Quantum Mechanix - Convention Menace

You’re a nerd so you already know Quantum Mechanix (or QMX) makes awesome stuff from hyper-detailed replicas to animated maquettes. Online, their transactions are painless but the last two times I’ve dealt with them at conventions I’ve been disappointed.

Back in November of 2010 I went to Creation’s Salute to Firefly, Buffy/Angel, and Dollhouse and laid eyes on the awesome River and Wash from their Little Damn Heroes line. I asked if they were for sale at the convention – they weren’t but they were available for pre-order so I preordered both figurines and paid for them. A few weeks later I got an email that asked for payment.

Panicked, I found the receipt and emailed back that I’d already paid for the items. Then I got an email back that explained that they had received payment for the figurines but not for shipping. At the show, the person who sold the figurines to me never told me that shipping would be handled later so that I’d be prepared for the email. I thought that was thoughtless and irritated me but I considered it a lesson on pre-ordering items in the future.

Then, last week at Comic-Con, I saw the Kaylee Big Damn Heroes Animated Maquette. Kaylee’s my favorite character and I knew it wasn’t available online yet but they had the figure at the show. The price tag in the case read $59.95 and the salesman warned me that Kaylee didn’t have a peg or anything that connected her to the engine part so he suggested gluing her down. Cool – good advice.

Once I got Kaylee for the register the amount was about $75 and I told the lady working the register that Kaylee was $59.95. She said Kaylee was listed for $69.95 not $59.95. I paid and thought I saw the price wrong. It was possible – I was excited to get the maquette. But before leaving, I went back to the display case and was right – it was listed for $59.95. I told the lady I was right about the price and she told me that the price in the display case was wrong. The salesman told her that it had said $59.95 all convention and she started arguing that it was the wrong price according to what she had.

At the least I expected one of them to turn to me and apologize for the misunderstanding. At the most I thought they’d refund $10 for the confusion. I walked away pissed while they were arguing and ignoring me. Over the last week I haven’t given it much thought. If the maquette is $69.95, that’s just the way it is.

But I got an email today about Kaylee’s maquette going on sale and clicked the link. The price on the website is $59.95. They squeezed an extra $10 out of me at the convention and I didn’t even get an apology.

QMX – great products, crappy customer service. I’ll deal with them online for the Little Damn Heroes (I want to finish the set) but I’m not investing in anything new from them (even if I’m excited about them doing Guild maquettes) and I’m definitely not dealing with them at conventions anymore. When the Little Damn Heroes set is done, so am I. I don’t normally do business with companies who treat me poorly.

 Kaylee - Big Damn Heroes animated maquette is awesome...except for gluing her down and paying $10 extra...

Bad Fortune

Today I went to Pick Up Stix (it's won-ton Wednesday and I need my fix) and got this in the fortune cookie:

Next time might I suggest gender neutral pronouns. Jerk.

Just for the record - Speedball likes the ladies. In fact, this seems like a good time to write about them.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer is my favorite show. For seven seasons I got to know and love these characters as the stakes got higher and the bad guys got closer to killing them all. Of course Buffy isn't the only woman I love from that show, there's also Willow, Faith, Dawn, Anya, Cordy, Tara, and Kennedy.

Alias is one of my favorite shows. Since season two it was always on the brink of cancellation but it kept getting renewed until we had five seasons and a complete story. Sydney Bristow was played to the hilt by Jennifer Garner who picked up an Emmy for best actress in the first season.

No list would be complete without the underappreciated gem, Dark Angel. For two short seasons Max kicked ass and tried to help out her fellow transgenics (the closest thing to having an X-Men TV show). It also introduced geeks to their goddess: Jessica Alba.

Of course there's the amazing women of Firefly/Serenity. Each character is so different but each has the other's back no matter what. As far as the list goes, I've met all four in person and they're so much fun and sweet in person.

Wizard World Anaheim 2010

There’s been talk that Comic Con International could be moving to Anaheim because it has more convention space and available hotels nearby. I hope it doesn’t because right now that convention is local to me and I like going everyday (it’s huge) and I don’t want to pay for a hotel. Two weeks ago I got a look at Comic Con International’s possible new home when I went to the first ever Wizard World Anaheim.

Wizard World Anaheim was from April 16 – 18 at the Anaheim Convention Center (right across the street from Disneyland). It was held in one hall of the massive convention center.

