WonderCon '17: The Panels

Aside from an excellent exhibit floor, WonderCon had several panels every hour and we ended up attending several on Friday and Saturday. On Friday we checked out a session on the pre-visualization of hit Wolverine movie Logan where guests discussed creating a non-superhero movie starring superheroes and how writer/director James Mangold pushed them to "make it real". Which is kind of weird when you think of it since the dude has a metal skeleton and another guy can control people with his mind but whatever. It did push the crew to be more creative and not fall back on tired tropes or exaggerated action sequences with lots of explosions. After that it was a celebration of Buffy and Angel to celebrate 20 years with a preview of an upcoming oral history book from genre writer and super fan Mark A. Altman and Edward Gross. This was a fun panel as the two talked about how they ended up writing a book on Buffy (their publisher wanted another book after their Star Trek themed oral history, anniversary was coming, one of their favorite shows) and the good old days of genre journalism of the 80's and 90's with Fangoria, Starlog, Cinefantastique and Cinescape. Gross told a funny story about looking up Joss Whedon and calling him and the young writer being so thankful of the early support. In the years to come, Whedon would make himself available to Gross for hours at a time for interviews but when Whedon landed The Avengers, the accessibility ended.

The Arena was pretty quiet and media presence was limited in general with only Warner Brothers putting on a studio panel that filled up quick as Annabelle 2 and Wonder Woman were previewed. But the cast and crew of Archie showed up to a full house with Luke Perry looking very scruffy and not knowing how to handle social media while the kid who plays Archie started talking and freaked everyone out. Turns out he's from New Zealand and has the accent too boot.

Jim Lee's WildStorm celebrated 25 years with a large panel of artists, writers, inkers and contributors. Highlight tidbits included learning that Lee now has 9 kids from two wives and that WS started off in a one bedroom apartment, then two bedrooms then an actual studio in a bank building. Lee and long time inker Scott Williams argued about who would pay for the fax machine and realized they needed assistants and finance people to actual run a company. It was a very familial atmosphere as Lee encouraged young artists to strive and become the next themselves, not a copy of him. Many were away from home for the first time and lived in a nice apartment in a nice part of town that was soon trashed and dubbed the "Crack house". Lee helped the young guys with money, buying cars, bailed them out of jail and to save time, hired someone to come in and cut all of their hair at the same time. Apparently they all got sweet bowl cuts. There was mention of Brett Booth who unfortunately couldn't attend, Damme it! I asked Lee if between WildCats toys, a video game and animated series if a film was ever seriously considered. He responded that it never got past the pitch stage and it would have just been too big a project for the pre-X-Men and Spider-Man era.

We caught the tail end of Valiant's panel on digital offerings that includes a Ninjak web series then sat in for the Street Fighter 30th Anniversary. Cleaned up versions of old games are on the way as well as additional upgrades to latest release Street Fighter V. E-gaming league, the Capcom Cup is also in full swing with hundreds of thousands of dollars up for grabs. I'd love to check one of these events some day to see some bitching gameplay and epic smack talk.

WonderCon '17: The Floor

After that tremendous Thursday of Extreme Studios anniversary, Irish pub happy hour and a quick trip to Disneyland's California Adventure Park, it was time to start the WonderCon! With badges being mailed out early, we breezed past a giant line waiting to pick up their badges outside. Inside, I had the immediate sense that the show was bigger than years prior and I think I'm right. For 2017, WonderCon was utilizing all four Halls A-D for registration, Arena queue and the actual exhibit floor. Compared to the first or second year where we shared with a large volleyball tournament which lead to some amusing co-mingling of athletes and cosplayers outside. While there weren't any huge installations or Hollywood showpieces, DC, Boom, Gold & Silver Age Comics, a pink unicorn looking thing, a sizable Artist Alley, Disney and Capcom were are all out in force.

Walking around for several hours, I realized we'd barely covered half the floor! There was a solid mix of comic books, action figures, Funko Pops, art pieces, mystery boxes, prints, movie posters and film soundtracks. For the older goer you had 50's and 60's Disney pieces or a frigging oil paint by numbers set featuring James frigging Garner as Maverick! With a Wild Storm 25th anniversary panel scheduled and Jim Lee being a guest of honor, I was hoping there would be some sweet 90's Image stuff and for the most part I was not disappointed. One booth had WildCats figures for $15-20 a pop while another had a beat up in package Zealot for $4, sold! On the hunt for a McFarlane Toys Shaft or Dutch figure from Youngblood but only saw the likes of Troll or Badrock, hello Amazon! Big Red Comics and another vendor had some sweet $1 bins, bagged, boarded and in alphabetical order.

Capcom had an awesome four sided installation with multiple Street Fighter games to play as it's the 30th anniversary but on one side was a real highlight, a faux bedroom decked out in 90's glory i.e. Michael Jordan and Home Alone posters along with tube TV's to play Ducktales or Chip N' Dale Rescue Rangers! To top it off, you got a snap bracelet on the way out, 90's forever! On the new trinkets front, I grabbed some custom Cyclops and Captain America zipper pulls along with a bottle opener with Ron Lim Cap art. Cosplay wise you had Game of Thrones in groups, much Star Wars, stilted Transformers and Voltron and one Jack Frost.

