Man, this month was both long as hell and whizzed by so fast.
Just today I saw The Mandalorian and Grogu movie. I have to confess, this was the first new Star Wars thing I've seen since Rise of Skywalker. My verdict? Way better than Rise of Skywalker.
I actually went out of this not sad, or disappointed, or angry at any of the choices made in this movie. The main complaint I've seen for this was that it was a standalone story that would've disappointed fans of the show because there was nothing new plot-wise or any character development. Well, it was more aimed for people like me, and if this movie existed solely to get me interested in watching the rest of the series? Well, mission accomplished.
I wasn't exactly blind going into this, either. I knew Rotta the Hutt from the Clone Wars pilot movie was back (Jeremy Allen White giving a performance that would make Hayden Christensen proud), Zeb from SW Rebels making that rare jump from tv character to someone in the official canon, and Sigourney Weaver standing around and wondering what life choices she made that led her to be in this movie. And also Martin Scorcese was in this for some reason. You'll know him when you see him, he voices the Italian-sounding alien with big bushy eyebrows.
It was a solid Hawk and Chick-esque adventure with tiny puppet aliens that sounded too much like the Minions. I liked seeing more Babu Frick aliens, but their voices were almost too distracting. But if that was the main complaint I have about a Star Wars movie, it's definitely worth watching.
But the name Grogu still rubs me the wrong way because American Dad introduced a similar looking tiny alien thing named Rogu and he showed up first.
See? Way more worthy of the name. I wish the people running Star Wars came up with literally any other name for Baby Yoda. (Who was of course, adorable and an actual animatronic puppet!)
Other stuff I did? Conventions!
First up, the big Long Island TCG show! Man, this scene really pissed me off this past year or so. Streamers and resellers have ruined this hobby and I've barely bought any cards since more or less the last big show they had here last year.
Seriously. Crazy prices.
And this set of Gem Mint Van Gogh cards were going for $65K. Just insane.
And that's on top of seeing a Black Lotus in the flesh. But it wasn't from the sets people really care about, it wouldn't have been just in a penny sleeve in a big case with the rest of the rare stuff.
I was mostly there to see voice actors.
Was finally able to scratch a few names off my wanted list, like Eric Vale (Sanji from One Piece), Justin Cook (Kirishima from MHA), and Eric Stuart.
He joins Matthew Sussman, the original English voice of Meowth on this print. It's really sad that Rachel Lillis, the original dub voice of Jessie passed away, so I can't complete the set. I just need to wait for Michelle Knotz to come around again to get a Jessie on this.
Oh, and I met Professor Oak.
Yes, the real one. Stuart Zagnit actually cosplays as Professor Oak and he was as delightful as everyone else. It sucks that most voice actors charge extra to add quotes these days, or else I would've gotten him to add "now's not the time for that!" on this pic:
And then later in the month came Cradle Con!
The main event was a few cast and crew of the original GI Joe cartoon were there, and had a panel.
I don't have a lot of nostalgic attachment to that cartoon (I've always been a Transformers guy), but the highlight was hearing Bill Ratner, the voice of Duke, talk about the Barbie Liberation Organization, the people that switched the voice boxes of talking Barbie and Duke dolls. It happened one Christmas in New York City but it was enough to inspire a Simpsons gag:
It was a trip to hear Duke's voice talk like Barbie, and him imitating Barbie yelling "YO JOE!" If it weren't for my social anxiety (and I didn't want to pay the fifty bucks), I would've asked him about that Simpsons gag.
I still managed to pick up these Canari cards. They're from the then-recent Ascended Heroes set and pretty much the only card I wanted out of it. I got the Japanese one at the TCG show, and found the English one at Cradle Con. Thankfully they didn't break the bank too much because everyone wants the fancier (and rarer) SIR cards, but I like this art much better.
My other pickups at that con. Action Comics #454 has a notoriously silly cover:
I bought the original a few years back, but recently DC has been rereleasing various old classic issues, and for some reason they reissued this one, and with a blank cover variant to boot. I'm gonna have some fun with this one.
