about their lifelong friendship. Bradbury spoke at length about Fahrenheit 451 and its relevance to today's geopolitics. It was amazing to listen to these two great minds who've seen and been through so much together. More on Mr. Harryhausen later...

Lastly, I was able to catch The Film Crew, the latest project from the minds of Mike Nelson, Bill Corbett, and Kevin Murphy, three of the guys who brought us the cult classic, Mystery Science Theater 3000. Oh, yes, they're back at it...and this time, their releases are direct-to-DVD. What does that mean for us? Well, no longer on a shoe-string budget and stringent television schedules means vastly more resources devoted to doing what they do best: MAKE US LAUGH!! The panel featured the three busting on each other, teasing fans, and showing clips from the movies they've ripped apart thus far (yes, they even lampooned their own lampooning WHILE the clips were running!). More on Bill and Kevin later...

Again, I almost wish the Con had been longer. There were a LOT more programs I would've liked to have gone to. Just to give you a taste of some of the stuff that's offered, here are just the few I had originally intended to check out:

Comics and Literacy: an academic look at graphic novels in popular culture and how it affects literacy. The focus was on fostering an interest in reading in inner-city classrooms.

Gender: Bending Masculinity and the Image of the Hero--a look at gender identity, relations, and feminism, and the portrayals (and, in many cases, marginalizations) thereof in comics.

Disguised as Clark Kent: Jews, Comics, and the Creation of the Superhero--a discussion of how Ashkenazi Jews created superheroes and why that's significant.

And of course, there was plenty of less heady stuff too! There was a Robotech panel that focussed on The Shadow Chronicles and the future of the franchise (though I doubt they mentioned the recently-announced Tobey Maguire film). There was a Neil Gaiman program; need I say more? There was a Babylon 5 program, and a later one with just J. Michael Straczynski. And lastly, there was a Futurama panel to discuss the return of the show.

And remember, folks, those were only the panels *I* was interested in!! Can you imagine all the other stuff they had on tap?? Movies, video games, comics--you name it. There is all types of wild stuff going on at Comicon!

...Which brings me to my next subject: CDX INTERVIEWS!!

It brings me great pleasure to bring to you, our good CDX readers, our two big interviews of this year's Comicon: Ray Harryhausen and Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett of The Film Crew!

First off, I had the distinct honor of meeting one of my childhood heroes: Ray Harryhausen. It was a tragically short interview--only about 5 minutes...but it was well worth it for me. Clash of the Titans pretty much raised me! Anyway, you would think that after having finally achieved acclaim for all of the wonderful worlds and creatures he single-handedly created for so many films, Mr. Harryhausen would be able to relax and enjoy retirement. Not so! Currently, Mr. Harryhausen is undertaking the colorization and restoration of many of his earlier films like 20 Million Miles to Earth and Things to Come.

A living legend.

For more info on what Mr. Harryhausen is up to these days, check out this transcript of another Comicon interview. I wanted to keep my own line of questioning off of what he was doing now, since there already was so much coverage of that. I also didn't want to ask too many generic questions like, "how did you get your start and who influenced you?" Questions like that are already covered in his book, An Animated Life. Instead I asked Mr. Harryhausen what he thought of today's push towards computerized special effects that, while making convincing effects more accessible to filmmakers, seemed to be replacing good story-telling with what now is being termed, "eye-candy". Mr. Harryhausen didn't seem concerned by this. He kept telling me, "the ball keeps rolling". At some point, highly advanced, realistic effects like those produced by Weta or ILM will become the standard and universally available. When that happens, good story-telling will be all that there is. A wise sentiment!

I'm not worthy...

I thanked Mr. Harryhausen for his time, headed back to Onell Design's booth (Mason's and my unofficial "base of operations") and had my nervous breakdown!

Another big treat for me was getting the opportunity to meet up with Bill Corbett and Kevin Murphy of The Film Crew at their hotel before their panel on Saturday. THAT was a blast...as you can imagine, these guys are freakin' hilarious! We chatted about life after MST3k and mining for nuggets of campy gold.

Things are looking good for fans! Because of time constraints, some of the later seasons of MST3k on the Scifi Channel suffered from mediocrity. No more of that. As I mentioned before, direct-to-DVD sales really opens up time to get creative in ripping that movie a new one! Also, Bill and Kevin mentioned that they wanted to focus on the actual lampooning and do fewer interstitial cut scenes. I, of course, mentioned that the Observer ("Brain guy") and Professor Bobo were my favorite characters...to which Kevin replied that he was too old to be running around in a gorilla costume! Fair enough. The movies are what we really love anyway!

