Joe Con 2013 Recap

I took both my boys including the little one down to the parachute drop on Friday and they really had a great time. My youngest was a little afraid of the crowd and ran back to me instead of running to pick up a figure, but a very nice guy named Pete from the club was walking around handing out figures to any kids who missed out.

Some adults did bum rush right after they started dropping, but one man’s kindness totally negated any negative connotation for me. I also will state right here that every club employee we came across was very kind and helpful, several of them really took a shine to my son and repeatedly went out of their way to be nice to him and it really made our experience delightful.

After the drop we headed up to the fan film viewing,  my son and I both really enjoyed all of the entries and there was a good variety. We also stayed for a good portion of Club comic/magazine session, which being new to the club didn’t hold a lot of meaning for me but was interesting.

The sales room opened shortly thereafter and it was complete pandemonium. I saw a huge crowd descend on one booth and found out later that Kokomo toys had set out numerous boxes full of broken items and shells for free. After the initial feeding frenzy my son and I picked up a few small items like a RAM motorcycle & recon sled. Pretty cool, props to you Kokomo Toys. It was very hard for me to see all those Night Raven and Whale shells sitting there unloved, but by the end of the weekend I think there was only 1 box left.

There were a lot of neat items in the sales room and one vendor had a TON of boxed items including a sealed Defiant and a couple of boxed Flaggs. They also had tons of complete loose figures and bins and bins full of loose figures. I ended up picking up an 83 HQ, Tactical Platform, Stinger and CLAW glider, all with boxes over the course of the weekend for great prices. Their prices were very reasonable and they were willing to negotiate.

A friend of mine ended up with a great deal on a sealed Mail Away Whale. Like others have noted, the most recent items seemed to be fetching the highest prices, which really blew my mind. Another vendor had a ton of parts and I wish I had heeded the advice I had seen about making a list ahead of time. I could have completed so many items for pennies on the dollar compared to Ebay.  As it was, I did pick up a ladder for my Defiant, an engine cover for my Flagg tractor and some other small bits for what I would have paid for just one of those items on Ebay.

One guy had a ton of 21st 1/18 items new in box, but his prices were rather steep and he didn’t have anything I wanted or needed, although it was really neat to see that much stuff all together. I was surprised how much 1/6 was at the show, not 12″ GI Joe, but Sideshow, DID, Hot Toys etc. I didn’t pick anything up because the pricing was well over retail, but it was neat to see.

I also had the pleasure of meeting Carson from 3D Joes and picking up one of his great posters, if you haven’t seen one, you should. We also spent a lot of time checking out the custom figures, dioramas and KREO build off. There were so many neat items. We skipped the movie that night because it started too late for the kids, but it sounded like a good time was had by all.