Author Topic: Pittsburgh's "Steel City Con" Toy & Collectible Show  (Read 67622 times)

Offline Nirvana

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Re: Pgh toy show
« Reply #45 on: March 11, 2006, 08:39 AM »
I've been there back in December, and I refuse to pay 13 + dollars for a fig. I think it all depends on the dealer. I remeber I snagged a Tarkin and Meena Tills for only 6, the price really varies for table to table.
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Offline Nirvana

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Re: Pgh toy show
« Reply #46 on: March 12, 2006, 06:23 PM »
Well, just got back from the show. It was really great, and I think it was the best show yet. All in all, I spent 30 bucks, and got this:
2 Loose RotS SA clones
1 Carded ATTTE Gunner
1 Carded VOTC Luke Skywalker

All in all, not a bad haul. :)
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Offline Jesse James

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Re: Pgh toy show
« Reply #47 on: March 13, 2006, 01:01 AM »
I actually skipped the Saturday show because I wasn't feeling up to snuff, but Sunday I caved early in the morning and tore out there...  Ran into my buddy Tronzo from the PSWCS and local Pittsburgh Collecting group (though Tronz lives out in State College area).

Took my gf and her youngest to the show.  He got pictures with Jango and Darth Vader of the 501st Garrison Carida who always attend the show.  It was nice of them to do that, and they were really nice to him. 

I have to say that going on Sunday is a whole other experience to going on Saturday.  The sellers are often "abandoning ship" so to speak. :)  I love it.

Saturday I usually do the early buyer event to scoop up any of the particualrly tasty bits before someone pounces on them, but on Sunday it's all about the deals...  Saturday is about deals too but Sunday is where your money gets its mileage.

I got a plethora of random items for cheap...

I nabbed the Vintage Star Wars Slide Projector set (complete) for a mere $10 and it works.

I got a Small Head Han Solo for $10 that is the mintest specimen I've ever seen in my life off the card.  Simply flawless in every way, and while that wans't a figure I was lookign to upgrade in my loose vintage collection, I honestly couldn't pass it up.

I got the R4 and WEG-1618 from Star Tours for a mere $10, which is an outstanding price on ST figures.

I got 3 ASP-7 droids for dioramas and such for about $2 each, as well as random other modern extras like Fode & Beed, FX-7, Clone Pilot, ROTS Mas Ameda...  My gf's son got some figures on the cheap too, though he makes me proud when he says that Jango sucks becuase he "can't move".

I wholeheartedly agree with that assessment of every Jango figure. :)

I got the Episode 1 Jabba w/Announcer set for *drum roll* $12...  I got 3 Army of Darkness 2-packs for a mere $5 spot.

I found out Billy Dee Williams will be at the next show which actually has my attention for once.  I'll get a Lando autograph no doubt.

Saw lots of other good deals but passed...

By the end of the day I spent $80 at the show, plus I got 2 more Sun Fac figures at Target before teh show which rocked since I love Sun Fac (my new Geonosian Army Builder).

I think my prize is the Film Projector, that's a really nice piece.  I never had it so it's somethign I wanted that was odd...  The other stuff was great fodder, diorama bits, etc...  The Jabba I got because he was hard to find in my area and I still didn't have him so that was a steal at less than retail.

I saw few (to really hardly any) Scorch and Utapau Clones.  2 Tables had them,a nd they're the two "bigtime" scalpers in Pittsburgh that are notorious for scouring the area.  One had numerous of both, the other guy seemed like he maybe had one of each...  Doesn't account for Ebay scalpers, but of the douchesacks that set up tables there were only 2 I noticed with them so that was pleasant anyway.

