Tell me about your first ever convention

[PNGwynne]

^ You were in the same atmosphere and breathed the same air as Jon Pertwee ?

I am soooo jelly right now.

Me, too--wow.

[samurainoir]

my first was a small local show they ran out of the Ontario College of Art in downtown Toronto.

coincidentally, I've stumbled across a stash of flyers for comic cons I attended in the 80's

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[samurainoir]

two more

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[MIB41]

My first convention was called 'Lex Trek" in 1991 (Lexington, Ky.). In retrospect it was a fairly tame show by today's standards. It had three celebrities - Mark Goodard, Walter Koenig, and David Prowse. I wanted to meet Mark Goodard (Don West from Lost in Space fame). Lots of firsts in that show that make it memorable. There was even some Mego relevance because it was the first time I actually laid eyes on a Kid Flash figure. That's right! All I had ever seen were the illustrations from the Heroes World comic back in '76-77 and never again. It blew my mind how short he was. For whatever reason I never connected with that. I had seen the other Titan figures but only wanted Kid Flash so I guess I never took the time to look at the other ones to notice the scale difference. I had been out of circulation with my figures since probably the early 80's. The MTV generation sucked me in and the party/night life became my lot for many years. So getting back into the hobby and seeing what all my childhood toys were actually worth really blew my mind. That was the first indication I had that these figures had real market value. It was hard to wrap my head around it back then. Everything I had played with was worth big money. Crazy.

From a celebrity perspective, this was an interesting period too. Star Wars was probably at it's lowest point since it's existence. Jedi had come and gone in the mid 80's and nothing was on the horizon for a new trilogy as of yet. So demand was really, really light. Of the three stars almost no one was attending David Prowse' table. In fact while I was talking to David, they got on the PA system and asked other fans to come by to see him because he was such a 'good guy'. Hysterical when you apply historical perspective to it by today's stories about him, but he was quite the humble host at this show when I met him.

The fans were really there for Mark Goodard and of course Walter Koenig who was quite popular at that time. Mark was a delight to meet and really seemed invested at that point with fans. I would meet him again in an entirely different setting many years later while I worked Wonderfest and he was decidedly jaded by that point. You could tell he was burned out and if the money wasn't good, he would run from the experience. I guess you can only tell the same stories so many times before it makes your brain melt. It was also a reminder that you never know how you will catch celebrities when you meet them. They have off days too. Walter Koenig was having an off day back in 1991 at Lex Trek. He wasn't rude, but you could tell he was just tired and starting to lose his public face during the autograph cycle.

So my first convention experience was a memorable one. I got introduced face to face with Kid Flash and found out my toys hidden away were in high demand. Who would have thought that? So that experience became one of countless more to come. My good friend Chris (Emeraldknight) and I attended Wonderfest in 1997 and discovered the Spiderman '67 cartoon on bootleg video cassettes. We hadn't seen the show since it went off the air in the mid 70's. I was about in tears. We put together our money and bought every volume the guy had. We ran back to my condo and I made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with some milk and we leaned back and watched our childhood unfold. THAT was nothing short of pure magic. Later that same year I met and got to be good friends with one of the founders of Wonderfest and he asked me to join the show in '98. 18 years later I am still working it. A great distraction and escape from the drudge of each year.

[Godzilla]

Mine was a local sci-fi/fantasy con in Indianapolis called Inconjunction around 1981. I went with a friend and we just wondered around mesmerized. I actually didn't realize you were supposed to pay to get in until years later. No one questioned us.

[Mr.Marion]

I was a regular going to toy shows in the 90's. I go to about 6-9 a year now. I remember when each new wave of x-men came out it was a big deal. don't ask me why people got excited to see Rictor and Sunspot but they did. Things were completely different back without ebay it was hard to tell what was really rare outside of the main action figure lines. Megos, super powers, and Secret wars were still expensive but Tomlands, ahi, rack toys, etc would be a relative bargain compared to now.

I remember the 1990 toy biz Superman being really hard to find and dealers selling him for $30 back then.

[Mr.Marion]

Anyone remember when comic cons were actually about comics? No Game of Thrones cosplay or Funko pops?
When seeing a pretty girl at one was a rare occurrence, now they are into the hobby too.

[MRP]

Anyone remember when comic cons were actually about comics? No Game of Thrones cosplay or Funko pops?
When seeing a pretty girl at one was a rare occurrence, now they are into the hobby too.

So you mean the comic conventions in the mid to late 70's with Wendy Pini cosplaying Red Sonja and Frank Thorne as the Wizard was the end of comic conventions about comics....



-M

[MRP]

I went to my first show in '85 or '86 at a local Elks Club. It was run by the owner of our local comic shop who had started in sci-fi fandom and had a good relationship with many of the creators who lived in CT and often had them as guests, but often had stuff for sci-fi fans and others are well (including costume contests).

I remember the first show I went to I was counting key back issues-6 copies of Amazing Fantasy 15, 7 Amazing Spider-Man #1, 12 FF #1, about a dozen Avengers #1, etc. The highlight was a dealer who has just bough the first 20 issues of Captain America Comics (the golden age series) off of a widow and had them on display. He let me read Cap #1 as he turned the pages as I was with my dad who recalled having those and the Capt Marvel comics as a kid in Hartford, but my grandmother had thrown them away while he was in the army. It was the highlight of the show for me. I think my big purchase was an Avengers #57 for a buck or two, as Vision was my favorite Avenger at the time.

-M

[VintageJoe70]

GI Joe convention at Disneyworld back in 2004...It was fun, but I didn't really know alot of people because it was my first...I've only been to 2, the other was in 2008?, when it was in Atlanta...That was a fun one also...But they get kind of expensive...I wish I had gone to the one they held aboard the Intrepid Carrier....

[TrekStar]

Lost in Space sci-fi convention 1995 30th anniversary celebration, got to meet the entire cast minus Guy Williams who had already passed away, Dr. Smith stole the show and had back in forth insults with Major West, the crowd loved it, the other cast members didn't really say very much, although June Lockhart talked some. I remember when it was time for the cast to appear the whole place went dark and a smoke screen appeared on stage, then strobe lights and the robot came out and introduced the cast, great night.