LA Comic Con ’18 just happened. As the last convention of the year LA Comic Con is an event I really look forward to especially considering how much I’ve seen it grow over the years.

I remember going to my first LA Comic Con back in 2013. It was the very first comic book convention. Back then when it was known as “Stan Lee’s Comikaze.” Over the years the convention stayed the same but the name changed from “Stan Lee’s Comikaze” to “Stan Lee’s LA Comic,” before just becoming “LA Comic Con” due to LA Comic Con’s parent company, Comikaze Entertainment Inc. ending their relationship with Stan Lee and his company, POW Entertainment.

I couldn’t really find any information why these entities ended their relationship with each other but I’m pretty sure it has something to do with an announcement I heard a few months back that due to his old age and also the allegations of elder abuse and exploitation he was experiencing, Stan Lee would no longer be making personal appearances, but I thought that would only apply to small appearances at like Frank and Son’s and comic book shops, not conventions.

I hate to say this but without Stan Lee and POW Entertainment’s involvement there was somewhat of a noticeable decline in quality for LA Comic Con. Attendance was there, in fact, my parents told me that they thought this was probably the busiest LA Comic/Comikaze we’ve been to so far. The vendors and the special guests though seemed to be lacking a bit last year.

Here is a list of special guests from the LA Comic Con 2018 according to Wikipedia. From what I saw while on site there are actually a few guests’ names that are missing but for the most part this is still a pretty accurate description of the number of guests they had present.

Compare that to the other lists Wikipedia has from previous years.

2 special guests I was able to talk to were Bill Duke and John Glover. Bill Duke was there promoting his new movie Mandy which he did with Nicolas Cage. His entourage kept promoting him as being in Predator and I pointed out that he did other things and when I mentioned Menace II Society he asked that I not quote his famous line, “You know you done fucked up, don’t you? You know it, don’t you? You know you done fucked up.” To be fair I’m pretty sure people kept saying it to him all day. Looking back I should have tried quoting Predator like his line, “You’re ghostin’ us motherfucker. I don’t care who you are back in the real world, you give away our position one more time, I’ll bleed ya real quiet.”I did ask him what it was like shooting the minigun on Predator asking how heavy that thing was. His response was “You know those things are usually mounted on helicopters right?” He then went on to say that it wasn’t really the weight of the weapon that was hard for him handle it was the recoil that it generated that was the real challenge.

John Glover was also really cool. He had this amazing energy to him and he was just saying all kinds of funny stuff to anybody who walked up to him. I pointed out how I was watching the Robocop movies on Hulu and brought up how I remember seeing him in Robocop 3 as the guy from that weird car alarm commercial in the beginning and then he and another guy corrected me saying it was from Robocop 2 not 3. My favorite part though was while I was standing there some guy walked up to him and said that he has to make an appearance on Supergirl, and Glover just looked at him and said “Supergirl? So you want me to dress up in drag? What are you? Some sort of pervert?”

These 2 were the only guests I actually talked to other than the professional cosplayers. I was too worried the other celebrities would be annoyed that I had no interest in buying an autograph or picture.

Like the special guests the vendors seemed to be lacking. At this point I’m starting to see notice which vendors are regulars on the California Convention scene so I’ve come to start expecting when go to Cons, unfortunately it always seems like these regulars are always bringing out the same stuff. PCS Collectibles were not on site which is something I found really surprising. I was excited when I found out Kidrobot would be a vendor this year especially cause they just announced all this cool I was really interested in. Unfortunately, they weren’t selling any of the stuff I wanted. I don’t know if they didn’t have any of it on display and I just didn’t think to look or ask or if they just didn’t bring any of the stuff I was interested in.

In the days leading up to this LA Comic Con I telling myself how I should do a really good job on bringing back content and I was coming up with all these plans of what I should do. But then when I got to the convention those plans went straight out the window.

It’s not like I just forgot my plans. I think I just saw what the convention was like this year, decided my plans wouldn’t work the way I wanted to and figured I’d be better off just winging it which is what I ended up doing.

Regardless whether I was able to follow my plans or not I still got a bunch of pictures and I think I have enough to tell a story so sit back and enjoy!

Troma Entertainment had this booth set up where they were selling some movies. I don’t think I’ve ever seen any of their movies. Probably the closest thing I’ve seen from them is that old Toxic Crusaders kids’ cartoon which was based on the super not appropriate for kids movie, Toxic Avenger.

