[Originally Typed 2-20-07]

WEDNESDAY at Toy Fair, February 20, 2008.

Twas Wednesday that the weekend really fell into perspective, and now, writing this in closing, I have really come to realize what makes these trips worth while…a realization I’ll revisit at the end.

Frankly, I woke up a bit relieved that the trip would be over and I could return home to living with one woman instead of 4 men, and I was incredibly pleased to know that I was going to be kissing my wife before day’s end. The day started out quite differently than the others, for toady we met with the owner of our site and spoke about the show. It was here that we began to discuss some concrete ideas and really make a game plan for the show’s continued coverage in the upcoming weeks. Then, I met with the owner alone for a few minutes, and that my friends, was a big deal. I cannot go into details, but it was a very good and encouraging time.

Wednesday’s time at the show only got better, as today became a day of generosity throughout the land, with company’s throwing product samples and ideas my way, and I got loads of great, fun stuff. It was wonderful. In fact, one of the couples/toy companies I had met earlier the week gave me one of their busts just because they thought I was a great guy and would really do well covering their product. How cool was that??? “Very.” is the correct response, my friend. The answer is “very, cool”. Following the morning on the floor, we said goodbye to a number of folks from the show,and headed back to our room to wait for our cab…

I got into the airport, had the worst dining experience I can remember (and will be telling you about tomorrow), and got on my plane. During my flight, I sweated like I had been running arocc sand dunes for the last 6 hours, and it was uncomfortable. I sampled, “90 Millas” by Gloria Estenfan, which was rather underwhelming, and for some reason, I had this odd feeling of impending doom…weird. Anyway, as I write now, changing form the past tense to the present, I feel it is important I share with you the great “take Away” I had from the week…

I like toys a lot, but I love people. People make these events what they are, and no freebies or merchandise is better than the time I was able to spend meeting good folks and talking toys with them, affirming their passion for the hobby while communicating my own. The industry is full of jerks—all industries are (yes, even the one you’re asking yourself “What about this one?”, evne that one has jerks)—luckily, in all my time this weekend, I only saw a handful, and I dodged interaction with all but one of them. For the most part,everyone I met was not only a cool person but also a seemingly cool human being, and that, that my friends is what made the week better than “fine”. It made it “good”, really, really good, and while it wasn’t the glamorous show I’d always dreamed out , it was what it was, and years from now, as I look back on achieving one of my lifelong goals, I’ll remember the great people I met, and I’ll remember the reality of the experience, not the dream I wished it were.

A Final quotable comment from CJ, from the weekend. “I like Skeleton warriors because they don’t have muscles or skin, and yet, they are warriors.” I actually said this to a person who worked for a company,a dn he gave me a toy skeleton warrior afterward. It was Christmas in February, friends.

[Originally Written 2-20-07]

MONDAY at Toy Fair, Febrary 18, 2008

Monday was not unlike Sunday, we were at the main expo, waking the floor, meeting companies and enjoying the day. Then I had a wonderful experience and found a company stationed about 14 minutes from my apartment, they agreed to setup a meeting where I could come see their digs and check out their offices. This same wonderful experience became a moment of great disheartenment, for when I spoke of my success to a peer, he basically said it wasn’t important, and I was just trying to be cool and think I was the ish. This hurt for two reasons. First, he was right, I was very happy with my accomplishment, and being called out on my pride really put me in my place. Second, it was just rude and made me feel like the coonnection and steps I was taking of my own accord were not valued. I was pretty upset —sidenote, right now, as I type this, I am listening to a smoothy blues rizz riff by Stan Getz entitled, “Your and Me”, and it has made my re-visiting this event all the more saddening to me. Okay, back to the story, So, that sucked, which was kind of the first nail in Monday’s coffin. Then as I was enjoying some post-reporting casual walking on the floor, I was abruptly pulled from checking out what I wanted, into covering things that did not interest me. Now, this is one of those situations where I am blaming myself for it being a bad experience. I was there to work, and having been pulled aside, I should have been more than willing to cover more companies and be at the service of my bosses. Instead I had a real chip on my shoulder and felt a great deal of indignation. Well, needless to say, that was something I didn’t get over easily, because I had to drop a deuce out the caboose, and holding it for an hour while running around and taking notes was hardly a situation to calm me. When all was said and done, Monday really made for a rough day, BUT