Okay, so y'all know I'm a kaiju guy. You know this was coming: was The Film Crew planning on doing more Japanese tokusatsu films??? ...Alas...the outlook is grim. Prince of Space, the showa Gamera films, a couple Godzilla flicks, and others were sorta flukes. Sandy Frank typically holds onto those licenses quite jealously, so the guys are relegated to sifting through the ugly oceans of "public domain". That probably means no Ultraman, no more Godzilla, no more random gems like Invasion of the Neptune Men. *Sigh*...at least Kevin treated me to a guffaw in the Phantom of Krankor's voice...to which Bill quickly added in the Prince of Space's voice, "it is my duty to inform you that your weapons still have no effect on me!"

So public domain it is. We may not see our favorite cheesefests of yore done up MST3k-style...but that doesn't mean that there's no hope for modern mainstream movies. Mike started another project called RiffTrax, where Mike and some of the guys get together and record a full session of lampooning for today's biggest flicks and even some popular tv series! You download the mp3 and play it simultaneously with the DVD...simple as that! Definitely check 'em out!

So let's see...we've covered the overwhelming spectacle of the Convention floor and the great programs they had to offer. We talked about how we caught up with old friends and met cool new people. We've covered hobnobbing with riffraff and celebs, alike. And, of course, we've talked about toys! I'll leave Saturday night's shenanigans up to your imaginations (if you noticed, in previous SDCC07 articles, I hinted at naked, drunken bonfires on the San Diego beaches on Saturday night!)...hey, what happens in San Diego stays in San Diego! ...So what craziness will you be a part of at the next Comicon??? ;)

Things began to wind down by Sunday evening, and we spent a chill night with the Onell guys and their families at the local tourist trap near the Convention Center. We concluded the evening with a dip in our hotel's hot tub.

...Where Mason promptly caught ebola. ...Cleared up in a couple weeks though...

Oh, did I mention how wack our hotel was? Our key-cards worked about 15% of the time, requiring numerous replacements late at night. And the wi-fi? The signal strength was SO low, we just used the hotel's from across the street. Place was garbage...it's only advantage was that it was close to good eats (i.e., the In-N-Out Burger).

Anyway, the next morning, Monday, we bid one last fond farewell to the Waffle Spot, where earlier in the week, Mason put me on to what might be the greatest food combination in the history of culinary art:

I give you...THE BACON WAFFLE.

Next, we got a genuine CHiPs escort on the way to the airport, where we dropped off the battered hulk that was once the Chrysler Sebring we had originally rented. And then...we were off to San Francisco!

[For more random photo's from Comicon, click here!]

San Francisco was cool. No, I mean really--it was in the 60's most of the time...wotta rip-off! Anyway, our new digs--a Travelodge a block from the Presidio and ILM--were decidedly nicer than the mess we were staying in in SD...though we were a tad perplexed as to why a stoned bear was their mascot...

"Sleepy the Bear", huh?

Our first night in SF, we simply hung out and got dinner at The Stinking Rose with one of Mason's old college buddies living in town. The next day, Tuesday, we spent most of the morning chilling with the great, Mark Nagata of Max Toy Co. For details on that fun day, check out my update halfway down Josh's article about Mark's collection.

Later that day, we had the pleasure of meeting up with legendary TBDX toy snob, Erik Sjoen!

The vintage toy gods were pleased that day! Erik invited us to his place; we hung out, checked out his gorgeous--yet tearfully boxed--collection, and talked toy.

As the afternoon wore on, Erik had to get back to work, so we made our plans for the next day and Mason and I took off. We then decided to face destiny square in the...face: we headed straight for Super7! Oh man. We had a vague idea of what we were in for, but nothing could really prepare us for the onslaught! First of all, the place is gorgeous. It looks like a cross between an art gallery, an expensive clothing boutique, and...a toy store! Wish I'd taken pics, but you really just have to go if you get the opportunity.

We were greeted by Super7 headman, Brian Flynn, and were invited into the back room to hang out and rest our weary, commerce-laden bones. We sure didn't rest long, though--we were soon poring through the toys in the main store in search of lickable vinyl. And it really didn't take long! After a great deal of contemplation, I ended up snagging just two things: a Nostalgic Heroes translucent brown/grey Inbus Seijin that I knew the toy gods would smite me for not buying, and an M1 hoop game prize glow Hedorah in orange and yellow spray! Gorgeous scores!