And while I didn't pick up any new pins at Cradle Con (gasp), I snagged a few at the TCG booth. The Mewtwo one from the official store, and a few from Wild Bill's. Had no idea they sold pins, and two for six bucks was a deal I couldn't pass up.
And finally, various other pics I got at Cradle-Con:
It's Halloween time once again! I hope you remembered to put out milk and cookies for Tim Curry.
I didn't think my house would get any trick or treaters this year, but around 4:45 the wind died down enough for kids to swarm my block for a few hours. And then the wind picked up again and oops Halloween is over. Dad said we got almost 100 kids in that time, and we kept the Kit Kats for ourselves, so I'm considering tonight a win.
Since it was October, it was time for New York Comic Con once again!
Last year was pretty fun, but let me be honest with you. I was suffering from one hell of an anxiety attack that whole week. Health anxiety, election anxiety, anticipation anxiety, that feeling of "oh my god is my stuff okay? Is my car still where I left it?" Plus overall every day anxiety, not helped the the overwhelming crowds that show up to this thing.
The whole weekend felt like even more of a blur than usual, and I really wanted a do-over.
Friends, I got to have my do-over.
So why did I title this month's entry the way I did? Exactly one day after posting the previous entry, I somehow...slept weird and twisted my right knee.
When you get to your late thirties, you can hurt yourself when your body has the audacity to sleep in the same position it always does.
That's pretty much what I felt like. Every step felt like agony, and I didn't know how I even did it. It was bad enough I finally went to see a specialist a few days later, got x-rays, an MRI, the whole nine.
But the days leading up to that, my anxiety went into overdrive. How would I walk to and from the con? It's so many steps. And stairs. Would I have to cancel everything at the last minute? I did NOT plan all this time, and spend all that money just to fumble in the endzone. I saw people in traction there all the time. Would I need to get a helper? It was a few days before the con, there was no way I could get someone to come with me on short notice.
"I'm going to this con even if it kills me" was my mantra that week.
Well, good news. Nothing was broken, torn, twisted, or in a position it shouldn't be in. I just sprained and pulled a few muscles in my knee, given some GOOD naproxen, and sent on my way. I also have a wee touch of arthritis in the inner knee, but it was nothing serious.
My folks were saying "It'll probably get better by the first day of the con."
Thankfully, they were right. I was able to get around on my own without a problem, and with a knee brace in tow, I was off. (Stairs still kill me, but that was true before now)
One of the first booths I hit was Adult Swim's, which was Smiling Friends themed! A complete recreation of the breakroom from the show, and you spun a wheel for a prize.
I won a few pins. I'll show them off later.
Now to show off the various people I met this time.
Paul Walter Hauser! He was Mole Man in the new Fantastic Four movie, and he was a total nice guy.
Cam Clarke! He was with the Metal Gear Solid people, but most people in my generation know him best as Leonardo from the original TMNT cartoon.
Me, though? I had a buddy make up this print for Mr. Bogus, and lemme tell you, he was REALLY excited to see it.
I asked him how many people request Mr. Bogus. I honestly might've been the first. He's on his banner and headshot with all his other characters, and most people ask who he is, period, and get their memory jogged when he tells them. It's probably THE deepest cut I ever had someone sign.
Well, until I meet Rob Paulsen again and have him sign this drawing of Yoink of The Yukon I snagged on ebay the other day.
And yes, Cam Clarke sounds exactly the same 35 years later and it's still a trip to have a cartoon character's voice come out of a human's mouth, no matter how many times I hear it.
As promised, I met Abby Trott again to put her signature on this Dan Da Dan print I got AJ Beckles to sign back at Anime NYC.
I also managed to snag one of the hottest tickets of the con: Matthew Mercer! I still don't really know what Critical Role is, but he's one of the most popular people in it. But I wanted to meet him for other roles he did! Like Jotaro from Jojo's Bizarre Adventure. I got this piece at Anime NYC.
