Wizard World Philadelphia

June 2, 2008

This was a big weekend in Philadelphia as it was the annual Wizard World convention at the Pennsylvania Convention Center.  Per usual, I attended on Friday with this year's goal being to pick up some comic back issues and attend the first annual ToyFare Hall of Fame Awards.

Friday was a short day again this year, with the hours running from 12:00 - 6:00PM, but still left enough time to visit the booths on the floor and sneak in a panel or two before the day was over.

The Convention

The convention floor offered a nice mixture of comics, toys, busts and statues, and other collectibles.  There was a large Artist Alley which seemed to be well attended as the afternoon went on and several tables were set up for gamers to get together.

The autograph guests on Friday were mainly limited to past and present wrestlers from the various promotions such as the WWE and TNA.  Katee Sackhoff from "Battlestar Galactica" was scheduled for Sunday to sign autographs. 

Comic artists and writers were on hand from both large and small press such as Marvel, DC, Aspen and Top Cow. 

Toy, doll and statue creators such as The Four Horsemen, The Shiflett Brothers, Tonner, C.S. Moore Studio, and Diamond Select Toys all had booths on the floor.  The creators from those companies also held one or more panels throughout the weekend where they displayed upcoming items from their collections or gave classes on sculpting.

The People

One of the fun parts of attending conventions is the people.  Some are in costume while others are there just enjoying the day with their family and friends. 

Garrison Carida of the 501st was on hand with several people trooping during the weekend.  There were Stormtroopers, Sandtroopers, Scout Troopers and even a Jawa or two.  Lisa P. of Carida was at the booth and it was fun to spend a few minutes speaking to her and catching up on her family.

Andy L. of The Toy Cave and James G. of The Toy Heaven both had booths at the show.  Both stores specialize in vintage and modern toys and games including Star Wars, Transformers and GI Joe.

Jace from the PSWCS and ShadowsintheForce.com was there with his father for the weekend.  Make sure to check out his web site for a review of WW Philly including his meeting with Katee Sackhoff!

I also ran into Jeff, Shane and Chuck who were down from the Scranton area for the convention.  Jeff is a judge for the local HeroClix game nights and was also making a weekend of the show.  It was fun to speak with him for a minute about the Star Wars minis and hopefully we'll be able to set up a gaming night (or day) some time in the future.

The Exclusives

No convention would be complete without exclusives and this year's event offered something for most everyone.  The majority of the items were exclusive comics and/or covers from publishers such as Aspen, Top Cow, Avatar, Dynamite, and Zenescope Entertainment.

C.S. Moore Studio offered up a Mr. Glum statue limited to 100 pieces while Far East Monsters, Ltd. had 50 pieces of their Godzilla figurine.

The Four Horsemen brought a pink Elephant Warrior from their Seventh Kingdom line (350 pieces) while Kridana brought an ivory Lord Rama action figure.

Wizard Entertainment had several action figures including Batman, Superman, and Mr. Freeze, all in in black outfits.  They also offered up a limited pre-order for two versions of Peter Petrelli from the Heroes line of figures.  One was "invisible" and the other "vanishing."

Two of the prettiest exclusives were from Tonner and Wilde Imagination.

Tonner debuted two items, one a Superman figure, the other was their exclusive; Poison Ivy.  The Ivy figure is a variant figure and was limited to 100 pieces.  I've seen photos of the Tonner dolls both online and in print but I have to say that you need to see these in person to understand just how incredible they are.

Wilde Imagination had an exclusive bust and doll of Evangeline Ghastly.

The Merchandise

The convention floor was packed with dealers with a good mix of both comics and toys and other items. 

My mission this year was to fill in some holes in my G.I. Joe comic collection and see if I could pick up some Star Wars trade paperbacks.  I managed to do both.  There were several dealers offering $1 back issues and they had quite a few of the Image and Devil's Due G.I. Joe issues that I was looking for.

While there have always been a few booths offering 50% off trade paperbacks, I usually only find one or two booths with enough stock to make it worth searching through.  This year I found at least a half dozen booths with multiple boxes.  I spent quite a bit of time searching and while I only came home with two books, it was worth the time.

