San Diego Comic Con 2011 Max Toy / Mark Nagata Wrap Up !
Comic Con 2011 is now fini ... and as i look back at this years con, I have to say it was way too much packed into one crazy day !
You'll notice a lack of toy and actual convention pics this time around. Mostly cause I was having meetings with artists and/or simply trying to enjoy myself rather than pulling out my camera or phone every two seconds to take a picture. One day is not enough time, and I never made it to several booths on my list... oh well, next year.
This was the 3rd time this year I've made the trip down south .. the other two times were for Disneyland and the Alien Argus show at Toy Art Gallery. Going farther down south to San Diego adds another 1.5-2 hours depending on traffic to a 6 hour car ride. Highway 5 is the chosen route and the most direct .. but as you can see is mostly dry farmland for the bulk of the drive... yawn ...
After meeting up with family, we made our way to Chick-Fil-A for tasty chicken burgers and soup .. today we were greeted by their mascot Cow ... Moo ...get it they don't serve beef, so the Cow sez eat more chicken ..haha ...
The view from our hotel was very nice and if I told you it was Hawaii, you might believe me ;-P
With box full of Max Toy goodies, we make our way to the convention center to meet up with Kirby of Rotofugi fame ...
Kirby and crew are kind enough to not only sell this stuff but host me the next day at their booth. As you can see, i should be lifting with my legs and NOT my back .. oops !
We gave each other a man hug, which was photographed but I decided not to post it (!) Haha ... !
Jump to Thursday morning and my family and myself made our way to check in, get our badges for Comic Con. This process was very fast and easy .. getting tickets for next year was not and needless to say we did not get any. I'm thankful for all the long time Max Toy collectors who came out to support me as well as many new faces. Actually I'm rather surprised at all the new faces that did show up ... I was amazed that practically all my customs had sold on preview night, so there wasn't much to show in the display case.
I brought along some new minis, this Cat Kaiju called Negora is by Japanese women artist Konatsu .. I'll blog more about this project later in the week, but needless to say it's going to be awesome !! Meow !!
and of course this micro Kaiju Eyezon .. we are making whats called a mashi-gata mold, basically many figures on one mold for production. Plus paint masks ;-) Should be ready end of August, and at a nice retail price.
Ok my main rant for this con was the awful line Max and I waited in to pick up a toy we pre bought online from Matty Collector ( Mattel ) web store. Thinking this would save us time and trouble .. Oh boy we were soooo wrong. In fact, it sucked up almost an hour of our time. Just finding the darn place which was in the hotel next door was a challenge ... at one point we waited in the wrong line only to have the guy at the door look at my email confirmation and say, "..whats this ? " Idiot ... we found the right line and it appeared that everyone around us must have been dealers as they picked up cart loads of stuff... us... we had one figure to pick up.. and the woman took one look at us and said, "thats it ?" ;-P
I won't be doing this again .. my time is more valuable, and I'll gladly pay a dealer for the figure next time to gain my hour plus back.
I briefly caught a glimpse of the DKE both, where some Max Toys were on view along with this soon to be offered Kaiju Dualos.
The main purpose of the trip though, was a family reunion and vacation.. so off to the beaches we went ... nice weather...
I looked down and found this Kaiju in the sand next to me ,haha ... must be destiny ...
at the hotel by the pool, some much needed relaxing times ... my pale legs .. soon to be burnt to a crisp ...
We made our way to a big shopping area right on the border with San Diego and Mexico.. in fact was the last USA exit (!) With my nephews ( and Max ) now teenagers, the shopping has now turned to clothes ! Mostly skater types of styles ... I did manage to buy a new watch ;-P
From this location you can actually see Russia ... I mean Mexico ;-P
I had the most amazing Napoleon dessert in Little Italy ....
and near my sisters, I had to pick up some Choco bars ;-)
I love Palm Trees ...
with that the trip was over and we headed back ... the temp topped 101 degrees on the way back home !!!
my burnt forehead made me look like Sinestro ...
Seeing the windmill, meant it was time for Anderson's Pea Soup !
