TFNation - 19th-21st August 2016

[browny87]

had a wonderful time, sorry to those I didn't say bye to I had to drive home tonight and I was feeling exhausted and so left at about 6.15

on a side note the funniest moment of the weekend was how much Mr Turnbull paid for Sins of the Wreckers/the raffle, but ill let him explain

[Philip Ayres]

[Pinwig]

I had a brilliant time. Soon as I get a chance I'll post some reflections; I'm on restricted net access atm. I am really pleased to have met a good few hubbers; every one was very welcoming.

[Philip Ayres]

[Philip Ayres]

[Philip Ayres]

[Philip Ayres]

Nick looks a tad cream crackered there in the background!

[Philip Ayres]

[Philip Ayres]

[Rich]

Best con I've been to. In general, the panels seemed to be better thought-out than in the past, which improved them a lot; the dealers were more willing to negotiate (which meant I spent far more than I intended); the bar and bar food prices were as usual high BUT there were genuine alternatives with the street food - which we were allowed to eat at the bar!- and at the resort world place; the event was infinitely better dressed than completely-different-and-entirely-unrelated cons; and everybody in the bar seemed on excellent form.

Thank you Andy T and please pass on my feedback to the rest of the team.

There was also interesting video evidence relating to the true origin of rock Lords, which hopefully Matt will be able to provide.

[legios]

Sitting in the bar with a glass of ice-and-caffine (fuel and coolant in one handy package). I've got to say that it was a fantastic event. Coming back to Transformers conventions after a while "doing" comics conventions I have to say that I'd put TFN up with the best of them. The organisation of things was fantastic, and things pretty much ran really smoothly. The programme was great, always something going on in one or other room and there was a great variety of stuff on offer, so there was always something to do. Not all of it was my "thing", but the point is that there was something for everyone, and enough of it to make it feel like two and a half full and exciting days.

Kudos to the whole TFNation team. It was really knocked out of the park this first year. The convention really hit the ground running. The professionalism, planning and organisation of all involved really showed through. Superb event.

It was really nice to see a lot of the TMUK Crew - other old hands and faces I'd not had the pleasure of meeting in meat-space before alike. Great to see you all, the banter was fine stuff and it is always fun to spend a convention in good company.

Karl

[blueshift]

I had a great time, though I am in pain and need to prep for work tomorrow (I must be up for 4.30am and then straight into a big meeting which I can't coast as I'm in charge of it!). More thoughts when I'm coherent!

Here's my haul though! (Sonic Bomber and Breakdown were stuff I'd already bought and picked up there, but it counts!!)

[Philip Ayres]

[Philip Ayres]

[Philip Ayres]

[Philip Ayres]

[Cullen]

Sorry I missed this. Looks like you all had a great time. I promise to make the next one - just realised its been 5 years since I saw most of you lovely people. Too long!

[Philip Ayres]

Chunder Monkey! Ladies and gentlemen, the legend that is John Cullen is in the house!

We've not forgotten you though. Or what happened the last time you came out with us......

[Philip Ayres]

[The Huff]

Thanks Gary!

[Jaymz]

I had a lovely time, good to see so many familiar faces! Hours flew by so quickly I ended up missing various panels by mistake. Wristband ticket was a bit weird, I'm not used to wearing accessories, no worse than a lanyard 'round the neck I guess, but I really like back of namecard with panel schedules being so easily at hand. I'll try to remember to take a photo of the booklet next time.

Display room was wonderful, great to have more involvement with a good 3P company, and Nic's Rock Lords were very impressive.

Great work from everyone involved with putting on the show, thanks to all

Here's what I done got:

[inflatabledalek]

I didn't talk to nearly enough people for long enough! Especially Karl who I shamelessly took money from and run away from. I would always make eye contact with people as I was going somewhere and think "I'll stop them next time..."

