I'm writing this before the con, and obviously I will add pictures and experience updates later. Today is my preview and shopping day. I actually have a bit of money to spend at the con this year saved from the sale of my broken car. I'm hoping to find some good items Kathleen and I can use to raise money for Extra Life this year. I also have a mission to find various people I know are going that I tend to miss for whatever reason in other years.
Oh my god, I just realized I wore the EXACT same clothes on Thursday last year. Same necklace and everything.
Last Year
This Year
Oops.
Anyway...I finished up work around 4:30 and headed over to the Stampede grounds, which are fairly close to where I work. I at least knew where to go this year to get my wrist band, so that process was relatively quick and painless. Below is the general crowd (lol) walking to get their tickets.
I ended up intercepting Justin by accident on the way, and in turn I happened to be walking behind another few people he knew, so he was essentially assaulted by a bunch of people while he was desperately trying to run and grab something. I told him I'd meet up with him later...and never did BECAUSE HE WAS ON BREAK. GOD.
Anyway, Justin is a friend from dodgeball and one of the key members of the Friday Night Gamers. He's one of the volunteers this year teaching people how to play various board games. I'll get back to that area later.
I escaped the Big Four and made my way back to the main exhibition hall, eager to get started with some shopping. I stopped by a tree to clear some streetpasses out of my 3DS and watch a Stormtrooper watch a bunch of Vikings scream and hit each other with sticks. This is...probably the least busy I've ever seen the Viking area the last few years I've attended.
Inside was tables and tables full of FRESH UNSULLIED MERCHANDISE. And now that I've said "fully stocked" in the weirdest way possible, please see the above obligatory comparison crowd shot. Thursday is absolutely wonderful for just exploring the con, talking to the booth owners and artists, and just generally being able to breathe. Navigating the floor is still an infuriating exercise in patience as you need to be borderline dancing to get around distracted people who don't know how to herd, but it's nice to not feel like cattle while you're there.
I essentially wandered up and down every aisle, taking subtle pictures of everything I could as I wasn't too sure whether vendors would get mad at me for snapping shots of their merch. I tried to take a secret shot of an image of Trump dressed up as a fairy, but the pictured turned out blurry.
I'm fairly certain that the LEGO display simply does not exist on Thursday preview night, because for the third or fourth year in a row (I'd have to go back in the blog to see) I could not for the life of me find them. I did, however, find a booth with hundreds of minifigures for sale ($5 each). I soon discovered that there were many many booths for minifigures.
And those Popfigures...
Like ALL the Popfigures this year. Last year there were at least 5-10 places you could get them. I want to say that a good 1/3 of the booths in the main exhibition hall and the adjoining one had at least a small selection to choose from. To be fair, some booths had secondary locations, but the sheer number of these things are ridiculous. Naturally I bought a couple (cause Shauna was looking for one and I found a masked Corvo). I saw what I assumed was a rare one in one of the booths which was selling for $299. I don't remember what it was.
Also:
Big Bird will be supplying my nightmares this evening.
It was good to see some classics were back, like the finger tentacles.
And the uncomfortable number of bodypillows.
And the Tower of T-shirts with its ominous hanging bathrobes (which I can see they learned the merits of putting it in the MIDDLE of the floor vs the side near the washroom).
And the corset place, which I'm fairly sure has drastically increased their stock from previous years.
The place that sold the giant cutouts of people, however, did not have any new Trumps...or really all that many cut outs. It had been replaced by a massive wall of Popfigures.
Discovered some new things...and new oddities, including what appeared to be a secret tea party of some sort.
Something for Kevin. He knows what.
A series of...
...ominously...
...stacked...
SHEEP.
And...just...this...
Then I came across something I didn't quite know what to do with. I was staring at it for about 5 minutes, screaming internally and trying to determine whether paying $6.99 was worth finding out what it was.
They're...they're...Fire Emblem trading cards.
FIRE EMBLEM TRADING CARDS. I did not know these existed. I have no idea what they are. I don't know what you do with them. But here they are. I think I weirded the dude out a little cause I was just standing there, staring at them until some kid came up to actually buy some of the cards.
Oh yeah, and then there was this. Pretty sure I saw these another year, but...well...you'll see it. Or them rather.
After browsing the hall and losing track of time a little, I checked out the connecting hall to see what was happening over there. Normally the LEGO display is here, but, every year it makes me think I'm insane when I don't find it the first day, then it's just THERE the next day I go.
I have no idea what any of this is. I am the best investigator.
Another picture for comparison, likely on Saturday. This is the autograph area. Only two of the booths had lines while I was there.
I pet some puppies at one end of the hall, then I pet a snake at the other end of the hall.
Then I found a close cousin of the bodypillow...the LOG PILLOW (they're stacked on the top and all have anime patterns similar to the bodypillows).
huehuehue
Spotted a msi station with a Vive set up. Snapped a picture for the HTC crew. I was tempted to try, but there was a pretty big lineup for it.
On my way out to the Big Four and Artist's Alley, I found LEGO Batman atop a booth that apparently isn't coming back next year. Figured I'd snap a shot for posterity.
Meanwhile at the tabletop games area, Justin was off on a break, so I stood, alone, looking at the Pips games. So lonely. So heartless.
Just kidding Mr. A. I'll come say hi on Saturday or Sunday.
I was wondering why I took this until I looked at the top of the booth. Say hello again to tonight's nightmares.
I breezed through a lot of Artist's Alley since I was running out of time for the evening and I was on a quest to find the tea place. I randomly encountered Kyle, who for some reason I ALWAYS meet in the exact same place by chance. I rushed around, couldn't find it, asked for help, got directed to the booth and then I was side-tracked by Wednesday.
Aka. Danielle who also works at the Starbucks near my work. She has a line of soaps and bathbombs, I was tempted to get some soap, but I had a mission to get to the tea place...which was two booths away at that point.
After I purchased my samples, I rushed out the building and across the many many parking lots to my car where I drove to the hospital. There I met my friend and she made the mistake of letting me hold her baby. Bad mistake Stacey. The aura is too powerful. Your son's a nerd now.
So yeah, I'm glad to see that there's just so much at the con now to browse and that tons of local artists have a chance to sell their work in addition to the big vendors. Honestly, it started out with the smaller, local artists, so I'm glad to see that they have their own dedicated space in addition to the main exhibition halls. I wish I had more time to wander today, but there was so much and I got stopped at a lot of booths. Thursday is just great if you want to chat with a lot of the artists and media guest. They haven't been through Saturday yet, so they still have items to sell as well as the will to live.
I won't be covering Friday this year since there's nothing/no one I really want to see at the con and Shauna picked up Outlast 2 this week. We'll be starting that tomorrow.
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