So we don’t have a means of teleporting but we like to think we did a fairly awesome job at being at two cons at once, AND being on both sides of the world! So, while some of the Curicon team were living it up in New York, the rest of the team took themselves down to Melbourne for the weekend, hung with the cool guys from Kings Comics and generally had an awesome time at Armageddon! Here is photographic evidence of the weekend 
Let the madness commence!! The most hotly anticipated event of the nerd year has finally opened its doors. After months of waiting, anticipating, endless hours trying to get tickets sorted (oh why is the SDCC computer system so archaic???), and angsting over which comic book character t-shirts to pack (answer: all of them), San Diego Comic Con opened its doors for preview night.
We’ve been absolutely HYPER in the run-up to SDCC. That just escalated into sheer madness by the time we got on the aircraft. Luckily the lack of sleep in the 24 hours before the flight ensured we passed out for the majority of the journey. But not before we took some pictures of….well, everything. We were like kids whose parents had let us out of the house for the first time. With a camera. Here are some of our better efforts
Yes, really
Oh look, more clouds!
We’ve arrived!! Where’s our welcome committee???
Mwahahaha…Yes, we’re press!
Mwahahaha…..yes, we’re press!!!
After all that hyperactivity, we needed a little nap to refresh us for preview night!
We were in line for a couple of hours to be let into the Exhibit Hall. I’m sorry to say we weren’t in any way professional and the fanboys and girls in us came to the fore in a most unbecoming manner. We were practically SCRATCHING at the door to be let in, foaming at the mouth at the thought of all those exclusive collectible toys. All in all, it’s safe to say our dignity was left in the overhead compartment of the Virgin aircraft we came in on. We’ll try to relocate it on our way back home.
Given the amount of people there, the line went surprisingly quickly so when the doors finally did open, it was like being left loose in toyland!
Here are some of our pics!
Nerding Out
We had chilled out a little bit at that stage so were in a much better position to, you know, actually speak to people. We met the lovely David Gallaher from Marvel who, along with Steve Ellis, will be debuting his comic book The Only Living Boy at SDCC. They’re both really nice guys, so for those of you at the con, try to swing by Booth #2206 and say hello. For those of you who didn’t make it this year, try to get your hands on a copy. It looks awesome!
Other people we met include Spiderman and Silver Surfer inker Victor Olazaba, British artist Jim Cheung and Randy Emberlin, known for his awesome work on X-Men, Amazing Spiderman, Star Wars, Batman and The Avengers. It
Check out Victor settling down for a read of new amazing Aussie comic, Winter City. He’s a cool guy!
Randy very kindly signed a copy of Matt’s Scarlet Spider. So even if Matt had to go home now, he’d be happy.
Over the next few days, we’ll be keeping you updated on all the happenings at SDCC. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook for more updates on panels, announcements, interviews and anything else that takes our fancy.
With lots of nerdy love!
The Curicon Team
For the noobs going to San Diego Comic Con, we have compiled a list of some of the best guides to surviving the weekend at Nerd Mecca. That way you can have the best of everything by picking and choosing the tips most relevant to you.
Yes, we could have written a guide ourselves and given you tips that were thoughtful, eloquently written and downright fabulous. But we thought it better to arm you with as many guides as possible, straight from the pens of Comic Con veterans. Some would call it lazy. We prefer the term ‘energy efficient’.
One thing we will mention though. For the love of whatever deity you believe in, and even if you don’t believe in any, do everybody a favour and bring deodorant and breath mints. And don’t be afraid to use them liberally, on your underarms and in your mouth respectively. They won’t be half as effective if you use them the other way around.
Comic Con is a crush from beginning to end and if you’ve had your olfactory senses assaulted by anybody who hasn’t been acquainted with a bar of soap in over 12 hours, you’ll agree with us when we say, it should be a term of entry into any convention that all attendees be utterly deodorized.
So here they are, the 7 best survival guides to San Diego Comic Con 2012!
LA Times – Hero Complex
Comic Con Tips: A ‘Dexter’ Survival Guide for a killer weekend
How would our favourite serial killer approach the mash-up that is San Diego Comic Con. With precision and forward planning of course. ‘Dexter’ writer and producer Scott Reynolds provides this in-depth guide to the SDCC ‘Code’.