That evening, Brian treated us to a fantastic dinner at his favorite Greek restaurant in town! Of course, none of us were wearing even remotely appropriate attire for the venue, but it was all good. As soon as the proprietors learned who Brian was, it was nothing but the best for our table! Now THAT'S baller!!

The next day was an extra special treat for us. Yet another fellow TBDX forumite, sketcher, who works at Industrial Light & Magic, invited us on a tour! And while we were at it, we also brought along Erik and another TBDXer, hypermook! I'm not a big Star Wars fan, but lemme tell ya--the place was most impressive (*groooaaan*).

After being greeted by the receptionist, we paid our respects to the Willis O'Brien statue in the lobby and began our tour. We saw heroes trapped in carbonite, we saw pieces of s#!t trapped in carbonite. And we saw how Slave Leia's are supposed to look!

This *amazing* matte painting was at least 10 feet across!

...And it wasn't just Star Wars stuff!

Each hallway was lined with gorgeous artwork, ranging from paintings of Star Wars-themed scenes and characters to a myriad of film posters--many classics, in fact, with which ILM had nothing to do. My personal favorite was this French poster of the 1957 Japanese tokusatsu film, The Mysterians:

Be sure to check out the gallery for plenty more ILM pics as well as the rest of the San Francisco photos!

Eventually, both sketcher and Erik had to get back to work, but hypermook hopped in our ride and we took off on what was probably the single most religious pilgrimage of my life: a trip to Kimono My House(2)! Erik, who used to work there with owner/operator, Yuki, called ahead and put in a good word for us...and we set off on our amazing journey.

I managed to take a few pics--and by all means, enjoy!--but Josh's article does the establishment far greater justice.

All the gokin. All the vinyl. All the tin. Makes me light-headed just thinking back to that event! We spent SO much time there (and don't even ask about the money we spent there! ;) ). I ended up scoring pretty big there, the highlight for me being a gorgeous Popy Grendizer game (middle) consisting of a huge, full-color vinyl mat with targets on it at which to throw disks (Spin Saucers???) to score points. Oh, yeah, we'll be getting that framed!

Yuki seemed a bit skeptical of us at first, but once he saw what sorts of toys we were looking at, he warmed up to us pretty quickly, repeatedly complimenting us on our taste! True enough, on that excursion, I got a little vintage gokin, some vintage and contemporary vinyl, a tin walker, and even ERASERS! That's--what--the four basic food groups, right??

Once we had been there well beyond the time normal humans would consider "appropriate", we decided to haul our spent (physically and financially) butts back into SF, proper. We got burgers with hypermook (did I mention how GOOD food is in SF???), said our goodbyes, and Mason and I did the only logical thing: we headed BACK to Super7!

There, Brian generously offered to pack up our Super7 purchases from the previous day AND our Kimono My House purchases to ship back to Boston! Wotta guy! So, of course, Mason and I had to thank him...by buying MORE vinyl!! Okay, so here's the deal: what transpired next might have been the single most RIDICULOUS event of the whole trip. I mean, we both walked in there fully and consciously expecting NOT to buy any more toys...and we ended up talking each other into spending another $800 or so!

The mind-boggling exchange went something like this:

[Mason wanders out of the back room where we were chilling...and comes back in carrying two giant-sized Marmit Mechagodzillas] Mason: (looking down at the two of them, then back at me) Hey, I'll buy one if you buy one...

Me: C'mon man!

(Mason just looks back down at the Mechagodzillas with that look of love in his eyes)

Me: Well...they would look slamming with one of those giant-sized Godzillas they have out there...

(Mason's eyes light up!)

Me: Okay, how about this: I'll buy a giant MG AND a giant Godzilla if you buy an MG AND a Godzilla, too!

...And that's how it happened, your honor. I plea insanity. Mason got his and I got mine! And Brian just sat back and watched this madness, clearly amused. Anyway, I vowed to take my Godzilla on the plane back to Boston with me, rather than have him cruelly packed with the other goodies. Despite the funny looks (and Mason's jokes about TSA rectally searching Goji), it was a good decision.

Anyway, later on that evening, we reconnected with sketcher, and the three of us and Brian went out to get a relaxed dinner in town and talk toy. We discussed insider secrets, Brian and Josh's new book, and how we got into this whole toy-collecting mess in the first place. More good times...

And so ended our trip. The next morning, we got breakfast at Original Buffalo Wings, our haunt of choice near where we were staying, and bid the West Coast goodbye...

