The Vendors of Comic-Con

Last Sunday was My First Comic-Con. It was a really great time and I’m really looking forward to the day when Seraphim City has a table there too. The vendors were a great array of characters. I have been to a ton of flea markets and Renaissance Festivals and it was as though the types of vendors were mixed together. There was:

1) The Bored – “This is my 8 millionth event and I am not impressed by your costume you spent 6 months on! I’m not gonna even get up from my chair to wait on you; bring your item and money to me or I’ll throw bobble heads at you!”

I swear some of those vendors actually live at the convention center, they had so much equipment I can only imagine how much work it would take to pack up again. Those old-hat vendors were usually polite, but the wonder of the event was obviously lost on them, they didn’t get excited about the costumes or make polite conversation with the customers.
2) The Grouchy/Desperate – “Dear please god buy my shit as I glare and get weird when you won’t take the merchandise I’m trying to hand you!”

There was one in particular that completely weirded me out. First of all, I was drawn to the table because it featured Victorian style clothing, which was what I was wearing. I already had my outfit but for some reason they (all 3 people behind the table) kept trying to hand me dress accessories. I was wearing a top hat and vest, not a dress and I am not a dress person at all! They tried to hand me lacy gloves, a dress cape and even some blingy costume jewelry and when I wouldn’t take the items it quickly got awkward. They didn’t want to talk about working the con or what got them into Victorian and other costume ideas, they just wanted us to buy.

3) The Conspiracy Theorist – “I care less about selling you things and more about the failure of earth’s engineers to terraform other planets so we can uncrowd our plant, you agree with me don’t you? You haven’t walked away yet so I’m gonna take that as an invitation to keep on talking!”

Luckily I wasn’t the one to get caught by the vendors at this table, but my friend and girlfriend did! She was selling very pretty watercolor pics and they stopped to look. The vendor began talking at them as though it was already the middle of the conversation, there was no build up to, just instant conspiracy theories. “6 billion people is just too many for our planet to support, don’t you agree?!” It became so insane, they just started smiling and nodding while trying to walk away. Definitely a fond memory.

4) The Once Famous – “Yeah that was me in that black and white movie years ago which makes me awesome, so buy my book that has nothing to do with that movie!”

I have watched a lot of movies, a lot. I have never seen the movie he was talking about, nor did I actually stop at his table, I glanced over to see what he was selling and then he pounced, telling me within the space of time it took to walk the length of his table I’m pretty sure he told me his life story and was ready to hand me a gift wrapped book!

5) The Passionate Collectors – “I have a real job and no responsibilities, I’m just here to chat with the interesting people and sell the rejects from my person collection.”

This guy was a great time. So from what we could tell, he was single, had a great paying job and just spent all of his free time and money buying Star Wars collectibles. His table was covered with what he called his “Extras”. Yes, he had three tables (one commandeered) covered in purely his duplicate items and things he had bought to steal pieces off of to make his main collection better. I can’t even imagine how much stuff he had at his house!
6) The Comfy – “Sure it would be nice if you bought from me because my stuff is good quality and interesting, but it’s cool and I love your outfit, come and see me again!”

This kind of vendor was my favorite. One in particular that stood out was a candle vendor who had the most creative scents, all in soy candles. (My girlfriend has a thing for soy candles). One of the scents was 221b and smelled how she thought Sherlock Holmes’ apartment would smell, and she wore the traditional Sherlock hat! She was one the few vendors who seemed more interested in chatting, soaking up the ambiance, having a good day. This is the kind of vendor I want to be when I grow up!

 

So many entertaining people! The Con was a great time and the colorful and eclectic just made it even more fun!

Jill