If I'd had more $ I saw lots of E1 army builders I wanted but had to pass on.  Maybe next show in July.  I may do 2 days in a row for that show just to see what I can get Sunday that I couldnt' get cheaper on Saturday. :)

Good show, and if they're really gonna get guys like Billy Dee Williams, I wish the Toy Show and COmic Con would join forces on some level...  I'm shocked the Toy Show got Williams though and Comic Con didn't.  CC is more known for autographs, and still is really, but the Toy Show scored a winner with Mr. Colt .45 himself.
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Offline Nirvana

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Re: Pgh toy show
« Reply #48 on: March 13, 2006, 03:33 PM »
I've never gone on the Saturday, but you're right, on Sundays I find that they've marked things down (got VOTC Luke for 7 bucks instead of 12) and they lower prices easier (2 SAs for 5 each instead of 7). I like the show even more every time I go. I agree with you on Scorch and Utapau- I didn't see any, but all SAGA2 was horribly overpriced- I have an abundance of Saga stuff but they were selling a Hoth Vader for 15.
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Offline Nirvana

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Pittsburgh Toy Show- July 29-30
« Reply #49 on: July 2, 2006, 10:20 AM »
Well, I figured I'd bump this up to let everyone know that the Toy Show is coming up at the end of the month. Some highlights:

Billy Dee Williams (Mr. Lando himself!) will be available for autographs on Saturday only I believe...I remember eading on their site about a week ago that the first 150 to buy an autograph will recieve a free SW action figure...it's not there anymore, so I think they scrapped it.

Richard Kiel- "Jaws" from James Bond, also the "Guns don't kill people, I kill people" guy from Happy Gilmore

Vanessa Branch- some girl from PotC, TV Shows, and the Orbit Lady

Those sound like some interesting celebs, and I might actually try to go out on Saturday instead of Sunday!
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Offline Darth_Deastron

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Re: Pgh toy show
« Reply #50 on: July 21, 2006, 05:04 AM »
I'm getting Lando's auto!!! ;D
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Offline Jesse James

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Re: Pgh toy show
« Reply #51 on: July 21, 2006, 09:18 PM »
Are you going Deastron?  ???
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Offline Nirvana

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Re: Pgh toy show
« Reply #52 on: July 22, 2006, 04:32 PM »
I think he is, as well as I. Hopefully I'll be able to go Saturday. Last year, my friend came along for it, but on Sunday there's never really any good items...
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Offline Nirvana

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Re: Pgh toy show
« Reply #53 on: July 28, 2006, 07:53 PM »
Just another bump for the show that's tomorrow...I'll likely be going tomorrow, but if I don't, I'll have to miss the show because of my going out of town Sunday. Things that I hope to score:

Any removable helmet clones (faces always come in handy for customs)
Any Stormtroopers
VOTC Fett

 
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Offline Jesse James

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Re: Pgh toy show
« Reply #54 on: July 31, 2006, 07:44 PM »
So I hit the toy show up this weekend...  Here's my little recapping of it.

-Showed up around 9 and I have to say it was really hot in the center...  From what I was told the morons that run the Expo Mart wouldn't turn the AC on till 8:00 which is well after people had lined up, and just when they started to let folks in for the early buyer event...  I got there at 9:00 and felt it was still toasty in there and that's just BS.  I hope the event people got pissed off enough to say something.

-Right off the bat I ran into my buddy Bill from the local Pittsburgh collecting group (and PSWCS), and we wandered around the rows together as he'd already been through it once.  It was cool to have a buddy to wander around with, plus he sees things I always would miss.

-Immediately I saw Endor Wave, HFG, Sandtroopers, Georgetrooper, and other odds and ends from this year with prices as over-inflated as the egos I see from some of the more condescending people in this hobby in general...  It was staggering.  George Trooper was commanding nothing short of $50, which if it was all you wanted it's what you'd pay, but yowza that's a lot for one easily obtainable figure.

-HFG packs were well over the $50 mark as well...  Disappointing (at that time) because I had yet to see one and needed one for myself but also my gf's son for his birthday...  This is why I hate prick scalpers irregardless of how useless it is to bemoan those morons.  When you spend $25 on a kid for his birthday and these dickless morons buy it all up and charge $50, you're really in a tight spot within this hobby.

