For the fifth consecutive year, I made my pilgrimage to the Pennsylvania Convention Center for Wizard World Philadelphia. Despite my experience in past years registration was a snap as I bypassed the very long standby line, destined for the Press Registration area. Nothing delighted me more at than my interaction with the staffer who was checking me in:

Staffer: What outlet are you representing?
Me: doubledumbassonyou.com
Staffer: Excuse me?
Me: doubledumbassonyou.com, it’s a colorful metaphor.
Staffer: (Clearly doesn’t get it) Oh ok … now I see it on the list. Can I see some ID?

This year the show was moved to Hall D which is part of the recently completed Convention Center expansion. I got onto the show floor about a half hour ahead of time and found the square footage to be a bit smaller than what the show was been previously accustomed to.

As you entered Hall D, straight ahead was the Celebrity Alley (which proved to be a problem later on in the day) and the perimeter of was ringed by Artist Alley with the Dealer Booths making up the remainder of the space.

After a quick walk through of the show floor, I stopped to talk to some of the retailers I’ve done business with before. Overall the consensus was that business was good, however most admitted that they scaled back their operations for 2011. According to the press kit, Wizard was charging dealers $1050 for their basic setup consisting of 10′ x 10′ of floor space with (1) table, (1) sign, and (4) passes.

What I saw consistently across the board were that certain dealers were charging far above market value for particular collectibles. Two of the lines that stood out in particular were Mattel’s DC Universe Classics and Masters of The Universe Classics. As an avid collector and toy hunter, I saw figures that are essentially “peg warmers” at $14.99 getting jacked up to $30 or even $40. And Master of the Universe Classics … cheapest I saw were $45.00. When plotting out your purchases at any convention, you have to expect that with your have price trades that you’ll eventually make up that difference with jacked up prices on Battle Armor Skeletor.

As I mentioned early on in this post, the Celebrity Alley was about 30′ away from the main entrance to Hall D. While this wasn’t too bad at 10:30am, it got to be a BIG problem once the celebrity guests showed up at their booths for signings. Around 1:00pm on Saturday traffic was in a gridlock thanks to the serpentine lines for Bruce Campbell, Adam Baldwin, Adam West, and Burt Ward. It was right around that time that I decided it was time to punch out, the crowd was building and the show floor was becoming downright unnavigable.

Like many veterans of Wizard World I think we’ve come to accept the new incarnation of the show for what it is. We understand that DC and Marvel will no longer have a booth or any editorial presence. But we do know that if you are interested lining up for celebrity autographs and enjoying a panel or two Wizard World is still a good time.

The people watching is worth the price of admission alone. Unfortunately my camera did not make it into my go bag, so you’ll have to rely on folks like the AV Club and The Nerd Signal. I must admit, Stay Puft Marshmallow Man and Zombie Gumby were probably my favorites of the day.

For the second year in a row the show broke attendance records and enjoyed a fair amount of coverage in both print and digital media. Dates for next year have already have been announced, which bumps the show to the first weekend of the month June 1st-3rd 2012.