[UK convention/other meetups]

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inflatable dalek
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Post by inflatable dalek »

Flimflammery wrote:I had assumed you might be ;-) See you there! Sorry I haven't asked to purchase volume two of your book, I'm a bit overloaded with stuff to read at the moment, and I haven't got round to volume one yet. I'll get there in the end!
No worries, it's not obligatory!







yet.
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Brendocon 2.0
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Post by Brendocon 2.0 »

Have fun at the con, losers. I'll be off doing other stuff, but will probably keep up-to-date by stalking Dalek's Twitter.
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inflatable dalek
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Post by inflatable dalek »

Brendocon 2.0 wrote:Have fun at the con, losers. I'll be off doing other stuff, but will probably keep up-to-date by stalking Dalek's Twitter.
Ha! I think I've worked out who you are on twitter now.


From my twitter you're going to wind up thinking I'm Dan Brown.
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Brendocon 2.0
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Post by Brendocon 2.0 »

inflatable dalek wrote:Ha! I think I've worked out who you are on twitter now.
For your next trick can you work out how to thread tweets, please?
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inflatable dalek
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Post by inflatable dalek »

Brendocon 2.0 wrote:For your next trick can you work out how to thread tweets, please?
Soon as I find out how to make replies copy onto Facebook...
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Brendocon 2.0
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Post by Brendocon 2.0 »

Your tweets autopost to Facebook?

Can't think of anything more horrific. Half the fun of Twitter is it being a separate entity. Stream of consciousness shitposting for the anonymous masses, then a carefully constructed formal statement for the casual racists who we're unfortunate enough to be related to.
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Denyer
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Post by Denyer »

At least it's easy to switch off all Twitter re-posts on Facebook, and Twitter just becomes a stream with a very small number of people not muted and general news filter.

Convention was having a few teething problems when I ducked out -- more stuff organised on the Friday this year, but a good proportion of people couldn't get in. Not surprisingly there was more interest since there was nothing else scheduled at the same time, no dealing or displays open, etc.
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Summerhayes
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Post by Summerhayes »

I'm going to miss the con unfortunately, but I'm planning to catch the train to Birmingham tomorrow night, hopefully getting in just before seven. Would love to touch base, get drunk and all that.
I like bears.
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Denyer
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Post by Denyer »

Footnote on the panel thing -- they re-ran the Friday panels today and (I think, didn't manage to get to side room panels) sorted out a different room.

The Forge (fan creator area) seemed to be working a lot better this time around, bigger room and it had the displays of Brave toys and some 3P stuff in it.

And the larger main hall really helps, initial queue was cleared in record time, and all seemed very efficient. Not that last year wasn't, but this feels like a bigger event and as if there are more people.
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inflatable dalek
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Post by inflatable dalek »

They let me be on a panel.

On at the same time as Furman's.

We now definitively know who is the more popular out of the two of us.

Mind, I ****ed up the first and last things I said and riffed on the "May be dead" joke I did once too often, so my first panel may also be my last. Luckily there were people there who actually knew about podcasting.
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Skyquake87
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Post by Skyquake87 »

So, I had a really good time at TFNation this year, mainly from just meeting up with everyone again and hanging out. I'm probably not best placed to judge the overall event, as I missed a lot of stuff through dawdling or being in the wrong place, but it did feel really well organised to me and the team reacted quickly to the unexpected popularity of a lot of the panels by shifting to larger rooms and re-running stuff as Denyer mentioned, which was really thoughtful.

The cosplay was really good and I was very impressed with that. I stuck around for the script reading, which was worth it for Hal Rayle giving it his all and Mark Ryan was good value doing the narration, even if the script was, as usual, full off toe-curling puns and jokes that missed the mark. Its nice that this is still popular though and that the actors are all game for 'doing the voices' from twenty, thirty years ago :P

What else did I do? Oh, I went to Venus Terzo's panel and was amazed at the breadth of her career and she graciously handled questions about Transformers she didn't know much about (understandably). I loved that one of her favourite voice acting roles was Rainbow Dash on My Little Pony, and was sorry she lost the role when they required some singing in the role (Venus can't sing).