The other items on my list were from Gentle Giant including a Dengar mini bust and the Indiana Jones Crate Paperweight that was a NY Comic-Con exclusive this year.  I didn't see any of the Indy exclusives but did pick up a Dengar bust for $35. 

There were good deals on a lot of the GG busts and statues.  Other standouts included a Jawa set for $30, Tusken Raider for $40 and multiples of the ESB Yoda for under $35.  The only really unfortunate pricing I saw were on some of the 2007 exclusive Clone Commander busts including Bacara, a Baltimore exclusive, in the $175-$200 range.

Most of the modern action figures were way overpriced in the $10 to $15+ range depending on how new or "rare" they were.  G.I. Joe figures from the 25th Anniversary line were also in that range with one booth that actually had a sign reading all figures "at least" $15.

But deals, and steals, were not limited to the independent dealers, Tonner, for example, was offering huge discounts on some of their dolls including their Elizabeth Swann Court Gown figure for $60.  They were also offering incredible deals on sets of their Harry Potter dolls and accessories.  I watched one couple late in the day leaving the floor with multiple bags and probably 10 or so Tonner dolls.  I admit, I almost left with the Elizabeth Swann figure.  The likeness to Keira Knightley is incredible.

Diamond Select Toys were showing of upcoming action figures from their various lines including their new 1/4 scale Star Wars figures.  In the case were ANH Obi-Wan, Emperor Palpatine and Darth Maul.  Unfortunately no photos were allowed and they weren't displayed in a location favorable to surreptitious picture taking.

The Panels

I attended two panels including Look Ahead: Shiflett Brothers Originals and the First Annual ToyFare Hall of Fame Awards.

The Shiflett Brothers showed off some of their completed statues such as their original, Chloe, and commercial, Black Panther, Thanos, and Kabuki.  The brothers answered questions for the small crowd and even handed out some door prizes.

ToyFare Hall of Fame

One of the main reasons I wanted to go to WW Philly on Friday was to attend the First Annual ToyFare Hall of Fame Awards.  The inaugural inductees included The Four Horsemen, Clayburn Moore, Randy Falk and MiniMates.

Each inductee was introduced by Wizard World Programming Director Adam Tracey and "ToyFare" editor TJ Dietsch.  Short introduction videos were played for each person/studio and included Twisted ToyFare Theatre-style skits featuring toys and statues created by the respective inductee.

Recognizing the depth of the MiniMates line was first.  Art Asylum and Diamond Select Toys have licenses for films and TV that cover everything from Back to the Future to Rocky, "24" to "Battlestar Galactica" and "Star Trek."  The MiniMates line also covers comic characters from both Marvel and DC.  Chuck Triciera from Diamond Select Toys accepted the award and thanked his family, the fans and the guys at Art Asylum.

The Four Horsemen, Chris Dahlberg, Jim Preziosi, Eric Treadway an Eric Mayse, have sculpted toys for McFarlane Toys, Mattel and created their own lines including the Seventh Kingdom.  They may be best known for their run on the Mattel He-Man and the Masters of the Universe line and their Batman figures.  All four Horsemen were present with Eric "Cornboy" Mayse offering up his thanks to those in attendance.

Clayburn Moore was on hand to accept his award.  Sculpting such toy lines as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Fathom and Witchblade, Moore got his start with Savage Dragon.  He thanked Erik Larsen for providing him with that chance.

The final award went to Randy Falk of NECA.  NECA has brought several films to the toy aisle including Harry Potter, Pirates of the Caribbean, Nightmare Before Christmas and Ghostbusters.  While not a sculptor himself, Randy thanked the talented sculptors in the room for their input in the creative process.

Wrap-up

It was another good year for Wizard World Philly from what I saw.  The dealer floor had plenty of choices of things to buy or gawk over whether you're a comic book or toy fan.  Artist Alley was full of talented creators and it's always worthwhile to take a peek at what they are working on.

Prices on a lot of things seemed to be at the extremes; high priced modern toys and low priced comic books.  There were things in between but as I mentioned, the comic back issues I was interested in and the bust, seemed to tend towards the inexpensive side this year.  With gas prices up, that was a good thing.

I'll be looking forward to attending WW Philadelphia again in 2009 unless another convention (crossing fingers for Star Wars Celebration V) interferes with my schedule.