I could of come home with Bravestar... Winter London Film and Comic Con 2014.

With Destination Star Trek 3 over with and the dust hadn't even settled before i was off to another con. This time it was the Winter London Film and Comic Con (.LFCC.) at Earls Court. It was good i really enjoyed it but it was very and i do mean very quite. It felt like a Sunday not a Saturday. 

The show floor felt empty!!! 

what happened. I get that it's mid October and it's near Christmas so people don't have a lot of spare cash this time of year and then there is the fact that the MCM London Expo is the week after. But with all this considered it just felt like no one was there. And it was fantastic.... i went with a friend and we walked around and could see everything we had room to move around and it felt nice. I guess this is what the Friday preview night must be like.

One thing my friend pointed out to me was the number of people in Star Trek costumes they were everywhere. which is nice and the number of Star Wars and  Marvel/DC cosplayers has grown. Heck we even saw a Cylon from Battlestar Galatica 1978 and iv'e not seen one of them in years. Another thing that surprised us was the lack of Anime/Manga cosplayers. That and the shear lack of Anime and Manga in general. I guess they are all going to the Expo. 

As always there was a lot to buy but as stated above people don't have a lot of money this time of year and DST 3 cost a lot and i do mean a lot, so i was on a budget. i need to save as the number of Transformers figures has increased  year on year.... 

and i need my Transformers Generation One fix.  

But some times when you see something you have to get it right then and there. I saw the Bravestar Complete Series. I grew up in the 1980's and i would watch Bravestar, Transformers, Thundercats and all the other animated classics. So when i can i try to pick up the shows on dvd. And Bravestar is one of the one i really wanted. As always these shows don't get a released in the UK on dvd so when i see them at a con i normally try to pick them up. 

Now i saw Bravestar and was going to get it but my friend said to look around first. Good advise normally i walk the floor see what there is the go round again buy a few things then go to a talk or tow then get lunch then go round again and buy a few more things. This as normily worked for me. After all i normally go there hoping to get a good deal on an old 80's giant robot anime or a good price on a figure or collectible.

So i put it back and made a mental note to comeback and get it. a hour later i came back and it was gone... I had missed it. But all was not lost.... In it's place was the Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs the Complete Series. Awesome if i lost out on Bravestar but i got a classic giant robot show. So all was not wasted. 

Its a short post today and i will be back next week with a post on the MCM London Expo.

Destination Star Trek 3

This weekend me and my brother went to Destination Star Trek 3 and it was so much better than the first Destination Star Trek (.DST.) a massive improvement over the last time and what the organizers were saying on forums and Trek podcast's was differently true. That they had learnt from the mistakes at the first one and they had made changes for the DST Germany convention. And so the improvements was carried over to the DST3 con. I can not stress enough how much better this was and i had a great day but as with everything there was and is room for improvement. One thing that did strike me was the lack of people there. Now don't get me wrong there was still a lot of people there and i know i went on a Sunday so there will always be less people attending but at times it just felt empty. Even through out the day there was people still coming and getting in line for attendance but not in the numbers i would of expected. But the weather was good so i don't really know what happened. I just hope this does not effect the next convention.  

So lets get the cons out of the way After all there are only a few. The biggest is the easiest to fix. Why would you put The Next Generation (.TNG.) bridge right in front of the entrance so as you walk in to the show floor your have the bridge right and when they had the TNG crew photo there was a massive crowd right by the entrance blocking the way. Not a good thing the bridge set should of been off to the side or near the back. There was enough room in the hall. the set was not as big as i was hoping for. I thought it was going to be full size. But sadly it wasn't. My other complaint was that there was no Ships there with all the TV shows and Movies for Star Trek why can't we get a large studio model on display. I would love to see a studio scale model of the Enterprise or any of the other ships used. The museum was great but it was missing a few ships to make it that little bit more special. Another complaint was that the Klingon area was not done well at all. Last time they made a little effort with a few furs laying around and a throne with a small backdrop but this year was just lacking, they had throne back but that was really it. My final complaint is and to be fair they do say to arrange your photos and talks so you don't have clashes... But i did have a clash at 10:00am with two photos and a paid talk with Karl Urban.This would not of been a problem but the costume photo over ran in the prep so they came out late. They looked great and i think it was or is one of the best photos of the day. But it is annoying that i had missed out on a paid talk (.£15.00.) and can't get a refund as i made the chose to do two things at the same time... that need to be looked at but i don't see away around it. Next time i will be more selective with what talks i go to.   