-I noticed that stuff from 6, 7, 8 years ago or more was often times marked up...  Anyone remember ASP-7?  I do, he's one of my favorite POTF2 figures probably and I buy extras routinely...  He went from not being able to be given away for $2 a piece at the show to a whopping $8 asking price simply because Star Wars had a good year last year...  Of course, he wasn't selling, but man did I mention how I hate the guys selling stuff at the show sometimes?  :)

-Deals could be had though!  Fear not...  I made my first purchase in the 2nd aisle when I noticed there was an $18 Evolutions Clonetrooper (Yellow) set sitting there...  The guy I bought it off of is someone I've dealt with before and who has attempted to rip me off in the past, so I looked the set over closely.  $18's well under retail for me though and it was good so I grabbed it happily.  "Our first catch of the day".

-Wandering around I ran into 2 people with overpowering body odor...  It happens every time at this show.

-Saw a stand selling stuff at overinflated prices but the guy did have some Saga for $5.  Namely AT-AT Drivers and Sun Fac's, which I bought one of each of.  I had to watch my penny's though.

-At the last aisle I saw 2 of the coolest things ever and got one of them...  One guy had a booth and had original Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back wall paper.  The SW paper was used but removed and in good enough shape to be re-used.  The ESB Paper was still on its roll.  The guy wanted $100 for each which probably in the grand scheme wasn't horrible and he would've negotiated I think...  The other thing I couldn't pass up though.  Another table had a sealed box of Puffs Tissues from 1980.  The box is all decorated in Ralph McQuarrie Art of Luke/Vader's duel on Bespin.  It's freaking great and was $12...  It's too weird not to have, so I bought it and now it's one of my proud weird ass things in my collection.  I love it because it's something that strikes me as uncanny to still be in good shape/sealed and it's also covered in McQuarrie Art which I am a huge fan of.

-The autograph people on hand were:  The Orbitz gum chick (the one that goes "fabulous!" with the nice white teeth).  She was a nice lady but nobody was looking for her autograph it seemed.  Then there was Jaws from the James Bond films...  I felt bad for him because he is obviously in pain from his size and things, and rides a scooter around.  He was the nicest guy in the building though, and would have conversation even if you weren't buying an autograph.  The guy seemed great, honestly so that was really cool I thought.

Then separate of them, and arriving later in the morning, Billy Dee Williams was there in the back of the convention center...  The 501st guys on-hand gave you a ticket to wait in line actually, and they'd call like ticket #1 to 50 to go wait in line, then 50 to 100, 100 to 150, etc., etc....  The line to see Billy Dee was slow but it steadily moved.

I saw a number of people seemingly force him to shake their hand, or put their arm around him or whatnot...  I found that to be a little overbearing towards him.  I also noticed that they were having you fill out a piece of paper of what you'd like him to write on your autograph for you, and I watched as people practically wrote out paragraphs for him.  I thought that too was ignorant irregardless of what you were paying. 

I just had him sign it to me since I figured this is the only chance for me to nab Williams' autograph.  I told him it was nice to meet him and he looked at me shocked as if I was the only one to be cordial to him all day and said it was nice to meet me as well and even referred to me by name...  That shocked me equally and I really felt he was a nice guy, but that people sort of thought they could treat him like an exhibit instead of a human and it disgruntled him a bit.  I mean I saw guys with 40's of Colt .45 in brown bags that they were going to have him autograph and I don't think that's a particularly good way to be friendly with the guy.

Anyway, he seemed cool to me and while the autograph was expensive ($30, yikes), I don't buy many auto's so this was just one of the few I'd wanted.  I got it and moved along.

So the show overall...  I didn't buy much at this show.  It was as big as ever but I found there to be too many scheisters this time.  People have an exagerrated sense of what Star Wars is worth right now and so I noticed a lot of overpriced old crap, some even with the clearance tags still on it, and so I really didn't look hard for the usual bargains like $2 loose figures and things.  They had some stuff here and there but a lot of it was now overpriced so I bailed with minor buying.

