MrsStarbuck

Hi all, this will be my second time at Collectormania but my first time staying in the DoubleTree (Friday and Saturday night) and I was just wondering what people do in the evenings? Do people just hang around the hotel bar or are there places to go? I'll be cosplaying during the day and would love to keep my cosplay on in the evening if there were others around doing the same thing? Thanks,

Well I suppose that depends if what you're meeting them for is the actual autograph or purely the chance to meet them. For me personally, I don't really care about autographs, but I got quite a few over the weekend simply so I could have the experience of meeting the guest (and luckily for me, all the people I met were great).

I took my 9 year old niece with me to get Bill's autograph and I was quite nervous in case he ignored her, because you can't really explain that kind of thing to a heartbroken child...but I'm delighted to say that he was absolutely lovely with her. She was wearing a TOS red dress and he told her the dress was lovely and she was very pretty and he asked her if she was a Trek fan. He absolutely made her day and she hasn't stopped going on about it since. The photoshoot was quicker, but I'd been told that he often doesn't even look up at the camera in shoots...so I was pleasantly surprised that I got at least a little smile out of him (as well as a 'hi' as I approached and a 'thank you' as I left). I suppose I set my expectations pretty low for Shatner, simply because I didn't want to be dissapointed. But I'm delighted to say he totally surpassed them! Oh, and the talk was excellent :) Personally, my favourite guest of the weekend.

Okay, thanks for the responses Sazzra and SilkyCat. I guess I'm lucky that my niece is as big a sci-fi/Trek geek as me and my sister, so she was just as excited as we were to be at the Con, she waited in line patiently for her Kate Mulgrew shoot (and I have to say, Kate Mulgrew was absolutely lovely with her...made her weekend!) and didn't do any running about/screaming/whingeing at all. I would never dream of using her to get to the front of a queue or get longer with a guest, and neither would her mum (my sister). But I can understand why people would get annoyed if some pushy parents do that.

Just out of interest, why do people not like kids being at these events? My 9 year old niece came to Collectormania MK with us and had a wonderful time, got her own photoshoot with Kate Mulgrew and spent the rest of the weekend being impressed with the Stormtroopers and scared of Darth Maul! Lol! She even cosplayed with us

A horror guest would be nice

I've been reading about an upcoming American Trek Con and the prices they're charging for autos/photoshoots there, and I was actually amazed at how good value for money Collectormania MK had been by comparison. I would totally pay a lot more to meet the likes of Ford/Hamill etc.

Does anyone have a rough idea for what time this talk will take place? I'm trying to book my return train tickets for the Sunday and have got a fair way to travel (and have to be back at work on the Monday) but I've got tickets for this talk and don't want to miss it.

Okay, thanks for the advice guys :)

I was quite surprised to see so many 'big' names on open queue and also how easy it was to get a photo/autograph at the last minute. Is it always this way at events? I'll be at the LFCC next and don't want to be too laid back expecting this one to be just as quiet if it's going to be completely different. (Just to add though, this is not a criticism of the event that it was quiet, I'd like to think it's more a testament to how well organised it all was).

Ah, well being a vegetarian, as well as a lover of 'real' food (lol) I don't see McDonalds and Dominos as great options But thanks for the info, I might consider staying here next time because there were a couple of times we'd have liked to pop back to the room in the middle of the day. mainly because we were in cosplay for a lot of the time, but then I don't like to get photoshoots done if I don't look at least a little bit like 'me' so we had to separate the days for either cosplay or photoshoots, but it would have been nice to change our mind on a whim if we'd have wanted and staying at the event we could have done that. I guess at the end of the day, we had to travel to/from the event every day anyway, so it's only the same difference travelling to/from the restaurants later.

This being my first time at Collectormania, on someone else's recommendation I stayed at the Jury's Inn in town, which was nice in the evening to find somewhere to eat, but you couldn't just pop back to the room when you were at the event. What was it like in the evenings for those that stayed at the Doubletree? I didn't really check out the area around the stadium, but were there places to eat, or did you come into town?

