San Diego Comic-Con 2012 First-Time Experience and Coverage

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Five, four, three, two... Alright, so this is

Toycast and this is the San Diego Comic -Con

post show with the Optobotamus. Hello, sir. Hey,

how are ya? Yes, and I apologize to the listeners

for the audio quality. Mrs. Optobotamus is driving

them home at this moment. So Optobotamus is actually

on the road home from SDCC. That's right. This

is as close to post. San Diego Comic -Con as

you can get. From up to bottom. We will have

other coverage from other people that went to

SDCC after it, probably over on the Geekcast

Radio Network feed. But yeah, you've told the

story before that you plan to go multiple days

besides the Wednesday and Thursday, but because

of cost and because of the lines and the getting

online and buying the friggin' tickets. It just

didn't work. So you went Wednesday and Thursday,

correct? I went Thursday and Friday, actually.

Thursday and Friday. Wednesday we came down to

San Diego, but that was my wife and I's anniversary.

So we did a little bit of an anniversary vacation

thing combined with our San Diego Comic Con excursion.

And basically we just kind of hung out Wednesday.

We didn't really do too much. We went to a dinner.

and just relaxed and prepared ourselves for the

madness that would ensue the next day. Now, as

we said in the pre -show last week, this is your

first time going to San Diego Comic -Con. Correct.

Before we get into the horror stories of lines

and everything else, Would you say after experiencing

just the first two days of it, not even the whole

convention, just the first two days of it, would

you ever want to go back? If you would have asked

me that question Thursday night, I would have

told you no. I would never come back and do this

ever, ever again. But then experiencing Saturday

or Friday, it was... Maybe not as busy I Honestly

think that Thursday has a lot more Cram into

it because people are Really kind of what are

you doing? They can't hear you no like we can

hear oh, okay. Well. I'll say that see this is

what happens This is Optimonymous. I tried doing

my Ustream yesterday. I can't talk about this

stuff without her putting her two cents into

it. I love you. Well, she is your wife. Her two

cents do count for a million dollars, so... She's

my bitter half. Yes, that's right. Wait, wait,

wait. Did you say better or bitter? I said better.

With the V. Yes. Alright, so... I mean it was

it was in it was an event I mean Thursday I think

it was a little bit busier than Friday because

Thursday's the first day that you can get in

there to buy stuff masses of stuff yes and then

Friday it's a little bit more laid -back people

are kind of you know when we first got in there

there was room around it was a lot more laid

-back Bern had sat down she had come up with

the plan of where we want to go, the booth numbers

they are. So she arranged it from highest to

lowest so we could work our way through the actual

convention floor. And it was a lot more organized

the second day. So it was much more enjoyable

and a little bit more peaceful than the franticness

that is the Thursday night. Yeah. So I think

the thing with the Thursday of comic -con is

that as you just said everybody wants their exclusives

everybody wants this everybody wants that because

the Thursday is really the full first full day

and Most of the exclusives. I don't I'm not talking

about toys or just like just the exclusives in

general like I know Mariah, baby. She Was gracious

enough to grab me one of those BTIS volume 2

for CD sets I knew I knew that set I knew that

four disc set was a limited piece to like 35

,000. So, you know, I had, I said, Hey, look,

you know, the, you know, the cons from the 11th

to the 15th, you're probably going to have to

get this on day one because it's probably going

to be gone by Sunday. Um, So those exclusives,

that's why that Thursday is so frantic and the

lines are so long and everything else. Friday,

from what I can tell, is like when the panels

all start. The panels, and I'm not 100 % sure.

There are panels that go on throughout the entire

thing. So today I think there is the Hobbit panel,

the Man of Steel. There's another one Iron Man

3 is also today. So Saturdays are even more insane

because they're kind of some of the bigger panels

I think on I think on Friday was And I'm not

a hundred percent sure but I think yeah Friday

was the Game of Thrones A friend of mine waited

five hours in line To get into the Game of Thrones

panel and it filled up the room filled up before

he could actually get in there So he waited five

hours there for nothing Yesterday also was the

Larry King interview with on that. I know a lot

of Transformer fans went into an enjoyed I want

to I want to say there was also something with

Twilight that went on on Friday Thursday I think

there was something with Twilight where like

the the cast was there or something like that

so I Mean these panels are a big draw for you

I mean, that's one of the biggest draws for it

now the exhibitor hall is Absolutely insane.

