Post by Retro on Jun 26, 2011 12:23:06 GMT
Intriguingly good day, with both sides of what I expected really, the good and the bad.
- Traveled down the day before to Leicester, met Cal and Nam at the station. Nice night down there with good burgers and watching Taken, which is fantastic. Big props to them letting me stay and save a ton of money.
- Went in the early morning to London, meet Stu fairly quickly. Am once again impressed at his tremendous height.
- Discover queue, also discover Stiv is apparently still asleep an hour after things should be set up.(I dreamed about him briefly, while standing in the queue...) (Get off my account, Cal!) Get stuck in queue then.
- Meet "Tall Guy", laugh as Stu shows him what tall really means. Tall Guy is cool though, shows a good authority very politely to the queue to move about.
- Meet Pete and Matt, briefly say hello to them before they have to head up the queue.
- Get in early with Pete, Cal and Mike to set up the STCO stall. Are repeatedly told to hurry up and get back out by staff. Staff are promptly ignored given we're not done yet. Stiv appears. Staff immediately are charmed by his presence and instead give us access bands.
- Stall is set up, very cool stuff brought along. Epic prints by some of the staff and a great Megadroid cutout by Mike to advertise us.
- I notice I am sat right beside Iain Flynn, start chatting to him. Absolutely wonderful man who deserves all your money. Very jolly and a great laugh to talk with. Gives STCO a very warm compliment that he hopes that Archie would have the same sort of dedication if it ever went under. Seriously, awesome guy. Also, cool hat.
- Tracy Yardley is beside him, I never got to meet him, but his art is sheer undiluted win juice. Very calm and nice fellow I am told by everyone who meets him.
- Doors are opened. Am immediately amazed at how crowded this venue is going to be. Bigger venue is needed, desperately.
- Get a chance to talk with a lot of the staff before things get too crowded. Very nice chaps, Mike in particular, so friendly. Also got to meet Charles, Jamie and Chigs during the day. Great folk. Even if I was talking to someone else and assuming he was Jamie for almost 40 minutes before Jamie walked over and says hello. Many are entertained by my utter look of confusion at that moment.
- Notice the Generations demo. Laugh at how many peoples games glitch out.
- Take a brief walk around. Some cool stuff. Lots of comics and plushies. Some cool fan made stuff (NiGHTS fans in particular seem to be an awesome bunch) showing off their work. Cool to see we're not the only comic makers there who are non professional.
- Nigel Kitching arrives, is sat right beside me. I find it strange to be sat between STC's writer and Archie's writer. Lovely to chat with Kitching again, find it hilarious how many people find it hard to talk to him who come to visit assuming a big celebrity status. I believe I heard him comment on finding it strange people view him like that when he's just a normal guy. The more time I spent chatting, the more I chat to him, the more I find him a very nice guy. Got a couple of sketches of Chuck and the Decap cast from him. He did a lot of sketches through the day of various characters, great to watch it being done.
- I am repeatedly asked to sign things. Asking why, they say "Cos you drew it?" and hand me Nigel Dobbyn material. I realise due to sitting beside Kitching I have been mistaken by a large amount of people to be Nigel Dobbyn. Over time though, I am asked to sign things just as an STCO staff member, as are many of the team. This was really weird but awesome.
- Nigel Dobbyn arrives and proceeds to become a multi-millionaire from his prints. Say hello to him, find him awesome as always. Lots of Dobbyn sketches made, lovely to see. Thank him again for my print I got from him back in Birmingham.
- STCO stall gets a surprising amount of attention. Lots of readers come visit us, which is brilliant. To anyone who comes here afterwards, it was a real honour to meet you all and your feedback was awesome to hear. Lots of artists wanting to work with us (some of them awesome!) and tons of people finding out about us. I anticipate a good surge of STCO interest soon.
- Stage happenings go on. I'm not a Stadium regular, so much of the in jokes are lost on me. Some of it's a tad egotistic for the Stadium folks I feel, with "intro videos" for Sonic Stadium staff members. They do an alright job at announcing, but very often missed some points (as will be described later) or attempted (emphasis on this word) to sing.
- Sonic Shorts Collection is a great blast. Awesome with a crowd atmosphere.
- Sonic the Comic Animation starts, I find more entertainment from the sheer look of WTF from Nigel Kitching. It looks fun, but very traced from the artwork. I do want to see where it goes though.
- Sonic Wrecks karaoke is entertaining, with some genuinely alright singers, given they had to deal with random songs from very strange places. (Elise's theme?) I'd probably have tried it if I'd gotten to choose the song.