Yes, thank you so much Showmasters, for possibly one of the best weekends I've ever had! I echo the comments about the organisation being brilliant. I had been expecting to be stuck in queues all day long but I think the longest one for me was for my Linda Hamilton photoshoot, and that was only about 10 - 15 minutes. I was very impressed with how smoothly everything ran. Brilliant guests, a nice venue (if a little bit cold), a good selection of dealers...I will definitely be coming back next year and will be dragging as many people as possible with me (because I annoyed them all so much this year with my constant texts about "ooh, I've just met Linda hamilton", "and now I've just met Danny John Jules" lol! )

I'd also like to say a huge thanks to the charity cosplayers, especially the Star Wars characters (Darth, Stormtroopers, Boba Fett, Sandpeople etc). I think my young niece was more impressed with you guys than she was with the 'stars'! lol. We got loads of photos with you all, so I hope you managed to raise a good amount of money for the charities because you totally deserve it!

I've got to agree with everyone else here...Linda Hamilton was just superb! She's probably the most famous person I've ever met (I'm a noob to this kind of thing) and I thought I'd be really nervous, but she was just so friendly and welcoming that she made me feel at ease straight away. I got a hug for my photo and then a kiss on the cheek. Wonderful, wonderful guest, laughing and joking with everyone, really down to earth...just brilliant! And still absolutely stunning too.

Well this was my first Collectormania, and in fact my first time at any convention of this kind (where you meet stars) and I have to say I had an absolutely AMAZING time. I came for Saturday, Sunday and Monday, although I think in future two days would be enough, I met my hero, Kate Mulgrew, who was every bit as lovely as I'd been hoping, and then I met Linda Hamilton, who was fantastic! I was with my sister and my nine year old niece and we all loved every minute! We will defo be coming back next year!

This has made me very happy! Janeway and Chakotay at the same event! Thank you Showmasters! Now please, please, please let them do a joint talk

I'm making a White Queen costume for an anime convention in August, so I'll be interested to see your outfit, and I might even ask you for some tips Although I'm not strictly doing the Tim Burton character, more a cross between that and the 'classic' Through the Looking Glass look.

Nice!

Thanks I really am going for the experience, first of all, the cosplay, the meeting other people, and then the stars are kind of like a bonus, lol. But that's a good tip on grabbing the virtual tickets, I'll be sure to do that.

Zev. Way better than Ripley... but I'm biased. Duly noted.

^ Cool list! (especially the Starfleet uniform )

Thanks for this info. Like I said, I'm a total noob to this kind of thing, so I've got no idea really how it all works. Hmm...maybe I will get a Kate Mulgrew autograph after all I just think, since I'm not bothered about the physical autograph anyway, if it DOES end up being one where you're rushed through, and I don't actually feel like I've met them then it'll have been a waste, whereas at least with the photoshoot I'll have the photo. I guess this first Collectormania will be a learning curve, and then at least by the time I get to LFCC I'll feel like I know what I'm doing

The thing with signings is that it seems like it'd be a bit of a 'conveyor belt' experience. Not that photoshoots won't be, but at least you'll have some awesome visual evidence that you've met them. Having said that, this is my first time doing anything like this so my opinions may have totally changed by the time I get back. Now I've just got to practice my 'photoshoot face' lol. Because I can't imagine anything worse than paying £25 for a photo that you look like an idiot on!

I see on the LFCC board people have been listing their cosplays, so what's everyone planning for Collectormania? I'm hoping to do Ripley from Aliens one day, as part of a group with my sister as Vasquez and my 9 year old niece as Newt. I've seen photos from previous Collectormania's of people dressed as aliens, which would be awesome if we could bump into someone like that this year! The costumes themselves are pretty easy, it's just the pulse rifles that are proving to be a bit of a challenge! Then on the day I've got the photoshoot with Kate Mulgrew I'll probably wear one of my Trek uniforms (probably my TNG skant dress). Anyone else?