Wizard World Sacramento 2014 and Happy Birthday Natalie!

Today is my oldest daughter's birthday (Happy Birthday Natalie!) and to celebrate, we all ran up to Sacramento last weekend for the first annual Sacramento Wizard World Comic Con!

Here's Natalie meeting Posion Ivy.

And here I and my intern meet our favorite superhero Batman. Or as my intern calls him 'Super-Batman.'

I am somehow both taller than Batman and shorter than Dark Helmet! Am I back at the Santa Cruz Mystery Spot?

Darth Vader told my intern that the force is strong with her. I was somehow able to control myself and did not call him 'Annie.' The force must be strong with me too.

Norman Reedus aka Daryl from the Walking Dead was buried in hugs and bras. My Mrs. wanted to see him, but was wise enough not to spend the $45 or so bucks it cost for a signature, so we just held up the camera when we walked past and I got this shot. If I photoshop my wife into the shot I shall become obsolete.

Here's Natalie and a great looking Rule 63 classic Joker! She had the smile down perfect! Probably the best looking Joker we saw, Rule 63 or otherwise.

Me, the intern, and a nbunch of Mandalorians (I think.) The guy on the left might be some sort of RC Trooper or something. My Star Wars knowledge doesn't venture far from the films. Regardless, these folks all looked great and it was hilarious to hear one of them say  to another 'Hey, check it out, Black Cat incoming' in his helmeted speaker voice when a Black Cat cosplayer walked by.

We only attended one panel: Michael Rosenbaum. Natalie and I love Smallville and the Justice League, so listening to Lex/The Flash was a no-brainer. Michael Rosenbaum is hilarious and very friendly with his fans. He jumped right off the stage and spent the whole talk interacting with folks in the audience. What a great guy!

We didn't really meet Sheldon, just a cardboard cut-out. Come to think of it...what's the difference? HAR HAR HAR!

Another great group of Star Wars cosplayers. It's amazing how accurate these folks get with their costumes!

Natalie and a Stormtrooper. I was really happy with how Natalie just jumped right in to get her pics with these great people. Nothing like seeing your daughter with her arm around a Stormtrooper to warm a geek-daddy's heart!

Last but certainly not least - Velma!

We had such a great time at the convention. We only attended on Saturday, but it was small enough to see on just one day trip. Plus, chasing a toddler around a comic convention gets pretty tiring! Natalie picked up a couple art prints by some great artists in attendance, and I didn't run off with any Harley Quinn cosplayers.

But there's always next year!

Mystery (Inc.) Micro Figures :: Daphne

Having picked up Velma a couple weeks ago, I decided it only prudent to pick up the only other Mystery Inc. member in the Character Building Scooby Doo Micro-Figures blind bagged Series 1.

They kind of look silly together, what with their mismatched head proportions. Velma is clearly the brains of the operation!

But at least now Daphne and Velma can solve mysteries without the 'help' of Scooby, Shaggy and Fred. Expect a lot more mysteries to be solved!

I imagine that if this series makes it past Wave 1 in the U.S. we will finally see Scooby, Shaggy and Fred in the mystery packs. At least I hope so, I don't plan on picking up any of the larger, more expensive sets, unless they go on clearance or something.

Come on get involved until the Mystery Micro-Figures is solved!

Character Building have now released their Scooby Doo Micro-Figures in the US!

Sadly, the only way to get Scooby or Fred or Shaggy thus far is to buy the larger building sets (like a Mystery Machine and a haunted castle.)

Conversely the only way to get Daphne and Velma is in the blind bagged Mystery Micro-Figures Series 1 set.

It is my experience with 'Character Building' is that there is no code or other packaging hint as to what you are getting inside. These things are true mysteries!

Fortunately my 'squeeze method' skills are finely toned, and I was able to find my favorite gal, Velma!

What can I say, I dig a chick in glasses!

Velma translates pretty well into mini figure form. I gave her the magnifying glass that came with the Lego Sherlock Holmes and it really finishes her off nicely.

One mystery has already been solved with this minifigure...she's not wearing anything under that skirt! Sorry, no pictures, even I have standards.

I picked up two figures when I found these at Toys R Us for $1.99 each (Cheap!) The other figure I got is The Wolfman!

The Wolfman is pretty cool for a werewolf (which are always cool!) so I am glad I got him. Unfortunately I was squeezing for the Ghost Clown! My squeeze method skills aren't as finely honed as I thought they were after all.

Now let's solve the final mystery and remove that mask to see who The Wolfman really is...

VELMA?!?!?!?!

Zero, my Hero

As I mentioned Saturday, the whole reason I bought the clearance priced SLUG Zombie Series 3 12 pack was for Double-Barrel Carol. But I have to admit, I would have bought her in her original three pack long ago had she been packaged with just one other zombie that I wanted bad enough to pay full price for. (I just couldn't see myself spending full price for one of three figures I wanted.) I don't recall who she did come with, but I know it wasn't Zero Hero, because he is the undead zombie I wanted most of all!

What can I say? 'Zero Hero' is a zombie Superman, or maybe a Bizarro. Either way, he fits right in with my superhero fetish. Now if they would only make a SLUG zombie version of Batman, my little green zombie apocalyptic world will be complete.

Great sculpt, great details, great superhero zombie...Great Cesar's Ghost!

I'm glad I was able to get two personally sought after characters in one clearance priced set, since I really don't collect these...yet. And it's especially nice to have a hero and villain figurine to compliment each other on my desk at work. All the other zombie figures (and the one other 'normal' this 12 pack came with) make good fodder for the ultimate showdown of Velma and Superman...I mean Carol and Zero!

Which would make another great movie. I've got a million of 'em!

SLUG Zombies Velma Dinkley...I mean 'Double-Barrel Carol.'

I haven't been collecting Jakks Pacific's SLUG Zombie minifigures, but I have to admit that they are pretty neat looking. What appeals to me the most as a non/casual collector who generally just looks at them on the toy store shelves are the 'inspired by' figures. They've done everyone from Superman (or should I say 'Bizarro?') to Elvis to Abraham Lincoln to Moe Howard; and the 'normals' or 'Zombie Hunters' are often based on pop culture zombie hunters like Sheriff Rick and Shaun of the Dead, or simply mere pop culture icons like Chuck Norris and Crocodile Dundee (neither of whom fought zombies to my knowledge.)

While perusing the sets at stores and on various blogs, one figure caught my eye in particular: Double-Barrel Carol. She's just awesomely geeky cute, but I had no idea who she was 'supposed' to be so I passed, but always looked over the sets that contained her whenever I was in stores.

Target currently has all their SLUG Zombies sets on clearance, and I was lucky enough to find the Series 3 12 figure set that Carol is part of for $4.98 and could pass no longer, especially since I only recently discovered over at That Figures who Double-Barrel Carol's inspiration is:

Velma Dinkley! This piece of Scooby Doo fan art by Travis Pitts has made the internet rounds for a while now. Double-Barrel Carol is so close to this Velma (while being nothing like any other zombie hunter of pop culture fame) that she simply must have been inspired by this piece. Which makes her even more awesome than without a reference source, if that's at all possible!

While not an exact duplicate, the translation is close enough for me to imagine Velma fighting off the rest of my 12 pack Zombie horde, and that's worth every penny of the $4.98 I spent for these guys. Not to mention the fact that I just wrote the synopsis to what would be the greatest film of all time. Make it happen, Hollywood!

"Jinkies!"

Now to find an in scale Scooby Doo figurine!