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Post by Andy Turnbull on Aug 13, 2013 11:02:23 GMT
Cash machine issue definitely hurt Sunday trading a great deal.
Andy
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Post by The Doctor on Aug 13, 2013 12:02:28 GMT
Indeed. Sunday had a weird vibe to it.
I found the hotel to be as awful as last year generally. Piss poor service and once again not getting the bloody drink discount. Thank fook I could get soft drinks while dealing from the Toy-Fu stash or I would have been dehydrated to fook. £4.80 for a bloody pint of lemonade! Bar was dreadful. Paying for drinks only to have staff wander off without giving them to me. Being served food with no cutlery, napkin or condiments. Actually had better service from the Subway takeaway in town.
The con itself was noticeably better run than last year.
-Ralph
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Post by duffism1981 on Aug 13, 2013 19:03:16 GMT
I had an absolutely fantastic weekend. My long travel journey home will not ruin the great weekend and the best birthday i have ever had. It was fantastic to finally meet most of the names on here who I have read posts from, interacted with on here and twitter for up to 8 years.
I hope some young lady still has cake to look forward to, if she hasn't already eaten it that is.
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Post by legios on Aug 13, 2013 20:48:48 GMT
Although the general atmosphere of the con was a lot more subdued - especially on the Sunday - I think I enjoyed this AA a lot more than I did then previous two if I am honest. I didn't get a chance to get around the guest tables - wanted to say hi to Furman but never got the opportunity - but I did thoroughly enjoy nattering a bit to folks in the evenings, and - because I was sensible about taking breaks, and about getting suitable amounts of sleep - did rather enjoy helping out on Toy-Fu. Steve Blum was a good guest as well I did find the bar service was very variable, there were some folk on the bar who were pretty good but on the other hand there were one or two who gave me the distinct impression that my money wasn't good enough for them.
Great to see folk, catch up, and generally have quite an enjoyable time.
Karl
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Post by Benn on Aug 14, 2013 11:06:18 GMT
There was one guy on the bar who started about 11:30. He was cool. The rest of the bar staff were pretty dire, honestly.
I had fun this year, but probably not as much as previous years. Taking Last Man (or People) Standing to a whole new level on the Sunday night/Monday morning was the undoubted highlight!
Low point? The good Kaptain mocking my lack of resistance to a Takara Reissue Smokescreen.
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Post by Marc Graham on Aug 14, 2013 11:18:55 GMT
. . . Ho hum!
Just to add to the complaints about the Hilton, they charged my credit card for the room, which is fair enough, charged for a bar tab, again fair enough....
They also added a £300+ charge which they are yet to explain. I am giving them a generous 24 hours before getting my bank to dispute the charge.
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Post by blueshift on Aug 14, 2013 13:37:57 GMT
. . . Ho hum! Just to add to the complaints about the Hilton, they charged my credit card for the room, which is fair enough, charged for a bar tab, again fair enough.... They also added a £300+ charge which they are yet to explain. I am giving them a generous 24 hours before getting my bank to dispute the charge. That's scary, I just checked my card but luckily I was billed for the correct amount |
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kayevcee
Fusilateral Quintro Combiner
The Weather Wizard
Posts: 5,527
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Post by kayevcee on Aug 14, 2013 14:02:01 GMT
Sadly I believe AA2014 is already booked for the same hotel. I gather that we are starting to strain at the seams of the current hall, so hopefully the command staff will be looking elsewhere for 2015. I'd love to have somewhere like the Holiday Inn location, but in a less shit hotel with staff that don't actively begrudge us being there.
We've just finished the home recount before I go off to the bank, and I'm afraid I have some bad news. On Saturday evening I counted two bundles of £20 notes that Tony had already counted, so our count was up by £400. I remember doing it, and I forgot to factor it in when we were doing our sums afterwards. It was entirely my mistake. All our other arithmetic checks out. That brings our Toy-fu running total to slightly under £2000 for Mary's Meals, pending further sales and the donation from the AA staff from the charity auction and raffle.
