Con-trarian Views: FX International Toy and Hobby Show 2008

For those that don't know, the FX International Toy and Hobby Show officially kicks off the convention season in Orlando for us geeks. It's generally considered the warm-up for the larger, more publicized and expensive Mega-Con show, which usually follows within a month or so of FX. While Mega-Con attempts to provide something for all the fan-bases within the geek community, FX seems to deliberately limit its scope, although that scope has grown larger in recent years (in 2006 they claimed to have "11 conventions in one", a claim they could support as long as you were willing to consider three or four tables in the back of a huge room at the Central Florida Fairgrounds its own "convention"). FX traditionally has been far more geared towards the independent collector/vendor selling their items to fellow enthusiasts, as opposed to Mega-Con, which is usually sponsored by the larger comic book stores in the area and is dominated by their presence. How much you enjoy FX really depends how much you can appreciate a less corporate, more "little guy"-friendly convention appearance and atmosphere. One less-than-flattering, but certainly accurate way to describe the FX show is "the flea market for dork stuff." (Once again, thank you, Tobey.) It is what it is, and I enjoy it, which is why I end going just about every year: it's relatively inexpensive, they draw cool celebrity guests, the deals on the toys and comics-related merchandise are usually pretty good, and the folks running around in costume ... well, that's always a hoot. So with that in mind, here's a look at this year's event.

The Venue

Like last year, FX was held over 2 1/2 days at the Orange County Convention Center. Unlike last year, when they held the event in the newer North Concourse of the Convention Center and it's truly enormous exhibit halls, this year they set up the show in the older West Concourse, where the rooms are a more reasonable size for an event like this. For a show like FX, bigger isn't always better: last year's show felt more sparsely attended than it actually was simply because there was so much unused space in the exhibit hall, and the aisles between the vendor tables made the traffic through them appear to be a trickle. The halls in the West Concourse are far more suited for this event--still plenty of room for everyone to set up and for traffic to flow smoothly (they even had room to set up a wrestling ring in the back; more on that later), but tables and vendors across the aisles from one another didn't have to shout to talk to one another.
The largest downside of the OCCC venue is concessions. More specifically, the prices the concession stands in the exhibit halls charge for items such as sandwiches and beverages. Not even gourmet sandwich eateries like Panera and Atlanta Bread Company have the audacity to charge $9.50 for a turkey sandwich, and if they do have something approaching that price, it's usually on a specialty bread with dijon mustard, asiago or feta cheese, something exotic. The $9.50 turkey sandwich at the Convention Center comes on what might as well be Publix-brand white bread, no condiments, and if you're lucky, lettuce with a bit of crisp to it. How about $5 for a soda to go along with your $10 sandwich? Or a $4 pretzel? Yikes. If you decide to go to this show next year, do yourself a favor and bag a liter of water and a sandwich made at home, or makes plans to eat off-site. Otherwise half your convention spending funds will go towards feeding your face instead of feeding your collections.

The Vendors

This year FX managed to provide a great variety of vendors and creators to spur visitors to part with their dollars. From the innovative, modernized spins on Grimm Fairy Tales found at the "Grimm Visions" booth (left) to the usual suspects peddling the latest collectible action figures, discounted trade paperbacks, $1 comics, movie props, and ancient weapons, the show offered the best mix of the pricey and the reasonable to fit everyone's budget. I personally would've liked to see more vendors selling discounted trades, especially at a time when trades cost on average $24.99 and 50% off is just about the only way I can afford to pick them up nowadays, but that's just me. The pictures below show just a few of the tables there this year, but you get the idea: lots of eye candy and stuff to blow your money on.





The Guests

Okay, I have to confess at this point. The only guest at this show I had any REAL interest in meeting and talking to was the young lady you see in the picture to the left, Ms. Laura Vandervoort, currently starring on Smallville as Kara Zor-El, Clark/Kal-El's newly-arrived Kryptonian cousin. Yes, there were VERY cool guests this year: Helen Slater (once a "Supergirl" herself and also a recent guest star on Smallville), Nathan Fillon (Firefly/Serenity, Drive), Adam West, George Takei (Star Trek, Heroes, The Howard Stern Show), Greg Grunberg (Heroes, Alias); as well as the usual B and C-listers (Erik Estrada and "Fat Momma" from Who Wants to be a Superhero?, pictured below).



Yes, it might've been cool to get a chance to talk to some of them--Nathan Fillon in particular seemed to be having a great time at the show, living up to his reputation as a consummate jokester, at one point zooming around the convention floor in a motorized wheelchair borrowed from a delighted fan. But you know what? Take another look at Laura Vandervoort, okay? I mean, come on!!



True story: on Saturday I was at the show helping out with minding the "Grimm Visions" table, which was across the aisle from the table for "Crazy Ed's Comics." Sometime around 3PM I happened to look up from my copy of Jim Butcher's Storm Front, book 1 of "The Dresden Files" novels, when who else but Laura Vandervoort, along with her companion, who looked like he might be a model for Express Men stores when not with her, walked right past me on her way to "Crazy Ed's" in order to buy a Supergirl comic book. Soon enough, folks walking by were asking to take pictures with her, including "Crazy Ed", and as she kept saying she had to get back to her table I simply couldn't bring myself to approach her for a picture. So I sat and unashamedly stared. I'm fairly sure I didn't drool, though. Trust me, my five minutes talking to her the next day was EASILY the highpoint of my weekend.

The Fans

The pictures below really say it all, but just a few things I noticed:

-Lots of great costumes this year, but LOTS and lots of Star Wars representation especially. I would've had more pictures of superhero costumes had I been taking pictures on Saturday.

-The wrestling matches going on throughout the day in the exhibit hall were constantly drawing spectators. Most of them were laughing, of course--no real hardcore wrestling fans to be seen--but it was a popular attraction that no doubt will be repeated next year.

-and finally, about that last picture of Ms. Vandervoort, the one where she's talking to a fan: I took this picture hours before I actually met her, and I was standing at least 100 feet away using my camera's zoom. I had no idea she was actually looking over at the camera (she must've seen the flash) for the pic until I had uploaded the pics to my computer. Timing is funny sometimes.



Final thoughts

Yes, it was a great show this year, which I didn't expect because of the state our economy is in and my belief that folks would have more important things to spend their hard-earned dollars on. Guess fandom and geekdom trumps necessities for others besides me, after all. Thank goodness. Now bring on Mega-Con.