[wedge1968]

Quote:

Originally Posted by B and H Comics

Seconded ! Picked me up a copy of
The MTF hardback! Can not wait to read this and add it to the hardback collection !

Thank you for picking it up. There were only 30 hardcovers produced, so you were one of the lucky ones to get it. I hope you enjoy it.

I wasn't able to sneak away to see the customs, but my wife won the photo contests. A few years ago, she got a bunch of pics of herself dressed up as the Baroness in the arms of Sgt. Slaughter, who was at C2E2. She did a pic of my Sideshow Baroness lying in bed, holding that pic and looking dreamily into space while a ripped up pic of Destro lies in the floor. It won, and when she walked up to the Sarge to tell him, he autographed it for her.

[ozzie92]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wedge1968

Thank you for picking it up. There were only 30 hardcovers produced, so you were one of the lucky ones to get it. I hope you enjoy it.

I wasn't able to sneak away to see the customs, but my wife won the photo contests. A few years ago, she got a bunch of pics of herself dressed up as the Baroness in the arms of Sgt. Slaughter, who was at C2E2. She did a pic of my Sideshow Baroness lying in bed, holding that pic and looking dreamily into space while a ripped up pic of Destro lies in the floor. It won, and when she walked up to the Sarge to tell him, he autographed it for her.

Very cool—congrats to your wife!

[Davestro]

I attended Joefest for the first time this past Friday and Saturday. Here is my perception after attending the last 7 Joe Cons. I took tons of pics I posted on social media in some of the Joe groups I'm with.

-this is a much closer experience as you have greater access to the creators, artists, historians and just people who love G.I. Joe
-you will appreciate not having to stand in line for 4+ hours
-you will miss the Joe Con exclusives, but your wallet will not meaning more money spent on the vendor floor
-there are tons of customs, and the people who make or create product around them
-this is much smaller venue, and it is sometimes hard to walk around through narrow aisles and rooms (cosplayers take notice)
-the photography/art and figure custom contest could definitely grow as not many entered this year
-there are sessions! This is another area they need work (like having projectors and appropriate dongles)
-there is a custom class just like JoeCon and the Red Shadows theme continues

Overall, I enjoyed the experience and catching up with friends. It's a spiritual successor to Joe Con, with great potential for the future. I didn't attend the early days of Joe Con, but I bet it was much like this con. We the fans basically make or break these cons, so this one will be one to attend in the future.

[Voice of Reason]

I agree with everything above. Friday was HOT in there. I was rolling in sweat, had to go to the room that had avacs lab in it to cool off. the A/C was on point in there and hardly ever had people in it.

the isle's were tiiiight but Ed knew there were some issue's. I spoke with him Thursday night at the venue and he mentioned a few things he wasn't happy with but that's not for me to say. I do know he is looking for a bigger space for next year to help with this. the con was in 5 different rooms and a hallway. having it in one big space would be nice. the hallway was always packed and hard to navigate coming and going. having the Sgt right at the bottle neck of the hallway was an insane decision.

BUT I heard very few complaints, just minor gripes the whole weekend. I went to the last joecon and this was my first joefest. very similar but vastly different. the not waiting in several lines for several hours was a HUGE plus! no official exclusive was a bummer but understandable. if anyone has the means to go I say try it. its just as fun as joecon with a lot less expense and hassles.

I really didn't find a lot of my wants/needs. actually had pretty much everything that was at the show. only thing I picked up for the collections was a mint straight arm zap with double handle bazooka. everything else was for customs or funzies or picking up things for other people that couldn't make it.

[truejoefan]

Thank you for the kind words Wedge! I hope you guys killed it on book sales!!

My honest assessment of Joefest. I have attended just about every other JoeCon since 09 and I wasn't sure of what I would be doing once Funpub closed up shop. After discussing it with a some friends we decided that we would hit up a handful of shows until we found one that we really liked. With Joefest being the 1st that I attended I wasn't really expecting too much. I was pleasantly surprised with the turn out. It seemed like a lot of the faces and vendors you could expect from Joecon were there as well. The crowd on Friday night was much more bearable than that of Saturday. Which was packed and with it being a small showroom it got a bit claustrophobic pretty quick.

The vendor floor was filled with vintage and modern Joe's alike and for the most part I think just about all the pricing was what you could expect from a show like this with most of the dealers that I came across willing to work with you a bit.

I wish I could have made it down for the dinner event which I heard was a blast. The venue could have been a bit better as they had multiple rooms set up that were easily missed in fact I didn't discover one of them until late on Saturday. I talked to a vendor who was upset about his location in a separate room off in the back that wasn't getting a lot of foot traffic.

The customs from the contest were kind of placed in a weird location running down the center of "artist alley" and I think they could have been easily over looked.

Not sure if the Joe Con comparisons are entirely fair. This was obviously a much smaller event and while there wasn't a 2hr line, I did have to wait in line to get my bracelet which was about a 30 to 45 minutes long on Friday night. Personally I don't mind as this is about the best time to shoot the shit with fellow attendees which is exactly how I felt about the JoeCon lines only there were exclusives at the end of those. It was a nice break not to be $1500 in the hole before the event even started but I also only left with one Modern Era figure. Overall it was a great couple days and I will probably go back next year.

[Voice of Reason]

how does this compare to njcc? I am in the same boat that I want to try more shows till I find "mine".

definitely hitting joefest again next year. had a blast there this year. done two coilcons now. probably not going back to that. I had to really struggle to find something I wanted to buy there both times.

njcc is next on my list, its right around the corner to. looking for opinions about it. its 5 hours away and the show being on a sunday means I get home late with work the next day.

[gen1fan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Voice of Reason

how does this compare to njcc? I am in the same boat that I want to try more shows till I find "mine".

definitely hitting joefest again next year. had a blast there this year. done two coilcons now. probably not going back to that. I had to really struggle to find something I wanted to buy there both times.

njcc is next on my list, its right around the corner to. looking for opinions about it. its 5 hours away and the show being on a sunday means I get home late with work the next day.

Big different between the 2 shows. In my opinion NJCC as turned into a general Toy Show sometimes you'll go there and you'll see a large amount of a toy line, and the next time you might only see one or two vendors with that toy line. I used to be a vendor at NJCC, but I just can't see continue be a vendor at that show anymore. I live down in Virginia Beach and it takes anywhere from 5 to 6 hours for us to make the trip depending on traffic. Nothing against Fran and his crew. The show was awesome when he started back in 2008 or 2009. The problem is now there at else 1 or 2 toy show every weekend within 200 miles of Philadelphia if not more a each weekend. I remember 1 show there was 4 other toy shows all with an hour of NJCC. Now when the show got started all those years back it was a g.i.joe vs Transformers themed show and your table had to be something like 70% of those 2 toy line and the rest could be anything. But over the years that rule went away. Dealers could see any toy line now. I remember doing a spring show just a few years back and their was a vendor making an asshat out of himself. Yelling at customer saying "if this toy is not bought in the next 15 mintues I'm going to destroy". It was funny the 1st few times but after a wow it was just annoying.

[YT74]

Heads up to everyone attending JoeFest and staying at the Marriott apparently the suite tower is closed and if you booked a suite, your suite has been switched to a double with no notice. Same rates, less of a room.

[GIJoeComics08]

Quote:

Originally Posted by YT74

Heads up to everyone attending JoeFest and staying at the Marriott apparently the suite tower is closed and if you booked a suite, your suite has been switched to a double with no notice. Same rates, less of a room.

That’s pretty shitty