I mean there there were hours upon hours waits

for things and the only I was I I love to think

that I was very lucky I got everything that I

I personally wanted I was buying a lot of stuff

for other people but the one thing that I couldn't

get was the Maddie collector Bruce Wayne slash

Batman that sold out both days that I was there

and I know it's supposed to go back on Maddie

collector's website so I'm gonna have to try

and brave that to try and get that figure because

I do like it I think it'll I think it'll look

nice but you know it's one that I wasn't too

bummed out that I didn't get I mean there's ways

for me to get it but the the Friday you know

Fridays you know kind of the big day for panels

that kind of starts at all Saturday kind of gets

big and then I think Sundays kind of like I don't

think much happens on Sunday Yeah, Sunday's a

lot of, you know, just regular, you know, panel

thing, stuff wrapping up, and... Right. Like,

I know they had the Hasbro panel yesterday. Yes,

they had Hasbro and Matty Palooza. Yes, I'm waiting

on videos for Matty Palooza. Not that I care,

either way, but still. Yeah, I mean, I didn't

do any of the panels. I know a lot of people

did, but you do, I mean, you have, like I said,

you know, Game of Thrones. You had to, or Thorns?

Thorns, Thorns. Yeah. You know, it was a five

hour panel. I think, I want to say that the new

panels for today start around noon and they just

started letting people in the room at around

1130 and it's 1152 right now. But my buddy Migs

was there I think at like seven o 'clock this

morning. To get in there because once you get

in there, this is for hall H, which is the biggest

hall there That's where they have all the main

stuff. Yeah, once you get in there you stay there

for the entire thing. You know What you do for

that entire day So he's there in that panel for

you know, the remainder pretty much of the day

and you I mean there's rest or there's up There's

food in there, you know food carts and stuff.

They put in there. There's bathrooms that they

put in there. So it's done pretty, you know,

intelligently. But, you know, once once you get

in there for the panels, you're pretty much in

there. I mean, that's my con is or not back on

Comic Con is a line ride. That's that's really

all it is. If you were to, you know, compare

this to an amusement park. San Diego Comic Con

is a one giant line ride. You've seen you've

seen the 1988 quote -unquote film Cocktail with

Tom Cruise and Bryan Brown, right? I've seen

parts of it years old. There's one part in there

where Bryan Brown's character says, it's a proctologist

dream, and Tom Cruise just kind of looks at him

like, what? And he's like, wall -to -wall assholes.

And that's what I imagine the lines at Comic

-Con being, where people just push you over just

to get their stuff. Even describe it. I mean

I saw on Facebook and on Twitter Anybody who

listens that follows me on there you can see

the pictures that I posted of the crowds and

it literally is There is no personal space for

you at all literally There is not a time when

you're at that on that convention floor in that

exhibitor hall where you are not touching someone

else or someone else is touching you there is

contact with people every single place that you're

at and it's ridiculous whether it's you know

just cramming in because there's a little bit

of space around you know and you're trying to

maximize as much you know they're trying to maximize

as many people in an area as possible or or what

or you're just trying to walk from one place

to the other it takes something that if there

was absolutely nobody there and you were to walk

from point A to point B, and there was a single

person in that entire building. It was just you.

If you were to walk from point A to point B,

it would take you, say, 15 seconds to do that

walk. Right? At Comic Con, with all the people

there, it takes you 10 minutes to do that. And

I'm from LA. I know what car traffic is like.

