Count Fooku

I really hope we get to see a number of Star Trek guests this year, especially some of the cast from the original series. Ideal situation would be another DST event, it seems like they still send out the occasional thing on Twitter which gives me some hope there is a future for the event.

I'd go the whole hog and just have another DST event!

I'm not so sure anymore, there are already a lot of events in place for 2016 and looking down the list there do seem to be more of the general Film and Comic con type events and less of the franchise specific events that there used to be. Not a criticism as SM will know better what types of events more people will go for. Hopefully I'm wrong though!

I was hoping for that as well!

You already have a Harvey Nicholls, you don't need conventions there as well

Carl Weathers has done a few events over the years and while he's generally quite popular I wouldn't see him as being an insanely busy guest.

Really enjoyed today, I have to confess after only three hours sleep last night when the alarm went off this morning I was nearly tempted to not go, and when I got off the bus far too early by mistake, I was starting to think this was someone's way of telling me not to go! Very glad I perservered though! Met the Original Series Star Trek guests first, they were all very friendly, and very accommodating. Not sure if there's any plans to get anymore guests like that back in the future but it would definately get my vote. As Blue (who is presumably having something of a belting day after the football result!), Michael Lonsdale was probably the busiest guest but I'm so glad I met him. He asked people to sit down next to him while he their signed pictures and talked about the roles he had played. I didn't get anything signed by Buzz this time, the fees were just that bit too high for me this time round, but it still seemed like there were no shortage of takers. As always with Autographica, a relaxed and enjoyable event which always leaves me looking forward to the next one.

They won't stop if there are still people waiting in line, they will probably have based the time allocation on the number of tickets sold and how much time they have needed in the past. George Johnson has attended a few Autographicas now, so they will probably have a good idea of how long they will need for him. Worth making sure you are there in reasonable time for the start though, if a photo shoot is not scheduled to run for long, you don't want to run the risk of missing it. I can remember a couple of years ago having to almost five through the doors just as the guest was getting up to leave the shoot!

As long as John Hurt doesn't have a flashback and ends up doing that horrific dance

I suspect the rationale comes down to resale value. A larger picture will often be seen as a more desirable item to sell on than a smaller picture. It does seem that Buzz takes more account than most of what the relative values are for the secondary market (worth remembering it's Buzz who sets the prices not Showmasters).You see this sort of pricing structure with some sports guests as well, a photo is one price but a shirt or piece of playing equipment is generally deemed to be more desirable and so the signing fees reflect that.

Autographed postal covers can be a bit of a touchy subject with some astronauts, a lot of it stems from incidents like the Apollo 15 stamp dealer problems.

On the whole I'd say most guests are usually available for signing from the opening time. Might not be 100% but that can be true of any show. A lot of the guests that are doing the whole weekend will be staying in the hotel so they don't have to factor in transport delays like they might have to at other events. As a lot of the attendees tend to make a weekend of it, there isn't usually a sudden increase in numbers coming through the door at standard entry times, maybe a bit but it's never felt significant. I tend to find the quietest point is usually Sunday morning as a lot of people are sleeping off the effects of the Saturday night dinner!

I wonder if that might be a temporary thing or maybe they aren't on sale yet. I'd be surprised if some of the other names listed on there really are sold out given they have done plenty of shows in the past.

Always a welcome guest

I've never had a logo on any photoshoots at Autographica

I think as well baseballs are seen as a classic American item so a lot of people collect autographs (not just from astronauts) on them based on that connection. I get the impression a lot of astronauts aren't that keen on signing them because to a lot of them the connection isn't that evident so they tend to charge much higher fees to sign them.

From what Jason has said, it's not just about the room. There are other events on at Olympia that weekend and the venue is concerned that these other events will be 'overwhelmed' by LFCCW. They have also said on Facebook that the Hotel can offer as much space as was planned for London. ok, so ive got to ask... if there are other events the same weekend then why book that weekend in the first place :S surely the people who run/own the olympia knew how big SM's cons are getting and that the event would need a lot of room. i also dont understnad how another event will be "overwhelmed." If people are going for the con then surely thats what they'll be there for, not to have a nose through other events. either way, im still out. its to do with access , in the past we have used the venue and sometimes there has been other events in the same structure as its so large , after London summer we are gaining a lot of interest and now the venues thoughts are that we will need to use queue people around the building and other events are happing at the same time so this is not going to work for them and us at the same time , summer has shown we are getting much bigger and we need to take that into consideration more as we move on so i do understand there thought but it has given us a few headaches . But last summer nevermind this one showed that you were getting too big for normal capacity when you had Stan Lee over. Such an eventuality should have been anticipated and prepared for long before now. The "X event has shown we are getting much bigger" excuse only works so many times so be careful you don't overdo it I don't think this is a question of Showmasters not anticipating, it seems this is a call that has been made by Olympia as they have concerns how the comic con will impact other events that are taking place at the same time.

From what Jason has said, it's not just about the room. There are other events on at Olympia that weekend and the venue is concerned that these other events will be 'overwhelmed' by LFCCW. They have also said on Facebook that the Hotel can offer as much space as was planned for London. ok, so ive got to ask... if there are other events the same weekend then why book that weekend in the first place :S surely the people who run/own the olympia knew how big SM's cons are getting and that the event would need a lot of room. i also dont understnad how another event will be "overwhelmed." If people are going for the con then surely thats what they'll be there for, not to have a nose through other events. either way, im still out. Might not just be a question of the convention halls themselves but maybe the impact of queuing space outside the venue, impact on public transport. Not saying it's any of those as I have no idea but I suspect there could be more things that go on behind the scenes that we are not privvy to.

I can't believe Showmasters are holding an event on the moon, it's totally impractical for me to get there on public transport from Chipping Sodbury.

If we're thinking of the same thing then generally I think those archive pocket things are the best things that you can get for storing autographs in. They certainly have been at autogrpahica in the past but it's never certain which dealers will be at each event. For the events themselves, I tend to take one of these along: http://www.whsmith.co.uk/products/whsmith-black-40-pocket-a4-display-book/744935 Always seem to keep things safe and quite easy to get pictures out and put them back again.

It's not unheard of for newer events to not have the really big names. The other thing is, and I may have misread your point, but getting stars to come to a place to perform a concert or act in the theatre is one thing, but getting them to do a convention is something else again. The other consideration is although some of the people from Star Wars and Dr Who are regulars and may not always have massive lines, in a lot of cases they are perennial favourites who will often do an ok trade once people are there. I always look at Dave Prowse and Kenny Bake as examples of this. There can't be many SW fans out there who don't have their signatures, yet they always seem to have a line at their desks.

This is a good site to get hi res images from: http://www.apolloarchive.com/apollo_gallery.html

People tend to get a bit funny being filmed in the toilets as I found out to my cost last year. Nasty business that.

They had them at the summer event so I'd assume they will for this one.

Think as well it depends what your intentions are for the thing once its done. If you are looking to add Buzz as an investment piece to increase the items value then it probably is questionable if you'd see that money back again given how many things he's signed at events over the years. If you want it just as a piece to own and you can afford it, then given his status, I would think it would be worth adding him on.