Friday:
Woke up early and looked around the hotel. Nothing happening before 10. I talked to some early rises like myself and made friends. Around 9:00 I went for a walk down to Subway and picked up breakfast for Pete, Jon and myself.
I saw a sign saying "volunteer's for parachute drop sold out" or something like that. The sign up was suppose to be at 9:30 am Friday morning. I was there just after 8:00 so I'm guessing there was a sign up earlier for Gold Members or people that did the early Thursday stuff. Either way it was advertised for Friday morning at 9:30 and it was already sold out before then. Meh.
Jon and I went down for around 10 AM to watch the parachute drop. Just like every other year it was anarchy. The adults were told to stand back so the kids would have first crack. Of course just before it starts they left the adults onto the field and have them about 10 feet behind the kids. Kreos were throw and the adults lasted about 30 seconds before they broke the line. So now it's 5 year old vs 40 year olds.
I hung back and tried to film it and when what looked like the final wave was thrown I went into the mosh pit. I almost had one but some guy went plowing into my outreached arm to grab it. At first I was saying "Yeah, your a kid, have at it" then he turned around and it was a thin guy in his late teens. I'm not about drama or making a scene so I let it slide. Then a guy I met that morning saw what happened and asked me if I caught one. I said no and he gave me the 2nd one he caught. I guess it pays to be nice and make friends.
After that the shopping area was open. Pete compared it to the Canadian GI Joe convention once you remove things like the dioramas, customs tables, autograph lines, club store, and fan projects like Joe Customs table and Declassified booths. I think there was more vendors myself but what was really noticeable was the volume of product was far greater. It just felt like things were stacked higher. There was so much more stuff and something for everyone. Adventure team stuff, Sigma Six, ARAH, 25th, it was all there and in greater numbers. Cheap figure bins were huge. Mint complete figure were 3 for $20. It was all there. The only thing I didn't see was a Super Joe figure.
I spent most of my time at the Club store. MOTH sets were $15 each. That's $7.50 a figure and they are great figure. I bought 2 more desert MOTH sets to go along with my desert bootleg army.
They had the "Lets make a deal" table and I picked up a few 3 3/4 pieces like the yellow helicopter from the mini adventure team set. It was missing the propellers when I bought it but I was fine with that. 5 minuets after I bought it they found them and 2 rockets and just gave them to me.
I also bought about eight 12 inch figures, 6 extra fuzzy heads, a 12 inch size tent (my cats have claimed that) a bunch of clothes and other smaller things. I went back 3 times and spent about $114 I think on Lets make a deal.
The sales floor I didn't buy that much from. I have almost everything but it's nice to soak it all in. I bought a few things but right now I can't even recall what I purchased.
I spoke with Mary and Bill. Both of those guys are excellent. When I approached Mary I had a story for her about Zack Hoffman from the Canadian event and I think because I was able to talk to her on that level I made an impact. When Pete, Jon and I ran into in the elevator later she said "Hey Mister D, how's Dalton doing now?" so she pays attention. SHE IS SUCH A NICE LADY AND SO EASY TO TALK WITH. Mad respect for Mary. Bill is also awesome but because of the interaction with Mary she stands out a bit more for me. This was her first convention ever and she had a good time.
Jon and I also went for a walk in the daytime. We found a gas station that was like a 7-11 so we bought some junk food, I grabbed Pete an Ice Tea and then we went to the baseball stadium to buy tickets for the Friday night game. $15 a ticket for a AAA game and we were close to being behind home plate. Basically we were at the very edge of where the mesh was behind home plate.
That evening the three of us went to the ball game. It wasn't as warm as Thursday night and by the end of the game it was down right cold. At one point they were throwing T-Shirts into the crowed. Of course all the kids / teens go rushing to where the girl is and jump up and down in front of her. I was sitting in my chair, I honestly don't follow baseball but was there to absorb the atmosphere with by buddies who are huge baseball fans. It was funny that I almost got drilled in the face with a T-Shirt. I got my left hand up just in time to deflect the shirt and in bounced to the empty chair in front of me. I picked it up and have a nice reminder of a cool night out with Jon and Pete. I gotta say this, those T-Shirt girls have one heck of an arm.
After that we went back to our room, drank a few beers, looked over our haul and crashed around 1:00 am.
