The Eternal Collectors!

San Diego Comic-Con 2004
By Robert Covarrubias

Have you ever wondered what heaven would be like? I often do and I think I have an idea, first let me say "Wow" to the 2004 San Diego Comic-Con.

This was my first experience at one of the best conventions in the world and my first time in the beautiful city of San Diego . With that being said let me start by giving you a visual image of what I saw at this wonderful convention.

First, the monstrous building that houses the event was impressive with hundreds of people waiting on line to get in, I hear that there were about 80,000 who attended the four day convention, most impressive. Once inside there are numerous doors that lead you into the convention itself and when I tell you that it is jaw dropping I would not be exaggerating. A sea of people and vendor’s booths, toys, displays, costumed fans, video games and even a life size X-Wing fighter adorned this massive convention.

I was there from morning to night and I didn’t get to finish seeing everything I wanted to see in one day, good thing I was there for four days, boy were my feet hurting. Every toy company you can imagine was there showing off new collectibles, toys and action figures. Lets not forget the people rushing from line to line entering raffles, hoping to win the opportunity to purchase a Comic-Con exclusive and there were many at hand my friends.

Some of the most popular were Mattel’s mysterious three versions of the Batman figure sculpted by the talented four horsemen who happen to be at attendance signing the boxed figures for fans. Each figure was rarer than the other, unfortunately you never knew what you got till you opened the sealed black outer box, do I hear ebay? The other beautifully made figure was She-Ra. And then there was the elusive Galactus Heroclix, which we didn’t win till the last day of the convention. In fact there are too many to name and by this point I’m sure you’re already aware of them, but in case you are not you can always check out some of the on-line collectors sites and they have the full list. They also had screenings of new television programs and films with a panel of actors, directors, writers and producers at hand.

I also attended a lot of panel discussions about the toy industry and I have to honestly say some of them were quite boring, only because the panelists looked as if they would rather be somewhere else, after party perhaps? The Star Wars fan film Awards was great! It was well presented and well received by the fans, I enjoyed myself very much. The last day of the convention was just as great because vendors would lower their prices and make great deals with the convention attendees. I know I got some good deals, and that my friends is a glimpse of what I saw at the event, If I were to write everything I saw then this article would become two to three pages long.

All in all it was one of the best convention experiences that I have ever had. I will definitely attend next year’s convention and bring a lot more money with me and some empty suitcases, hey I live in New York ok. So my friends if you have never attended this monster of a convention, trust me its worth the trip,