"Come on, It's Jojo! How hard is it gonna be to find art of Jotaro at an anime convention?"
A lot harder than you'd think it'd be.
When I found out that two of the K-Pop Demon Hunters were gonna be there this year (Arden Cho and May Hong), I figured I'd finally sit down and watch the movie.
Ten minutes in...I got it. Now I know why it was such a phenomenon over the summer. The animation is fun, the faces are hilarious, the songs are all catchy and great. The kids can and have been obsessed over worse things.
Every year, NYCC has one BIG piece of media that's popular, with cosplays and art everywhere. Last year? A lot of Gravity Falls and Arcane and Beetlejuice and Delicious in Dungeon. 2023 was Barbie, 2022 was Chainsaw Man and Spy x Family, 2016 was Harley Quinn, you get the idea.
This year was Dan Da Dan and BY FAR K-Pop Demon Hunters. You can tell what's popular with certain demographics.
Were people cosplaying from Deltarune, Hazbin Hotel, Amazing Digital Circus? Kids. Young people.
Power Rangers, Ninja Turtles, Mandalorian? Good chance they were older.
But I saw people of all ages, shapes, genders all cosplaying as Huntrix or Saja Boys.
Here's a group I found that even had a Bobby (Huntrix's manager voiced by Ken Jeong)
Naturally, the voice actors were totally nice and everything.
The Doughboys! I was at their panel (hilarious, fyi) and I booked it up to the booth they were selling their comic at the moment it ended. Again, it's trippy meeting people from a podcast and them sounding exactly as they do on the internet.
Someone working with them filmed everyone on line for this, and it's even more trippy to see yourself in B-roll footage.
Ann M. Martin, the creator of the Babysitter's Club! Yes, I'm man enough to admit I've been reading through the graphic novels (Mary Ann is the goddamn glue of that group). Lots of people went nuts over George RR Martin, or RL Stine, or a bunch of other authors that were there this year. I knew those lines were gonna be crazy (and they were), so I went to this one. And even THAT was an effort to get this shot. Getting on line to wait for a wristband, then getting back on line to wait for this.
She was, of course, lovely.
Another fun fact about NYCC is that booths on the show floor are divided into sections based on genre. Like, artists booths are in one spot, one section's the anime, all the toy companies, the comic dealers, the comic companies, Funko and Funko-adjacent booths, etc. And then there's the book section, and I dealt with that part of the nerd community for the first two days. You do NOT mess with the book people. They wait in lines all day and proudly show off stacks of books that were a pain in the ass to lug around the convention all day, much less getting it all home at the end of the day. Either to get them signed, or buy them or get them for free and THEN get them signed. That's commitment, folks.
Another highlight: Mae Whitman! Avatar: The Last Airbender turned 20 this year (gasp) and the whole main cast was there. I already met Dante Basco, but Mae Whitman was who I was there to see.
Had to add her to my Scott Pilgrim DVD. I was very much considering going to Chiller Theater last week since Ellen Wong (Knives) was gonna be there. But alas, I wasn't able to make it.
But since she was also on Arrested Development, I legit asked her "how many requests do you get for Egg?"
She said "you joke, but..."
She showed me a plastic egg somebody gave her, then signed it and handed it to me.
That's a top ten NYCC moment right there.
Then came Saturday and meeting Lawrence Fishburne! Just about everyone was there to meet him because he was Morpheus from The Matrix. Some people brought multiple posters for all the movies he's been in (he hasn't had a long and illustrious career just to be called John Wick's Friend, fyi), but I was one of a few that wanted to meet Cowboy Curtis. He had a print of him at his table...but again, my buddy printed up this one and it's much cooler.
I told him I got to meet Paul Reubens a few times, and seemed really touched about it. I feel like I should've talked to him more about Pee-Wee's Playhouse, but his line was long and they were shuffling people through like an assembly line.
I did, however, get a second chance at the photo op I got with him, albeit briefly.
