April is traditionally the month where Notre Dame de Sion elementary (the school I work at not as a teacher) schedules its lip synch competition for the students. It is also the month that THE Mike hosts the Joe Canuck GI Joe Meet in Hamilton. As a sign of just how important this event is, NDS waits until THE Mike announces the date of THE Meet so they can schedule the lip synch on a different weekend. They know they can?t run the lip synch without me, and that no matter what, they can?t expect me to work on the Friday before the Meet. Even Tank-Girl?s work has to accept that there is nothing so important that she would come into work that weekend.
How is this meet so cool? What is it that brings people in from further away each year? And why should every GI Joe fan book time off at THE Mike?s whim?
Friday, April 13th
Last year, we found out that Montreal is as far away from Hamilton as Kentucky. However, Kentucky drivers only have to worry about the border. When we?re driving in front Montreal, we have to worry about Friday afternoon Toronto traffic. Since we didn?t want to relearn that three hour bumper-to-bumper lesson, Tank-Girl and I planned to leave before 7:00am, make as few pits stops as possible, and pray for good weather. Naturally, it snowed. In April. After the groundhog promised a short winter. When Mother Nature comes to Montreal, she must get very drunk. The weather probably wouldn?t have been so bad if we hadn?t taken off our snow tires just this week.
Would we let something as simple as a freakish snowfall and dangerous driving conditions deter our enthusiasm? Screw that! We packed the car with our clothes, the figures and vehicles we were selling, and Tank-Girl?s baked goods, and we were on our way. To further proof my drunken Mother Nature theory, the snow ended just short of the Quebec/Ontario border.
Tank-Girl and I live together. We spent every day of the week together, share many friends, and socialize pretty much seven days a week. That may sound like a wonderful relationship ?and it truly is- but there isn?t much left to talk about on a seven hour car ride that we?ve taken together three years in a row. We don?t own many CDs or an MP3 player and there are long gaps without radio signals. So to fill the void, this year we downloaded close to ten hours of pod casts. Slice of Sci-Fi is a pod cast radio show about the latest in science fiction and made the drive fly by very quickly. If you?re planning a road trip, I strongly advise downloading a few pod casts yourself to pass the time.
We by-passed Toronto easily and arrived at Raptor?s home right on time. The plan was to sleep on an air mattress in one of his rooms. Viperlord would get the basement when he got there, and Moto-Viper the living room. When we arrived, a flustered Raptor informed us that plans had changed; there was no air mattress for us. Instead, he and his wife would sleep on an air mattress in their daughter?s room and Tank-Girl and I would sleep in their bed. I told him that the only way he could be more accommodating would be if he rented a hotel and just handed us the keys to his house.
Lance Sputnik and AmazonGrrl dropped by just before Raptor went to pick-up Viperlord and Moto-Viper from the airport. So there we were, an Ohioan couple and a Montreal couple standing in the Hamilton house of a family that wasn?t home. This could have been weird, this could be the premise of a horror movie, but it was just another perfect example of the insane lengths GI Joe fans will reach to help one another. Raptor?s family converted their home into a hostel for a weekend to convenience a few people Raptor knows online and gets to see once, maybe twice a year. You could literally count the number of days we?ve spent together on your fingers, and yet I love this man and consider him a great friend.
The day before the meet is very important to me because it lets us talk with fellow fans about things other than GI Joe. Sure, there?s plenty of GI Joe talk that day too, like seeing the multi-leveled Pitt Raptor made out of his basement closet. But it?s the time I get to ask Moto-Viper what his life is like in Australia that I would not have had otherwise. Similarly, I got to chat with him and Viperlord about the differences between Candian, American, and Australian chocolate bars. These completely sick topics that don?t fit into a fan convention setting are what separate friends from guys that share a hobby. When Raptor pointed out ?This is the most people I?ve ever had in my house at one time,? it made me see the one downside to the constant growth of this meet: Fewer opportunities to connect with people. AmazonGrrl and Lance Sputnik are a good example. The year before, I was calling everyone by their real name by the end of the first night. This year, they were pretty much AmazonGrrl and Lance the whole time. It didn?t help that Lance?s board name could be a real name, but his real name is Jay, also the real name of Loop and the board name of the man formerly known as Jin. And don?t even get me started on all the Petes! So confusing.
I was happy to see THE Mike arrive in time to school everyone in Smackdown vs Raw. THE Mike is always so busy the day of the meet that I almost feel selfish trying to chat with him. It's also nice to know he had a chance to relax hours before this huge event he was hosting. Hanging out with him and his wife Denise is always a treat, as was the unofficial unveiling of the first complete Shiver.