I missed Bob's panel, but enjoyed the two hander between him and Furman on the Sunday.

The Lost Light panel seemed to draw the biggest number of bums on seats and managed to avoid the elephant in the room (Milne) quite elegantly. And, from the last time I was here, it was nice to see the artist full of enthusiasm for LL and working with James, which made for a much lighter and less tense panel.

The dealers seemed to have a nice spread of stuff, with a bit of variety between them all which I appreciated although I think we all felt a bit bad for the old dude who was clearly looking after someone else's stall who couldn't make it, as he seemed very confused about what it was he was selling.

The venue continues to be a funny old place. It's a really oddly designed place, with MASSIVE corridors and tiny rooms, followed by big rooms. It's fairly elegant on the inside and I liked the outside bar we sat at at on the Sunday, but by crikey, its an ugly old thing on the outside and the use of petrol generators was a funny do. The staff seemed to be struggling with having two events on and a wedding, which meant the service was... variable and ordering coffees and drinks from the real ale bar seemed to be an unnecessarily complicated affair too. The street food thing was good though, so props for that.
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Post by Denyer »

As always nice to catch up with people, and will aim to stick around next time.

Like I said before, a growing event -- but a nice and relaxed with space to breathe kind of big, and from a few comments on social media dealers seemed to do decent trade, which was hopefully also reflected in interest towards guests and fan creators, all of whom I spoke to or listened to were lovely and there was a really positive vibe. I've kind of reached the point of having the few things signed I want, and a decent assortment of artwork and original pieces, so I didn't do a full circuit despite meaning to on the second day. More official and recent toys than anything, which reflects Hasbro putting in more effort. The impulse buy was Sixshot, who's since acquired Windblade's rather too chunky swords, and despite being about normal retail for a loose example it actually feels worth it and more substantial in hand than the early wave Prime/Blaster leader class releases.

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Octane is a pain to transform because of the number of bits that have to be exactly right to slide into place, and the stickers don't feel like they'll last at all, but once all of the parts are lined up the trend for subtle tabbing in recent figures gives a firm grip and makes for a great homage to the original. Windblade is third time lucky, lots better than the CHUG and RID ones, and Swindle and Long Haul scratch specific itches.

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The MakeToys Thunder Erebus third party version Nucleon Quest Super Convoy ticks more boxes for me than any other black Prime repaint, not having the daft evil-version baggage most of them do. Has a very small chest compared with other PM Prime moulds, but it's a classy and solid (if busy) rendering of the character I'm happy to be sticking ToyHax Autobot labels on.

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Might do a full review of Rune at some point if no-one else here does first; having seen the Bumblebee and Goldbug versions of Skiff from Maas Toys I'd ruled them out but seeing Glyph in person was very pleasantly surprised -- it was always going to be a bit awkward doing something with the wings on the show design, but I like the way that what they came up with resembles a Contemptor Dreadnought and is short, squat and heavily armoured. Deserves a bigger gun IMO too, and the somewhat flamer-style one that comes with Octone does nicely. The head sculpt is a neat step up from a face-plated blue Bumblebee clone for the BotCon archaeometrist, and the character reuse fits nicely with history and politics for a first TFN figure. I don't like the concept of exclusives at all, unless it's simply that a store or convention gets stuff first or minor variants, so hopefully more surface somehow or at least enough get into circulation without significant scalping to get them to people who'll appreciate. Particularly as this and the white Bug Bite homage AgesThreeAndUp have got are miles better decos than the other two.

Apart from toys there were some bits and bobs that leaped out (Ed Pirrie prints, a postcard of a commission TMUK Graham had gotten Geoff Senior to do and Josh to colour, the first part of Andy's ATAS fanzine rendering, Toy-Fu Armada fanzine, second Golby sketchbook which includes 2000AD character art, and I'm afraid I'm not sure which fan the Whirl/Verity postcards were by). Not shown is the TFN programme with the rather fun Genericon concept character. And I really hope Kevin is able to do a print run of his comic-covers-with-toys project, that'd be a must get -- https://tfsource.com/blog/2017/05/05/co ... in-gorman/

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I actually started off TFN early on the Friday by opening recent bits including DH II (which'll be going next to MMC Anubis), the Mech Planet Soundboard and the Nitro to go with a Thunderwing head I'd had ready for a while. KO MP Shockwave also turned up at the weekend and apart from a bit of mould flash and it being a stupid idea to carry over the official decision to use a spring for the hose and paint it's a much more realistically valued ActionMaster-y take on the character (still not a patch on either Quakewave or Quakeblast) and I might paint up the clear parts in orange to take that further.

