5 Ways to NYCC (New York Comic Con) - Part 2
By George Rose
October 12, 2017
BoxOfficeProphets.com
This meant that the best use of our time would be chasing autographs from Jim Cummings (voice of Winnie the Pooh) and the four Power Rangers that were attending. With Travis and Heather not at the Con, Cummings became my #1 target for an autograph because Travis wanted me to get two from him as a gift to Heather for her birthday. Since the prospect of meeting Cummings also excited Jackie, he became the only person I was required to meet by the end of the day. Our new mission was finding Jackie a Winnie the Pooh Funko Pop to get autographed. We headed to the shopping level to start the hunt and to introduce her to NYCC.
In the last article I told you who I was hoping to meet based on who was expected to be doing autographs on Thursday at NYCC. Well, back in the planning stages it was discovered that John DiMaggio (the voice of Bender on Futurama & Jake on Adventure Time) would be doing panels on Thursday and autographs on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I figured this might be a good time to bring my Bender and Jake Funko Pops so that maybe I could sell them to fans attending on Thursday that would want cool exclusive Pops signed over the weekend.
Well, just after Jackie and I got to the shopping area to find her a Winnie the Pooh Pop we saw John Dimaggio sitting at a booth doing autographs. WTF?!?! Were my eyes deceiving me?! I asked him if it was because I harassed him on Twitter all week to add the extra day of autographs. He laughed and said it wasn’t, that the website was wrong and he was never doing just panels on Thursday. How is anyone supposed to make a solid Comic Con plan if the website is wrong leading up to the event? Well, instead of cursing the convention gods I thanked the one true God for having me pack two of my DiMaggio Pops so that I could be accidentally prepared for the coolest autograph of the Con. Fate was starting to kick in.
I previously did not expect to pay for pictures at NYCC as a means for budget cuts. However, I knew there was no way Travis would believe DiMaggio turned out to be there if I didn’t have pictures as proof so I spent the extra $10 for a selfie. The Red Ranger would not be so lucky. I had purchased a Megazord Funko Pop to have the Red, Blue and Black Rangers sign it. Since the Blue and Black Rangers were scheduled at 5:30pm as part of the normal autographing area, it was pure luck and chance that I would find the Red Ranger on the shopping level. He was not there as a scheduled celebrity so much as he was there to host a booth for his own website, which put him in the middle of the shopping floor. I got in line, paid $50 each for both Travis and me to have our Megazords signed, and eventually made my way up to the front of the line.
“Any Funko Pops that are being autographed must be personalized,” said Red Ranger’s assistant. Ummmmmm WHAT?! I didn’t respect that the Red Ranger wouldn’t even tell me himself that he was a stingy prick who didn’t want fans making money off of his autograph. Why a celebrity would intentionally ruin the value of signed Funko Pops by DEMANDING that they be personalized is beyond me. Like, I’m sorry you have no career! Little did this jerk know that I am a writer and would be happy to relay the message of his douche-baggery to the world. I also would be happy to pry deeper than I should. Go big or go home, right? I asked him why only the Power Ranger boys were at the convention and if the Pink Ranger would ever come around. “She likes to be the only Ranger at a convention if she decides to appear and Comic Con is too crowded for her,” said the Red Ranger, rolling his eyes in disgust. Ok, we have a talker here...
“Well I hope you ‘hit that’ when you had the chance and put that bitch in her place,” I replied while nudging my elbow. I was hoping he would want to bro-out with me and that’s exactly what this greedy sucker did. Red Ranger must not have known I was gay or he would know Pink Ranger is my favorite, and that a pretentious Pink brat is still more appealing to me than a trickster Red hasbeen. He went on to tell me how she tried to bang him but he turned her down, how she thinks she’s better than the rest of them, and how it’s odd that the biggest fame-whore of the bunch is the one that makes her presence the least seen. To me, this meant she blew him and he has a little penis. Anyone who messes with fans like that obviously has a chode.
“Thanks for helping raise me as a kid,” I joked as we walked away without a picture. There was no way I was paying the least attractive Power Ranger another $20 for a selfie after he tried to ruin my Funko. Red Ranger had clearly put on the most weight, lost the most hair and was the most bitter. I smiled knowing I’d be able to easily remove the “To George” from his autograph because he used a paint pen, which scratches off with little effort. It was right here in this judgemental moment that I remembered I was at Comic Con and magic was in the air. I had already stumbled onto two great autographing encounters, one of which was completely unexpected. I felt a tiny little smooch from the convention gods and knew I was meant to continue my journey. Jackie and I then found a Winnie the Pooh Pop and went downstairs.