- There is attempted Sonic Standup. I think he left after one joke.
- Shadow fangirl singer takes to the stage. Is promptly....meh. I get she can write her own music which is alright and could sing decently. But really, it should stay on youtube.
- The cosplay contest is hilarious, if hilariously biased and unfair by being based on popularity and not cosplay quality. The true winner was the Tf2 spy with a Metal Sonic facemask. The announcer didn't understand it at all, leading to a very awkward moment on stage with him looking like a complete idiot by asking "Why are you Metal Sonic in a suit?" The other announcer got it, shouting "ACHTUNG! SPY" but much of the Sonic fandom didn't get it at all. Presumably because it wasn't Sonic or Shadow. Real pity. I give that Spy many props.
- Becky/Kiri, Fenniku and Thalia enter with good costumes. Thalia makes a genius quip when asked who she is as Super Sonic by commenting "I don't know." As Pacifist Super. The announcer once again shows he knows little and completely misses the entire point.
- Yuji Naka and Takashi Iizuka take to the stage and are asked many questions. I am too busy running the STCO stall at this point to really listen in at all, other than to laugh at someone asking about the Carnival Night Barrel. Never got to meet them, wasn't entirely excited to do so either. But cool that they showed face twice for questions.
- Jun Senoue is a great guy. Never got to meet or see much except his guitar covers at the end of the show but all reports portray him as really cool.
- STC/Archie question time comes up. Is very entertaining, Nigel Kitching and Iain Flynn in particular are hilarious in talking about why they kill off characters. Iain Flynn's original idea to kill Tommy sounded fun.
- Someone asks Kitching to draw a "modern Johnny Lightfoot." He draws a gravestone. Well played, Nigel.
- Julien-K's concert was absolutely freaking awesome. Best single thing of the entire day. Entire crowd earns my loathing as they chant for Sonic songs from them and show no gratitude for the entirely free concert Julien K did for them, even after it had been explained weeks in advance they couldn't do them due to licensing issues meaning they don't have the songs. The fact they were there as "a band who were involved with Sonic" was awesome alone though.
- Club Sonic has good music, but far too loud. Couldn't hear myself think. Nigel Kitching pretty much left now I believe due to the noise.
- Emerald Coast comics I get a chance to look at. Gorgeous art, great layout. They complimented our work too, which was really cool to hear.
- Shouting "Happy Birthday Sonic!" to be recorded and put in the game feels like a mixture of fan-cool and really odd marketing. I wonder how on earth that'll fit in the story without looking weird. Transforming into Super with the power of Birthday?
- Was awesome to see how STCO merch picked up sales of prints and stuff (just to make money back on printing them of course) and how excited people were to own big collabs of characters like Marcus' big A3 or Dobbyn and Pete's amazing 254 cover art which sold blindingly fast. Indeed, it sold out. STC badges went out nicely, as did Stiv's A3. Wasn't any profit, it was just to be able to get these things out to people and cover the costs of making. TOOOONS of people wanted printed versions of the comics, repeatedly asking me and offering money for the ones we did have. But we weren't selling them. Well...not this year. May look into how much we'd be able to do/if we'd even be allowed.
- Met a whole ton of Bronies. "yay"
- Spotted Ian Flynn reading Issue 250. Every staff member immediately looked intensely terrified. Had a big read of it, not just a glance. Reported he really enjoyed it and that he was "amazed" we'd done it for so long.
- End appears, the "big surprise" was just a couple of riffs by Jun on stage. We start packing, were asked by Tracy Yardley to allow him to buy a copy of #250 to read on his way home, which he asked the whole STCO team to sign for him. We instead gave him it for free.
- Leave the place after being hounded by security to get out. Say goodbyes, spot Julien-K in their van, tell them they did awesome. Go to pub with Mike, Chigs, Cal and Nam. Have some good chatter about STCO's future (mostly the website design) and then choke on cake. (I'd been fighting a bad windpipe closure all day.) Eventually parted ways.
My overall opinion? It was a fantastic day, but not for the convention itself. I found most of the stage stuff boring and clique to the Sonic Stadium crowd rather than "The Sonic Fandom" as it is advertised as. My highlights were from the STCO crowd, the STC and Archie writers and artists and a few cool people I met. The Sonic fandom pretty much showed itself just as how it can be envisioned in many ways. Ending the day with Pete and I having to insist on a German man that no, he couldn't buy our comics that Pete owned after 20 minutes of him asking non stop.
