I made it back to Los Angeles, safe and sound, and I hope all my fellow fanboy travelers had safe and trouble-free journeys home. It’s become tradition for me to write up a little re-cap with some final thoughts and musings from the Con, so I’ll jump right into it. Feel free to share your own thoughts here, or over in the Forum. To start things off, though, enjoy this clip of John Barrowman and David Tennant sharing a smooch at the Doctor Who panel, then cringe as John turns into Jack Tripper from Three’s Company:
Boys
Girls and Their Toys
Since the discussion came up a few weeks ago about the ratio of women at Comic-Con, I was especially aware of it this time around. And I can say, without any doubt, that women were out in full force. In fact, the number of women wearing costumes and attending panels appeared to far outnumber the men. Strangely enough, though, the one panel I attended that remained a total sausagefest was the Masters of the Universe panel. Where are the women demanding their Princess of Power figures? The gay guys can’t do it alone. We really need to reach out to the female fans and get them in to represent!
Toy FAIL
The distribution of exclusive figures has got to change. We really need to start a letter-writing campaign to the toy companies AND Comic-Con and demand a change. It’s ridiculous that people could travel thousands of miles, stand in line for four days, and NOT get all the exclusives on their list. I’m certainly open to suggestions, but I really think the sale of exclusives should be moved off the exhibit hall floor. Give up one of the larger halls or meeting rooms and set them all up in one place. Or follow the lead of some progressive vendors who offer pre-sales and easy pick-up. It’s ridiculous to send people upstairs to wait in line for a ticket, then back downstairs to wait in line at the booth, just to tell them the toy is sold out for the day, but please repeat the same steps tomorrow. There is a preconception on the part of the vendors that geeks will suffer anything to get their toys. I think it’s time the suffering ends.
Time Won’t Give Me Time
I always warn first-timers that it’s impossible to do and see everything, even over the course of 4.5 days. In years past, I’ve done a pretty good job of splitting my time between panels and the exhibit hall. Well, not this year. My schedule was very panel-heavy, and I found myself scrambling in the final hours of the last day, only to discover depleted stock and vendors packing up early. It didn’t help that I spent so much time in lines for exclusives at the expense of the things I really wanted to see and do. Next year, I’m going to construct a more regimented schedule and try to bring balance to the Force.
The Con Loves Company
For the most part, I do these conventions entirely on my own. There are benefits to this, of course. You get to do and see whatever you want, without having to answer to anyone else. However, this year, thanks to this site, I had a built-in community of friends to hang out with, text me line reports and giggle with me during the gay panels. It was tremendously fun, and I highly recommend taking advantage of the Fanboys of the Universe network whenever you can. As we were parting ways, someone said, “It feels like the end of summer camp.” Start planning and saving now, so you can be part of it next year!
I’d like to extend my very special thanks to site members Allen, Tommy, Rolltideguy77, GayComicGeek, Steve, Gnewton34 and Jim for all their help in making Comic-Con 2009 such a fun and successful venture. Thanks, guys!
Oh yeah, I almost forgot. We’re going to give away a super-exclusive, super-limited The Art of Masters of the Universe book very soon. Stay tuned!
I made it back to Los Angeles, safe and sound, and I hope all my fellow fanboy travelers had safe and trouble-free journeys home. It’s become tradition for me to write up a little re-cap with some final thoughts and musings from the Con, so I’ll jump right into it. Feel free to share your own thoughts here, or over in the Forum. To start things off, though, enjoy this clip of John Barrowman and David Tennant sharing a smooch at the Doctor Who panel, then cringe as John turns into Jack Tripper from Three’s Company:
BoysGirls and Their Toys
Since the discussion came up a few weeks ago about the ratio of women at Comic-Con, I was especially aware of it this time around. And I can say, without any doubt, that women were out in full force. In fact, the number of women wearing costumes and attending panels appeared to far outnumber the men. Strangely enough, though, the one panel I attended that remained a total sausagefest was the Masters of the Universe panel. Where are the women demanding their Princess of Power figures? The gay guys can’t do it alone. We really need to reach out to the female fans and get them in to represent!
Toy FAIL
The distribution of exclusive figures has got to change. We really need to start a letter-writing campaign to the toy companies AND Comic-Con and demand a change. It’s ridiculous that people could travel thousands of miles, stand in line for four days, and NOT get all the exclusives on their list. I’m certainly open to suggestions, but I really think the sale of exclusives should be moved off the exhibit hall floor. Give up one of the larger halls or meeting rooms and set them all up in one place. Or follow the lead of some progressive vendors who offer pre-sales and easy pick-up. It’s ridiculous to send people upstairs to wait in line for a ticket, then back downstairs to wait in line at the booth, just to tell them the toy is sold out for the day, but please repeat the same steps tomorrow. There is a preconception on the part of the vendors that geeks will suffer anything to get their toys. I think it’s time the suffering ends.
Time Won’t Give Me Time
I always warn first-timers that it’s impossible to do and see everything, even over the course of 4.5 days. In years past, I’ve done a pretty good job of splitting my time between panels and the exhibit hall. Well, not this year. My schedule was very panel-heavy, and I found myself scrambling in the final hours of the last day, only to discover depleted stock and vendors packing up early. It didn’t help that I spent so much time in lines for exclusives at the expense of the things I really wanted to see and do. Next year, I’m going to construct a more regimented schedule and try to bring balance to the Force.
The Con Loves Company
For the most part, I do these conventions entirely on my own. There are benefits to this, of course. You get to do and see whatever you want, without having to answer to anyone else. However, this year, thanks to this site, I had a built-in community of friends to hang out with, text me line reports and giggle with me during the gay panels. It was tremendously fun, and I highly recommend taking advantage of the Fanboys of the Universe network whenever you can. As we were parting ways, someone said, “It feels like the end of summer camp.” Start planning and saving now, so you can be part of it next year!
I’d like to extend my very special thanks to site members Allen, Tommy, Rolltideguy77, GayComicGeek, Steve, Gnewton34 and Jim for all their help in making Comic-Con 2009 such a fun and successful venture. Thanks, guys!
Oh yeah, I almost forgot. We’re going to give away a super-exclusive, super-limited The Art of Masters of the Universe book very soon. Stay tuned!
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