Con News
Shawn Marshall gives a great run-down on getting the edge on SDCC panels. If you want to have the best Comic Con experience possible, I suggest you take note of his wise words.
Crave Online
Bibbs and Whitney from Crave Online offer some veteran advice on making the most of the SDCC weekend.
Mania
Rober T. Trate offers some insight into experiencing ‘Nerdvana’ in all its glory, including not being ‘that guy’ with the longbox of comics to be signed.
Wired
Geek Dad covers the dos and don’ts of surviving SDCC
Geek Tyrant
‘Don’t scare the celebrities’ and other tips, like not freaking the booth babes out. Definitely worth a read!
Aggressive Comics
Possibly the best survival guide ever, simply because of how witty it is. We’re loving the 50’s style and the general hilarity of it all. Well worth a look. And make sure you watch it until the end!
On a final and more somber note, on Tuesday morning Twilight fan Gisella G. was killed in a traffic accident while crossing the street to wait in line outside the San Diego convention centre. It was a senseless tragedy for all concerned. Please, whatever you do, take care of yourselves. A tragedy like this shouldn’t have happened in the first place and it casts a terrible shadow on an event that epitomizes fun and everything geeky and cool.
Take care of yourself, keep an eye out for friends and try to stay together if you can. And above all, have an amazing weekend. Because despite the over-priced food, the long hours standing in line for panels and the endless lines to the bathroom, SDCC is the most fun you can have with your clothes on!!
Enjoy it all and see you there!
-Kerrie and all the Curicon team
Never let it be said we don’t do anything for you guys! Whether you’re out of the nerd closet and proudly wear your nerdiness on your sleeve or if you have yet to let your friends know that you’d rather watch all of the Star Wars movies back-to-back than go to the latest club, we’ve compiled a list of the best websites to keep you on top of nerdy/geek current affairs. Consider this your ultimate nerd news channel. You’re welcome.
Comic Booked
In terms of comic book review, Comic Booked is right up there with the best of them. Don’t be fooled by the name – they’re not just comic book readers but podcasters, gamers and massive toy fans too. They have a huge team of incredible nerds led by Jordan DesJardins. They rock. And you should rock with them too. There’s nothing more to say. Check them out at www.comicbooked.com
An offshoot of the hugely popular MTV juggernaut, MTV Geek was launched in 2010. Some said it was thanks to the MTV name that it gained such a substantial following but in truth, nerdette extraordinaire, and comic book editor Valerie Gallaher has guided it from the beginning to the dreamy heights of success it’s reached today. Known for her pull-no-punches approach to reviewing comic books, Gallaher has curated a top-notch team of writers and contributors to cover all the latest in pop culture news, reviews, conventions and gaming.
Get thee to the Geek on http://geek-news.mtv.com/
Nerd Reactor
Featuring news and reviews on movies, video games and comics, all written in an invariably witty writing style, Nerd Reactor will make your day more interesting just for being there. It’s up-to-date, it’s topical and always has something fun/witty/interesting to say at least once a day. They also always have the most hilarious posts on Facebook. Don’t like them if your sensibilities are easily offended. Go to www.nerdreactor.com to check them out.
Nerdist
If you haven’t heard of Nerdist, get out of the room. Now.
Ok, seriously come back, we have something awesome to tell you. So, Nerdist is like a mish-mash of all of these awesome writers and podcasters who have come together to make geeky heaven. It’s truly fantastic and a great site to add to your general reading/listening. It’s also becoming a juggernaut nerd site – everything we used to listen to is gradually becoming amalgamated with Nerdist. Which is no bad thing. It just means that you have all your (soon-to-be) favorite channels in the one place. It won’t make you smarter, just nerdier. You’ll be no use in a general knowledge pub quiz but it’ll make you a happier person. Click on www.nerdist.com
Geeks are Sexy
The title tells us what we all knew already, but in case you were in any doubt there’s a picture of a very suggestive young lady sitting right next to the logo. Just in case there were any Doubting Thomas’s lurking about.
