Reflections From Really Cool Comic Con
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There’s nothing like driving down the street to your parents and seeing signs at the side of the road to pique your interest. That’s how I found out about this Comic-Con in my hometown of Flint, MI. Surprised that I hadn’t heard of it before, I asked my kids if they would be interested, and my Pokemon collector jumped at the chance. So, at the end of the week, off we went!
I explained to my son that the Dort Financial Center has fond memories for me: Back when it was known as the IMA Sports Arena, it’s where my mom took my sister and me to the Shriner’s Circus, and where my high school graduation was held. I was looking forward to having my son around to create current good vibes from this location.
Once inside, I was not disappointed! The nice ladies at the check-in center had press passes for not just me, but for my son, too, explaining that of course, I needed an assistant! The look on his face said it all.
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Being a smaller venue has its advantages. There were lots of people there, but the vendors were willing to talk with us and let my son look through their Pokemon binders at length. I found out that the vendors came from out of state, such as Cleveland, and from all over Michigan to be in Flint. This was very heartening to me, as Flint normally gets very negative press (glass of water, anyone?). I was glad that 139 vendors felt that this would be a good way to get noticed.
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I was able to talk to Jonathan, AKA Mr. J., from Mr. J’s Toybox in Cleveland, which is about a four-hour drive from Flint. He told me that he was at the con five years ago when Mike Blaghorn started Really Cool Comic Con in a local high school gymnasium. Mr. J noted how the con grew and was able to fill up all of the Dort Financial Center in a relatively short amount of time. Although only half the floor was available this year for the RCCC layout, Mr. J told me how next year Mike will hopefully be able to rent out the entire center.
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While I was talking to Mr. J, my son was going through all of the Pokemon binders. Thanks to Youtubers such as Poke Rev and Deep Pocket Monster, my youngest has known how to trade and grade with the best of them since he was in single digits. Along with Mr. J’s Toybox, we also got to visit vendors from Lansing, which had just hosted its own Capital City Comic Con, and Star’s Haven Collectibles, which had quite an assortment of Pokemon cards. Andrew Meldrum, the proprietor, was very happy to chat us up regarding which cards were trending and what they were graded, looking up individual ones to trade with my son’s trading binder. He offered fair trades, and sonny boy was happy to do business!
We were happy to see the 501st Great Lakes Garrison, which is the Michigan chapter of the 501st Legion. We have seen them at Motor City Comic Con, and it was nice that there were members in this part of the state. We made sure to catch their panel. Peggy, who is from Flint, explained how anyone can join the 501st Legion - you just have to make your own costume. There are YouTube tutorials for this, and it doesn’t matter if your body type doesn’t match the prototype of the character you want to be - you can be a bit “short” if you want to be a stormtrooper, as long as your costume meets the specifications. What I especially liked about this presentation was the emphasis on family: Not only were family members Duane and Dylan Mosher there together in their costumes, but Peggy stressed that the entire unit was a family as they went to different charitable events and worked together. It is always a pleasure to see the 501st Legion out and about!
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And, really, that was the overall feeling I had that afternoon; feeling like I was part of a more intimate, family-oriented, comic-con. Even the booths where the celebrity guests were did not have huge velvet-rope lines leading up to them; they were situated right next to the vendors with relatively little space separating them. Everyone was friendly and took their time to chat. I’m sure my family and I will look forward to Really Cool Comic Con next year!
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