One of the big draws at any pop culture convention is the amount of free promotional merchandise that manufacturers are handing out.  Clever marketers soon figured out that they could get additional marketing bang for their buck by putting their giveaways in bags festooned with their logos, trademarks and symbols.  Then some companies got the idea that they could just give away bags so fans would have some place to put all the stuff others were giving away.  Here the goal is clearly to have a bigger, cooler bag than anyone else, so that fans put bags from your competitors in your bag and you get the advantage of all those walking billboards toting bags with your logo around.  Well at this year's San Diego Comic-Con International Tokyopop went nuclear with a giant bag o' swag that obliterated the competition.

 

Companies wishing to dethrone Tokyopop next year are going to have to go back to the drawing board, re-tool, and perhaps even rethink their efforts.  Is a bag that is bigger than Tokyopop's current behemoth practical for those under six feet in height?  Wait until next year, we may find out.