Joe Con 2017 Wrap-up

It’s again been a while since I’ve written anything here so what better to get the creative juices flowing again than a mini-wrap up of Joe Con! I was fortunate enough to be able to attend this year with the con in Dallas in ’14 being the last time out for me. It was so great to be back (and not be deathly sick). The 2 main factors that motivated me to attend this year were A) The fact that it was in Disney… I mean, who doesn’t want an excuse to go to Disney, and more importantly, B) the announcement of the BattleForce 2000 figure set. As anyone who has read this blog will know, BF2000 is one of my more treasured sub sets from the GI Joe landscape (pop back and read my ‘No Love for BattleForce 2000’ post for a refresher). I’m not typically a huge fan of the figures the club does, not for any particular reason, but in general, modern stuff just doesn’t lite my fire. These, however were a completely different animal and look amazing. Since my love for vintage is so great, naturally I flock to the modern that closely models the originals, and these do not disappoint. They are well done, from start to finish and I’m proud to add them to my collection. I also liked the reboot of some of the vehicles (in spirit if nothing else) and I do think they compliment the figures well.

The vendor turn out was pretty good I thought. A decent selection of things available, but when you get down to the end of the collection that I’m on, you end up with more disappointment than anything when shopping around. My main purchases were mostly parts and pieces, a few figures (AVAC and Sgt. Slaughter v3 bubble sealed) but I was able to find my own personal holy grail, the rear fan deck rail of the USS Flagg. It was a casual comment to one of the vendors that sent me across the way to another booth. After a few minutes of digging… there it was. I quickly did all of my authentication checks on it and as far as I could tell, it was the real deal. I casually asked how much without giving away how bad my knees were starting to shake, and when I heard the price that I thought was more than reasonable, I causally pulled the trigger. It wasn’t until the cash was in hand and I realized that I now owned this small piece of plastic that the wave of goosebumps swept completely over me. Even my girlfriend Brittany who was with me saw the cascade of emotion as the deal took place. That was definitely a highlight for me of the entire Con.

The other, more important part of getting back to Joe Con again was getting to see all of my Joe Bros and sis’s again. I always felt like I missed out back in ’14 because I was so sick, so this was a great opportunity to try again, and make up for lost time. Seeing all of my friends again like Page, Greg, Joe Colten and Carson was great, meeting ‘old’ friends like Marc, Zach, and Tom for the first time, and making new friends like Paul P was awesome too! Even my line mates on package pickup night, whom I only know as Gen. Hawk and his brother, lol, and the free line beers from the cowboy! As I’ve said before, that’s the real experience of the Con. Not the things you can buy, or the announcements you hear from vendors, it’s the people you meet and the memories you make. Not even plastic is forever, but time can never age the experiences.

While I didn’t make any huge figure or vehicle purchases (apart from my fan deck rail…!) I wasn’t sad about it. I enjoyed my time with good friends, celebrating our passions and having some fun. I look forward to the next time and more memories with Joe.

Pop on over to my Twitter page and check out all the Joe Con coverage! Thanks for reading and Yo Joe!

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