I woke up extra-early Saturday morning due to my anticipation of Boston Super Megagfest (or because I had too much wine the night before). I’ve been attending this show for 20+ years and you simply never know what treasure you might discover. Following a quick stop at Dunkin’ Donuts for a “Great One”, I sped towards Framingham, MA for the annual nerd jamboree. I purchased tickets early, which meant that I would be given access to the convention 1 hour before the general public.
When I saw the fat Sleestack I knew I was in the right place
Although I arrived at the show an hour earlier than the doors would open for the early birds, I was still met with a long line of other equally excited nerds. Because Richard Anderson (Oscar Goldman) was one of the celebs attending, there was a spirited discussion about The Six Million Dollar Man going on behind me. Thankfully my phone was charged up and I surfed the internet and played Ms. Pacman to pass the time.
Finally the doors opened and there was a nerd stampede, which means that the line moved at a glacial pace as people entered the wondrous room of treasure. This young siren almost knocked me over in her eagerness to gain entrance,
I have crazy eyes
The fans did not disappoint and there were plenty of people dressed in (probably very expensive) costumes,
There was a cool display of monster props and I told Ben to go pose for me. As soon I snapped his picture I heard a voice mutter, “That’s a dollah”. I turned around to find the source of the voice and I spied a little old man behind a table looking at me. Confused I said, “Huh?” He repeated his statement, “It’s a dollah”. He must have realized that I had no idea what the hell he was saying so he added a little more, “We encouraged people to make a dollah donation to (something) if you take a pick-cha of the display”. Of course I only had $20s on me (stupid ATM) and I had to borrow the buck from a friend.
This picture cost me a buck
This guy was waiting to get an autograph from a former Playboy bunny - Earlier he farted near me
Although there are always a bunch of b-celebs at these things, I’m not usually too interested. I go to these shows for the collectibles but I decided to document some of the “famous” people. It’s difficult to get clear photos due to poor lighting and the fact that the celebs don’t like you to take their picture if you’re not forking over $25 so I had to shoot quickly.
Peter Tork posing with a fan bearing an eerie resemblance to Alice from The Brady Bunch
Elderly Oscar Goldman
Big Pussy seemed annoyed with me
Data is old
Cindy Morgan was the sexy chick from Tron and Caddyshack, now she's frumpy
Mickey Dolenz, Ray Park and a few other celebs would be showing up later, but I didn’t stick around. My friend attended a Mickey Dolenz panel and later watched Dolenz and Tork perform in an evening concert. He also attended a Spike (Buffy the Vampire) panel and said that the guy was terrific. On my way out I snapped a bunch of pictures of the very cool Batmobile,
“Batman” was decidedly less cool,
I picked up a few DVDs including a complete bootleg set of the Wonder Years for Whirlygirl as a reward for earning her Masters degree on Saturday. My greatest discovery, however, was two Mego KISS dolls. Mego KISS dolls are extremely difficult to find on the collector’s market due to high KISS and Mego collectors demand and the low quantities originally produced. Twenty years ago I acquired a Gene Simmons for $50. On today’s market single KISS dolls easily fetch hundreds of dollars loose; a set of all 4 in their originally boxes typically costs upwards of $2000 if you can even find them. One of the dealers had a Paul and an (extremely rare) Peter Criss (he was produced in much smaller quantities due to a rumor at the time that he was quitting the band). My jaw dropped when he told me I could have them for $10 each. I had $200 in my pocket and I wouldn’t have hesitated to spend it on this holy grail of Mego collectibles. For $20 I now have 3 out of 4 KISS dolls. Now I’m on the hunt for Ace.
"Where's Ace?"
All in all it was a fun day. I was somewhat disappointed in the wares but there was enough there to keep me entertained for 4 hours. I can’t wait for next year.
See ya next year!
