Comic-Con 2012: Nerd cred on the (relatively) cheap
So you’re going to Comic-Con this week and you want to bring home something really cool to impress your fellow geeks but don’t think that the free swag key chains and posters are going to cut it?
Here are a few suggestions that will up your nerd cred and still allow you to have a little money left over for the hefty checked bag fees you’ll be stuck with when you try to carry all that swag home.
Acme Archives Limited SDCC Exclusive Lightsaber Poster Tube
Just $25 a tube, and if you purchase one from the Acme booth (#5629), you have a chance of receiving a free print inside! They will be randomly stuffing tubes with lithographs old and new, so not only will you get a cool tube for all your swag, but you may end up with a little something extra besides one really cool way to tote your free swag posters home.
2.5″ Good Luck Troll in Black-Light Green
Show some retro love and pick up one of the Good Luck Black-Light Trolls available from Dark Horse (booth #2615). Troll dolls were a big fad in the 1960s but have been off the market for nearly a decade. This San Diego Comic-Con exclusive green version edition is limited to 1500 pieces, so you can be sure you’ll be taking home a little piece of the green and unique. Dark Horse plans to reintroduce trolls via a blind-box toy program in the coming months. Keep in mind that these little fellas can go for crazy prices on eBay after the con.
Doctor Who TARDIS Tin Tote Gift Set
A big con favorite is anything Who, so the limited edition Doctor Who TARDIS Tin Tote Gift Set available from Entertainment Earth, with four DW logo coasters, a Tardis-designed travel mug and an exclusive tin tote that looks just like a TARDIS, all for a mere $24.99 is practically a steal. (But you’ll have to get in line behind me if you want one!)
Check out the nifty “Dark Knight Rises” Minicells available from Film Cells Ltd. (#418). Double-matted and framed with a cool image of Batman, these include an actual piece of film from the movie and a foil embossed certificate of authenticity, for just $20, you can’t beat that.
Oh noes! What if you’re too late to pick up your favorite collectible? Or you max out your budget on those giant pretzels at lunch by day two? Then head on over to the Lego booth (#2829) and hand your camera to some total stranger for a snap of you with the life-size Lego models of Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins and Sir Ian McKellan as Gandalf from the upcoming movie “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.”
The 6-foot Bilbo weighs more than 100 pounds, took 320 hours to build and is made up of 21,112 Lego bricks, while Lego builders completed the 170-pound Gandalf, who stands more than 6 feet tall, in 405 hours and using 34,307 bricks. LEGO Systems will also host a raffle to award one lucky winner a custom 5-inch model of Bilbo made out of LEGO bricks.
