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This year the Chogokin Summit II was held at Tom Vigneau's house in
Cape Cod. I live in New York near Alex Chen so we decided to drive up
to the summit together. Alex got to my house around 8 a.m. After
loading his stuff into my truck, we decide to do a little trading.
Then we headed off to the summit. It was a great day and we were
lucky enough not to hit any traffic.
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Alex and I did a little trading out of the back of my
truck before we headed out for the convention. |
Quick pit stop about halfway to the summit. |
Signs for Capecod! We're almost to the Summit. |
Mr. Yen had a trunk full of Japanese toys ready to be
traded and given away. |
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We arrived at the TV station were Tom works at around noon and
unloaded our stuff on the table. It was great to finally meet Tom,
the man with the legendary room full of toys. Bruce Millen was also
there with an impressive collection of toys. I couldn't take my eyes
of his cargosaur and star condor! Then everyone began to arrive.
Randell, and Steve showed up followed by Roger, Marc Raley and Marc
Spraragen. Finally Matt and Alen showed up. It was great to finally
meet Alen and get to talk and trade in person! Soon we were all
walking around the table trading, comparing pieces and making deals. |
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I think everyone made a deal or two. Bruce made a of couple nice
trades with Alen and managed to snag a Battrain I was looking at. I
traded Alen a Bioman for some loose shogun stuff. Roger was able to
piece together a Mazinga Shogun from one of my armless guys combined
with two arms and some fists Alen had! Alex got some needed
transformer accessories from Alen and I sold a shogun Poseidon and
vehicle to Marc. And these were just the trades I saw! I'm still
looking for a Danguard DX hat! One of the pieces that interested me
was the Danguard Launcher with a runway ramp that Bruce had. Matt and
I had never seen this as its not included with the shogun toy. |
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Bruce's Star Condor was a really cool piece that I'd
never seen in person. |
Look at the launch pad! |
Can anyone spare a Danguard Dx hat? |
The cool grendizer toy Tom gave to Alen. |
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Some of the stuff I scored. A c-9 Pringles can!
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Chillin on the deck after a hard day of trading and dealing. |
Bruce and Tom working hard to make some great food for everyone. |
Alen demostrating his Gatchaman tree pruning toy. |
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After trading and talking we all headed over to Tom's house. He threw
a great barbeque for all of us with Bruce aacting as chef. It was
great to just kick back and talk about our trades, new toys, and
general goings on in the world of Japanese toys. After dinner we all
watched some of Tom's great video collections including the old
Japanese chogokin commercials. But what we were all waiting for was
the tour through Tom's amazing toy room. I'll let the pictures speak
for themselves. |
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At around nine we all said our goodbyes and hit the road. It was
agreat event and everyone who attended made it that much better. I'd
like to thank Alex for being the navigator on our trip and helping me
stay awake as we drove across the Throgs neck bridge at one in the
morning. Thanks also to Tom Vigneau who made it all possible. Thanks
Tom for getting us a great place to meet and even more, for letting
us come over to your house and showing us such a great time. I can
only imagine how much fun next year will be! |
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Everyone gets ready to head home. |
Ted, Dave, Tom, Matt, Steve, Randell
Roger, Alen, Marc
(Alex and Marc Spraragan were raiding Tom's toyroom
while this picture was being taken) |
