Red Fraggle, Karen Prell At San Diego Comic-Con 2008 (Clip 2)

Here's another clip, shot very soon after the first. Red get increasingly baffled by how much we know about Fraggle Rock! Well, nothing a sing-along can't fix. So cute!

Comic-Con Diary 4: Preview Night

Wednesday started out calmly - Anita and Michelle brought some the hotel's free breakfast food back to the room as I got cleaned up and ready to go. Once we were finished eating, I stopped back at the front desk to check on the Happy Beaver t-shirt order. Happily, they'd arrived - I brought the box back to the room to check 'em out. They looked great! We all donned the new shirts so we could wear them at the booth.

I started over to the convention center first, so the ladies could get cleaned up. The pin-boards were there, but we didn't have any push pins yet, so I focused on re-folding and sorting the new shirts. I had most of them done when Bill, his fianceé, and his mountain of new books arrived! They started unpacking and setting up their section in short order. It wasn't long after that when Anita and Michelle arrived. I checked on some missing chairs at Freeman's exhibitor service area, but we were due to get them later in the afternoon. I took a lot more photos on the way over and back, while the others continued setting things up.

Once the booth was ready to go, my next errand was to get the empty luggage back to the hotel. Michelle and I took one of shuttle bus lines from the convention center to the Holiday Inn By The Bay (the pink line's last stop). There was a mix-up with our hotel's bus, so it took us a while to get back to the hotel. I took a short nap while Michelle returned with snacks for Anita.

I roused myself just in time for a barbecue at the hotel. I don't know what the free meals and elevated courtesy are about. It's a Marriott at Comic-Con. All they really have to do is exist, so I'm not sure why they're trying so hard. I mean, they sold out. As a manager, I'd say their job is done, but I'm glad they're so nice (I digress)!

I snagged a few extra burgers and dogs in classic college-student fashion, bundled them up (with some condiments) in plastic wrap, and cabbed it back to the Con. I ran into David and Jennifer Skelly in the pro registration line, which was cool. I thought I'd make it back to chat while they were waiting for badges, but they were already in by the time I'd dropped off the food and bought a few copies of Who Is Rocket Johnson?, the latest comic compilation by a gaggle of Disney story artists. As long as Dave and Jen had already succumbed to the dealers' room, I figured I'd check it out, too.

So I staggered about in an overstimulated haze until the room closed at nine o'clock. Along the way, I ran into my buddy Brant Bridges of Sideshow Collectibles, and checked out Go Hero's awesome Buck Rogers prototypes. I bought three copies of Who Is Rocket Johnson?, the exclusive Peter Parker / Spider-Man Mighty Mugg, a couple of wooden Pedro the Mail Plane toys from Japan, some Flintstones and Land of the Lost figures from Funko, and yet another vinyl Anpanman toy. I'll try to take pictures of them at some point this week.

We discounted some of last year's shirt designs, so we sold out of the Dirty Beaver t-shirts completely. Some of the other shirts sold fine (including the new design), but the biggest surprise was the Happy Beaver watch - six of the twenty are already gone! It'll be exciting if we sell out of them - I'll be sure to make more for APE if we do.

I'm pretty thrashed, so I'll wrap it up here. More tomorrow!

Comic-Con Diary 2: Arrival

Well, here we are in San Diego! Not exactly an epic journey, since the flight is just a little over an hour. It was exactly how I like my plane trips, though - nice and boring.

We took a cab to the Marriott Residence Inn - we're not talking The Ritz here, but it's cozy, Anita likes it, and they serve free breakfasts until 9:30 (we partook)! Anita is pretty particular about her accommodations, so I'm happy she likes the hotel. Plus, there's free wi-fi in the lobby - that makes blogging a little easier. We'll see how my diary goes when the Con kicks into gear! Last year, I only posted once, so I'm already ahead of the game.

Anita's napping in the room. We're on the ground floor - we decided to upgrade a little so Anita's sister Michelle could have a real bed instead of a sofa-bed. She has back trouble, so hopefully she'll be more comfortable - hotel mattresses can really wreak havoc sometimes! There's two bedrooms with a little TV/kitchen area in between, and we got a good deal on the upgrade. Personally, I imagine the head of every hotel chain around here must buy a new boat or something after Comic-Con. Convention housing is pretty steep these days!

The new Happy Beaver T-shirts are still in transit - it turns out the printer got the days mixed up and thought his deadline was a week later than it actually was. OOPS. Well, everything's printed up now, and it'll all be overnighted down here for tomorrow morning - just like last year. Sigh. I was really hoping to avoid a last minute scramble. I guess I'll have to budget more time for the APE T-shirts.

I'll probably head back to the room and spruce up a bit before we go over to the convention center to pick up our exhibition badges and start setting up our table. I'll try and keep you posted!

The Vanishing Beaver!

I'm happy to report that I have fewer of my Happy Beaver vinyl toys remaining than I'd originally estimated! My guess-timate was around two hundred and fifty (250), but it turns out there's actually only one hundred and seventy five (175) left! So if you want one, you'd best snag it at the Red Window table (#4800) in San Diego, or git to orderin' one online!

Comic-Con Hosts Red Fraggle!

It's official! Red Fraggle herself will be at San Diego Comic-Con on Sunday, July 27th! Come and watch Red dance her cares away right in front of you!

