Salt Lake Comic Con 2014: Day 2 Highlights

Comic Con was a crazy fun experience and we saw all sorts of big stars, crazy cosplays, and expensive collectables; but my favorite part of day 2 was the freeing of my inner creative spirit.

We are all of us born creative in some way, then school and society beat it out of us until very few of us believe we are artists anymore. I have tried to hang onto this desire to create, though I still think my drawings kinda suck, I still enjoy drawing a great deal.

I picked up a nice pen for fairly cheap, plus this free art journal from the Salt Lake County Library booth. There's nothing I love more than creating masterpieces with my greatest accomplishment, my wonderful, intelligent daughter Ava.

I may never be a great artist, but I am a father and Ava is the most beautiful thing I have ever created. That Cthulu is pretty awesome too I guess.

Frugal Friday: The Extreme Fighting Playset

It was bound to happen, I finally caved in and purchased the Extreme Fighting Wrestling Playset from the Dollar Tree. Let's have a look see!

At first sight you may look at this playset and just see a really crappy toy. But keep in mind, you're not always gonna walk into a dollar store and find a The Homer Hot Wheels car every day. Usually you have to look at a dollar toys potential. 

The figures that came with the ring are just terrible. The green guy won't even remain standing for more than a few seconds. You have to see past the crappy little wrestling guy figures, think outside the ring

That hideous Extreme Fighting sticker peeled off extremely easily, reveling a lovely diamond plate metal pattern! Why did they even slap that terrible sticker over it anyway? 

And of course, you don't have to use this terrible figures when you already have an awesome collection of minifigures! MUSCLE, Battle Beasts, Trashies, Army Men, LEGO minifigures, you name it! You now have a perfect ring for all your minifigure cross-over smack downs!

Of course, the ring is kind of plain, being only one color and all. It does make those colorful minifigures really pop though! I would like to further customize the ring, but I don't have much customizing experience. Do you have any ideas? Has anyone else spotted this hidden gem at the dollar store?

Salt Lake Comic Con 2014: Day 1

(Just so I don't forget, I've decided to post about the first day of SLCCon just so I don't forget things n' stuff.)

Crashnauts!

The first booth we hit was the Crashnauts booth. Crashnauts is an indie video game, produced by some friends of mine, that is currently pre-alpha. Despite being so early in development, the pre-alpha version of the game was very playable and a ton of fun! The demo featured 4-player free-for-all game play. Of course I got the trash beaten out of me, but I still had fun losing! The graphics are great, smooth controls, and a nice selection of weapons. There's even an awesome Mortal Combat announcer that gives the game a nice touch. Support local artists and check out their website at Crashnauts.com.

Cary Elwes

No Comic Con is complete without celebs! We had the honor of attending the Cary Elwes panel. He really is a stand up guy and just as entertaining in person as he is on the big screen. He recently starred in Granite Flats, a local Utah television show on BYU Television. I really wish I had waited in line to ask him a question. Maybe when we go see Bruce Cambell tomorrow I will ask him a question. What would you ask Bruce? What would you ask Cary?

Photo Dump!

So that's about it for Thursday. We'll head back for more tomorrow, but I can't promise a post that night, but we'll see. 

Salt Lake Comic Con Gold!

SL Comic Con is back for a second year! Laura, Ava, and I will enjoy all 3 days of geeky goodness, from September 4th-6th! Don't worry, I already have a Frugal Friday post ready to go while we're enjoying The Con. Expect celebrity selfies, kooky cosplay photos, and more, some time next week. Until then, be excellent to each other!

I love this pass! It will make a great souvenir in and of itself!

Monday Mail Madness: My First Battle Beasts

I recently swapped some toys with Jake, @toonsntoys of Instagram and blogger at the Animated TV Blog. He shares my passion for animated TV shows and awesome toys. Here's what he so generously sent me on my side of the trade, Battle Beasts!

As wih most toys, Ava immediately took over and started playing with Daddy's new toys. She loves the doggy and the horsey (Sir Sire Horse) and always makes the corresponding animal noises when playing with them. 

I think the guy on the left is a rat, or maybe a flying squirrel? (Turns out he's known as Squirly Squirrel, and his friend is Bloodthirsty Bison)

I also received some parts, including a one armed Duck and Lamb (turns out he's a camel, oops), and a really cool owl missing both arms. No weapons were included either, so I'm hunting those down as well. If anyone has any of these parts please let me know!

Run Amuck Duck, Knight Owl, and Hunchback Camel.

I'm thinking of devoting a post to my top 10 favorite toys, and I do believe I will include this Snake Battle Beast! I should probably learn his name already. (I just looked it up, his name is Triple Threat Snake, to his right is Gruesome Gator and to his left is Bludgeonly Bulldog)

Thank you again Jake, these Battle Beasts are incredible, I can see why they're so popular!