While there were huge walkways in some of the hall, over in A things got narrow and crowded, cheaper real estate? Hand crafted hats, belts, phone cases and the like were on display along with prop weapons and real knives. Flash Gordon's Sam Jones was the most recognizable actor selling autographs. While there were a dozen food trucks outside, concession stands inside had surprisingly decent sustenance with usual offerings like pizza, deli sammiches, burgers and soft serve ice cream but no bars on the floor. All in, the best WonderCon floor I can think of in recent memory.

Gotta Go! Austin

Earlier this summer I headed to Austin for work, it's no secret that the Weird capital of Texas has become a bit of a scene in the last years. With 100 + folks moving there a day in addition to a giant college nearby, being the live music capital of the world and huge festivals celebrating movies and tunes like South By SouthWest and Fantastic Fest, it's the premiere middle stop between Los Angeles and New York. I'd been there once before, literally for a day, last year for screenings of Lionheart and Only the Strong with Sheldon Lettich. The Alamo Drafthouse on Sixth seemed a little college grody to me but I learned that's what the area, dubbed Dirty Sixth, is all about. Bachelor-ette parties, bums and university kids line the closed off streets on weekend nights while there's a little bit older and calmer demographic on Rainey Street and a mix of both over on West Sixth.

Staying downtown at the half hotel, half office complex the Omni, I had a nice view of the city from their rooftop pool, construction and homeless shelter alike. I got to see a bit of the city with my co-workers and sample some tasty grub ranging from burgers to seafood to pizza. On my own I ventured over to Pinballz, a local establishment with arcade games and pinball machines that was BYOB! Walking around the selection was pretty varied with old school 80's games like Donkey Kong and Mario as well as a nice selection of driving ones like Batman or shooting with personal favorite Time Crisis. Lots of pinball with new to me Twister and Demolition Man being highlights. There was a small row of fighting games and after going on a tear in Time Crisis, my joystick jiu-jitsu continued as I won six matches straight on X-Men VS Street Fighter on one credit. In the end I took on Magneto and beat the game as Ken with a cute ending of him hanging out with his kid.

It was a fun trip and I'm glad I got to see more of Austin's eclectic mix of new modern sleekness, vintage architecture and random, slapped together looking houses and business surrounded by grass and gravel. I can't say I'd like to move there but it's a great place to visit with some nice folks. Plus I saw an old co-worker who had moved to Austin from LA, taking my copy of Hard Target with him and finally returning it.

Gotta Drank! San Diego Comic-Con 2016

Arnold Schwarzenegger once said something to the effect of going places where the crowds weren't. That's always been my approach as I love happy hour but abhor going out at night, or have no problem finding a quiet spot a couple blocks from con to enjoy some libations and grub. People tend to pool where others go equaling huge lines and crowds in the Gaslamp directly across from the convention center. Go a few blocks east or north and you'll find plenty of places ready to serve you while taking your cash. Last year the Top of the Hyatt was under renovations and reopened this year as a swanky lounge with still beautiful views and famous quotes on the windows.

Near the small Chinatown establishments you had Whiskey House, a solid joint with nighttime ambiance, a wall of booze and lots of food options. Up a few blocks was Taste & Thirst, a very bar-y bar that was home to Diamond's Alien Lounge with props, posters and a backdrop. The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund party once again took place at the lovely Westgate Hotel with themed dranks and swag bags. Speaking of swag bags, we Uber'd north near the university to Coin-Op, a barcade hosting new app Pure Fandom's launch party with 80's movie posters on the walls, tator tots on the menu and plenty of cabinets lining the walls of standard fare like X-Men and Street Fighter. Swag included a new album from Vince DiCola, the incomparable electronic composer of Transformers: The Movie and Rocky IV. All the celebrating and imbibing caused me to take a 4 week break on drinking after but it was fun while it lasted.

Oh yeah, and don't ever take a pedicab in downtown San Diego, it's a total rip off.

ConMan: Anime Expo '16 Sunday

 
July is always a solid month for me. Independence Day gives a three day weekend, Anime Expo takes place downtown, it's my birthday and then San Diego Comic-Con, so always something to do. Anime Expo aka AX, has signed to stay in Los Angeles for five years and this is was our third year attending. Lines and crowds were crazy on Friday and Saturday so I'm glad we opted to check out the show on Sunday. A quick Uber to the Los Angeles Convention Center and fast badge pick up line later, we were walking the lobby. Oh but first, an aside. My con backpack is lined with various buttons with Captain America, Arnold as Sgt. Rock, Pacific Rim, Predator and one with Kurt Russell from Used Cars that a guy offered to buy off me at SDCC a few years ago. Anyways, after putting our programs in my bag and slinging it over my shoulder, I notice something is missing, my Used Cars button was gone! This was from a one of a kind event years ago at The Arclight so I was super bummed as we retraced our steps to no avail. It's just a trinket but it was not a great start to the day. Once inside the packed exhibit floor I looked down and wondered what was on my leg, lo and behold, my button had fallen off my bag but somehow ended up catching on the magnet of my money clip inside my shorts pocket, pin point facing out and all! The lady and I high fived as my Kurt Russell, Tango & Cash style charm continued!

