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On July 14, I had the chance to attend the Sci-Fi expo in Plano, TX and I
had quite an interesting time. I arrived at 9:15am, extremely early even for
me, and tickets were supposed to be on sale at 9:30am, but they were already
selling them. I picked up the VIP admission for $10. It allowed me to get
in to the dealers area and get autographs from the various television
stars in attendance. They had about four people from Battlestar Galactica
including Richard Hatch and Dirk Benedict; Mira Furlan from Bablyon 5,
and a couple of actors that played Gowron and Martok from Deep Space Nine.
They were all signing on the VIP autograph stage. Kenny Baker (the actor
who plays R2-D2 in the Star Wars films) and a shuttle astronaut were
signing autographs out on the dealers floor. After paying and getting my
VIP grab bag of stuff, I go wait in line for the dealers room to open.
Unlike A-Kon, the line for the dealers room was not all that long and they
actually managed to open the room on time even with a minor power
snafu.
I hit the dealers room and do a quick recon before I start purchasing
things. The web site advertised that dealers would have all sorts of
things from Science Fiction to Wrestling so I came in with a list of
things for me and my brothers. After looking around half the room, I came
to the realization that they should have called this the Star Wars and GI
Joe expo because virtually every dealer, with the exception of maybe half
a dozen, were selling action figures from either the old G.I.Joe line or
new and old Star Wars lines. My brothers lists consisted of DVD's of
various Anime and Neon Genesis Evangelion figures. Not a single dealer
was selling anything related to DVD's, and I manage to find one Neon Genesis
Evangelion figure, and that is it for those two. So now I go shopping for
me.
My list consisted of five things: WWF Raw Deal CCG foils, various rare
cards from the Star Wars and Star Trek CCG's, new Power of the Jedi and
Power of the Force figures and G.I. Joe figures from the 1980's lines. For
the first three things there was nothing at all for me. That left the
action figures. After looking at tables full of the new figures at
outrageous prices; most had a 4 x markup from what I would pay retail for
new figures, I stumble across a dealer set up by the autograph stage that
has them for $2 above retail. This is about the same price you would find
them at in a store in the mall, and I am willing to pay that. An added plus
about this dealer is that it was run by attractive women. Great prices and
attractive women, I don't know why this dealer was not getting more
business. I pick up the IG-88 and Scout Trooper figures for $17 total.
Relishing in finding figures I knew I could never find in stores in a
million years, I went on the hunt for G.I. Joe figures.
It was about this time that they opened the autograph line, but they were
doing it a special way. When you got your VIP admission, they put a
wristband on you with a number. It was this number that determined when you would get
access to the autograph line. Right now they were only letting in people
with the number 36100-36125. I was 36260 so I had a while to wait. Along
with announcing the autograph line open, they had the NASA astronaut
and Kenny Baker signing as well. I had toyed with the idea of getting Kenny
Baker's autograph the night before I came, and let it pass because I
really did not have anything I wanted him to autograph. I toyed with the
idea a while more while I was wandering around, but passed when I saw
the line and only one person was selling R2-D2 action figures and it was the
ultra bad version from Episode 1. I pass and continue my shopping.
Most of the G.I. Joe figures I want right now are from the first few
years of the line, and lots of dealers had figures from that time, but the
problem is that I am rather picky about the condition of the figure and the accessories that
come with the figure. You see, it bugs me when you have dealers that are
trying to sell figures with accessories that are not original. Hasbro had a
great marketing idea in the 1980's when they released a carded package of
replacement weapons that came with that years figures. So when a child
lost the weapon, backpack or other accessory for their figure, all the
parent had to do was buy this pack and they had replacements for the
figure. The only thing is that Hasbro made the replacements different
colors, and now some dealers are trying to pass the replacements off as
the originals that came with that figure. I am kind of uneasy because my
memory is bad and I only know the correct colors of the accessories to
vary few of the figures. I thumb through one dealers choices and see
that he has a complete Blowtorch figure with the filecard. I grab it up and ask
the price; Twelve dollars. I take it and pay the man a $20. He does not
have enough change so he runs off and leaves his wife/girlfriend to man
the table along with some other people. This brings up the awkward
conversation between me and her. She asks if I am a collector. I say I'm
just getting into it after a long time. She says that he has almost all of
them, but she wishes that he would sell them. In the action figure
collecting community, this seems to be a mantra for most wives/
girlfriends. He comes back and gives me my change and we go through
the same thing I had with the wife/girlfriend earlier. He says he's missing
three figures before he has a complete set.
As I wander more, I come up on the guy that runs the comic book shop
that my brother Nate goes to every week. He's got a box of G.I. Joe scraps in
front of him. I rummage around it for a while and find a figure that most collectors have
a hard time finding; the Baroness. She was one of the half-dozen total
female figures out of the entire run and the most popular. I pick up the
figure and find no looseness in the figure (that means a good O-Ring), I
move the arms and legs and see that the joints are tight and her paint job
is still intact. On top of all that, I find that she has her backpack on
her. I keep a death grip on this figure as I look through the box for her
rifle or the makings of an almost complete figure. I pick out the Spirit
figure and manage to find his rifle and backpack, but I have a dilemma.
There are two versions of the rifle and I cannot remember which color the
original is. I go with the light green gun and since the backpack is the
same color I hope that I grabbed the right backpack (since it was the only
one there.) I pay the twenty dollars the man wanted and I go about my
merry way.
At this point, I do my inventory of money. I'm down to $40 out of $100
and I know I'm going to need $15 for the autographed picture from Mira
Furlan. So I wander a bit more and hit a table that has a lot of the rarer figures from
the new Star Wars line. He's got the Death Star Trooper figure and
the Courscant Guard figure and those are two gaping holes in my
collection, and I ask prices. He offers $17 for both. I pay the man and am so happy. I
look on the back of the card and there is some sticker that is in another
language. At first I feel bad that I could not get the originals, but I
feel better when I know that I have filled a big hole in my collection. It
was about this time they announce the 25 number range for getting
autographs. I dash over to the back door of the dealers room that leads to
the back hallway where you wait in line to get on stage to get your
autograph(s). While I am in line, I am behind a woman that I recognize,
but I cannot place her face. Then I make mention of wanting to know the
guests for Uncommoncon, and she says she won the costume contest
last year. The line moves along rather quickly and I get my autographed
picture and a cover and make one last stop before I leave.
I really hated to go to this dealer since he was one of those that I
mentioned above that was selling their new Star Wars action figures for
the 4x mark up, but I was not buying figures. He was selling plastic cases
that you could use to protect your loose or carded action figures. I ask
about what size to get so I can store my on card Return of the Jedi Boba
Fett. He gives me the information and I buy one of those and some to put
my loose G.I. Joe figures in. After all that, I leave to my car to enjoy
everything I purchased and head on home.
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