BUT

BUT

BUT BUT BUT

Then we went to a party being held by one of the company’s, and it was a blast. Not just kinda a fun, it was a blast. I got to catch up with some folks I hadn’t seen since SDCC, meet some great guys I had heard of but never spoken with, and I got free drinks, which is always a treat. Get this, one of the people I got to sit and talk with was also a person I had asked for an autograph two years ago during New York Comic Con. I still have his signed figure, and I got to spend like 20 minutes talking toys with him. It was great. After that, a group of us went out for drink, and I got some delicious cheese fries. I hit the hay hard and slept well through the night….it was a good night that made up for the days shortcomings, and I was really happy. Then I woke up Tuesday morning…

I already pin-pointed that party I went to as a major highlight, but there was other things that made Monday great.

First, at the party, I was given extra party bags, because I was one of the last people to leave and I was told to take a dozen—don’t worry, I didn’t grab that many. BUT the best part of it was not that I got extra stuff, BUT I also got stuff that other guys in my crew wanted, and I got to hand them the stuff like Santa on Christmas. It was one of my better moments during the trip.

Second, What can I say other than I love toys, and there was a lot to love at the show. During the time in which I was copping mad attitude, I also got to check out some great products that I never would have seen otherwise. Frankly, It was one of those situations where God blesses you in spite of yourself, and it was good.

Third, I got to eat lunch at a resatuarant called Burgers and Cupcakes. Pictured. Which specialized in, get this, burgers and cupcakes, both of which were delicious. (though, I must say, a tad overpriced).

TUESDAY, Febrary 19, 2008

Not unlike Monday, Tuesday was spent walking the floor, talking to people, and checking out companies. Tuesday’s journeys were odd, however, because many of the companies we visited were unaware of our site and, when we wanted to view their product and ask questions, we were at times treated like thieves and liars, rather than reporters…those companies had some cool stuff, but they can kiss my butt. They were unduly rude, and I see no reason to speak further on about them. We spent the better part of the afternoon writing in the room, waiting for a 3:30 appointment. I hit a bit of a personal snafu that I won’t get into, other than to say that I was glad to have it resolved before going to bed. Anyway, Tuesday was pretty much a crazy like the others, we had a split in time between the showrooms and the big expo floor, and the showroom we went to was supercool. After reporting, we rode the subway back to Midtwon comics, and we checked out some awesome sale-prices. I scored two figures and three book for just over $50 bucks, which was a major steal. We had Chinese for dinner and spent the evening getting our stuff together to leave on Wednesday, a day which would yield one of the most frustrating experiences of the whole trip…

Big Highlights from Tuesday include:

First, I got to see the new Cars products coming out in 2008, which was fantastic because that if the line my father collects, and it made me think of him. For those who do not know, my father is an amazing man and fantastic warrior. One quote from him that I carry with me as a banner of manhood is, “I am not a violent man, but I’m not gonna let someone pillage my family.” No lie. He said that during dinner once. If my father had been alive during Leif Erikson and the days of the Vikings, surely he would have wielded the axe of the hornburg and my family would have been the strongest in our Nordic tribe–of course, because I am whiny nerd, I would have shamed us even more than I do, which would have been sad for me.

Second, with my purchases at Midtown comics I completed my DC heroes in armor corps that I have been wanting since about Mid 07. They are excellent, and I am so stoked to add them into the mix of my collection.

Third, by this time in the week, I had pretty much converted all but one person in our group into thinking Beta Ray Bill is an awesome hero.

Fourth and most Importantly, I got to speak to wife for the first time since I had left on Friday. It was only three days but no lie, it felt like a year. I’m not just saying that to score points with my living lady. I really had missed her throughout the weekend, particularly during times the job was getting to me, and I had chumped-out and failed to call her…which is something that I won’t let happen again. To be honest, I think that my lack of talking to her contributed to my lame attitude throughout the weekend, and I know that it was hard for her not have me all home. I was so glad once I did, and I was able to really talk to her…it was a real blessing.