The exhibition floor was full of vendors offering all the anime inspired toys, models, prints and more. A local seller had shirts about Ship where you'd flip up the bottom to see your favorite characters in near kiss. Lots of stuffed animals around, especially sloths. Funko, Lootcrate, Crunchy Roll, Bandai, Capcom and more had large sections of the floor as did Toei animation with cool Sailor Moon and Dragon Ball Z history exhibits. Zootopia cosplay was the latest craze while I've never seen so much cross play or people walking with their heads down looking at their phone. Of all the shows I've been to, I can't think of another where I politely shoved or moved so many people out of my way who were just randomly standing in an aisle or not watching where they were going. Artist alley had been moved downstairs to Kentia hall and it was as huge as it was packed. I had to yell for people to keep walking because again, goers were literally stopping in the middle of the aisle. If you want to stop and look at something, walk over to the table, don't stand in the middle of the walkway, ya dig? Table top and card gaming was downstairs as well but the AC was not pumping so we did a round and headed back upstairs.

We trekked over to West Hall where Cosplay sets, the arcade and pachinko machines were set up. Our Uber driver later told us about his ten years in Japan and how people would lose their mortgages at the crazy gambling machines that seem like a mix of slots and pinball with a TV show playing at the same time. In another new addition, there was a history of AX set up showing timelines of locations, milestones and attendance. There were also programs, shirts and the like from past shows which was pretty cool. We also ran into our friends at Concon, a new app for all your convention needs, check it out! After several hours of walking around, it was time for lunch as we headed to the dependable Yard House at L.A. Live where we found a seat at the bar immediately. We headed back to the show, checking out cosplay gatherings out front where hundreds descended for group shots. After that it was over to the randomly crowded for a Sunday but it was a holiday so, EightyTwo for dranks and catching up with friends. I've never been a huge fan of Street Fighter: Championship Edition and it really wasn't my day as I was defeated the two times I stepped up. Final Fight was a little more forgiving as I jabbed, crossed and spun kick as Guy through several levels of Metro City.

It's great to see Anime Expo continue to expand and I'm pumped to see what next year has in store. It was another fun time and ample warm up for SDCC. For 2017 we'll see about taking a stay-cation like WonderCon and get a room to stay in the heart of the animated action. Until then, I'll be catching up on Attack on Titan, One Piece, Free!, Gundam, Beserk, Naruto...I must say, the prospect of being able to download information is one aspect of the future I'm looking forward to so I can be caught up on all of these series.

Gotta Play! Button Mash

Another day, another Los Angeles based barcade. As a child of the 80's and 90's, I grew up pumping quarters into machines at my local malls, mashing buttons to Street Fighter, Final Fight, X-Men and the like. One more recent addition to the LA scene is Echo Park's Asian fusion restaurant with a bar and arcade Button Mash. Just up the street from Union Station in downtown, Button Mash is located in a curious strip mall that holds a tropical fish store and a Domino's among other businesses. There's a small parking lot and plenty of curb side parking around the area. They were supposed to open at 4:00 PM but were actually in the midst of shooting a TV show, movie or online series whatever. Surprisingly, many an older person patron was waiting to get in as well and when I say older, I mean retirement age. I wonder what games they came to play.

The place is split up into a restaurant on one side and the arcade on the other. It's strictly beer and wine at the moment but there are several kinds of cider for people like me. Food wise you had a double hamburger next to chicken wings and tofu balls, all in, not too shabby. Then your check comes in a 90's area paperback which was a nice touch, if you ever see Governor Schwarzenegger, Party of Four, scrawled in one, that was me. Game wise it's token based and the selection is quite solid with the full X-Men, Street Fighter II: Championship Edition, Mortal Kombat II, WWF, Super Contra, pinball and more. The more I play, the more I find myself craving the Street Fighter Alpha series with it's faster action and ability to pull off super combos. But so far, that's only located at Shatto 39 not here, Eighty-Two, Blipsy's or my local burger joint that has games in it. I'm sure The One-Up has all of them on their beautiful emulator cabinet but it's not quite the same thing.

Playing MK II was a trip back down memory lane as I could not recall ANY of the moves but was quickly reminded how cheap a game it is as you can seriously just trip someone over and over again until they die. We looked up moves and before you knew it, it was all about Johnny Cage and the splits to nut punch. I'm not saying Jean-Claude Van Damme invented the move in Bloodsport but can you name me a precursor example that had as much impact? And for a place called button mash, it could use a lot more brawlers. But overall a cool joint I'd check out again.

WonderCon! Saturday & Sunday

This was a very chill con for us as once you've been to 22 shows in a year and start putting on your own events, seeing the same vendors and panels just doesn't carry the same can't miss cache. It's more about seeing con-rades, soaking up the energy and having an excuse to hang out somewhere you usually don't. The weekend was more of an in town vacation, a stay-cation if you will or in our case, a con-cation. WonderCon was just a gateway to live the Happy Hour and Hotel life as we didn't focus on the show but it was just a part of the long weekend. Starting with dranks, pizza and Batman V Superman in 4DX to the show, to video games at 82, more show and over to Hollywood for Silent Rage then our final day at the Con before heading home. Walking around sold out Saturday, WonderCon only felt crowded at certain intersections and in one case when a bunch of Star Wars cosplayers stopped traffic to parade through. I wanted to crash straight into their little ego trip but the lady requested I didn't. Another attendee next to me said something along the lines of "they're cosplayers, not f*cking royalty", exactly my friends, exactly!

