Well, so much for my original plan. Was going to publish part two of my NYCC 2012 wrap up, but today has been kinda hectic and I just didn’t have the time. Will do that tomorrow instead.

In the meanwhile, feel free to check out my review of Wreck-It-Ralph, which just went live on Kotaku’s back up site! Long story short: sucks that Skrillex didn’t have a larger role. Among other things…

[UPDATE] It’s finally on the main site proper, now that it’s back online. Favorite response thus far: “This review is so terrible that it gave me cancer.”

I supposed I could post my previously intended update later tonight (along with that Attract Mode post that I also wanted to have up, earlier this afternoon as well). It’s not like much is going; even though the city is slowly recovering, much of it is still offline.

Which means this weekend’s plans are still cancelled or simply not possible if they weren’t. Including the midnight screening of Miami Connection. But it’s all good, because at least I have this to keep me company…

Sorry, it’s not out quite yet, except for us lucky press folk! Expect a full review in the coming weeks.

Oh, and I have to do laundry tonight too. Totally forgot. Shit.

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So I guess the new fort90.com works? There’s still plenty of fixes to be made, plus stuff that’s flat out missing, but I guess it’s cool to finally talk about… New York Comic Con 2012!

And how was it? There were lots of people. Lots and lots and lots of people. Was there every single day, and it was pretty much this the entire time…

To be honest, NYCC ended up being a disappointment. The main reason why I was so excited in the first place was for the chance to hang and bang with pals. No plans were made (because of crap cell coverage, coordinating anything was out of the question), and instead I basically expected to run into people while roaming the halls as strange as it sounds (which worked in the past). Hence also the extended stay.

I got to see a few here and there, but that was pretty much it, which was a real bummer. Too bad I wasn’t able to check out any programming either, which is now officially an impossibility. While the wait is not quite as insane as it is in San Diego, it’s getting there. So with that in mind, all I really did was walk around aimlessly, taking pictures (also wasn’t able to secure help like last time, but that’s my fault, for not getting the ball rolling in time).

Hell, I didn’t even do anything cool during the evenings; everyone was either too overwhelmed or exhausted to figure out plans (myself included to a certain extent). I ended up just going to out drinking by my self as sad as that sounds (though I did run into Hilary, who was in the same boat, when I swung by Hagi, which was not the biggest shocker).

Hence why everything is also a blur, so instead of the normal day-by-day breakdown, I’m going to just stick to categories. First up: toys. After all, the majority of day one was spent at what was called the Cultyard, redubbed the Brick (the name change was necessary, due to silly legal reasons, though most agree that a better name could have been come up with).

Anyhow, my very first stop as the ESC-Toys booth, where like 20 or so new figures were making their debut. With my absolute favorite being this PlayStation themed PS-Bot…

As for the rest of the booth…

Directly across the way was Dudebox…

And just around the corner was Frombie…

I feel like a jerk but I totally forget which booth these were from…

Same story here I’m afraid…

Though there’s no forgetting or mistaking a ThreeA figure…

One of the best discoveries was the Real X Head booth, which were all these super rad designer toy makers from Japan. Was their first time at NYCC and I hope they become a staple!

This was right next door. Alas, and once again, the name escapes me…

Another great discovery was the work of Ian Ziobrowski, a jack of all trades that’s based out of Long Island. I believe he’s an illustrator by trade, but why I dug the most where his custom toys…

Some odds and ends; Fat Tony The Tiger by Ron English, Foster ice cream sandwich eating an ice cream sandwich by Brian Flynn, and skeletal Spongebob Squarepants by Secret Base…

But after a while, I decided to move onto the main section of the show floor. Which was where Bandai could be found, pimping their D-Arts line. Needless to say, I dug these Persona 4 figures (plus the two from Digimon in the back)…

This assortment of Mega Man and Mega Man X weas equally fab…

Moving onto the Kotobukiya booth, they finally had their Alisa Bosconovitch (from Tekken 6) figure, which was teased last year…

As well as a bunch of R2 units…

You know, whenever I think I’m done with Star Wars, I come across something like this…

Good Smile made their first appearance at the show (no doubt due to Danny Choo being a special guest). They had tons of Nendroids for sale, with Jack Frost being my personal favorite…

And as a proud Sega Saturn owner, of course I also enjoyed this Sakura Taisen combo as well…

Though Linkin Park? Not so much. Also, lol Japan!

And finally, were there Gundams? Of course there were Gundams, but I only took a picture of the RGZ-95 ReZEL, which is up there with the MSZ-006 Zeta in my book…

K, part two tomorrow will cover shirts, games, and artwork!

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10/31/2012

Hoping You Have A Very Hausu-ween

by Matthew Edward Hawkins

Sup everyone. And welcome to the all-new fort90.com! As you can see, things are a tad bit… different. Some much needed, long overdue backend upgrades have finally taken place. Basically, my blogging software is up to date at last; you have no idea how I’ve been secretly waiting in fear, of some hacker coming in and totally messing the entire place up. Let’s just say, it was a VERY long time.

But it’s also a work in progress, which I believe is obvious. Hopefully, everything will be nice and tight in the new few days. Unfortunately, that might be a tall order, thanks to Hurricane Sandy. It’s also why the past few updates were never posted; today was supposed to the final installment of my three-part look at New York Comic Con 2012 (with the focus on cosplay coming just in time for Halloween). Oh well.

I’m actually at Wax Eye HQ right this second. Thankfully, I never lost power during the storm, though the constant brownouts were nerve-racking to say the least. But I did lose internet early on, along with television.

At first, I was able to use Twitter to good effect. But the day after was when AT&T’s network in my neighborhood (and across NYC) finally began to buckle as everyone began relying upon their iPhones to see how loved ones were doing and to learn about the aftermath. And because I had plans to hang with Joe and June on Halloween anyway, I was simply invited to come over a day early and crash for a bit.

I’ve also been trying to do freelance work and catch up on important emails, which has been somewhat tricky. But I did get to do a Halloween themed post for Attract Mode late last night, for those who haven’t seen it! Speaking of, it has come to my attention that not everyone who frequents this site is aware of my output over at my new second home.

Guess not everyone follows me on Twitter or Tumblr (links to the upper lefthand of the page, btw). So here’s a checklist of what’s been going on over at that end…

- I’m pretty sure I posted my first attempt at an game related Instagram dump, way back when. Which has since become a regular thing! Here’s helping number two and helping number three.

- Here we have a gorgeous looking handmade zine about Nintendo by an insanely talent UK design student and totally amazing photos of a San Francisco Bay Area arcade from the 80s.

- What happens when you cram a Game Boy Advance into the head of a vinyl toy? You get the Super Gigan.

- My pal Lamar is working on a comic about a haunted arcade and it looks absolutely amazing.

- Remember Comics Vs. Games from earlier this year, which was part of TCAF and which I was involved in? The people who helped put it together, TIFF Nexus, produced a documentary and here it is.

- Posted it once before, around here, and posted it once again for Attract Mode: the Labyrinth of the Psychonaut’s absolutely batsh*t insane look at the Super Mario Bros live action movie, plus a few other things.

- My helpful guide to the world of video game print, which has seriously never been healthier.

- If you don’t about Tokyo Scum Brigade, you honestly should by now.

- I’ve also been covering chiptunes for Attract Mode; here’s a recently example, and an earlier one. BTW, a head’s up: I have another Blip Tokyo 2k12 post lined up for very soon.

- And finally, Super Street Fire.

… BTW, the picture above courtesy of the Same Hat Tumblr! Happy Halloween everyone, and in the words of Space Boyfriend, don’t get spooked.

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