I know what it's like to be stuck on a highway

and not move. This is ridiculous is what this

is It's it's a whole nother thing. I mean you

you and you and um Steve Megatron you guys were

talking about going to TF con and that's coming

up. Yeah Yeah, Steve's gonna be going to TF con

and I mean I've been to bot con bot con is a

drop in the Bucket this is San Diego comic -con

when you compare it to Or we got back on and

TF con is a drop in the Pacific Ocean When you

compare it to something like San Diego comic

-con I mean estimates right now are probably

there was about a hundred and fifty thousand

people That were all crammed in there. I mean,

it's I mean SDCC is It's a vacation. If you really

want to go to that convention, if you want to

go for, not even just the full experience, but

just to be able to get to as much, because, you

know, I've said it before, other people have

said it, you know. There's no way you can do

everything at that convention in those five days.

But if you want to be able to attempt to do as

much as you want to see or as much as you're

interested in, if you go from the Wednesday to

Sunday, that's a week vacation. That's like a

mini week vacation type of deal. Absolutely.

Like I said, we only went there for the two days.

And that was kind of done on purpose. But in

doing so, I really think that kind of hurt us.

on Thursday because we were trying to cram everything

into one day. Yeah, it came such a hassle to

do things. I mean, the we got I mean, me and

my buddies, we got there to get our just get

our badges. We got there at 1 a .m. We were there

all night long. We had some very weird things

happen. There was one guy who was he was he was

obviously mentally handicapped and He kept going

around and you could barely hear him say, yay,

yay. You know, one of those kind of guys. Right.

And he comes up to us, he's like, you guys, you

guys know the pit from Icarus? I'm like, what?

Like, I don't know what you're talking about.

Like, are you a Zulu, Zulu 120? We're like, what?

You know, and me being the smartass that I am,

I look over and I couldn't do it without cracking

up. He comes over, he's like. Are you guys any

of you guys Azulu 20 or 120? And I mean, I just

I look over my buddy the Mexico bottomist and

I'm like, no, but I think he's a Zulu 125 and

I mean I don't even know what he's talking about,

you know, and then you know now this all happened

like I said in the line to get our badge we were

sitting there and then a homeless a homeless

black man walks over and he's Yelling and screaming

I'm not trying to scare you. I'm not trying to

scare you, but I need you to listen to me right

now. I need you to listen to me right now. I

don't want to scare you, but you need to hear

what I'm about to say. He's like, I am a smart

man. I'm homeless because of circumstance. You

know, he's just going on this whole thing. He's

like, I had to walk six miles. Six miles from

the hospital they kicked me out of the hospital

because I could miles in the snow uphill basically,

you know, they gave me a prescription a prescription

that cost $23 to fill and I don't want your money

I don't want you to give me your money. I want

you to do what you think is right and we're like

Fuck is just doing finally like Half a dozen

security guards come over and they're just watching

this dude, and I look over at the security dude

I'm like dudes if you're good if you guys are

about to do something. Let me know so I can pull

out my camera He's like yeah, that's exactly

why we don't want something to happen. I'm like

no no no no I don't want anything bad to happen.

I just think it would be funny You know and so

we're sitting there and yelling and and the best

part was as he's walking Like I said, this is

a homeless black man As he's walking back towards

our way, he kind of walked down the line, you

know, towards the end of the line. We were towards

the front of the line. We were like the sixth

person or sixth group, you know, in line. As

he walked back our way, he makes eye contact

and looks right at me and is like, and it's because

of your people that Martin Luther King is dead.

And I'm like, whoa. I'm like, holy shit, I'm

about to get my ass beat or something. It was

so insane. That's not it. So we're sitting there.

So that was one other thing. As we're sitting

there, there was another black guy who was kind

of a nerd or whatever. He was passed out sleeping.

He was maybe the second or third person in line.

And they were asleep, and they had blankets and

stuff. randomly like an hour or so after maybe

not even an hour like half an hour after we get

there we're sitting there we're awake we're talking

we're having a good time they're trying to sleep

this dude straight up stands up walks over to

me and stops right in front of me and kind of

doesn't even look at me just kind of stares at

the wall behind me but he's right in front of

me and he wasn't saying nothing he was just being

creepy and I'm like and I'm just sitting there

I'm like Dude, everything okay? You alright?

