Cubicle at the End of the Universe: David Pomerico

CHAIN OF COOL

Why yes, you are looking at a Darth Vader Transformer.

I know you’ve heard from other Del Rey and Spectra editors in previous Cubicle posts (including some of my own) about what a cool job we have. And really, I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

And yet…there are times when I get to meet other people during the course of my business that makes me think: “Okay…they have a cool job.” Yesterday, I was presented with such an opportunity, as my friend and contact at Hasbro invited me to tour their toy room at the 2011 Toy Fair.

Now, I admit I’m a geek. But I’m a professional geek. And yet, I couldn’t help think to myself as I walked through the show room:

Is it okay for a grown man to squeal?

The answer is, of course, no. You see, as someone who works on the books for licensed properties (books that tie into the intellectual properties of other companies, such as Transformers, Star Wars, movies and video games), I need to have a sense of decorum in my interactions with them. So I walked around, looked at the toys, talked about the Transformers books we have coming out–even cracked some jokes.

But all very composed.

On the inside, though, I was SQUEE-ing like a five-year-old who just got a puppy riding in on a pony for their birthday.

I was that excited. And as I was walking out, I mentioned to my friend that I’ve often heard people tell me I have the coolest job–and I do think my job is pretty awesome–but I had to say that he had the coolest job.

He laughed, and then made an interesting point: there’s always someone else who has a cooler job. For him, it was when he went down to Universal Studios to check out the new Transformers ride and got to meet the engineer for the attraction–the person who designed an amusement park ride.

To which I said: “Cooooooool.”

Hence, “Chain of Cool.”*

So check out the rest of my photos of some of the toys Hasbro has coming out this year, and if you want an even better look at all the cool Hasbro and Lego Star Wars toys, check out this excellent album at starwars.com.