The Joe con was in town this weekend and I saw it as an excellent opportunity to see how Master Collector operates.

The con was held at the downtown Minneapolis Marriott this Thursday through Sunday. My friend and I attended Sunday morning as I work weekends and it was the only time I could go.

We arrived at the hotel at 9:30, right when the dealer room opened. Admission included the most recent GIJCC newsletter. For those of you who attended Botcon 1999 in St. Paul, the dealer room was about one-third the size and about one-half of the dealer tables. Quite a smaller con than I was expecting.

Dealer-wise, about 40% specialized in the 12" figures, and 60% had predominately 3-3/4" Joes. One corner of the room displayed the diorama and custom figure contests, some talented stuff there! There had been an art contest as well.

My friend Chris was very impressed. He's the bigger Joe fan between us, and the U.S.S. Flagg and several Terrordomes really wowed him. He picked up a Sky Striker and one of Wild Bill's choppers, and plenty of extra missiles from a parts dealer.

We each got a free poster from the Devil's Due table, in exchange for signing up for their mailing list. A pretty blond booth girl helped us with our posters. Chris got a Cobra group poster and I got the Cobra Commander/Megatron cover from Transformers/GI Joe #1. Some of the artists were there to sign, even at this early hour.

Master Collector seemed very organized and knowlegeable. They had stock on hand from their TF collectors web site, as well as a couple of Skyfalls on display. I saw Cobra Rattlers all over in the dealer room and yes, I see the resemblance now!

There were a couple of dealers there, one with very agreeable prices on G1. I got four complete C9 figures: Ratchet with tech spec, Overdrive, Hubcap and Windsweeper.

Let me know if anybody has any questions. I really wish I could take the time to go to our con this fall. But in 2006, wherever it is, I'll be all over it!

 

*bump*

I know several people who were hoping the Joe Con would provide some clues about how Botcon 2005 might play out, and I want to make sure people know there's a review, even though it's just based on a general admission snapshot.