by: Chris Eaton
The little con that could.
Its a golden era to be a geek. Not only do we live in a time where movies based on comic book heroes, no matter how obscure, are stars of films. Where video games are a serious, multi-billion dollar industry. And in an age where information and resources are available at the click of a button, reliving the best moments of your childhood are common place. Thus so, fandom, for even the smallest property, has exploded. To the point that fan gatherings are now becoming common place. Hell, we’ve covered a good half dozen of such events since the inception of this site. I’m not talking about things like Comic Con or smaller- type shows. I’m talking about stuff like Bot-Con, or Powermorphicon (Transformers and Power Rangers respectively). Small shows where the focus is on one main property. Where it’s only the true fans showing up to talk show and wax nostalgia. So it was only a matter of time until someone decided that seminal classics in the names He-Man and Thundercats needed to be celebrated in such a way too.
So on the last weekend of this past September, at the Four Points Hotel in the greater Los Angeles area, Power-Con/Thundercon made it’s debut. A show that was both a celebration of He-man and Thundercats and an example of how to do a first year fan fest right. If you peep our gallery, you’ll see that while not a “big” show, it was filled to the brim with fan service. Upon arrival, fearless leader George and myself found ourselves purchasing tickets in the Hotel lobby at the entrance booth. It’s one thing to note that the lovely woman we bought our tickets from went the extra mile to apply the wrist bands properly, so that the sticky part doesn’t gnarl the hairs on our arms. Seems small, but it earned a lot of points. After reviewing the program, which featured some incredible original art, we started our day.
The main floor or dealers room (if you will) was a nice medium size ball room that made the best use of space. Along the walls were the toy dealers dishing out long lost He-man and Thundercats figures from days of yore. They also had other things too, like some Inhumanoids toys, TMNT figures and a hefty amount of new Mattel He-Man Matty Collector figures. Only one dealer had any of the new Thundercats figures, which are harder to find than bigfoot. The center of the floor was made up of various degrees of guests and non toy dealers. There were a few artist selling various fan art prints that ranged from awesome to cutesy like Lordmesa’s art. Writers and contributors to both shows hung out and talked to fans and sold their own merchandise. A cosplay booth selling He-Man costumes and accessories had a good amount of foot traffic visiting it. Cereal Geek, the fanzine devoted to 80′s cartoons had a nice strong presence as well. 
According to their twitter, they did very nicely the whole weekend. Across from this isle, was Mattel. Their booth was basically a window into your wallet for next year as they had display cases showing off the next round of Matty collector figures for He-Man’s 30th anniversary. Oh, and a massive diorama of their current line of figures that represent the bulked up versions of the original 80′s toys. A t-shirt dealer sold the precious few original He-Man and non logo Thundercats shirts that are commercially available. George went a little nuts when he saw these and well, let’s say he has a more diverse wardrobe now. Mill Creek was selling their newly released He-Man DVD sets at a very reasonable price and was even giving away a few prizes to the attendees. Filling out the rest of the room was a dealer for a book that collected all of Mattel’s original art for the toy line (of which awesome dose not begin to describe the wonders of the book) and a table filled with some of the most amazing custom figures from Master (Jon) English Customs you’ll see this side of the Mississippi. Two words: He-Bro. Finally, against the back wall, was the meet and greet area. Usually after every panel (and there were PANELS!) the panel members would sign and talk to fans. It was one of the best organized lines and signings I’ve seen in a long time.
Across the hall in a smaller room was the Art & Collectibles Collection (Archive). A He-Man collector’s dream come true. Adoring the walls was original art from Mattel that was used to pitch the various toys and vehicles that were eventually made. On a side note, even outside of He-Man fandom, there really needs to be a traveling show of these pieces. Even though there were a good handful of pieces, from flipping through the book that was available inside the dealer room, there are hundreds of these paintings that are out there. I do believe that most of them are still with Mattel or in the hand of a private collector. Continuing on. Interspersed with the paintings were original panels from the He-Man comic from 2003. Making up the rest of the room though, were the figures. The savior of Mattel and the drainer of wallets everywhere, it was like a play room of an eccentric man child. All the major figures from the original toy line were present. Separated in different selves by heroes and villains. Beyond that was the 89 New Adventures figures and the creme de la creme for guys like me. The 2002 Four Horsemen line. The greatest toy line to ever be blundered by horrible marketing. The Four Horsemen designs are what got me back into He-Man in my early 20′s. And the show that followed cemented my long forgotten love of the show and characters. Looking at them all lined up in the display cases, next to the original figures, not only reminded you of how to properly re-imagine a beloved property, but also angered up the blood by how it was so poorly managed and dumped. Seriously, we didn’t need Samurai Spinning He-Man and Skeletor and only one new villain and hero that were a pain in the ass to find upon release! Why was Evil Lynn so damn hard to come by? It shouldn’t have been that way! But, I digress. Rounding out the display cases were the She-Ra figures (more girlie than I remember) and the various different He-Man licensed products from the years gone by.