And I'm still recovering from the aftermath! ;)

Thanks to my main man, Josh, for making this all happen for me,
Matt Doughty, Jessie Moore, and their families,
Ken-A and his brother,
Frank Supiot from Kotobukiya,
Mark and Max Nagata,
Brian Flynn and the Super7 folks,
the Gargamel guys,
Erik Sjoen, sketcher, and hypermook,
All the other cool folks we met at Comicon and in SF (too many to mention),
And of course, my partner-in-crime, Mason!

It was a blast! See you next year!

As you've noticed, we've been pumping out articles highlighting the myriad toy companies representing at San Diego Comicon 2007 over the past couple weeks. Well, there were just too many toys to photograph from random stores and manufacturers, so we've decided to lump 'em all together in one article! Read on...

Yup, there was MUCH to offer the toy collector at Comicon. It's kinda funny--this was my first Comicon ever. I was expecting more...comics. In actuality, the show was quite toy-laden...not to mention all the video game, movie, television, and other media coverage. Not a huge deal for me--I stopped collecting comics years ago and only keep track of big events through Mason's ramblings...

Anyway, the primary mission, of course, was to cover all the big toy manufacturers and dealers we have connections with. Check! The secondary mission? Shop til ya drop, of course! And we did just that...oh, my flat feet are aching just thinking about it! On our toy-shopping adventures, we met so many cool people along the way, and though I would love to give each of them shout-outs, it would make this article too damn long! Suffice it to say that we were greeted with big smiles and grand offers to relieve us of our cash!

What I'll attempt to do here is basically "narrate" snippets of the SDCC07 Assorted Toys gallery, though there's no way to get to everything there. I'll just touch upon the highlights. Just a warning: this article is going to bounce around a LOT! I don't normally have a short attention span...but it's sure gonna seem that way!

Let's get it started...!

First, I just need to post this one image. When we got to the "Japantown" of the show floor (my nickname for the place where all the dealers of new Japanese toys were located), we were almost immediately greeted by this behemoth:

This mo-fo stood about 4-5 feet tall, atop one dealer's shelves to rain death upon us all!

Anyway, seeing that Godzilla was a nice way to start digging for toys.

We saw a cool display case full of high-quality Romance of the Three Kingdoms figures and other offerings from Sea International and Da Joint:

One thing that puzzled the hell out of us was this huge booth in the middle of "Japantown" that was lined with very strange-looking figures of robots and monitors of them filmed "fighting" in a toy-scaled wrestling ring. In the middle of the booth, there was an actual stage/mock wrestling ring, cameras, lights, the whole nine. We didn't stop long enough to figure out what was going on, but from what we gathered, the guy who started the whole thing used to make little robot figures out of paper and film himself playing with them. This somehow blew up into a whole toy line...

And now that I've had the chance to Google "paper wrestling robots", I've come to find out that they're part of what's called "Kami-Robo". Check it out if you're curious...and brave.

Otaku culture is no joke, kiddies!

Art of Toy had a respectable showing at the Con, but the only really photogenic items were the hunormous T-28 models:

Interlocking busts of the Cylon, "6", and of Gaius Baltar from the new Battlestar Galactica show:

Lots of fun movie toys, including 300:

BIG statues of Aliens, Predator, and Terminator.

Painted resin Battlestar Galactica and Cylon raider, also from the new show:

Shocker Toys was at the show. They had plenty of Shockini's, Gwar figures, and figures from Metalocalyse (ironically, one of this hip hop head's favorite shows on Adult Swim!)

Kidrobot was also at the show with their spectacularly huge Munny that people could write all over in chalk!

One extra-special treat for me and Mason was a chance to talk to CDX's long-time friend, Doug McNeill from Yamato USA, the US branch of Japanese toy manufacturer, Yamato. They're famous for their Macross Valkyries in both 1/60 and 1/48 scales, their 1/12 Scopedogs from VOTOMS, and their 1/15 Garland from Megazone 23. Is it any wonder why we LOVE these guys!?

While Mason knew Doug from previous SDCC trips, this was my first chance to meet him in person. Doug's been great about letting us in on the very latest news from Yamato in the past and this year was no different! True enough, the bulk of Yamato's offerings comprised girlie figures, but there was one lone display case around which we chatted. In the case were some Scopedogs...and the highly anticipated Galaxy Cyclone Braiger and Groizer X (2)! Wow...VERY nice, VERY high-end. Both toys feature a great deal of parts-swapping to transform, but just look at the animation designs! With such impossible transformations, this is as good as it gets!