"Get on the longest line first" is a good rule of thumb when it comes to Comic Con lines. For the people I met on Saturday, that turned out to be for Ernie Hudson. Winston from Ghostbusters! I tell you, I regret not meeting him years ago when I had the chance. He was super nice and cool, but for what he charged for this autograph, he charged roughly the same price for an autograph with a photo op with him in the Ghostbusters outfit in front of the Ecto-1 back in the day.
And I got to meet Joe Pantoliano! Joey Pants! He was in The Sopranos, The Matrix, and a slew of other things. A total That Guy. I like meeting That Guys, because they usually have the best stories. And oh boy, did he. My friend wanted me to ask him about working with Tony Curtis on this obscure movie in the 90s called The Immortals (and he had a pic from it at his table!) and wow, did he tell some good stories about that experience.
But my favorite role of his was Martini the penguin from Olive, The Other Reindeer. I told you I like deep cuts.
The Agents of SHIELD! I didn't even tell Chloe Bennett or Ming-Na Wen to make any poses, they just did that when they saw my Kang/Kodos-HYDRA shirt.
Ming-Na Wen was a total sweetheart, and loved that I picked something from Mulan to sign.
And since the cast of the X-Men cartoon was there, I finally stood in line to meet Cal Dodd, THE voice of Wolverine! Man, was that guy cool.
And Lenore Zahn! She voiced Rogue, but I picked Aisha Clan-Clan from Outlaw Star. Truth be told, I was a Melfina guy, but Aisha was great, too. I might've made an ass of myself and admitted to her that show came on during a...formative time in my adolescence. Blame Cartoon Network for thinking this and Tenchi Muyo were appropriate programming for 5pm on weekday afternoons.
And Christopher Daniel Barnes was not only Prince Eric from The Little Mermaid, but the voice of Spider-Man in the 90s cartoon!
I got this Godzilla comic I bought in Seattle signed by Tim Seeley, the writer. He told me it was the first time he held that issue in his hands, so you're looking at the only signed copy of it. As far as I know.
Ditto for this Space Ghost variant with David Pepose. I bought this at last year's NYCC, with the artist just happened to be at that booth, and signed it.
And now the big highlight of Sunday: George Takei! He was signing at the IDW booth, and it only cost me the price of his book, It Rhymes With Takei.
He dialed the charm right up to 100. Total opposite of meeting Shatner. I skipped the NYCC he showed up to, 2021, so I was really happy to finally meet him here.
And I didn't go to a lot of them this year, but here are the panels I went to.
Primal! We got the first look at season 3. Spear is back, and he's a zombie!
And I got to ask a question at a panel for the very first time! And it was to Genndy Tartakovsky of all people, so fanboy mode activated big time.
I asked him about Unicorn Warriors Eternal (which got a big pop from the crowd), and the inspiration for the Primal episode set in Victorian England. It was one of those things he got fixated on, and he got to put all of it into UWE.
Like I said earlier, went to the Doughboys panel. I really wish that was recorded, because it was hilarious.
Before that, I saw Murray Hill (of HBO's Somebody Somewhere) speak at a brief meet & greet panel.
Just as fun in person.
Then came the big panel: Bob's Burgers!
It's pretty rare that the whole cast shows up to these panels, but everyone (and Teddy) were there and their chemistry is still incredible. It never disappointed when it came to NYCC, and this one was no exception. They haven't had a panel here in years, but it was worth the wait.
And of course I caught a few Bob's Burgers cosplayers there. The main cast are pretty easy to pull off, but I saw two sets of Halloween costumes.
Peter Pan's Labyrinth
And Nun Ya Business and Dragon With The Girl Tattoo
And a Nat the limo driver!
We got to see clips of upcoming episodes (like the Halloween one that aired last week) and they were great, so stay tuned for those.
And to close out the con, Phineas and Ferb!
Besides Dan and Swampy, only Vincent Martella (Phineas) and Olivia Olson (Vanessa) showed up to it.