[Originally Written 2-20-07]

Coming Home

Well, I’m now writing this on Wednesday, February 20, 2008, and the show is over. Saturday through this morning were pretty much a blur, with the hi’s-and-low’s still fresh in my mind, and the majority of the weekend floating in this odd, blur of conversations, confrontations, and consternation. I’ll be honest, Toy Fair was an odd, roller-coaster-ride of-a-time. There were ups; there were downs. I was sent for plenty of loops, and I almost lost the very-little cool I have more than once. At times I felt that I wanted to spend the rest of my days doing this. Other times, I almost quit. Looking back on the last 6 days, I have to say that my problems were 50% the fault of the events and persons around me and 50% my own. Was it ll I had hoped and dreamed? No. Not by a long shot, but its shortcomings were more my fault than “its” fault. I will say this, the hi’s-and-lo’s were many, and they balanced one-another out in a way that left me feeling, “alright” with the weekend as a whole, which is nowhere near either (a)the way I felt after my last big toy expo/comic convention or (b) expected to feel.

I guess I’ll just start the story when things really got cooking. Saturday, during our first day of appointments. Rather than going into all the variousf acets of the event’s organization, I’ll just say that this first day was spent at ancillary sites as opposed to the enormous Javits Center wherein the bulk of the show was held. These smaller venues, called “showrooms” were places were companies had exceedingly more control over two things (a) the overall aesthetic and experience of their visitors and (b) the content which said visitors acquired. The showrooms were cool, and the tours we took were certainly more informative than when we were simply set loose to look at product and fill in the blanks on our own at Javits…of course, these tours were also done at the pace of the speaker, and as such, I had to take notes at a cheetah’s speed, frantically scribbling shortcuts and abbreviatons that were only decipherable by me—I’m not lying, my notebook looks a crazy Sumerian was writing Sanskrit on a cave wall during an earthquake—it’s shockingly illegible. Throughout Saturday I was taking orders, “Get Notes”, “Start Wiring”, “Keep moving” and so on…It was anything but a picnic. By the time we returned to the room, I was exhausted, had been pulled in all manner of directions, and had persons discuss what my next moves were without acknowledging my opinion, even when I was two feet from them. The day ended with me exhausted, kinda frustrated, and overall disillusioned. “Was this what I had wanted the last decade?” “Was this the glorious show I worked my ass off to get to?”, “Would tomorrow be as bad as today?”…only time would tell, and it did.

During my less-than-stellar-experience on Saturday, some great stuff still happened:

First, I saw some wonderful products, from Diamond Select Toys upcoming Marvel Select Hulk figure, to Hasbro’s amazing designer toys of “Mola-Ram” and “Lando Calrissian” (to be pictured later this month), I saw many great toys that really Made ME EXCITED FOR THIS YEAR…Of course, that excitement is coupled with my feelings of frustration over not knowing how I’ll get much of it, Oh well, we’ll see.

Second, I was able to catch up with some great folks I met at comic con, and I had the esteemed pleasue of meeting some new friends. Overall, the moments chatting with these fine folks were the highlights of the day.

Third, I dug the aforementioned Mola Ram figure so much that his picutre became my desktop wallpaper, and the change inspired a new tradition in my hotel room, wherein I would always tell another guy I was staying with, Mike, to turn and look whenever I turned my computer on. This way, we were both greeted with the insanely happy form of Mola Ram, and it made us happy before going to work back in the room.

Fourth, I had begun talking a big game about the fabled Marvel hero, Thor, on Friday, and I had every intention of making sure that everyone in my group knew how much I loved the Thor Graphic Novel I got. Well, Saturday, I got one of the guys in our group to read it, and I was on my way to converting the group into thinking both Thor and his friend, beta Ray Bill, were excellent superhero characters.

