Wednesday 30 October 2013

MECHA MONTH is nearly upon us!!!! Update time once again.



Well it's nearly November and I have decided on what to watch for Mecha Month. So that means it's time for a little update!!!

Let me start with what mecha is. It pretty much means mechanical so that covers everything from Power Suites and vehicles to Giant Robots. Though to the vast majority of anime fans it means GIANT ROBTOS. Sorry Neon Genesis Evangelion does not count as they are not Robots/Mechanical in nature their Biological. But that is a rant for another time... 

Last year I spent most of the month well that should be all the month watching Gundam. I tried to keep within the original UC 0079 Timeline.

0079 movie trilogy,
MS 08th Team,
Zeta Gundam
Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory
and ending with
Chars Counter Attack
and
Gundan F91

I didn't want to start going into the alternative timelines with shows like Gundam Wing, G Gundam or After War Gundam X. 


So this year I didn't want to go down the road of another all Gundam month. Which would be fairly easy as there is just so much of it. So I picked a cross selection of animes. From the Real Robot to the Super Robot.

Patlabor ova
Patlabor Movie 1&2
Shin Getter Robo ova
Getter Robo Armageddon ova
Mazinkizer ova
King of Braves GaoGaiGar T.V show
Voltron Fleet of Doom Movie.
Transformers 1986 Movie
Macross: Do You Remember Love Movie.
And if I have time I might try to squeeze in the two Gurren Lagann movies.



As you can see I went for shorter shows with mostly OVA's (Original Video Animation) and a couple of movies. As for T.V shows I went for a 50 episode show that I have had sitting on my shelf but have never sat down and watch all the way through. That will change from next month. Now all I need to do is final away to get my hands on a copy of GaoGaiGar Final??? 

On a side note this coming Sunday the 3/11 is the London Comic Mart as well as the screening of Flash Gordon. Not a bad way to see in November I guess. 

Sunday 27 October 2013

London MCM Expo... High hopes and little return. A rant post!!!

Saturday the 26/10/2013 started fine, OK there was a problem with the DLR but it is a 5/10 minute walk from Canning Town to the Excel Center and it's not a trip to Excel if there is at least one problem with transport. No the problem's started once i got there. 


There was a lot of people and crowds started to form but it was early. Sadly things took a turn for the worse when we got in to the hall where we had to que for our ticket/wrist band. I pre-booked and printed our tickets online a few months before so was not worried but when i saw that there were only four stands where we would get our tickets scanned and given our wrist bands and the numbers of people starting to mass in the hall you just knew things would not end well. But we got to the stand and were greated by a nice enough girl would scanned the ticket and we were moved on to another check point where tree guys were applying the wrists bands. They were not necessarily rude but were very short with people. Then we moved to yet another check point where we had to show our wrist bands before entering another que before being letting us into the corridor were we had to deal with the cross traffic as the cons show floor was in the opposite hall.  This meant we were walking in to people going in to the con and people walking up and down the Excel Center itself. This was a Very  bad idea as this is not a main road with crossing lights so people would be banging into each other, bumping in to cosplayers and this was where i encountered one of my biggest complaints... Why would you stop and ask for photos in the middle of a busy crossing. You wouldn't stop in the middle of the road with cars going pass and you shouldn't do it here. There was very little space and con goers need to be mindful of where they are, I will be coming back to this point later.




Once in the main hall like i said above it was the show floor and once again the layout was bad. The layout of dealer tables and this is an old complaint of mine. The tables are to close together So the room you have to walk down the ales is very small and the flow of people trying to see whats on the tables makes it impossible to move freely and easily. And if you have a bulky costume then you end up taking up even more space. Then everything stops as people ask cosplayers to take a photo. So like i said con goers must be mindful of where they are and remember when and when not to take photos. If i had my way i would stop people taking photos in the dealer room full-stop. I don't know how many times i walked in to a cosplayer because they just randomly stop for a photo in a crowed ale There is space out side the hall or in the Center itself for photos. I don't want to be the A-hole who says no to photos but there is a time and place for everything. And if you are going to block the flow of traffic then that is a No-No. Also when it comes to the ales we need to stay to the left, there are tables on both sides so you don't need people on both sides going in the same direction. It's just common courtesy and common sense. This has been the problem with every Expo but it is getting worse every year and with more and more people attending it's not going to get any better. The other cons in London don't have this problem. It is as if the Excel Centers hall's are to small for the number of people coming to the event. My main complainant is the over crowding there were just to many people there. Let me put it in to perspective. I have been going to the Expo since the early 2000's and this is the most unorganized one i have been to. It has been getting bigger and bigger each and every year. But it feels like the MCM staff can no longer handle the numbers of people attending the London event. Maybe this disorganization is the price we have to pay as the con gets more and more people attending. But that is no excuse and something we as con goers and more importantly as PAYING customers should do or except. After all there where so many people there that the Center's corridor was jam packed with people and you could hardly move. There was no structure and organization to the flow of people and that is a fire risk as well as a problem and shows a complete lack of Health and Safety in and around the event MCM is having.


It would not take much just a few signs up and staff there to remind people to keep moving and where to go when coming in and out. me and a friend walked out for some fresh air and when we came back in to the center we went through the door and ended up on the wrong side and gad to go all the way round the and had to ask to cut across the hall with the que of people waiting to get a ticket to get in all because we went through the door on the right no the left. Like i said signs need to be up and visible. And because of the over crowding i got angry and very frustrated with things trying to look at a table but constantly being pushed around or walking past a casplayer in the middle having there photo taken because they just stopped and there was no where for me to go but between the photographer and the cosplayer. Also The lack of exsibitors there there apart from some games companies like Namco showing off a few games... Where was the Movies or Comic/ Manga showing off the newist thing that will be coming out in the next few months... There was Nothing there....
I know how i sound... Like i did not enjoy myself and that i wont be going back next year... Well yes and no. I did not enjoy myself this time but i will be going next year and i will probably be complaining about the same things then as well... 



