HMcClure

Whilst I have voted for the ever sexy Ben Browder I would only put Claudia Black in 2nd place on the condition that I have all ready been lucky enought to meet her. And much to my boyfriends annoyance put my arm around her waist! As a Con guest she is very entertaining, I for one would love to meet her again. Long time no see! A TEAM PHOTOSHOOT WITH THIS LOT? THE SECURITY WOULD BE A NIGHTMARE! EVEN TEAL'C WOULDN'T STAND A CHANCE! HE COULD TRY. I DON'T MIND HUMOURING HIM WITH A QUICK WARM UP WRESTLE BEFORE MAKING MY WAY ONTO ..... Ooooh who would I tackle next?

1) It has to be Richard Dean Anderson 2) Ben Browder 3) Claudia Black - I have been lucky enough to meet Claudia at a evening with Claudia Black event several years ago. Not only is she a lovely lady but she does a great talk. So Showmasters I can recommend that you make the effort and expense to bring her over.

I would like to thank Jason and the rest of the crew who have worked so hard to try and give us a LOTR convention. Whilst I am disappointed that it won't be going ahead I understand the reasons and it makes business sense to pull the plug now than on the eve of the convention. From a personal perspective it allows me to spend my money attending the GMEX show which is shaping up to be a corker! Having over 15 years of adminstration experience myself I know how hard an event like this is to orgainise. There are so many factors that can go wrong thereby disappointing the attendees. To the attendees I would ask that you remember this when you next feel the need to lay into Showmasters on this forum. The majority of these problems are beyond their control. Most problems involve third parties who have minds (and wallets) of their own and will therefore act on what is best for them not us or Showmasters! In my opinion I think that Showmasters should concentrate on making their LFCC and Collectormania shows a premier worldwide event. The shows already pull in fans from around the globe already. By sticking to perfecting their core shows I am sure that this will have influence on the 'A' listers we wish to meet. Despite having attended every Collectormania show and LFCC, I bought my first gold pass for the recent LFCC show. Whilst there were a few problems (lighting, goody bags, door chaos), I really enjoyed the event especially as I got to meet one of my all time favourite actors Patrick Stewart. If I was to ask Showmasters to look at some of the problems they would be these. 1) If Earl's Court continues to screw you over ... move! Remember your the customer and you have a reputation to protect. 2) Take care of your gold pass VIP's and early bird ticket buyers. Remember they should have priority. They have paid a premium and therefore should be treated as a priority. They are usually repeat attendees and if they don't come back the events will die. 3) Give your dealer's a break also. And I don't just mean the sponsor's. As a regular attendee I don't just attend these events for autographs. I also go to these events to shop. All my favourite shops under one roof! Needless to say I look forward to these events for more than just autographs I have noticed lately that the number of dealers is dropping. If the dealer's go chances are so will I. 4) There were too many people signing at the last event. Concentrate on quality not quanitity. Right that's the bitching over with. Don't get me wrong I appreciate all your hard work in making these events happen. Please keep up the good work. P.S. Any chance of getting Christopher Lee. You teased us last year. How about trying again. Or even better getting both Christopher Lee and Sir Ian McKellen at the same event. The lines would be around the block .... think about it!

If there was this lady clearly got around the rule somehow. There is a 5 autographs limit but there are exceptions for sponsors of the show Sorry, but this lady was not working for any of the show sponsors. I suspect she used her husband in order to get a second green ticket. However, one ticket was circled 5 and on the second ticket the 'other' box at the end had been filled in with 6. I'm not one for whining but she really took the biscuit. I always endeavour to use as little of the guests time as possible when there's a large crowd as I know how gutted I would be to miss out on a special guest. So I paid particular attention to this person and what they were doing.

If there was this lady clearly got around the rule somehow.

