Recap From Rhode Island Comic Con 2023

Just as two years ago, I had a blast at Rhode Island Comic Con. "Little Rhody" might be the smallest state in the union, but obviously it's situated in the densely populated northeast. The crowd was enormous. At one point, we had to reverse direction because the sea of people was nearly literal, and we couldn't fight the tide. I had great fun hanging out with site contributor, John Miko. If Bantha Skull is invited back next year, I may try to talk him into taking a day off from work and attending on Friday in hopes of a slightly less dense crowd.

If you have easy access to Providence, Rhode Island, I highly recommend taking in the event next year. We should do a Bantha Skull meet up!

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I apologize for not having better shots of the celebrity section. There are several signing areas throughout the convention. The first area in these photographs is the arena. The initial shots are just trying to establish some scale. The next shots are just meant to show the signing tables themselves. Not all the celebrities were present yet. The fact that you get a glimpse of Scott Evil is a coincidence. The second signing area was in the convention hall and it was packed like sardines. In fact, it was at capacity the first time we swung by, and we couldn't get in. Later I was able to snap a pic of Wayne Knight (above), and the inimitable Vicki Lawrence, but the focus isn't great. Again, this wasn't exactly conducive to photography (press pass or no). I couldn't get near Anthony Daniels.

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There weren't a lot of Star Wars cosplayers on the floor. It was a little surprising, but I did spot the above Morgan Elsbeth cosplayer, which I thought was super cool, and her costume was outstanding. Well done! The reason for the lack of Star Wars cosplayers on the floor was that they were amassed in the 501st section. Mr. Miko even got to recreate a famous scene with the 501st. The Pit Droid was collecting donations, which was hilarious (that picture cost me a buck!). I think you will all know what the last picture in this group means.

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We got to talk to Tony from Knowhere Toys for a while. Just as in 2021, he has one of the best booths at Rhode Island Comic Con for both Star Wars and vintage toy collectors. I still cherish the vintage 12" Darth Vader I bought from him two years ago. He has reasonable prices and a great selection. He's a super nice guy, and if you think you recognize him, you might. He sometimes appears on the Toy Federation YouTube channel.

I didn't come away with any purchases from the show, but that was more do to financial discipline than lack of opportunity. I was very tempted by the Saga Collection Dagobah X-Wing. It was open and complete. They were asking a reasonable $100. I thought about trying to negotiate down to $80, but if I'm going to plunk down on that item, I should go for an unopened sample so we can add it to our galleries.

There were a ton of mega-keys that I saw. Amazing Fantasy #15. Daredevil #1. Fantastic Four #1. X-Men #1. The nicest copies Amazing Spide-Man #2 and #9 that I have ever personally seen. There's also a con lesson here. Be sure you have an idea about the up-to-date market values ahead of time. Do you see that copy of Clone Wars #1 in 9.6 condition below with an asking price of $1,250? There is a completed Ebay sale for one on November 1st for $825. $1,250 reflects the price at the height of speculation during the Ahsoka series. And I don't mean to suggest that this is the norm. I saw a lot of reasonable and fair prices. If it were not for my financial discipline, I may have come home with a few.

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