But the reason to show up were the panels. Let me just give you Saturday alone:
10:00AM
- Power-Con / ThunderCon opens to the general public
- Panel: Matty Collector Presentation (10:00am – 10:45am)
Join Mattel as they talk about the Masters of the Universe Classics line from MattyCollector.com. The presentation will include exclusive reveals and a look at how a Classics action figure is made.
Featuring: Scott Neitlich, MattyCollector.com Team (Danielle McLachlan, Rhobyn Dejesus, Terry Higuchi, Mike Guarniere and Bill Benecke)
Moderators: Mike Guarniere and Bill Benecke
11:00AM
- Panel: The Four Horsemen (11:00am – 11:45am)
Come hang out with action figure sculptors the Four Horsemen as they talk about their involvement in Masters of the Universe and their own current projects.
Featuring: Chris Dahlberg, Eric Mayse, Eric Treadaway, Jim Preziosi
Moderator: Danielle Gelehrter
- Signing Session: Matty Collector (11:00am – 12:00pm)
Featuring: Scott Neitlich, MattyCollector.com Team (Danielle McLachlan, Rhobyn Dejesus, Terry Higuchi, Mike Guarniere and Bill Benecke)
12:00PM
- Panel: Masters of the Original He-Man Toyline (12:00pm – 12:45pm)
Be prepared to journey back to that which started it all! Join the Mattel employees who were involved in the original Masters of the Universe toyline that grossed over a billion dollars during the 1980s.
Featuring: Martin Arriola, Paul Cleveland, Ted Mayer, Mark Taylor
Moderator: Jon Kallis
- Signing Session: General (12:00pm – 1:00pm)
Check the signing area to see which talent has stopped by to meet the fans!
1:00PM
- Panel: Filmation: A Focus on He-Man (1:00pm – 1:45pm)
Filmation Studios brought He-Man to life with their He-Man and the Masters of the Universe cartoon series which ran in syndication for 130 action-packed episodes. This panel includes such talent as developers, writers, directors, and artists who made the cartoon shine. They will discuss their time at Filmation and on the He-Man cartoon.
Featuring: Larry DiTillio, Rowby Goren, Michael Halperin, Tom Sito, Gwen Wetzler
Moderator: James Eatock
- Signing Session: Original Toyline (1:00pm – 2:00pm)
Featuring: Martin Arriola, Paul Cleveland, Ted Mayer, Mark Taylor
2:00PM
- Panel: The Classic ThunderCats (2:00pm – 2:45pm)
Reminisce with two of the voice actors who infused life into such engaging characters as Lion-O and Pumyra on the original ThunderCats cartoon from Rankin-Bass.
Featuring: Larry Kenney, Gerrianne Raphael
Moderator: Celesta Johnson
- Signing Session: Filmation He-Man (2:00pm – 3:00pm)
Featuring: Larry DiTillio, Rowby Goren, Michael Halperin, Tom Sito, Gwen Wetzler
3:00PM
- Panel: 2002 He-Man: Exploring the Mike Young Productions Cartoon (3:00pm – 3:45pm)
It was 2002 and Mattel was ready to revive He-Man with a brand new series that debuted with high ratings on Cartoon Network. This panel includes such talent as developers, writers, and directors who worked on the series. They will be discussing their time on the revival.
Featuring: Michael Halperin, Gary Hartle, Ian Richter, Dean Stefan
Moderator: Jon Kallis
- Signing Session: General (3:00pm – 4:00pm)
Check the signing area to see which talent has stopped by to meet the fans!