Quite aside from the ‘sexy secretary’ look which if nothing else has brightened up many a dreary day, Geek Are Sexy covers tech, science and social news. Not alone that but they cover cosplay in some detail as well as attending some conventions – Denver Comic Con being the most recent. The site evolved from a Canadian blog and while it’s mainly aimed at IT pros and Computer professionals, it’s still well worth a look even if you’re not either. Trust us! Go to http://www.geeksaresexy.net/ for more.
Kabooooom
Face it, you’ll never be able to spell the name if this site properly because there are just too many o’s. Spelling aside, we definitely insist that you check out this complete nerd-fest in all its awesomeness. It doesn’t just cover comics but anime/manga, games and toys too. They do fantastic, comprehensive reviews of all the above AND they’ll take suggestions if there’s something in particular you want them to review. What else do you want? Check them out on www.kabooooom.com
(For the record, there are 5 o’s in Kabooooom)
The Mary-Sue
Here’s one for the girls! Well not just the girls. The Mary-Sue is the ‘guide to girl geek culture’ but we definitely know a few guys who have been known to peruse the plethora of nerdy goodness found on its pages. To be frank, The Mary Sue can be absolutely hilarious. It’s essentially a site with tonnes of really cool, funny, intelligent writers including Jill Pantozzi. Whether you’re a guy or a gal or you’re just not sure, get over to the The Mary-Sue at http://www.themarysue.com/
This isn’t a definitive list by any means. Tell us what you think. Start a discussion here and let us know what you think are the best nerd websites. We undoubtedly missed some awesome ones from the list above. There could potentially be a list of the top 100 but really, who has the time?? Let us know what you think.
With as much nerd love as possible. <3
Kerrie & the Curicon Team
The countdown is on and in just a few weeks we’ll have everything ready for Show ‘n’ Tell. Yes, that’s right, we’ll be rolling out a completely new-look Curicon for you guys so just sit tight and we promise, amazing things are in the pipeline!
What’s gotten us excited this week? Well, lots of things…
For a start, the announcement by DC Comics that the Green Lantern Annual #1 will be available from August 29th.
Bringing together the might of writer Goeff Johns and artist Ethan Ethan Van Sciver, who have previously collaborated on such titles as GREEN LANTERN: REBIRTH, GREEN LANTERN: THE SINESTRO CORPS WAR and THE FLASH: REBIRTH.
Hmm…..Wonder if you can pre-order???
Happy Birthday Wolfenstein!!! 20 years young and STILL epic! It’s the legendary game that launched the First Person Shooter Genre and now, it’s available on iTunes. Awesome!
Even if you’re not a Lego fan (who isn’t??) you have to admit that this is pretty awesome work by DeTomaso Pantera. We found it on the Brothers Brick website. The detail is incredible…
The news guaranteed to make nerds everywhere empty their piggy banks. People attending Star Wars weekends at Walt Disney Orlando from May 18th to June 16th can now opt to get a figure made of themselves trapped in a block of carbonite for $100. We say, I’ll take two!
We found this particularly useful bit of info on awesome site Topless Robot. Wander over and take a peek at them…they’re fun.
New things in the Library
Aimee has been busy at work this week, uploading items to make the library even bigger and better. We currently have 115,870 items in the database and it’s growing day by day.
New to the Curicon Library are Tonner Dolls, Integrity Dolls, Ashton Drake Dolls and the really cool Living Dead Doll Collection. So, what are you waiting for? If you have, had or want these get clicking and add them to your collection!
If anybody is looking for some cool new sites for your geeky/nerdy fix, may we suggest that you check out Geek of Oz. Covering movie, comic book reviews, anime, manga and book news AND there are some amazing interviews with very cool people such as Neil Gaiman. Get thee to the Geek!
And because we never leave you without at least one video. This week sees Captain America surprising a very small fan.
Have an awesome week guys and remember, any suggestions, comments, complaints about the site, email us at gday@curicon.com
Talk soon!
We have not employed Ron Burgandy to write this blog
The week in brief;
This week we have been drinking copious amounts of tea and energy drinks, finding cool stuff for you guys to add to your library, cleaning up after Chuckie (our cockatiel) who has a penchant for leaving ‘presents’ on our keyboards and trying to figure out the riddle that is Pinterest. Why do you log on for 5 minutes and then find that 2 hours has passed?? Is it in actual fact a time machine masquerading as an online pinboard?? Answers on a postcard please.
