Comic-Con: Tales From Comic-Con

Every year at San Diego Comic-Con certain retailers offer what are known as “exclusives”. These items can be purchased only to people who attend the con and come in many forms such as action figures, comic books, posters, shirts, etc. These highly sought after items are very limited in quantity and require vast amounts of patience and sometimes money to acquire. About three months ago pictures surfaced of a set of Green Lantern figures that would be offered at the con from Graphitti Designs. They were to coincide with the Blackest Night and feature Green Lantern (Hal Jordan) as a Green, Yellow, Blue, Orange and Red Lantern. With something this popular it was going to be a huge task to get a full set and the series had a very low production run. Find out how low after the jump.

I, as a huge GL fan, needed to have them all for my collection. The numbers were limited to 3000 Green and 1500 of each of the rest. On top of the severely limited supply, only one would be available a day. This meant huge demand with even bigger lines. Each day was filled with fear, anger, greed, hope and the will to get up early the next day to start over again. Below you will find a break down in my experiences of trying to get a figure for every day.

Day 1 Wednesday- Preview Night

On day one the figure that was available was Green. As the doors opened I, like many others, rushed to the Graphitti Designs booth in hopes of being the first 1500 to get a figure. Mind you every one person is able to purchase up to two figures. As I arrived there was a frantic mob surrounding the booth and no sign of a coherent line. Workers there had already cut off the line and were no longer letting anyone in. I spoke to one of the workers and he said that he had no idea it would be this crazy. It was like they were giving away free tickets to heaven but only 1500 were allowed in. They asked us to disperse and come back in an hour. So I came back to find an even bigger mass and the worker that I had spoke to before was just sitting there amazed that he had lost complete control of the situation. I joined the mob trying to get in and placed a phone call to friends asking them to get over here to try and pick up a figure for me.  I meet a nice couple in the group and we chatted about the fact that we may never get a figure. Finally, the booth started giving out raffle tickets at random. I got mine said my goodbyes to the nice couple and met with my friends. Turns out that two others in my group got tickets and only one had interest in buying a figure for themselves. So, being the good guy I am, I gave one ticket to the couple I had been speaking to and we all got green figures.

Day 2 Thursday

Day 1 was Preview Night, meaning that not all customers were allowed in, and that obtaining the Yellow figure would be even more difficult. The show floor opens up at 9:30am so I decided to get in line at 6:30am. I thought that this might be a bit excessive and was a little taken back when I arrived to find about 200 to 300 plus people were ahead of me. I hopped in line hoping to be one of the few there to purchase a yellow figure. Much to my distain at least the 50 or so people in my general area were talking about how they were here to buy the figure in question also. After my three hour wait I again rushed the booth and was happy to be the first person that day to buy a yellow Hal Jordan. As the day went on I walked by the Graphitti Designs booth to see, yet another mass of thousands of people trying to buy the toy of the day and I thought how happy I was to get mine earlier that day.

Day 3 Friday

It was so easy to rush up to the Graphitti Designs booth on Thursday that I thought  I would just do the same thing everyday and get my figure fast then get back to my enjoyment of the con. I woke up a bit later Friday and as I was walking to get in line I could see that it was significantly longer than the day prior. I began to get a little upset with myself and started to find the end. As I looked through the line, that had doubled in size since the day before, I noticed two pairs of hands waving at me from a good spot in line. It was the couple that I had given a ticket to get a green figure Wednesday night.  They told me that they had bought the yellow figure and asked me if I got mine, which I did, then asked me if I wanted to join them in line. This was great. I thought that I would easily get my toy being this far ahead in the line. They also told me of the rough time that they had to get their yellow figure. I shared my story on how easy it was for me and that if I got to the booth first I would hold a place in line for them. Shockingly, they said that mid-day the rules had changed and that raffle tickets were being given out in an entirely different part of the convention center. This was a classic case of karma. If I had not given them a ticket on the first night I would not have known about the change in rules. When we got up to the area where tickets were to be raffled off there was no organization. Another angry mob swarmed the area and there was no sign of any order. As we waited for two hours no one seemed to know what was going on. After many false alarms a Comic-Con official said abruptly that the give away would be done in the back. A mad rush happened and I was one of the few to get a ticket.

Day 4 Saturday

In anticipation for Saturdays give away I showed up just as early, meet up with the couple that I had been making friends with and we went on. The couple had also made a few more friends and we had all begun to help each other out.  If one of us didn’t get a ticket others would share the ability to buy two. It was nice to meet so many people willing to work together. There were a lot a people there who just bought figures to sell them at scalper prices.  Finally the con officials made a pen to keep us all organized. It was frustrating that everyday had been done so differently.  On this day there was a guy and his girlfriend who had lined up at 2:30am to get the chance to win a raffle ticket. They were a few places ahead of me. When the guy got up there he pulled a red ticket, which is bad, and started to walk away very wobbly. As he did his girlfriend pulled a red ticket next and she started bawling. The boyfriend saw this and actually passed out. They had to bring the paramedics in and cart him away. It had become that serious. I, on the other hand, pulled a green ticket and was on my way to getting a full set.

Day 5 Sunday

The last day of the con and I was only one figure away from completing the most sought after collectible in the entire convention. As before, I meet up with the group of people that I had been hanging out with. We got into line and my turn came up. I reached in the bag and pulled my first red ticket. It was awful. I didn’t pass out, but I had spent so much time trying to complete this set that I was just so disappointed. Right after me were two of my new friends and they pulled red. We had all split up to try and increase our chances. One by one we were all pulling red tickets. But finally some in our group started to pull greens and before you know it everyone in our group was able to purchase a figure. It was a great feeling.

Now, I know that this sounds so ridiculous to the average person, but this was a great experience in hind sight. I met some genuinely nice people who banded together and helped one another out. Comic-con can be an intimidating place, but with good people you can have the best experience in the world. My advice to virgin comic-con guests are to make friends and pay it forward.  Many thanks to Ryan, Jeff, Mikey, Elaina, Justin, Victor and his kids for making my con experience the best it could be.