4:00PM
- Panel: Mini-Comics Past and Present (4:00pm – 4:45pm)
Two eras join forces to talk about the original Masters of the Universe mini-comics that were included with each action figure in the original toyline and the brand new mini-comics that will be released with selected figures in the Masters of the Universe Classics line.
Featuring: Don Glut, Larry Houston, Scott Neitlich, Tim Seeley
Moderator: Danielle Gelehrter
- Signing Session: 2002 He-Man Mike Young (4:00pm – 5:00pm)
Featuring: Michael Halperin, Gary Hartle, Ian Richter, Dean Stefan
5:00PM
- Panel: Toy Masters (5:00pm – 5:45pm)
“Toy Masters” is the first ever feature-length documentary about the world-wide, billion dollar phenomenon that inspired an entire generation of children –”Masters of the Universe.” Filmmakers Roger Lay, Jr. and Corey Landis will be screening exclusive material from the documentary.
Featuring: Corey Landis, Roger Lay Jr.
Moderator: Roger Lay, Jr.
That’s Saturday. One day. An attack of fandom upon the psyche that is usually only reserved for a big show like Comic Con. Attending the Mike Young Productions (the 2002 series) panel was a fascinating look into how the show got off the ground. The room was incredibly intimate, being that there were about 60 or 70 people in there, you got a discreet history lesson about how a relaunch happens and how it can all end in a blink. All well and good, but the goodies of the panel were the show’s creators talking about the “what if’s” of season 1 and 2 and the overall story of season 3. The return of Hordak, the defeat of the Snake Men. He-Man going underground after Skeletor uses Faker to discredit him and finally becoming leader of Eternia. He-Man having to go to Despondos to find an exiled King Randor. SHE-RA! AAGH! I thought I’d be the only one worked up about what would have happened, but everyone in that room groaned at the loss of what could have been.
Lastly, we sat in on the Toy Masters Panel. I’m stating this now: I firmly believe that this is going to be a dark horse doc that’s going to catch everyone by surprise. The filmmakers along with several guests, including the creators of He-Man, and the director of the He-Man movie, gave everyone an insight into a documentary that is looking like a Ken Burns 10 part doc about toys and the dramatic world involving their development. But there is so much to He-Man and Mattel that I don’t think a lot of people knew about, and that’s what Toy Masters is trying to tell. We were shown a few scenes from the film, and it looks spectacular. As I said in the beginning, it’s a golden age for geeks. Not only is it possible to get a show like this off the ground and successful, but the technology to go out and produce documentaries like this, made by fans, is mind blowing. Toy Masters is currently one of four films that is either shooting or done that hasn’t been released yet. The others are The Shark is Still Working (a massive Jaws bio film) A Drew Struzan doc, and Cleanin up the Town (about the history of Ghostbusters). Toy Masters is still filming, and I believe that the directors said that they currently have over 30 hours of footage and are still going. They did give us a promise that it will be out on DVD some time soon, and besides the film, will feature a lot of the footage that won’t make the feature. The same guys are also releasing Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future on DVD this year as well.
Overall though, what made Power-Con/Thundercon great is that it truly was a fan experience. This was a show made by the fans for the fans. The show’s organizers not only got Mattel to come out and help sponsor the show, but had them display their wears too. Talent was another thing. There are a lot of people involved in all three shows, and not only did Power-Con bring them out, they allowed you to interact with them as well. Hell, George and I ran into Gary Goddard, director of the He-Man movie and creator of Captain Power. Man was cordial as a knight. We saw him walking the floor talking with fans before his panel and he made time for everyone he could. Add that they had guys like Alan Oppenheimer and Larry Kenny in attendance signing and talking with fans. Where do you ever get to meet the actual Lion-O and Skeletor? Same for everyone else who was a professional attending the show. Like the Four Horsemen, Mike Young Productions, Matty Collector, and the people involved with the new Thundercats. That’s what makes a great show in my opinion. Going that extra distance for the people that the fans want to show their appreciation to. The fact that all of these people were kind and cordial was just icing on the sweet, delicious cake that was Power-Con. Even though it wasn’t the biggest convention I’ve been to, it out ranked many on levels of pure joy to attend. A high water mark has been set for fan shows now, and it’s going to be hard for many to follow in the foot steps of a show like Power-Con. If you missed this year, make damn sure to mark your calenders for the 2012 show, as it’ll be He-Man’s 30th anniversary. I’m sure that it’s going to be a party that you won’t see anywhere else.
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