It was mostly a panel about the music and songs on the show, but they still showed us an never before seen episode. I split when the Q&A started because frankly, there was forty minutes left in the con and I wanted to make the most of what little time I had left.
And now what you wanted to see: cosplayers!
The highlight was probably this giant Galactus cosplayer that went viral when it stomped around SDCC earlier in the summer. I was taking pictures of different cosplayers when suddenly this hulking thing showed up. A few things I was able to note:
1) It was freaking huge
2) It was surprisingly flexible.
3) That whole section of the con floor stopped to take videos and selfies with it. It was in a pretty congested area, too, which didn't help. Still cool, though.
The Supermarket Sweep group I saw last year was back, and added two more people (the couple in the yellow sweaters)
Fantastic 4 cosplayers were pretty common thanks to the push from the new movie, but there were just as many F4 cosplayers of members that weren't Reed, Sue, Johnny, or Ben.
But I still got plenty of them, too:
Dan Da Dan was the new hotness in terms of anime, and Momo and Okarun were everywhere.
And lots of Dr. Doom, too.
Another highlight was this Kevin and Talkboy from Home Alone 2.
Like last year, Magik got a big push thanks to Marvel Rivals. This tennis player variant was my favorite.
Dark Helmet in the desert was definitely one of my favorites from the whole weekend. I've seen plenty of Barfs and Dark Helmets in the past. I've seen Princess Vespa and Dot Matrix, even a guy as Mecha Maid as the Statue of Liberty a la the ending of Planet of The Apes. But this was a new one.
Who I thought was a cosplay of Hulk Hogan in his Hollywood era was actually a cosplay for Scott Steiner.
I wish I was able to make it to the wrestling cosplay meetup this year. All the meetups I wanted to go to were during times I was doing other stuff. I was in a couple of panels during that one.
This guy was a pretty popular cosplay, too. I haven't played Deltarune, but I know Tenna is like a big part of it or something?
In any case, one of them went viral for getting a photo op with Steve from Blues Clues.
This probably wins my award for Deepest Cut Cosplay for this year. He was with a group of Disney villains, and this was the first time I ever saw Copper's owner from The Fox and The Hound.
Krusty poses for Comic Con photo.
Good to see Machoverse again. I missed seeing his other cosplays, like Bonesaw from the first Spider-Man movie.
Gold Roger wouldn't let me get a picture of the One Piece inside the chest. (Spoiler Alert: it was the TO BE CONTINUED card)
Another great deep cut: Doug and the LiMu Emu.
Tiny Chef! She gave out free seeds. I got a packet of basil.
Jeff and Rogu from American Dad!
Doodlebob was also popular this year.
And finally, my other favorite cosplays of the weekend: Brak and Leonard Ghostal! He's Space Ghost's grandpa voiced by Macho Man Randy Savage.
If you want to see the rest of the cosplay pictures, click here.
I was in a lot of lines this weekend, and for every cosplay I caught, there were at least a dozen I didn't. I'm surprised I saw so many good ones.
And finally, the haul!
Boy, did I deserve to be tossed in Pin Jail this year.
This was all the pins, stickers, and assorted other things I got this year. Probably my biggest haul yet. Eight of those pins were free.
And these aren't all the pins they gave out there! There's quite a few that have hit ebay. With...various prices. Topps had a few pins that people went crazy for. Mostly the Disney cards that they were selling there.
The Hasbro booth exclusive Super Skrull and the George Takei book were the only things I paid for in this picture.
Amy Mebberson was back and I had to pick up something from her booth. Found this Bluey drawing and nabbed it immediately.
And one of my favorite artists James Silvani was finally back, too. He and Amy haven't been to this con since 2019 and I had to commission him something. I got Orange Bird because my first pic was too weird and out there even for him: Push The Talking Trash Can.
And finally, probably my favorite art pickup from the whole con. It comes from Das Frank, and it was the last one left, since I hadn't found his booth until Sunday.