So lets moves on to the pros like i said above this was a greatly improved convention. with great guess and a lay out that mad great use of the hall. Though the TNG bridge was in a silly place. But the Set was well made and did not start to full to bits like the first bridge at the first DST. There was a good range of paid and free talks going on through out the day. The free talks are a great way to break up the day. if you have a few hours between a photo shoot and a paid talk and you have already eaten then just walking over to a talk take a seat and enjoy. while i was waiting for the TNG full crew photo shoot i went to a talk about the behind the senses of the TNG. This covered make-up and special effects. it was very interesting and it was only a pity i had to miss the end as i had to go get my photo taken. Also Amazon.co.uk were there and they had a fantastic sale for the convention. All the boxsets were on sale while the con was on.And i will not complain with getting Star Trek Enterprise seasons 1-4 and TNG seasons 4 and 5 for £17:00 each. 

What is always fun and something i have only really seen at the DST conventions are the Costumed photo shoots. This is great not only are you getting the photo with the actor but they are in costumed so its like meeting the actual characters.And these two guys were really nice and friendly. They seemed generally happy to be there. I look forward to the next con to see who will be in costume. Another thing that was improved was the museum, so much better and larger than before. They had a lot of TNG stuff there and a few movie costumes and props so this was what i thought was going to be there at the first DST i was a lot more impressed with this.

 

The swag we got was not bad ether. Ok it was not a free goody bag but it was not bad even though we had to pay for it.

  

With a good layout, good guests, good talks and good photos it was a really good day. With the weather being good i can not complain. It has been a while since i have enjoyed myself this much at a con. Saying that the photo below does have a interesting story that goes along with it.... It starts out as a negative but ends with perhaps the best part of the day...

Ok let me set the scene.

As this was a TNG heavy convention after all it has been twenty years since TNG ended. (.20 years dang i feel old i was 14 years old when it finished.) There was a cast reunion and this ended with a crew photo on the bridge of the USS Enterprise NCC - 1701-D. So this was a photo with nine of the cast members and as you can imagen this was not cheap. it cost £245 GBP or $392 USD. So a lot of money. Now this was originally set up to be a morning shoot at 9:15am but this was pushed back to 16:30. This must have happend in the days leading up to the con as i recived my ticket two weeks before the convention. I was not told, i did not revive an email or see a massage on twitter or face book about the change. And at 16:30pm i had a paid ticket to go to a William Shatner talk so there would be a clash. This normily just involves anyone with a clash being moved to the front of the line and missing a few minuets of Shatners talk did not bother me to much after all i have seen him talk a few times and he does repeat the same stories. So to prove i had a clash i pulled out both the crew photo ticket and the talk ticket. Me and my brother showed the tickets to the woman working the line and she moved us to the front of the line with a few other people who had clashes. i put the talk ticket back in my bag and gave my bag to the guy at the table so i could get my photo taken. Gave my ticket to the woman taking the tickets and then sat down had my photo taken and left. it was all very quick and as you can imagine this is all done at high speed. cause of the number of people getting there photos done. After all how often will i get a chance to have this done again. Anyway the point is i gave my ticket over and the lady didn't check. she just took my ticket didn't look at it she just waved me through. So as i left and started to head to the Shatner talk i pulled out my ticket only to find out i had handed over the wrong ticket, i had handed over the ticket for the Shatner talk and put the TNG crew photo in my bag. So i was not going to go back a que again for another photo and nor was my brother and with only one ticket we both couldn't go to the talk. So we did the only thing we could. Ok the second thing. The first would of been to sell it quickly to a random guy at the con and make my money back or for a profit.... 

But that's not how me and my bro roll..... 

So as we were leaving we saw and gave the ticket to a guy in a wheelchair. My brother walked up to him and said "It's our lucky day". At first he didn't believe my brother when he told him he gave the guy the ticket i explained what happened and i don't think he heard me but i told him to go now as they are doing the photos and my brother told him to be quick as well. We told him we didn't need it and the look on the guys face made it worth while. and with that good deed done it felt like the best part of the day. You hear or read stories about people being given something or something amazing happening to someone. But you never think for a minute that it would ever happen to you or more importantly you never think you will be the one doing the giving. 

That was Destination Star Trek 3 a great day out and i am looking forward to the next one. But this is only the start of October. On the 18-19th there is the Winter London Film and Comic Con the on the 24-26th there is the MCM London Expo... i had no idea that October was going to be this hectic.... and expensive.  

EGX 2014... it's not E3.

EGX 2014 was this weekend and i went with some friends. A good day out. It greatly helped that we knew before hand that the Ealing Half Marathon was on the same day and that we hand plenty of time the days leading up to EGX to make new travel plans. unlike last year were we did not know and could not get to the station to get to Earls Court... Lucky that did not happen this year and so it was an easy journey there.

