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Dida Had A Helluva Good Meet
Is it Monday already?
This was my third Mego Meet and the first in about 5 years, and I'm very glad I made the return trip. Flying out from California and being away from my family for 5 days is a really big deal for me but it was definitely worth it. I thoroughly enjoyed the camaraderie and toy-fellowship, and the opportunity to finally do a massive displays of all of my favorite Dida playsets for the audience they were intended for was a true once-in-a-lifetime event. I only wish I had taken more and better pictures (especially of the people--we take so many photos of toys and are akind of camera shy). If you have any great shots of the Dida display with or without people looking at them, let me know.
As with the previous two Meets I spent a fair amount of time assembling (1.5 days) and later disassembling (4 hours!) Dida Displays, but this time there was no hammer pounding to be done. I had prepared the sets ahead of time and they were waiting for me when I arrived. EMCE Hammer and Random Axe and the Krueger staff were so helpful in getting the space arranged with tables and backdrops and then Chad Noelani Gordy spent a lot of time helping me assemble the sets. It took all of Thursday and Friday morning, but after all, I had come all this way to have several uninterrupted days playing with my toys with my buddies, it was a blast.
Chad and I chatted about the Shark project and the pros and cons of obsessively following your custom passions. It was a pleasure to finally meet him, and I was so proud to purchase one of those shark sets. Not only is it a fantastic custom piece and pure Mego replica, but I so admire the dedication and artistry that went into it. His son is truly and artist in his own right, it's inspiring to see the father and son team in action. Good people. Here they are, first to arrive....
Random Axe's custom figures are amazing in person, and the spinner rack is such a nice touch. He's also such a cool, friendly guy and he really did save the day with his calm and helpful volunteer efforts. He and Steve are a dynamite team, it was such a smooth, positive experience thanks to them.
John Farley's figure display never ceases to amaze, and he's a really cool guy as well.
Art Baltazar's "Wall of Enthusiasm" creates a lot of happy faces, how lucky are we to have him in our community? Had a great time in the Mego suite conference room hanging out with him while he worked on customs to his heart's content.
Paul Hulk Clare, it was great to see and chat with you, the Mego logo shirts were awesome. Chris loved his....
Meeting Toyman Chris and his wife was a highlight for me. Our tables were next to each other and we hung out a lot...they are such swell people. Grabbed some Lego mini-figs for my boy, he was thrilled.
Brian Heiler's creations, Musk-A-Tron, the Satin Monster...so awesome I wish I had remembered to buy them (Doh!) There's so much to see and do, you always want to come back later and get something and then get distracted by more awesomeness. Nice to see the boss in person. He presented the Heroes in Action stuff--you know about the mars Attacks and Star Raiders, but we also got to see a non-monstrous JFK....
Ed Samurai Noir is in fact the nicest person I have ever met in my life. He made a cool cartoon for my son. I'm glad he and Martin made the trip down from Canada.
The Ligotti Bros were super cool and helpful to me in filling out some figures for my displays, I always enjoy seeing both of them, I wish I could walk up to their table today, there's like 3 things I need and they have everything.
David Lee and Craig from Castaway/Zica were on hand with an astonishing amount of cool new stuff, the Micronaut figures are simply stunning. Very nice guys as always, David, thanks for the assist with tools, tape, and all the other stuff I borrowed, as well as the interesting conversations, I'm a fan of what you do. I also owe you money!
Dr. Mego is a true friend, wonderful to see him and his beautiful family (actually, seeing the various mego-kids play together was really cool. I think next year I will bring my son). I'm glad he comes every year to hold court, where would we be without him? He hooked me up with a Bruce and Dick to put in the Stately Batpoles, and even took home my Planet of the Apes display!
Austin, my brother from a Mego Mother, the Ambassador of Megos, he brought his amazing Dida Displays and custom figures for the Danger Room and Stark Armory and literally made the Dida showcase shine. Loved seeing him and hanging out.
Paul from Lasermego! So great to finally meet him in person, we've had such a productive working relationship, half of the displays I put up are heavily dependent on his work. Super nice guy with a great kid alongside him. It was awesome seeing the Mego progenies all around. I was pleased to have contributed art to his Toy Hawk in the customs auction. The idea to do all those Bricks was really genius....So many cool and bizarre entries. But this one was pretty....