Our final total is likely to be in the ballpark of £2500 rather than £3000, putting it below our 2011 total but still ahead of 2009 and 2010. Considering almost no-one could get money out on the Sunday (or late Saturday) I think we did pretty well. That we took over £100 in change (including over £10 in 20p and lower value coins) suggests that some attendees literally gave us the last pennies in their pockets, for which I am very grateful.
Many thanks to everyone who stopped by, except for the people who were trying to haggle first thing on Saturday morning. Those guys can piss off.
-Nick
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Post by blueshift on Aug 14, 2013 14:25:05 GMT
Many thanks to everyone who stopped by, except for the people who were trying to haggle first thing on Saturday morning. Those guys can piss off. -Nick Or the volunteers trying to haggle before it even opened on Saturday!! |
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Post by Bogatan on Aug 14, 2013 14:29:14 GMT
£300+ is a lot of video on demand or a whole 30 fish finger sandwiches. Ouch!
Bit of a mixed bag for me. I would have much preferred spending the whole weekend in the Hilton as the inclusive breakfast is so big it just about enough for the full day, but the Arden which was just the other side of the train line was a very nice hotel and as it had free parking. Breakfast was £10 but the room was a bit cheaper so its not a bad substitute for anyone who wants to get away from the Hilton, but not be dependant on trains.
Bar service was slow, but it was also quite a lot busier than last year so there is some excuse. I did enjoy getting out and about this year a little. Got a Geoff Senior sketch and his issue 93 cover signed by the team. Also managed to speak to all three voice actors. Panels were generally decent from what I caught of them, but Saturday night was a bit of a let down. I was hoping for a better announcement for next year and the delays really didnt help the vibe. Script reading was okay, I liked the set up for it but without Blum it could have fallen very flat.
Wasn't a bad result for Toy Fu considering it was a bit of a odd year, the G1 section got wiped out as did the botcon stuff that has barely shifted for a few years. Lack of cash will have hurt a bit, but also the dealer room seemed to have a much better range on the whole. Not to mention Metroplex Mountain.
One of the boxes of left overs got soaked in a freak downpour while unloading, I dont think anything was harmed. A carded Spittor took the brunt of any water damage but I'm sure he quite enjoyed it.
Honestly though my only major gripe was the dealer room volume. Yes it was nice that it was so clear for the panels, but between the panels the music was soooooooooooooooooo loud, when attendees have to scream at guests and dealers to be heard, its too loud.
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Post by Bogatan on Aug 14, 2013 14:31:53 GMT
On the plus side all the delays on Saturday night did allow us to find some new staff for Swerves bar.  |
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Post by blueshift on Aug 14, 2013 15:08:05 GMT
I felt a bit worn out that weekend, which was a bit of a shame, I really need to sort myself out a bit more. Overall I had fun though, and it was great to meet everyone again even though I was terrible at going around talking to people!
I think the atmosphere in the hall was a lot better than last year, on the Saturday at least. Sunday felt a bit muted, I'm not sure why though.
There didn't seem to be as many panels as last year. Is that right or was I just not paying attention? It was a bit odd that Saturday had the comic panels and Sunday had the VA panels, a bit of a mix would have been nicer. Also they didn't really do much at all to promote the alternate panels. If you didn't have your copy of the programme with you at all points then it would be easy to miss things, I missed the colouring panel that way!
(I say this every year, but please please just get a few A3 posters printed up with the panel times and stick them around the room! I am sure AA used to do that, and it is so handy!)
There were the expected delays on Saturday night, which was not the con's fault, however there didn't seem to be much urgency to get the evening back on track, with a lot of music/generic videos playing rather than pushing on with the cosplay competition/script reading. It was a shame that the big video screen wasn't really used for the evening either, as it was really hard to see what was going on up at the stage. It all sounded exciting though!
Those beermats were brilliant. That cheered me up!
The script reading I would describe as functional. It was entertaining enough if a bit lightweight.
Bar service was horrible. I spent about half an hour standing at the front of the bar waiting to be served for a tiny order, and missed a chunk of the evening programme. No excuse for that, ridiculous. I also resented the combination of insanely high prices and being forced to wait for ages to get served and then have to sit on the floor clutching your coke that cost a fiver. I believe Ralph didn't get his convention discount when asked, and thety also told Bogatan that he couldn't get the convention menu, so the staff were obviously clueless. I don't think I actually ate dinner on any of the evenings because that made me so grumpy, which was not a clever move, but hey, principles.