Ironically though on the way home I hit some stores and found Hunt for Grievous finally for myself and my gf's son.  Got it out of the way but at a hefty cost.  Buy now though rather than regret it later.

I of course spent time with the local collectors at John Harvard's Brew House afterwards.  Had some beer and a little soup before the hot ride home.  Always good to see my friends like Bill, Bob (And his lady friend), Dave, Mike, MikeE, Jason, Tronzo and the gang... 

It'd be great if the show got big enough to, at some point, open both wings of the Expo Mart up...  more autographs and things.  To be perfectly honest I think Comic-Con and the Pittsburgh Toy Show need to unite because separated I have pretty much ruled out going to the Comic-Con at this stage of the game (You pay and arm and a leg just to get in, and then its Star Warsy stuff is highly limited compared to past years).  If it were a true Toy Show attached to it like other Comic-Cons have become though I'd likely be more inclined to go...

Either way though that's neither here nor there.

Anyway I think the show was good...  Oh, and there was another thing.  The one bigtime vintage collector (he's part of the OSWCC though I don't know him well myself) had a Vintage carded Obi-Wan Double Telescoping Lightsaber figure on-hand at the show.  There was also a seller with what he said was an original Rocket Firing L-Slot Fett Proto...  The Fett I had a hard time verifying its authenticity but I'm not Rocket Fett expert either as it's something I just haven't ever even had on my radar.

The DT Ben I can definitely say is a pristine authentic example and it's gorgeous.  If you're a vinty guy it's a thing to behold looking at that piece.  I heard rumor that it was offered to be bought at the show as well, for $25k...  Not sure if that panned out or not.  The guy with it was to have a Vader too but I guess he didn't bring it?  Too bad, it would've been cool seeing perhaps all 3 double telescoping saber figures together at one time as I believe he has a Luke too carded.

Cool stuff for sure.  I just hope modern prices go back in the toilet soon so I can go back to buying random crap figures for cheap like usual.  I always loved my haul of a bag full of figures for dioramas and stuff that I paid like $50 total for, haha.
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Offline JesseVader08

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Re: Pgh toy show
« Reply #55 on: August 4, 2006, 04:11 AM »
Good writeup Jesse - it sounds like it has grown into a good show.

It was particularly interesting to read about your experience with Billy Dee Williams - he seems to be a great guy, too bad he appeared to be receiving a less than great treatment from the fans.  I plan on someday getting his autograph - quite often I wish I had taken the time to get it at C3.

Offline Nirvana

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Re: Pgh toy show
« Reply #56 on: August 5, 2006, 09:34 AM »
I went to the show at around 12 on last Saturday, and I was a tad disappointed. I was a little low on cash to spend there, but I did manage to get:

2 New DS Gunners (they were 10 bucks, and I figured I would probably never find 'em in stores anyways :))
RotS Tarkin (needed an Imp. oficer for a custom)- 8 bucks.
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Offline Nirvana

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Re: Pgh toy show
« Reply #57 on: November 9, 2006, 02:57 PM »
I figured I might as well bump this back up to the top. It's in less than a month.

Great show, this time around I'll hope to snag one or two VOTC Fetts (probably only one, considering the best price I found last year was for 15 ::))...maybe a couple clones, and a few loose figs I want.
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Offline Jesse James

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Re: Pgh toy show
« Reply #58 on: November 22, 2006, 05:27 PM »
The show is but a week away here...  more or less.  I'm planning on going but not planning on buying a lot because of just the holidays and finances.  I'm still gonna go to the early buyer event I think despite the additional cost to get in... 

Verne Troyer as the top guest?  Meh...  Midgets are cool and all but I'm just not interested in him.  Too bad no SW guests made the list this month.

