Other Side of the Table

I've had the privilege of working at two different card shops during my lifetime and they were honestly two of the greatest jobs I ever had.  Had money not been a factor, I could see myself sitting around a card shop sorting cards and talking shop with co-workers and customers until retirement.  Unfortunately... minimum wage and card shop discounts weren't enough to cover my cost of living expenses, so I became a teacher instead.

Every now and then, I'll get to experience the old LCS days when I go and help out my buddy Mike who sets up at different collectible shows in our area.  I met him while working at my second card shop gig and whenever we hang out, it's just like the good old days.  In fact... half of our conversations seem to revolve around our time at Fun Stuff Collectibles back in the late 90's and early 2000's.

He's been in the collectibles industry since the late 80's and for as long as I have known him, he's focused on obtaining in-person autographs.  Without him, I never would have gone out and gotten all of the San Jose Sharks autographs that are hanging up in my office (pictured above in my header).  It's been a few years since I've gone Shark hunting, but he still does it during the hockey season.  Lately, he's been specializing in celebrity autographs like Robert Englund (Freddy Krueger), Jeremy Bulloch (Boba Fett), and other pop-culture stars that attend the tons of conventions that have grown exponentially popular the past decade or so.

This past Saturday, I helped him out at the 2018 Bay Area Toy Expo and Comic Convention and got a chance to sit on the vendor side of the table and it was quite the experience.  You really get to meet and see some interesting people.  I wish I had taken photos of some of the people who dressed up for the event.  Everywhere you looked there were people wearing Star Wars characters, comic book characters, and even a few video game characters.

But at the end of the day, I was exhausted and came to the ultimate realization that this kind of stuff was no longer my cup of tea.  It was fun to hang out and talk shop, but doing it for 10 hours was a little too much.  I tried to kill some time by walking around the show, but there's only so many times I want to look at action figures and Funko Pops.

I told him that I'd be willing to help him out again in the future, but only if he really needed it.  As a veteran dealer, I think he understood where I was coming from.  He ended up hooking me up with these four signed items as a token of his appreciation:

First up is this Rubie's Boba Fett helmet that's autographed by Jeremy Bulloch and authenticated by Beckett.  Here's a closer look at his signature:

Mike has been involved with a few private signings with Mr. Bulloch over the years and each time he's gotten these helmets signed.  Unfortunately he recently announced his retirement, so it was really generous of Mike to hook me up with one of the last remaining helmets in his inventory.

He also hooked me up with these two signed (JSA witnessed) Funko Pops:

Stranger Things is one of my favorite shows.  This Netflix original really targets people like me who spent part of their childhood in the 80's.  Anyways... there were three cast members at the convention this past weekend: Noah Schnapp (Will Byers), Cara Buono (Karen Wheeler), and Mark Steger (The Demogorgon).  He didn't get anything signed by Mrs. Wheeler, but Mike got several things signed by the other two guys, so he generously gave me one of each.

The final autograph I added to my collection was this signed 8x10 photo:

Before Saturday, I had no idea who Paige was.  Fast forward a few days and I still don't know much about her except for the fact that she employed by WWE and she's easy on the eyes.

Thank you Mike for all of these awesome autographs and for giving me the opportunity to sit on the other side of the table and see things from a dealer's point of view like the good old days.

How about you...

Have you ever set up at a card show or worked at a card shop?  If not, have you ever wanted to?

That's it for today.

Happy Tuesday and sayonara!