The con was a complete success. I took the red eye Thursday night to arrive in NY Friday morning. A nice insane drive through rush hour traffic got me to the show about 10 AM leaving me 2 hours to set up. I had my own 10x10" booth so I hung shirts and signs on the back curtain and covered one table with comics, dolls, books, etc.
The show opened to the trade at noon and the public got in at 4 PM. By about 2 PM it had gotten busy and it never let up for the rest of the weekend. My friend Brian had come down from Pennsylvania on Friday to help out but I was on my own the other 2 days. From what I heard the show was so crowded on Saturday that they had to stop selling tickets and letting people in. A collector friend of mine Jim Rash tried to get in on Saturday but was turned away.
I met a ton of great people including Rebekah (see photo below) who is Mr Toast's new #1 fan. I got to talk to cool people from Del Rey Books, Nick Jr Magazine, IFC, Mirage Publishing, Capt Blue Hen Comics, CultureCatch, MOCCA, Harper Collins, American Greetings and so many others I am forgetting. Thanks to everyone that came.
This is the first show I have done with the Mr Toast dolls and they went over big. I sold over 100 dolls including every last small doll (even a few that has small fabric imperfections). A couple people told me that the dolls were the hit of the show. One person came by the booth on Sunday and said that they had seen someone on the subway with one and had to come get one for themselves! It is a small, strange and generally amazing world.
The Mr. Toast doll is very appealing. I have him on the couch in the living room and every night when I get home, it is a huge kick to see him sitting there waiting for me. Is there a large size doll? I can see how he could be really popular as a sofa cushion. Because he would look less like a pillow and more like a person. Although Mr. Toast is not really a person I guess. A personage. - David @ Plan59
ReplyDeletep.s. I know I owe you a print from way back when. It is coming!
yeah there is also an 11" doll but the little ones seem to be by far the more popular. in person he also elicits the doughboy effect with everyone pushing his belly and saying "He is so cute". I have always been a big fan of cute so it all good.
ReplyDeleteMy 11 incher sits in the passenger seat of my car when I commute two hours to work everyday. How else could I use the carpool lane?...:)
ReplyDeleteSounds absolutely thrilling! Congratulation, Dan... no doubt we'll be seeing Mr. Toast on the big screen soon and buying Post Mr. Toast ( in regular, cinnamon or chocolate ) cereal before you know it! :-)
ReplyDeleteI was at the con (me and my girlfriend bought Mr. Toast t-shirts) and I just wanted to let you know that ever since my girlfriend and I have been really obsessed with Mr. Toast and we have had long conversations about Mr. Toast talking about all the really cute things we could imagine Mr. Toast doing (one of my favorites is probably imagining him walking along the edge of the curb like a tightrope and balancing on one leg). Anyway, I totally want a big Mr. Toast to put on my couch. Thank you for being awesome! -Sean
ReplyDeletewell thanks for coming down and braving the lines. hopefully someday there will be small robotic mr toast's walking all over the place and doing odd things for the amusment of us all. that is world I plan on helping make happen.
ReplyDeleteMr Toast is great! The best thing of the whole NY Comicon...though he does remind me a bit of Kogepan...I look forward to getting my own Mr. Toast doll, and taking him on my trips around the world. I'll be sure to send some photos of him and his travles.....
ReplyDelete