Looking at the map I thought we only covered about half the floor Friday but I was wrong and we had taken in about 2/3 already. So we checked out Artist Alley, Small Press and more vendors. Capcom had Street Fighter V tournaments going on and I talked to a guy working the floor who should have been in Ken costume as he had semi-long blonde hair and was in shape. We flipped through more graphic novel boxes that were 60% off cover price and picked up some Ka-Zar and more Captain America. Cosplay wise there was an excellent Hellboy walking around with plenty more Reys, a couple of them men, along with Deadpools and Disney princesses galore. Like Friday we had oh so many panels lined up like Spotlight on John Romita, Jr., Star Wars VFX and more but like Friday, didn't attend a single one. Timing just didn't line up for us and we didn't feel like sitting around the convention center waiting. So it was back to the hotel for some relaxing and Captain America: The First Avenger on FX. I cracked up that with BatsSupes in theaters, cable had Man of Steel, Batman Begins, Spider-Man and more in rotation for the weekend.

It was another late night as we ventured to Hollywood for Cinematic Void presenting Chuck Norris flick Silent Rage and Dammaged Goods co-presented. Coming back to L.A. Live I was feeling ravenous but Yard House was jammed and most of the other joints had closed the kitchen at 10:00 PM. We ended up at the overpriced Mexican spot but it hit the spot before crashing out at 1:00 AM. Looking out the hotel window we soaked up the neon soaked view where you could see a Jesus Saves sign as well as the Eastern Building, you know, from Predator 2?! I woke up at 7:00 AM Sunday and contemplated taking a swim to get loosened up as I was creaky and sore from working out, walking and not getting a ton of sleep but opted to stay in bed and watch YouTube videos instead. Including an episode of the not good 90's USA Network Street Fighter cartoon set in Final Fight's Metro City. After an all star breakfast that included coffee, bites of a croissant and protein bar, it was back to the convention center for Sunday, which sold out as well.

It was still pretty easy to navigate without much of a crowd so I played some Street Fighter V, redeeming my horrid performance at 82. V has vibrant design and color along with pretty smooth gameplay, lots of new moves and specials that I had no clue how to execute. But my days spent at the arcade in the 90's served me well as I won two matches and stepped down to do some more walking around. Right next door was the Capcom booth who had a deal too good to turn down, two soft tees for $15! We saw a guy get turned into the purple faced, big chinned Thanos at a cinema make up school booth and did a little people watching out in the main lobby. Outside, an Easter Egg hunt was supposed to start but the little plastic shells were already out so we picked up a few that had candy and Halloween style trinkets inside. The J.W. held on to our bags after check out and we watched security shoo away some little punk kids trying to sell candy. I say punks because they were warned that they couldn't sell on the premises, started cursing then walked up to us acting like angels. A suit clad official walked them off and told them it wasn't worth it when you could tell they wanted to try and be punks. Our last Uber ride for the weekend took us home and back to reality as con-cation aka our new age version of summer vacation for pop culture loving adults came to a close.

WonderCon! Eats & Transport

One nice thing about WonderCon being in Downtown, Los Angeles this year was the abundance of eating and dranking spots near the convention center. N00bs were content with the surprisingly not crowded center eateries serving up sammiches and fried goodies or waiting out in the sun at the dozens of food trucks. But just a couple blocks away you could take in a multitude of easy to sit joints like the Yard House, Tom's Urban and Lawry's Prime Rib. On Friday night we took a short Uber ride to Little Tokyo for some video game action at 82 where I got destroyed in Street Fighter II then we almost beat Golden Axe: Revenge of Death Adder before getting worn out. Next door is a Japanese mall filled with shops, snacks, karaoke and food where we ended up getting a big plate of chicken teriyaki and dumplings from Tofu House.

Saturday morning we stopped by the empty Tom's Urban where you can get breakfast on weekends along with an all day lunch and dinner menu. Unlimited mimosas set you back $16 bones but were a little light on the champagne the lady says. The best of both worlds, we chowed down on a breakfast platter of eggs, grits and sausage along with a bacon and avocado burger. We opted for a kale side salad instead of fries because it had been a very light on roughage con-cation already. After walking the floor for a bit, we wandered over to Lawry's Carvery in L.A. Live for what might have been the best tasting meal of the weekend, a prime rib sammich along with their King of Clubs. Both meats were extremely tender and flavorful with the bread soft and tasty. They have entrees as well if you just wanted a slab of prime rib.

In the lobby of the J.W. Marriott is Ford's Filling Station, the classic upscale chain run by one of Harrison Ford's sons. We had breakfast there one day, shelling out $22 for an omelet and another $12 for a Belgium Waffle, I always thought they were called Belgian Waffles...It was good but nothing screamed excellent about the pricey meal, it was just convenient. Speaking of the J.W., we opted to Uber to and from because valet was $45 a night with no self parking option as I'm guessing your car is parked in or held offsite due to space. Adding up all of our trips that weekend, from Playa Vista to downtown, to The Falls, back to L.A. Live, to 82, over to Hollywood and back then home cost around $80, not even two nights parking let alone the three we had. And there's no tips involved with Uber so it was definitely the way to go.

