The end of New York Comic Con is always bittersweet. I'm always happy to have attended, but after a few days of fighting through crowds and surviving on convention food, I am pretty exhausted. And even though I feel I could sleep for a few days straight, I'm kinda ready to do it all over again.
This year we weren't able to secure press passes like we had in years before, but I was lucky enough to have the day off from work when tickets went on sale. Whatever you have to pay to get in it's always worth it, even if you spend your time sitting and watching the people that are there. The costumes were pretty wild this year, and a lot of people really transformed themselves into their own walking attractions. I was never a big fan of the cosplay thing before, but I've grown to appreciate it and even look forward to seeing what they will come up with. It definitely adds something to the experience.
We did something a little different at this year's convention in that we collected autographs for the first time in I don't remember how long. We had the chance to meet Hulk Hogan (which was mind blowing) Jimmy Hart, Mick Foley, and Sgt. Slaughter. Yeah, we kind of had a theme going. Sharon and I have been watching a lot of wrestling documentaries recently, so we were pretty excited to track these guys down.
Of course we bought a bunch of toys and tried to stop and say hi to everyone we knew and meet everyone else that we didn't. It's hard to really stop for any period of time because the place is beyond busy and there is a literal current of human bodies that dictate where you can go. Add to the fact that you want to see and do as much as possible in a very small window of time and it can get a bit hectic. But I had some very interesting conversations that have opened some very interesting possibilities for the future.
I know this is kind of reading like a "what I did on my Summer vacation" essay, but it's hard to capture the experience for people that haven't been. In a similar fashion I was trying to put into words for my wife what it meant for me to meet Hulk Hogan. My grandfather passed away this time last year and watching wrestling together was something we did for my entire childhood. And to shake the man's hand who was really responsible for it existing on the level it does, not to mention someone that has always been bigger than life, just left me without the ability to properly convey my feelings. I don't get star struck very often, but I was beyond that the moment he said "what's up, big man" as I approached his table. I hope I didn't look too ridiculous.
I'll be posting pictures up all this week and will have some small recaps of the stuff I saw. A few pictures are up now on our Instagram account (TheToyViking) and all of them will be posted to our Facebook page as soon as I'm able to do so.
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