*SIGHS* Well, here we are. Almost two weeks removed from WonderCon 2026. Let me tell ya right off the bat it was one of the best times I've ever had in my life, and that's really saying something considering that it got off to a VERY rough start. But none of that is important now! What is important is that we celebrate what an awesome time it was, and the best way to do that is through a visual guide! That's right CRAZIES, we are setting the Wayback Machine to 12 days ago and heading back to Anaheim and the Happiest Convention Center on Earth! Hold on to your Batman Underoos kids, because the CRAZY WonderCon Countdown concludes! Enjoy...
The R2 units were in full force as they usually are. They're such a fun group. I wish I had that kind of time and money to just sit around and build Star Wars droids to bring to cons!
Large Marge sent them!
Gimli was summoned from Middle Earth to see if the Dwarves of Erebor could fabricate a new fountain pump after the old one broke! For those curious, the legendary water fountain that sits at the entrance of the Anaheim Convention Center has been broken for well over a year now. Considering that it is such an iconic part of the facility, I asked a worker what was going on with it. As it turns out, an important part broke, and the part in question is no longer manufactured. Apparently similar parts won't do, so the only other options are custom fabricating the part, which is possible but expensive, building a new fountain, which is also very expensive, or just shuttering the fountain altogether. Hopefully they'll find a good solution in the future and we can get that wonderful fountain back!
La Parka, Mexico's answer to Doink the Clown, danced his way to Anaheim on opening night, bringing a new energy to WonderCon that was sorely lacking!
The Shredder just became a lot more dangerous now that Storm has joined the Foot Clan!
Mariachi Wonder Woman and her Golden Chancla! Believe you me, one whack from that thing and you'll be telling the truth for life!
HEEEEEEEEEEER'S JOHNNY!!!
D'OH!!!
Probably the coolest booth at WonderCon this year! DINC Video had an INSANE collection of old VHS cassettes, a good many of which I either had or still have! And they were all for sale too! I didn't pick any up, as DVD and Blu-ray were simply better formats, but I was definitely getting the nostalgic feels checking out all those old tapes!
When you need to get 400 cases of Coors from Texarkana to Atlanta in 26 hours, there's only one man you can count on to get the damn job done!
Dave's not here man...
Come on and...
Ease on down...
Ease on down the road...
Rokimoto is one of the companies to come out of an apparent shakeup at Funko after several executives left in recent years. They did't exactly make a good impression at their launch party last year at San Diego Comic Con, which included an incident of some sort with Fluffy himself, Gabriel Iglesias, but their WonderCon booth was pretty cool at least. I even managed to snag a Cookie Monster figure from one of their Mystery Packs!
Another company to form out of the Funko shakeup was Thrilljoy, who also left a bitter taste in the mouths of many who went to their launch party at San Diego Comic Con last summer, coincidentally held at the same hotel on the same night as Rakimoto's event! (Sometimes this stuff writes itself folks) From what I've read Thrilljoy's event seemed to run a bit smoother at least. With Funko skipping WonderCon this year, Rakimoto and Thrilljoy both saw that was opportunity knocking and for the most part, they answered. Did they make a big impact? Only time will tell. I did win a hat off of them though, so that gets them in my good graces at least!
One of the more troubling stories to come out of WonderCon this year was that staggering amount of no-shows among exhibitors. Attendance was also noticeably down this year. Whether world events or the insane gas prices we're paying right now played a role is anybody's guess, but if you're attending, skipping a day or all of it isn't too big of a hit. If you're an exhibitor and you already paid for your table, that's hundreds, even thousands of dollars being thrown away! And these weren't Artist Alley tables either. These were Small Press and full-on exhibitor booths that were straight abandoned! In all the years I've been going, I've never seen anything like this, even post-Covid in 2022. Hopefully things turn around next year.
Every diva needs a chauffeur!
DJ Lance Rock! You know the wildest thing about Yo Gabba Gabba!, besides being a bigger acid trip than HR Pufnstuf, is that it was only produced for nine months, and yet Nickelodeon ran it forever!
Who ya gonna call?!?
Mocking Bird Lane isn't too far away from Katella Avenue apparently!
And finally, we will end our look at WonderCon this year with the legendary Mahna Mahna! Lotta Muppet cosplay this year, which I love! Believe it or not, there were several variations of "Mahna Mahna" performed by the Muppets prior to The Muppet Show, most notably one on Sesame Street in its earliest years.
And that was WonderCon 2026! It was wild week for sure that was looking like disaster was about to strike before it even began as my sinuses were acting up, Disneyland was having issues with my annual pass and a paycheck I desperately needed was a week late paying. Miraculously, everything somehow worked out and all went well! Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm weren't super slammed, I had some great food at both Boysenberry Fest and the Food & Wine Festival at California Adventure and I topped all that off with some great meals at Downtown Disney! WonderCon itself was a total blast! I got a pretty cool toy score and found some amazing old comics for good prices! Hanging out with my buddy Matt and his adorable toddler twins was merely icing on the cake that weekend! It's a long wait until next year, but I'm sure there will be plenty of interesting things going on the next 50 weeks. The countdown is now on!
And that concludes the CRAZY WonderCon Countdown 2027! I hope y'all enjoyed checking out these pictures over the last eight weeks as much as I enjoyed posting them! It's always so much fun to comb through these and remember the fun of the past! And if you're bummed out that it's ending, just remember: The CRAZY Comic Con Countdown is eight weeks away! And boy will I have some stuff to show then! Anyway, we'll be back next week with some jamming' critters that'll hopefully get your toes tapping! Until then, take care, stay safe and I'll catch y'all later!