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Tempted by Overlord but the Takara one has proper engines and isn't out until next year. Think I've given up on the idea of Trypticon unless a cheap one comes up.

Back to the convention itself, despite not getting chance to attend the panel, Brave is a line that produced things like Captain Shark, so it must be fairly entertaining. I really like both TFN displays so far (last year's was Rock Lords as well as Beast stuff) have been TF-related rather than just official or 3P stuff. If it branched out into non-robot things I wouldn't be at all disappointed.

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The Hilton remains a dingy and ageing place it's difficult to credit as a four-star hotel, very obviously understaffed over the weekend and still trying to bluff food and drink prices well in excess of alternatives in easy walking distance. Nice weather meant I popped out both days to get some fresh air. (And the NEC reminds me most visits why I don't spend time there more frequently, but this time round had added ineffectual feel-good stop-and-search security theatre to its customer service. Unfortunately what they're doing isn't likely to make a difference to whether anyone gets an IED into an event.)
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inflatable dalek
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Post by inflatable dalek »

Because I haven't done a terribly filmed Youtube video in ages:

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inflatable dalek
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Post by inflatable dalek »

And a Podcast Maximus episode on the con:

http://tfarchive.com/fandom/features/po ... ode_25.mp3
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numbat
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Post by numbat »

I'm actually going to TFNation this year (negotiated a free pass with my wife)!

Anyone fancy sharing a twin room?

New sale thread added with a range of Transformers including Masterpiece, Botcon, CHUG, RID, Movies etc.

Looking for MP-11T Thundercracker and MP-9 Rodimus v2 (Takara version with as few QC issues as possible).


Check out my new sale thread now!

Also items on eBay.
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Denyer
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Post by Denyer »

At the moment I've got a single booked for the Saturday evening but would happy to split a twin and pay for both nights if you're doing Friday and Saturday, whether I stop or not. Handy to have options.

Also, cool! You flying/train-ing/driving?
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inflatable dalek
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Post by inflatable dalek »

That was a dark and mysterious couple of hours! I do feel sorry for the TFN peeps, their job is made so much more difficult by everyone who wants a Hilton room needing to be there dead on 12 in such numbers as to destroy the internet.

I have officially booked a twin room from Friday to Monday morning as that was the only option left, and was originally going to cut the cost by sharing with another friend who is likely to only show up for the one night. But, two people who actually needed the double room but had only been able to get two singles on Friday and Saturday have agreed to swap for those days as it works out cheaper for all of us (£140 for two nights rather than £160 for me, £160 for them rather than £280). For me it'll just be a pain having to move to a twin room on the Sunday (though I may pump for a single at the advance discount rate instead) and working out exactly who owes who what as we all pay.

No Stan Bush for me in the end, I thought it'd be fairer to let the people who really love his stuff have the space. I like his two TFTM songs, but even having seen Bloodsport last weekend (long story. But every song in that film sounded like a Stan Bush song even though he only did the one for it!) I don't think I could cope with the full Bush.

Still, with all that sorted for now, I can collapse in a mildly contented heap.
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Ryan F
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Post by Ryan F »

Sorry to hear people had issues booking their tickets! I must have lucked out big time because it seemed quite a smooth process to me, got my tickets and room no problem.

And a Stan Bush ticket, of course, because that man is an absolute legend!
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inflatable dalek
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Post by inflatable dalek »

I knew you'd be first in the line for Stan. ;)
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Denyer
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Post by Denyer »

If you've been an attendee and are in a good mood, they're after feedback reviews to build a rep apart from on social media;

https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/www.tfnation.com
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