I kinda wish the quiz would be thrown open to attendees again. I don't mind watching other people have fun, but it was nice when you were able to get a team together and enter. I know it's more of a hassle to organise, but it feels more inclusive. Or even some sort of paper-based quiz handed around to complete over the weekend, just to give attendees more to do.
While it did not ring my bell, I hope the convention exclusive did well, as I am sure that was a bit of a financial risk for AA. Putting the price up from £45 on the Friday to £50 on the Saturday seemed a bit dodgy though, unless the £45 was a mistake and that was the pre-order price. Usually I am a lover of toys inspired by obscure wacky foreign repaints, but these didn't do it for me; they felt like third party toys that would have been released /anyway/ just with the AA logo slapped on the box (and I understand it was a joint exclusive with another con who had the other figure, but /both/ figures had the AA logo slapped on the boxes, so in a way that feels like it is the case). I hope that if the Con tries an exclusive again, it will be something more carefully thought out and UK-related.
Anyway, overall I really enjoyed myself, far more than last year. I don't mean the above to be a moan, more constructive criticism. For the most part, apart from the late Saturday night start, there wasn't anything at all that struck me as being an obvious problem, so well done there!
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Post by Andy Turnbull on Aug 14, 2013 18:15:54 GMT
Many thanks to everyone who stopped by, except for the people who were trying to haggle first thing on Saturday morning. Those guys can piss off. -Nick Or the volunteers trying to haggle before it even opened on Saturday!! Name names on that one to me via PM. That shit won't fly. Especially given your prices were still ricockulously low anway. Wankers Andy |
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Post by Bogatan on Aug 14, 2013 18:32:28 GMT
Or the volunteers trying to haggle before it even opened on Saturday!! Name names on that one to me via PM. That shit won't fly. Especially given your prices were still ricockulously low anway. Wankers Andy The only defence I might make is that Toy Fu was without sign-age, my fault, I didn't realise I had it (not that we had any where to put it, but anyway) so there was some confusion amongst attendees. I agree with Matt on the exclusives, glad they were done, but I didnt like the need to buy two. The total was too expensive, I probably would have bought any single £50 exclusive, but buying just one of the Not Mexican Jumpstarters felt wrong. And some kind of pub quiz format so anyonee could take part would be great. |
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Post by blueshift on Aug 14, 2013 19:17:13 GMT
Name names on that one to me via PM. That shit won't fly. Especially given your prices were still ricockulously low anway. Wankers Andy As much as I would love to, I am terrible with names :c And yeah, there wasn't the big sign this year, so it wasn't immediately obvious which stall it was. |
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primenova
Fusilateral Quintro Combiner
Posts: 6,057
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Post by primenova on Aug 14, 2013 19:25:57 GMT
I'm going to check how much I raised for AA from the fan sales table. Simon Furman bought one of my items - don't know which one. But I had a Death's head trade & IDW #25 total £1.50 & all that money went to AA.
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Post by blueshift on Aug 14, 2013 19:36:21 GMT
Honestly though my only major gripe was the dealer room volume. Yes it was nice that it was so clear for the panels, but between the panels the music was soooooooooooooooooo loud, when attendees have to scream at guests and dealers to be heard, its too loud. Oh yes, I forgot about the volume! Still wasn't as bad as the day they did the Sunday morning live rock band but still it was a bit too loud to hold conversations sometimes! |
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Post by The Doctor on Aug 14, 2013 20:18:03 GMT
Blueshift has covered most of my points! Some points to add:
-Jacking the price of the exclusive toys UP from £45 to £50 was utterly ridiculous. I have NEVER heard of any con putting up the prices of their exclusive during an event! That really reflects badly on the AA name which is a shame as folk were asking for things like this for years. My personal budget was meagre but I was considering buying one on Saturday, but changed my mind on principle when I saw the price had been out up without explanation. So there's a lost sale.
