Hi all,

My wife and I went to WonderCon this past weekend. We were only there for two days, but it was an enjoyable time. We can’t afford to go down to San Diego for Comic-Con right now. Even with my pro-badge, it’s just too expensive. So, WonderCon is the next best thing—

In some ways, WonderCon is actually better. Let me explain.

WonderCon is in Anaheim California, just down from my hometown. So we were able to drive down from our home and park at the train station and pick up a local transit bus which took us directly to the Convention Center… Well, that first day we ended up on an Express bus, which stopped at Disneyland, and then a long block before the Convention Center and then went right on past it for several blocks. So, we had a long walk back to the convention. We didn’t make that mistake on the second day.

Where Disneyland opened in 1955, Anaheim didn’t get its Convention Center until July of 1967, and has been enlarged several times over the decade.

I remember my parents taking me to see the Harlem Globetrotters there once as a kid.

If you’re a fan of the Star Trek you’ll recognize the new front of the Convention Center as the Federation headquarters in the first episode of Picard.

Which brings us back to WonderCon.

Once we got in and picked up our badges. We got to wander exhibit floor before going to the first of several panels.

Along with being an author, and animation scriptwriter, my wife is a library; so, our first panel entitled: “Keep Bans off our Books”. The moderator is a local librarian and all their guests were authors, and you can guess what the topic was about. It was an interest to hear all their concerns and how people threaten books for the smallest and dumbest of reasons.

The next panel was on Writing Animation – several of our friends were on the panel, so that was fun. We use to attend these regularly both at WC and SDCC when we were members of the Writers Guild of America’s Animation Writers’ Caucus. The panel would be officially endorsed by the WGAw, unfortunately that caucus was disbanded. Subject of an entirely different blog someday. This panel had writers from different generation of shows talking about how animation has been written through the years. A lot of it has changed, but the story telling stays the same.

If you told me as a kid, who only went to Comic Conventions for the comics I was in love with, and animated tv series, that I would end up going to a promotional panel for toys, I would have laughed at you.

The next panel we attended was for JAKKS Pacific and their costume division Disguise not only showed off their upcoming line of toys (focusing on those licensing of currently or soon to be released films and video games) as well as costumes they’ll be selling for Halloween.

What I found impressive with the JAKKS presentation, was that they didn’t waste any time with an introduction about the company and about how great there are, how long they’ve been in business working with how many likenesses and so forth. Instead, they started right off showing their product. Giving Disguise the first half of the presentation; not only having slides of the. New Halloween costumes, but also having members of their staff dressed in some of them. Even more cute, was they had children (I’m assuming children of their staff) dressed in really great looking costumes. It was so cute. JAKKS would go on to show off their latest toys, focusing on SONIC THE HEDGEHOG and others.

Why did I sit in on this panel? Why does toys interest me now more as a middle-aged man more than as a kid? Several years ago, I received a temp job assignment to work at Disney’s Consumer Products division. It wasn’t anything special, mostly data entry of product coming in from vendors and going out to distributors and stores.

A Winnie the Pooh plush doll, a Mickey Mouse T-Shirt, a Princess Playhouse, or a Tinkerbell night light. All these types of things crossed my desk over the three months I worked there. You’d think it would be the most boring thing, data entry into a computer program for hours on end. Yet, for me there was a joy in the work. Of course, the fact that I was working Disney put a smile on my face (that smile is there every time I get placed with a Disney company or division. If only I could get a full-time permanent job there. I keep trying.) There was something more, and it’s hard to explain, but all those items, whether they be toys, clothes, decorations or wall paper, got me happily excited. Every time I walk through a toy store – remember those – RIP ToysRUs – or simply the toy section of Target or similar store, I get this same excitement.

Over the last decade I’ve been following the growth of Mattel’s MONSTER HIGH and EVER AFTER HIGH fashion doll line. (EAH should get a chance at revival, but I understand why that probably not going to happen. Monster High has done quite well in its latest form.) I also follow MGA’s doll line RAINBOW HIGH.

JAKK Pacific doesn’t have their own lines like those, but I got that same type of excitement while sitting in their panel at Wonder Con.

Finally got back there didn’t I. I hadn’t planned that tangential story, but I tend to do that.

I’ll finish today’s blog with mentioning the final panel we attended on the first day of Wonder Con:

At 6pm we attended the Celebrating Tolkien Reading Day. A few days previously (March 25) was the day that J.R.R.Tolkien fandom celebrate as the day that the ONE RING was destroyed, and this panel was put on by TheOneRing.Net (go figure). The panel consisted of six fan members of TORn, each doing a reading from Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit stories, including from of the unpublished tales. The readings were extremely enjoyable, but what made me the happiest being there was watching my wife. A super-Tolkien-fan from childhood onward, her eyes lit up as they had a child read the most remember line that starts The Hobbit. Plus, later, when they began to sing one of the songs from within the story, she sang it not missing a word.

So ended our first day at WonderCon and we bussed it back to where we grabbed dinner and then headed home.

I’ll post about our second day next Tuesday. Sorry again for the delay.

Kevin