Nothing. Nothing. Then he just stopped, he just

turned around, he walked back over to his spot

and laid back down. Come to find out the next

morning, you know, you know, the sun had come

up, we're getting ready to go in, it's like seven

o 'clock in the morning. He took a leak, didn't

he? What's that? No, he didn't take a leak. No,

I mean literally he was standing right in front

of me, dude. Okay. He was like two feet away

from me. He's like, I don't remember any of that.

I'm like, are you fucking kidding me? I'm like,

I thought you were about to stab me or something.

I didn't know what the hell was going on. Huh?

He's straight up, he's like, I don't remember

any of that. He's straight up was sleepwalking.

Oh my God. Absolutely insane. And that was just,

and that was just the last time. There's even

a line that you were already in the game that

was just the night to get your badge Get my badge

There is you know it was just absolutely insane.

You know so that whole night happened After you've

gotten your badge and everything else after you've

gone through all these There's a lot there's

a lot to this story my friend the world. Okay.

All right, so that's fine. Go ahead It was about

730. It was about 730. I think that they finally

let us in to get our badges They walked us all

down there and we finally get our badge and that

was super quick super quick. No problems at all

then Mike my buddy the mexico bottom is is like

we got to go and get in line for the Hasbro stuff

That's gonna be the worst That's going to be

the worst thing here. So we got to get there.

So we go down there. Now, the reason that we

lined up that early at one o 'clock in the morning

was because he was like, well, he's like, we

need to get our badges first so that when we

hop over there, we'll be the, you know, one of

the very first people in line for the Hasbro

stuff. You know, it makes sense. Makes total

sense. He's like, you know, worst case, you know,

he's like, there's going to be like maybe a hundred

people there ahead of us, but that's not going

to be nothing. we're like okay that's fine so

we get there this line is about two miles long

when we finally get to it because what happened

was everybody that got their badges the day before

they went down and they started lining up while

we were lining up for just our badge they opened

the doors early and they let them go in so that

they could line up so there was a two mile long

line before we even got to it. It took us two

hours to get all the way to the front of the

Hasbro line just so that they could give us a

ticket so that we knew what time to come back

to line up for to actually buy our stuff. They

gave us a ticket so we waited for two hours got

a ticket then we had to come back at 4 p .m.

to line up to wait. another hour to actually

be able to buy the stuff. So all total it took

us three hours to actually buy anything from

Hasbro and that was absolutely nuts. The only

thing that I would even say that rivaled that

line might have been the entertainment earth

line. which every time we kept going there, it

was like, no, it's an hour wait time, you know,

so then we would go away, you know, thinking

that maybe the line would go down. When we go

back, you know, what's the wait time now? The

wait time now is about two hours. It kept going

up. So, I mean, it was absolutely, I mean, everybody

knows that Entertainment Earth is where a lot

of the Toys R Us exclusives that aren't released

yet are first available at. So like last year,

it was like the masterpiece Hasbro version of

Rodimus Prime. It wasn't out in storage yet.

It was only available at the Entertainment Earth

booth at Comic -Con first. You know, so they

do a lot of that kind of stuff there. And it's,

you know, just, so when I tell people that it's

a line ride, it absolutely is. The shortest,

I think the shortest line was My friend Manny

picked up a figure art thing for JT Mitchell

that I had to get for him. I think he said that

that line was about a half an hour. You know,

what was it? Oh, for your Garfield. Yeah, Vern

bought a couple of the Garfield things there

from Factory Entertainment. They had an exclusive

Garfield which... Did we talk about that on the

pre -show? On the Ustream? No, we didn't talk

about the Garfield stuff in the pre -show, but

you talked about it on your Ustream from the

hotel. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, it's Garfield

dressed up in a superhero costume holding a big

hero sandwich. I mean, it's kind of like a metal

kind of bobblehead. And I mean, you know, Vern

loves Garfield. So I mean, that was right up

her alley. It was something that she was really

excited about getting, you know, and she had

a very short line there. But, you know, Factory

Entertainment is a very kind of small booth,

you know, by comparison to Hasbro and Mattel

and NECA and, you know, even Toynami. I mean,

all these things, you know, I mean, they're all

big compared to Factory Entertainment. So she

had a very short line. What were you there? Five

minutes? You're in and out. You know, so I mean,

very kind of small, but everything else, it's

just absolutely ridiculous. And the thing that's

amazing about this, I found this out last night,

the exhibitor hall or the San Diego Comic Con

or the San Diego Convention Center is 1 .1 million

square feet. Right. That is ridiculous in terms

of the size. of how big, it's, and the very ironic

thing is, as of now, as of San Diego Comic Con

2012, this place is too small for Comic Con.