En route to Jim Cummings we passed the large line of idiots that thought spending $300 on a Mark Hamill autograph was a fair price. From far away, buried in a crowd of fans standing just past the “no cameras” sign, I was able to get my phone high enough to snap a quick picture of Mark. It’s blurry and not the greatest, but just good enough to feel like I saw Luke Skywalker in person without paying a king's ransom. We made our way to Cummings line, waited half an hour, and got to meet one of the sweetest elderly celebs still alive. It’s nice when someone famous is charging a reasonable $30 for an autograph and only $10 more for a selfie. Because of this and because Old Man Cummings could die at any moment, I purchased the combo.
By this point it was about 4pm with only three hours left to the Con. Jason Isaacs was still missing from a delayed flight, animated Harley and Batman still had ridiculous lines waiting for autographs, and the Blue/Black Ranger autographing combo wasn’t until 5:30pm. This left Jackie and I just under two hours to finish our shopping up. With so little time and no shirts acquired, we spent the next hour basically running through aisles and only stopping when a clothing stand presented itself. For once, the plan worked and we were able to see just about every vendor possible. This proved to be a very bountiful Con because I managed to find nine hilarious shirts and purchased them all. It was now 5pm with half hour to spare.
Rather than head to the Blue/Black Ranger autograph early, I decided I would treat myself to an older Funko exclusive that I’ve wanted for a while. Since many of my autographs fell through I had some extra cash, so I got in line for a specialty Funko vendor and picked up the two-pack of all two-packs, so perfectly fitting for the October baby in me and the Halloween season. That’s right, I found a FREDDY KRUEGER & JASON VOORHEES TWO-PACK!!! And if I hadn’t decided to wait thirty minutes for the chance to buy this Funko then I might not have seen some random guy walking around with an autographed Green Ranger Pop while I was waiting.
“Where is Jason David Frank doing autographs?!” I screamed. The man heard me, turned around and pointed a few booths down. The Green Ranger wasn’t doing autographs in the basement with the Blue and Black Rangers, but rather at the Toy Tokyo booth just a few feet away from me. I dug my Green Ranger Pop from the bottom of my shopping cart, pulled out $50 for an autograph and got in line. Moments later, his assistant got behind me and said, “This is the end of the line.” I had made it just in the knick of time! When it was my turn, I told Jason that I enjoy seeing him every chance we get at these conventions and hope he continues to show up each year. He said he would try and then gave me A FREE SELFIE for being the last guy in his line. Since I had taken a picture with him a few years ago, I decided not to spend the money this time but the convention gods took care of me. The fateful stars were aligning!
It was now almost 6pm, just in time for the 5:30-7pm autographing session for the Blue and Black Rangers. Jackie and I ran to the basement level so we could get in line and got to Table 21 just in time. Except… no Power Rangers. No line. Nothing. I asked a nearby staff member who told me the convention (yet again) made a mistake on the website. There was accidentally a double booking for these two Power Rangers. Yes, they would be doing basic autographs on Friday through Sunday, but their autographing for Thursday would be limited to the BOOM Comics booth on the shopping floor. Just as we were turning to leave, a wizard appeared.
There he was, one row over at Table 20 with only one person in his line… Jason Isaacs. Jackie and I started screaming and patiently waited the thirty seconds it would take for it to be our turn. We both told him how handsome he is, how much we love Harry Potter and how happy we both were he safely made it to NYCC. We forgave his plane troubles and thanked him for trying to make it to as much of the convention as possible; celebs cancel all the time and he still came for the only hour he could. We had given up on meeting him but perfect timing allowed us to get in his line at the last second with zero wait time. Moments like this rarely happen, let alone twice at one Con. This was, of course, thanks to fate… and those pesky Power Rangers.
Or, rather, the lack of Power Rangers. It was now 6:30pm. We ran back up to the shopping level, scurried around for a bit and then finally saw the giant BOOM Comics sign. We waited a few minutes in line and at 6:50pm we got to the front. “Oh, sorry guys, nobody told you? This is a special autographing session just for people that bought the BOOM Power Rangers Comic Book,” some jerk assistant informed us. I’m sure we weren’t the first disappointed fans because the two Rangers wouldn’t even look at us. Before we could complain, the lights started turning off. We gave the last two childhood icons in our presence a goodbye wave and said, “Hopefully we’ll see you guys next year!”
Unlike the Red Ranger, these guys weren’t being greedy. NYCC had screwed up their schedule and we didn’t want them to pay the price. Karma tends to punish jerks. When you mean well, you are rewarded. This year proved that with several unexpected encounters experienced at the last possible second. I don’t know when or how but I’m sure the convention gods were watching and will reward me one day soon with another epic Comic Con.