WonderCon! Friday

Badge check in was quick and painless but then a line built up by the doors. Why? Because the exhibit hall wasn't open yet! I don't know how the 12:00 PM opening time slipped by me after I had just read through the Quick Guide but here we were with an hour to chill so we just walked back to the hotel for some relaxing. After a noon cocktail we headed back to the show. This is the first year they're testing out RFIT, a crowd tracking dealy where you swipe your badge going in and out. Horrific visions of broke down technology and bottlenecks filled my mind but it was fine. We'll see how Saturday goes though as that's when the crowds really show up. I believe the exhibition space for WonderCon is smaller than last year and it definitely felt spread out as you had registration in one hall, a few program rooms in a random hallway, the exhibit hall, more panel rooms upstairs, big media presentations at the Microsoft Theater across the street, etc.

 

We crisscrossed aisles checking out toys, comics, pins, action figures and the like. Nothing too new to the convention scene but half off trade bins weren't crawling with people so we flipped through several booths. I don't go to these shows with goals for items to purchase anymore but I did have my eye out for Captain America: Man & Wolf, a 90's multi-part collection where Cap turns into a werewolf. I have single issues in my collection but those are halfway across the country. While most booths have graphic novels in long boxes you have to flip through, one had them displayed horizontally so you could just skim the spines and voila, the lady picked it out for me. Nintendo had a booth set up touting a new version of StarFox! The polygon filled flying game with animal pilots I played on the N64 in the 90's. You also had a booth for the new Ninja Turtles flick (Knock knock, you're about to get shell shocked!), IDW, Nerdist, DC, Sideshow Collectables and many more. After a couple of hours on the floor, we were famished and headed to the Yard House for Happy Hour. Sure beats waiting in line for a food truck out in the sun!

Panel wise we had a list as fall back options but our first one, a reading of James Cameron's unmade Spider-Man movie treatment, ended up being changed to some 1950's sci-fi flick so we bounced. Spotlight on Jim Lee would be good but we've seen the guy multiple times and run into him randomly around shows. I wouldn't mind seeing the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows presentation but this comfy hotel bed has me in it's clutches. Rey from Star Wars was hands down the most popular cosplay of the day, transcending all ages and even genders. I actually had to look to find a Dead Pool. A fun start to the weekend/con-cation. Maybe we'll hit Eighty-Two for some video games as seeing a statue of super yoked Ryu has me hankering for some Street Fighter...

Gotta Eat! (& Drank): Odyssey & The One-Up

It was 405 time Sunday as we headed up to Granada Hills to meet a friend at Odyssey, a long established, would be swanky establishment on top of a hill overlooking the area for brunch. The offerings were varied and delicious with breakfast staples like eggs, bacon, fresh made waffles and lox along with Chinese food, a carving station with prime rib and turkey, shrimp, crab legs, turkey pot pie and much more. It was a little pricey at $40 bucks a person but the ambiance, service and food were all excellent. Dranks were only $3.50 as well as we opted for some red wine Sangria. After eating our fill it was down the 405 to Sherman Oaks for a little button mashing at The One-Up. The place is great when no one's there because there's only one multiplayer machine with 400 titles like Final Fight, Street Fighter, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and King of Fighters. The rest of the cabinets are kind of weak sauce, 10 pages of 8 bit titles like Pac-Man, Asteroids, Ghouls and Ghosts and the sort. Solid titles but not what I think of when I come to arcade. Scrolling through the massive list, that's missing Alien VS Predator, G.I. Joe and The Avengers sadly, there's still plenty of games to keep you busy.

We started with Bomberman, where you run around dropping explosives, blowing up creatures and walls, collecting power ups and decapitating yourself with fire. It took me back to the good ol' days of Super Nintendo and then Nintendo's Game Cube, their less than successful follow up to the N64. After that it was brawling time and we set out to defeat the really loud Cadillac's and Dinosaurs game by Capcom. Originally a comic book from 1986, the title was translated into video games, a cartoon, action figures and more. After pollution and natural disasters threaten mankind, humans go underground for 600 years. When they come out, extinct life forms like dinosaurs have taken over and those with basic mechanical skills hold the power. Motor head Jack Tenrec and busty scientist Hannah Dundee are featured in the 1993 arcade game along with quick footed Mustapha Cairo and bruiser Mess O'Bradovich. Like Final Fight, you punch, kick and spin move your way through sections of the city taking on thugs and here, dinosaur slavers and a few of the creatures themselves. With 8 areas to get through, game play gets a little repetitive but you get to shoot baddies with Uzi's and shotguns, blow them up with grenades, stab them with knives and run over them with a Caddy in one part. Surprisingly bloody by today's standards, you end up in the lab of Dr. Fessenden who transforms into a big dinosaur with an alien looking creature sticking out of his chest. I'll be back to defeat another brawler soon!

Holiday Happiness: Street Fighter

Do you have a movie you or your family randomly watches around the Holidays? It could be a staple like Christmas Vacation, Love Actually or It's a Wonderful Life. Then you've got titles like Die Hard or Lethal Weapon as action movies set at Christmas in the mix. A friend told me on The O.C. the family watched Stallone's truck driving/father-son story Over the Top while non-action movie junkie colleagues tell me their family randomly watches Bloodsport or Under Siege 2 at festive gatherings. For me, it seems like 1994's Street Fighter has come full circle to become part of my Christmas tradition. My mom took me to see it on Christmas day over twenty years ago and it's been a regular part of my Jean-Claude Van Damme viewing ever since. As I've stated before, it's not a Street Fighter film, it's a G.I. Joe meets James Bond flick that is handsomely produced, includes lots of exciting action and fights while cracking wise and generally being pretty Damme entertaining.