I mean, you're bumping in. Even in 1 .1 million

square feet, you put 150, 160 ,000 people in

there. Yeah. That's a lot of people. Now, that's

the whole convention. That's the exhibitor hall.

That's all the halls where the panels are. That's

the entire convention center, yeah. But this

place is monstrous, how big it is. I would probably,

I guesstimate that just the exhibitor hall is

about two football fields. This is just my guesstimation

by being in there and looking. It's about two

football fields in length and maybe a football

field or so. In width. It's just unbelievable

how big this place is. It's Really kind of it's

it's if you were to stand in there when the place

is empty I almost guarantee you you probably

Would not be able to see the like if you had

one person on one end and one person the other

and you probably couldn't see them Just absolutely

incredible and all it really is awe inspiring

you see you sit there you just see oh, there's

the nip There's the boobies. We're going past

a nuclear power plant down here by San Diego.

And it literally looks like a pair of boobs on

the ground that have nipples poking up. It's

hilarious. I've seen that before. Because Mirai

Baby lives in, or she used to live in, she doesn't

now, but her hometown is San Diego. And when

I sent my Puggles out to her to have an adventure,

she took my Wild Rider TFA Puggle and as she

was driving by, put him next to one of the nipples.

That's very nice. Yeah, I was kind of bummed

out that I wasn't able... To meet Mariah, I would

have been cool. She was going around as breakdown

at the time. And I didn't see her. I mean, there

was a lot of really kind of cool costumes there.

That's one thing that you always see. And I was

kind of unfortunate, or it was kind of unfortunate

I didn't get to see her. That would have been

neat to meet up with her. But I was amazed and

really kind of surprised that at C &D, you know,

at BotCon, you know, people recognized me there.

It was you know, it's obviously smaller. Yeah,

and it's a little bit more focused to Yeah, exactly.