The night wound down with a few games of the GI Joe TCG, where I impressed myself by going undefeated the entire night, including a close win against Nova?s infamous Ninjar deck. I also got my Sigma Six figures! Since Canada only gets every few waves and Quebec even less than that, I?ve had to rely on the kindness of Americans to pick them up and smuggle them across the boarder for me. It?s strange to finally receive a half-dozen toys I?ve already paid for. Strange and awesome! Thanks to Viperlord and General Hawk (who was absent from the meet and had to mail the figures to Viperlord), I now had one of every Joe I wanted from the first year, and the latest Zartan and Cobra Commander in black. I?ll let Viperlord tell the story of all the problems the blinking LED caused him, as he?s a master storyteller. All this to say it was very satisfying to have a room full of 3 ?? loyalists ask to play with Sigma Six figures in spite of themselves.
Saturday, April 14th
THE Mike gave the Hamilton Meet steroids. Once upon a time, he, Raptor, Pete The Greek, Jon S, and Bandelero got together and talked GI Joe. Five years, three exclusive figures, an exclusive card, and the fanfare of legend, the popularity of the Meet exploded. The new location was twice the size of the bowling alley basement of the last few years. There was an outer ring of dealers tables and then an inner circle of more dealer?s table. A line of excited fans waited outside for the meet to start. Holy crap, THE Mike put Hamilton on THE Map.
Tank-Girl and I were allowed in early because we had a table. She was selling baked goods, I was selling some extra Joes and my convention sets. The theme this year seemed to be ?complete vehicles for cheap?. A vehicle junkie could get his fix with a wide variety of nice toys for as low as $2, and an average of less that $10. The other theme of the day: Trading. It?s great to see two people argue that they are getting the better end of the deal. Combined with the endless items on the free table, the generosity of the attendees was well-pronounced.
Between Hamilton and New Orleans, it?s fun seeing people I?ve met before. Pete the Greek, Loop, Jon S, Stealth Viper, Deadshot, Morgardee, GSmiley, and Realboss are all Hamilton mainstays. Night Force Cynic and ViperDave I got to see again. And I met xhairs -whose Back-Stop customs are front row of my Back-Stop shelf- and, funny enough, fellow Montrealer Latin Joe. We caught up, Tank-Girl sold them brownies, fun was had.
On top of great people, good prices, and wall-to-wall 3 ?? Joes (with one notable 12? exception), there were the events, contests, and customs on display. I brought the lastest of my meager custom collection, which for the first time did not include any customs of Back-Stop. The Black Ice Snake, manned by my back-up Black Ice and two Black Ice-Vipers, was well complemented. But there was no competing with the attention Nova?s gigantic Crystal Ball diorama. He managed to pack two tables with what had to be five hundred Crystal Ball figures, at least two dozen of which were customs. Searching between standard Crystal Balls for gems like Crystal Brawl and Blue Balls was like a Where?s Waldo book. And as gigantic as his display was, he didn?t even bring them all. Tank-Girl was hoping to see the Crystal Baroness custom I?d told her about, but the Iron Balladiers were at home, Nova said.
At two o?clock, we began the Speed Painting contest, where contestants would randomly pull a Franken-Joe they?d never seen before and would have one hour to paint this figure, with the only guideline being that he must be associated with the Scrapheap, a custom vehicle that would be given to the winner as a prize.
THE Mike cleared two tables and set-up as many chairs as he could, fourteen. Counting Raptor, who was participating but would not be judged as he was one of the organizers and judges, we had fourteen people join, including two ten year olds, who were painting their first customs. Tank-Girl pulled the guaranteed worst figure of the Franken-Joes, a catastrophe of colours that included a Serpentor head, Red Dog torso, and I believe Overlord left arm. Not the best parts to make a custom out of, but she pressed on.
During the contest, I was interviewed by a local news show about GI Joe fans are customizing. I am slowly becoming GI Joe?s ambassador to television. I hope I spoke for everyone when I talked about the multiple levels of customs, and look forward to seeing the footage when it airs on YouTube.