Things we think you should check out this week;
If you’ve been living under a rock…come out from under there, you’ll catch your death of cold. You should be checking the following out…
S.U.D.S- Simian Undercover Detective Squad. Co-written and produced by the talented Deb Loftis and Perry Sachs these simian detectives are guaranteed to have you in fits of laughter. It’s like the muppets…. but on crack. Hilarious. Play it safe, this is probably NSFW! Now showing on the Nerdist Channel. Which you should also check out.
For the Whovians among you, who (geddit?? Sorry) wouldn’t want to visit this bar? It’s now on our hit list of things to see and do when we go to New York for Comic Con NY in October. Just added ‘Pee in the Tardis’ to the collective bucket list of the Curicon peeps. Don’t judge. You know you’d do it too, given half the chance. Particularly having read the lyrically descriptive musings of the lovely Jamila from Girl Gone Geek…
The Doctor
For all you gamers out there, if you haven’t checked out Wil Wheaton on Geek and Sundry, we suggest that you do. Loving Small World already. It’s fun and has massive replay value. What are you doing still reading this post??? Go!
If you’re still with us after watching Wil and the gang, we salute you, Vulcan-style.
This week, Aimee has been adding to our already extensive library of collectables resulting in a trip down memory lane when we saw these;
Mad Magazine
And this;
Tintin
And a strong desire for a Tim Burton movie marathon when we saw this;
In other news, if you were having trouble accessing the site this week, we apologise. There was a brief moment in time when Curicon had a bit of a tantrum but we placated it with biscuits and chocolate and now all is right with the world. So that means you can upload your collection, and add to your wish list to your heart’s content.
The perfection that is Curicon
Do keep dropping by. It makes us all warm inside when people keep coming back (and there are a LOT of you now. So thanks). Over the next few weeks, you’ll see lots of cool new features, which we won’t tell you about now. It’s like a thriller movie and we like to maintain the suspense…. suffice to say they are truly awesome and will knock your socks off. Literally. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.
Have an awesome weekend. Do say hello to us on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and Tumblr. Sometimes 7 days is just too long to wait to say hi again J
P.S: Has anybody watched the new Morgan Spurlock movie Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan’s Hope? We haven’t seen it just yet but Peter Gutierrez has written a review, which you can read here. What did you think?
aka The Legend of Matt, the Magical Collector Imp
About us you ask? Well, we’re just a bunch of nerds who are fanatical about collecting. We love pop art, pop culture, comic books, gaming, KidRobot, Manga, etc. We’re not very old however some of us recall with fondness the days when you had to get off the phone to use the internet . Others among us remember the pre-Napster days of recording our favourite songs from the radio onto a tape recorder while willing the DJ not to talk over the track. The younger ones among us think that books are ‘retro’.
This is a blog. A very sparse one as yet but we hope to rectify that soon-ish. This blog is here, mainly as a distraction from important work we should be doing, but also as a means of logging our quest to take over the world. Or at the very least conquer a significant portion of it. A ‘Dear Diary’ if you will…
Let me tell you a story. Not that long ago, on a sunny island on the Northern Beaches lived a little collector imp. We’ll call him Matt. Matt lived down by the creek with an impressive collection of hats. He had collected hats from all over the world and when he was feeling whimsical, he would wear two at the one time. He could be crazy like that.
Living with Matt at the Creek were three other collector imps; John, Glenn and, because no tale would be complete without a lovely heroine, there was a beautiful dark-haired impette called Aimee.
Matt liked to collect things, like comic books. Nothing made Matt happier than to go to all the different markets out there and find his favourite comics. Aimee would go along and add to her collection of KidRobots, Glenn had a thing for metal and John, being the quintessential impettes-man would come along and charm the collector impettes.
