Well, I went to the TFN Reading Mini-con. There I worked on the Toy-Fu stall and attempted to socialise. And, yeah, it was nice time on all fronts.
My experience started at about 10am Friday, I started my long journey to Reading. By chance, I ran into an ex-coworker, and took the opportunity to catch up on the bus. Nice to see her. I was running 30 minutes or so ahead of schedule, and the trains were tolerable. I had to use the London Underground once, but that was as bad as it got. My only real difficulty was getting a bit lost on the way to the hotel. Said hotel was old, but decent. I got a fridge and microwave in my room for some reason, with both a quality chipshop and the venue in easy walking distance. The initial plan was to set up the table that afternoon, which would have been a massive relief, but this was not to be. Unfortunately, I didn't find that out until I got to the hall at 3PM. Which was somewhat annoying. Friday was then spent in the pleasantly quiet hotel bar, chatting and talking nerd shit. Such conversations were the highlight of this weekend, although outside of transactions I didn't get to chat much otherwise.
The actual convention followed the next morning, although I was a touch late to set-up. I'd prepaid for breakfast, and that overlapped with the hall opening. I didn't dawdle, but if I pay for brekkie, I'm fucking having it. As it turned out, I wouldn't get a proper lunch anyway. Working on the stall was a bit of a blur, as it usual, although things weren't that hectic. We shifted a non-trivial amount of plastic, including some stuff I'd donated, with a notable second wind in the afternoon, as we put out some Japanese exclusives. I didn't really get to attend any panels, but as we were all in the same hall, you could hear them. Kinda. Audio issues plagued the events, the Blokees panels being a notable sufferer. I should maybe have brought my ear plugs. Then followed the close, the packing up, and more time in the hotel bar. I called it just before 10, only for some other guests to wake me at 4. I didn't really get back to sleep after that, and obviously no-one else was about, so I opted for an earlier train. That worked out OK, but St Pancras Station was one long queue and a riot-in-waiting. I got back to Nottingham about lunchtime, grabbed a sarnie, some groceries on the way back, and then home.
So, the toys. I didn't really get much this time, actually under budget, although this isn't unusual for me these days, especially so late in the year. I dunno if any of these are blog material, but there are:
Retro Brawn: The only really new thing I got, a fairly nice little mould. I dunno why I keep buying this guy, but it seems to workout for me.
Pathfinder: I never picked up that new Speeedia Cosmos, and there's a history with this repaint. Not bad, but very hollow. Also a girl, and a Gobot, if either factor is of interest.
A knock-off not-Devastator set: I always want to buy something from Toy-Fu, and this caught my eye. It's an upscaled version of the DX9 Hulkie set. No, making an unauthorised reproduction of an unlicensed Transformer does not produce the real thing. Nor is it actually that great. But for a tenner I've paid a lot more to get a lot less.
And finally, two mini-figures gifted by a kind friend.
All in all? A good time, what went wrong wasn’t a crisis, and I'm happy with the socialising I did. I still need to interact more though.
No comments:
Post a Comment