Electron wrote:wow thats a really gud price, wish i could of made it this year, but hopefully i will have enough cash for next year
looking forward to seeing other peoples AA hauls
what was your opinion of AA? was this your first or did you go last year? or previous years?
And with those questions in mind, I present my mini-review and experiences at the Saturday of AA2010....
First some background. This was not my first AA, but I hadn't been in a while
The last one I attended was back in 2006, I had been to both the '04 & '05 one prior to that. '07 was a skip year for them and due to work commitments '08 & '09 didn't happen for me.
So onwards and upwards, having double-booked my eldest lad, who I originally intended to take, it was up to me and Mrs.Skywarp to make the trip. Mrs.Skywarp has quite a vested interest in the convention which can be summed as:
i) Making sure I don't spend too much money
ii)Making sure I do actually come home
iii) Making sure I behave myself
iv) Making sure I don't spend too much money
I live in Hertfordshire and am only 20 miles north of London. The AA oragnisers have chosen quite a good location in Birmingham, being pretty much in the middle of the UK, it's accessible to all. It has good Rail, Air and road links, so there were no issues transport wise. We chose to take the train (only had to change once) and were there in 2hrs. We got an express train back, halving that and Mrs.S having booked the
Train tickets in advance, it worked out costing us less than a tank of fuel (see points i & iv above).
The venue itself was a Hotel, less than 5mins walk from the Train station, thankfully the good old British weather hadn't quite come into play and we arrived nice and dry!
Whilst on the topic of the venue, it is also quite close to the
Bullring shopping centre. This is especailly handy for people in my position. Mrs.S only has a passing interest in TF's, which usually extends to "How much of a geek are you being this time?" along with "How much is it going to cost?" (see points i & iv above). Once she was bored she could toddle off to the shopping centre and leave me to overdose on plastic crack. I did however notice the irony of her returning about two hours later with a new pair of shoes, muttering something about an "Impending Birthday". I did offer to get them signed for her but for reasons unknown she declined
Doors opened at 1000hrs, with us arriving at about 1030hrs, enough time to have let the queue die down. We duly collected our pre-reg packs and I then headed to the fan sales table to try an offload a few items gathering dust in my collection.
The opening foyer, the fan sales table on the left, in the middle a dealer table and another dealer to the right,entrances to the hall either side and the bar situated at the rear. Transformers and beer mmmmm...Into the main hall revealed the dealer tables. Upon walking in the words "bees" and "honey" sprang immeditely to mind. Mrs.S had another analogy, whcih I won't use on a family friendly site. Fans were rummaging through boxes and looking through loose figures and the whole place was a real hive (bees see?) of activity. There was a good selection of toys form just about every era, no matter what the focus of your collection, there was something for you here. Given how TF starved us Brits usually are, no wonder it was so bloody busy!!
The Xybertoys Stand.
The 3Darths Stand (I think I caught them a little unaware!)1100hrs saw the "Official" Opening Ceremony, with all the committe members taking the stage in turn and introducing themselves, followed by all the guests, who were all suitably applauded and everyone looked like they genuinley wanted to be there. I won't go through the rosta here, but given the fact that this is an independently run fan-convention, it was a pretty impressive list. The fact that some of them were returning, speaks volumes in my book... Garry Chalk got a huge cheer for commenting that being there "Was just Prime"
The opening (and evidence that I need a better camera!)
The main hall, stage on the right, registration desk on the left, main entrance to the left of that out of shot.So once that was done it was back to hitting the dealer tables, chatting with fans or trying to meet the guests. All of the comic-related guests had bought stuff to sell, including original art, prints (for signing!) and were willing to take time to do sketches for a small fee. Nick Roche seemed to have a permanent queue and the other were always doing something for somebody. Simon Furman had even bought along a box of trades (both DW & IDW) that he was selling for £5 a piece. I forgot to mention it in my haul, but I snagged the IDW BW-Omnibus, signed by Mr.Furman for a fiver, get in!!
The comic guests lined at the rear, with their backs to the dealer area. Yes that is someone cosplaying as Carly speaking to Simon Furman...When the stage wasn't in use, the screen was being used for TF-episodes, a good cross section, I spotted both both BW and TF-A, presumably as they were relevant to the guests in attendance. I ducked out for a spot of lunch and missed the first part of the comic panel, but I have to admit my reading of TF comics in general is spoaradic and waaaay out of any order at best, so (personally) I didn't feel I was missing too much. There were a couple of very good moments with Nick Roche coughing to the fact that his Mum used to read him TF Comics as a bed time story and that they were the ones written by Furman, just to make the poor guy fel really old...! There was plenty of fan interaction, given that this was an "unofficial" event the atmosphere was very relaxed compared to the potential "I really can't comment on that" type answers that you see at some of the bigger events.
The fans are what makes it and upon Saturdays attendance figures, they made it the biggest TF Convention in Europe. EVER. 572 attendees, I'm assuming that can rise with "on the door" admittance on Sunday, but we'll have to wait and see. Everyone was in good spirits, polite and willing to chat. Lets face it, we are all there for the same thing right(with the possible exception of Mrs.S, but you'll need to see point i & iv above)? Some had really made the effort and turned out in costume, there was an AMAZING classic Grimlock, but I didn't get to nab a photo of her, she's bound to be on the web somewhere so I'll try to find it for a later post.
Cosplay me up...Other thing present involved one of the most amazing, jaw dropping displays of Japanese era G1 I have ever seen. TF@The Moon were back and were looking to top their display of lucky draw figures from last year. Needless to say, I think thay did it, but a picture paints a thousand words....
Points i & iv well and truly out the window...
No GPS on that bad boy!
Fortress Maximi?
Bet that Metrotitan's not a KO...After I'd finished drooling and been dragged away by Mrs.S stating words to the effect of "Not in your lifetime". I was time for the Charity Auction hosted by...
Scott McNeil!! Only having recently introduced myself to BW, the guy is amazing. He has a fantastic repertoire and slipped in an out of characters during the auction and the convention as a whole. Some of the items went for some amazing money (a 1984 Movie DVD, signed by Leonard Nimoy for nearly £200
), but it was all for a good cause. McNeils line was always busy and deservedly so, he was amiable and willing to stop and chat, pose for photo's and sign away till he couldn't sign anymore and hilarious to boot!
The man. The legend. Scott McNeil is there too!!Post Auction and a few big screen episodes later came Garry Chalk. Chalk was supposedly feeling a liitle "under the weather", but that didn't stop from sitting at his spot, signing and posing for pictures. He was engaing with both young and old alike. You've got to remember that he IS Prime to an awful lot of people having voiced him more tha ANY other actor. He seemed genuinely humbled after autographing a toy for me when I simply thanked him for his time, i guess some fans
expect his time. Up on satge he was the true professional, answering questions about a whole host of voice-acting issues, not just TF related. He expressed his frustration at the ADR process of the Unicron Trilogy and it was obvious that he far prefers "acting" to "dubbing".
Once he was done, so was the day and subsequently the event for me, The main hall was closed and prep was made for the Saturday evening "social". Would I have changed anything if I was doing it?
Maybe. The dealer area was a little to cramped, the back row of chairs could have possibly been forsaken to allow the extra isle space. I might have moved the registration desk to the entrance hall to put the dealers all in one place. I'm assuming it was where it was to allow the "staff" to be near the stage when need be.
But I wasn't organising it and these little niggles of mine shouldn't detract from what was a well put togther, enjoyable, fun day out and that's just for Saturday. Hopefully somebody with a weekend pass can expand on this for me.
You never know, maybe next year I'll go for the whole weekend, but that will be very much dependent on points i & iv above.....
