"That's one good looking action figure!" JOElanta report

WOW! That about sums up my experience from this year's JOElanta. More Dealers, more Commanders, more Attendees and more Toys than ever. It was truly a great time. The energy was building as we got closer to the show and pretty much exploded during it!

The festivities kicked off after Commanders patiently waited until 6pm and then after all our sponsors were thanked for their support, JOElanta founder (and Trivia MC ) Buddy Finethy was given an award for his labor of love which has become this great gathering, 12 teams competed in the Who Knows JOE Trivia. After lulling a number of teams into a false sense of security with some easy questions a few zingers made everyone reconsider how easy this was going to be. Do any of you know what the inspiration for Barbie was (And for the record it was NOT Big Jim : )) or the name of the Hippity Hopp originally invented in the UK? At the mid point all the Commanders got to open their Convention Exclusive Uniform and Figure Set with 2 lucky individuals scoring a vintage painted head or a vintage AT fuzzhead! Once the dust settled 3 lucky teams won a variety of Gift Certificates and figures from MARX TOYS www.circlexranch.com

Next the group made their way to the dealers preview room and JOElanta Film Festival. But not before hearing a presentation from Collector DASH www.collector-actionfigures.com about the latest applications to their state of the art website as a resource for collectors (you've really gotta check it out - and it's FREE too!). The Film Festival included past winners such as "Plastic Chef" and "Lara Croft" as well as 19 episodes of Govt. Issue Joesph and the debut of #20 - HILARIOUS! www.youtube.com/GovtIssueJoseph or www.governmentissuejoseph.com and finally one new entry! While the film festival was going on all attendees were able to peruse the Dealer preview tables to begin their buying frenzy. And boy did it continue into a full blown 100 person plus "Lobby Swap" hosted by Mr. EJ White. It was like a mini show! Next came the parachute drop that ended up lasting into the wee hours of the night (12:30 am).

The next day was amazing. Just think 120 tables jam packed with all types of toys, comics, movie posters. And centered in the room was a massive medieval castle sporting stained glass windows and everything! Think "Where Eagles Dare" - Mike Gardner and Steve Bugg really outdid themselves this year! Great door prizes, Custom figures and vehicles with prizes donated by SIDESHOW Collectibles www.sideshowtoy.com , a rather voluptuous Baroness monitoring the floor, a collection of MIB and carded Military era and AT GI Joes on display, other costumed guests and the list goes on and on. Again a truly great time.

On a personal note I would like to say thank you to everyone, both here locally and around the country, who helped make this 10th anniversary show such a huge success. It is truly wonderful to see something like this become a reality because of so many people's hard work. It was also great to see many old friends again and to meet many new ones.

Thank you to our sponsors, thank you to Gregg Sherb for the great exclusive uniform, thank you to all our great dealers, thank you to all the Commanders and their families, thank you to all the 100's of visitors who supported the show. And to those who missed it we sure hope to see you all next year on March 19th & 20th at the same location.

Now about the title to this entry, that devilishly handsome fellow is supposed to be me! Ha Ha! Thanks to Don Coffee and his "Flocking Machine" that he had set up at the show (more to come on that in a future post). The shelf is beginning to get a bit full with JOElanta exclusives - guess I'll have to continue it down to the next shelf for next year's exclusive. Finally the buckboard wagon was just one of many items I was fortunate enough to score during the show.

Stay tuned much more to come. Visit www.joelanta.com for show pictures and next year's show info - coming soon.