kingofpain26

yeah, i was just about to post that....

Kingofpain’s Annual “What was Great about Joecon” 2011 OK peoples. Here is the report for Joecon 2011. However, This year, I’m going to be a bit more blunt than normal, as I feel the need to clarify a few things. 1) THE JOEBROS I mentioned this last year about how much we Joebros are a tight knit group of caring people. It was much more apparent this year. There was virtually NO board angst whatsoever. Everyone hung with everyone else in mixed groups, we partied together, laughed together, and played pranks on each other together.. THAT IS HOW IT SHOULD BE!!!! We’re all Brothers under the Joe… and we showed it at con! 2) THE CON EXPERIENCE This year had a lot of new attendees, but also a lot of regulars. Some people think that all we do at Joecon is look at toys in the dealer’s room… Far,.. so very far from the truth.. Excellent Seminars, One-on-one time with the Hasbro teams, Guests, and Club Staff, Tours of the surrounding area, long after hours hang out with the Joebros… of just the wonderful sitting by the pool enjoying the sun after Con breaks. And it wasn’t a bunch of stuff shirts, I’m talking hanging out with Attendees, Hasbro staff, and club stall, watching people ham it up at Karaoke, Enjoying Hangout and drinking sessions well into 4-5 am, and jokes, JOKES, JOKES!!! Joecon is a wonderful experience. The Club works hard to make is so… THANK YOU GUYS! I had so much fun… I didn’t step foot into Disney until SUNDAY! 3) HASBRO DOES LISTEN TO US!!! For all the people who are STILL posting on the boards how much Hasbro doesn’t like its fans, and how much they ignore us: PLEASE SHUT THE HELL UP!!!!!!!! Not only was Hasbro eagerly listening to our requests, and our ideas, THEY WERE TAKING NOTES! From the marketing reps, to the sculptors, to the Brand managers, to the design team, they asked EVERY fan what they liked/ disliked about the line, listened to even the nerdiest among us. And were writing down all of our suggestions from ideas on figure accessories and character choices, Distribution problems with Wal-mart, Ideas on enhancing a permanent archive of old protos, Ideas on Releasing items that were previously cancelled, Explained the Slaughter situation, and even asked us about a solution on getting us fan favorite characters and FEMALE FIGURES! …Hasbro is listening to those among us with constructive criticism, new Ideas, and detailed feedback, positive or negative, on their products. And they did it this year on BOTH a formal and informal setting. They listened to their fans, maybe they’re just not listening to YOU… 4) CON GUESTS The Guest were GREAT this year! We finally got voice actors at Joecon., The Baroness was a Gracious guest, happy to stop for fans, and even recorded a voicemail message for several fans in the Baroness voice!!! Larry Hama as always was a Great guest. Rod Wingham always thrills me with his comic anecdotes. Hasbro reps talked directly to the fans, even actually asking us opinions, what we want, and hanging out with us after hours.. 5) BINGO!!!!! PROBABLY THE MOST OBNOXIOUS FUN WE HAD!! Even if you didn’t win, there was joked galore! Aside from being the only black guy in the room.. and winning a 12 inch CONFEDERATE SOLDIER!!!?? (great prize) we were a goofy lot, chuckling every time Becky yelled “O-69”, and laughing at her jokes… but… we made so much fun of that confederate soldier… and it just got worse and worse! well.. you see the pic: This image has been resized. Click this bar to view the full image. The original image is sized 540x720. This image has been resized. Click this bar to view the full image. The original image is sized 720x540. 6) THE COSTUME CONTEST It was actually a great idea to move it to the actual con, so that walk ins could participate, we had triple the amount of costumes this year. SOMEBODY CAME DRESSED AS FUMBLES!!!! There were a lot of accurate costumes (that ALLEY VIPER was Sick!), cute costumes (Zarana was Dreamy)… But the best costume there was still Number One… WITH A BULLET! 7)DEALERS Several dealers were willing to give us great deals, especially if you were known on the boards. Special shout outs to Dirt Cheap Joes, who had a special deal for all Histank fans, and gave me a Wu-Tang “cash rules everything around me” sticker as advertisement, Killuminati of Urban rev Toys, and Guru planet, who had great deals and great products, Alyosha, who pretty much was the flame to every customizing moth in the room and had great deals for us, and a special salute to Joe Declassified, who gave us a glimpse of all the protos and behind the scenes items. And BIG ups to James, who authored the Best damned G.I.Joe visual guide I’ve ever seen! That book is so great it actually convinced a lot of people to start collecting the New Sculpt figures! 8) AFTER HOURS ACTIVITIES Most of us never got to our rooms before 2 am, and some of us didn’t hit the rooms at all! A Special Thanks to TheMick, Mamichula, and Shockval, for single handedly keeping us inebriated half the night. (you gotta ship me a bottle of that Smirnoff Sweet Tea, Mick!!!) So much fun was had in the lobby of the hotel, as well as the After Registration 9) THE LOCATION When we weren’t just standing around, we got the oppurtunety to sit in the sun, chill in the pool, relax in the lagoon, and enjoy the spa and fine dining. Although the prices were a bit high for food, the food was great and they gave you a LOT of it. I paid 10 bucks for a chicken ceasar salad, and it took me 2 days to finish it! 11 bucks for a burger and fries (with free toppings) and It left me full all day..! GREAT Location!!!! 10) JOEBRO LOVE I Love my Joebros! From the moment I walked into the Hotel, to the moment I left, people treated me like I was a celebrity, I was very humbled at the love, especially when literally dozens of people came up to me throughout the con, saying “Hey, are you KOP?” and shook my hand! Right back at you guys! "The Ambassador" loves You!

