COMIC CON... ANOTHER ONE DOWN, BUT FIRST...

Well...  Another Comic Con has come and gone.  How was it?  Hell if I know?  I type these out in advance!  Y'all know that by now!  But I can guarantee you this I and everybody who went are super exhausted right now and just want to sleep, so let's just skip ahead to the pics, shall we?

It's last year, it's San Diego, it's Comic Con and we are about to party like it's 2025!  Hang on to your butts because the CRAZY COMIC CON COUNTDOWN is still going!  Enjoy...

SHMINGDY SHMINGDY VIRDIBUEAU?!?  BORK BORK BORK!!!  As much as I love the Muppets and the Swedish Chef, it can't really be denied that he's the reason that five generations of fans think all Swedish people talk this way!

Google Play and Marvel teamed up for a pretty cool and surprisingly efficient offsite last year celebrating the Fantastic Four movie's release.  The movie may have been a glass half full at best, but the activations were fun at least.

For those looking to get some ass, the Adult Swim Block Party had plenty of it!  Literally!

I didn't see the new Naked Gun movie and am still on the fence about it.  Some folks really liked it while others really hated it.  It's just hard to see anybody BUT Leslie Nielsen playing Frank Drebin, even if it's technically Frank Drebin, Jr.  The role was iconic. 

The Ultimate Warrior takes some time to pose with a little warrior!

Shout! Studios offered me the chance to hangout in a crazy, mixed up place where anything could happen!  Just wish Terry hadn't flown into me while I was jumping!

Sexy Dumb & Dumber folks.  Rule 34 strikes again...

Always nice to see some friendly, and grouchy, faces from the neighborhood!

If I had known this would be the last time I'd be at the Super 7 Store, I would've savored the moment a bit more.  Last fall, Super 7 closed down their stores in San Diego and San Francisco, and it's been a sadder experience ever since.  And their Godzilla setup from last year was amazing!  Just look at that entrance!  We were robbed of future awesomeness.

And here's the Mattel booth with this awesome Castle Greyskull motif and yet no mention at all that a Masters Of The Universe movie was coming.  No toys, no posters, not even a lousy promotional postcard!  And they wonder why the movie, which was awesome by the way, flopped? 

Look!  It's the wizard that saved us!

The Twisted Metal offsite certainly saw its share of crowds throughout the week!  I didn't get the chance to do it, as the lines was just too long, but it did look like fun!

I'm always big on wrestling cosplay, and it was cool to see the hardcore icon, Sabu, get honored months after his death.

And finally, we'll end things with one of the coolest experiences I've ever had at an offsite, the Clown In A Cornfield maze!  I have no clue if this is a movie or a show, but the atmosphere was incredible, from the sets and props down to the actors and costumes.  And then their was the chase through a mock cornfield by a chainsaw-wielding  clown looking to add our heads to his collection!  I can't say enough about how ridiculously over-the-top this all was and oddly enough, it wouldn't be the last time last year that I got chased around by clowns with chainsaws!

And that was Comic Con 2025!  Easily one of the best experiences I've ever had at the show.  I got all the exclusives I wanted, found every classic comic and toy score I was looking for and nearly got into all the offsites I tried for.  All in all, a great year that felt like the cons of my youth.

And that's a wrap on July 2026, but not the CRAZY COMIC CON COUNTDOWN!!!  We still got one more week to go in this madness, but I assure you we'll be kicking August off right as we head into summer's finale starting with coverage of Comic Con 2026!  So be sure to come back and check it out!  Until next time, take care, stay safe and I'll catch y'all later!

JUNE GLOOM LEADS TO COMIC CON BLOOMS!!!

 

WE'RE BAAAAAAAAAAACK!!!  That's right CRAZIES, it's a new week which means it's a  new post that just so happens to coincide with the end of the month.  Don't be sad that June is over.  Be happy that COMIC CON is that much closer!  I know we're all getting pretty excited here, so I'm just gonna jump right into the pics!

We've landed in the year 2018 thanks to the Wayback Machine and I am finishing up my adobada street tacos at Lolitas as I get ready to head to the convention center.  Swab up your Old Spice CRAZIES, because the CRAZY COMIC CON COUNTDOWN is on!

My niece, Kristen, proudly sports her watermelon armor and sword as she poses with the Asgardians!

2018 was the debut year of the Dragonball Experience behind the Marriott Marquee!  A lot of us were heartbroken that it didn't come back last year after five great cons.  Due to certain policies, Toei, Bandai and Crunchy Roll couldn't afford to ship the props out, despite having had the space reserved for over a year.  They did retain their deposit on the space, so there is hope for this year at least for a return.  I guess we'll have to wait and see...

The Laika Experience at the old Dick's Last Resort building.  It was a pretty cool experience that started well over a week before SDCC, so it was nice to get a head start on some offsite fun!

Catra and Hordak.  They just don't make villains like them anymore!

The Petco Park Interactive Zone expanded into the Experience At Petco Park!  And expand they did as nearly the entire lot was used and it even had nighttime programming for the first time!  Sadly, they'd revert back to the old Zone the following year and have shrunk ever since.

These princesses know what a real hero looks like, and it ain't Prince Charming!

COBRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!

Ms. Frizzle was there and ready to lead her class on another unauthorized and potentially dangerous field trip with a group of minors!

Admittedly, I was never a fan of Courage The Cowardly Dog, but this is a great cosplay!

Before the Peanuts gang claimed this space as their annual popup museum, the boys from South Park were raising all sorts of hell in the building!

WOOOOOOOOO!!!  Ol' Nature Boy's a little on the wild side these days, but in his prime he was the good kind of crazy!

Who wouldn't want Dot Matrix's mask from Spaceballs?  I actually worked with Lorene Yarnell once at a show in Escondido, and she really was just the dearest, sweetest lady.

GO GO GADGET AIR CONDITIONING!!!  It was too hot for a trench coat that weekend, but Inspector Gadget suffered anyway so that we could be entertained by his antics!

And lastly, we'll end things this month with a sight I hadn't seen in 25 years: The Rock-Afire Explosion performing in San Diego!  Google them if you don't know, but back in the day, if you had a birthday at a joint that had a Rock-Afire band at it, your playground cred skyrocketed!  Imagine my shock as I was setting up the Hasbro booth when I looked across the aisle and saw a Deadpool animatronic being set up with Fats Geronimo, Mitsy Mozzarella and Billy Bob?!?

And that was COMIC CON 2018!  Had a blast at this show!  Saw and did so much, with the real highlight being my niece proudly walking around in the watermelon armor I built for her.  She even made it on the Jim Jeffries Show show on Comedy Central!  Definitely a show for the ages!

And that's a wrap on the month of June, but don't worry.  We got plenty more coming and will kickoff July the proper way as the CRAZY COMIC CON COUNTDOWN continues into the new month!  Until next time, take care, stay safe and I'll catch y'all later!

WONDERCON 2026!!! THERE AND BACK AGAIN!!!

*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!