I had a half day of work on Friday, so I arrived after a FREAKY experience on the blue line train (A Psycho on the train!) around 1. I checked in to get my advance purchased tickets into the convention- I had a weekend pass which also allowed entrance 30 minutes before the show opened to the general public on Saturday and Sunday. Of course, I never got there that early, but if I had really wanted to...

Anyway, I got to the Trailer Park room at 2pm, where they showed a slew of trailers of upcoming movies. Some I had seen before, like the next Matrix and LOTR's Two Towers (which got the most applause) and Daredevil. I was a little taken aback by the Harry Potter Chamber of Secrets trailer- they seemed to be showing all the action stuff already so that there wouldn't be much surprise in the movie when it came out. There was also a trailer for the Hulk, as well as talk about X-Men which confirms that Nightcrawler is in the movie, as is all the original good guy X-men and at least Magneto and Mystique for the bad guys.

After that, I stayed in the room (front seat!) and waited for the Beat The Geeks fan show, but with a real geek- Paul Goebel, the TV geek.

Walking around the floor after the show was over- I swear he let the fan win, he was just nailing all the questions and showing off by giving out extra information, and the contestant answers were SO ridiculously easy- I saw quite a few interesting things. For instance, there was a Dragonball Hummer! Nearby, people gathered to play gigantic sized versions of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer card game (on giant cards which they stuck on a wall) and the videogame (complete with her usual quips from the series).

There were quite a few people dressed up as characters... lots of Star Wars stormtroopers, some bounty hunters, Darth Vader, Leia, Jedi, etc. There were several Star Wars guests at Wizardworld 2002- seven actually, four from the old trilogy and three who were in the Episode II. With the Episode II people, it seemed mostly connections and sheer luck (being the right look and in a modeling book at a model agency) that landed the part. The girls looked malnourished. Makes you wonder how many people we see on the screen are actually that tiny but the camera really adds on those 7 pounds to make them appear somewhat normally slim. By the Hasbro exhibit they had pretend "toy boxes" for people to stand inside and pose as the next toy for Star Wars or GI Joe. There was also a "Cobra 'doll'" to pose with. They had lots of Transformers and GI Joe figures in cases and a few Star Wars figures. Most impressive was the GI Joe scene.

I didn't buy anything at all, despite being tempted by unnecessary but nostalgia-affected toys and all the boot-legs. I spent the most money on food! I ate at the revolving restaurant on top of the Hyatt Regency as the sun set. However, there were some interesting booths- most were just fun because of silliness or bring back memories of childhood. Some stuff was plain out unique- such as a lightsaber booth. And yes, I actually saw people carrying them around because they had bought one!

And here is the best for last- the wackiest site was a small statue in the dealer section of Hulk Hogan, old school, and he is even blushing! I also posed with one of the Fantastic Four!