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My thoughts on Collectormania Midlands 2


fatbloke
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freedom of speech eh?

Never promised, either here or on any other event organiser's forums. You may as well complain about the lack of free sweets. (And that's not a criticism of SM, more one of an unreasonable expectation).

Edited by TommyT
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I was there all day yesterday (Saturday for anyone reading this after Sunday) and had a great time.

 

I met four out of the five guests I wanted to see in the morning and had plenty of time to look around the stalls. I even managed to get a bit of early Christmas shopping done! :clap:

 

At midday, I headed for the photo shoot area to get photos done with Paul and Dirk :wub: After that, I had just enough time to go and find the shops to buy something to eat and get back in time for Paul's talk. Then it was time to eat before I went into Dirk's talk :wub: .

 

Finally, I went to see the last guest on my list (I saved my favourite till last - no prizes for guessing who!)and then headed back to my hotel, tired but happy.

 

It was lovely to be able to wander around the stalls without being jostled and to be able to spend a bit of time talking with the guests.

 

Roll on the next one. :dance:

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I had a great time today! Just back home to finish tomorrow's costume and maybe get some sleep (2 hours last night... *dies*).

 

If you see a strange thing that looks like someone has melted - I'll have just met Alec Hopkins. :dance:

 

Be sure to post photos! I'm hoping to live vicariously through your meeting with him. :clap:

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I have no idea why I'm having to explain myself to everyone, as no-one seems to be taking any notice of what I say anyway.

 

I took notice :dance: IT looks like a case of the forum gremlins to me... Why only remove half of a thread? And no word? I don't think I've ever seen it done on here except in extreme circs...

 

 

However I won't be going to this event again.

 

So Roger Moore will be announced, and you'll refuse to go? I'm sorry, but I think its always a dumb comment to make about shows. If a guest goes you want to meet, you'll go to the show, simple as. And every show is different, things are improved upon and things change, and busyness varies depending on guests.

 

 

It's the same reason why the Dreyfus cancellation thread was emptied.

When you can't adequately respond to people's complaints and well founded accusations, you just remove it all and hope it goes away.

After all, can't have the natives finding out the truth.

 

Did you actually read all the posts in that thread or are you just stirring? It all got into irrational arguments for arguments sake, and it wasn't productive. Discussion stopped, and SM gave plenty of warning that they were going to lock the thread, and then delete it and start again. No objections were made, and it was done to clear it up so people could see the relevant info.

Very bold first 2 posts btw... :clap: Always nice to see that people love the forum so much, they make lots of new usernames... Just an assumption on my part......

 

 

Parking is £3, (even if you have a disabled badge). Just don't make the mistake we did and drive into the retail park - if you do drive down the the roundabout and turn right.

I did that first time round- lack of decent signs on that roundabout imo...

 

 

freedom of speech eh?

Never promised, either here or on any other event organiser's forums. You may as well complain about the lack of free sweets. (And that's not a criticism of SM, more one of an unreasonable expectation).

 

Freedom of speech is a good thing until people pull it out of the bag as an excuse to be rude, arrogant, argumentative etc. Someone could call a person all sorts of things on here and verbally abuse them, and then claim they are allowed cos of their "freedom of speech" (Actually, in Europe, its freedom of expression under the HR Act....) but there are limitations for "hate speech" and similar (wiki it) which is what goes on here when people are clearly losing an argument, start b!tching, and "ooh my freedom of speech is being violated if you delete this or argue with me..."

Its a pathetic excuse to use... People thinking they are above everyone else or the law... meh, doesn't stick with me!

Edited by Lizzy
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freedom of speech eh?

Never promised, either here or on any other event organiser's forums. You may as well complain about the lack of free sweets. (And that's not a criticism of SM, more one of an unreasonable expectation).

Freedom of speech is a good thing until people pull it out of the bag as an excuse to be rude, arrogant, argumentative etc. Someone could call a person all sorts of things on here and verbally abuse them, and then claim they are allowed cos of their "freedom of speech" (Actually, in Europe, its freedom of expression under the HR Act....) but there are limitations for "hate speech" and similar (wiki it) which is what goes on here when people are clearly losing an argument, start b!tching, and "ooh my freedom of speech is being violated if you delete this or argue with me..."

Its a pathetic excuse to use... People thinking they are above everyone else or the law... meh, doesn't stick with me!

