Review- Columbus Toy Show

[Godzilla]

Once in the spring and once in the fall, there's a show in Columbus, Ohio. My wife and I drag our kids along (boys ages 2 and 4) for a couple of hours of toy shopping and the expected chaos with kids in tow. Our shopping tends to focus on 3 things: letting the kids pick up a couple of cheap things, shopping ahead for birthdays and Christmas, and, when we get the chance, looking for ourselves. We had a great time and our kids loved it walkign away with 6 superhero figures between the 2 of them.

I've been to the last 3 shows and there seemed to be about the same numbers of dealers as in the past. But as my wife noticed, the dealers didn't seem to bring out as much stuff as last time. It was weird, but there didn't seem to be as much high end MIB stuff or as much low end but still in package stuff. The bins of loose figures were plentiful, but the dealers with boxes of clearence on the card figures (think Star trek Playmates line for example) didn't seem to be as common as in the past.

There was a ton of Star Wars stuff. I'm a SW fan, but there was so much stuff, especially new stuff, that it really choked out other toy lines from the show. And the new stuff was generally overpriced for what they had.

There were some good deals on Hot Wheels cars (50 cents apiece).

Steve Moore was out manning a booth and keeping the Mego community represented nearly by himself. Steve's figures were top quality compared to the backyard rejects a few other tables had. I didn't see anything in the box or on the card or any vehichles or accessories.

I walked away with 2 Bandai Ultraman models and that was about it. We also got some Batman stuff and some hand made superhero signs for the kids birthdays. It was a good show, but I didn't see the spread and quality of stuff I had in the past.

Maybe Steve can chime in with his impressions as well.

[Random Axe]

I didn't know such a show existed. That's just a little more than an hour form me. Cool. It'll have to wait till the fall one cause with the Meet in the Summer, I save for that.

Scott

[dmo]

Yup. I was there too. I was a bit disappointed. It was the first show that I've ever attended and I was exited. I thought there would be plenty of Mego stuff to drool over. Too the contrary, it was mosty newer / low end stuff. I did run into Steve Moore who had some very nice loose pieces. I was hoping to pick up some MOC stuff but there was none to be found. After chatting with a few of the vendors, the general concensus seemed to be that all the high end / good suff goes straight to eBay. Anyway....that's my 2 cents.

[BlackKnight]

Any Pics of Steve's Table & Loot ?

[EMCE Hammer]

Hey all. The Columbus show pretty much follows the trend that toy shows just ain't what they used to be. When a table of my beaters and rehab jobs outshines the other offerings, it's going to be a long day for a Mego collector. This time around vintage stuff was really scarce. Most of the dealers had at the most a handful of high grade vintage items, and the rest was the same banged up stuff I've seen them all hauling around for the past three years. I guess I should qualify that as being vintage from the 70s back. The 80s guys actually had a fairly good showing of GI Joe, Transformers, He-man, Thundercats, Care Bears, etc. There wasn't much in the way of Mego, Capt Action, Vintage Joe, Matt Mason, Barbie, etc. The SW stuff was mostly the new crap, and plenty of loose common 3 3/4 beaters from the 70s.

It's a fun show, but every year it looks more like a glorified flea market. We've lost some dealers to Ebay, and many of the ones who used to set up six table mega spreads have scaled back to a table or two. When all you're selling is items under $20, it's hard to cover expenses and not lose your shirt. One interesting thing a buddy told me is that he's sending his stuff to an auction house now. Ebay fees are somewhere between 15% to 20% with the Paypal requirement, and he found someone who takes a flat 10%. He's another person who in the past would have five or six tables full of vintage stuff. He said it's less work, less overhead, and better money. I can't blame him, but it's sad.

I didn't have quite as good of a selection as in the past, but I don't think it mattered. I sold some Apes and WGSH, and a decent Frankenstein. The rest of my sales were from my dollar boxes. I drug my brother with me for this one, and while I was out walking around he managed to sell two boxes of TNG and DS9 books that I lugged in. They were something I bought in a lot of ST books, and I pulled out TOS ones I needed.

Most of my buying is for my kids these days. I picked ups some loose and MOC JLU and old Marvel stuff for my oldest son, and a few reading copies of comics. The loose stuff I handed over to him; the MOC stuff goes into the Santa stash. I found a set of the NOTLD figures for $30, and I got a few parts figures from the dealers who know me as "Mego guy." There was a little EMCE Trek priced around $15 a figure.

All in all, it's still a fun show. Lots of people in costume, atrocious vending food, etc. At one point I was taken prisoner by Jango Fett and Boba the Hut. The cards and fliers Brian sent me went pretty quick. I'm looking ahead to Mego Meet now and seeing Dave Mc in his Commodore Belly outfit. It was good to meet DMO and to see the Godzilla tribe again.

[ozcollector1992]

Wooot...C-bus...i go to that show almost every year..