I was I was amazed that three people recognized

me at comic -con I'm wearing your team bottom

this shirt. I have I wasn't I mean what I mean

a lot of people I mean, I I don't like a lot

of attention drawn to myself. I don't you know

when somebody comes up to me he's like oh you're

off the bottom of this i mean i don't i don't

i'm very awkward about it i don't i don't handle

that very well you know it's like and one of

them one of the kids asked me for my autograph

and i don't know if i if i insulted him but i

mean he's like can i get your autograph i'm like

and i look and i'm like why you know i mean he

obviously you know thinks Highly enough about

me that he wants my autograph and I mean I was

after it I was like, I hope I don't offend him

Or I didn't offend him by asking it, you know,

but I mean it was it was cool you know, I signed

his little paper and You know the He made the

comment that I sound a lot different in person

but you don't Well, I mean it's it's when I when

I'm doing my reviews I have what I like to call

my salesman voice out you know so I'm like hey

guys thanks for tuning in you know I mean it's

it's it's a little you know it's just I don't

know it it's it's it's it it's an act you know

I mean you know off the bottom this is my character

everybody on YouTube is an act I mean that's

they're an ass act YouTube is an ass act you

dumbass I got the Bruticus, I got Cliffjumper,

I got the... The predator the the clear predator

from Neko comic -con exclusive The Ninja Turtles

which that That's another absolutely awesome

thing randomly And I didn't even notice this

at first when we were in the Hasbro line on Thursday

Stan Lee went behind the counter And randomly

signed a whole bunch of products. I mean, I would

imagine they would be Marvel related. And just

signed a whole bunch of them. And then what they

do, you know, he signed, I don't know, I saw

maybe he signed like five of them. What are you

pointing at, Vern? Orange County. We're almost

to Orange County? Oh. She's so excited about

being back in Orange County. So we, you know,

so he was sitting there signing stuff. He signed

maybe half a dozen, you know, or something like

that. And what they do is they, you know, kind

of slip them back in the pile of the stock. And

then as people come up and buy them, you know,

I mean, someone's going to get lucky and they're

going to get an autographed Spiderman figure,

you know, and nobody knows what's happened. So

there was a you know I mean so I mean so Stan

did that you know and then you could you know

a random person would get a figure from him and

it would be signed by him and You wouldn't know

I mean it would it was just you know a lucky

surprise kind of thing So we're there at the

Nickelodeon pant or booth where we were buying

the uh... the ninja turtle exclusive the night

shadow leonardo i think it is right and very

cool looking figure and i i got one for myself

i got one and i wanted to get one for of the

youtube contest that i'm doing that's me and

playmates we're doing where i'm going to include

that i thought that would be a neat little thing

and it was going to be a surprise whoever was

going to win the contest probably isn't going

to know that that's going to be included. They're

just expecting the four turtles. Well, you're

going to get a fifth one. That's a San Diego

Comic Con exclusive. And we were walking away

and we went to the Konami booth, you know, video

game booth. And because Vern wanted to see stuff

about Castlevania. And one of the ladies there

was like, oh, my God, I love Ninja Turtles. Do

you mind? Can I see what it looks like? And she's

like, yeah, sure. So she opens it up and I'm

looking at the box. I'm like. That's kind of

weird. It's not taped shut. And I didn't even

think anything of it, to be totally honest. And

then she, oh, this was yesterday. This was yesterday.

So I had totally forgot about the whole random

signing things of different things happening.

Vern opens it up and it's autographed, and I

don't remember the guy's name. Now, it's autographed

on the inside of the package by the guy who's

doing the voice of Michelangelo in the new TMNT

cartoon series coming out later this year. Oh,

Greg Sipes, I believe his name is. Yeah. That's

it. Greg something or other. And I'm like, oh

my God, that's awesome. So now. not only whoever

randomly wins this is gonna get, you know, the

figure, but the package, you know, is signed.

And I'm like, that's really kinda cool. And I'm

sitting there, I'm like, shit, wait a minute.

I'm like, I got three of these. Cause we had

another guy that was in line with this who wanted

us to buy something else there. And he's like,

you know, if you buy that for me, I'll buy you

another Ninja Turtle. And I'm like, okay, cool.

So I, you know, I was gonna have three Ninja

Turtles. I open up another one and that one's

signed. So I got two of them that are signed,

and well, one of them's not. The two that Vern

got were signed, and the one that I got wasn't

signed, so obviously I'm bad luck at this whole

signing shit. I mean, so now I get to have one

that has a signature on it, and then some other

kid or whatever is gonna win this, they're gonna

get one, theirs is gonna be signed, and I just

thought that... that was really cool you know

stuff like that is happening all over the place

so i mean it's things like that that really make

it kind of worth it and you know it just adds

to the fun if it was you know i mean you know

if it was stan lee that would have been a little

bit better but hell i mean yeah but stan didn't

So overall, you're happy with the experience

besides the constant hurry up and wait situations?

Like I said, I think the biggest problem was

that we tried to cram everything into one day.

Next year, we're planning on going next year.

Our minds have changed. We want to go back. But

we think we're going to do the full thing, all

four days plus preview night. that way preview

night we can get there we can get our badge and

then we you know next day we can line up for

the hazmo stuff right away and space things out

a little bit more plan things out a little bit

more and utilize what we had or utilize what

we have you know we got extra people because

We're gonna you know, we I had to buy a bunch

of stuff next year. I'm not doing that I'll do

that, you know for my close friends, you know,

like if you want something or I'm not gonna open

this up to a whole bunch of rain No, like I said

before I had over a thousand dollars worth of

stuff You know by being out here in San Diego

both me and burns credit cards got Frozen because

of suspicious activity because we're spending

so much money Two you know or two hours from

where we live, you know, it's like there's something

weird going on here So they both they froze both

of our credit cards Luckily, it's a real quick

process. You know, you just call you verify some

transactions and then it's right Yeah, but it's

you know, I mean there was a hassle, you know

that and that just added to kind of the hassle

It's like oh Kind of it's I would say for next

year and this is just something if you guys choose

to do this I would say next year just Before

you go on the trip withdraw a bunch of cash or

get travelers checks to where you don't have

to worry about a frozen bag Right. You're right.