The show's new name as "Steel City Con" is interesting...  I think they really are trying to become something much larger and more convention-like than just a toy show, which is good to me...  It'd be nice to see the Toy Show/Con take up both sides of the Expo Mart in the future actually.

I'm all about this show, I just hope I don't see anything real big that I want...  :(
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Offline Jesse James

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Re: Pgh toy show
« Reply #59 on: December 4, 2006, 06:06 AM »
Another show come and gone...  This was a good one.  Lots of stuff both vintage and modern.  I found a contact for some asian stuff I think I can get imported from for a lesser charge (yippee!), and definitely scored some deals on Saturday!

I got to the show a little after 9:00 a.m. or so.  Just in time to get in for the early buyer event for $10 and run around the show before the general admission crowd got in and tore up the dealer tables...  Glad I did because I scored stuff early it seemed.

I found various stuff I was interested in in the first couple rows...  A handful of modern cheap stuff for 3 for $10 and the like...  I passed a guy selling the Radio Dramas on CD (bootlegs) for $5 a set, which was kind of enticing but I passed.

I came upon a guy selling Vintage, he's a guy I've gotten to know and brought double telescoping Ben and Vader to the last show for displaying...  Not many people even knew what they werelooking at in his glass case but it was well worth checking out for me (too bad I didn't have my camera!).  He's become a friend sort of and we recognize each other now...  He had VTSC figures listed on his table for $5, and low and behold there were Tuskens amongst them (no scouts).  I asked if he had anymore, and he obliged with 3 still in the clamshell, and I threw in a $4 mini-rig...  I told him I'd take it all for $20 if he tossed in another Tusken out of its clamshell.  4 SA Tuskens and an MLC-3 that just needs a good cleaning...  Not bad for this army builder/customizer!

One guy had a rockin' ceramic Jabba bank I wanted but $40 was a bit out of my price range on a single item so I held off.  Wish I had brough a little more and I feel sure I could've gotten it for $30.  :(

Another guy was seling his vintage figures (loose), but my god were they immaculate.  Just perfect samples of loose vintage...  I wanted to fill some holes and upgrades but again $$$.  I could've gotten all the POTF Ewoks for $20 each I'm sure, and they were perfect.  Not a repro weapon or cape in sight either, just perfect stuff...  No paint chips...  Beautiful, and really depressed me I couldn't pick anything up.

Another guy had some great boxed vintage for decent prices.  His Dewback and Landspeeder both were catching my eye but again I walked away.  It was killing me.

I nabbed a Bossk Bust-Up at the first table in the hall....  Something for my Bossk collection I figured.

The Evolutions were my big score worth noting though...  Those were a bitch to find in Pittsburgh so getting them at the show for less than retail was great.  After the show I owed for my Kir/Carnor 2-pack, a case of Evolutions, a TRU Obi Fighter, and some other stuff...

Kir/Carnor pack rocks all, it's really a quality piece.  I got the other stuff and headed off to hang out with the members of the PSWCS/Pittsburgh Collecting Society at a microbrew place called John Harvards...  Good times there having Red Raspberry Beer.  Mmmmmmmm

The show's Toy Drive looked like it was going well.  I didn't have anything to do with it personally, but the toy box was flowin' good it seemed.  I snapped some photos of the "stars" at the show...  All I gotta say is that the blonde chick from Caddy Shack (The Judge's granddaughter) is really still quite hot...  and looks to have gained in the right spots.  Wowza....

Oh and Face from the A-Team looks old...  I couldn't see Mini-Me, and it seemed as though he was late or something. 

I really hope this show gets more SW Stars in the future...  I'm game for those autographs at least.  I just wish they were as inexpensive as the wrestler's autographs were...  BS that the guy that said some line for a second in ESB wants $20 for his autograph, haha.

Anyway, good show...  Good meeting with friends.  I'm happy as a clam and can't wait till the next show already.  Well yes I can, I need to save up for it. ;)
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