Win FREE SWAG!! Seriously!

September 26, 2008 on 6:20 pm | In Uncategorized | No Comments

Happy Friday all!

First, let me apologize for totally not posting a thing last week! As some of you may know, besides ToyFare, I’m also Managing Editor of Toy Wishes magazine at Wizard, and we were closing that Balrog of a project that day. Ended up being a cute issue, though, so if any of you have little siblings or cousins to buy Holiday gifts for, I encourage ya to flip through it for ideas.

ANYWAY! This week, I’d like to make my absence up to you by giving you FREE STUFF! Well, one of you anyway, ha ha. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Chewing on Poison Ivy’s first-ever Prize Giveaway!

Here’s the deal:

Back in my first entry, I asked y’all to send me your origin stories–how did you, male or female, become the proud nerd you are today?–and y’all responded in droves! Coolness!

And today, I’ve selected an excerpt from ONE of those origins, printed below. I want y’all to try and guess if a fangirl or fanboy wrote it. Simple as that. Send me an email stating whether you think it’s a boy or a girl speaking and, briefly, WHY, and I’ll throw your name in a big hat, from which I’ll select ONE happy nerd to receive some fresh swag right outta the ToyFare prize closet!
Send all emails to knapolitano@wizardent.com, Subject: Ivy Giveaway.

Cool?

Then let’s begin!

Here’s the Ivy-reader origin excerpt, totally, completely unedited by my own hand (I’d swear to that on a copy of Iron Man, but that ain’t out til Tuesday (::foams at mouth in fiery anticipation::)):

“…This trend continued into my childhood with the tradition of watching Star Trek TNG with my Dad when it came on every week night. We would stake out the living room floor, then he would lay on the floor with me leaning up against his stomach to watch the episode. I’d ask how this small ship could travel around a Universe so expansive, and my Dad would do his best to try and explain how the ship worked and the basic principles of space travel. Again, my mother sighed in the background.

As a child there is no better place to go than Disney World. It’s a place where all of the characters you grew up with lived, and they even had Wookies! We first went when I was 8, staying in a cheap hotel room and taking a rental car at 5 am everyday for 4 days to the park. Not till later in life did I notice that my Dad had left a few days earlier than us for Orlando. Why was this? I asked my mother and with a roll of her eyes she explained that, that year The World Sci-Fi Con was being held in Orlando. Disney World was the side trip, my Dad was in Orlando for the world’s biggest Sci-Fi Con.”

***

I’ll accept entries from NOW until Thursday, and then Friday I’ll announce the winner (though I’ll shoot the actual winner an email beforehand so they know), and of course, the answer. Please remember not just to include whether you think a chico or chica is speaking above, but WHY. Next week I’d like to explore folks’ opinions, and tie that into a discussion about how male and female comic characters are differently and similarly written.

Oh, and probably worth mentioning here is that I am certainly not out to embarass anyone or publicly call them sexist or something based on what they guess, ha ha! If I do share your guess on the Blog, I would quote you ANONYMOUSLY, and certainly ask you beforehand if I could use your words. I just think it’s really interesting to think about how men and women use language differently–hell, the first time I read the above, I wasn’t sure who was speaking til I read the name. I’m just out to explore here, people, and have fun!

Legal Sweepstakes mumbo jumbo is below for those who like that sort of thing, lol. Otherwise, have a FANTASTIC weekend, folks, see ya next week, and good luck for the giveaway!

Legal:
No purchase necessary. Sweepstakes is open to any U.S. residents except
employees of Wizard Entertainment and their immediate families. All prospective entrants under 18 years of age must have their parent/legal guardian’s permission to enter. Entrants must complete required form and e-mail with entry. Enter as many times as you like. No more than one prize will be awarded per person or household. Sponsor is not responsible for late, lost, multiated, illegible, incomplete and misdirected entries.

Sponsor is not responsible with respect to computer-system, phone-line, hardware, software, or program malfunctions, or other errors, failures, or delays in the computer transmission or network connections that are human or technical in nature.

Sponsor reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to cancel or suspend these sweepstakes should a virus bug or any other cause beyond the control of the sponsor corrupt the administration, security of the sweepstakes.

All entries and all rights relating there become property of Wizard and none will be returned. By entering, all entrants agree to release Wizard and their employees from all liability and claims relating to participation in the sweepstakes and receipt of prizes, including any personal injury, and agree to assign all copyrights in the
Entry to Wizard Entertainment. Winners agree to the use of their name, likeness, and entry for publicity and marketing purposes by Wizard without further compensation.
All entries must be received at sweepstakes headquarters by 9AM EST 10/2/08.
Winners will be selected by Wizard from qualified entries received based on random entry. All decisions of the judges regarding selection of winners and interpretation of
these rules are final. Odds of winning will be determined by the number of
valid entries received prior to the closing date of the sweepstakes. In order to
be eligible to be a winner, winners (and their parents/legal guardians if a
minor) may be required to sign an additional affidavit of eligibility, Waiver and release form. All taxes (federal, state and local, if any) will be the responsibility of the prizewinners. Prizes will be awarded in the names of the sweepstakes winners, except, if winners are under the age of 18, prizes will be awarded to a parent or legal guardian.

Sponsor reserves the right to substitute a prize as Sponsor deems suitable in the event that prize is unavailable.