Street Fighter came back this Christmas because my lady gifted me with some bitching trading cards from the 90's. Remember Upper Deck and Topps? When retailers were trying to create a collector's market out of cards, comic books and Beanie Babies? The over abundance of product meant most of this stuff is near worthless but it sure does bring back memories. Along with The Rocketeer, The Phantom, Batman Returns, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II, The Punisher and Judge Dredd, my gift included two packs of Street Fighter trading cards. I used to buy these at Wal-Mart and they were not cheap, I recall maybe $3 bucks a pack. That was a lot of dough for a not yet working pre-teen! The labels on these listed $1.47 so maybe I'm mistaken or they were cheaper on their way out. Either way, I had a lot of these cards back in the day where you had to collect them all to complete your set, buy the plastic pages to hold them and put them all in a big 3 ring binder to flip through. The Street Fighter cards are a nice mix of photos and drawings that take you through the movie's narrative, behind the scenes, actors involved (Van Damme is listed as being 5'11" and 190lbs) and the video game's history along with playing tips.

The cards were a great gift and a total excuse to introduce the film to my lady who knows I'm a big Street Fighter fan in general. At only 90 minutes, the time investment wouldn't be too much to ask and to sweeten the deal I suggested we watch the film as a drinking game. Sure enough we found one online where you sip anytime the name "Bison" is uttered, there's some cheesy/clever bantering going on ("You will choke on those words, Guile." 'Anytime, dickhead!'), a line from the video game is delivered ("Are you man enough to fight with me?" 'Anyone who opposes me will be destroyed') and you're supposed to take a shot when someone does a special move. That means the ending gets a bit messy since at least half of the 15 characters deliver a line from the game or perform a special move like the Flash Kick, Hadouken and Psycho Crusher...

The film plays very well and I still contend it was ahead of its time. Writer/director Steven E de Souza does a tremendous job of building the world, introducing and keeping track of so many characters, moving the story along all while setting up lots of fights and action. You have super hero outfits and a larger than life meets current events tone. There are characters of multiple cultures and actors of Asian, African and indigenous tribes descent receiving nearly as much screen time as leading man Van Damme. Quite a feat when compared to today where Emma Stone plays Asian, or Egyptians become white and filmmakers apologize for the white washing months before the film has even come out. Street Fighter was fun as a drinking game and my lady seemed to enjoy it, only questioning Van Damme's orange-ish blonde hair so I had to show her what Guile looked like in the game and how that would be impossible for a film. Dolph Lundgren from Rocky IV would have been a great Guile but Van Damme was just a much bigger star. She also asked if Van Damme was trying to do an American accent and wondered if a dialect couch was on the set. Since in his first scene he more or less grunt-talks but later slides back into his usual stop and go English with hundred sounding like "han-dread" or emphasizing certain letters and making out become "Ow-Teh". That set off an interesting conversation as the Swedish born Lundgren never had much of an accent in his films, Arnold's German inflections were never explained yet Van Damme was always getting a line about being from New Orleans, being born in Belgium but raised in Los Angeles or playing semi-pro hockey in Montreal...

Con-Man: Anime Expo '15 Friday

Happy belated 4th of July! Hopefully you're recovered from a long weekend of celebrating the colonies and independence. For the pre-4th Holiday Friday it was time to roll out to Downtown, Los Angeles for my first full on experience at Anime Expo. But honestly after 8 hours at the show, I didn't even soak it all in, there's just that much going on. The Los Angeles Convention Center was hopping with religious protestors, food trucks, cars trying to park (TIP: Take an Uber!) and attendees waiting for their badges. The volunteers were hardcore about the crowd walking ON the taped lines, not between them, that's a new one for me. But the queue moved quickly and before you knew it, we were inside. In the lobby you had throngs of photographers and cosplayers, merchandise booth and huge banners for video games and cartoons.

The exhibit hall was packed with vendors from end to end. Not being an anime expert, much of it was familiar yet unfamiliar to me. Lots of Attack on Titan, Sailor Moon and Dragonball Z, video game giant Capcom had the latest Street Fighter set up while Bandai hocked toys then Funimation and Hulu showed off the latest animated series available. Figurines and models of Godzilla, Ultraman and Gundam filled booths while there was a surprising abundance of wigs and weapons. Wigs for all of the fantasty riffed cosplay characters and weapons like samurai swords, nunchucks, airsoft guns and fake brass knuckles for...whatever. Artist Alley was hopping with oh so many prints and sketches and my personal favorite; beaded magnets of 8-bit characters. One booth had giant Street Fighter characters like Zangief and Ken but not much in terms of Chrono Trigger. Then you had a guy walking around with a saxophone, playing the opening bars of George Michael's Careless Whisper. One of my anime expert friends will have to fill me in on that one...

