Heroes Convention Reasons To Go #6

6. Paraphernalia

From reproduction Klingon Bat’leths to little stuffed owls to pac-man t-shirts you can find it at Heroes Convention. Yes there are a lot of comics but there are booths of other merchandise, swag, buttons, knickknacks, dohickies and every pop culture collectible imaginable. They hand you a bag at the door and you can have it slam full of free stuff before you even get into the convention.

One of the coolest free things has to be the Heroes Convention program. A program is cool? Heck yeah it’s cool. You can use the program book to collect creator signatures. For free! That’s what I did back before I became the bazillionaire artist you know and love today. Hey, when you are low on cash looking at stuff you can’t buy gets old super fast. So it’s the perfect way to go around and meet your favorite artists and even meet artists you’ve never heard of or soon wished you never had. Some people make it their goal to get all the listed guests to sign their book. Youngster Tip: Moms love the challenge and it’s the perfect way to keep them off your back while you’re out searching for that ultra rare Charizard card for your base Pokemon set.

A poster from the movie Krull, robot buttons, a Strawberry Shortcake key chain, a drinking glass with Hot Stuff on it, a Clash of the Titans lunch box and miniature bust of your favorite Decepticon are all waiting for you. Basically for super geekoids like myself, there is a plethora of paraphernalia ready to satiate your hunger for all things pop culture related and especially anything having to do with comic books.

Oh, Heroes offers a new t-shirt each year to commemorate the convention. This year they’re even doing super awesome ones for the Indie Island area of the convention. You can buy those online now!

A few paraphernalia items I’d like to find and purchase if my bazillionaire funds hadn’t recently been frozen.

• Bootleg DVD of the Freakazoid Series
• Jim Henson’s City Creatures
• Loose C3PO from the Droids Cartoon
• A super cool robot belt buckle
• New Popidiot t-shirt for my son
• One of those killer Indie Island t-shirts (but they didn’t make fatty sizes)
• And more things I’m embarrassed to list but not including an ultra sweet Star Team Spacebelt that I’m picking up from a recovering collectaholic.

Update:

• Good pal Rob Ullman has the scoop on the convention exclusive poster by Darwin Cook!
• Holy fudge muscles! Check out the Evan Dorkin Indie Island exclusive T-shirt!!