Alas, we weren't allowed to take any photos of the new toys, but you can see some great shots at the links above or at Yamato USA's own site: Braiger, Groizer. Again, there'll definitely be a lot of talk on the 'net about these figures when they come out and this new high-end diecast super robot line they represent.

Next in our voyages was a place where we seemed to spend a lot of time while surprisingly not buying much was Toy Tokyo. They had all sorts of vintage and new Japanese toys. Robots and kaiju...side by side. It was a beautiful sight.

They had lots of contemporary designer vinyl and modern robot diecasts, but they also had their fair share of vintage vinyl, of which, I sadly failed to partake...

Still, I snagged the righteous duo of mini glow Docross and Blobpus (show exclusives):

Next up was big for me: Doctor Who, baby! I grew up watching mostly the fourth Doctor (Tom Baker) on PBS! Anyway, I was suprised to see Weta at the show with two really high-quality collectibles from the new Doctor Who show. Check these out:

In addition to Weta's showing, I was greeted by the good people at DoctorWhoStore.com who showed me all the cool toys that've already come out for the new show. Sadly, I've been slacking on keeping up with Who merchandise since the new show began. I've managed to pick up a random figure or two, but I've yet to score a 12" RC Dalek. Booo!

Fortunately, these folks got me up to speed pretty quickly! Character Options continues to hold the license for the new show, but Product Enterprises still puts out new toys for the classic show. And it's ALL gravy!

RC K-9!? Oh, HELL yeah!!

State of the Art Toys (SOTA) was there with all of their cool Street Fighter offerings. Interestingly enough, they also featured some Lovecraft collectibles, including a Cthulu statue:

Next on the list of impressive showings at the Con was the Four Horsemen's Seventh Kingdom line of anthropomorphic animal warriors. Don't worry: no furries here!

Lastly, I want to mention a seemingly-random toyline that I loved during the 80's that's actually making something of a comeback. As Frank from Kotobukiya would say, in this incredible nostalgia boom we're seeing right now, nothing surprises me anymore. Well, I'm really pleased with this particular selection for a make-over: Art Asylum/American Greetings MadBalls!

I picked up Series 1, which you can see on their website or in our gallery, but they were still pre-release. No packaging: they all came in little plastic baggies. Looked like a dang messed up drug deal! ;)

Anyway, I didn't catch when these things are officially being released to the public with full packaging, etc. It doesn't look like they're available anywhere online. I *DID*, however, get a sneak-peek at Series 2. Lemme tell ya, I really hope these come out and do well because the ideas these guys are coming up with are fantastic. While Series 1 is just like the original balls (molded solid foam rubber), Series 2 are actually hollow bouncy rubber balls... But here's the gimmick: they have softer, more flexible spots on them so that when you squeeze them, those soft spots inflate and bulge out! The balls are filled with liquid and other weird things! They're the hype! Can't wait for them to drop!

When you squeeze Slobulus, one of his eyes inflates and fills with fake blood and lots of little rubber eyeballs!

Squeezing the appropriately-renamed Bash Brain (originally, he was called Crack Head!) will cause his brain to distend!

And squeezing Skull Face causes the side of his head to inflate and fill with more fake blood and little rubber spiders!

Anyway, that's it for now! Again, check out the SDCC07 Assorted Toys gallery for more pics I didn't include in this article!

Oh my head, Sideshow was unstoppable at this show. I don't know if they actually took up more room than Mattel or Hasbro, area-wise, but in terms of sheer presence, they DOMINATED the Comicon landscape!

Sideshow's "booth" (hehe) consisted of what appeared to be a gigantic black felt-covered column looming up over the landscape of the convention floor. Damn thing looked like Mount Doom from across the rows and rows of other vendors! Huge vinyl displays portraying detailed closeups of their offerings lined the sides of the column. Upon approaching the monstrosity, situated close to the center of the con floor, it was easy to see how things were set up: there was simply a huge square clearing at the base of the column with very nice individual display cases lining the outer perimeter of the area, then larger items running around the circular base of the column. I wish I had taken more pictures of just this spectacle...it sure was a sight to behold!

The "booth" clearly blew Hasbro's and Mattel's displays out of the water! To be clear, both Hasbro and Mattel utterly dwarf Sideshow in terms of the size of their companies, product offerings, revenue, etc., but Hasbro and Mattel only bring a mere fraction of their total product lines to Comicon. Ya don't see Mattel's Fisher Price or Hasbro's Nerf lines represented here.

