a99kitten's Musings

I just watched the documentary “Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan’s Hope”. Loved it. I was going through con withdrawal since I got back home from SDCC last Sunday night so this was perfect. I might have to re-watch it in December as we are half way through the countdown clock to SDCC14!

It’s directed by Morgan Spurlock and written by him and Joss Whedon (and Jeremy Chilnick who I don’t know.)

It’s all real people. People who are regular attendees, the celebs who attend, real footage. It follows a handful of “characters” all attending SDCC – 2 artists who want to break into comic book illustration (1 is an Air Force guy!), an amateur costume designer who wants to showcase her work, a toy collector (I thought I had problems), a couple who met at SDCC the year prior and a comic book store owner. He happens to own Mike High Comics in Colorado who you always see there so it was interesting to follow his story.

In between showing you their 5 day adventure at SDCC (with a little back story thrown in in their hometowns first), they have clips of panels, the floor, costumed attendees, and comments by artists, actors, etc who are all part of nerd-dom :) Kevin Smith is hysterical is his clips. Joss Whedon, Seth Rogan and Seth Green show up a few times as they should but plenty more are throw in (Corey Feldman!!) Plus little blurb interviews with real attendees about why they go, what they like, what it means to them, etc.

The story about the couple is basically how he wants to propose at Comic Con. And the proposal is adorable (if you read any stories about 2011 SDCC you already knew this happened – so no spoiler!) but I was a little (lot) creeped out by how she would never let him out of her sight. I would have never given my approval for that footage if I were her. Or married her if I were him. But that’s their business.

The Mile High Comics owner has been going to comic con for 38 years (or was it 34?) and he was worried about his business and the expense of SDCC as it’s becoming less and less about comics (he is very right.) He has a very high value comic he might have to sell to pay off vendors, etc and stay in the green. Anyway, it’s an interesting story. I felt a little guilt since I now buy all my comics through my iPad. I just couldn’t store anymore :/

I think that to people that are not nerds or geeks, I am a giant nerd geek. But to real serious nerd geeks – I’m not at all. So that’s interesting (if only to me.) But I really liked this movie. And yes, I do read comics. But I’m not someone who can tell you what happened in issue 45 of Uncanny X-Men. Tell me the story, I’ll track with you though. But I do also love the movies, some shows, some collectibles and the just the fan experience. So it’s not just for comics for me. Never was. I started going because of Star Wars (my biggest nerd category for sure.) And it really is awesome to be in a place where everyone loves the same stuff. Just like going to your favorite’s team’s home game. You can’t beat that energy. And this has no drunken brawls up in the cheap seats.

They had some footage of Hall H for Kevin Smith’s panel. This is always the last panel on Saturday night. I left right before his panel that year (2011) which was right after the Cowboys & Aliens panel had Harrison Ford show up for his Con appearance EVER and the crazy Marvel panel where they brought out all of the Avengers cast (they show quick clips of both of these.) Anyway, it’s funny because I recognized several people (attendees and employees) who I see at the cons regularly. Like the woman is the traffic director at the top of the escalators going to Ball Room 20!! That made me chuckle. I actually had 3 people tell me they remembered me from last year :) It’s Chewie and the fluffy wolf ears I tell ya!

And Button Lady was there!!! In line with a question of course!! She is a woman whose costume is a long coat/dress thing that is covered head-to-toe/front and back in Con-subject related buttons. And Chris Hardwick called her Button Lady when she came up to the mic and that stuck :)

One of the comments is that Comic Con is no longer just about comics. But it’s about any really, crazy popular thing that has fans that flock to it. That’s exactly right. I’d prefer to keep it more geared to the subject matter of comics or related stuff like that. I don’t see how shows like Breaking Bad or Psych belong. But both have crazed fan bases so they do in that regard I suppose. But I never see any stupid reality TV crap there. I’ll trip Honey Boo-Boo if I have to.

Anyway, if anyone has ever been curious about Comic Con, I think this is a good way to see it. There is NO experience like going to a con for the full 4.5 days. But this is a good beak wetter :) And about all a lot of people could handle any way ;)

Here’s the official site and trailer: http://comicconmovie.com/

It’s pretty much done! I. Love. It.

Case – daytime!

There are still some figures that I don’t have but want, so I will add to it, but all of the loose figures that I have are in the case! It is a lighted cabinet so I had an electrician come out and install a plug right behind the cabinet so there is no cord to be seen :)

Lights!

Yay for the internet as I had to look up pictures of the figures to match weapons. I had all of the weapons in 1 baggie. Still have a few blasters. That’s like having extra screws after building something. Grrr. But extra is better than not enough! Right? :)

I used this Power of the Force 92-back as my display guide.

POTF92

It’s also why I got the yellow background case. It’s set up *basically* in this order but I changed a few around due to not having the figures, wanting a few together (big head and little head Han with Chewie, mail-in Emperor (still in sealer plastic) with his Imperial Guards, Amanaman having his own little space (one of my rarest!), etc. Plus there a few that were after that card/time period but still very display worthy – Han in Stormtrooper mail away, Spirit of Obi-Wan, Cantina Band members.

