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My second Comic-Con preview night in two years got off to what seemed a slow start. Joining the pre-registered queue two hours before the advertised time of 4pm, our party joined a much shorter queue than it had done at the same time last year. However things soon got busier and Colleen Doran (Image Comics) wasn't the only one to observe 'This is VERY busy for a preview night - the busiest Wednesday night at Comic-Con I've ever known', which augers well for high attendance in the days to follow.
In truth, much of what was on display in the main exhibition hall was similar to that which had been shown last year. Sideshow Weta had the same large cave troll display, albeit with many of the new sculptures due out over the next few months added for early viewing. The life-size Lurtz and Black Rider sculptures were also back again, and used throughout most of the evening for photographic opportunities, although there was no sign (yet?) of the life-size Gollum sculpture mentioned in the most recent Sideshow Weta email (tomorrow maybe?). Last year the limited edition (1000 prints) framed Alan Lee print with illuminated film cell had fans checking credit card balances to see if the nigh-on $600 asking price could be achieved. This year the 'most desirable item' for Lord of the Rings fans at the convention was even more exclusive - limited to just 36 numbered copies - an amazing bronze statue of Gandalf had an asking price that goes up as the individually numbered pieces are claimed: with numbers 1-9 starting at $5,000 and prices rising to $6,500 for pieces numbered 28-36! I thought this a clever piece of marketing that seemed to be having the desired effect - half an hour after the doors opened numbers 1 and 2 had already been sold! For fans who could only gasp at such high prices there was some consolation - a glossy new Sideshow Collectibles catalogue featuring existing Sideshow Weta products with pictures of forthcoming products too. Expect this stand to be one of the busiest over the next few days as Richard Taylor and some of his Weta staff take up residence on the stand tomorrow and again demonstrate their ability to turn an ordinary human being into something quite hideous live on stage as part of the New Line presentation on Saturday.
		For 'Lord of the Rings' fans the most popular stand at Preview Night was clearly that of TheOneRing.net which served as a meeting place for friends old and new, with many fun items on sale and some free badges available for visitors too ('TheOneRing.net is hobbit forming'). The main feature of the stand was a Rohan marquee with staff on hand to answer any fan questions and sell and autograph copies of the recent book 'The People's Guide to J.R.R. Tolkien'. Perhaps the most popular activity was being shut in the 'Confessional' box where fans were invited to record their comments for the forthcoming movie on Tolkien and recount personal stories of the influence the books and movies have had on their lives. For the many fans looking for 'stuff to buy' three t-shirts were available at a special Preview Night price of $15 with a large theonering.net logo on the front and slogans like 'Don't make me get my ring' or 'I WAS... chased from my house, stabbed by a wraith, assaulted by a mutant octopus, speared by a troll, stalked by a creepy little man, drawn into a corpse-filled swamp, poisoned by a giant spider, rendered unconscious, I even lost my Ring AND ALL I GOT WAS THIS LOUSY T-SHIRT' printed on the back. Needless to say these were selling like the proverbial hot cakes. It was disappointing to see the huge contrast between the tremendous support and enthusiasm emanating from the small TheOneRing.net stand vs that from the much larger stand being run by Decipher. Hopefully the Decipher gaming tables, all bar one empty on preview night, will fill up with fans eager to learn about the trading card game over the next few days but the large stand the company had seemed almost lifeless and empty compared with the Sideshow Toy/TheOneRing.Net stand. It is of course impossible for a commercial business to 'compete' with an enthusiastic volunteer organisation that has access to the sort of resources TheOneRing.net have access to. Nevertheless one couldn't help but be disappointed at the empty 'Events' listing section of the Decipher stand, the inability of the company to even get the basics right (such as making sure they have an entry in the official programme index) and the general hostility towards the company from the fan club members who should, by all rights, be its biggest supporters. The most oft-overheard phrase of the night seemed to be 'all they're interested in is the card game' and, as is becoming usual at these sorts of events, the complaints about lack of delivery of paid-for magazines, horror stories regarding any kind of interest from customer support etc were the rule rather than the exception. The company has had more than a year now to get its act together on the fan club member satisfaction front and, based on tonight's evidence, isn't doing so. On a happier note, I heard many favourable fan reports of the staff on the New Line stand. Last year the stand had quickly been nicknamed 'Orc Line' because of rude, disinterested staff. That's all changed this year with many reports of 'friendly staff' reaching my ears. With planned giveaways and quizzes over the next few days, this is one stand that should be on every visitor's 'must see' list over the next few days. The company had much better visual display units this year and an impressively tall Tower of Orthanc signals the entrance to their stand. Houghton-Mifflin also seemed to have learnt from last year's disappointments in that their stand was actually manned this year, and there seemed to be more information on forthcoming titles available too. Games Workshop (not EA Games, as I indicated in an earlier version of this report - doh!) were doing their usual sterling job of keeping the kids entertained and enthusiastically reeling in curious passers-by to watch/take part in their strategy games. New to this year's convention were The Noble Collection. This company have a reputation for producing quality fan merchandise but too many items carry the 'not available for order outside the USA' for us international fans. They had some very impressive swords on display but I have to say that items like the 'holographic' One Ring display, which looks wonderful in the company's catalogue, looked decidedly tacky to me when viewed 'in the flesh'. A pewter chess set was admired by many who wished they could afford the $500 asking price. Personally I thought the beautifully detailed pieces looked more like grey plastic than the solid pewter they revealed themselves to be close up, but it looked like a few sets were going to be sold on preview night.
On a personal note, the highlight for me was meeting old friends. Calisuri, MrCere, Asfaloth, Tookish, Quickbeam, Garfeimao, Arwen2 and others too profuse in number to name were all on hand with huge grins and hugs for fans who've got to know each other through the internet boards and events like the oscar party. The preview night was followed by a Pub Moot which attracted many fans (I'm afraid I didn't go as I had another engagement elsewhere) and was seemingly a chance to plan the next few days and discuss the various rumours about who the 'surprise guests' might be. Surprise guests aside, there's an exciting agenda lined up with New Line's presentation (on Saturday) featuring Sean Astin and Andy Serkis with all kinds of interesting panels and guests from various Hollywood movies and TV Science Fiction shows also to look forward to. I'll be posting more reports over the next few days as panels get underway, as time permits. In the meantime don't forget that TheOneRing.Net have a live webcam and continuously updating news from the event. Click here for Day 1 report (17th July)
Don't forget you can check out reports of lots of other Lord of the Rings -themed events in the Web Logs section

Email: ian@iansmith.co.uk