Not so for Sideshow. This is where they thrive! Virtually everything they sell would be perfect to hock at Comicon! Sideshow came through with items from all sorts of properties including Alien(s), Predator, Terminator, Robocop, Death Note, Star Wars, Marvel Comics, Street Fighter, and even some classic horror film properties like Nosferatu and The Bride of Frankenstein. But enough talk; let's get on with the pics!

First up: Aliens and Predator!

These super-detailed statues were amazing!

I think I dated that!

Okay, maybe statues aren't your thing. That's fine. Well, how about life-size Predator props!? Oooh..you know you want a Predator mask and "shuriken".

[Yes, it's actually improperly called a "shuriken"--shuriken refers to small Japanese throwing daggers, unlike shaken, which are the symmetrical "stars". I'm not just a toy nerd, I'm a practitioner of Japanese martial arts! :P]

Next we have a full-size replica T-800 endoskeleton from Terminator! Yowza!

If $6k is too rich for your blood(!), Sideshow offered more reasonably-scaled collectibles!

Ahnold...strangely appropriate-looking...missing half his face.

And here we have a very snazzy Robocop...

...And providing back-up...Ash from Evil Dead/Army of Darkness!?
Hey, why not? ;)

Sideshow had a surprisingly deep assortment of Marvel Comics statues, busts, and figures. What makes many of these special is their creative bases and use of mixed media! The Captain America below uses real fabric in his costume. The "Stealth" Iron Man has several embedded lights for an amazing effect. And, of course, copious boobs. Take a look:

^ Get a load of THIS!! ^

Hehe...couldn't resist!

^ What the hell is Mason doing in this picture!? ^

Anyway...we move on to the real meat of Sideshow's offerings: Star Wars! Again, super-high-end collectible statues were the main focus, but their (Medicom's) 12" figure line represented, as well as the VCD series of super-deformed figures:

^ These 1/4 scale statues(2) are a HUGE! And even sorta poseable!! ^

And lastly, the flagship of Sideshow's offerings...not for the faint of heart (or of wallet)...life-size C-3PO and R2-D2:

For the kinda coin they're asking, these things better wash my dishes!

Be sure to check out the full Sideshow Gallery for more pics of their stuff!

The buzz around the Stikfas booth was the up-coming Evangelion figures, their first crack at licensed character toys...but the kids didn't seem to care! A box of random bits was there for everyone to cobble together their own unique figures from their imagination--the real appeal of these toys.

Let's face it: Stikfas is really about customizing. I mean, the announcement of their Evangelion figures is certainly interesting...but does the world really need more Evangelion figures!? Well, at least these renditions will certainly be unique...

Still, since Mr. Bany J brought Stikfas to the scene five years ago or so, they've made a serious impact with both collectors and kids alike by redefining what an action figure could be.

In a sense, Stikfas have reclaimed the roots of action figures. How about that? Toys didn't have to be released with a huge cross-promotional/marketing blitz with all sorts of multimedia tie-ins. Toys could just be whatever a person's imagination could come up with! And believe me: if you've never handled a Stikfas toy before, just google it. You'll find hundreds of sites devoted to customizing these guys.

It's a testament to what they've created: a basic figure so versatile that pretty much everyone gets a shot at coming up with the action figure of their dreams!

But enough talk...let's see some pics! First up, we have stock (unmodified non-custom) Stikfas figures...fresh outta the box!

1930's gangsters and army men.

A horde of the black knights!

A personal favorite of mine: dinosaur skeletons...if only they glowed... :(

Ancient Egyptian and Roman gladiator themes.

And of course...Vikings!
Can you hear the metal playing in the background!?

And of course, it wouldn't be a true representation of Stikfas without fresh customs:

An amazing chessboard covered static figs.

Cool comic book-style superheroes--or villains??? ;)

More sci-fi styled figs kitbashed with other parts to great effect!

Lastly, my favorite of what was on display: The Justice League!!

Lastly...we have Evangelion. Unfortunately, the actual Evangelion Stikfas were not on display, but I got these shots of the promo art:

That's about it! Be sure to check out the Stikfas Gallery for more pics from their booth at Comicon!

All right, let's cut to the chase: if we're talking about Toynami, we're talking about Robotech toys--and in some instances, Voltron toys. Sure enough, Toynami had a lot to show off at Comicon, and we were there to cover the good stuff (read: NOT Naruto or Bleach).

Toynami's booth was an attractive setup of lit displays featuring toys from several different popular properties and a very busy main counter where the commerce took place. Every time we went there, there was always a big line occupying the folks working there! We went ahead took pictures of everything of interest...

