Last weekend the New York Comic Con brought us news and images of all of our favorite toys and comics. As always, we made sure to bring you the most detailed coverage of events and the best pictures of the action figures that will be destined to be on you shelf in the coming year.
However, we also wanted to let everyone who was not lucky enought to attend the Con in person what the experience was like through the eyes of your fellow Fwooshers. Read on to find out what the people in your community thought of the show, from experienced con-goers to newbies. This is the Fwoosh Experience.
Simun Sez:
What I did at NYCC (only went on Sat):
Stumbled in around 2:30, nobody checked my badge or
anything which I found a little strange.
Hit the main booths and checked out the new stuff from
Marvel and DC.
walked around and picked up some free stuff from the
smaller booths.
watched a costume contest where %50 of the costumes
were anime stuff I never heard of.
went to the upstairs level, sat down for a bit and
drank a beer.
checked out some of the independent artists stuff and
a few of the dealers (prices weren’t great).
watched a part of a Jedi show were they re-enacted
some scenes from Star Wars but got bored.
ran into Piffy and the Canons, walked around with them
for awhile.
meet up with ig64 and Greg, stood around and bs’ed
until they started closing.
went out for a few drinks with Piffy, Grant, ig64,
Nate_Dayspring, and Jeff.
then went home. All in all a pretty fun day.
TheJoker remarked:
I dont know! There was so many things great about the con. Meeting with other Fwooshers, meeting and talking to industry insiders, writers, actors, artists, directors. All of these things, plus the fans, are what makes a con a con.
I guess one of my favorite moments was getting my Hellboy 2 poster (limited to the first 2100 people!) signed as well as getting my Ninja Turtles signed.
View more of TheJokers’ pictures HERE .
mat-chow said:
It was my first Con and it was awesome. The lines for everything were outrageous- I wound up not bothering with autographs. It wasn’t worth it to me to spend literally the whole day waiting, especially with so much else to see.
Right as my girlfriend and I came through the line to enter the con, STAN LEE was entering the building accompanied by a few people. He was on an escalator about 20 feet away. He waved to us and I managed to get a quick picture of him at the bottom. Now I’m a DC guy all the way but everyone knows a legend when one walks by. So that was the first awesome moment. Then it was off to the Mattel panel, which was covered in great detail. We wound up skipping out around 11:45 so that we could get decent seats at the DC Comics panel. And that was great. Grant Morrison, J.G. Jones, Gail Simone, Geoff Johns, Stephane Roux, and of course Dan DiDio! By this point in the day we had had quite a bit of awesomeness. So after lunch we had nothing else "scheduled". This was when I met up with 4H at the Mattel booth and saw the new figures. I talked with Cornboy for a few minutes and my girlfriend took a few pictures. He said something vague about 2009 and JSA figures. Then we checked out DC’s booth. The lines for autographs were ridiculous, but I did meet and get pictures with Dan DiDio and Paul Levitz!! They were both super friendly and quite approachable. The rest of the day was kind of a blur of wandering the entire floor checking out everything. We did stop back to the Mattel booth where I had a conversation with Scott. He was very friendly as well. We talked about the fwoosh. He said he checks after work most days to see what everyone loves or doesn’t love. I hit him with a request for Ted Kord and he said not to worry. He considers him an A-list character. So how’s THAT? My girl got some photos of ToyGuru in action as he attempted to adjust the wave 4 figures in the case. It was fairly comical actually. Wonder Woman had fallen over so he stood her back up. He tried to adjust Ares and Cyborg went down. He adjusted Despero and Cyborg went down again. By the time he had them all back up a small crowd was watching( and I think he was breaking a sweat). I also met fellow Fwooshers Piffy and Joe Ace. Or JoeAce? So having the opportunity to check this whole thing out was fantastic. We’re most definitely going again next year!!
canonball brings us words and pictures:
NYCC 2008
We left for NYC at 6:00 am Saturday morning still groggy from the effects of the Tylenol PM %@#! we had with dinner Friday night. There was virtually no traffic until we hitNYCC , so we made it there in near-record time and all fears of the Pope’s visit turning NYC into a traffic hell-on-earth were quicklyassuaged. We made our way to the Javits Center, got our badges at about 8:30, and nearly died when we saw the actual line to get in. My primary worry was the availability of the TMNT box sets. Being that they were limited to just 500, my stomach about dropped right out my butt when I saw there were easily a couple thousand people already in line ahead of us. Well, with that I had resigned myself to the real possibility of missing out on the set. In the time remaining before the start, the line quickly doubled, then tripled, thenquadrupled behind us. When the doors finally opened at 10:00, we were easily among the first 20% in the door.
