Three weeks from today, the madness begins.
At 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, July 23rd, the doors will officially
open. And tens of thousands of pop culture fans will pour into the San Diego
Convention Center. Eager to sample the more-than-400 events that will be
presented at Comic-Con International 2009.
And just like last year, JHM will be there. Wandering the
aisles. Sitting in on panels. Doing whatever we have to in order to bring you guys
the very best stories from this year’s Comic-Con .
Mind you, the official programming schedule for this
four-day-long event has yet to be released. But we’re already making note of the
booths we have to drop by, people we need to meet with. And particularly high up
on this list is Bryan Ono, president of eFX Inc.
Copyright 2009 eFX Inc. All
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For those of you who don’t know, eFX Inc. is the
collectibles company that rose from the ashes of Master Replica. And Bryan
plans on using this year’s Comic-Con to showcase his company’s brand-new Gallery Collection. Which will feature limited-edition items that draw their inspiration from classic Disney
films as well as from the Muppets.
And when eFx Inc. says something is limited-edition, they mean
that there will actually be a limited number of these particular collectibles produced.
“Over the past 10 years, the term ‘collectible’ has really
been abused,” Ono explained. “I mean, if you’re going to crank out 5,000 to
10,000 copies of an item, then you can’t really call that a limited-edition,
now can you?”
“Here at eFX Inc., our goal is to try and make collectibles
collectible again. Which is why we’re going to try and give the collector some
real value by seriously decreasing our edition sizes,” Bryan continued. “Which –
in this case – means that we’ll only be making 500 replicas of the premiere piece in eFX’s Disney Gallery Collection.”
And given that “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” was Walt
Disney Studios’ first feature-length animated film, it’s only appropriate that the
very first Mouse-related Gallery Collection piece that eFX Inc. produces draws
its inspiration from that 1937 film.
But which prop from that picture should the Company’s
artisans try and replicate? Bryan and his eFX Inc. creative team thought long
and hard about this, going frame-by-frame through “Snow White” looking for something
iconic.
Copyright 2009 eFX Inc. All
Rights Reserved
In the end, instead of making a replica of something
associated with Snow White and/or the Dwarfs, Ono and his designers decided to
think outside the box. Which – in this case – meant recreating an item that was closely
associated with the wicked Queen. To be
specific, the Heart Box that the Queen presents to the Huntsman when she’s
looking for proof of Snow White’s demise.
Which – I’ll grant you – is a little grim. But as Bryan
explained eFX Inc.‘s business plan to me, this item isn’t
intended for everyone. It’s deliberately being designed with the ultimate
collector in mind. Those people who can look at something like the Heart Box and
see more than just a hyper-detailed replica of a famous movie prop. These folks
will also be able to look at this item and see a beautiful piece of art.
Of course, what will help make this possible is that each
Heart Box – in addition to the ornate, museum-quality base that this
collectible will sit on – will be accompanied by a sculpture of the wicked
Queen that David Kracov has crafted.
Speaking of craft … Ono has lots of great stories about how
the crew at eFX Inc. created this Heart Box. How they had gotten the wicked
Queen’s model sheets from Disney’s Animation Research Library, only to then discover
the artists working on “Snow White” had never nailed down how tall
this character actually was.
“And without knowing the wicked Queen’s height, it was then
tough for us to determine how big the Heart Box should be,” Bryan laughed. “Eventually,
we just decided that the Queen was 5’ 5, 5’ 6 and then extrapolated the
size of the Heart Box from there.”
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Rights Reserved
As for the box itself … The craftsmen who put together the
Heart Box used solid hardwood (rosewood, to be specific) and then topped the
whole thing off with this 24-karat gold-plated heart which locks with a dagger.
And the final, finished version of this piece will be on display
at the San Diego Convention Center from July 22nd (i.e. SDCC’s preview night) through July 26th. Mind you, Disneyana collectors won’t actually
be able to pre-order the wicked Queen’s Heart Box until sometime after
Comic-Con. But if you want to check out this limited-edition collectible before you
decide to buy, eFX Inc. will be previewing this piece at its booth.
Of course, if you’re not able to make it to this year’s Comic-Con, eFX Inc. also plans on displaying the Heart Box (along with several other
yet-to-officially-be-announced items from their Disney Gallery Collection) at
the D23 Expo. Which will be held September 10-13 at the Anaheim Convention
Center.
Now as to where eFX Inc. will actually be set up inside of the cavernous San
Diego Convention Center, they’ll be operating out of Booth 2913 E. which will be on the east side of the Hall.
Speaking of which … If you’re an author or artist who’ll be
doing a signing at this year’s Comic-Con and/or paneling at this year’s event
and would like to publicize your appearance to JHM’s Disney-centric, ABC-intrigued,
animation-savvy audience, just drop me a line at jim@jimhillmedia.com. And I’ll then be
sure to add the appropriate information to the official JHM Comic-Con 2009
cheat sheet.
Your thoughts?