First up was Voltron. C'mon, who doesn't like Voltron!? Well, though we couldn't get actual confirmation of the cancellation of the mini plastic version of the Masterpiece Voltron III, it sure wasn't on display anywhere at the booth. That's not a good sign...at all. They did have the regular Masterpiece on display, of course, along with their latest Voltron product: Reebok Voltron shoes.

Yes, take it in slowly. I indeed typed, "shoes". Check it out:

Well...hopefully they sell, right? Then maybe we'll see more Voltron product...

Next up, we have the classic sci-fi satire, Futurama! These would've complemented Mezco Toyz' South Park and Family Guy toys quite nicely.

Okay, let's get started with Robotech, shall we?

First, we have the Macross generation. By now, you've probably heard of the 1/100 scale Valkyries Toynami put out last year. Well, sales of these have been brisk and the line appears to be going strong. The interesting thing I never really noticed is that these are marketed explicitly as "Super Dimensional Fortress Macross" toys, as opposed to as "Robotech: Macross Saga" toys. Anyhoo, here, you can even see Macross: Do You Remember, Love? editions (the famous VF-1S Strike Valkyrie):

Hikaru's Strike Valkyrie on the left, Super VF-1A on the right.

The FAST Pack Super and Strike armor can be purchased separately to equip the Valkyries or Veritechs you already have!

Fortunately, they'll come in the different color combinations necessary to color coordinate properly! ;)

Next on display were the nice Hikaru and Max dollies:

Okay, now let's get to the real good stuff: Genesis Climber Mospeada...also known as "Robotech: The New Generation". There was a lot of big news here. First, there is the reissuing of the 1/35 Legioss (or Veritech Fighter Alphas) re-engineered by Aoshima/Miracle House:

And as you may know, the accompanying Tread (Veritech Beta) is coming out next year. Looking good! Let's hope the engineering is robust...along with the improvements on the Legioss.

Their combination sure looks mouth-watering!

And the other big release is going to be the Aoshima/Miracle House Mospeada (Cyclone), itself. Check it out:

That's it for now. Be sure to check out all the pics in our Toynami Gallery!

Venerable vinyl dealer and Japanese toy magazine publisher, Super7 was at the show to sell us stuff, hang out, and talk toy! Super7 headman and helluva guy, Brian Flynn, took time to chill with us at the show and in San Francisco, home of their storefront.

Super7 is a great store run by great individuals. Originally a Japanese toy collecting magazine started by current headman, Brian Flynn, Mark Nagata, and Mark Miyake, Super7 has blossomed into a vinyl-collecting force of nature in the US and other English-speaking countries.

Mason--with his new-found lust for vinyl--and I spent quite a bit of time hanging out at their booth during Comicon. Surprisingly, I didn't buy much from them. It took a LOT of self-control...believe me! They had a total of FIVE (5) different variants of the giant-sized (15") Marmit Mechagodzilla I (1974). Sure...I coulda spent a grand at the show just on Mechagodzilla vinyls...but I figured diversifying my purchases was the way to go! Amazingly, I managed not to buy a *single* MG at the show.

When we got to the store in SF, of course, it was another story! ;)

Anyway, at Comicon, Super7 was constantly mobbed, so it was tough to get clear shots of the goodies they were offering. There seemed to be a perpetual line of customers waiting to be rung up! One table by the cash register had current and back issues of the magazine itself, while an adjacent table had tons of cool t-shirts they were selling. The designs were gorgeous! Next to this table was a series of display cases where show exclusive vinyl toys were shown. The cases were big, but even then, they had to rotate what was shown daily to make room for the new exclusives announced each day!

Behind the display cases were the shelves...where the magic happened! They had lots of lickable vinyl that people could help themselves to. Tons of "art" or "designer" vinyls from Secret Base, RealxHead, Darkside Hero Toys, Skull Toys and a bunch of other design houses I don't know much about! Even Gargamel toys were represented! They of course had plenty of character toys from more familiar players like Marmit, M1, and Marusan.

Big toys are killer! Fewture Garada K7s stood guard (one on either side of the shelves) alongside some comparatively-small "giant" Mechagodzillas, Hedorahs (Hedorae?), giant-sized Marusan Goji's, M1 Garamons, and plenty of other giant vinyls!

One of the guys was nice enough to take out and pose a couple of the show exclusive Tim Biskup-sprayed giant Mechagodzillas. These things were gorgeous to behold! Each one was hand-sprayed by Tim, so each is subtly unique:

Pink version.