Over in another exhibit hall was again the cosplay backdrops of bed and class rooms, the top of a building, Gothic cemetery and Japanese garden among others. Dozens of tables were set up for gaming and a small quarter operated arcade had favorites like Time Crisis, Terminator 2 pinball and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. A video game hall of fame was also in full effect with every home system imaginable set up for your playing pleasure. Taking a break, we people watched for a bit and realized every few attendees was carrying a stuffed animal or prop cane/sword/giant gun around. I also noticed that the demographic at AX was a little younger than your typical convention with many looking in their 20's and hardly a parent taking their child in sight. Lots of men dressing like female characters aka CrossPlay, lots of Pokemon and one group as Batman and villains.

I wondered how food set up worked for AX as many of the convention dining venues were closed. Outside there were a good two dozen trucks slinging food but we opted to walk a couple blocks over to L.A. Live. Just like Seattle and Emerald City, The Yardhouse was our lunchtime savior as it wasn't very crowded so it was time for some specials and Jameson Mules. Going back to the show, we opted to walk the floor some more and see basically every aisle. There was a wedding venue set up from a new anime that shows you just how deep the imagination and role play runs in these series. By my estimation there was only one booth selling garden variety Marvel and DC comic books as the bulk of vendors had manga and the ol' adults only hentai. Programming ran all day and into the wee morning hours with screenings, panels and separate ticket concerts. Would have loved to have sat down for some Cowboy Bebop but the timing just didn't sync up. To cap off the night in Downtown we headed to Little Tokyo's Wolf & Crane for some dranks ($5 Happy Hour!), way too much delicious food at Ebisu (Shrimp Shumai!) and some video games over at Eighty-Two (Sunset Riders!). With Anime Expo scheduled to take place in Los Angeles for the next five years, I'll be back next year ready to tackle more of the amazing show.

Con-Man: WonderCon 2015 Friday

We only got about an hour of floor walking in for Friday but it proved very lucrative. It didn't seem too packed around the Anaheim Convention Center yet as most people were walking out as we were headed in. Lots of cosplayers outside by the fountains with Elvira, Xena, Rocket, Groot and Wheeljack from Transformers among them. Inside seems extra cavernous this year but having wider aisle ways isn't a bad thing, at all. Ran into the vendor I bought my Bishop from Aliens from at Long Beach Expo that Lance Henriksen signed. This time they had Neca's Robocop VS The Terminator figures for cheap so it was my first buy of the night. More walking around and we ventured into Warner Brothers' San Andreas Experience which was basically the trailer with 4D f/x, aka The Rock, Carla Gugino, Mr. Fantastic and that guy from Sideways surviving a huge earthquake complete with vibrating and moving chairs. I'm still not sold on the flick but it was a nice addition to the floor. Elsewhere I picked up some issues of awesome movie magazine Cinefantastique with Demolition Man, Captain America, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Robocop II in their extremely deeply researched and reported sights.

Moving onto more of the floor there were big set ups for Valiant and IDW like at last week's Emerald City Comicon along with Image which has several panels this show to highlight their creative owned genre divisions. Boutique Bait had some awesome Street Fighter shirts along with Bruce Lee and Voltron socks! They were right next to Nerdist who had quite the display set up for interviews and podcasts while La-La Records has a show exclusive Masters of the Universe soundtrack featuring 2 CD's of music from the beloved Filmation cartoon. I'm on the fence about picking it up but the bastards also had scores to The Flash from 1990, The Warriors and The Phantom on sale! Arrrgh, choices. I ended up with The Phantom and will contemplate the other titles over the weekend, don't wanna blow my wad on the first night, amirite? Ran into La-La representative and #MovieBro Mike Joffe whom I met through my #ActionBro David J. Moore at Conan the Destroyer as we chatted about all the awesome soundtracks La-La puts out.

It was time to eat but nobody told this guy a frigging Mighty Ducks AND Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim Game were going on so getting over to Orange staple The Lazy Dog Cafe seemingly took forever. Luckily their Whiskey Ginger (Jameson & Ginger Beer) along with lots of mac n' cheese, edamame and a burger solved all our problems. Our Lyft driver back was a cool guy, a vegan chef inbetween gigs who loved sci-fi movies too boot. We talked Aliens, Blade Runner, DC versus Marvel, Masters of the Universe and how Dolph Lundgren was a perfect He-Man. Tomorrow will probably be crazy but I'm stoked to walk the rest of the floor as well as check out some panels on writing, pulp heroes, Warner Brothers' presentation and Capcom! See you at the show!

Con-Man: Long Beach Comic Expo

After a night of birthday celebrating it was down to Long Beach for the Comic Expo on Saturday. This is usually the smaller of the two LB shows but this year expanded so much that they had to move it to another section of the convention center. There was some science technology summit or other happening where LBCC usually is so we were around the back by the Performing Arts Center and Aquarium. Replica cars from Knight Rider, Jurassic Park, The Blues Brothers and Back to the Future welcomed you, it was a breeze to grab tickets and head inside. Right away we saw one Lance Henriksen at the non-RAW, RAW booth with The Lone Gunmen actor Dean Haglund along with a local artist. I immediately searched the floor for NECA's new Bishop figure and took it over to Mr. Henriksen to sign. Having already bought his book last year, The Lance was still just too Damme cool and gracious, chit chatting about Alien 5 (He hasn't heard anything) and how he actually hadn't seen the new figure yet. Again, just a great guy and here's hoping I put together an event he can attend. Why was it the non-RAW, RAW booth? Well convention specialist Mike was on hand, the RAW Studios banner was up, but neither Messrs Thomas Jane or Tim Bradstreet were attending. The Jane is still shooting new show The Expanse up in Canada while Bradstreet was also out of town. Here's hoping the duo return to Long Beach soon as their previous years have been outstanding with screenings and panels.