SUNDAY

With Saturday passed and Sunday in front of me, I was feeling like a whole-lotta-hell. I was, for lack of a better term, being an ass. I just did not want to go through the same experience of the previous day, being treated like a secondary citizen, and thankfully, I wasn’t. We went to the enormous floor at the Javitz center, and I must say, Sunday was rather delightful. We went to booths, checked out many random products, and I primarily hung with someone else form the site that was encouraging and, though exhaustingly spur-of-the-moment in their covering decisions, a pleasure to work with. Sure, I had my moments of frustration, but overall, I was relatively pleased with my experience. That night, we even had the opportunity to go to “a restaurant called DALLAS BBQ, wherein we had a wonderful meal, and I ate to my fill, with room enough to spare for two additional bears at Dave & Busters thereafter.

By the time we got through Sunday, I had felt it was, overall, an excellent day, with a few missteps caused more by myself than anyone else. Major Highlights included:

First, more cool stuff, in particular I was encouraged by the new “Heroes” 7″ figures from the hit TV show, as well as the new Warriors figures based on the cult classic film that I champion. I also got to see the new Princess Bride Wesley figure in person, and its’ every bit as cool as the picture, plus, I found out that toy company NECA is making a Fred, George, and Mad Eye figures for their Harry Potter Line.

Second, I got to meet more great folks. Some of the best folks were from small companies I only knew by name, and they were very cool, accepting, and informative. I met a slew of great folks, and I was very happy to have met them.

Third, we had a ball a the BBQ place. We ate to our fill and drank hearty the whole meal, with my friend Mike saying “I don’t even feel like I’m eating” at one point, due to having had a large drink. These moments of drink-induced-silliness are always delightful, and when they are as absurd as the one above, one can only be thankful that prohibition is over in this country.

Fourth, it rained, so while we walked around the streets, it totally felt like I was in the movie, Blade Runner, which was awesome.

Fifth, you know those time when you’re in a group, and there is a dynamic at play that drives you crazy, and you and your buddy discuss it only to see it play out repeatedly. Well, that happened with us and the situation of finding a place to eat, and it was hilarious. Despite the fact that we stopped at about 12 places before deciding to actually eat, the fact that I had a buddy to joke with about the ridiculousness of our plight was a blast.

Here in New York

So, I arrived in New York at around 3:45 EST, called the wife and left her message. I realized then just how much I missed her—a whole lot. Then I met up with a toy buddy and we grabbed a cab….after tolls and tip, we were out a collective $55 dollars (comped, of course, but still). Upon arrival at the hotel, it was a time of tomfoolery and jest among the other dudes I know at Figures.com, and I must say it was a good time…then we took to walking the streets of New York, a task that, by any definition of “fun”, is fun. It’s kind of like an obstacle course, only instead of cargo nets and climbing walls, there are buses and taxies to evade, all the while dodging between folks and surviving the various smells of the city. These smells are a mishmash of the good, the bad, and ugly, amounting to an overarching smell of piss and overcooked meat—which is not nearly as glamorous as it sounds.

It was during our streetwalking that we hit up Toys R Us in Times Square, which carries the same merch as most other Toy R Us stores but features a labyrinthine layout and 10% price mark-up. It was a good experience but one I do not intend to revisit anytime soon.

We then headed to Times Squares’ hailed Midtown Comics, which was about as solid as comics stores tend to be; and at which I finally saw the DC Direct Justice Superman and Aquaman FIgures, both of which I intend to purchase before flying home. From there, we grabbed a wonderful meal at Some tavern, and I had an 8 oz sirloin sandwich with sautéed onions and American cheese. The first bite was mediocre at best, but as I drank some Murphy’s lager and took my second and third bites, the sandwich took on a most tremendous flavor, and I found myself quite taken with it. It was, for lack of a better term, delicious—though the fact that I had to pull off an ounce of fat was a bit nasty.

After dinner we walked the city street once more, and we went to Virgin Megastore, wherein I caught the musical deal of the century—George Michael’s Ladies and Gentlemen: The Best of George Michael for $10. Yep. At least 20 tracks of mad goodness from George Michael for $10. I also picked up the Justice Green Lantern and Batman figures, both of which I have wanted for the better part of a year. Then we went to a store a store dedicated to nothing but M&M’s. Ironically, this child-centered, candy shop was across the street from Lace Gentlemen’s club and the largest billboard I have ever seen of women in their draws. It was one of those little examples of America’s charming yet immoral dichotomy for which it is known throughout the world.