Trekman Anthony and his family was a pleasure to meet, I took home a number of figures from his table and had some great conversations with him. Thanks, Anthony.
Bronxboy Kevin and his lady were a treat to meet, she was actually a huge fan of the LOST stuff, you know how rare THAT is for me.
Derek "Flynne" was there with a ton of cool stuff from his shop and I really enjoyed having dinner with him on Thursday night. Nice guy! Just don't mess with him in an auction. Wow.
I THOUGHT I was buying this Tiny Titans SDCC exclusive from Derek for my son, but I think it was for me....Aw Yeah...
Bill Wee McFarland was there and I had a super interesting Mego conversation with him in the Mego Suite, glad to know my Solid Box Superman is in good hands.
Trappy had a great setup and lent some Trek figures to my display. We had two Dida Trek sets in the house! Scott Brown who we know from Facebook was awesome to meet. Megoknight brought a vast array of cool customs, and he's a very friendly dude as was Fleshbot ...so many people, I know I will forget. Dan Pearson! Great to meet you....
Not much sleep, questionable food aplenty. I managed to find at least one really good restaurant in Wheeling, (SHOCK!) where we did lunch Thursday afternoon. Avenue Eatery. Grass fed beef, aw yeah.
Leaving was harrowing. After all the packing up we left the Museum and half an hour later I realized I had left my POTA playset box behind. I raced back to find the place locked and could see my box through the window in the lobby. After some cursing I realized I had the curator's cell phone number. I called him and he told me where to find the secret hidden key! So I was in fact the last person to leave Mego Meet and I did turn off the lights.
I was forced by the airline to check the box that carried the GWS set (my other carry on had half of my personal loose Mego figure collection for display). Thanks to a stellar packing job by EMCE Hammer is actually made it! Major thanks to Steve Moore for so much, I really value his friendship. And as a bunk-mate he was awesome, he was never home!
I also want to thank the forum members who couldn't be there but ordered playsets anyway. Knowing most of those playsets had a paid home to fly to from Wheeling made it a lot easier for me to make this trip.
Thanks for playing!
This was my third Mego Meet and the first in about 5 years, and I'm very glad I made the return trip. Flying out from California and being away from my family for 5 days is a really big deal for me but it was definitely worth it. I thoroughly enjoyed the camaraderie and toy-fellowship, and the opportunity to finally do a massive displays of all of my favorite Dida playsets for the audience they were intended for was a true once-in-a-lifetime event. I only wish I had taken more and better pictures (especially of the people--we take so many photos of toys and are akind of camera shy). If you have any great shots of the Dida display with or without people looking at them, let me know.
As with the previous two Meets I spent a fair amount of time assembling (1.5 days) and later disassembling (4 hours!) Dida Displays, but this time there was no hammer pounding to be done. I had prepared the sets ahead of time and they were waiting for me when I arrived. EMCE Hammer and Random Axe and the Krueger staff were so helpful in getting the space arranged with tables and backdrops and then Chad Noelani Gordy spent a lot of time helping me assemble the sets. It took all of Thursday and Friday morning, but after all, I had come all this way to have several uninterrupted days playing with my toys with my buddies, it was a blast.
Chad and I chatted about the Shark project and the pros and cons of obsessively following your custom passions. It was a pleasure to finally meet him, and I was so proud to purchase one of those shark sets. Not only is it a fantastic custom piece and pure Mego replica, but I so admire the dedication and artistry that went into it. His son is truly and artist in his own right, it's inspiring to see the father and son team in action. Good people. Here they are, first to arrive....
Random Axe's custom figures are amazing in person, and the spinner rack is such a nice touch. He's also such a cool, friendly guy and he really did save the day with his calm and helpful volunteer efforts. He and Steve are a dynamite team, it was such a smooth, positive experience thanks to them.
John Farley's figure display never ceases to amaze, and he's a really cool guy as well.
Art Baltazar's "Wall of Enthusiasm" creates a lot of happy faces, how lucky are we to have him in our community? Had a great time in the Mego suite conference room hanging out with him while he worked on customs to his heart's content.
Paul Hulk Clare, it was great to see and chat with you, the Mego logo shirts were awesome. Chris loved his....