From there we walked the floor which was nice and padded with carpet checking out comics, toys, arts and crafts, Big Trouble in Little China ReAction figures and Funko's were around. I recognized some vendors from previous shows, guess we're becoming regulars huh? The floor boasted over 165 exhibitors and artists but strangely didn't feel much bigger than previous shows. Star Wars Laser Tag was set up in the back, there was a signing area where Futurama's Phil LaMarr and martial arts heroine Cynthia Rothrock were set up near a new addition, video games projected on a big screen. Street Fighter and Super Mario Brothers action ensued. Writing legend and X-Men mainstay Chris Claremont showed up and had a line at his table the entire day.

11:00 AM marked our first and only panel of the day, G.I. Joe Cartoon Voices! Hosted by combat fatigue clad Flint aka Bill Ratner, the panel included Keone Young (Storm Shadow), Hal Rayle (Deep-Six), Mary McDonald-Lewis (Lady Jaye), Jerry Houser (Sci-Fi) and Neil Ross (Shipwreck). There was a great camaraderie between the actors and they started things off with a reading of a funny G.I. Joe skit where Cobra ninja assassin Storm Shadow is actually trying to help the Joes. The panel included much talk of working for Wally Burr who would push his actors to provide a realistic, non-obvious cartoony performance in sessions that went 7-8 hours versus the typical 4. Basically if you didn't leave blood on the music stand, you weren't doing it right. Burr also strove for authenticity and instead of having an actor play ethnic, he'd just go out and get a person from the community aka Asian or black characters being played by Asian and black actors. Many a tale spoke of Megatron voice actor Frank Welker who would help the young guys while also being able to give you the sounds of a rocking chair or a male or female dolphin! Lewis was proud that her character wasn't fetish-ized and her action figure was the first female toy to have short hair. Lewis was great, very cool, very smart and just a ball of fire. She made sure everyone was involved during the panel and offered some terrific insight into being a positive force in the world. This was Houser's first time at a convention and he was really funny with a voice you swear you recognize but don't know why. Rayle went into Deep-Six and I immediately thought he was doing Charles Bronson, which he was! Rayle based the voice on Bronson as Tunnel King Danny in The Great Escape.

There was some enlightening stuff like the script girl encouraging the cast to buy Hasbro stock as the toy giant knew FCC regulations were changing so the cartoons could have commercials for their products during the run-time essentially make it a 30 minute advertisement. Ratner said if he would have invested $1,000 dollars in 1985, it would have been worth $28,000 just a few years later. Jokes about their figures selling poorly leading to being featured less on the show were common place during sessions of 10-12 voice actors. Houser said Sci-Fi was really good at sitting still in silence...I asked when the panel realized they had jumped generations and started going to cons with Lewis and Ratner saying they'd only known about the show's impact in the last ten years. Frank Welker couldn't make it but doesn't believe people still love the shows 30 years later. Rayle has only been going for a few years and is headed to Australia for a show soon. A few passionate fans spoke of their love for the show and Lewis shared that the percentage of first responders and EMT's in the Joe community is extremely high when compared to the rest of the population. She and Ratner also attended the official G.I. JoeCon where they watched the new live action movies and Lewis mentioned that there wouldn't be cons for those in 30 years. Young was asked about working for supposed tough guy writer-director Kurt Sutter on Sons of Anarchy to which he responded he'd worked with guys like Billy Wilder so Sutter was nothing and that was the point of being a professional. I ran into Young in the hallway after and asked him about Surf Ninjas, he said it was a lot of fun and they shot it in beautiful Thailand. On and on it went, just a really great time, lots of laughs, stories and heart. If that weren't enough, Neil Ross gave next week's Sunbow Celebration a shout out, Yo, Joe!

It was off to get our Dublin Donkey's on across the street at The Auld Dubliner and next door to collectible store Geeky Mamas where they have an awesome selection of toys old and new, accessories and clothes. I totally meant to get a Transformers or Joe shirt for next week but didn't see any good ones...Back at the show we walked the floor some more, checking out artist alley and digging through random boxes. That Hashtag Show is coming to Sunbow Celebration and I introduced myself, cool guys who like Long Beach the same as I do for it's chill vibe, guest approachability and nice surrounding area. Grabbed a few Captain America Annuals and Sgt. Rock issues from a 3 for 1 booth as well as a collection of time traveling mutant soldier badass Cable for a solid $5! Created in "1990, the dawn of the most action-packed decade in comic-book history" by Louise Simonson and wunder-kid Rob Liefeld. "Body-Slide by one". I would have liked to stuck around to see Claremont's panel, it had been a full and fun day so we headed home. Just when I thought Long Beach Con wasn't evolving, they shut my face by putting on a terrific show. Here's hoping to an even bigger one in the fall. Bring on Emerald City!