scenes from New York Comic Con 2008: stuff to buy
Geeks are nothing if not consumers of cool crap. Following are pictures of some of the intriguing stuff I saw for sale at New York Comic Con. Of course I bought some stuff for myself too. It was a silly indulgence, but I couldn’t resist picking up a toy sonic screwdriver -- it’s just like the Doctor’s! Except without the power to do anything other than make a neat noise and glow blue on the end. *sigh*
But the most fascinating toy I saw at the con was My Beating Heart, a soft, cuddly pillow with a battery-powered heartbeat. Now, that sounds a little weird at first, but it’s impossible to describe how relaxing and soothing it is to hug one of these. Everyone I forced to try mine made a face at first, and then they went, “Oooh” once they felt the heartbeat -- it’s the result of some sort of secret technology that isn’t like anything you’ve ever felt before. It’s sooo lovely. You can buy them online -- tell them I sent you.
And now the rest of the cool junk:
Lots of comics, of course:
I spoke to Paul from PopFun during the early hours of the con, when only press and industry were allowed to wander the show floor, and I told him that I thought he was gonna do really well, since all us Xer geeks remember rushing to Burger King to get superhero glasses. And every time I passed his booth later in the con, he was furiously wrapping glasses and taking money:
Lifesize bust. The Post-it next to the one reading “$1500” reads “Hello My Name Is Anakin”:
Cute funky hats from Basiik:
Oops, a bit fuzzy, but you get the idea. Geek Box makes display cases for all your geek treasures:
Bargains:
More T-shirts than you could wear in your whole life:
Really? High School Musical?
Want:
Want:
Not so much:
Cons: where the Cthulhu and the Pokemon lie down together:
Some of these were probably mine, a long time ago in a backyard far away:
Rawr!
The weird plush things are coming for us:
(see also: Boogily Heads)
Other stuff that intrigued me that I didn’t get images of:
• The designer USB Flash drives from Mimobot (like this Boba Fett one). Funky!
• Collectibles Insurance Services, which will insure your geek treasures, which aren’t, apparently, generally covered under a homeowner’s policy
• Geek Bouteek, which has some of the cleverest geek T-shirts I’ve ever seen
• The tiny talismans from VooDoo Baby. At another convention recently I bought “Z,” who is supposed to “liberate you from clingy people so you can get a little space.” I don’t really have a problem with clingy people -- I just like that he looks like the Dread Pirate Roberts.
UPDATED: Here's the image of the Star Wars toys I meant to post above, where the wall of army guys is now:
(Technorati tags: New York Comic Con)
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comments
posted by joy (Tue Apr 22 08, 10:01PM)
Ack! I so wanted to buy a VooDoo baby! I went back to that booth like 5 times, but I couldn't figure out which one I wanted. Each time I was drawn to Albert (Einstein)...and each time I walked away. Now I'm sad.
I'm surprised you didn't mention the Hamlet/that Scottish play/Romeo&Juliet/Julius Ceasar manga! Again, i walked away.
And, the one thing I was shocked at was the incredible dearth of Doctor Who stuff - we ended our Saturday night running over to Forbidden Planet, where everything DW was on sale 35% off.
I will admit to buying those 3 for $10 cheesy nametags - one of Captain Mal, Captain Jack Harkness and one of Ten/Tardis.
posted by Hdj (Tue Apr 22 08, 10:30PM)
Hey Mj your pictures dont do the convention any justice as to how packed it was. I dont really like all the chibi anime stuff.I got to see Stan Lee and Tim Roth,
I stacked up on many of the indy comic book titles, also I got to meet Steve Niles the artist from 30 days of Night.Did you see any of the Hellboy 2 panel? Guillermo del Toro was a riot, he had all the monsters from the movie, it was pretty sweet.
Also that picture of figures are GI joes not Star wars,I don't see you having a collection of little army guys.
posted by StrangeAgent (Tue Apr 22 08, 10:35PM)
Sigh...I need to start going back to cons...
posted by MaryAnn (Wed Apr 23 08, 12:40AM)
Hey, you're right. But there were Star Wars guys there at that dealer too.
I have more pictures of crowds and people and stuff. They're coming...
posted by Mo (Wed Apr 23 08, 10:52AM)
A sonic screwdriver. I'm jealous- is that more silly?
posted by MaryAnn (Wed Apr 23 08, 11:54AM)
Wanna be more jealous? It comes with psychic paper!
Hey, I haven't gotten to talking about comics yet. But I did see that manga, and I was disappointed in it.
posted by Mo (Wed Apr 23 08, 11:59AM)
hehee... psychic paper. That's brilliant.
posted by JSW (Wed Apr 23 08, 10:17PM)
You had to go to a convention to get a Sonic Screwdriver in New York? They've got them all over the place in regular retailers here in Toronto. I bought one myself on impulse last year.
And it's not just a blue light. It's actually a blacklight, and it comes with a pen nib that uses invisible ink that glows in UV, which is kinda cool.
posted by MaryAnn (Thu Apr 24 08, 1:18AM)
No, I just actually hardly even go into a science fiction store. We've got some great ones in NYC -- but it's been years since I've been in any of them.
Right. You write with the UV nib on the "psychic paper," then you can read what you've written with the light on the other end.
posted by pedro (Mon Apr 28 08, 5:01AM)
WHAT ARE YOU DOING!? DON'T OPEN THE TOYS!!!!!!!! THEY'LL BE WORTH MILLIONS SOME DAY!
posted by MaryAnn (Mon Apr 28 08, 4:37PM)
No, they won't. Because every dork is saving all his toys thinking he's gonna make a killing on eBay eventually, except the market will be flooded with every other dork doing the same thing. Meanwhile, I'm getting a huge kick out of my sonic screwdriver.