With all that being said Lets talk about the positives. There were so many good no i should say amazing cosplayers and i wished i didn't get so frustrated that i forgot to take any photos of them... Well that's something to do next year. Heck by then i should have my Darth Vader finished so i can go in costume... That is something that is always done well at the con. The effort people put in to the costumes are fantastic and i'm sure there will be many youtube vids for the con. I know i'm looking forward to see them. I brought a few things No cushions this time unfortunately but i did two anime Blu-rays FL-CL and the Patlabor OVA so that was very cool. Namco was showing the Tales of Symphonia HD and that looks so good, can't remember how many hours i lost playing that game on the Gamecube. I don't really know how to end this post so i will leave it with a few more photos of the crowd out side the Excel Center.   





    

Friday 18 October 2013

Darth Vader, London MCM Expo, more Flash Gordon and other stuff. It must be time for a little update.

As the title suggests this is a update on a few things that i have going on or coming up over the next couple of weeks. 

So as for the Darth Vader armour. I have picked up a dremel tool and some cutting bits. this will be a great help in cutting the shoulder bells to a shape i will be happy with. The current shape makes the upper body to broad and i never liked it. I also got a new chain for the cloak. 



 Now i just need some time to start work on the the amour. I was hoping to have it ready for the London Expo but i have a long long way to go. i still need to repaint the armour parts add leather to the neck line of the cloak. So hopefully it will be ready early next year. But i will be updating this blog along the way.

The London MCM Expo is on next (25-27/10/2013) weekend i have my tickets booked and looking forward to seeing a lot of  cool cosplay and trying to pick up a few bits from the dealer room. It should be a good day out and i have a black T-shirt with a red superman shield on it so i could try to cosplay as Conner Kent. But i don't know yet. Speaking of cosplay i found an old issue of Starlog from 1989 that has a very interesting look at fan costumes but I will go into that in a later post.  

And now more Flash Gordon news... 
I and a few friends have got tickets to a screen of Flash Gordon at the Prince Charles Cinema on the 03/11/13. 
  

This should be really good. I have never seen this film on the big screen and i can't wait to see it. Also on the same day is the London Comic Mart at the Royal National Hotel. This is a thing I've been going to since 1995 back then it was at the TUC (Trade Union Center) in London. Doors open at 12 noon and it has free entry. Its not a con or anything on that scale but it's something to do before heading off to see Flash Gordon. 


And finally...

November is a special time of year as it's my  unofficial well there is no official MECHA MONTH!!! Yes a month long Mecha fiesta. For those that don't know Mech is a term for Giant Robots or other robo anime or cartoons from Japan. I have a few ideas on what to watch but i have not finalized my list just yet. But it will be Glorious, Heart Pounding and EPIC in all the right mecha ways. Guess it's time to start using my twitter account in November then.  


Monday 7 October 2013

LFCC: Flash Gordon to Return of the Jedi an EPIC DAY!!!

Saturday the 5th of October. What can i say.... It was a good day a great day in fact. It started with the Winter London Film and Comic Con which for what it was was disappointing. I mean there was not much there and  hardly any anime and nothing of real interest for me to buy tho i did get a pair of cushions.


Ok i Know what your thinking because i thought the same thing. Why would i get those. Well the honest answer is that i had the curtains of these when i was a kid back in the early 80's. So i had to have them. But the reason i when to the LFCC was to meet Sam Jones and the Legend that is Brian Blessed

The Legend that is Brian Blessed

Sam Jones

I have to say both men are real gentlemen and were very kind even taken a moment to say hello and a few words. I've been to some con's and had photos taken and you didn't even get a chance to say "hi" let alone shake the actors hand. So that was nice but like i said above it was disappointing even the guest talks were not really of interest to me. I think this is mainly down to the lack of BIG name actors in the UK we tend to have a lot of the bit-part actors go to these and the con's are no where near as big as in the USA,

THEN...

After the LFCC i headed in to London to go to the Prince Charles Cinema in London for the one off limited to 280 seats screening of Return of the Jedi.  Now if your a Geek/Nerd then you go to the Shops so i had a few hours before the screening so i went to the Forbidden Planet then over to Orbital in Leicester Square i had a look around saw a few things but held off spending all my money. Then headed to the cinema. Went through China Town and outside the cinema were a group of Storm troopers and Lord Vader which was great any chance to see the 501st is always cool. 






When we finally went in we got our seats and The Troops came out once more And then we were given a brief introduction where we were told it was not the 1983 movie but the 1997 one but i think it might of been the 2006 version which was met with boo's from the crowd. Apart from that there was a buzz in the cinema as if there was something special about to happen.  






Everyone had a good time the crowd booed, cheered and even the Ewoks got some laughs. It is great to see these film on the big screen and i left with a massive grin on my face.  
I will have to go back there next time they show i film that i have to see on the big screen. Even the fact that i missed my stop on the train could get me down i was that happy. I know they are showing Flash Gordon in November so i guess i will be going to that and its the same day as the London Comic Mart so i guess it's another day out for me.

OH Before i Forget...

Can someone tell me why there is a random bronze statute of Charlie Chaplin outside a cinema in a corner of China Town.?