But the biggest thing is I don't like No, I know

I know but the biggest thing is I don't like

walking around with that much money Right. No,

I understand and and like you said next year

You're essentially going for yourself to actually

experience it versus buying a thousand dollars

of merchandise for people you barely know I mean,

you know some of us but you don't know ever I

mean, I'm sure you've got plenty of people that

have messaged you on Facebook and oh, yeah That

be it so it was it was you know I'm glad to help

people out I'm happy to do that but in doing

so it made things a lot more Hectic for me, and

I now have and I said this on my you stream yesterday

I now have more of an appreciation for why people

charge so much for this stuff I mean Bruticus

was $99 at the convention If I you know knowing

now what I knew then I would have charged people

200 bucks for it I'm sorry. I mean the amount

of hassle that I have to go through to get stuff

for people It's like, you know, you made a comment

on Twitter to me a couple weeks ago or a week

ago before you were going to go to San Diego.

We were going back and forth on Twitter about,

you know, prices and scalping and all that BS

and right. And you made a comment of Well, you

have to take an account of the time it takes

to get someone or to get into a line for someone

and then you're going to charge, you know, you're

going to charge them a fee for you. You know

what I mean? That, you know, an additional amount

of money for that toy. And at the time I looked

at that Twitter message and I'm like, he's fucking

crazy. but now you know now you know seeing it

and and just seeing the pictures and yeah I can

so you know for for the stress and the cause

to get you know someone you don't even know a

Bruticus or what you know whatever I can yeah

yeah I can see the charging as well right yeah

I mean I'll tell I mean I can tell you I mean

I had to pick up a thousand dollars worth of

stuff and I made 90 bucks Yeah, that's that's

it because I charge people I charge people 50

% on whatever they got, you know, so It's you

know, so if you want a brew kiss It was a hundred

and fifty dollars and you know, it's not even

I didn't even make that much because We didn't

know this at the time, but Hasbro charges you

tax So broody kiss was actually a hundred eight

dollars after tax. So I mean, I mean, you know,

in driving back and forth, you know, I mean,

it's a two hour drive here. Now, I mean, I can

see it from, you know, you get people that go

there, you know, like big bad toy store, you

know, goes there and they buy a shit ton of stuff.

They take 20 people with them, you know, 10,

15 people and they buy it. Now, that's a little

bit more ridiculous. I don't condone that type

of morphing up. For someone like you, or for

someone like Spade, or for someone like PR, someone

that's just an individual and not an agglomerate

internet store, of course, you're going to want

to... you know, charge a little bit more for

the, you know, the frustration and the hassle

of, you know, sit, you know, cause honestly,

I mean, for some, for some people I would say,

well, if you really want it, you know, go out

and get it yourself. But at the same time, if

you say that to someone, then they're going to

have to, you know, depending on where they live,

buy a plane ticket and it would just be more

expensive in the long run to just get a hundred

dollar piece of plastic that frankly looks like

shit combined. Having it in hand, it's not as

bad. It's not as good. It is a basically oversized

power core combiner, but it's improved. The joints

are a whole lot better. It's a much better executed

figure than those other ones. I think Biggie's

problem is onslaught. I don't think he should

have been a deluxe. I think they should have

made him a void, or made him a little bit more

bulky. My biggest complaint with it is that when

you turn him sideways, he basically disappears.

You don't see him. I mean, from the front, he's

big, he's bulky, you know, I mean, well, I mean,

to an extent. I mean, he's big from the front

and from the back, but when you turn him sideways,

poof! He's like stealth mode. But, I mean, it's

not a bad... I'm sure a lot of people are going

to like them. Individual modes are pretty nice.

