I didn't buy my Ghostbuster badges from this guy,
but I hope to be like him some day. His rig included
the entire Ghostbusters 2 soundtrack!
Sunday at I-CON is mostly reserved for bargain hunters and fans of guests. This is the day when dealers, desperate to unload their inventory so that they don't have to lug it back to their home states, start slashing prices. It's also when the majority of Q&A sessions with guests take place for those willing to get up early enough to attend them.
I didn't spend long on Sunday at I-CON because I had to travel back to Connecticut. This Sunday my goal was to find any last minute items I wanted to buy in the dealer's room and then catch the movie previews.
The dealer's room was empty at 10 a.m., which is just how I like it. Everyone – customers and vendors – are much more relaxed.
I bought quite a few eclectic items from the dealer's room: A copy of the new role-playing The Unexplained game from Carnivore Games, a purple chainmail bracelet for my wife, two "dinosaur" rubber ducks for my kids, a blue and purple and dragon that laughs when you squeeze it for my daughter, a miniature painting of a werewolf for my father, a pack of Heroscape elementals that I can customize for other games, D&D minis (mostly for the killer plant mini – good sculpts are hard to find), a brass dragon doorbell from Honeck Sculpture, Ghostbusters badges for our future family-coordinated Halloween costumes, and three different pillowcases for the kids. I finally purchased a larger 1-inch mat from Chessex that will fit on the table when I game at my parents' house. Unfortunately, this means I had to lug the mat around with it sticking out of my backpack. At one point, I nearly took someone's head off.
A brief exchange with one dealer reminded me to be careful whom I talk to. I foolishly asked how things are going and the response was "not so great." When I mentioned that hopefully as the economy turned around things will get better (with the presumption that as the economy turns around more people will buy more things), I was treated to a spiraling diatribe on how the economy sucks, the healthcare system will only make things worse, and how my comment pissed him off. This ensured I never bought from that dealer again. I was thankful that a customer distracted the dealer from the act of not getting my money and moved on to the movie previews.
The movie previews have always had an air of mystery at I-CON. Although they take place just about every year in the Jacob Javits center at Stony Brook, finding the time when the previews will happen is a guessing game. Sometimes it's listed in the program booklet, sometimes it isn't. In fact, when I was challenged by a volunteer at the center to show my badge, I asked him where the movie previews were. He didn't know…even though he was leaning on the wall where the movie previews were taking place.
But no matter. The previews were hosted by Glen Hauman and Bob Greenberger, as they are ever year. The sheer movie knowledge this dynamic duo brings to I-CON is mind-blowing. They know about every movie in development, movies that are in development hell, and what movies will probably never see the light of day. They host a series of trailers as well as a Q&A session. I missed some of the movie previews on Saturday so I sat in on the Sunday session. I'll be going over all of the previews one by one in my sci-fi column.
Overall, this I-CON was definitely an improved experience. I look forward to participating as a gaming panelist in 2011.
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