-It was great that the AV was significantly better this year. I could only attend one panel, but I could hear it perfectly unlike the previous year when I strained to do so. So well done on that. However, this meant that being able to hear customers at the stall I was on was often very difficult resulting in shouting matches to be heard which cost a few lost sales and general bad vibes from browsers (not their fault!). I would suggest keeping the guest and dealer areas in the big hall and having the panels elsewhere.
-The Saturday event lengthy delay was unfortunate. I am aware of the reasons for it, which were perfectly understandable. However, I fear that after 2 years of lengthy delays, the Sat nights may start to get a bad rep. The show really should have kicked off as soon as folk got in. I spent most of the evening worrying I would miss the script reading as I had to catch a train.
-The cosplay event was by far much more entertaining than previous years. Last year's felt like a tediously long comedy routine between the two presenters which was occcasionly interrupted by cosplayers but criticism had clearly been taken on board as they spoke just enough and paced the event extremely well so well done on that.
-The hotel is horrible. I hope another venue is being considered.
-More use was made of the guests on panels this year, which is something positive to build on.
-Generally the event did feel much more smoothly run than last year.
-Ralph
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Post by The Doctor on Aug 14, 2013 20:19:55 GMT
Name names on that one to me via PM. That shit won't fly. Especially given your prices were still ricockulously low anway. Wankers Andy As much as I would love to, I am terrible with names :c And yeah, there wasn't the big sign this year, so it wasn't immediately obvious which stall it was. Regardless of the stall, no-one (volunteer or not) should be trying to haggle on prices before doors open. On a positive note, volunteers were not interfering with the stock during set-up this time, which had been a problem in previous years. Someone even helped and got me a chair. -Ralph |
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Post by blueshift on Aug 14, 2013 20:26:06 GMT
I would suggest keeping the guest and dealer areas in the big hall and having the panels elsewhere. Just want to say, this is not a good idea. I really like the atmosphere having everything in the one room creates; splitting things off has the danger of killing it |
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Post by The Doctor on Aug 14, 2013 20:32:30 GMT
Personally, I think there's a difference between a dealer's fair which has happens to have guests for folk to say hello to and a full-on convention which has guests doing lengthy panels. The former was fine (everything in one room) when AA was a much smaller event of a few hours on just one day but as it has grown into a proper 3-day event with over 800 attendees milling round I feel it has reached the tipping point where that layout just does not work anymore. The hall is jammed. Noise from the dealers area interferes with the panels and vice versa. The guest area is ridiculously overcrowded and queues leak into the dealer and panel areas. I actually think it's killing the atmosphere. I've seen dealer areas and guest panels split off into separate areas at every other full-on convention I have attended and it works just fine and helps the vibe. When folk are shopping they can concentrate on that. When they want to hear guests speak, they can concentrate on that. I only see the 'everything in one room' format at collector fairs.
-Ralph
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Post by Bogatan on Aug 14, 2013 20:37:30 GMT
I would suggest keeping the guest and dealer areas in the big hall and having the panels elsewhere. Just want to say, this is not a good idea. I really like the atmosphere having everything in the one room creates; splitting things off has the danger of killing it I agree, Botcon has it split and running back and forth is no fun. I was able to queue for Steve Blums autograph while listening to his panel which was a far better use of time than sitting in the panel and then having to start lining up after. All that needs to happen is maybe arrange the speakers so that they arent blasting out in to the dealer area quite so much. Actually no not even that, the panels really werent the issue, well Dave was a bit to shouty at times, they were just about right, just have the musical interludes turned down. On an unrelated note, having all the guests down one wall was a much tidier than last year, but Steve Blums line essentially blocked access to about half the guests. Without having what are expected to be the longest line running outside the room I'm not sure whats the best solution, but possibly having the lines snake around some cordons to the side of the stage would help, or maybe having all the guest tables angles slightly and staggered so that there would be a gap behind hte big lines to access other guests more easily. |
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Post by Marc Graham on Aug 15, 2013 10:17:00 GMT
Three days and each day had events delayed by around an hour. At the seated area and Saturday night event volume was so loud and certain AA members shouted into the mic so much it was painful. I do think a separate panel room would be good.
