I've got a report on the show up on my website now, You can check it out here:
SykoGrafix.com
The guests this year were great. Chalk and Kaye are always fantastic, and having the two of them making a rare appearance together was especially cool and made for a unique moment. Rayle and Mendenhal were especially fantastic, and having David Wise was amazing. Any time we are lucky enough to have a guest that hasn't done a convention in Canada, hasn't done a Transformers convention, or has never been to a convention before, that's pretty awesome. I appreciated the lengths that were taken this year to bring us interesting guests. It was really cool seeing David Mendenhal reliving a piece of his childhood in front of us during his panel. I made sure to tell him that what he shared with us was really special.
There was a person during the Chalk/Kaye panel who asked something about having regrets about working on Energon because it didn't make sense to him or something like that. What an offensive question. That rubbed me the wrong way. What did this guy honestly think they were going to say? Newsflash, buddy: None of Transformers makes any sense when you look at it out of context. Let's try to be more polite from now on and not backhandedly insult something that the guests worked on and may be enjoyed perfectly fine by other people in the audience.
I missed a lot of the show because I was working on my panel, but I did as much as I could. The other panels I saw were great. I especially liked Aaron Archer's presentation, and I would love to see more people on the creative side invited to the show.
Unfortunately I had to skip Faction Feud but it sounded like it was fun from what I heard afterwards. I sure as hell wasn't going to miss the Slurpee Run though.
As far as the dealer room goes, the main complaint from last year was confusion over US and Canadian pricing. Thankfully I didn't see any of that this time, but maybe I was lucky. I was not fussed about the lack of a refresh on Sunday. I didn't even think about it until I read about it here after the fact. Most conventions just have the same dealer room and that's the way it is for the entirety of the show. Obviously it would be great to have more variety in terms of selection and number of vendors. But the show lives in Canada. Who is here and who is willing to come here? Whatever that answer is, that's the best we can realistically hope for.
If people are disappointed in the dealer room, and that's all they care about, then sorry but you are totally doing TFcon wrong. There is so much more to this show than just buying toys or seeing whatever off-brand reveals you're going to be spending your money on later. Go and experience everything the show has to offer. Have fun. And if that's still not enough and there are things you wish the show had, then be the change. Volunteer your time and make it happen. That's what I do, and I already love TFcon, so what's your excuse?
Sayonara.