No time now for great thoughts as my day of playing with Shockwave means I now have to run to the pub, but here's all my pics:

www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10154093263174219.1073741861.611524218&type=1&l=72ac3368aa

[Philip Ayres]

G's pictures

www.inkybauds.com/tfnation-2016.html

[Philip Ayres]

[legios]

Aug 23, 2016 16:10:33 GMT inflatabledalek said:

I didn't talk to nearly enough people for long enough! Especially Karl who I shamelessly took money from and run away from. I would always make eye contact with people as I was going somewhere and think "I'll stop them next time..."

Heh! No worries - I'm in much the same boat. I kept meaning to have a proper chat with you but one or both of us always seemed to enroute somewhere every time we passed. There are so many people I said "hi" to in passing but didn't have a proper chance to chat to.

If it is any consolation - your book has proven to be very entertaining, it enlivened parts of my journey home yesterday and I am looking forward to finishing the rest of it in the next few days.

Karl

[Andy Turnbull]

TF Nation 2016, or How I spent more than 70 quid on Sins of the Wreckers

Kicks off on Thursday with a leisurely train down from Funfermalino (the riviera of Fife) to Birmingham, plain sailing all the way as is always the case when I travel alone. Hit the hotel and check in, and my room is immediately turned into a Toy-Fu staging location (as is tradition) and then on to the next tradition - I hit the bar. Queue several hours of chatting, and drinking as I catch up with many people I haven't seen in an age and a few I haven't met before.

FRIDAY

It's go time, and thanks to David Christopher the set up in the main hall is a well-oiled machine and aside from some manual labour on my part there isn't much to do there for me. So it's off to the Panel Room to try and get set up ahead of the opening panel and the undoubted highlight of the event (Battle of the Rock Lords), it was a pleasure to open the inaugural event alongside the far more polished Jim Sorenson and I'm sorry I didn't really hit my stride till near the end of the panel. I had barely gotten the AV set up sorted just as you all came in, and I was very keen on sharing/making you all watch the greatest Transforming robot film of all time. Thanks to everyone who stayed in the room! You are now better people for the experience.

A few breaks to get Toy-Fu donations and to also pick up the delivery from IDW of the Sins of the Wreckers trade, thanks to Nick Roche and the shipping team at IDW for making this happen. Then I picked up a biro to mark the quiz alongside Grace. I was harsh but fair (NO HALF MARKS!!), I did smile when the quiz ended in a tie as the bonus questions were burned through with nary a correct answer. A quick dart into the panel room turned into a longer one to get things set up for Perchance to Dream, and then back into the main hall, just in time to catch some of the movie panel ahead of TFTM, and was pleased to see the "deleted scene" that Dave wrangled my help for. I then popped my head in to the main hall a few times, and split my time between there and the bar until after Perchance to Dream started. A quick check to make sure it was okay and I left it in the capable hands of Adam, Gruffy and co. Some last minute rehearsals and checks and we were good to go.

SATURDAY

I managed to fail to buy any toys on the Saturday, but in between duties managed to get Geoff Senior to sketch on the blank RG1 issue 100 cover I purchased from Simon Furman at a convention the previous year. Watching him work was splendid, he is still "The Guv'nor" as far as I am concerned.

Now, it would have been improper of me to use my influence to wangle a copy of Sins of the Wreckers, but thankfully it was in the tomobola and at 20p a ticket it was a tempting prospect. So £47 later and Grace Wallace is unwilling to let me buy any more tickets. Now this took a while, and a few people had came and went and everyone said it would be funny if it was the last ticket left after I had bought every other one and someone else picked it up. It wasn't quite the last ticket but John-Paul "i never win anything" Bove snags it after dropping a quid on tickets. The swine!

Off to the panel room, where I get to talk art with Alex, Guido and Nick R which was an absolute pleasure for me and the audience seemed to agree.

Back into the main hall for a short spell and then it's the evening programme. Now I always miss bits of this, due to showering, and kicking people out of rooms and getting them locked up (the rooms that is, not the people), but what I saw of the Cosplay parade was top notch although the old school fan in me felt Seaspray should have won. The script reading was top notch, I didn't know anything about it going in, just so I would have at least one surprise over the weekend.

Getting to get a large parcel of the old TMUK gang back together was great too. Apparently when I was at the table there was more agression, but a lot less talking about cock.