The law doesn't even come into it here, though. Freedom of speech/expression applies to open public areas (I'll let the lawyer come up with the proper definition :clap: ). This is effectively a private forum where we are guests of the hosts (SM) and agree to be bound by their rules and judgements. Which means that people are not entitled to the full range of free speech/expression here anyway. Moaning about lack of free speech here it is like protesting that the national speed limit is 70mph when you get caught doing 50 in a 30 zone; it may well be so, but it don't apply here...

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"My thoughts on Collectormania Midlands 2"

 

 

Brief.

We drove up from Bedfordhshire, spent a couple of hours browsing the stalls and came away. It was eerily quiet but nice nonetheless.

Grabbed my free Rusty Goff Auto (what a nice man) even though I felt a bit cheeky ... but a nice one to add to my star wars collection, had a pizza and left.

Shout out to the crew on the door as we left who, even though we weren't coming back in, insisted on stamping our hands (and our pizza box) on the way out to complete our Collectormania experience.

Made us laugh!

Edited by bionicruth
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I arrived at 11 staying on til about 4.15.

I reckon i spent an hour n half browsing the meagre stalls with a fine eye(some people were flogging some right old ****),20 mins on guests and 10 mins at the Dirk chat (although it actually felt like an hour).

The rest i spent in the "drinks" area

Its not really what i wanted to do but without the booze id have been done and out in prob 2hrs.

There was something a little grim about the event and after having spent a lot of time sat facing the Star Wars extras and the nearby Fucku it was a sorry sight to see them get maybe less than a dozen visitors between them in over an hour.

Sure there were some laughs to be had but they were usually for the wrong reasons ,

One thing that indeed wasnt funny was the price of taxis to our Hotel and back....thank god the Manc show is back next year

as id spent £140 before id even got in the Ricoh on Hotels,trains,grub and thats with a discount on the hotel.

 

As for the guests the "Hammer ladies" were very friendly,my main reason for attending and worth it - a choc and nice chat off Valerie and her pal,a big smile off Martine and an arms round the waist moment off Caroline Munro and my gf got various compliments off them so she was happy too.

They were the only autos i wanted and although im not mithered why the price hike?

Personally i thought that Caroline Munro,Valerie Leon and Martine Beswike would have been better off doing a Hammer talk seeing as their screen time total in their Hammer pics far far exeeds their Bond work.

I didnt even know the ladies were doing a talk,it was always refered to as BOND TALK and im a bit gutted i missed it for as much as i cant do with Bond id liked to have ask them a Hammer question or two.

BLOODY BOND HYPE !!!

 

It was a nice surprise to see Matt Irvine and Nicky was that you in the Zombie Flesh Eaters t shirt?

Edited by vintageSW77
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Everyone seems to be saying that it was a good show because hardly anybody went :-s (no VQs, no photo restrictions, space around stalls, cheap merch etc) Are you all suggesting that showmasters can make the shows better by having poor guestlists to keep number down ???

 

My only major disappointment is that the next show will be in Birmingham. It was nice to have a major Midlands event that wasn't in the land of the dodgy accents, but it looks like it'll be allroooooiiiiiggghhhhttt at the Hilton next year.

 

Yeah whatever

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I really enjoyed myself on Saturday (I was the doctor in the coat, hello if you saw me!)

 

Got roped into the cosplay competion but ended up enjoying myself, even if I had to be on stage lol Won the audience choice with my lovely Donna and Rose (Stole them from another doctor :WAVE: )

 

Went to the Paul and Dirk talks, both were awesomeness. I had to whoop Dirk at the end after going completly fan-girly around his table.

 

 

I would say I didnt enjoy this event BECASUE it was quiet, but I did enjoy having a slight change of pace after going to MK, which always damn near kills me. Nice to be able to just have a really relaxing day out. If it had been busier I wouldnt of minded either, aisles were big enough to move through even if there had been loads of people.

 

HUUUUUUGE shout out to the crew. Did a wonderful job with a smaller show that, after reading these forums, you knew was being deserted by many a person. Hope the crew still enjoyed the weekend even if they didnt get as much custom as usual.

 

Also big thank you to the peeps running the cosplay competion/booth. Made the best of the small amount of cosplayers you had (All awesome costumes by the way people, great jobs) and made sure we all enjoyed ourselves. Great pictures of us too.

 

Cant wait for the next one, new venue = new experience, so bring it on!

