Manchester Comic and Toy Convention
Army and Navy Club, Manchester, Conn.
Nov. 12, 2023
I’ve been a Gundam fan since Gundam Wing premiered on Cartoon Network almost 30 years ago. I collected as many of the mechs as I could, but my favorite by far was the Gundam Deathscythe Hell. Across various moves throughout my childhood though, they were all lost. I’ve searched high and low for it since then — of course it’s on Amazon, but I don’t want it so bad that I’d pay a crazy price for it.
Imagine my elation then when I happened to look down and in the pile of action figures, toy cars, ’90s memorabilia and various knickknacks, I saw my favorite Gundam. I asked the man behind the counter how much.
Ten bucks he said.
Sold.
I came across the find Sunday at the Manchester Comic and Toy Convention.
I was so excited that I had to tell someone.
That someone ended up being Erin Holmes, of Erin’s Toys and Memories. He’s been selling vintage toys, antiques and other collectibles for over 20 years, but he says selling toys is his favorite.
“Everyone at one time in their life played with toys. They’re the best way to bring back happy memories,” Holmes said.
He gestured around the room. “Look around. We have kids — We have human beings here from as young as 5 to my friend over there who’s 75,” he said.
I asked him why he corrected himself as he spoke. “Well, we’re all kids here, just of different ages, you know?”
Finding that Gundam would easily be the highlight of my entire month, if not for another blast from the past I encountered.
I have a confession to make, dear reader: I never set out to be a journalist. (I still don’t consider myself one, but that’s for another essay.) I wrote stories. While I watched Gundam Wing during the day, I would write Star Trek fanfiction at night. I wrote hundreds of pages of stories based on Deep Space Nine, the greatest television show of all time. I put myself on the bridge of the USS Defiant, fighting the unstoppable advance of the Dominion with a cast of friends and allies from across the Star Trek universe. One of my closest allies in those stories was General Martok, a Klingon warrior who was noble, brave and ferocious.
Well, I met General Martok at the convention on Sunday.
As it turns out, his name is actually John G. Hertzler, and he’s exactly the person I always imagined him to be.
I asked him the deepest-cut question I could think of:
“You played a Vulcan captain in the pilot episode of Deep Space Nine, then returned three years later as General Martok. What about that initial experience made you want to return to Star Trek later?”
“They paid me!” he said with a laugh.
I had an absolute blast reliving my childhood, but when I think about it, my favorite moment from Sunday involved another kid. While I was talking to John, a dad was standing behind us, explaining who he was to his two kids. John saw them and took a moment to speak to them.
“Who are you dressed up as?” he asked the oldest, a boy.
“I’m a Viking.”
“Does your Viking have a name?”
“No, just a Viking.”
“That won’t do,” John replied, leaning back in his chair and stroking his white beard. “How about Zo? Zo the Viking.”
The boy smiled. “I like that name!”
Later that afternoon, right before I left the event, there was a children’s cosplay competition. I looked up at the stage and saw the young man. The host brought the microphone over to him.
“Who are you, young man?”
“I’m Zo the Viking!” he declared proudly.
NEXT
The Army Navy Club hosts its Dart League on Wednesday, Nov. 18.
Jamil heads back to Manchester to check out some Celtic jams.