Surprise, surprise it's back to the bar for drinks, and then some exploration and the retrieval of hats and capes, I mean flags. But dammit I cut a dashing figure in a cape.

Thanks to Azra I learned a new offensive word. You are never too old to learn!
So 3am rolls on, and while I would have carried on longer, I was gently reminded my first panel was at 10 in the morning and not 11. So common sense prevailed and it was off to bed.

SUNDAY

Early morning panel, where I got to talk about Marvel UK along with Simon, Geoff and James Roberts. Nick would have been there, but illness meant he needed a lie down for a while. I could easily have talked about it for another half hour or so, but I hope fans old and new got something out of it, and learned about the wonders of making kitchen cleaners dynamic!

A few door stints and minding the room for Nick's Sins panel.

I get back into the main hall and Colin informs me that one of the Door prize winners didn't want Sins of the Wreckers so donated it to Toy-Fu, so £25 quid to Toy-Fu and I finally get my trade, a bargain at £72 pounds and yes I am well aware of the fact it's cheaper on Amazon!

Hats off to Garry Bodsworth for the donation of a copy of Eugenesis which went for £400 in silent auction at Toy-Fu to Chao. I am sure she will enjoy the book. It also makes my £72 quid seem a little less extravagant.

Towards the end managed to snag sketchbooks from Alex and Kei as well as getting Geoff Senior to sign a She-Ra book he illustrated. In for the closing ceremony and then the mammoth effort to get everything packed away. A lot of hard work by a lot of great people.
Then to the Bar where in a change to things at convention bars, the man who nearly broke me with laughter was not JP but Gavin Spence. With one of the shittest jokes of all time, but the backstory and context of make it a scream. (No, I can't tell you, nobody comes off well explaining it) Even at the end of the night, plans were being made for TFN 2017, we don't even really let ourselves take the night off. It could come off a little bit cocky, but all of us have put a power of work into this year and while there is definitely scope to improve we knew we could put on one hell of an event, and it was fantastic to hear so many people say they enjoyed themselves, and who took the time out to thank us, it was greatly appreciated.

Ed also tried to get me to sketch at one point to try and stay awake, but aside from the Thunderclash the rest were a little lacking. So we moved tables and the night drew to a close with the telling, or should that be tellimg of stories.

Monday was the usual emotionally draining experience of saying goodbye to people and travelling back home. Not much of a comedown this year, though I do have post con-crud which is nice.

As with these things my biggest regret is that I didn't get to spend enough time with all the fantastic friends I've made, well that and spending £70 quid on a trade I had already pre-ordered for £15 DAMN YOU JP!!!

[duffism1981]

"I get back into the main hall and Colin informs me that one of the Door prize winners didn't want Sins of the Wreckers so donated it to Toy-Fu, so £25 quid to Toy-Fu and I finally get my trade, a bargain at £72 pounds and yes I am well aware of the fact it's cheaper on Amazon!"

What happened was Johnny, Spoonatron on twitter won Sins of the Wreckers as a door prize on the Saturday. In the main hall on Sunday he came up to me and said "Guess what I just won in the tombola?" I correctly guessed a second copy of Sins. He didn't know what to do with it, so I suggested donating it to ToyFu, as it was so sought after. So the lucky sod won 2 copies that weekend. After seeing Andy buying so many tombola tickets, I thought I better tell him about the trade availability first.

You can see the pictures of Andy trying to win Saturday's copy.

Attachments:

[blueshift]

I don't even know how to react to this!

[browny87]

A very wacky highlight for me was when i was helping the Mapes brothers take down he hall after Saturday night, Guido and emilano didnt want to leave so asked to look round the display room and spent about 3 hours arguing about how well/not well designed the characters were, i believe they had to be chivvied along oujt of it by the end!

[Kingoji]

As you can see from the above photos, there was very little left on the raffle table, which just fuelled Andy's determination. I think when those pics were taken, all that was left was a copy of Wreckers and *maybe* two blind bag chibi-formers. Andy had already "won" most of those by now.