So then we headed back to our hotel, and on the way, I stopped at a corner pizza joint for a piece of pie, and I bought the first specialty piece listed, Chicken pizza, which was basically lightly breaded chicken bits on the basic slice of cheese, and it was delicious. Mmmmmmm, good night for CC!!!!

Quotable Comments from CJ - “You cannot clone the soul!!!” - said by me, after 2 beers, at dinner, while discussing how badly cloning could go should we find the technology.

[Originally Typed on 2-15-07]

Embarassment on a plane.

So, about 2 hours into my flight to Toyfair, I get that message from my crotch telling me its “go time”. So, I ask the kindly woman next to me (I’m in the Window seat) to let me pass, and I head for the head, take care of my wizness-business and wash the mits before heading back to my seat. Only when I sat back in my seat and buckled my belt did I realize I had failed to put the toilet seat back down. In my defense, I had lifted the seat as a courtesy so as not to get any piss-dribblins where others might sit…of course, the discourtesy of failing to put the seat down not only cancels out the original courtesy but makes me look like a selfish misogynist. My ill-mannered misstep was only enhanced further by the fact that the very woman who let me pass her to use the restroom, was the next person to venture toward it, meaning that I passed her, I went in, left up the seat, then she went it, to find it left up, as if I was saying, “Thank you for giving me the opportunity to spit on your face.” There is a word for people like me, and it’s “asshole”.

Call me it, anytime; and if you are still in the camp that finds that word obscene, adequate substitutes include “bastard”, “derelict”, and, for course, the timeless classic, “jerk”. My parents raised me better than this. I apologize to the world.

[Originally Typed 2-15-07]

First, I am a fool. Upon boarding the plane and turning on my laptop, I realized that playing my iTunes while working on Word would substantially drain my battery faster than simply writing on Word while listening to an outside music source. I happen to own said outside source, an Ipod shuffle, which I left at my house…because I wanted to go through iTunes library while I worked on the plane, unwittingly draining my battery so fast that I would be unable to accomplish the writing I was setting out to do in the first place. So yeah, word on the streets is that I’m an idiot. And word is bond.

Luckily, word travels fast and high, and the fine folks at Delta preempted my tomfoolery by featuring in-flight CDs for free. I listened to Amy Winehouse’s Grammy award-winning Back to Black in full, which is an odd little piece of modern music. Frankly, other than “Rehab”, the album sounds like mediocre oldies that would not have stood the test of time. However, because this record came out in the current top 40 wasteland of Fergie and Akon, it gets all manner of praise for being genius, vibrant, and whatever else. If these songs had been thrown into the mix with other, better songs of the passed era that it rips, I think it would have been seen as banal and forgetful—just my opinion. Jumping off that, I listened to Marvin Gaye’s What’s Goin’ On album, which I had never heard in full, and it rocked ass. Gaye continues to amaze me with every chance I give his music, and he is becoming more and more of a personal favorite—just a random tidbit, “Inner City Blues” rules. Right now, as I type this, I am listening to Radiohead’s latest album, entitled Rainbows , and I feel as though I am being taken through a mystical portal to the land of ethereal nothingness and transcendental calm—meaning it’s pretty good, all the songs flow into one another, and I feel as though I am on an elicit substance which is making float like a bird through the nether realm of existence. I dare you to get buzzed on some booze, listen to this record, and try to walk…you will most likely experience the closest thing possible to free and unfettered human flight. [Note: This is not an actual dare, and I do not endorse getting drunk to experience heightened surreality.].

Quotable Comments by C.J. at Toy Fair - “I feel like I’m about to fight Fafnir, the dragon king of Nostrand”, said during dinner while I held a chalice of beer.