Blue version.

At the show, I was lucky enough to pick up the tranlucent blue "Bruised Chaos Fighter" exclusive by RealxHead (thanks again for the hook-up, Brian!) and Mason snatched up a giant Pilot Ace lucky bag Godzilla and Minya. Oh, and you'll hear all about everything we bought at the actual store in my separate San Francisco trip report!

Mason's Pilot Ace Goji/Minya...that Gamera and Grip Superman were picked up from other dealers at the show.

Like I said, the guys were fun to hang out with. Mason and I got a chance to chat it up with Brian, both at the booth throughout the show...and on Saturday night at the San Diego beach where there was booze, bonfires, and arm-wrestling with Gargamel and Kaiju Big Battel! It was a great time!

I'll save the details of our time spent at the Super7 store and with Brian for my San Francisco report. Stay tuned!

Just like Garada, we're HUGE Super7 fans!

It pleases me to be writing an article about my buddies at Onell Design! We invited these friends of Josh's to this year's East Coast Chogokin Summit and since then, we've gotten tight with this group of local toy-makers!

When Josh first mentioned Matt and Jesse of Onell Design (blog) to me regarding this year's Summit, he never mentioned their Glyos system figs, Microshow, or any of their other Microman-esque toy designs.

All he said was that these are the guys behind Beantown Toys. I checked out the site and thought they were interesting toys...especially the few beans that clearly refer to classic Japanese characters (like the Robocon one!) or are obviously sci-fi in nature. But ultimately, they are what they are: just neat Boston-based souvenir trinkets. Sure, they've got prototype vehicles and suits and such in the works(!), but I can easily see how they're not everyone's cup of tea.

It wasn't until I actually got to hang out with Matt and Jesse when I realized that these guys had a LOT more up their sleeves. But not only that, Matt's house is absolutely littered with all sorts of toys--Japanese and domestic, cheapie goodness and high-end extravagance. These guys know what has come before, and the toys they make stand very tall on the shoulders of some venerable giants. It's a treat to listen to Matt describe all the various Japanese influences on every little aspect of their Glyos figures.

Matt and Mason.

Their sincere love of toys has led them to create their own line of modular, nearly-indestructible figures. The idea was to create a figure that was interesting to look at, fun to play with, and durable enough to keep in your pocket all day long! The characters were to have a vague background story only hinted at on the packaging and inserts; just enough of a taste to fuel people's imagination. I can definitely tell you that they've succeeded!

Jesse, the ever-vigilant!

The Comicon was my first chance to see the figures up close. I was quite impressed! Not only were the figures cool for all the reasons I mentioned, but I noticed a funny thing: adult toy collectors like those who frequent this website as well as young kids were stopping by in equal numbers! That was something none of the other "art" or "designer" toy makers could boast. That really says something.

At the show, I picked up two Exellis figures and upon returning to the Bean, Matt gave me a translucent green Pheyden:

Interestingly enough, the topic of these figures' durability came up on the TBDX forum. Forumite, Japester called me out on my statement that you could throw one of these figures against a wall with all your might without damaging the toy one bit. His challenge was for one of us to post a video of performing this very act. I counter-challenged stating that if we posted such a video, he'd have to buy one of these figures; he accepted!

The fallout has been hilarious! First, Josh took a swing:

Need any more be said? ;)

Our friends, Stephane and Masaki, greeted us warmly as they gave us the scoop on the big stuff coming soon from Organic Hobby. And guess what! It's not just Revoltechs!!

...Okay, I'm not gonna lie to you: it's mostly Revoltechs! ;P

Seriously, though, Organic Hobby is primarily known around these parts as purveyors of Revoltechs and girlie figures. Of course, they didn't disappoint on the Revoltech front at Comicon, but I was pleased to get a chance to see in person many of the other properties and toy lines they carry.

Honestly, though, in terms of Revoltech, if you really follow the line, you're already well ahead of what was on display at Comicon. Oh, it was all neat stuff, for sure...but if you've been keeping up, you'll already be familiar with the upcoming figures below.

Well, let's get started anyway with what we're all waiting for...Revoltechs:

Movie EVA's...

...with their weapon set.

This is a first for the Revoltech line: a separate release for figures' accessories.

Getters from the Shin Getter Robo ("Getter Robo: Armageddon") OVA.

Black Getter, baby!

The infamous Type Zero from Patlabor...

...and the Griffon!

He and Black Getter should go out for beers!

And Yotsuba! Uh..yay?

Of course, t