St Tammany Comic Con

 In the state of Louisiana, counties are called parishes. In St Tammany parish every April and October (the next 2024 show is in November) is the St Tammany Comic Con, which us in the town of Mandeville, LA. I discovered this small convention in 2022, and managed to find a Kenner Holy Grail, and another last year. Guests there aren't numerous but there have been a couple who I knew, Deep Roy, the actor who played all the Oompa Loompa parts in Johnny Depp's Willy Wonka movie, and John Morten, who played Dak in The Empire Strikes Back. But this time, WWE Hall of Famer Sgt Slaughter was there! And yes I got to meet him, and get his autograph, as well as a special collectable from the Sarge! Sadly, nobody there cosplayed as Cobra Commander last Saturday, but if they had, it would have been great to see Cobra Commander in the Cobra Clutch! 

A big advantage in the St Tammany Con is the merchandise prices are fair. Fan Expo NOLA is a bit of a near rip off. This year, inflation did hit, but I still found great values as I'll show later on. The convention site is the Castine Center in Mandeville, and is quite easy to get to, but it can be a hassle getting out as there is only 1 entrance and exit (the site is huge and there may be another but honestly I never looked hard for it). Still, it's easy to get out, even with the surrounding baseball fields having tournaments. If you're hunting action figures, this is the place to be! 

Now, I had some action figures I was looking for that weren't Star Wars related. I hoped someone there had the Jean Paul Valley Batman from the final issue of the Knightfall comic series (aka Batman issue 500 costume), and struck out. I was also keeping an eye out for Playmates Star Trek original series figures, but no luck there either. There were plenty enough vendors to supply my main collecting needs. 

CONVENTION HAUL

1. Sgt Slaughter Cobra Clutch Coin

I won't post my photo with Sarge, since I only have that for me, and family and friends. But this is the coin you get if you can survive the Cobra Clutch! As someone with neck and back issues, Sarge didn't do the full clutch, naturally! But he was very pleasant to talk to, and if you saw the recent WWE Biography on him which aired on the A&E network, he is incredibly nice and kind. His autograph prices were fair, as was the price for the Clutch!  Flash photography is not allowed when getting your photo op, so be sure it's off before you get your picture taken. And a special thanks to Sgt Slaughter for coming down for the convention! 

2. GI JOE 1:18 Figures

Honestly, I bought these for custom purposes, with the Crimson Neo Viper being a possible troop builder for Maul, or Gideon. I had hoped to fund a Lady Jaye from the Retalliation line, or the 25th Anniversary line but no luck. I did find a couple Scarlett figures, mainly for head swaps, but I have an idea for another Mara Jade custom using both figures. The Flash figure (2nd on top) will be the base for a future Dash Rendar figure, I just need to figure out the color scheme to use, and I have enough custom weapons to use for him so it's all good. Zartan makes for a good Sith Lord or Dark Side user custom. I had been keeping an eye out on eBay for this version, and got him for half the alsing price on eBay. Like I said, you can find great deals all over! With the new armored Cobra Commander, it's an opportunity to recreate the 1st ever custom figure I made as a kid! Back then I took the 1987 Cobra Commander, painted him all black and gave him a red cocktail sword to use as a lightsaber to battle Luke Skywalker. The good news with this figure is I can do the same thing, and the joints won't paint rub when I move them. I got a good deal on that figure (seller took off $10 for the yellowed bubble). I'll post updates over the summer on my progress on any custom attempts using the figures shown above. I've got enough acrylic paint, and time to make some customs. 

3. Star Wars 1:18 Figures

Needless to say, I hit the motherboard! The only figures I overpaid on were the 4 packs of the Tuskens, and Imperial Officer pack. But for $15 I got the Endor Capture Luke, which I'm keeping on card. For $10 I got a loose Han on the torture rack, on card it went for $20. I even found a Retro Tarkin (who had the wrong weapon) loose as well! On the top right I found the most recent Hammerhead, ironically at the same vendor where I bought my Kenner Hammerhead last year, and at the same price of $20. If the VC HasLab is the Cantina, you may want to grab that version, since one for the VC may be a while in arriving.  I found an extra Sith Jet Trooper, and a couple Heavy Battle Droids for $10 a piece. And then there's the red ARC Trooper, aka Captian Fordo. My original intent was to keep him on card, and he cost $40. But sadly, the card was dinged (my one complaint of the convention site is the lighting is average, and most vendors there didn't allow flash photography) so I opened him up. The 4 packs were the highlight, especially the Tuskens which led me to finally open the single card Tusken from BOBF. The officer 4 pack was nice to get Admiral Piett with the correct rank badge, but Admrial Motti (who is Vader's first onscreen Force choke) can't grab at his throat due to the limits on the elbow articulation but it's still a great figure! The other two nameless figures make for good background fodder for displays. 

Of course there were 2 other guests, and I managed to snag a couple decent photos of them, as I had permission to: 

R2-D2 and Chopper were the hits of the convention floor! There were a couple other astromechs there as well, and if you've seen Rebels or Ahsoka, Chopper is just as feisty in person as he is on those shows! R2 is friendly, unless you tell him to stay on the ship, LOL! 

For more info on the St Tammany Comic Con, here is their web address:

 https://www.sttammanycollectorscon.com/

All pictures were taken by me, photos of the droids were allowed to be taken by the owners. This convention is an easier drive as there is less traffic, and traffic jams aren't a problem despite Interstate construction near the area. It's a shorter drive for me to this one than NOLA, which is also a plus. If you bring a couple hundred bucks for merchandise you'll get your money's worth! So if you're in the Louisiana or Mississippi area, or better yet are in New Orleans, (the drive from NOLA to Mandeville is easy, and most people living in Mandeville commute to New Orleans weekdays, weekend traffic is much lighter) check when this convention is being held a plan a trip over to it! While there are concessions there, you can also find a lot of great places around to eat, and get drive thru daquiri's! Just don't drink them while driving  okay? 

Thanks for reading! Please share this link on your social media accounts so I can get more readers! No post next Saturday for May the 4th, but I will have a post next Sunday. What I am doing for May is watching the George Lucas movies May 1st-May 6th, and on May 25th watch the Despecialized Editions of the OT. That's my plans, anyway. Also in a couple weeks I'll recall the thrill of The Phantom Menace as we are close to the 25th Anniversary of that movie! Plus I'll recall the merchandise hunt when the movie was released! See y'all again next weekend! MTFBWY!