gazznewbie

Having been to many events over the years it seems if your in the queue paying for an autograph your not allowed to take pics. But if your not paying for an auto you can walk up quite close to the barriers and take as many as you like. That really annoys me personally, think there should be 6ft high barriers around the edges of guests signing areas to stop this. No photos should be no photos for everyone not just the ones paying, Who in my opinion have more right to take one anyway.

I got to a previous event at 4am to see Sigourney Weaver and never met her (apart from 5 second pic) I went home with My Sigourney and Carrie (Newt) Aliens pic only signed by Carrie, this has really made me see the light and think and not repeat the experience. Funny how my other post tonight has mysteriously vanished without a trace. I think it would have been interesting to see more peoples views on that one.

Shocked to hear Nick has passed away, always had a long chat with him when at events as been bumping into him for years, he was always nice and friendly and had time for all his customers. His autograph sleeves were best i've seen, and I bought loads. Never buy those hard plastic sleeves you see for sale at the shows. They should not be allowed to be sold, If you try and take your autographed pics out It is likely some of it would come off as the pen ink sticks to the sleeve. Thankfully Nick warned me of this ages ago, so I only had 1 damaged from this, the rest in sleeves he sold are all still perfect after having had some for years, My first event was Collectormania 7 or 8 !

I do not have any diamond passes as find them too expensive to get 1 pic and 1 auto, the auto being the priority. Is there any point attending if I do not have a Diamond Pass for Jeremy Renner, Famke Janssen and Rutger Hauer. With Talks, photoshoots , dinner breaks etc I doubt I am likely to see any, if loads of diamond passes have been sold. Would others agree, I know I can get pics but i'm mainly interested in autos and based on previous experience, I shall get my 5 second brief hello and pic with the guests, but go home without any main star autos which is rather irksome if you really want the autos, and no doubt the photo will come out a bit rubbish anyway, due to lack of time to "pose" well. I am getting to stage now where cannot see any point going anymore, its hard to get motivated when I know I am likely to come home empty handed after getting up at stupid o'clock and standing in queues most of the day. Although its annoying I would like to thank Showmasters for introducing Diamond Passes as its saved me loads of money on guests I would have paid to see otherwise, plus costs to see some of the other guests I would have seen while there. I must have saved over a £1,000 already, If I attended this weekend and saw everyone I wanted like I used to when I first started attending these events it would cost me just over £500 including travel, so thats looking like another £500 saved. Its a shame these events are now only for the mega-rich.

It would take a few minutes for a star to have their picture done on their own and would be as you had seen them in real life rather than one from their latest TV series etc so would be a better one to have as a free one to get autographed I like to have 1 with the stars as well of course but would be nice to have one without me on as well surely worth showmasters giving it a try , if doesn't work can soon be dropped.

Best bring some sun tan lotion an umbrella and canoe in case of floods and some good grip shoes in case it snows its the UK after all ! personally think thin shirt and thin fleece or foldable waterproof should suffice this weekend you'll be in doors most of the time anyway and its not far to the tube from the venue so plenty of shelter

Why dont you have photoshoots of the stars on their own each day they are there, in different outfits etc that we can buy as mementos of our meets with them, or as a choice in the free pics to get signed say 1 body shot and one face close up each day they attend at a price of say £3 for 8 x 10's like one of the regular stores there sells them at you could easily do this at their first photoshoot of the day Id buy them Dam why didn't i keep that idea to myself, more expense ! 3 days x 2 each day for Summer + 3 x 2 each day for natalie etc etc

Sorry if this is elsewhere but could not see in FAQs I'm thinking of attending on Friday too but never have before I have some pre-ordered photo tickets for Sat can I use these for shoots on Friday or can I only get photoshoots with guests that I buy on Friday I would guess time is a bit tight on Friday is it possible to get many shoots done on a Friday or with queueing to get in, queueing for shoots tickets and queueing for photos likely to take most of the time up can I buy photoshoots for Sat or Sun at the Friday event are there big queues for auto's on a Friday is Friday worth a visit or is most of the 3hrs spent queueing and thus you only get couple of shoots done is the shoot schedule going to be published soon so i can try and see where potential clashes are going to occur on Saturday and have idea of ones to try and do on Friday if i go how about making Friday a bit longer say 4pm or 5pm start Thanks Gazz

I only went Saturday and met Matt Smith, Sahara Knite, The Avellan Twins, Dean Cain, Laura Pradelska, Ian Hanmore, Mark Rolston and Michael Carter, who was favourite always hard to say, they were all great but felt I had the best experiences with (longest chats, photos at desk when meeting them, nice and friendly ); Females: Sahara, Elise and Electra all equal and Paula Males: Ian, Matt and Dean (again in order ) but they were all nice, some were busier when i saw them and don't have so much time and end up getting a lower scoring through no fault of their own perhaps my answer would be different if the event had been very busy like they are sometimes having been to loads of events It does seem to be that the female stars are generally the best but I might say different if I was Female a less crowded event like yesterday just stands out from the other events even though less big stars as the day gives a more pleasing experience I end up spending more at these more relaxed events than I do at the busy ones as the queues and jostling for everything makes me loose interest in getting autographs and buying from the stalls for your autographs fees at a quieter event you actually get to speak to the guests rather than a conveyer belt autograph experience when seeing several big stars on the same day, so the event gets a thumbs up from me

Trust i'm in any draws too

Yes was excellent to get pictures immediately, showmasters are now in the 21st century with the rest of us !

Never really thought about it, yes some may be worth something some not but i'm not selling, so who cares the train fares / entrance fees etc also add to the overall costs of getting them I just enjoy meeting stars from shows I enjoy watching I don't waste my money on Fri or Sat night getting legless sessions like some people I know so guess this is my way of using my income, at least mine has some possibly value my initial aim was to meet all the Star Trek stars but over the years having now met most of them, some more than once the latest shows I watch have crept in as well to my collection I think if the prices to see guests were less I would actually spend more but don't tell showmasters its also nice going in a DVD shop and seeing dvds with pictures of people on them I have actually spoken to and met, its hard to walk around HMV without seeing anyone on a DVD cover I have met, probably impossible now ! plus reading the latest Sci-Now, SFX's etc and knowing I have met many of the people in the magazine as guests you meet end up in newer shows as well it just adds something to the enjoyment of watching the shows the stars are from and any new roles they have that you watch after you have met them meeting guests also lets me discover other shows they have done when checking them out on IMDB which does get me into some other shows sometimes overall its just an activity of being a proper fan of the shows

After my dithering about going I got to see Matt easily and have a photo with him good job he has done some other events as that would have took away some demand i was expecting there to be 1000's there but had open Q later in day really enjoyed yesterdays events due to there not being many big names there were a lot less people so as it was easy to spend a bit of time with the guests and not be so rushed i actually ending up spending a lot more than i would have done otherwise this always seems to happen at the "quieter" events if only they were all like that

thanks for info now just need to find it !

Somewhere round here I have a photoshoot for Laura as I doubt I shall find that now for tomorrow can I still get a refund next year at an event or is there somwhere i can post it for a refund is there a way of getting a refund without the ticket i paid by CCard so there should be a record of my payment thanks Gazz