Meeting Toyman Chris and his wife was a highlight for me. Our tables were next to each other and we hung out a lot...they are such swell people. Grabbed some Lego mini-figs for my boy, he was thrilled.
Brian Heiler's creations, Musk-A-Tron, the Satin Monster...so awesome I wish I had remembered to buy them (Doh!) There's so much to see and do, you always want to come back later and get something and then get distracted by more awesomeness. Nice to see the boss in person. He presented the Heroes in Action stuff--you know about the mars Attacks and Star Raiders, but we also got to see a non-monstrous JFK....
Ed Samurai Noir is in fact the nicest person I have ever met in my life. He made a cool cartoon for my son. I'm glad he and Martin made the trip down from Canada.
The Ligotti Bros were super cool and helpful to me in filling out some figures for my displays, I always enjoy seeing both of them, I wish I could walk up to their table today, there's like 3 things I need and they have everything.
David Lee and Craig from Castaway/Zica were on hand with an astonishing amount of cool new stuff, the Micronaut figures are simply stunning. Very nice guys as always, David, thanks for the assist with tools, tape, and all the other stuff I borrowed, as well as the interesting conversations, I'm a fan of what you do. I also owe you money!
Dr. Mego is a true friend, wonderful to see him and his beautiful family (actually, seeing the various mego-kids play together was really cool. I think next year I will bring my son). I'm glad he comes every year to hold court, where would we be without him? He hooked me up with a Bruce and Dick to put in the Stately Batpoles, and even took home my Planet of the Apes display!
Austin, my brother from a Mego Mother, the Ambassador of Megos, he brought his amazing Dida Displays and custom figures for the Danger Room and Stark Armory and literally made the Dida showcase shine. Loved seeing him and hanging out.
Paul from Lasermego! So great to finally meet him in person, we've had such a productive working relationship, half of the displays I put up are heavily dependent on his work. Super nice guy with a great kid alongside him. It was awesome seeing the Mego progenies all around. I was pleased to have contributed art to his Toy Hawk in the customs auction. The idea to do all those Bricks was really genius....So many cool and bizarre entries. But this one was pretty....
Trekman Anthony and his family was a pleasure to meet, I took home a number of figures from his table and had some great conversations with him. Thanks, Anthony.
Bronxboy Kevin and his lady were a treat to meet, she was actually a huge fan of the LOST stuff, you know how rare THAT is for me.
Derek "Flynne" was there with a ton of cool stuff from his shop and I really enjoyed having dinner with him on Thursday night. Nice guy! Just don't mess with him in an auction. Wow.
I THOUGHT I was buying this Tiny Titans SDCC exclusive from Derek for my son, but I think it was for me....Aw Yeah...
Bill Wee McFarland was there and I had a super interesting Mego conversation with him in the Mego Suite, glad to know my Solid Box Superman is in good hands.
Trappy had a great setup and lent some Trek figures to my display. We had two Dida Trek sets in the house! Scott Brown who we know from Facebook was awesome to meet. Megoknight brought a vast array of cool customs, and he's a very friendly dude as was Fleshbot ...so many people, I know I will forget. Dan Pearson! Great to meet you....
Not much sleep, questionable food aplenty. I managed to find at least one really good restaurant in Wheeling, (SHOCK!) where we did lunch Thursday afternoon. Avenue Eatery. Grass fed beef, aw yeah.
Leaving was harrowing. After all the packing up we left the Museum and half an hour later I realized I had left my POTA playset box behind. I raced back to find the place locked and could see my box through the window in the lobby. After some cursing I realized I had the curator's cell phone number. I called him and he told me where to find the secret hidden key! So I was in fact the last person to leave Mego Meet and I did turn off the lights.
I was forced by the airline to check the box that carried the GWS set (my other carry on had half of my personal loose Mego figure collection for display). Thanks to a stellar packing job by EMCE Hammer is actually made it! Major thanks to Steve Moore for so much, I really value his friendship. And as a bunk-mate he was awesome, he was never home!
I also want to thank the forum members who couldn't be there but ordered playsets anyway. Knowing most of those playsets had a paid home to fly to from Wheeling made it a lot easier for me to make this trip.
Thanks for playing!
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