The three friends found that sometimes it was easy to find what they were looking for but often, it was nigh on impossible. They would meet other collector imps who would empathise with them that it was so difficult to find anything you needed. But nobody seemed to have a solution to the problem. It seemed like it was getting more and more difficult to find anything for your collection. Why was it so difficult? It was a conundrum. Even Glenn was finding it difficult to add little bits of metal to his pile.
Matt felt sure that the problem wasn’t that there weren’t any collectables but that they were so scattered across all the different markets in the world, that they were proving impossible to find. Being an industrious little imp, and a hard-core collector, Matt made it his business to find a solution to the problem so that he and his friends could complete their collections and live happily ever after. He decided that, as with all epic tales involving a search, this one required a long walk.
He set off from the creek early one morning, bringing with him his collection of hats, a rare copy of Spiderman #1 and an unnamed energy drink so that he would have enough stamina to fulfil his quest. He traversed mountain-y terrain, swam through treacherous rivers and fought off fearsome chihuahuas who mistook him for a postman. He traveled until it got dark and his energy fuel had run out. At this stage, he was a long way from home and it would be foolhardy to try to get back to the creek under cover of darkness. He was also not any closer to finding an answer to the interminable problem; where can collectors collect? He decided that he should rest for the night and so, finding a warm cave he settled down for the night on some dry leaves to read his Spiderman comic.
It was dry and warm in the cave and Matt was just becoming really sleepy when he heard the faint sounds of the Super Mario theme song. Rising from his make-shift in bed in some trepidation, Matt moved slowly further into the cave. He carefully felt his way over large boulders, ducked his head to avoid crashing into the bats who lived in the cave and followed the distinctive digital bleeps of the 1990′s video game. As he reached what felt like the back of the cave, he lost his footing, stumbled and fell headlong into a colossal pit.
Once he had regained consciousness, and his eyes had become accustomed to the gloom, Matt realised that he was lying on a treasure trove of collectables including Action Figures, KidRobot, Comic Books, Manga, Games Consoles, Video Games (including the aforementioned Super Mario game), Vinyl Toys, Plush Toys, LEGO, Posters, DVDs, Digital Pets and much more. It was every collectors dream but…it was also anarchy. Aside from being quite the comic book connoisseur and avid hat fanatic, Matt is quite an organised individual. So he had a thought; why not organise all of these collectables so that they are in their own categories and make it a place where all his collector friends could hang out, make new friends, swap/share/sell their items, get advice from other collectors and generally, you know, collect.
His exhaustion forgotten he leaped up, scrambled out of the cave and ran as fast as his little imp legs would carry him back to the creek, where fellow imps John, Glenn and Aimee were waiting for him. Breathlessly, Matt described his adventure, leaving out the bit about the chihuahua in case anybody judged him, and told them a tale of a wonderful cave filled with everything they had ever dreamed of. He began to describe his vision of a world where people could come together and share their passion and feel part of something amazing.
Needing no further encouragement, the other three immediately agreed to help Matt organise, collect, sort, file, and make awesome the new place for all of their friends. They gathered their stuff and started on the long road back.
On their way back to the cave, they came across a wandering impette at the side of the road. She spoke with an Irish accent and had hair whiter than the sun (natural, of course). They first had to ascertain that she wasn’t in fact a leprechaun (because leprechauns are renowned for their trickiness and would be no help in creating this awesome community). She explained to them in her thick Irish accent that she was lost and looking for somewhere to call home. In an effort to stop her talking so much, the three friends told her about their magical cave and brought her along on their adventure.
They called it Curicon. It is a place of magical adventure, a place for collectors to call home and somewhere where everybody is welcome to hang out.
Other collector imps heard about this wonderful place and turned up with wagon-loads of their individual collections, looking for a place to meet other imps. Now Matt, Aimee, John, Glenn and Kerrie are busy at work creating the world of Curicon. It’s a fun and happy place where nobody is ever sad and nobody has really grown up. Come join us on our adventure at www.curicon.com
THE END
(NOT REALLY – THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING)
P.S: We’re creative, not delusional. Some of this blog constitutes substantial creative license on our part. Except the part about the hats. Matt quite likes those. So feel free to send him some
PPs: That awesome cartoon of Matt is by the lovely Leilani Krenn. You can check her art out at http://lazerkitteh3000.deviantart.com/
