Cube1701

Oh, they were full before this CM event was announced. I got an email in November from another event (that is happening at the same time) warning about them (there was a increased usage due to the event getting bigger each year, as well as a 4-day Take That tour at the Genting Arena). In the email they suggested to look at hotels near New Street Station, in Coventry and in Solihull.

Well, they're doing a spring one which is supposed to be Star Wars focused. They'll likely just focus on other stuff at the july one, there's a ton of stuff that wouldn't be represented at that other one. Personally, I'd choose one which focused on multiple franchises.

I'd rather they stick with mainly TV guests, with the odd film guest.

Still, it's a shame that some have to sign a contract saying that they can't be done. I was refused two and I was the only one in the queue.

Sometimes they just want to enjoy it themselves. Moffat was wondering around, too.

If YALC is there again, then I'll probably go next year.

I thought it was pretty awesome how I was able to meet an author I really like (Lucy Saxon), who was dressed as one of my favourite characters (Zelda) and I was able to spend 20 minutes talking to her. She even told me details about her next book.

Not a lot for me

The crew around the YALC area were great. They were all friendly, and the few guests that had VQ tickets were very well organised.

A few of mine Not many as I get nervous of asking people for photos.

2 autographs, 0 photoshoots.

Author Lucy Saxon in the YALC area. Very chatty, she revealed some things about her next book when I asked, too. It was also very interesting to meet someone (for a signing) who was extremely excited about meeting other guests.

Nicole de Boer - Nice and chatty, she seemed genuinely disappointed when she said she can't do posed photos due to her contract with Showmasters. She had her daughter with her, who was adorable. Colin Baker - My little sister wanted to meet him, he was quite chatty and spoke well to my very nervous sister, asking her questions. Lucy Saxon - I spoke her her for around 20 minutes, extremely friendly and a pleasure to talk to. Also, she was wearing a fantastic Zelda costume.

Oh, she was definitely lovely (so was her daughter). She apologized for it and said it was because of the contract she signed with Showmasters. Colin Baker said a similar thing, too.

Nicole De Boer and Colin Baker said that they weren't allowed to do posed photos. There were no signs for either of them about it. Both times I was the only one in the queue at the time, too. At least I got to talk for a bit.

In terms of authors, I'd love to meet Kristen Britain.

I've just got back from another con. It has a similar ticket price but much less money in the way of guests (much fewer guests, no photoshoots, etc). Here are things that I encountered, which I was amazed by due to Showmaster's terrible planning last week: - Metal barriers so there is a clear pathway for the queue. - A clear sign at the start of the queue, with a member of staff also telling you so you didn't end up in the wrong queue. - Multiple staff along the way, with megaphones and radios. - Other staff were selling drinks, food and ponchos (it was raining heavily). - Inside. there was room around all the stand so there was space to look at the stuff. - Chairs at the back of the main hall. - A separate carpeted room, filled with chairs, some empty space (for large groups who want to sit in a circle) and tables. - A large TV screen showing trailers outside the venue (unfortunately, this did go out of view as you went around the building). - On a similar note, there was a section inside showing multiple trailers from Universal films, but wasn't ridiculously advertised as an event (like "Trailer Fest"). Of course, it wasn't entirely positive as the non pre-booked ticket wait was a similar length (four hours), which is a mistake I won't repeat. However, the queue seemed much, much cheerier than the one for the LFCC, even though it was pouring it down. The path was structured so you saw lots of different cosplayers along the way. The much bigger empty space inside the venue also created a much better vibe between all the cosplayers. Despite only being in for a much shorter time, the experience was much more fun. If a smaller expo can do all this with a smaller budget, why the hell can't Showmasters?

99.9% of the fans were great. I did encounter two who responded aggressively to being called out for queue jumping and then proceeded to make fun of him for being a geek, but everyone else was extremely friendly. Especially the ones who knew what was going on and informed others - I was waiting for Summer Glau's second shoot and some nice girl pointed out that there was someone on the other side of the queue (out of our hearing range) sorting out the queue via ticket numbers (oddly, both the good and bad examples were from the same photo shoot queue). The atmosphere and cosplay in the back area was great throughout most of the day.

Positive - Great guests. - Photoshoots were (mostly) well organised. - Staff were friendly. - Variety of stalls. - The Twitter account Negative - Overcrowding - Lack of information given to staff. - Difficult to know where to queue when getting in. - No flow of traffic inside (one way system would help) - Difficult to get food or water. - Location of Photo Area A (the guy there was great). - Difficult to hear staff at times (like calling out ticket numbers for photoshoots - again, the guy there was great, he just needed a megaphone or something) - The "stamp on the way out" system for re-entry. - Nowhere to step out quickly for some fresh air without having to worry about not getting back in.

More Firefly! If there were lots of Firefly guests, I would likely spend a LOT of money.

Ticket, £55 for photo shoots (Summer and Jenna) and £25 for the train from Manchester, If the "guaranteed photo and autograph" packages are fairly priced (same as cost of photo+autograph, perhaps stretching to slightly more), I can see myself spending more money.

Do you mean Optimus Prime, Bumblebee and a few other Transformers?

Showmasters are a business and should, due to being a business, have proper organisation as well as trained staff to help organise problems, queues and the like.

The two problems I had with the photoshoots were: The location of Photo Area A as it was blocked by queues and book talk, so it was difficult to get close enough to hear the staff there. Oddly, the rough plan had it in a much better place. Secondly, there were two complete pricks in the second Summer Glau photo shoot, one guy let his friend cut in line (this was the proper winding queue where people were being let in by ticket number) and when someone called him out they were extremely aggressive towards him (angrily saying stuff like "Do you know who you're talking to?") as well as making fun of him for being a nerd (which made me wonder why were they even at the event). Not Showmaster's fault, but I think it's worth calling them out. Still, the experience once in the area was great, and the staff started the sorting second Jemma Coleman queue ahead of schedule so it was very well organised. I saw a load of the "failed" Stan Lee ones. They had been ripped in half, with only the Stan Lee part being on the table. I have no idea what happened to the other half.

There were a bunch of Arrow cosplayers who were great. Not only were their outfits great, but the people wearing them were well suited to the character, and they did a lot of posing for photos as well as looking like they were having a lot of fun, especially the extremely convincing Black Canary. There were a bunch of girls standing behind me in a queue that talked about you. They were incredibly freaked out by you and at times felt like you were following them (not in a creepy way...well, yes, in a creepy way, but not that kind of creepy way). It definitely sounded like you were one of the highlights of their day (and this was around 5PM on Saturday).