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 Hanging out in the Man-Cave
 The Ryan action figure?
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August 29, 2010 Comic-Con. I emphasize the Con part. I just got home from Geekfest 2010. I've always called it this because it's a conglomeration of comic books, sci-fi, horror movies, and video games all rolled into one nerdy convention. I've also been known to refer to it as Never Gonna Touch A Boobie Fest. It's been about five years since I've been to one of these things, and I was pretty excited to go. I like to see the people dressed up in costumes parading around, and sometimes you can meet some neat-o celebrities too. The event is actually called FanExpo, which struck me as silly this year because at no point did it feel like this event was for the fans. FanExpo 2010 was clearly sponsored with the intent of squeezing disposable income out of basement-dwelling nerds, and people like me who try to buy back their childhood. That's not to say it doesn't have it's merits. Geekfest still has some great attractions which I'll get to in a moment, but FanExpo was a poorly organized shit-show that left many geeks with a bad taste in their mouth. This event has been happening for years. The organizers surely know the size and scope of it and should've had a larger venue to accomodate the plethora of self-proclaimed geeks that arrived by the dozens. When I got there it was 1:30 in the afternoon and I didn't get inside until nearly 3 o'clock. Waiting in line to buy tickets was not only confusing, but also annoying. There we were, five people away from the entrance and just waiting for some people to leave so the building wouldn't be at "capacity" any more.
Well "capacity" is a funny thing, because how do they determine it when there are several different doors for re-entry? How do the doormen determine that someone is actually leaving and not just going outside for a smoke? Now here's where I got really sympathetic with the people who had gotten there before me. Outisde was a line for re-entry, meanwhile they were still admitting new geeks to the convention. Talk about a cash-grab! Don't get me wrong, if not for that I probably would've never gotten in at all but this goes back to my point about having a better venue. There was nearly a riot outside when the re-entry line realized they had been ripped off and they started chanting for refunds. I don't blame them. Like I said before, this whole thing was a big cash grab. C'mon, $2.50 for a can of Coke is just ri-goddam-diculous. Geekfest always has their line-up of celebrities and artists that you can meet. Some of them are pretty cool. This year I met Adam West who played Batman in the '60s. He's looking not too bad for an old man. He was quiet, but nice. And he gave me a fist-pump. His assistant did most of the talking for him. I didn't ask him for an autograph, mostly because I don't feel the need to have an autograph to remember the experience, but also because he was charging $40 for a signed photo. I can understand these has-been celebrities needing to charge a fee, but when the fans already paid $35 for admission and however much in transportation to get there, I feel like $40 is a rip-off for 40 seconds of their time with a fan.
I snagged some shirts, including a vintage Hulk Rules shirt from the early 90s. It might just become my new around-the-house shirt because it's really comfortable. I also bought a Superman glass to drink Pepsi/Fireball combinations. Shopping at these conventions can be tough because of the amount of people. If you're going there to shop, you should really have a list in mind of what you want. There's just too much to see and it almost becomes sensory overload. Also, if the organizers did a better job of grouping like retailers together then you wouldn't breeze by so many booths. I just have no interest in anime stuff, sorry Rob Trentadue.
Like I said, there really was some cool stuff there though. I don't want to sound like a big-time downer. The Hasbro toy company had this really neat area where you can climb inside a glass case and get your picture taken as though you're a Star Wars action figure. Check out mine on the left. Now that's what a FanExpo is all about! Give the fans something they can take home and cherish. Thank them for all the money they spend on your plastic and paper swag. But the best part of the whole thing is really seeing people dressed up in costumes. The corporate sponsors always hire some sexy models to dress up as superheroines to please the fanboys and give them boners to ride home on. The fans dress up in their own home-made costumes, even if some of them shouldn't wear Wonder Woman costumes. But by far my favorite this year was seeing two kids dressed up as Batman and Robin. They were just so happy to be there and be a part of it all. It's really nice to see kids at a comic book convention, because that's what it's really all about. - Ryan
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