Red's going to be there (along with the always amazing puppeteer, Karen Prell) to beat the drum for the Fraggle Rock DVDs (especially the upcoming season four box - the last set of the series!):

2:45-4:15 Fraggle Rock— Help celebrate the 25th Anniversary of Fraggle Rock and learn more about this fall's newest DVD release! Join Red—making a personal appearance—as she sneak peeks the DVD special features and some other DVD surprises! Room 6B

See you at the 'Con!

Preparing for Comic-Con

Even though I won't have a new vinyl toy this year (that was never really the plan - I figured it might take some time for my bank account to recover), I will have some new "Happy Beaver" stuff to sell at the Red Window table!

The big new item this year is the "Happy Beaver" wristwatch! I've been meaning to make watches through this website for quite a while, but I'd always thought they'd be too expensive for re-sale. Fortunately, I was stubborn enough to contact them anyway, and I discovered that they have a lower re-sale rate! I made ten men's watches and ten of the women's, and I'll be selling them for $20 each - just enough to make a small profit. Grab yours on preview night!



I'm also printing up another T-shirt - a new variation on the original "Happy Beaver" drawing. This year, he'll be tidier, and printed on an orange shirt (see above) so that they'll match the toy (which will be available for sale again if you missed out last year).

On top of all that, "Happy Beaver" will soon begin distribution with DKE Toys, so expect to start seeing him in even more stores and on more retail websites!

More Attention Is Good

My friend Jenny Lerew wrote a nice defense of my "Happy Beaver" toy on her Blackwing Diaries blog, supported by the New York Times article I posted below. Check it out, and her many other thoughtful postings!

Comic-Con Swag

I didn't pick up any of the freebies available this year, mainly because I'm not even sure I have shelf/wall space for what I'm buying. I was on a budget this time around, but I still think my 'got' list is pretty cool. Or at least, sporadically cool:

* Cranky Studios' Whaleboy vinyl figure
* Monkey Fun Toys Milk & Cheese vinyl figures
* Mindstyle Dark Crystal vinyl figure
* Mindstyle Jim Henson City Critters pvc figures (8)
* Young Epoch Susie the Little Blue Coupe wooden toy
* All-Star Vinyl Brett Favre figure
* Funko Scooby-Dum bobblehead (cool factor/reader respect plummets here)
* Plan B Toys Dark Crystal Garthim resin bust
* McFarlane Toys Jonny Quest action figure
* Mezco Professor Chaos action figure (SDCC exclusive)
* Mezco Abe Sapien figure (SDCC exclusive)
* Gargamel/Tim Biskup Kaiju For Grownups figure: Dragamel
* Character Options Ltd. 12" Cyber Leader action figure
* Exclusive old-school Peanuts T-shirts (2)
* Huckleberry Toys' limited edition 1971 Grimace figure
* Chris Sanders' Maile vinyl toy
* Banpresto Super Mario Brothers Luigi vinyl figure
* Medicom Frankenberry, Count Chocula Kubrick figures
* Super 7 Ghost Land figures (2)
* Kaiju Big Battel figure: Sky Deviler
* Mindstyle/Cameron Tiede's 13 Tomadachi vinyl figures - Edgar, Oswald, Agatha
* Wesco Doctor Who Tardis 4-port USB hub
* Tim Sale old-school Daredevil sketch (a gift from Michelle, my sister-in-law... how cool is that?)

Well, that's most of it - I'll add the things I've forgotten (as well as updated picture links) later!

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.

Comic-Con Diary: Arrival

I'm entering this into the Sheraton Suite's free computer - that's the good news. The bad news is that (thanks to Internet Explorer) almost every bit of text on Blogger is showing up as little squares. Nice.

At any rate, I got into San Diego at 9AM, so I've been milling about downtown, waiting for my room to become available. I've picked up a Cy-Gor figure at the local Suncoast for a co-worker, gotten a haircut to make myself more presentable, and found a cool Japanese retro Tony the Tiger T-shirt at the local Urban Outfitters. Pricey but awesome!

I also bought a universal memory card reader, so hopefully I'll be able to illustrate my diary posts with pictures quickly, rather than having to wait until I get back home. I should be able to pick up my first hundred beaver toys later this afternoon. I'll document the occasion Bill-Presing-style as soon as I can! More to come...

Concerning Happy Beaver Pre-Orders

IMPORTANT NOTICE!!

Please note that the "Happy Beaver" Pre-Orders currently available are for PICK UP @ San Diego Comic-Con this week (from Wednesday Preview Night thru Sunday) ONLY!

We do not (at this time) have the ability to process a mail order through PayPal. We will! We promise! Just not at this time. There will be, after Comic-Con, a chance to order the little guy and have it sent to you...we just don't know how to do that yet :-)

We apologize for any confusion, but ask you to please... read the posts before you order (although we must confess, your eagerness to own the "Happy Beaver", makes us VERY happy, indeed!).

This Just In

My order of Happy Beaver toys are done and ready to ship from the factory!! I've given Gentle Giant a shipping address (I'll have them sent to work first), and I think they'll be sent here from China by boat.

But worry not! One hundred of the five hundred toys will be at Comic-Con. WOO HOO!!!