I enjoyed running the Speed Painting and enjoyed even more reminding the contestants how little time there was left. But best of all was seeing veteran customizers imparting the wisdom of their experience onto first-timers even as time was running out. In the end, we had some great customs and a few that were downright incredible. Moto-Viper took the top prize, with a custom called Death?s Head, which turned a Scrap-Iron head into a skull. Even though he was probably the worst possible person to win a fragile vehicle custom since he had to fly back to Australia in a week, he earned it. He also won the custom contest for Ice Breaker, a female associate of Black Ice?s with a stunning hand-painted Maple Leaf with Cobra logo, and a wolf that deserved to be mounted on a wall. I considered breaking his fingers because I hate being jealous of people.
Speaking of fingers, the button-mashing extravaganza that is Smackdown vs Raw: GI Joe vs Cobra was once again a highlight. CAWs (Create-A-Wrestler) based on our favourite Joe characters, with a mix of self-customs, duke it out in a single elimination tournament until one man is left standing, holding a trophy overhead. When Raptor won last year, having only played the game for less than a week, it sent out a notice: Anyone could win this tournament.
I faced veteran player Morgardee in probably the first round?s biggest match. Many of the tournament entrants didn?t own the game, so having two guys that did face off so early was impressive. He chose his self-custom, I took my Back-Stop CAW, and we got it on. Dave kept his streak alive, getting eliminated once again in the first round. My second match was a rematch from last year?s first round, taking on Loop. He was quick and crafty, using Storm Shadow?s skills to the best of their ability. But when it came down to it, Storm Shadow may be a ninja, but Back-Stop is Canadian. I advance to the semi-finals.
Lo and behold, my opponent would be the defending champion himself, Raptor. Last year he beat me in a Hell in a Cell in the finals, stealing my trophy and crushing my pride. This year I could not think of anything better than an exact rematch. Raptor, using Raptor, vs Scramble using Back-Stop, in a Hell in a Cell. When the Battle of 87 began, things weren?t looking good for me. Raptor may not have known the game that well, but the moves he did know he did over and over again. I think he kneed me in the face a dozen times in a row before changing moves to a springboard senton that he did another dozen times. By the time I stood up, Back-Stop had been worn down and my rage consumed my concentration. As soon as I took control, I made sure I dropped him with as many high impact moves as I could to even the score. He still managed to wear me down completely. If he landed his finisher on me, I knew I wouldn?t have been able to kick out. Somehow, I managed to build enough momentum to earn a finisher of my own, execute it, and pin him for a heart warming three count.
Last round, me versus THE Mike. I was expecting him to use his self-custom, but instead he went with a very cool Stalker. We were trying to determine the type of match, almost choosing an Iron Man match or TLC. Then THE Mike was struck with an idea: A special guest referee match, with Raptor?s self-custom as the ref. Raptor being last year?s winner, this would be the passing of the torch. The computer would control the ref, however, since the real Raptor had to step out for an hour. Since Special Referee matches could have a second stipulation, we also made it a Last Man Standing. To win a Last Man Standing match, you had to beat your opponent so bad he could not get up before a count of ten.
The match started and I found a nice advantage: Back-Stop was faster than Stalker. Instead of reversing his moves, all I had to do was throw a well-timed punch. And as anyone that?s memorized Back-Stop?s file card knows, Back-Stop is a golden gloves champion. THE Mike and I went back and forth evenly. I brought a chair into the ring, reminding THE Mike that weapons were legal. He briefly came back, only to get floored by a top rope elbow drop. Raptor started counting. Quickly. The computer decided it would screw THE Mike with a fast count! Five seconds later, Raptor had counted to ten and I won the trophy and the tournament! Booyah! Canadian Sensation owns all the gold.
Through gritted teeth, THE Mike next drew the final door prizes: The last Joe Canuck and the last Black Ice. Stealth Viper and GSmiley 007 took home the most elusive figures in all of fandom. The day came to a nice conclusion, it was time to pack up.
THE Mike has a legendary basement, and after everything was packed up, he wanted to bring those that had helped with the clean up back to his place to show it off. If you are a fan of GI Joe, He-Man, WWE Classics, Star Trek, or super heroes, pray one day you will be invited into THE Mike?s basement. You can stare at those figures for hours and not feel time move.
8:00 crept up on us and we were all very hungry. Every year, the hardcore of the Hamilton Meet go for supper together to digest the day and spent a few last hours with out of town friends. Much like the first day at Raptor?s house, this gives everyone a chance to socialize on more levels with fellow fans. It?s not technically part of the meet, but it?s definitely another highlight of a weekend so packed with goodness it?s hard to enjoy the rest of the year.
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Topic: Joe Meet 2007 : Thoughts and Comments! (Read 27467 times)