Apr 7, 2014
Okay,so where were we? Oh yeah, meeting the Green Ranger. Alright you may have noticed I don't say Jason David Frank when mentioning the Green Ranger.That's because that's not who he is to me.Sure, the guy does amazing stuff in the real world and is an awesome guy, but to me, that's Tommy.
It's like if Mickey Mouse decided to walk around a few decades out of your life, and someone told me that was indeed not Mickey Mouse, but Morty Mouse...it might not make a bunch of sense,at least not to a kid.So yeah, took one extra paragragh to say the same thing again: that's not Jason David Frank, that's Tommy.
To sum up Wizard World in a nutshell, it's nothing like I've ever been to.The people are super nice, no one here is trying to destroy you (common event methodology amongst neighbors) ,or steal your crap and pretend it's theirs (unmentioned part of the streetwear code) , it's just really good people.I came in actually ready to do battle initially, as generally speaking I only have those types of events and people to reference, and don't get me wrong, the fans are great, but dealing with all that mess beforehand and during while trying to work 12 hours....for days 3-5 days straight? Let's just say it leaves a bad taste in my mouth after a few years, different story for a different day.
Back to the good stuff though..everyone here was super professional and really had their stuff together.To be honest, I'm the opposite in the sense I don't really care about big booths or schmancy stuff, just making really great product and meeting nice people,almost to the point of disregard.In fact, a lot of you guys have known us to sell stuff out of trunk or a suitcase!Also a different story for a different day... back to the event.
There were people of every kind from across the country with all kinds of wares, one moment you see a button lady, another you see someone selling old comic books that you've read about being valuable, but didn't know really existed (think about Radioactive Man #1 Episode of the Simpsons) ,then you see all these cool action figures or toys you had, or remembering having some of, but you might've wanted another one to complete your set or they didn't have it at the store your Mom went to get your toys at...WHATEVER...it felt like anything you could possibly wish for was there in that building.
I got to the event early as a vendor.But,to be honest, there wasn't much time to check any of it out.You see, initially I had turned down Wizard World to go to a smaller grassroots event, and it just turned out not working out so I took a chance replying to Wizard World within a very small window.
Alex, the director, actually called me up within what couldn't have been more than 3 minutes of that email.I explained the situation, he gave me all the tools that I needed ,and accomodated us like no other. The only thing we had to do was show up.But, the problem was, all my stuff had to be under the gun to make it work.
So, when I saw all this cool stuff I mentioned, it was actually parallel parking in the middle of the street and sliding boxes around a HUGE HUGE HUGGGGGGEEE building.No dolly, no suitcases, literally shirts fresh printed and driven 90+ miles an hour from across the Bay to get to their destination. It was nuts..and I loved it.
So, really, we came in maybe an hour ahead, busted tail, set up a little cutie banner and sticker pile then got to work. I think I changed shirts three times within the first hour and while downing a Redbull Slurpee pretended that I was some weird Circus act putting everything in place.
The thing about people is they can't help but judge and see stuff like this.And it was kind of funny to see them wondering what the heck was going on with this sweaty dude reeling in boxes and unloading all this stuff. If you remember that kid at school who didn't have their homework and said he couldn't find it? I looked like that kid I'm sure, but once again, no worse than a suitcase on the street or a trunk, or wonky security run.So , to me: THIS WAS NICE!
When everything seemed packed and folded, I found a banner and hung that up with our first poster and stickers.Then the fans rolled in not a minute later....
that's it for part 2...
Try Hard, Never Settle, Stay Hungry -h_h-