Edited by BeatrixKiddo88
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I arrived at 11 staying on til about 4.15.

I reckon i spent an hour n half browsing the meagre stalls with a fine eye(some people were flogging some right old ****),20 mins on guests and 10 mins at the Dirk chat (although it actually felt like an hour).

The rest i spent in the "drinks" area

 

Meagre stalls? Really?

 

A significantly greater area of stalls than at MK. Maybe it just seemed less because you didn't have to fight your way through the MK general public? Otherwise, I think the time in the 'drinks area' must have seriously affected your judgement.

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Meagre stalls? Really?

A significantly greater area of stalls than at MK. Maybe it just seemed less because you didn't have to fight your way through the MK general public? Otherwise, I think the time in the 'drinks area' must have seriously affected your judgement.

 

 

there was a large amount of stalls with very few items for sale or prety much flogging crap

fridge magnets,tacky photo mugs and countless images of Hollyoaks cast members for instance

 

and it takes more than a few bottles of Bulmers to affect my judgement

Edited by vintageSW77
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If there are lost of hollyoaks photos being sold then it can only be a matter of time before.....HOLLYOAKS CAST REUNION!!!!!! Who's with me :-)

 

Wishlist:

Gemma Atkinson

Ali Bastian

Elize du Toit

Jodi Albert

Kelly Greenwood

 

 

Meagre stalls? Really?

A significantly greater area of stalls than at MK. Maybe it just seemed less because you didn't have to fight your way through the MK general public? Otherwise, I think the time in the 'drinks area' must have seriously affected your judgement.

 

 

there was a large amount of stalls with very few items for sale or prety much flogging crap

fridge magnets,tacky photo mugs and countless images of Hollyoaks cast members for instance

Edited by gobo1979uk
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Today was great too! Alec was epic, taller than I expected and I was talking to him for ages on two seperate occasions. He got someone to take a picture of us since I was dressed as his character, too.

 

But I've had about three hours' sleep since 9am on Friday so time to sleep...

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Well I really enjoyed it. Yes it was very quiet, but that was to be expected with all the cancellations. But the very fact that it was so quiet meant that we could spend ages talking to the guests, without ever feeling rushed. Everyone had open queues, with no need for tickets, and they all seemed much more relaxed in this kind of environment. Paul McGann in particular was brilliant, as he was happy to chat away and add personal messages to every photo.

 

Not sure how much the stallholders were enjoying it, though, as nobody was very busy. As a bonus for those of us buying stuff, though, everything seemed to be cheaper this year!

 

My only major disappointment is that the next show will be in Birmingham. It was nice to have a major Midlands event that wasn't in the land of the dodgy accents, but it looks like it'll be allroooooiiiiiggghhhhttt at the Hilton next year.

 

As a brummie I resent that!! lol. (And also you are thinking of yam yams)

 

The NEC is really accessable to most of the country as you can get train from new street and you can get to new street from almost anywhere in the uk without having to change trains 5 times.

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Well I have to say that today's event was GREAT.

 

Not a single virtual queuing system in sight - they were not needed.

 

Plenty of room to get around, wide aisles. It was good to actually have a chance to look at the replica weapons stall, as at Milton Keynes, you can't get within a few feet of it due to the mass of people around it!

 

Can get from one end of the hall to the other in less than thirty seconds, unlike the Milton Keynes event where it takes thirty minutes!

 

The guest talks were free, apart from the occasional microphone failure, it was good to hear what Dirk Benedict had to say about the A-Team.

 

Not a single sign saying NO PHOTOGRAPHS, although we were told not to take any of Dirk until later. We came back later, and Dirk posed for a photo.

 

As for Dave Holland, he may only be an extra in Star Wars, but what a character! He'd had a few drinks by the end of the afternoon, and before we left we saw him walking back with another, but he was great to get to know.

 

This time we brought my mother along, who's nearly eighty, and she had a great day as well - having a chat with Paul McGann made her day, and she purchased more items from the stalls than we did!

 

Meeting Paul for the second time, he autographed the photo we took of him at MK 2005

 

On top of all of that, my son finally met Davros.

 

The two Aliens spooked my wife a little though, especially whilst hissing around the cafe!

