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DANG SKIPPY!
Florida Supercon 2014 is this 4th of July weekend and from the guest list it looks like they're going to have a couple comic book celebrities I have yet to embarrass myself in front of. First up is Peter David, who wrote the Dark of the Moon novelization where Megatron wins in the end! And if that isn't mind blowing enough, he is also the creative genius behind Skippy the Jedi Droid! Then there's Danny Fingeroth who didn't actually work on any books I was into but served as the character model for Donny Finkleberg, Robot Master! Joe Rubinstein inked the first seven issues of Micronauts AND the cover to ROM #1! And topping it all off is Al Milgrom, who edited Micronauts and Shogun Warriors from the start of those books, plus ROM starting with issue 18. If I can get to talk to any of these guys then maybe the $75 I paid for the four day admission will be worth it!
I hit up the BTL Collectibles Show hoping to score a copy of the first comic book appearance of Skippy the Jedi Droid but I struck out. It was fun regardless and I scored some Sleepwalker issues and a couple Peter Porker the Spectacular Spider-Hams. Not much robotty action except for the Matchbox Lion and Gladiator Team Voltrons on the table with some worn chrome. Undaunted, I left to the comic shop (that I think is the oldest one in Miami) to continue my search for Skippy the Jedi Droid's first comic book appearance. If I had known what expensive misadventures awaited me there I would have gone straight home after BTL!
Well after the BTL Collectibles Show I drove over to A&M Comics in Miami and parked right outside the shop where I always have for the past five years and I went in. They did indeed have a copy of Star Wars Tales #1 featuring Skippy the Jedi Droid. They also had the yellowest AT-AT I have ever seen in my life. What was super crazy about this one is that it wasn't the old Kenner one from 1981, but the recent 2010 Hasbro redesigned version. How did such tremendous yellowing happen to such a new toy? I could only ponder that for a minute because I then spotted boxes and boxes of Micronauts toys up in the topmost shelves of the store! It turns out some guy sold them his childhood collection. The man would get a new Micronaut every time he did good in school and over time the collection grew and grew. I even saw a Terraphant box elsewhere in the store but it was empty. What I didn't know was that while I was inside screwing around looking at Micronauts, the tow truck was taking away my van! Meanwhile I was all excited about the Micronauts and the prices seemed reasonable. They were missing their inserts so each box just had parts inside. They wanted 10 bucks each for the Thorium and Neon Orbiters and 45 for Karza. They also had Microtron (who was missing a rubber tread), Biotron, Andromeda, and the Taurion for 40-75 dollars each if I remember right.
Well I'm all ready to go with my three Micronaut boxes and Star Wars Tales #1 when a guy who had been in the store browsing with me bursts back in all upset. They towed his car! And he parked in the same spot I did along the west wall of the comic shop. I listened to him be all mad at the comic shop owner and ask why this has never happened to him before. I had a feeling he parked where I did so I went out to look and sure enough, my van was gone. I left the stuff I was going to buy there in the store and walked 20 minutes to the tow truck place to get my van. I'm glad I didn't blow the 70 dollars I was going to spend at the comic shop on Micronauts toys and Star Wars comics because it ended up costing $104 to get my van back. I don't think the other guy got his car because he just didn't have the money. That gas station near the comic shop is run by a bunch of bastards. If you ever go to A&M I hope you can figure out where to park. Also, fuck Chevron Miami to Unicron's butthole!
SHOW NOTES OF THE PODCASTALYPSE
- Toys R Us Transformers Kre-O event I didn't go to
- Florida Supercon 2014
- The comic adaptation of Skippy the Jedi Droid
- The original prose version of Skippy the Jedi Droid
- Heading to the BTL Collectibles Show
- Peter David's blog
- Peter David's Dark of the Moon adaptation with a different ending than the movie
- The lost Peter David Transformer story "The Love Bug"
- Plight of the Bumblebee from US TF #16
- Peter David's store appearance nightmare stories
- Youseph's blog will attempt to contact TF comic letter writers
- My goofy answers to the Trans Missions podcast 2013 comic poll
- Peaking as a podcast listener then retiring
- Youseph's review of Transformers 42 where my letter was originally printed
- The interview with a guy who got his letter printed in Transformers #5
- Existential angst over answering Transformer fan questions
- My copy of Transformers #1 signed by Bob Budiansky and Bill Seinkewicz
- Not getting comics signed by artists when you meet them
- The psychological nature of autograph hunting by Seth Godin
- BREAK-PMOP commercial
- An Al Milgrom podcast interview at FirestormFan.com
- BREAK-GoBots commercial
- Hellacious visit to A&M Comics