We are back! The San Diego Comic Con was bigger, more jammed packed with people and exciting than we imagined it would be. For five long days we made the early morning trek to the convention center with blurry eyes, a fistful of Starbucks and our camera lens ready. Clear eyes, full hearts can’t lose!
I’m still amazed at just how much stuff is packed into the Con. Even late in the day Sunday, moments before I ran off to catch my flight, I was discovering something else cool I’d somehow missed. There’s an impossible amount of new toys, games, collectibles, comics, artists, cosplayers, movie promotions, artwork.. it’s a little overwhelming.
Wednesday when we arrived to San Diego, we slipped into the con for the last hour of preview night. We made a beeline to the 3A booth to say hi to some friends and check out the display. This is some of what we saw.
WEDNESDAY
3A/IDW Booth:
New Bamba Boss/Lad/Guy prototype. Cool that he’s finally articulated. Still in the beta phase, Ashley mentioned that he’d have a shirt, pouches and accessories when finished.
Our first peak at Dropcloth 1.5. A few extra shields, a different build around the collar. Sold. He’s supposed to come with a newly designed mini-gun when finished.
The IDW SDCC 2012 exclusives. Zombie Vs Robot’s Zombs. They were limited to 250 pieces and were the hottest ticket at the booth!
The APTK Princess TQs were looking great!
THURSDAY
Wednesday was very brief. We barely saw anything save a few glimpses of the chaos wot laid ahead. With our motors burning on less than three hours of sleep, we hit Thursday running. This was our first official day of the con and it was time to explore.
Sideshow:
I really dug the classic blue/grey Batman figure. Superman on the other hand, was looking a little rough around the edges with some stubble and vaguely blood shot eyes. He must feel like we do.
Loved the Harley Quinn figure. Just check out those accessories!
The Space Marine has so much articulation and detail it’s going to cost a mint. Time to sell some toys!
We swung back over to the 3A/IDW booth to discover that they had added to their display their new Halo prototype. This guy is amazing. I’m not the biggest Halo fan in the world.. but this is a first day purchase (or gift.. please and thank you) for me.
Even his fingers are realistically articulated! Come ON!
Anniversary Nom will not disappoint. One of, if not THE best looking figure from 3A this year.
I got my IDW/3A Zombs signed and drawn on by Ashley Wood. He used Rufus Dayglow as his inspiration for what became “The Rufus Zomb”. Best. Zomb. Ever.
Square Enix/Play Arts Kai:
The new Metal Gear Solid figures are bonkers. Raiden.. holy cow.
Frank Miller’s Dark Knight. This guy is beefy!
NECA:
NECA may have been my favorite booth this year. Not so much their booth as the toys they had on display. I’m just a massive Valve fan so seeing them do so much, so well with that license is really exciting!
I can’t wait for these little multi-color sentries. They’re so deceivingly cute!
Action Figure Xpress/Fourhorsemen:
Somebody throw a bunch of money at The Four Horsemen so they can release these guys already! Crazy detail.
Gundam/Bandai:
Entertainment Earth:
I wanted to grab the SDCC exclusive Brock figure. He was only $15! But every time I walked over to the booth they had a line practically wrapping around the con. Good for them, bad for my Venture Brothers collection.
LEGO:
As to be expected, LEGO had amazing LEGO sculptures all around their booth. Gandalf was my favorite. Bilbo looked a little like he was tweaking on too much coffee from 3rd breakfast.
Mattel:
Somewhere around this booth I bumped into Seth Green who was snapping a shot of a fetching Green Witch. We ran into Seth about 5 different times over the week, darting in and out of crowds with the agility of a red bearded gazelle.
Nickelodeon:
FRIDAY
Since Thursday was a long day of running around the convention center for almost 12 hours straight, we decided to take a little break on Friday and hit up the adult swim panels. I’m so glad we did, I haven’t laughed that hard or that consistently in a long long time.
First up was Venture Bro’s. It may be a hilarious show in it’s own right, but I could watch a 12 season show with a locked static camera of just the writers, Doc Hammer and Jackson Publick, sitting at a table and talking to each other for 30 minutes. I could do that for at last 12 seasons. These men are fantastically funny!
After Venture Bro’s cleared, we managed to snag a seat in the front row for NTSF:SD:SUV. Paul Scheer led the panel, made up of basically all comedians save for the incredibly lovely Rebecca Romijn. It was cool to see Rob Riggle and Martin Starr,who I’m still a huge fan of from his days on Freaks and Geeks. It was hilarious and ample hi-jinks popped up as the peeps from Children’s Hospital “interrupted” the proceedings towards the end.
Once order had been slightly returned, it was time for Children’s Hospital. Once again, a bunch of comedians took the stage. Some of my favorites in fact. Ken Marino, Rob Huebel and Henry Winkler.
Ok, The Fonz isn’t really a comedian.. but he plays one on TV. HEEEEEEY! See what I did there? At one point, Adam Scott showed up and sabotaged the question/answer mic. The highlight for me was stepping up to that same mic and asking Henry if he thought there was ever a chance that this show would ever jump the shark? Rob Huebel and Rob Corddry yelled something like “slam dunk! nailed it!” and high-fived each other. The panel laughed, the crowd laughed… Anyway, now that I’ve written it down, it seems kind of lame to ask. I hope it was actually funnier there and not just how it’s playing in my head. Either way, Henry answered and said he was proud to be the only guy who’s ever literally jumped the shark twice. I shook his hand after the panel and thanked him for answering my silly question. I told him the episode when the Fonz met Mork was one of the biggest moments of my childhood. He smiled and said “thank you”.
What else can you say to that?
After the panels, it was back to the showroom floor. MOAR!
Kotobukiya:
There was an amazing little booth featuring the work of Tim Burton, more specifically his latest film, Frankenweenie. Seeing all the various minatures and the amount of detail that went into them was something any toy collector could appreciate.
SATURDAY
I honestly can’t remember much about Saturday. I know I was there, I know I took pictures because there’s a huge assortment of evidence. If memory serves, I spent most of the day walking around artist booths and chatting it up with various people from ILM, Sideshow and WETA Workshop.
The man of Weta, Richard Taylor was hanging around their booth. I really enjoyed talking with him.
We saw this a lot.
DC Direct:
The 13 year old me, just peed himself a little. Jim Lee was giving drawings lessons at the DC Direct Booth. I stood there in awe for a good 45 minutes just watching the man effortlessly work. Yup, he’s still an amazing comic book artist.
SUNDAY
Sunday was a very short day. The plane I was meant to be on left at 4 which due to logistics meant I had to leave the con around noon. We spent the most of it in the designer vinyl area. So much cool stuff!
So wanted this guy.
One of the cooler encounters at Comic Con was meeting Mike Mignola.
Mark Buckingham, one of the more prolific artist of my wife and my favorite comic series Fables, does a quick, lovely sketch for us.
THIS was awesome. Super-7 aquired some original molds from unmade classic Aliens figures and are going to do a full run of figures based off them. So retro, so cool! Can’t wait for these!
That’s it! Our SDCC 2012 Recap has come to a close. I’m looking forward to next year. I have a notch in my belt so I should be a little more prepared for the onslaught. It was fantastic trip and an experience I’d recommend to anyone who loves comics, toys, games and/or movies.
We have dozens more photos you can peruse in our RTR SDCC Flickr Gallery here. We’ll also be adding many, many more over the course of the week.
Next up is our massive Cosplay feature! Stay tuned!
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Rad Toy Review 