When I first saw this Cadillac I just saw the word “Legion” and thought it had something to do with that Legion show on FX. It wasn’t until I found the Legion M booth that I found out about the Legion M company and realized that this was their car.

For those who don’t know, Legion M is “the world’s first fan-owned entertainment company.” This means they allow their fans to invest in take part in the creation of entertainment projects. One of these projects it the new Nicolas Cage action-horror film, Mandy which was 1 of the films that they were promoting at LACC.

Lately, I’ve been seeing the US military at a lot at conventions. Not sure why they think nerd conventions are good places to be passing out swag and recruiting. Anyway, the Air Force really outdid themselves this year at LACC by bringing with them this General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon.

Like I said earlier I was really excited that Kidrobot was there but I was disappointed that instead of all these new vinyl figurines I heard them announce they instead were mostly concentrating on plushies and action figures.

1 of the new things Kidrobot was really pushing was their Aggretsuko/Aggressive Retsusko plushies which they were hyping up with this photo backdrop.

Kidrobot was also hyping their new God of War figures and statues. I’m a bit surprised with their God of War stuff. It just looks so different than the stuff I’m so used to seeing them put out.

These Godzilla plushies and figures I’m actually kind of into. The only thing that turned me off of them was the price.

Unlike the God of War stuff that Kidrobot had this Deadpool stuff seems more like the style I’ve come to expect Kidrobot to be putting out

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In the past I’ve explained that I rarely take pictures of stuff in artist alleys because some artists actually don’t like it when people take pictures of their work because they don’t want unauthorized reproductions. This guy however, Lenny Romero AKA Lenzations was cool with people taking pictures of his stuff which is all done completely with pencils.

I thought it was really cool that Andy Park, Director of Visual Development at Marvel Studios was there. I am surprised though that he only had a small booth setup in Artist Alley instead of something bigger. I’m guessing this because that this was all the space they were able to give to him.

Tenacious D had this booth set up to help promote their 4th studio album “Post-Apocalypto’ as well as their Youtube-animated series Tenacious D in Post-Apocalypto. Jack Black and Kyle Gass were actually special guests and did like a panel or something on Friday of the con. Unfortunately I didn’t see them anywhere near their booth.

Originally, I thought these lifesized WALL-E robots were made by the guys in the R2D2 Builders Club. I didn’t know until now that they are actually from the WALL-E Robot Project.

This was in the Legion M booth. I never saw the 1992 Bram Stoker’s Dracula movie with Gary Oldman, Winona Ryder Anthony Hopkins and Keanu Reeves. This movie came out when I was 6 so I was way too young to be watching it. Maybe if it pops up on Netflix or Hulu I’ll check. Like I said I haven’t seen Dracula so I don’t if this was actually in the movie. I did Google Gary Oldman and Dracula so I do know he wore this armor but that’s it.

The Hot Topic booth had a crazy long line. I’m a bit surprised all they were selling were Funko figurines. But I guess it would either be those or middle school goth clothes.

This company called Wild Bill’s Olde Fashioned Soda Pop Co. was selling souvenir mugs for 20 bucks or you could buy the blue one for like 25 bucks. Plus side of paying that much for a mug is that they were giving out free unlimited refills.

EBA Performance Makeup was doing this guy up like Kratos. I wish I was able to get pictures of this but when they were done this guy walked over to the Kidrobot booth and had a screaming match with the Kratos statue they had on display.

The EI School of Professional Makeup was also on site doing demonstrations. After seeing them do Black Panther airbrushings all year it was nice to see them do something different.

I felt a little pervy getting a picture of this chick due to how scantily clad she was and also cause of her huge boobs.

The Toynami booth caught my eye with this life-sized Mega Man statue. Upon closer look his face really bothered me. I thought it just looked too creepy.

Taking a closer look at their booth I saw these cool Acid Rain figures they had. While cool they were too small for my liking.

This next vendor is a group I’ve seen at a lot of California Cons over the years but despite seeing them so many times I have no idea what their name is. Bandai? Shokugan? Iron Studios? Tamashii Nations? I’m not sure if these are just the brands they sell or if one of those is the name of their booth. I just know they had a lot of cool stuff to take photos.

From the recent Black Panther movie we have Kill Monger in his stolen Black Panther outfit versus Nakia, Okyoe, and T’Challa/Black panther.

An Iron Man figure. Judging by all the silver elements I’m guessing this is supposed to be the Mark V/Briefcase armor from Iron Man 2.

Here’s a recreation of the opening scene of Guardians of the Galaxy 2.

A recreation of the fight between Thor and the Hulk from Thor: Ragnorak.