 

I was quite surprised about the lack of information on the web about the area, but just to let you know what is in the area:

There is a Coventry City Football Club shop just outside, they sell the kit plus lots of team Collectables (for anyone that is interested)

The retail park next door not only has a Tescos, but also a Marks & Spencer, Borders, Starbucks Coffee, Boots Chemist, Pizza Hut and a Burger King.

 

Parking is £3, (even if you have a disabled badge). Just don't make the mistake we did and drive into the retail park - if you do drive down the the roundabout and turn right.

 

Thanks very much for Showmasters for a great event, shame Dwight couldn't make it, hopefully next time.

 

It's a shame next year's is moving to same location as this year's Autographica/Terry Nation Tribute - drinks and lunch in the hotel is expensive, and with only a Subway in the NEC, if we go we will probably take lunch with us this time.

 

I'm sure there are 2 wetherspoons at the NEC and wetherspoons usually do reasonably priced food.

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It's a shame next year's is moving to same location as this year's Autographica/Terry Nation Tribute - drinks and lunch in the hotel is expensive, and with only a Subway in the NEC, if we go we will probably take lunch with us this time.

 

There is a Subway, Wetherspoons, a pizza place and several food/cafe thing-a-ma-bobs owned by the NEC so wouldn't worry about it.

 

Also the NEC is actually a lot easier to get to than the RIOCH

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  • Showmasters Admin

hi all

 

i see some of you are still being crapy to each other well nothing new there its a shame you all do not get on better with each other a bit more, we do have some things in common its a shame anyway

 

when we were away we had over 28 reports about the forum from mods or from people that emailed us about posts when were were away at the show

 

as to the post that were removed we asked someone who was at a computer over the weekend to just remove the posts that we had an alert on and thats what was done if they have been heavy handed then we are sorry and sagest that you repost them

 

 

its sad we had to do this its the first time we have so many posts that were red lighted over a weekend when we were away at a show it just seems someone just wanted to have there say when we could not reply

 

i hope this is not going to be the norm as this its self is an abuse of the forum and this it self will also not help with us wanting people to police them selfs, its all a bit sad that one or two people think because we are away they can just come on here and let rip and stop reel feed back

 

if reel feed back has been lost then thats not good as thats what this place if for reel feed back

 

but if you think you have a point that has been removed then do feel free to repost

 

well i hope that this puts this to bed and get this back on topic

 

jason :thumbup:

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Uncomfortable in what way?

 

just a queue of about 10 or so people. Aren't there usually mnore folks than that in front of you in a normal ticketed queue?

 

When I was getting my things ready to be signed by Dirk Benedict and when I was in the queue with my items I was being asked questions by complete strangers about the boxsets I'd got in my hands which made me uncomfortable. They seemed creepy to me. I was glad there was a SM crew member standing behind me (the queue had been closed because Dirk had to go to his talk yesterday afternoon). I had to keep an eye on my pockets and bag as I was wary of someone trying to pinch something.

 

So Roger Moore will be announced, and you'll refuse to go? I'm sorry, but I think its always a dumb comment to make about shows. If a guest goes you want to meet, you'll go to the show, simple as. And every show is different, things are improved upon and things change, and busyness varies depending on guests.

 

I didn't realise that the show next time will be at the Birmingham Hilton Metropole. I didn't enjoy the event at Coventry.

 

You might think that's a dumb comment I made but that was one of my initial thoughts about the event after I left.

 

If a guest is announced who I want to meet I may not always go to the event. There are different factors/reasons for different people for deciding on whether to go to the event or not.

Edited by SunSpeed
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CReepy people!!!

 

I know when i was at Midlands 1 i got talking to some people in the queue waiting to go in and met other interesting people in the various queues i was in.

 

What made them creepy exactly? People mainly asked me about my tshirt and that was because they were interested in it, im sure that was the case with your items too, afterall we are all fellow geeks are we not??

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They seemed creepy to me.

 

Creepy people at a con ?

never!

Probably the creepiest person(and this is not a put down)was the pasty vampire guy with the fangs who kept hissing at random.

I dont know if this was part of his vampire "thing" or it was a nervous disorder he had.

Maybe one day he thought "how am i going to carry on with this random hissing at people disorder?...............i know !............. ill get some fangs and dress up like a vampire to make it look less sinister".

He freaked my gf right out....she was half expecting him to start floating about the arena.

 

 

The only people you really had to watch out for were the ones selling drinks n sandwiches.

Twice they tried to short change me.

 

And we aint all geeks!

Edited by vintageSW77
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