But I'm not going to hold that against it, really. It's a decent con for the fandom, although anyone who isn't a what you might call "a fanboy" will find some of it very tiring. There is, however, something for everyone.
I'll definitely go back.
- Traveled down the day before to Leicester, met Cal and Nam at the station. Nice night down there with good burgers and watching Taken, which is fantastic. Big props to them letting me stay and save a ton of money.
- Went in the early morning to London, meet Stu fairly quickly. Am once again impressed at his tremendous height.
- Discover queue, also discover Stiv is apparently still asleep an hour after things should be set up.
- Meet "Tall Guy", laugh as Stu shows him what tall really means. Tall Guy is cool though, shows a good authority very politely to the queue to move about.
- Meet Pete and Matt, briefly say hello to them before they have to head up the queue.
- Get in early with Pete, Cal and Mike to set up the STCO stall. Are repeatedly told to hurry up and get back out by staff. Staff are promptly ignored given we're not done yet. Stiv appears. Staff immediately are charmed by his presence and instead give us access bands.
- Stall is set up, very cool stuff brought along. Epic prints by some of the staff and a great Megadroid cutout by Mike to advertise us.
- I notice I am sat right beside Iain Flynn, start chatting to him. Absolutely wonderful man who deserves all your money. Very jolly and a great laugh to talk with. Gives STCO a very warm compliment that he hopes that Archie would have the same sort of dedication if it ever went under. Seriously, awesome guy. Also, cool hat.
- Tracy Yardley is beside him, I never got to meet him, but his art is sheer undiluted win juice. Very calm and nice fellow I am told by everyone who meets him.
- Doors are opened. Am immediately amazed at how crowded this venue is going to be. Bigger venue is needed, desperately.
- Get a chance to talk with a lot of the staff before things get too crowded. Very nice chaps, Mike in particular, so friendly. Also got to meet Charles, Jamie and Chigs during the day. Great folk. Even if I was talking to someone else and assuming he was Jamie for almost 40 minutes before Jamie walked over and says hello. Many are entertained by my utter look of confusion at that moment.
- Notice the Generations demo. Laugh at how many peoples games glitch out.
- Take a brief walk around. Some cool stuff. Lots of comics and plushies. Some cool fan made stuff (NiGHTS fans in particular seem to be an awesome bunch) showing off their work. Cool to see we're not the only comic makers there who are non professional.
- Nigel Kitching arrives, is sat right beside me. I find it strange to be sat between STC's writer and Archie's writer. Lovely to chat with Kitching again, find it hilarious how many people find it hard to talk to him who come to visit assuming a big celebrity status. I believe I heard him comment on finding it strange people view him like that when he's just a normal guy. The more time I spent chatting, the more I chat to him, the more I find him a very nice guy. Got a couple of sketches of Chuck and the Decap cast from him. He did a lot of sketches through the day of various characters, great to watch it being done.
- I am repeatedly asked to sign things. Asking why, they say "Cos you drew it?" and hand me Nigel Dobbyn material. I realise due to sitting beside Kitching I have been mistaken by a large amount of people to be Nigel Dobbyn. Over time though, I am asked to sign things just as an STCO staff member, as are many of the team. This was really weird but awesome.
- Nigel Dobbyn arrives and proceeds to become a multi-millionaire from his prints. Say hello to him, find him awesome as always. Lots of Dobbyn sketches made, lovely to see. Thank him again for my print I got from him back in Birmingham.
- STCO stall gets a surprising amount of attention. Lots of readers come visit us, which is brilliant. To anyone who comes here afterwards, it was a real honour to meet you all and your feedback was awesome to hear. Lots of artists wanting to work with us (some of them awesome!) and tons of people finding out about us. I anticipate a good surge of STCO interest soon.
- Stage happenings go on. I'm not a Stadium regular, so much of the in jokes are lost on me. Some of it's a tad egotistic for the Stadium folks I feel, with "intro videos" for Sonic Stadium staff members. They do an alright job at announcing, but very often missed some points (as will be described later) or attempted (emphasis on this word) to sing.
- Sonic Shorts Collection is a great blast. Awesome with a crowd atmosphere.
- Sonic the Comic Animation starts, I find more entertainment from the sheer look of WTF from Nigel Kitching. It looks fun, but very traced from the artwork. I do want to see where it goes though.
- Sonic Wrecks karaoke is entertaining, with some genuinely alright singers, given they had to deal with random songs from very strange places. (Elise's theme?) I'd probably have tried it if I'd gotten to choose the song.
- There is attempted Sonic Standup. I think he left after one joke.
