OK, there’s no big project on just now, so let me talk a bit about the my experiences at the TFNation Manchester Mini-Con instead. Which happened last week.
I left on the Friday evening before the Mini-con, having opted to take a cheapo train, and staying the night at the venue hotel. This wasn't my first choice, but I’d left it too late to book the Premier Inn as the prices had shot up to parity with the venue. At that point, might as well have the expensive hotel room, right? The train journey however was a bit of a bitch, the train both being late, and breaking down at a station. I ended up arriving at the hotel at 11:45PM, which was far from ideal, and made a mental note to file a compensation claim when I got home. On the plus side, I’d actually received a room upgrade, which resulted in a room larger than my flat and featuring two separate flat-screen TVs. I wish I could have enjoyed it more, but it was comfortable enough for my needs.
I awoke the next morning, or possibly later that morning, finding myself awake and not fully compos mentis at about half seven. I would have liked more sleep. Aware I was on a time limit, I dressed, packed my overnight bag, and went for the breakfast buffet. It was a good buffet. 9/10. Would make Ron Swanson happy. The hash-browns were however circular. Not bad just odd. Having attempted to start the day right, I entered the dealers room for the main reason why I was attending: to assist the Toy-Fu charity, thus seeing friends there and at the forge section. After which things get a bit blurry. The Mini-con is obviously not a huge event, and its probably not unfair to suggest that Toy-Fu was the biggest fish in that small pond. I spent much of the day working on the stall, picking a few indulgences along the way. Not as much as I was expecting too, if I’m honest. The new wave of Legacy United toys wasn’t present, which was a shame. Then, of course the wonderful thing happened: two good friends, James and Claude, gifted me with a DragonZord. It was in honour of the character I play in our collective online RPG campaign. This made my day. It made the trip. Thanks again, both of you. And thanks to everybody on the stall, and the convention in general for your company.
Things calmed down towards teatime, with clearing up going relatively smoothly. Myself and my friend Karl opted to walk to the train station thereafter, having a nerd chat in the miserable weather. He boarded his train, eventually making it home without issue, and I paused for a burger while I got my bearings. I was aware that bus replacements were running, so I’d got there early thinking that I might have to change trains or similar. As it turned out, the train I was booked on no-longer existed, fecking charming, so I rolled the dice on another train. It was packed, but I actually lucked out and ended up home an hour earlier than expected. And thus, an enjoyable if somewhat knackering 30ish hours came to a close.
So what toys did I get? Well, here’s a brief rundown.
A Matchbox Mini Cooper: Picked out from a bag of battered toys, the mini is a classic with obvious Gaslands potential.
Combiner Wars Scrounge and Cybaxx: You know, sometimes working on a stall has its upsides. This toy is very difficult to get hold of, and is an article candidate for this blog.
Mighty Morphing Power Rangers DragonZord: Is love. Just, love. I probably won’t write about this one, I don’t have the necessary experience, but I will appreciate it.
Fall of Cybertron Air Raid: I always kinda wanted this one, its from a period of interesting retools. Its also an article candidate.
Up next on Sunday: another orky thing, see you then.
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