Chicago Summer 2002 finds

[icatch9]

Hey guys have any of you ever been to Wizard Con? It's comeing up in about a month, and I just woundered if it was worth my time. I don't care about meeting Lou Firingno (Sp?) or getting the auto of that chick from Farscape, but I am interested in buying Star Wars stuff. So, if I went do you think that there would be a lot of people selling Star Wars stuff? Would it rival St. Charles (wich is a week or two away ). Post it to let me know.

Thanks guys!

[KIDD]

Scored 12" utimate jango fett today at toys r us in melrose park

[INDIANA]

K-Mart in Broadview also recieved the 12" Jango.

KB in North Riverside got the new Han Wave but quickly sold out.

Haven't seen any of the other new stuff or the deluxe.

[KIDD]

Scored the 12" inch Red and Yellow kb clone troopers today at the kb toys on irving park and cicero happy hunting and mtfbwy
always

[KIDD]

oh yeah and all the kb's-toy r us's-target's and walmarts have dropped the price on their figures

[skyywalkerr]

Woodfield K-B had about 20 Dookus as of 1 pm. Didnt see any clone troopers. Watch out for the BIG salesperson there, he was telling some kid that Yoda was produced in very limited quantities. Nothing like someone trying to make a sale by lying to some kid

[icatch9]

Finding tons of Orn Free Ta wave at several WM around the burbs.

Alright, I was at Woodfield about 7ish and they only had 6 Dookus left.

Boy have I got a story for you guys. I'm going to make a thread about it, but I thought I'd tell you first, just becasue you'd recognize the guy I'm talking about.

So, I'm in KB at Woodfield mall, checking things out. Nothing to good, but the price drop was interesting. Anyway, I walk back to the regular action figure isle just to see all the cool toys. So, the portly employee comes back walking really fast and asked the yougster with the spiky hair "Are there any Yoda's back there, its for a hot chick!" The youngster replied, "Yea, but I want to give it to her!" So, they both race up to this woman and give her a Yoda. First of all this woman was about 30 and with her very Italian ("connected") looking husban. Second of all she wasn't a model or anything. She was very nice and good looking but these guys where acting like they had never seen a woman before.

So, I thought this to be odd and a bit un-nerving. I thought those guys were real dorks, and a bit stupid. But I got to thinking that this was my key to a Yoda. See my fiance' was looking at some things at JC Penny's. When she was done I told her the story, and I told her to do the same thing. My fiance' is very good looking and I knew she could wrap those punks around her little finger. So, I talked her into doing it. I of course made myself scarce and looked at the WOTC store.

Let me start by saying that my fiance' is very informed in Star War and in the collecting. She knows as much as anyone when it comes to what is good and what is rare.

She told a good story, and she said she was so good at playing that dumb girl who needed this figure for her little brother.

She started by looking at the figures and looking very confused. The older portly fellow asked if she needed any help. She then in turn asked him if he knew who that little green guy was who fought the old man at the end of the moive. The dude said that he was Yoda. She asked if they had one because her little brother really wanted one. He told her and mind you he was fumbling with his words the whole time ( you know in that dumb flirty way us guys do) that he had one behind the counter and that they were really hard to find. He then went on to say that he knew who Yoda was becasue he saw the movie. So, she got a Yoda and gave this guy a thrill for the night. He was so excited to talk to a pretty young girl about Star Wars that he almost wet himself(or something much more grose).

She was very excited about her little escapade. She said it was very fun to do, and we just cracked and that guy and his little side kick all the way to the car.

My suggestion to you guys is find a hot chick to get your figures. I mean it worked twice today. If you don't know a hot chick go to the mall and find one. Ask her to go up to that guy and ask for a Yoda or whatever you need. He'll blush and hot step it to the back. Good luck!

[brianped]

Wal-mart in Vernon Hills had a ton of the Orn-Free waved. Also picked up the last Nexu. Nothing at Toys, Target or KB except peg warmers..

[skyywalkerr]

Icatch, that guy (the portly fellow) is a doofus. I am in there all the time since I work at Woodfield, and he ALWAYS has a 'story' for me. One day it was they had stopped production on Dooku and would never get any in t he store. (You and I both know that isn't true) He also told me that they were done with preview figures...and then the next day they get in 10 cases of them. The only one there that has ever helped me and really been a help is the younger manager.

[Flembar]

somebody asked about wizard world a few posts back so I thought Id respond

Ive never been to the Kane County toy fair so I cant offer comparisons but I go to WW every year and I can say taht there are TONS of dealers selling star wars stuff.... after comics, Id say star wars toys are pretty much the biggest item for sale.... and you WILL be able to find just about anything youve been looking for.... but deals might not always be that good.

That being said, in summer 2000, I picked up all the basic EP1 figures for $2.00 each.... in fact, this amazing price pretty much got me back into collecting for the first time since I was a kid (and boy has my collection grown in the past two years)

given the apparent glut of new stuff in the stores right now, I would bet there will be some deals on all the basic figures, but the newer and harder to find stuff will all probably be a little more expensive--hard to predict, but Id imagine $8-$10 cheapest.... all the way up to $20-$25 a pop with the greediest dealers for the rarest figures. The original basic figures might sell at some dealers for less than $5.00 each. Maybe. And guys like Brians Toys will bew there.... so you can actually meet Brian. Oh Joy.

its still pretty neat to see all the stuff that is there--both star wars and everything else... oh yeah, some dealers sell custom figures that are really cool

I always have a blast at WW.... I especially recommend going the night of the awards ceremony (usually friday I think).... its a lot of fun

and David Prowse, Peter Mayhew, Kenny Baker, Jeremy Bullock, Aura SIng, Mara Jade, and some others are always there

the final line up for the convention is NEVER finalized till the week of the convention so its sometimes hard to know if it will be TOTALLY worth your while to go or only PARTIALLY worth your while.... but I always get a 3 day ticket and have a blast.

As I tell my fiance, its my annual geek-out so what the heck.

The convention will be Fri thru Sun, July 5-7 at the Rosemont Convention Center (now called the DOnald Stephens Center) right by Ohare.

You can get more details here:

http://www.wizardconventions.com/wwchicago.html

BTW.... I dont know if anyone cares but last year I sat 20 feet away from Alex Ross as he did a painting of Spider-Man for 2 hours and answered questions from the audience--leading to some lively answers, including some real digs at George Lucas and co. Anyway, it was about the coolest thing I ever saw at a convention.

goven that this is the summer of Spider-Man, Ep2, Smallville, with X2 and Daraedevil on the way.... this could be a good convention

hope this helps....

-Rash Flembar-