After traveling this route between Northern and Southern California for 47 years, it was good to see some things have not changed... slurp....!
You'll notice a lack of toy and actual convention pics this time around. Mostly cause I was having meetings with artists and/or simply trying to enjoy myself rather than pulling out my camera or phone every two seconds to take a picture. One day is not enough time, and I never made it to several booths on my list... oh well, next year.
This was the 3rd time this year I've made the trip down south .. the other two times were for Disneyland and the Alien Argus show at Toy Art Gallery. Going farther down south to San Diego adds another 1.5-2 hours depending on traffic to a 6 hour car ride. Highway 5 is the chosen route and the most direct .. but as you can see is mostly dry farmland for the bulk of the drive... yawn ...
After meeting up with family, we made our way to Chick-Fil-A for tasty chicken burgers and soup .. today we were greeted by their mascot Cow ... Moo ...get it they don't serve beef, so the Cow sez eat more chicken ..haha ...
The view from our hotel was very nice and if I told you it was Hawaii, you might believe me ;-P
With box full of Max Toy goodies, we make our way to the convention center to meet up with Kirby of Rotofugi fame ...
Kirby and crew are kind enough to not only sell this stuff but host me the next day at their booth. As you can see, i should be lifting with my legs and NOT my back .. oops !
We gave each other a man hug, which was photographed but I decided not to post it (!) Haha ... !
Jump to Thursday morning and my family and myself made our way to check in, get our badges for Comic Con. This process was very fast and easy .. getting tickets for next year was not and needless to say we did not get any. I'm thankful for all the long time Max Toy collectors who came out to support me as well as many new faces. Actually I'm rather surprised at all the new faces that did show up ... I was amazed that practically all my customs had sold on preview night, so there wasn't much to show in the display case.
I brought along some new minis, this Cat Kaiju called Negora is by Japanese women artist Konatsu .. I'll blog more about this project later in the week, but needless to say it's going to be awesome !! Meow !!
and of course this micro Kaiju Eyezon .. we are making whats called a mashi-gata mold, basically many figures on one mold for production. Plus paint masks ;-) Should be ready end of August, and at a nice retail price.
Ok my main rant for this con was the awful line Max and I waited in to pick up a toy we pre bought online from Matty Collector ( Mattel ) web store. Thinking this would save us time and trouble .. Oh boy we were soooo wrong. In fact, it sucked up almost an hour of our time. Just finding the darn place which was in the hotel next door was a challenge ... at one point we waited in the wrong line only to have the guy at the door look at my email confirmation and say, "..whats this ? " Idiot ... we found the right line and it appeared that everyone around us must have been dealers as they picked up cart loads of stuff... us... we had one figure to pick up.. and the woman took one look at us and said, "thats it ?" ;-P
I won't be doing this again .. my time is more valuable, and I'll gladly pay a dealer for the figure next time to gain my hour plus back.
I briefly caught a glimpse of the DKE both, where some Max Toys were on view along with this soon to be offered Kaiju Dualos.
The main purpose of the trip though, was a family reunion and vacation.. so off to the beaches we went ... nice weather...
I looked down and found this Kaiju in the sand next to me ,haha ... must be destiny ...
at the hotel by the pool, some much needed relaxing times ... my pale legs .. soon to be burnt to a crisp ...
We made our way to a big shopping area right on the border with San Diego and Mexico.. in fact was the last USA exit (!) With my nephews ( and Max ) now teenagers, the shopping has now turned to clothes ! Mostly skater types of styles ... I did manage to buy a new watch ;-P
From this location you can actually see Russia ... I mean Mexico ;-P
I had the most amazing Napoleon dessert in Little Italy ....
and near my sisters, I had to pick up some Choco bars ;-)
I love Palm Trees ...
with that the trip was over and we headed back ... the temp topped 101 degrees on the way back home !!!
my burnt forehead made me look like Sinestro ...
Seeing the windmill, meant it was time for Anderson's Pea Soup !
After traveling this route between Northern and Southern California for 47 years, it was good to see some things have not changed... slurp....!
posted by Ultraman Collector at 9:42 AM
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