KINGOFPAIN’S ANNUAL WHAT SUCKED ABOUT JOCON 2011 Yes, with very good, there is a bad, however, the wasn’t a lot of bad this year 1) THE GOLDEN TICKET While this wasn’t a bad idea in theory, it was HORRIBLE in execution. Before people crap all over the Golden ticket, several other cons have a bonus like this (Most sci-fi cons do), and thy work smoothly. The idea of a special reception for GT holders and the first rows were great. But The exclusive limits... Obviously this attracted the greedy. For every person who used the Golden ticket opportunity to buy their friends a set, there was another who used it to pad their eBay dollars. (And one person in particular was ignorant enough to rub it in peoples faces at the con. Thanks a lot, jerk) As a result, MOST of the exclusives were sold out by Friday. and there was a LOT of disappointed attendees. Not only did it screw some of the Registered attendees, but there wasn't much left when the walk ins got there on Saturday. I suggest that next year, the golden ticket bonus take the form of one Bonus exclusive FIGURE rather than set limits. That way, it will have a bigger incentive to get the Golden ticket, but at the same time, not shafting the other attendees who choose not to get one. ...and as for people sitting at home... next year break your necks to come to con! 2Hotel Cleaning Staff A new Stupid idea hotel’s have is this automatic check out system... so that now… you are checked out... before you even physically leave the room. As a result, the cleaners com in like the Gestapo... at like 8 am! In my room we had to physically yell at the staff to not come in, but they came in anyway!!! Others didn’t fair so good. Another con attendee left the room for 5 MINUTES, and the cleaners came in and completely DESTROYED ALL OF THE CON GAINS AND EXCLUSIVES!! Really? What idiot throws boxed toys and signed posters in the trash? I worked Security at the Four Seasons for 2 years and even I know that all items found in a room after checkout are put in Lost & found. EVERY HOTEL DOES THIS!!!! Its basic policy. These People shouldn’t be just fired; they should be banned from ever working in the hospitality industry in that state. 3) THE CON DINNER FOOD First off where was the meat!!!???? For a 4 star hotel, the food was kind of lousy… Better than last year, but a definite downgrade from cons like New Orleans and Texas. Also, for some reason, the con dinner is constantly being pushed to be a formal event…with guys who wear costumes and t-shirts? ITS NOT GONNA WORK, SO PLEASE STOP. A lot of us wear suits and uniforms to work, why would we want to do so on out vacation? Were comfortable in our t-shirt clothes, let us wear what we want. Yes I know the dress code isn’t enforces... but in my opinion there really shouldn’t be a dress code at all. For a “fanboy” convention…it’s just really not in the cards. 4) NO MARAUDER JOHN the biggest questions we got was " where's the gun runner?" for unknown reasons, Marauder john couldnt make it this year, and his absence was felt throughout the joe community. even the Hasbro rep asked about him! However, in a total act of coolness, he STILL sent some freebies to be passed out tat the Joe Declassified booth, and donated door prizes for fans. Even when he isnt here, Marauder John is still the man! COME BACK TO JOECON, JOHN!!!!![ Honestly? That’s about it. The only other bad point that I could think of is that the fun ended too soon!! It was a GREAT con this year!! Not a lot of bad at all...

Hasbro announced at joecon that they didn't know that Several Wal-marts stopped carrying G.I.Joes, thus leaving several areas high and dry.. but they Don't know exactly which ones... so sound off! What stores in your area stopped carrying Joes? __________________

One of the bonuses of Joecon is that you can have one on one talks with Hasbro staff.. we came up with an Idea: If Hasbro decided to make us EXACTLY what we want in a figure, lest say for example, a 7 pack of Female Vipers, at a lower production number, and took PRE ORDERS from fans. But because of the exclusive direct to fans priocess the price would be slightly larger, lets say 60 bucks instead of the 45 7 pack price. Similar to how Sideshow pre orders their figures. Would you buy one? or several?

I would love marvel to do it. unfortunetly, they wopuld probably not consider it a flagfship title, and assign some crappy writer and artist on it (although this would be redeemed if Hama comes back)