I shall now write a list of the figures that I don’t have and be on the look out for them. Perhaps at SDCC, maybe eBay for non-rare ones (sadly the Chinese have figured out how to counterfeit them although they tend to stick to mostly carded figures.)

I have wanted a nice way to display my non-carded figures forEVER. This makes me happy :)

According to Wookieepedia…

“The phrase dates back to at least 1979, on the day Margaret Thatcher was elected Britain’s first woman prime minister. Her party took out a newspaper ad in the London Evening News that said “May the Fourth be with you, Maggie. Congratulations.” ”

Iron Lady for the win! :)

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/May_4

As a Star Wars collector, I like to display my collectibles. Having them stored away in crates in the closet is silly.

Now, I have too much to be able to display everything. And some items are not as “displayable” (MIB original toys, etc.) But keeping my action figures stored away in a crate on the closet seemed very wrong.

Unlike a lot of kids who trashed their toys, I kept my original Star Wars action figures in great condition. After I “grew up” I kept them in my Darth Vader case and then individual plastic baggies stored away in a waterproof crate. I have some MOC figures too which are in protective cases (purchased as an adult) but, as a kid, I opened up my action figures and had them set up in my room by “setting” (Hoth, Cantina, Ewok village, etc.) So they were all opened, but kept in great condition.

Sadly, my original TESB open belly taun-taun has a broken harness due to the kid of my Dad’s business partners. He came over with his Dad and found his way into my room. When I went in my room and saw him there playing with my stuff, and he showed me the broken harness, I threatened to end his life if he ever went near my stuff again. He left and told his dad. My dad laughed. Might sound harsh but the kid was a horrible little racist brat who was on the path to becoming a serial killer so some fear did him good.

But these original action figures are actually a great part of my collection. I love them! I have searched and searched for a cool way to display them. But most cases are just simple acrylic or glass cases that comic book stores use and I didn’t really like that aesthetic. Plus it was a point of contention between my husband and I about displaying my Star Wars items.

Then I found it. A site that sold action figure cases for display that were cool (IMO anyway.) The owner allowed me to design the case as I wanted as he made them to order. He had some options on his website but then you could make whatever changes you wanted to it. And he said he will use my case as a sample on his site! YAY!

He just sent me the photo of the finished product this morning!!!

I’ve got the wall space waiting! And am SO excited to put all my action figures in!!! So it was worth the wait to find the right case :)

If you need a case, go here! http://www.figuredisplay.com/

Today Disney (DIS) announced that they bought Lucasfilm. WHAT?!?!?! I ran into the living room to see the TV thinking that I must have misheard it. Wow. Lucasfilm has been held privately by George Lucas since creation. He, along with Copploa’s Zeotrope Studios, were created by these guys as a solution to the big studio system they felt wouldn’t understand them, let them make their films, etc etc.

Now, I have been a HUGE Star Wars fan forever. And Indiana Jones. And since touring ILM twice, I always look to see if they do the special effects on movies. George and his team truly created a new frontier. So when, in addition to the purchase, Disney announced a Star Wars episode 7 in 2015 with additional movies following every 1-2 years my head (figuratively – no Belloq action) exploded. I had given up on Episodes 7-9 after eps 1-3 and George said he was too tired.

Now, I was EXCITED. But a lot of twitter, mostly the self-confessed nerds and hipsters, were screaming NOOOOOOOO Vader-style. Some refused to even comment other than to comment that they weren’t commenting. But why? Disney bought Marvel and I have to say X-Men: First Class and Avengers have been 2 of the most enjoyable movies that I have seen in a long time. If you disagree – you just can’t enjoy fun films and probably prefer art house suicidal self portrait films. So if Disney can find some great talent and get Star Wars back into prime action – I say YAY!

I was reading some of the tweets and stories and was both annoyed and amused by their upset. I mean, you know this is mostly a group of evolutionists who can’t get their heads around their beloved childhood franchise evolving one little bit. That thought made me snicker. And all of them likely grew up loving at least one Disney (and/or Pixar depending on their age) movie, if not the entire catalog.

Now, let’s be clear – if Disney announced they were REMAKING (or even “reimagining”) the original trilogy, that would be a different blasphemous story. That. Better. Never. Happen. But they want to take the story past where it ended which is what George originally intended. And what we all grew up hoping for!