So What was there... Well a lot and at the same time not really much at all. I mean while there was lots of games from Destiny and Call of Duty to Batman Arkham Knight and The Witcher 3 and everything in between... But a lot of the games on show were out already or coming out in the next few weeks.... I was hoping to see something new and more of the things that will be out next year. Instead i was faced with games i can buy at the end of next week.... I was more than a little disappointed. And i really do not like the idea of having to wait up to one and a half hours just to see or play 10 minutes of a game. I would of liked to have taken my picture on the Destiny speeder bike but there was an hour que for that as well. The ground floor of the convention center was packed with people.

The biggist problem i had with this years EGX was the lack of new games. I want to get the downsides out of the way first so this does not become an negative review because i did and repeat DID enjoy myself...

Cons

I and already stated above that there was a lot of game and many of them were game that were out already or coming out in the next couple of weeks. So there was Destiny, Sacred 3 and Infamous First Light that is already out but then things like Mindcraft or Dota 2 and League of Legends... Ok those three i can kind of give a free pass to if there was something special happening around them like E-sports or something but i was not sure if there was or not. I think thee was something like that happening for League but not the others. I could be and probably am wrong but if i am then i am sorry. But my point is Destiny is already out and they had it there but they were not showing the new DLC (...downloadable content...) this just seemed to be a waste. And yes i understand why some may games are being shown that i can buy in less than seven days after the trade show but i just wanted to see more of what i can get at Christmas or in 2015. So when i had the the chance to see these game i just carried an walking. They had Halo the Master Chef Collection there but why not Halo 5... But that only made up a small part of the overall day. I must remember this is a small convention or trade show.... Nowhere near the size of E3 or PAX let alone Gamescon in Germany... 

Pros

So lets get to the good stuff. There was a lot to get excited about and thing i ned to add to the list of games i need to get. Halo the Master Chef collection looks like it's going to be all kinds of fun and though the Halo 2 Anniversary Edition Looks like a up-scaled Xbox 360 game i still can not wait to play it the lines were long so i didn't play it but just watching people play the multiplayer got me excited so that comes out in November so if i don't get it on day of release then it's going no my list for Santa.  Also There was Elite Dangerous that looked amazing... I guess i am going to have to upgrade the old PC for that game. Also Kingdom Hearts 2.5 HD was playable and i really want that game the first HD game was done really well and i need to sit down and just play it so when the 2.5 HD comes out i and start playing that one... Evolve looks very interesting with its three on one combat. Another game that looks interesting but i need to look more into was Transformers Universe. A MMO Transformers games... could be good and it looks like fun but after the unimpressive and downright disappointing Transformers Rise of the Dark Spark I may give this a miss. I also saw a new trailer for Xenoblade Chronicles. I am very excited for this as i have been a fan of the Xeno games since Xenogears and Xenosaga. Then there was the Retro Games... Just like last year i spent most of the time there... Always a good selection of old school games and systems for us to play. Brings back happy memories of when i was a kid. in the 1980/90's.

SO in conclusion It was a good day we were there longer than last year. So there was a lot to see and do. Looking forward to next year and hoping that maybe they will have some new games... 

As for now i have a crazy October ahead and i will write about that next time as i really need to get that off my chest as i am not sure what i was thinking and how my wallet is going to cope....  

       

       

Mecha Month is fast approaching....

It's that time of year again when i need to start thinking about what to watch for Mecha Month. Last year was a good year with some excellent shows and movies being watched. For a recap here's the list of last years Mecha Month and check out the post for November 2013. 

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. 

Pacific Rim

So I have been thinking about this years month. What to watch, what to read and what to build. So far and this is by no means a completed and finalized list. I have chosen to look at.

Robotech (...all three seasons...)

Robotech The Shadow Chronicles 

Star Fleet (...Xbomber...)

Gurren Lagann (...I hope this is out in Blu-ray by then...)

RahXephon The Movie

GunBuster The Movie

Die Buster The Movie

I am ok with the list though i might do some refining i am not 100% with the movies but with the time i have left i could swap out some and replaced them with something else. Hell i could scrap the whole thing and go for a bunch of Mecha Comedies.... Not seen Dai-Guard or Godannar for a few years.... 

Woooh i now have an idea for 2015 Mecha Month. 

But as of this moment in time that are the animes i am planning on watching through out November. The only thing that is not changing is Star Fleet. That is set in stone as i am hoping to get my Dynamite Action! No12 Xbomber Big Dai X figure in time of Mecha Month.

Also apart from watch all that anime i took advantage of the sale that hlj.com had on over the summer. I got some model kits to build while i was watching the tv. 

So I don't know really how i will do this i keep saying i could do a few youtube videos so i could film some of them being built. I have no ideas... But i do want to do something.... So any ideas leave them in the comments.

And that is where i am with Mecha Month. Nearer October i should be all finished and have everything set in stone. Once that is done i will post here again.