This is not only my New York Comic Con 2016 experience, but also my hunting down convention exclusives afterwards.
To preface this, I live about 15-20 minutes north of the city. However, outside of the occasional subway ride, I really despise public transportation. I love to drive and the challenge of trying to find a legal parking spot. Going into Thursday, I knew that a parking garage would probably be the best idea as there really isn’t a lot of spots near NYCC.
Fast forward to Thursday at 9:50 AM and my car is parked in a garage a few blocks away. I then merged into the gigantic mass of people walking towards the “Green” entrance of NYCC, basically meaning people who not only had their badges but activated them already.
After going through bag/weapon check, I thought about going through the Toy Tokyo wristband system to get the Count Chocula Dorbz Ridez. After a minute of thinking, I deep-sixed that idea and decided to go to Fugitive Toys and FYE instead.
There were 2 lines at Fugitive Toys and I waited patiently to get up to the counter. Their setup was the usual toy collectible booth, with a lot of Pop! figures on display. Most of them were of the rare and chase kind, with prices jacked to the gills. The last display before the counter had a bit more common finds like the recent Legends of Tomorrow Pops.
I got up to the counter and asked for the Snoopy Rock the Vote 3-Pack. The guy quickly got it for me and I told him that was it.
I don’t think I’ve seen a more disappointed look in a long time.
The people that were all front of me basically bought a ton of items, probably totaling at least $100 each. Me? Just Snoopy.
“$25,” he said in a voice that reminded me of my former boss when I told him I was finally leaving for greener pastures.
Step one was complete. Unto FYE.
FYE’s line wait wasn’t too bad as I managed to get there right before it started to grow. My only concern was that Chef Deadpool was going to be gone by the time I got to the displays as it was selling pretty quickly.
At the beginning of the FYE display, there were multiple boxes of the New Day’s Booty-O’s cereal. As a wrestling fan, I decided to finally take the plunge and buy one. The FYE employee then suggested that I combine it with their special New Day Booty-O’s shirt. To be honest, the shirt was not that appealing and paled in comparison to their other New Day shirt, which was modeled after the classic NES cartridges.
I picked up the Dorbz Juggernaut, iZombie’s Olivia Moore, and Chef Deadpool. There were about maybe 5 Deadpool figures left when I got up there.
Checkout was a bit friendlier than Fugitive Toys as there was no disappointment on the cashier’s face.
I decided to walk around a bit before leaving and of course, I passed by the Funko booth. I honestly didn’t feel any bitterness when looking at it and the insane line that was already formed.
On the other side of the Show Floor were the “Mom-and-Pop” booths, but nothing really captured my attention. Thus, it was a short stay at NYCC…
…but it was now about heading home and onto Gamestop to find Killing Joke Joker and Rainbow Batman.
Without exaggeration, there’s about 4-5 Gamestops within a 5 minute drive from my home. Searching on the Gamestop website, I saw that both Joker and Batman were at the closest Gamestop near me.
I walked into Gamestop a little after lunchtime and I was expecting a bit of a rush for some reason.
Nope. It was a ghost town.
The employees greeted me and immediately plugged that they just got the NYCC exclusives in today. Joker and Batman were immediately bought and I was done in 2 minutes.
In these 2 minutes, I probably should’ve checked my phone. The famous Funko Shop e-mail came in and today’s item was….the Thanos XL Dorbz.
By the time I checked my phone, it was 5 minutes since the e-mail came in. I tried in vain to get one and even though the smiling Thanos link said that there were “only 5 left” available, I knew it was not meant to be. I spent a few minutes hoping for a miracle and kept adding it to my cart, but the sold out message kept greeting me.
And there was that bitterness again and it lasted a bit longer this time.
I honestly believe that I’ll eventually get a Thanos XL Dorbz, but I’m not going to pay an enormous amount to a flipper on eBay or Mercari. But that’s another topic for another day.
The bitterness went away after I got home and unpacked my haul for the day. It was a pretty successful day overall, despite the Thanos shutout. If I had to pick a favorite, it would have to be either the Snoopy 3-Pack or Dorbz Juggernaut.
If you’ve gone already to NYCC or are going this year, have a good time and let me know your experiences.
Matt Norris