Once inside, we were in a mad panic to find the Neca booth. Canongirl took off straight into the main room while I fumbled with 3 different maps trying to keep up. Turns out the Neca booth was the first one we passed, so we bolted back, got in line, and got our set. Whew! Next we needed to get to the Mattel booth for the DC exclusives. Now, bear in mind my head is absolutely spinning at this point as I attempt to take everything in. The crowd is still very thin and we’re able to move around quickly and easily and I’m trying to look at everything I can as we pass. In the Mattel booth, I’m on my hands and knees trying to get a good look at Solomon Grundy andCanongirl is taking pictures of it all. Someone taps me on the shoulder and asks where I got the TMNT set. I turn to answer, and am astonished to discover the person asking me this is none other than Seth Green! I point him to theNeca booth and then manage to ask, "Are you who I think you are?" All the while I’m kicking Canongirl to get her on her feet to meet Mr. Green. Between trying to get all the exclusives in a hurry, taking in all the new DCUC , and now meeting Seth Green all within like the first 15 minutes of being in the show, my brain is in a full pretzel knot. I manage then to utter something really smooth along the lines of "Me have picture with you now?" and he was gracious enough to oblige. He was then cornered and surrounded by otherfanboys, and we made our way to the AFX booth for the Civil War Minimates. A pretty cool start to the show.
The time for the Mattel/DC panel was quickly approaching, so our fevered pace was not about to let up. We look at the schedule, find the room number, but can find no mention of panel locations on any of the three maps we have! It’s 11:00 and it’s starting, so we’re freaking out. We might miss it. We havePiffy’s cell number and thankfully he’s there and was some help in directing us, but he had a hard time finding it as well, so we were still lost. Finally we find an information booth and they tell us where to go. It shouldn’t be this hard! We get there and the slide show has just begun. Standing room only at this point, and I have my camera out and am snapping pics of everything oblivious to the fact that, asPiffy informed me after the panel, cameras were not allowed. After the panel we met up with Piffy and Grant and made our way to the main floor.
We spent some time perusing the overpriced delights in the dealer’s area, and as 1:30 approached (my time to have my TMNT set signed by Peter Laird), we made our way back to the Neca booth. While in line, I’m making small talk with the guys in front of me, and I notice my box set is different from theirs. I was given the regular set that is available in stores, not theNYCC exclusive. Before my turn with Mr. Laird, I have to straighten this out with the Neca people and they give me a new set and apologize. Unfortunately, I had already had THAT set signed by the 4 Horsemen, so that meant I was going to have to track them down again. Ugh. After meeting Mr. Laird, we bolt over to the Heavy Metal booth where Kevin Eastman is doing a signing. The line isn’t long at all, but he’s doing full sketches for people, so it’s definitely not moving fast either.Canongirl leaves to secure us seats in the theater for the Hellboy 2 preview/panel and I continue to wait. I’m now getting panicked text messages from her due to a near melee situation in front of the theater. "Can you hurry???" It’s almost my turn with Mr. Eastman, so there’s no way I’m leaving the line after having waited this long, but here texts are becoming more and more of the "You have to come now!" variety. Finally get my box signed and I bolt to the theater.
Mr. Del Toro is there with key cast members and is a very entertaining speaker. When a 15-year-old boy asked him a question, he cut him short to say "Your pubes are popping! I envy you!" It was hilarious and the cast, particularly Doug Jones and Selma Blair, were mortified. It was great.Hellboy 2 looks so awesome.
We meet back up with Piffy and Grant and take a break from the con to eat at Whole Foods. First food in over 12 hours. It was a most welcome treat.
Once back at the con we all just take it easy and take a close look at some key booths. Piffy has a long talk with the Shocker Toys guys and we’re just ambling around the general area. Back at the Marvel booth, it’s mob scene. Tons of people, lots of yelling, and just a very fevered atmosphere. We’re looking at theHML case when someone asks Piffy where he got his Fwoosh t-shirt and guess what? It’s Jesse Falcon! We introduce ourselves and have a nice chat with Jesse and a couple other Hasbro reps about the state of the line. Jesse was very informative and was more than willing to answer any questions we had, as were the Hasbro reps. Here Simun joins our crew and we head back to the 4 Horsemen Studios booth so I can have them sign my TMNT set again.
By now, the con is winding down. People are leaving in droves and booths are starting to be packed up. We bump into IG64 and have a brief chat before saying our goodbyes and heading back to the car for the long-ish drive home. We’re exhausted, in pain, but thoroughly elated from the events of the day. It was simply a really great experience. My only regret is not meeting more Fwooshers!
Thanks, guys! We hope you have enjoyed reading about the NYCC Fwoosh experience, it sounds like there were lots of meet-ups and Fwoosh presence at the panels. Stay tuned, we might have enough stories for a Part II if we get further submissions later this week!