Preview night… What is there to say, really? It’s everything that makes Comic-Con great and terrible. Lines all over the place, toy hunters elbowing fans aside to get the best exclusives, the emotional roller coaster of finding, losing, just missing, just earning the items you wanted. Pandemonium.
Most of my preview night was spent jumping from line to line, hoping to get exclusive items before the lines were closed or the limited stocks sold out. Sucesses: IDW, BAIT, and Bluefin. Hasbro, BBC America, and Entertainment Earth were complete failures—but there’s always tomorrow. Despite the rush and frenzy and struggle, by the end all I could think is, “Man, am I glad to be back.”
Big props to the nice guy working the BAIT booth, who not only got me everything I needed (a Dragon Boy Statue and Akuma figure), but made sure to get me a lanyard as well. Also, the Bluefin Entertainment crew was nice enough to make up for the fact that in order to get a set of DBZ Scouters, I had to wait in line just to earn a spot in another line. They constantly kept us updated, and made sure we always knew where to go and what to do. Awesome, guys.
The nicest surprise for the night, though, was unwrapping the Pacific Rim posters we bought from Mondo actually glow in the dark. An already awesome poster was made even better, thanks to Kevin Tong and shiny, shiny ink. I love this poster and can’t wait to get it framed and up on my wall. All in all, this was a great first day.
David R