- Shadow fangirl singer takes to the stage. Is promptly....meh. I get she can write her own music which is alright and could sing decently. But really, it should stay on youtube.
- The cosplay contest is hilarious, if hilariously biased and unfair by being based on popularity and not cosplay quality. The true winner was the Tf2 spy with a Metal Sonic facemask. The announcer didn't understand it at all, leading to a very awkward moment on stage with him looking like a complete idiot by asking "Why are you Metal Sonic in a suit?" The other announcer got it, shouting "ACHTUNG! SPY" but much of the Sonic fandom didn't get it at all. Presumably because it wasn't Sonic or Shadow. Real pity. I give that Spy many props.
- Becky/Kiri, Fenniku and Thalia enter with good costumes. Thalia makes a genius quip when asked who she is as Super Sonic by commenting "I don't know." As Pacifist Super. The announcer once again shows he knows little and completely misses the entire point.
- Yuji Naka and Takashi Iizuka take to the stage and are asked many questions. I am too busy running the STCO stall at this point to really listen in at all, other than to laugh at someone asking about the Carnival Night Barrel. Never got to meet them, wasn't entirely excited to do so either. But cool that they showed face twice for questions.
- Jun Senoue is a great guy. Never got to meet or see much except his guitar covers at the end of the show but all reports portray him as really cool.
- STC/Archie question time comes up. Is very entertaining, Nigel Kitching and Iain Flynn in particular are hilarious in talking about why they kill off characters. Iain Flynn's original idea to kill Tommy sounded fun.
- Someone asks Kitching to draw a "modern Johnny Lightfoot." He draws a gravestone. Well played, Nigel.
- Julien-K's concert was absolutely freaking awesome. Best single thing of the entire day. Entire crowd earns my loathing as they chant for Sonic songs from them and show no gratitude for the entirely free concert Julien K did for them, even after it had been explained weeks in advance they couldn't do them due to licensing issues meaning they don't have the songs. The fact they were there as "a band who were involved with Sonic" was awesome alone though.
- Club Sonic has good music, but far too loud. Couldn't hear myself think. Nigel Kitching pretty much left now I believe due to the noise.
- Emerald Coast comics I get a chance to look at. Gorgeous art, great layout. They complimented our work too, which was really cool to hear.
- Shouting "Happy Birthday Sonic!" to be recorded and put in the game feels like a mixture of fan-cool and really odd marketing. I wonder how on earth that'll fit in the story without looking weird. Transforming into Super with the power of Birthday?
- Was awesome to see how STCO merch picked up sales of prints and stuff (just to make money back on printing them of course) and how excited people were to own big collabs of characters like Marcus' big A3 or Dobbyn and Pete's amazing 254 cover art which sold blindingly fast. Indeed, it sold out. STC badges went out nicely, as did Stiv's A3. Wasn't any profit, it was just to be able to get these things out to people and cover the costs of making. TOOOONS of people wanted printed versions of the comics, repeatedly asking me and offering money for the ones we did have. But we weren't selling them. Well...not this year. May look into how much we'd be able to do/if we'd even be allowed.
- Met a whole ton of Bronies. "yay"
- Spotted Ian Flynn reading Issue 250. Every staff member immediately looked intensely terrified. Had a big read of it, not just a glance. Reported he really enjoyed it and that he was "amazed" we'd done it for so long.
- End appears, the "big surprise" was just a couple of riffs by Jun on stage. We start packing, were asked by Tracy Yardley to allow him to buy a copy of #250 to read on his way home, which he asked the whole STCO team to sign for him. We instead gave him it for free.
- Leave the place after being hounded by security to get out. Say goodbyes, spot Julien-K in their van, tell them they did awesome. Go to pub with Mike, Chigs, Cal and Nam. Have some good chatter about STCO's future (mostly the website design) and then choke on cake. (I'd been fighting a bad windpipe closure all day.) Eventually parted ways.
My overall opinion? It was a fantastic day, but not for the convention itself. I found most of the stage stuff boring and clique to the Sonic Stadium crowd rather than "The Sonic Fandom" as it is advertised as. My highlights were from the STCO crowd, the STC and Archie writers and artists and a few cool people I met. The Sonic fandom pretty much showed itself just as how it can be envisioned in many ways. Ending the day with Pete and I having to insist on a German man that no, he couldn't buy our comics that Pete owned after 20 minutes of him asking non stop.
But I'm not going to hold that against it, really. It's a decent con for the fandom, although anyone who isn't a what you might call "a fanboy" will find some of it very tiring. There is, however, something for everyone.
I'll definitely go back.