I have been collecting Star Wars (and Indy) related stuff (you know…collectibles) since I was a kid. I have quite a bit. Quite. I’m slowly getting it all out and displayed and thinking of new ways to display it. Now it seems I might need even more room. Although the original stuff will always be some of my favorites. But now I will need to get this poster (that was given to me by a friend) re-framed NOW:

I have bought a FEW Disney Star Wars weekend items over time but have tried to mostly stay away as Disneyana collectibles takes you down a long, dark road to bankruptcy. Or appearing on an episode of Hoarders. I do have Goofybacca though:

And have been on the search for a few years for Han/Donald in Carbonite:

I didn’t think I actually wanted it but then saw it in real life at ILM. Very cool. I have the action figure-sized one but I need the big one. To match Goofybacca of course :)

The fact that George wants to turn his helm over to Kathleen Kennedy and a Disney team, while remaining a “Creative Consultant”, bodes well I think. George is a genius. And he is great. But his constant monkeying with the original trilogy has been maddening. Now, I didn’t hate the prequels like some nerds or “truists”. I didn’t love them the same way as I loved the original trilogy but I can still watch them over and over and enjoy them. And the last 30 minutes of the Revenge of the Sith is pure nonstop awesome.

And let’s face it, George introduced Star Wars to an entire new generation or 3. Little kids walk around with toys and costumes because they think Anakin is a Jedi hero. And Ben is young. Yoda still kicks ass. And yes, Jar-Jar talked funny. If you want to expand your brand, you do what he did.

I JUST yesterday said out loud, after seeing a Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 2 billboard in San Francisco, that Twilight was probably going to be the last midnight movie I will wait in line for 2 hours for and care to stay up so late for. And now look – it seems there will be more :) OK, I can do it! Although I will still probably prefer the 10pm “midnight” show like we are doing for Breaking Dawn Part 2 :)

So to all the nay-saying geeks and fake geeks who just like to complain – I say a pox on you. Wait until we see what they give us before you have your nerdtearsattack. You might just enjoy it. You’ll probably hate to admit it though.

I am pretty sure that I will love it. And am damn sure that I will give them a chance. And will probably be as excited as I have been today until it gets here. In 2015….tick tock…tick tock…..I am about as excited as when I was a kid by this :)

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/43860706-d0e3-11e1-8957-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz21CAv0YGt

….”have we found out how many Jedi Knights there are in England and Wales?

We don’t yet know. Almost 400,000 people stated that their religion was “Jedi” in the 2001 census, making belief in The Force the fourth most popular religion. I have no idea whether Jedism is an evangelical religion or not. If it is, that number might well have risen.

It all seems rather confusing to me.

That’s just an old Jedi mind trick.”

That is pretty darn funny if you ask me. I hope the 2011 census shows even more! :)

The best parody ever!! I saw a little of this while at SDCC last week but never saw the entire thing. A friend just posted it on FB and reminded me of its awesomeness!

I also posted the original below so you can compare (yes that is the Biebs) :) Also…now I want to sit down and watch all 6 movies again!!!!

OG:

What makes even funnier (for me anyway) is that this song followed me everywhere while at Comic Con! In the hotel elevators, in the hotel gift shop (where the shop girls grabbed me and we all danced to it all arond the store while people stopped and watched us which made it pretty damn funny! And fun!), in the places we ate. I could not escape the song. And I think I had heard it a total of 1 time before going to Comic Con. So the fact that it now has a Star Wars parody ensures a special place in my SDCC memories :)

Yes, I am one of those annoying CA drivers with a personalized plate. Before I had my doggies, I had a plate that, because I am a bit naive sometimes, I thought was cute but later found out could be construed to mean something else. Doh. Oh well! As soon as I got Angelus, I changed my plate to…

Simple. It was even more self-explanatory on my previous car when the huskies would hang their heads out the windows as they had the entire back seat and back (Jeep Grand Cherokee.)

So last week I was at the beach about to load Storm in the car. Guy parked next to me asks “What does your license plate mean?” As I am about to pick up Storm, my SIBErian husky into the car.  I say it’s for Love. My. SIBErian Husky. He still looked confuzzled. OK….

Today, walking to the car with Storm (in same parking lot) and a guy asks me what a sibby (as he pronounced it) is. I say it’s SIBE (ya know – long IIIIII or even SYBE I suppose) for Siberian Husky.

He looked a bit confused. Is it that hard to get?

But then another guy sitting on the edge of his truck asks “Who Shot First?” I say “Han” without hesitation. He cracks up laughing and says “you are awesome – no hesitation whatsoever.” I add “There should never even be a discussion.” He keeps chuckling as Storm and I pull away in our Falcon. At least the plate frame is translatable.

You meet some interesting people at the beach…

I like this version waaaaaay better than the original song :)

I just read the Kindle single “Comic-Con Strikes Again!” and I LOVED it! Super quick read. But if you are a Con attendee – you will giggle :) The writer hits it SPOT ON. The frustrations, the lines, the commercialism but also the pure fan joy :)

He also hits the nail on the the head with his note about Star Wars:

“Star Wars is the closest thing the culture of Comic-Con has to a single story that unites it: the myth that can support endless allusions that will be universally understood, at least here. Not a lot of us know who, say, minor Biblical characters were, as we might have a few centuries ago, but we know Jango Fett.”

So true… :)

If you have a Kindle, it’s $0.99. And short. If you’ve ever been to SDCC, you will laugh. If not, you will probably shake your head and wonder what is wrong with us attendees. Entertaining either way :)