The New Jersey Collectors' Convention, or NJCC as it is more commonly referred to as, is a regional convention held at the Holiday Inn in Cherry Hill, NJ. The most recent edition of this convention was held on August 18th, 2013. I covered the March 28th 20013 edition of the show and had made some suggestions that I thought would enhance and improve the presentation of this convention and I am happy to say that some of my suggestions were actually implemented for the current edition of the convention.
The main portion of the convention is still the dealers' room and the additional tables just outside the dealers' room where collectors come from all over the area to search for items to complete their collections. Previously, I had commented on the lack of representation of toylines other than "G.I. Joe" and "Transformers" but this time just about every dealer had a variety of different toylines available and there was far less repitition of merchandise from table to table. As usual for this convention, the prices were very reasonable from just about all of the dealers present. The added variety of merchandise really made this show more memorable to me as I saw items that I had not seen since they were originally released twenty to thirty years ago such as a "Captain Power And The Soldiers Of The Future" Power Base playset still sealed in it's original box, just one of many items I saw that rarely even appear in this condition on ebay.
In my last review I mentioned the cramped conditions of the dealers' room and how the shoppers were constantly bumping into each other. The dealers' room was better laid out this time with the tables spaced closer together allowing for wider aisles for shoppers to move through. Although it was still a bit crowded and people were still bumping into each other, but far less than the last show. The attendance for this show seemed to be larger than the last show, it might be time to have a second dealers' room if the NJCC continues to grow in populartity.
The NJCC show runners as usual had an extremely limited custom action figure available at the show. The catch was, it was not for sale and could only be aquired by winning the hourly doorprize raffles. The raffle tickets were given out at the door when you purchased your admission ticket. Other prizes included most if not all of Hasbro's 2013 SDCC Exclusives, including the much sought after "G.I. Joe Vs. The Transformers" set that is currently undergoing some litigation. The exclusive for this show was a custom made figure of "Mirage" originally a member of G.I.Joe's "Mega Marines" subline in the late 1980s. I was unable to acquire a sample figure for review purposes but did receive a great error proof card from Kevin Watts, one of the amazing customizers that put the NJCC exclusive figures together every year. The figure was built off of a "G.I.Joe: Retaliation" Wave 1 Snake Eyes body with custom built and cast add-ons (head, vest, several weapons and flag) .
This edition of the NJCC had Boss Fight Studio as their industry guests. Boss Fight Studio is a group of former Hasbro employees that struck out on their own as an independant toy design studio. During their time at Hasbro, they worked on several different lines including "G.I. Joe" and "Star Wars" producing such incredible figures as the "ultimate" version of Cobra Commander from the current "G.I. Joe: Retaliation" line and the upcoming 3 3/4 "Star Wars Black Series" Mara Jade just to name a few. After leaving Hasbro, Boss Fight Studio designed and sculpted several of the newly tooled heads for the "G.I. Joe Collectors' Club" Figure Subscription Service and Convention Sets and are currently working on some original creator owned concepts they plan to release in the near future. Boss Fight's resident sculptor was doing a sculpting demonstration and the designers were doing sketches for fans as well as having production art and their personally built custom action figures on display.
In closing, this edition of the NJCC was a vast improvement over the last one and I hope that the show continues to grow and evolve in the years to come!