Would just like to respond to a few of the complaints. 1) Queues were clearly marked for those at the front. I would encourage showmasters to use a few of their staff to walk the line in the last hour before opening to reasure/inform customers as to which q they have joined. Hopefully this will prevent most q'ing accidents. 2) You can't let pre-pay customers in before on the day ticket buyers. Both tickets cost the same so what right do pre-pay customers have to get in before on the day buyers. Pre-payers have the advantage of not stopping at the tills to pay so several hundred will be through the gates before the first hundred on the dayers have. Showmasters have clearly stated the advantage of pre-paying for tickets in there FAQ's section but the advantage only applies to those who get there early. 3) I did feel sorry for the gold ticket buyers. After a large investment like that they should at least be allowed in 15 minutes before everyone else. These are your VIP customers. Treat them better. 4) Whilst most SM staff I have met down the years have been great people, there is sadly a breed of ticket queue gods emerging. Please don't talk to me as if i'm a retarded naughty 5 year old. Simply smile and give instructions politely. I have worked in a service enviroment all my life and have found that in 95% of cases sugar works better than vinegar. 5) Having said that i find it amazing that some people stay so pleasant all day long! My thanks to all those guests and staff that have held it together all day in the face of some very very rude people! 6) To the person who paid £24 to park at Earl's Court. It costs £18.50 if you pre-book using the on-line facility via the link on showmasters travel details page. But still £18.50 for 7 hours parking OW! Please move back to Wembley! (Selfish reason - I live 20 minutes on the train from Wembley) (Non-selfish reason - Wembley was a better venue than Earl's Court but that's just my opinion other people will disagree). 7) Very sorry to hear that Mr Lee was unable to attend due to injury. Would it be possible to get Mr Lee to come to the another show? Manage that Showmasters and your first Rings Convention could well be a sell out! 8) £2.00 for a f***ing cookie and £1.80 for a bottle of water! Water for gods sake! Earl's Court you should be ashamed of yourself. If I ever have to return to your facilities again I will bring my own supplies. Shame on you. 9) Please can you restrict the number of autographs that any one person can get to 5. After a very long wait to meet the wonderfull Elijah I was annoyed to find one lady, a few people in front of me, request 11 yes 11 autographs. She took nearly 10 minutes selecting all her photos to be signed therefore holding up the queue for sometime. A dozen or so people probably missed out on their opportunity on Saturday thanks to this selfish individual. Please stop this. 10)) Despite the above, thank you again Showmasters for a great day out.

Okay here's the challenge then. Who would be on your A-List? Let's reach for the stars literally and perhaps the organisers will strike lucky and one or two may attend in future. Remember the organisers do read these pages. Perhaps your suggestion could become reality. Who would you really like to meet but you think may never happen.

ooooooo! yes please!

A-List guests required. Sir Ian McKellen Christopher Lee (Should be a Sir by now! Take note your Majesty!) Hugo Weaving Orlando Bloom Elijah Wood Sean Bean Peter Jackson (Make the Hobbit!) James Earl Jones Ben Browder Richard Dean Anderson Joss Whedon Alyson Hannigan Patrick Stewart Brent Spiner - missed him last time Alan Rickman and, not asking for much here, Lord Quentin of Tarantino! .......... oh well back to reality.

Milton Keynes may well be in the top 10 worst places in England to navigate your car (or be a passenger in a Reliant Robin (never again!)) and it may look like an Architect's wet dream and require a golf cart to get around the badly laid out shopping centre (heard of 2 storeys Mr Architect) but in it's defence i will just say one word .... SLOUGH! ..... come friendly bombs fall on MK or Slough?

Wembley DOES charge for parking.. they only didn't at Comic Con 2, because the Wembley tube stations were shut (when left is a VERY quiet event). 849017[/snapback] Actually, if you had arrived early for comic con 2 you would have been invitied to park for free in the hotel car park right in front of the main entrance. But yes, they do charge for parking. I would however point out that it is around £10 cheaper than Earl's Court and most of the parking is within a very short sheltered walk from the entrance. In response too the person who found it easy to get to Earl's Court. I use the tube from Amersham. The journey requires 3 trains and if lucky an hour and a half commute. And don't even get me started about the M25 and driving in London!

Ideas to improve the show: 1)Move Comic con back north of the 'river' to Wembley. Getting to Earl's Court for most of the country is not easy and they charge £18 for parking. It was free at Wembley! Bigger is not always better. 2) Bigger seating area for those waiting for their ticket numbers to come up. 3) Quality not quantity in the guests you book. I'm still trying to figure out how your gonna fit them all and us in at MK. 4) Lay off the dealer's! The amount your charging per table is silly. One guy i was talking to at the last show was going to have to sell half his stock just to break even. The dealers are half the reason we turn up. I noticed that the hall was not full at the last comic con. And no I am not a dealer and I'm not getting kick backs for saying this. 5) I agree with too tall in roping off the autograph area. It was chaos at the last comic con. Of course if you went back to Wembley, where there was plenty of space at the back of the hall rope, would not be required. 6) Forget the Gold tickets. At £200 - £250 your fighting a loosing battle and you know it. If you need to raise more revenue to turn a profit you need to pursue more sponsors. Let them splatter their name all over the event. I don't mind. I may even be interested in some of the products their pushing. Ok enough of the spleen venting. You do produce a good show and I would like to thank all the staff that make them happen. Looking forward to the next Collectormania.

Whilst I am very interested in obtaining a Gold Ticket as they are a rather attractive product, may I suggest one addition for future shows which will guarantee a sell out .... how about throwing in a couple of autograph vouchers for a guest/guest of you choice. At £200 to £250 a pop this is not unreasonable idea. Talks are all well and good if you happen to be interested in the stars taking part where as anyone even remotely interested in a Gold Ticket will want vouchers they can exchange for autographs.