This isn’t going to be the typical long conference review. Instead, it will focus on a few key items of interest and notable experiences, the photos will take care of the rest. First, let me state this was my maiden Comic Con voyage. I’ve been to several E3s, however. To me, it felt smaller in scale than 2006 and earlier E3s. Also, even though sold out, fortunately it wasn’t as crowded as I anticipated. That doesn’t mean there were not hour long lines because the one to see the Heroes season 2 preview was insane! By the way, the Heroes HD DVD looks amazing.
Dark Horse had an excellent booth with Weta collectibles nicely displayed. Weta products are really top quality collectibles and I wish they would get 1:6 scale action figure lines. I think they would be very competitive with top figure manufacturers like Hot Toys and Sideshow. Plus, with Peter Jackson’s involvement with the Halo franchise I would love to get a fully articulated 12 inch Master Chief!
For me the highlight of the conference was the Sideshow booth and, in particular, a small display of Resident Evil 1:6 scale action figures. These looked amazing and are must-buys. I was also impressed with the Hot Toys and Medicom displays at the Sideshow booth (Sideshow distributes some of their properties in the USA). The Medicom Darth Maul looks great with a very sinister look on his face. Also, Hot Toys had a new Predator 2 figure that has not been announced. This will be another must-buy. Other impressive items were Asajj Ventress, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Faramir. I was also fortunate enough to get some free Sideshow gift cards. Time to go shopping and Faramir is calling my name!
Next up was the Gentle Giant booth, a very moving showcase of premium statues and busts from all the best licenses such as Star Wars, Lord of the Rings and Halo. I kick myself for not purchasing a classic Ringwraith bust on Saturday assuming it would be in stock on Sunday. Of course it wasn’t so I missed out. Standout items included a whole slew of Halo’s Master Chief and a couple Tusken Raiders from Star Wars.
I visited a couple panels on various subjects. One in particular really stood out, but in a negative way. The topic focused on running a Web site for movie reviews and information. The panel consisted of about 8 contributors to these Web sites. The site’s were IGN.com, aintitcool.com and more. A majority of the early half of the session (it was 1.5 hours long) revolved around bitterness in the online community. This was aimed at larger sites and publications such as Hollywood Reporter and Variety.
Understandable, the panel expressed their issues with their competitors not giving them credit for breaking a story. This was fine to a point, but how it was handled was very unprofessional. For a group of writers trying to get credit from the industry to be treated as professionals it’s no wonder why some may look down on some of them. Their delivery was laced with the worst profanities being spilled out constantly. Considering Comic Con is an all-ages event and the meeting room had young children in it, I found this very offensive and extremely unprofessional. I’d imagine if Hollywood Reporter or Variety were delivering a message on a panel they would not swear and present themselves professionally. If this crew wants the respect they feel they deserve then perhaps they need to be a little more respectful themselves.
While browsing the halls outside the main exhibition, various groups of emo kids held signs offering “free hugs”. Being a peaceful and passive family man I thought this was an act of kindness and fully acceptable (although not for me to personally experience). However, after an overload of emo huggers spotted every 20 steps it quickly came to the point of wanting to punch the next overly emotional embracing youth in the face :-)
Overall I really enjoyed my time at Comic Con 2007. I’m already thinking about what is in store for next year! Enjoy the rest of the photos and post any questions or comments you may have.
