Comic-Con Diary: Before You Know It, It's Over

Anita had a show on Wednesday, so she was to arrive that evening. I was pretty blissed out - I was finally going to see the toys that I'd worked on for well over a year. I was so excited that I left the suitcase containing some of last year's T-shirts in the trunk of the cab! At first I panicked - I hadn't looked at the name of the cab company... how many yellow vehicles were in San Diego? Just one company, as it turned out!

Fortunately, Scott (Morse) reminded me that I'd asked for a receipt, so I contacted the carrier and waited for the cab to return from his current fare. On top of that, the exhibit hall was going to open an hour earlier than I'd realized! While I was waiting, I met with the Gentle Giant folks at their booth to pick up my toy shipment. But it'd been delayed, and it hadn't arrived yet. I had nothing to sell at all!

Happily, the cab returned well before the hall opened. I scrambled to set up my portion of the Red Window table with some back stock of T-shirts left over from last year. Bill (Presing) and Scott were already set up. Not long after I finished, the hall was opened to the public.

It was not the Wednesday I'd experienced three years earlier, when I was able to stroll the aisles and cherry-pick my favorite items, clearly viewed in early-bird fashion. Nope - this was more like a typical Friday, with crowds scurrying like children trying not to run at a public pool. Anita arrived later on that evening, and we took turns running the booth. Anita took charge and made it clear she wasn't happy that the toy shipment was late - she made quite an intimidating impression on my Gentle Giant contact!

It soon became clear, though, that the toys weren't going to arrive that day. Fortunately, the T-shirts sold quite well, and of course Bill and Scott's work sold briskly. I was too glum to sell much, so I navigated a couple of aisles before preview night ended. Anita's sister Michelle arrived at the hotel from Chicago that evening, and we prepared for the next day.

Thursday's T-shirts continued to move, but the countdown to the beavers' arrival became agonizing. I kept myself occupied by more shopping, and Anita was a good sport and held down the fort. Finally, around 1:30 or so, they arrived! Eagerly, we tore into the boxes - there'd been some shipping damage, and several of the boxes were crumpled. But no matter - they'd arrived! They were there! And I thought they looked great.

The second half of Thursday was a good selling day - the toys and the shorts moved well. Buoyed by the toys' arrival, I stayed at the booth more and signed the outgoing vinyl. Anita and Michelle helped everyone, and I tried to drop off one of the beavers at the Sideshow booth. Frank Kozik loved the finished toy, and stopped by several times - what a great guy! I shopped more, as sales had been good.

Friday, on the other hand, was a different story. The T-shirts continued to sell well, in spite of the dwindling sizes, but toy sales dipped, which surprised me. I'm not sure if most visitors spent their money in the first two days, or if panels were keeping folks from the dealers' room, but I think I sold half of what I'd sold on Thursday.

Fortunately, I continued to run into old friends that I now see once a year or so - people I'd worked with at The Simpsons, Tiny Toons, college friends and ex-Pixarians as well. It was great to see everyone, and of course they were all very excited and supportive about my new toy. A Funko representative was interested in making "Happy Beaver" into a bobblehead, so I gave them my contact information.

I figured that things'd pick up on the weekend, as those are the biggest attendance days of the convention - and Friday, Saturday and Sunday had sold out for the first time in the twenty years that I'd been attending. But it wasn't to be.

T-shirt sales dwindled along with the size availability, and the weekend toy sales narrowed further. I got restless at the booth, and began to wander a bit more. Sunday was especially dry, so I got a bit mopey at con's end.

The oddest encounter was with someone from the TokyoPop booth who wanted to know the story behind the character. I tried to explain that I'd simply made a toy that I liked and wanted to see on a shelf, but she pressed until I admitted that I didn't have a story for the beaver.

"Let me get this straight," she said. "You went to the trouble to make this figure. You spent the money to rent out this booth. And you don't have a story?"

I started to feel like the hucksters in that TV commercial who've whipped up a massive, synergistic marketing campaign around some slug characters, but don't have a script for the film project they star in. But I'd always looked at the project as more Hello Kitty than Charlie Brown. Does she expect a dramatic arc from Hello Kitty? That's what I should've said (heh).

Still, I'm very satisfied with what I've done, and I have to remember that I'm still making a name for myself in this arena. Plus, everyone who saw the toy liked it, so that was encouraging, too. There's online sales, work sales, and a distributor in the future, so I'm not worried about being stuck with boxes and boxes of toys. Also, it's good that I got overly optimistic, too - that's not my usual take on things. There's a confidence beneath it that I'm glad to see.