I have a much better appreciation for people

charging. The helicarrier is another one. Oh,

God. If anyone asked you to get a helicarrier,

you would have been really nuts, too. I would

have. I would have. Nuts, nuts, charged. a ton

of money because that helicarrier is like four

feet long that's that's just the thing the box

itself is five feet yeah you know because you

figure you figure you got the padding and shit

in there yep you know the box literally is five

feet long yeah the thing is gargantuan i mean

i saw before online i saw the you know the packaging

for it and i knew those people would you seen

in person and it's the size of a small child

it's ridiculous and you see people walking around

carrying around three and four of these things

because they get people going there because that

was one per person so you get a bunch of people

that go there to buy stuff if you want to stock

up on and I mean it's insane you know and that

thing that thing was like 140 dollars or something

like 145 something like that yeah You know that

thing is already selling for double on eBay and

not only that but it is expensive as Hell to

ship that thing. Oh, yeah I mean it's not I mean

UPS or USPS with if you were to do it They bring

things down in terms of basically, you know regular

sized Packages and then there's oversized packages

Oversized packages automatically add like 20

to 25 dollars to it So you're paying 20 that

$20 $25 for the box or for the package another

$25 because it's oversized plus the fat way So

damn much you're adding another $25 on top of

it at least $75 to ship that thing and Now if

you had to ship it, and that's probably only

shipping it fairly close if I had this over to

Kali Karashoka or whatever, however you say that

name. Oh, Kali in New York, yeah. Who's in New

York, California, that's probably gonna cost

you $115 to ship something like that. Yeah. I

mean, and then don't even include international

people. Holy shit, fuck. No. The entire time

I've dealt with... online selling or eBay or

whatever when I was selling stuff, I never allow

international buyers. I don't want to deal with

it. I just don't want to deal with it whatsoever.

And that's nothing against those people. It's

just against those. Shipping cost is what it

is. So overall, would you say the experience

was enjoyable? Think I can see the possibility.

I mean like I said the second day I had a much

better time You know, but it is really kind of

overshadowed by the first day You know the second

day was much better was much more organized.

It was much more planned out so I can see the

possibility of this being a very enjoyable trip

if it's planned properly The next time I think

it will be playing proper next time because we

know what to expect and we know what's gonna

happen So I think and and my wife will plan it

So it's it's gonna be I I honestly think it's

gonna be a much better experience the second

time around I can see potential like I said and

I I I'm pretty excited about next year Yeah,

what I would do next year is or you know whenever

they do it. I don't know I don't usually it's

like a couple months before that they start posting

the schedule I would I would go on I would go

on the the comic -con website I would look at

all of the different panels that they're gonna

have like if they're gonna have a you know, a

Fringe panel or a Nikita panel or a Bones panel

or a Marvel panel or a DC panel or, you know,

whatever. I would go through all of that and

pick, you know, Hasbro panel, Matty Palooza,

what else? Obviously, you're not going to go

to Matty Palooza. Nobody wants to go to that

shit. Fucking Matty Collector. Anyway, you know,

look at all of those. Look at all of those schedules

and then decide, OK, I want to see this, this,

this, this, and this. And you just have to make

sure that none of those conflict with each other.

Because that's the thing about Comic -Con is

they will schedule the fringe panel and the bones

panel at the exact same time to make you choose

which one you want to go to because they don't

have enough time in the four -day span. Right.

give you know equal i mean it's it's it's it's

equal time it's an hour hour and a half for each

panel but like they can't do fringe bones both

you know they can't do them all back to back

to back to back to back because there's got to

be other stuff that goes on too so all right

uh i think that's going to wrap it up for the

uh san diego comic con optibotamus coverage since

he only went for the first two days uh coming

up next on absolutely Good good So coming up

next on toy cast we are gonna get into the Largest

Canadian Transformers convention, which is TF

con which Steve Megatron will be going to We

will see you then keep playing with your toys