The frankly arrogant response to my suggestion to not shout into the mic by one if the AA staff totally annoyed me, dismissing my feedback as too late and basically telling me to piss off. Charming. Did nothing to improve my opinion of this person as an unbearable toss pot.
This was a typically haphazard attempt to run a show, "cosplay" could have been quicker, opening ceremony was again a tad tedious.
Every year I get the impression that more and more of the convention is being run how some members of the committee want it to be and not for the attendees benefit.
The best thing about the convention is Toy Fu and meeting old friends. There isn't much more drawing me to it...
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Post by blueshift on Aug 15, 2013 10:35:29 GMT
Every year I get the impression that more and more of the convention is being run how some members of the committee want it to be and not for the attendees benefit. To be fair, they have toned down the self-congratulary aspect a lot. This year we didn't get an hour of applauding every single committee member individually at the start of the con! And less 'comedy' routines too! |
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Post by Bogatan on Aug 15, 2013 11:06:05 GMT
Does the Hilton have a larger hall? The one we had breakfast in seemed bigger. If we were in there I'd think they could separate the panel from the dealers a bit and the guests too without having them in different locations.
Yeah the self congratulations were well down this year and the closing ceremony was so small I almost wondered why they bothered. Which was great.
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Post by Kingoji on Aug 16, 2013 7:30:51 GMT
Say, Ralph, can you elaborate a little on why the hotel is 'horrible'? I just want to know if there's any problems there the convention could address in future. (Besides relocation)
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Post by The Doctor on Aug 16, 2013 11:11:39 GMT
I've already given my feedback on it last year and this year to a committee member!
-Ralph
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Post by Kingoji on Aug 16, 2013 13:19:56 GMT
Fair enough.
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The Huff
Thunderjet
Hufferlover
Posts: 4,243
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Post by The Huff on Aug 16, 2013 21:00:13 GMT
As usual I was anxious about going but had a really good time once there. Great to see everyone again, buy some toys, drink some alcahol and get some bit's signed. As is happening each year the larger the convention gets, it lacked a bit of the intimacy (if that's the word I'm looking for and if it is, I don't mean it in that way) but that's bound to happen and it's great the Conventions are so successful.
I loved the actual hotel itself - location, rooms, venue and the fact it has a swimming pool to wake me up in the morning but as some have said, the service was a little off which was suprising as it comes across as a top hotel and not cheap. A prime example (apart from being ignored in favour of non-transforming robot fans) was when I had to ask if there was another cash machine because I wanted to buy drinks at the bar (answer: no) then asking if there was another way to get money (answer: No) Where was the nearest cashpoint outside (answer: NEC) I then asked if the bar acceped cards as payment (answer: yes). I'm sure that first question should have been answered: " No sir, sorry for the inconvenience - but you can still purchase drinks from the bar with your card."
Never mind , none of that ruined my weekend in the slightest and really had a great time - big well done to Simon and the team as usual! Looking forward to next year.
More rooms availalable for the Friday next year though please.
Oh, and loved the exclusive toy!
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Post by Jaymz on Aug 17, 2013 14:27:17 GMT
Overall I enjoyed myself. Always good to catch up with folks, even if only briefly in some cases. I quite like the hotel itself, although my floor smelt bad after Batman flooded it the day before.
I'll mainly repeat what other people have said so:
- Slow bar service is my biggest complaint
- More panels would've been nice
- use the back of the pass you wear around your neck for a timetable instead of an advert. I know the extra income from the advert is probably a good thing, so if that's not an option then better signage about panels would be good [print out some A3 sheets and stick them around the place]
- I'd prefer the panels to be separate from the dealer room, but mainly turn off/down the music inbetween panels. If there has to be music, make it more relevant to the convention rather than crappy Coldplay tracks, or whatever was played. Background music/scores from movies are good, as they're less offensive to everyone.
- Pub quiz event would be great! Maybe a Friday night thing, using one of the side rooms [Swerve's diner room or something]. People can make teams of 5 or so. Ask McFeely to be quiz compere/master. Different rounds on different eras of TFs [G1/Beast/AEC/movie/Animated/etc]. Honor system requesting peeps don't use smartphones. Hilariously crappy prize for first place team. Usual pub quiz shenanigans really.
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