Thanks to Louie M. who covers South West conventions for www.comicsheatingup.net. Here is his wrap-up for the Phoenix Comicon Fan Fest 2015. Check out the Cosplay gallery coming up.
No secret I am a Phoenix Comicon fan boy after covering the big summer convention for CHU. Of all the cons I visit in a year, PHXCC always has a special vibe. They also put on a second low key and laid back con in December titled “Fan Fest”. It’s the perfect way to wrap up the year and is very family friendly. It takes place at Cardinals Stadium in Glendale, AZ.
While the hopping artist’s alley had some deals as artists were getting rid of inventory, dealers were holding firm on prices for the year end. The Power of Pops never cease to amaze me. Many of the pops mentioned here on CHU were selling for multiple times cost. Anything with a “Hot Topic Exclusive” sticker was $20+, even if you could still easily obtain it directly. The various Funko mystery box exclusives (from Smuggler’s Bounty and Collector Corps) were fetching $25-$50. Part of the reason I have developed an addiction to subscription mystery boxes.
Speaking of mystery boxes, they were all the rage. So many vendors were offering some kind of mystery box of their own. One surprisingly popular booth was selling these large orange mystery boxes for $40. They were flying off the shelf and the allure was that some boxes had vouchers for premium figures retailing from $100 – $300. So opening the box right there on the floor captured a lot of attention, and I witnessed plenty of winners. However, I wasn’t always impressed with the content of non-winning boxes as it normally appeared to not even be $40 worth of merchandise. Nevertheless, they were moving these things!
Star Wars is hot everywhere! Plenty of the Force Awakens toys were for sale and above cost. Almost unanimously, the comic vendors I spoke with stated that Star Wars comics and variants are the strong sellers. I am following the current Marvel run of Star Wars for my personal collection and am enjoying it. Not sure if the con sales are translating to the online market for Star Wars variants, but they are definitely in full force at the con. The big question is – will everyone still want this stuff after they see the movie?
I found the Black Mask LCSD Mystery box for $40 and was happy to bring it home. Spider-Gwen is still prominently featured on display shelves and on cosplayers, she has really exploded. Everyone is also busting out their Man of Steel 18s as Doomsday is back in the spotlight after showing up looking like a roided ninja turtle in the latest BvS trailer. In a reliving childhood moment, I came across a booth promoting a Kickstarter to revive Dragon’s Liar into a feature film using the old school look and feel – I am up for that!
Comics guests included Tim Seeley, Larry Hama, Josh Blaylock, Sina Grace, Don Rosa, Aaron Lopresti, Raven Gregory, and Mike DeBalfo to name a few. Larry Hama had a decent line throughout the weekend. Being an old school horror fan, I love visiting the Lady Death booth. Brian Pulido has revived the character along with some new horror titles he launched through Kickstarter (and he is one the nicest guys you will meet!). It’s been years since Tim Seeley came to town, so I was happy to catch up with him and get some signatures.
The Pop Culture guest list was pretty satisfying, especially for a winter show. Once could meet: Karen Gillan (wow!), Sean Maher, Julian Richings, Alaina Huffman, Denise Crosby, Kevin Sorbo, and Morgan Sheppard among others. Super easy access to all of the panels and all had an intimate feel. Supernatural fans were taken care of with panels spotlighting Alaina Huffman and Morgan Sheppard. Highlight was hearing Morgan Sheppard banter about this long career including the random encounter with Gene Roddenberry that got him started with Star Trek. Karen Gillan’s panel was packed in the hotel across the street.
Early on Friday, there were no lines and celebs were definitely entertaining longer conversations with fans, which was great to see.
If you are in the southwest in May and want to see a big show done right, get your badges for Phoenix Comicon! CHU will be there! http://www.phoenixcomicon.com/
Nice write up.
The downside with the mystery boxes is they can’t actually put $40 worth in every box and then put more money into the winning boxes, the retailer would make a loss if they sold them all for $40 then. You’re probably getting about $20+ worth in the normal boxes, with some of the remaining $20 being put towards the value in the winning boxes, leaving them an overall profit at the end. It’s almost like buyers paying into a raffle competition. Good article too I always enjoy reading about the cons.
nice review,i love reading about other cons across the nation,alot of con dealers but there prices up more than even above ebay …but dealers like Larry from Larry comics and Eddie from comicsexposure and Mike from Royal collectibles do the opposite ..i wish there were more vendors like those guys ,they make conventions go great
Thanks for reading guys!
Good perspective on the mystery box, it really is more of a raffle than buying a product.
I was at the Fan Fest on Friday. Oddly, even though this event emphasizes things other than comics, I got more comic shopping done than at other events. The admission for one day was relatively cheap ($10 to $15). Crowds were minimal on Friday and vendors were willing to chat as well as sell. I picked up some Valiant keys and Rai 1-5, which are pretty difficult to find.