[Originally Typed 02-15-07]

Anticipating Toy Fair

I cannot believe I will be in New York City for Toy Fair in only a matter of hours. For those who don’t know, I am not only a geek but also a daydreaming fool who has dreamed of venturing to Toy Fair since High School when I read my first “Toy fare” magazine. Toy fair, is of course, THE professional toy expo for all things toy/collectible related; and after putting in only a year of contributions to Figures.com, they are paying my way and giving me the privilege of covering the show with their full-time employees. Since I know a few of my readers, and none of you are the nerd I have become, let me put this into perspective. This would be like:

A movie buff getting to cover the red carpet at the Oscars, then going in to watch the show; or a football fan getting to sit on the bench with their team at the Superbowl. It’s a huge deal, and it’s been one of my honest, real life goals—to go to Toyfair and experience the event about which I read, wherein I will get to speak to the business folks and see upcoming products months before they debut on shelves. It’s the best. Plus, I will finally get to go to Toys R Us in Times Square, which is apparently the Mecca of TRU stores.

As long as I don’t screw this up, get pissed on by a homeless person (or R. Kelly), or have a screaming-eagles-deuce-of-a-dump during a showroom tour, this could be one of those highlighted moments in my life. I’m pretty excited, and I am thinking it might be best to temper my elation—I mean, it’s not like I’m going to be meeting the likes of Pee-Wee Herman or Thomas Jayne, or getting a personal hero to hate me, as I did with Frank Miller (all of which happened at my last show, San Diego Comic-Con 2007). More to come!!!!!

I was recently e-mailed by my good friend, Aaron; and after responding to him, I began to reminisce about some of the good old times he and I had as kids. We used to duel each other for hours with wooden swords. We’d watch G.I. Joe: The Movie on nearly a weekly basis. We’d joust with the cardboard tubes carpets are rolled on. There were plenty of fun times. In fact, whihc I will never forget, involved a blizzard that trapped me at Aaron’s house a whole weekend.

It was supposed to be a sleepover like any other Friday Night. At the time, we were around 9-11 years old (I think it was 1993), and our toys of choice at the time were Legos and Star Trek (even though at that point I had still only seen like 4 episodes of The Next Generation). Anyway, we had spent Friday building excellent Federation Starships, each of which were captained by Lego figures of us. We both had crews of around 20-30 lego dudes, and it was good stuff. Aaron even had Battle Beasts we used for villains in the mix. When we had played enough, we crashed. It was good.

The next morning we awoke, expecting to hang for an hour or two maybe before I was to be picked up by my parents. We realized quickly however that the world we knew, usually green, was now covered in blanketed freshly-fallen, deep snow. I could not be picked up. We were trapped–Which meant more Legos and more fun.

And fun it was. I don’t remember much in the way of details, only that we knew we had hours-a-plenty to burn, and burn them we did. Space battles, crash-landings, mass-crew-murders, and perhaps even turmoil between our allied forces were replayed time and time again. It was excellent. I believe that we destoryed about a half dozen starships between the two of us, and it was amazing. Saturday came and went with the joy of phasers, laser, tasers and the cries of war. I think we broke for lunch, dinner, and a half-hour of The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. Other than that, it was intergalactic warfare to the edge of space.

Saturday came and went. Sunday arrived as it always does. When we awoke and headed to the kitchen for breakfast, we found his parents on the phone, going through their church directory, calling member to cancel church. The snow was still fully caked to the gound, and no sign of open roads lay in site, which was fantastic news to us. We returned to Aaron’s room and began our space odyssey anew, happy to avoid both church and being parted.

The details of the weekend are hazy. I’m unsure if I got home Sunday afternoon or Monday morning. I forget if we realzied that we could pop the Lego men’s arms and legs off in order to show the Battle Beasts ripping them limb-from-limb. I’m not even sure if we wanted to stay friends at the end of the weekend casue we were tired of each other. All I remember is how good it was to be trapped with my good friend, with thousand of Legos, having space adventures across the galaxy. It was a wonderful time of toys, probably a high influence on why I still love them so much to this day. I’d like to thank Aaron’s parents again for haivng me over, the makers of Lego for creating wonderful space products, and God for the snow. You all had a major part in of the greatest weekends in the history of my life.