A Robin. Based on the shave head I want to say this is modeled after the Tim Drake Robin from the Batman: Arkham videogame series.

Speaking of the Batman: Arkham series here is an Arkham Knight. Arkham Knight was the only game in the series I played and I don’t remember him being so blue. Maybe it was just the settings on my TV.

A Joker and Harley Quinn statue. This statue is actually a recreation of the cover of Batman: Harley Quinn which was done by Alex Ross.

Here’s a wider shot of this display case showing off the rest of the stuff inside. Notice the difference in styles between the DC and Marvel statues.

Another case, this one displaying videogame characters from Street Fighter and Nintendo games.

A close up of the Rainbow Mika figure who seems a bit pervy with her giant cans.

I like this Super Mario Bros. setup. My only gripe with it though is the stands are too noticeable and destroys the illusion of the pieces. I know they need some way to hold these them up but I wish they put more thought into trying to make it less conspicuous.

A Sakura figure who judging by her posture is about to throw a hadouken.

A Cammy figure that obviously doesn’t skip leg day.

Another display case this one filled with Dragonball Z figs. I have no idea what the hell is going on with the Yamcha figure. Not sure if they did that on purpose or if it just fell over. I hope it just fell over.

Here’s a display case filled with a good mix of DC movie based figures. We have figures from the Batman Ninja, Suicide Squad, Batman v. Superman and Dark Knight Rises. Not sure how that Freddie Mercury figure in the corner fits in here. I looked up the movie and it’s a 20th Century Fox film not Warner Bros. I guess they just didn’t have any other place to put it.

Some figures representing the last wave of Marvel movies as well as a couple Tamashii Nations Marvel figures.

Speaking of Tamashii Nations here are some figures from their Star Wars Movie Realization line.

Some more Street Fighter figures, these ones done in a more exaggerated style. They kind of remind Rob Liefeld’s artwork.

Lion-headed Kuma throwing a hadouken while Chun Li is stuck doing her Hyakuretsukyaku (hundred rending legs) move really reminds me playing Street Fighter when I was a kid and I hit the kick button too many times and got her stuck doing this move.

A red Megaman figure. I really like this one since it’s so reminiscent of the videogame artwork.

After the toy booth I decided to stop by the EI Makeup School booth to see how they were doing and found them putting the finishing touches on their Catwoman.

Yakult was a vendor this year passing out free samples as well as having this guy in a Yakult costume walking around.

Like I said earlier I was a bit bummed when I realized PCS Collectibles wasn’t on site this year. As a consolation prize I did find the Mezco Toyz booth which had a lot of cool stuff based on movies. After I stopped being freaked out but their horror movie-themed toys I started taking a closer look at some of the stuff they brought out.

I really like this Ghostbusters setup. They really look like the actos from the 1984 movie.

John Stewart Green Lantern. I don’t think this costume is from the comics. I did some googling and I think this is the costume he wore in the Injustice 2 game, but the coloring isn’t quite right.

A Joker figure. Not sure what this Joker is from. I want to say he could be the Joker from Gotham because he kind of looks like Cameron Monaghan but honestly I haven’t had the chance to catch up on Gotham so I’m not sure.

Some Warriors and Baseball Furies from the 1979 Warriors movie.

Matt Murdock in his pre-Daredevil vigilante outfit from the Netflix Daredevil series.

And here’s Netflix Daredevil in his costume.

A Jon Berenthal Punisher from the Netflix Punisher series. Mezco Toyz really got this one down. Not only does the head look like Jon Berenthal but also the way the skull is painted on his flak jacket really looks like the one from the series.

Blade from the movies, although in my opinion he looks more like Michael Jai White than he does Wesley Snipes.

Here’s a Ghostrider figure. Honestly I don’t really find this one that impressive. It looks too much like a toy I’d give a kid.

Blackbolt and Lockjaw from the Inhumans. I really like how Lockjaw is just mean mugging.

A Blackpanther figure. I like how they gave it texture to make it look like the outfit T’Challa wore in the movie but I really this one is missing a lot of detail.

I’m going to finish up here with this picture of a giant inflatable Puglie the Pug that the For Fans By Fans/Exploding Kittens booth had up. I kind of wish they had their Q/A machine up at this year’s LACC. That 1 was really fun watching people ask it questions and them giving smartass answers like an even bigger asshole version of the Magi 8-Ball.

Thanks for checking this out. I still have a shit ton of cosplayer photos to go through from LA Comic Con so please check back soon for them.