Category: Movies

Let Me Share These With You

November 11, 2012

From a very secret source, I managed to recently obtain the following:

OMG! It’s a factory sealed box of Star Trek trading cards all the way from 1991! Isn’t it strange how the TNG card says ‘Patrick Stewart’ and the TOS card says ‘James T. Kirk’?

Oh well, let’s look inside:

ZOMG! Exactly half the box is packs of Next Generation cards, and half is Original Series cards. Such organization! (And yes, that’s my desk visible behind… note the coaster AW)

Here’s a closer look at the two different types of packs:

I opened exactly one of each type (the ones in the above shot, actually). Here’s the very first card I pulled from the first pack:

Gadzooks! A nifty hologram of the Enterprise! I imagine these are ‘rare’, and I was very lucky to get one in only the first pack. I wonder how many others are available in the packs in this box?

Here’s the rest of the cards from the pack:

Yep, they look next-genny enough. Nice pictures, lots of words on the back. Real fanboy (or, fangirl) stuff here folks. Here’s front and back detail of a card most fans would treasure:

Lovely stuff!

I ripped into an original series pack as well. Some real delights in there! Here’s a standout card:

Good old Tiberius himself! (Or is that a doppleganger?)

At any rate…

Let me share a few packs with each of you 🙂

I realized, upon buying this magnificent bounty of endless entertainment, that posting about it on the blog would lead to feelings of jealousy and despair amongst many of you. To fend off such things, you can have some packs for free! But there is a very small catch…

To get some free packs of Star Trek cards, simply complete the following sentence in a comment:

“The true and honest reason why I believe every single Star Trek episode is better than every single Doctor Who episode is…”

Depending on your reply, you may find your Christmas parcel stuffed with a few extra Roddenberrian goodies this year:

NYCC Day Four

October 15, 2012

Day four at NYCC looked a bit like this:

And a bit like this:

Sunday, the last day of the con, is the shortest. It’s also kids day. This means a greater density of attendees right from the opening time. Yep, it’s madness.

So what did we see and do yesterday? Well we bought stuff (alas no Gundam), went to a panel (Viz), spent some time in ‘artists alley’ (I chatted with two MTG artists and got a basic land signed!) and basically made ourselves even more tired!

The train trip home, much later in the day, was a peaceful and relaxing merciful release from the relentlessness that is 4 days of NYCC. But you can bet we’ll be back next year!

Here’s the Sunday cosplay highlights:

NYCC Day Three

October 13, 2012

The cell signal’s a bit slow here at the hotel, so I didn’t go back to read last years comic con post. But I reckon if I did then Saturday would have included mention of the same thing we encountered today: the crowds!

It was like half of the otaku in America was at NYCC today, and we were in the thick of it!

We started early by sitting in the front seats of a Moyoco Anno panel. She’s the creator of several manga series I’ve enjoyed, including Happy Mania and Flowers & Bees. She was reserved, amusing and very polite, as she discussed (via a translator) her career and influences.

One particularly funny moment during the panel happened during the audience Q&A. Here’s a photo:

He even tried to ask his question with the mask on!

We saw a great many other ‘celebrities’ today, including Tom ‘Draco Malfoy’ Felton, Burt Ward, Adam West, Blair Butler, Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Booker T, Brutus Beefcake, the Bella Twins, Kelly Kelly, Joel Hodgson, Nicholas ‘Zander’ Brandon, Tera Patrick, Lou Ferrigno and this lovely girl:

Sadly AW, I couldn’t get her autograph since the tickets had sold out in advance 🙁

Conventions like this are about seeing creators and celebrities, about playing games or seeing movies in advance, about meeting other fans and seeing cosplayers, but also (and importantly), about buying stuff! And believe me when I say a large portion of the shows many halls are dedicated to vendors selling all manner of things. What sorts of stuff do we buy at NYCC?

Well, for starters, figurines:

Clothing (such as bathrobes):

Wigs (of any colour):

Art (paintings, posters, prints):

Curiosities (most of the ‘steampunk’ variety):

Toys (including collectible ones):

Stuffed animals (such as Monster Hunter themed):

And model kits:

Today’s vast crowds also included even more cosplayers, and sadly the human density made it tricky to get photos of most of them. But, as with the previous entries, three highlights from those I saw today:

The last one was a tree person from last years Doctor Who Christmas special. The middle one gets points for originality with her ewok costume. And the girl on top? Well I’m not sure who she is dressed as, but she was tall!

Tomorrow is the last day. We’ve spent hundreds so far (including many Christmas gifts for the usual suspects), but there’s still cash burning a hole in my wallet! Will I cave and spend $100 on a Gundam kit?!? That would be crazy, wouldn’t it? 🙂

Robot Claw