As the rest of the comic con attendees had fun the
last day of the San Diego Comic Con, on Sunday, I took the day off to rest a
day early, but not without regrets. I
really missed a great time. It won’t
happen next year. So as it has come to a
close, and everyone has gone their separate ways, back to their respective
homes to recover, I am taking this opportunity to reminisce. I am not just reminiscing about SDCC 2013,
but rather thinking back to all of the previous ones that I have attended. I, along with my brothers (Angry Koala Gear),
have attended the San Diego Comic Con since I was a kid. When I first attended, I collected comic
books. As time progressed I would admire
prints and all of the cool sights. I
began expanding my interests and began to buy all types of Comic Con goodies,
from comics, to prints, to designer toys, here and there. That all changed a few years ago. What changed, you may ask? My love for customizing toys and admiring all
of the incredible works of talented toy designers and customizers was
born. I came home from Iraq, from my
second deployment and took a drawing I did while overseas and reinterpreted it
into 3 dimensional form with my very first custom toy.
Still, although my love for designer toys was
growing, I would still spend a lot of money on things like prints, random
books, and other things that don’t really matter to me. They were aesthetically appealing to me when
I bought them, but after that initial admiration, they lost their luster. This year, I didn’t have nearly the amount of
money to spend that I wish I could have had, but yet the small amount of things
I did buy, are awesome, and I will enjoy them for years to come. That is the first thing I liked about Comic
Con this year more than years before. To
tell the truth, Comic Con has been progressively losing its appeal to me,
because of the crazy crowdedness, people bumping into me, and the general
rudeness that comes over people as opposed to joy?!? This year changed my outlook on Comic Con
though, in a profound way. I have many
people to thank for this. I’d like to
take the time to do that.
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| Team Beefy |
I would like to thank my friend, colleague, peer,
and fellow artist, Menh Voong aka Beefy of Beefy & Co. Beefy loves art, designing and creating
incredible designer toys, along with his other great merch, and supports fellow
artists in a great way. He first allowed
me to be a part of his first custom show, “So BadAss, It’s Good”, which took
place at Wonder Con 2013. He also opened
his booth up for a few of us to have signings.
He then allowed me to be part of his next show, “The Ghost Within Us,”
which took place at the world’s largest everything-pop culture convention, San
Diego Comic Con. He then opened his
booth up for some of us to have signings.
For the veteran artists, this is a regular occurrence during their
visits to the cons, but for a fairly new and not well-known artist, such as
myself, it’s a huge deal, and it means a lot.
So I tip my hat to my friend Beefy and say THANK YOU!
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| Me and MissyMToyz |
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| Big C & Eos |
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| JRad at work |
I would also like to thank the new friends and
acquaintances (most are super talented artists) that I have made over the past
year or so. This will be a fairly
lengthy list, in no particular order, including MissyMToyz, DeeTen,
FrankenFactory, JRad, Big C, Forces of Dorkness, George Gaspar, Ben Goretsky, Spanky
Stokes, Gino Joukar, Denise Vasquez, Manny X, Sketch, Deadmundo, Komega, Bio,
Carson Catlin, J*Ryu, the Angry Koala Gear crew for supporting me to the
fullest, and so many more. Some of you,
I have only met once, maybe have only met over the web, but all of you have
touched me in different ways. Some have
inspired me, some have encouraged me, some have congratulated me, and some have
simply shown me humility. Most have done
all of the above. Whatever it was that
you did for me, just know that I appreciate you, your work, and your
support.
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| Team MissyM |
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| Beefy, DeeTen, & Carson Catlin |
One of other great things that happened this year at
Comic Con, was meeting a few artists, that I hadn’t had the chance to meet
prior, including Carson Catlin, Big C, Eos, David Gonzales (creator of the
Little Homies), Brandt Peters of Circus Posterus, and others. Meeting David Gonzales was a really cool
experience. I collected his Little
Homies as a child, and still have them.
He really liked my Dia de Los Muertos Mickey and Steampunk Willie
(collab with DeeTen). He and I even took
a picture with behind the two 9” vinylmations, which I hope to be able to share
soon. Crossing my fingers on the chance
of a future collab with him… I also met
the incredibly talented Brandt Peters. I
purchased one of the blank, “Wander Misfits” by Brandt Peters and Kathy Olivas,
which were sold blind boxed, limited to just 100 of each. I also purchased a 4” Munny, for Brandt
Peters to doodle on. He signed the
Wander Misfit, and I told him I had planned to customize it. After assuring him that I would not sell it,
he graciously told me that once I am finished with it, to send him pictures,
and he would share and promote it. An
awesome offer, from an awesome artist!
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| Me and Homie Zombies artist, David Gonzales |
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| Wandering Misfits, "Boo" |
In closing, I would like to simply end with this…
Thank you once again, to all those above that I named, and those that I forgot
to name. I look forward to crossing
paths with all of you. Sooner than
later, I hope…
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