Photo Journal The first installment: SDCC - The exhilarating recap experience!

  • Posted on: August 03, 2013 @ 6:12PM
  • Published in: Articles
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How has it already been two full weeks since San Diego Comic Con? I've only just recovered, and I've been contimplating the best way to share our personal experiences now that we can attend so many of the events we cover. Thus, welcome to my first ever Photo Journal, and brace yourself for many more to come. This trip was four long years in the making for us, but the ridiculous fun, exhaustion, and inspiration we got out of it were worth the wait.

Let me just also note that if you craved some up-to-the-minute coverage, it's always a good idea to follow us @trampt on twitter/instagram, or me personally @shortarmy.

Highlights + pictures will now commence: 

We skipped Preview Night but arrived on Thursday bubbling with enthusiasm. First stop was Munky King, featuring the release of the incredible Luke Chueh X Jason Freeny Target: Self Medicated. By the time we rolled in late that morning there was only one left, and while we made up our minds that despite the $240 price-tag we absolutely must have it, it was gone. Still, it's always a delight to talk to Luke. The man radiates happy (despite his artwork often speaking to the contrary) and his incredible drive and artistic integrity make for insightful chit-chat. 

My favorite booth (excluding, of course, Adventure Time's cavernous Ice King) was the incredible team-up of Julie West, Scott Tolleson and Gary Ham. I can't imagine three better-suited art buds. The lovable plushes, totems, customs, tiny paintings and prints made me come back and peruse over and over (see my shoulder?). I drooled over Scott's 6" Raar paint masters, but with a release date still tbd I opted for a few of Julie West's old Letterpressed prints. The quality of her work is always so striking to me. Gary Ham's exclusive Wooper Loopers were great, his Flattie Wooper collab with Flat Bonnie was even better, but true to my nature I thought his best (or at least most distracting) creation was little baby Lukas. If you follow Gary Ham on Instagram you can see all the beautiful things he's working on, and as an added bonus you get a picture of the cutest baby at SDCC.  

Thursday night's adventure started with my favorite panel of the con - Toy Break Presents Indie Toy Secrets, which featured some of the best insight to the art toy scene. Moderated by the lovely voice of Toy Break, Ayleen Gaspar. If you haven't seen it yet you can check it out here. We enjoyed a few stories and heard questions answered by George Gaspar (October Toys), Scott Tolleson (Stolle Art), H. Eric 'Cornboy' Mayse (The Four Horsemen), and Jay Garcia (Mana Studios). More exciting still was the mountain of freebies we walked out of there with, including October Toys keychains, a purple OMFG! set, blank My Little Pony (My custom coming soon!), Toybreak mini figure and trading cards, AND a Nahualli for Blind Box Time!

From there we headed straight for the Munky King 6th Annual SDCC after-party. Attractions included Versus Art Battles, fantastic pizza, and the pleasure of watching my heroes get a little tipsy. 

As a result of all the hoopla, we rolled in a bit late on Friday, but not too late to catch the highlight of our journey, the release of Jon-Paul Kaiser's Locodonta Hog. In JPK's view it may have been an homage to Gamorreans (the boars from Star Wars) but to me it was a subtle nod to Bebop (of the two iconic goons made by The Shredder to exact revenge on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles). The more we try to ween ourselves off Dunnies, the harder we fail.

I wandered the con while Keegan waited in line, and in just retribution for requesting that Jon sign the box rather than the figure, got this loving inscription… thanks pal. 

In contrast with the loud and crowded party the night before, we sought refuge in the Hilton's bar, where it turned out the quiet balcony was structurally sound no matter how many gigantic toy nerds congregated on it.  Snippets of conversations revealed the incredible projects that are being worked on, and you can be sure I'll write more in-depth posts on that when it's appropriate, but most exciting was chatting with Erick Scarecrow about his upcoming Kickstarter Anime Project 9 Deadly Killer Pussies, or 9DKP. This is going to be one hell of a project and we can't even tell you how pumped we are for this! Follow him on Facebook if you want to see some WIP pics from all that. 

By Saturday, we were exhausted. In a fit of shopmania we also snagged the Keep Watch Labbit by Mishka and Robin VanValkenburgh's Bernice Beggadear from the DKE Toys booth, along with a few more small pieces, did our last few rounds, and headed to Rotofugi's Coarse show done the street. The Show was incredible. Although there weren't many, the pieces looked very impressive and we walked out of there thrilled with our new Souls Gone Mad. 

 

So there you have it. A crazy wonderful, friend filled, inspiring, weekend brimming with all kinds of art. If you've never been able to attend SDCC, keep trying. It's well worth the wait. 

 

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