I’ve never been to a Wizard World convention but it was a really good time. The only thing I have to compare it too is Comic Con in San Diego. I’ve been going to the San Diego Con for about 25 years. With that in mind, I hit the Anaheim floor like a tornado, covering the entire room in about an hour. Very few celebs, with the exception of Shannen Doherty, Holly Marie Combs, and Adam West had large lines (and even those lines didn’t last long, allowing everyone who wanted an autograph to get one). The sellers were helpful and there were a lot of great deals to be had.

The vibe was really mellow and laid back and the celebrities were friendly. From my hotel (on the perimeter of Disneyland), I could clearly see the fireworks display every night.

I didn’t go the last day because the size of the con allows you to do everything you want to do in one day. I’m going to do it again next year, but just for Saturday.

Here are a few pix from the event – none of them were taken by me but others took great pictures.

The Anaheim Ghostbuster franchise (I can't wait for GB3)

The Purrfect Angelz - like the Pussycat Dolls, but geek friendly

The always awesome and sweet Jewel Staite (who plays Kaylee, my favorite Firefly/Serenity character)

Whedon Statue Wishes (aka where Xander and Giles at?)

A few lines of statues for Serenity and Buffy the Vampire Slayer have come out in the last few years. They’ve been great if not complete. What I mean is that while a few statues have been released, not all the main characters have been represented.


Serenity started out with its Diamond Select statues. Each one featured a character in a pose from the movie with a base that matched. For “Inara Strikes,” Inara is standing behind a barrier while taking aim and for “River Trumphant,” she is standing on a base of Reaver bodies just as she was in the film. After the release of these two statues, “Zoe’s Revenge,” was announced and never released. The statues were great even if the actual likenesses weren’t great.

River Triumphant from Diamond Select

Then came Quantum Mechanix’s series, Little Damn Heroes. It’s been about a year since the last maquette, Jayne, came out and no other characters have been announced so I’m guessing that the series has ended. It was an amazing series – affordable, unique, and fun. Each figure was ‘toon’ style on a plain base but all holding or wearing episode specific items like Mal’s trench coat and gun, Kaylee’s overalls (with teddy bear patch) and umbrella, and Jayne’s hat and ‘Vera.’

Kaylee from Little Damn Heroes

For those keeping score at home, if you were to put together the Diamond Select statues with the Little Damn Heroes, you get: River, Inara, Mal, Jayne, and Kaylee. We’re missing Zoe, Wash, Book, and Simon.

Then, from my favorite show of all time, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, we have the “Essence of” series of statues from Diamond Select. These statues showed the characters in situations that weren’t show-specific but very cool (Buffy in action with a vamp being dusted, Willow levitating, etc.) and each one had a unique light-up bases. Unlike the Serenity statues, the “Essence of” statues had great likenesses. But after four great statues, the line ended.

All of the statues from the "Essence of" line

Now we have the ‘Tooned Up’ series from Electric Tiki. This series, I am very happy to say, is ongoing. The statues were ‘toon’ style and is what the highly-anticipated-and-never-delivered cartoon series would have looked like. The Buffy statue comes in two or three different episode-specific outfits (same pose) with different hands that contain a stake, bo staff, and the slayer scythe. Willow comes in ‘Vengence’ (from the time she went after Glory) and ‘Dark Willow’ versions (again, same pose – just different paint jobs). Every statue so far (except for Glory) has had different versions but all have been awesome. The ‘Tooned Up’ version of Faith just came out and has an interchangeable hand so that she can hold a stake or her signature knife.

Buffy, Glory, and Dark Willow from the 'Tooned Up' series

Buffy, Angel, Spike, and Willow each got “Essence of” statues from Diamond Select. Electric Tiki has put out ‘Tooned Up’ versions of Buffy, Willow, Glory, Faith, and has just finished a sculpt for Spike (with a human and vamped-out version).

The forthcoming Spike statue looks awesome

There have been a lot of great statues but no line has lasted long enough to give me the core group of characters from either Serenity or Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I’ve already mentioned the characters that are missing from Serenity core characters. As far as Buffy statues, Buffy and Willow are in both series but I want a Xander and Giles statue. Cordelia would be nice too but I’ve always considered Buffy, Willow, Xander, and Giles the core of the series and it would be great to be able to have those four united on a shelf.

The problem with a statue series is that the items come out one at a time and take a month or a few months between releases and don’t last very long before they’re discontinued. Most of the items are limited which means that you have to get the pieces that you’re interested in before they sell out and hope that they come out with other characters you want.

Now Sideshow Collectibles has another Buffy statue series. Their first statue, “Buffy: Throne of the Slayer” is due in September. If I order the first statue, will they eventually release a Willow, Xander, and Giles statue. Probably not, but I still ordered the first statue and will hope for the best.

Sideshow Collectibles' "Throne of the Slayer"