Idea for Mego Meet 2010

[johnmiic]

I was considering creating custom Viewmaster 3D reels as a record of the next Mego Meet. I wanted to see how many people would be interested in buying these before I commit to doing it. How many of you out there would buy reels, (sets of 3),that document a Mego Meet gathering? What would you pay for something like that? I can tell it won't be as cheap as a mass produced set in toy-stores but how much is too much? What is affordable to all of you?

If the response here is pretty good I was thinking of doing more than one set. I think we have basically 4 catagories. I may whittle that down some more or I can expand based on popularity. Topics could include:

Mego Meet General Overview

Mego Meet Events

Mego Meet Vintage Toys

Mego Meet Customizers & Customs

These catagories are broad and can include 3.75" figures such as Micronauts, Pocket Heroes, vehicles, playsets, etc. Not just 8" action figures.

This is not a go yet. If there is little or no response from you guys it probably won't happen. I thought it would be cool to do it. I'm doing my research on this and am looking into getting the cameras and reels. I am thinking that these would be available in the fall of 2010; some months after Mego Meet. Post your thoughts here. If you have some technical assistance to offer in photography you can PM me as well but for the most part share your ideas where everyone can see them.

[Hulk]

Sounds cool, but even if I had a Viewmaster 3D, I can't see spending much if anything on these. I'd love to look at them, once or twice, but then they'd collect dust. Hate to be a downer, but this is just me.

[noelani72]

this is a really cool idea. I'm like Hulk, ya wouldn't look at em a whole lot afterwards, but they would be a neat little bit of nostalgia....and which part of our collections don't collect dust? haha

[toys2cool]

Sounds cool, but even if I had a Viewmaster 3D, I can't see spending much if anything on these. I'd love to look at them, once or twice, but then they'd collect dust. Hate to be a downer, but this is just me.

it's a cool idea but I have to agree

[Meule]

It's a cool idea, but I'd rather have a DVD. See the people and hear the conversations

[vulcan2074]

It's a cool idea, but I'd rather have a DVD. See the people and hear the conversations

Same here
Sammy

[kryptosmaster]

Sounds really neat but doubt it could be done at a price that would entice everyone to purchase a set. You're also limited to 21 pics, right? That's a lot to narrow down to probably.
$5-$6 would probably be the most I'd pay but I'm a little thrifty as it is.
Rich

[megoscott]

Custom viewmaster reels--Yes, that's totally awesome, make some cool Micronauts and Mego reels.

Middle age toy collectors in a basement in 3D--Not so much.

[palitoy]

Custom viewmaster reels--Yes, that's totally awesome, make some cool Micronauts and Mego reels.

Middle age toy collectors in a basement in 3D--Not so much.

Yeah cool toy scenes? I'm all over it.

Pictures of Megomeet itself? I'd make sure I wasn't in it.

[clemso]

Take your pick of the Mego Museum card art, any of those images would be awesome for Viewmaster reels, but of course with Scott's permission and involvement

[johnmiic]

I thought this would be a cool item to make-like the trading cards. To my knowledge nobody has made money off the trading cards except people who have put them on eBay against the express wishes of the people at the museum. They are a cool idea, a way to promote the museum, and a novelty that people can enjoy. Sponsors have backed cards, ( tho I still have not been asked to sponsor a card yet), and given them away. I can't give free viewmaster reels away but I can try to make it affordable.

Since these would be custom reels they would, by definition, cost more than Viewmaster reels you buy in stores. Everything custom made in this hobby costs more to make. I think at TRU viewmaster reels cost 4.99-5.99 a pack, (3 reels per pack). From the research I have done, just the empty reels alone will work out to $2 per reel-$6.00 per each set of 3. That's not even figuring in the cost of a viewer, film processing estimates and making the labels to go on the reels yet.

To keep the price low I would not figure in the total price of the special camera or film cutter because if there is interest in this sort of thing I could do it at more than one event and branch out and cover different subjects. So over a long period of time I could make a little cash on the side to offset the price of equiptment. The thing is any camera equiptment you invest in is going to be pricey. I have no illusion that I would ever make a profit off this venture; least of all enough to pay for the whole investment plus the labor involved in making the product. This has to be something I want to do to make something special.

Each reel holds 7 pairs of images. So a set would be 21 pics over the 3 reels. Just as you cannot cover everything and fit it into a DVD release; nor can you photograph everything and put the whole weekend into 21 images on 3 reels. Many of you who attended Megocon and own the DVD know there was much, much more there than I was able to record. It was just not physically possible to get everything into a DVD. So this is not a documentary of the event but a souvenir, a novelty, a keepsake. If interest is very low only 1 set would be made:

Mego Meet 2010

That would cover a wide variety of things but there would have to be pictures of the events and people too-not just toys. If I only take pics of the toys there is no point. No one is going to buy reels of toys they already own. The event is not just about the toys. As Dave has stressed over and over again; it's about the people too. As examples I could photograph Dave handing out a prize at the raffle, Art Balthazar working on one of his famous caricatures, Rob showing off his CTVT collection, the Megosuite at full capacity, the dealers room, the Micronauts lecture, the group shot in front of the museum, etc. These would be spread out among pictures of the rare toys, custom made figures, the life size Mego AJ figure at the event, etc.

If interest in this gains momentum I could spread things out more. I could make 1 reel or even a whole set of just The Micronauts with Ray's help, Scott's imagery for the trading cards if he's willing, custom head sculpts extremely close-up, things like that.