suggestions for tfcon 2017

[Stormrave]

The good, the bad and the ugly.

The good:

Overwhelmingly most of my experience. TFCon continues to be an incredible show and the highlight of my summer.

I particularly liked the panels about giant robots in Japan (by Ninjatron) and Eastern vs Western Transformers. These panels were great and I learned stuff I didn't know. Yes, more of this!

I was so happy to meet Frank Welker. I also liked the way the panels were arranged so that my Frank Welker signing didn't conflict with my ability to see the other voice actors or Mr. Dille. This was much better than last year, and I greatly appreciate it.

Most of the panels went right on time and this is appreciated. I actually thought it was good the way they didn't just stop the movie but arranged to finish it while also accommodating faction feud. However this leads into...

The Bad:

When the script reading started early. I arrived to watch it at 3:25, in plenty of time according to the schedule, only to find the reading almost over. I would have appreciated at least an announcement; I am sorry I missed the reading, as I was on time and it is always great fun.

I know the con has limited power over the Quest Bar's pricing, but this year's prices meant more of my money went to Burger King. Service was great, but prices were...mostly beyond my budget. I had some drinks and one meal. The drinks and food I did have, though, were great--I can't fault the quality, only the pricing.

The ugly.

I've been coming to this con for 11 years now and have always felt very welcome and at home. I found this year's convention comic in bad taste, on account of having a number of friends, newer fans, mostly female, asking me if they are welcome at this event, if it is a boys-only club, how they will be treated, if they are going to face unwanted advances, etc. I get that the comic is supposed to be satire on a number of general convention tropes, but I feel like I've got one more hurdle to jump over now to convince some of my friends that this con is a good place to be, and that's...hard.

I really want to see all my friends at tfcon, girls and boys. I want to see this con succeed and be welcoming to everyone. I think that when people say "this is tfcon!" it means everyone, girls and boys, all ages, all physical abilities, all races, literally everyone. That's not the vibe the comic gave off and that's a shame because that's in no way the actual experience I've had in the last 11 years. This is a great convention and I want everyone to feel as welcome as I've felt over my history with this con.

In summary.

Oh hell, I spent all my money on toys and art again.

See you all next year

[Gumby]

Been hearing a lot about the "offending" panel from this years comic but haven't actually seen it so if anybody has a scan or even a good photo of it, please PM me with it because I'd like to see what the hubbub is about.

[JLvatron]

Originally Posted by General Tekno

Looking towards next year though, I've got a panel idea myself for running a Transformers-themed Wheel of Fortune - we've run it at local cons, and all I'd really need to do other than reskinning my software is make a software replacement for the physical wheel we've used. It'd probably work well as a pre-charity auction event to kill time between registration and opening ceremonies.

Wow, sounds fun!

Originally Posted by Fear or Courage

-The costume contest felt really slapdash and disorganized, with everyone filling out papers on the spot, the MC clearly making things up as he went along, and everyone going up the middle of the room instead of, like, coming through the side door. I’m not expecting Fan Expo’s Masquerade, but it could have been planned better.

We tried having pre-sign up forms in the past, but the participants unanimously preferred to register live during the contest.
Hence this dictated a lot of the design you saw, including the spontaneous 'Talk Show' hosting and content registration.

Side entries were nixed for safety concerns.

I'd love to hear any other suggestions you have for the costume contest!

How did others like it?

Originally Posted by DuG

Another suggestion that I thought of while at the con and just remembered is possibly providing a blank space on the lanyards for people to write their names on so other board members and attendees can say hi. Personally I remember faces better than I do names so sorry if I forgot anyone's this past weekend.

Love this idea!

[Oasis]

Iacon, you were right about me being caught between a rock and a hard place, so thank you for acknowledging that. Mike hadn't shown up yet so we debated what to do.....and it was a relief that we could show the rest of the movie.

And yes, Mr. Welker and Mr. Cullen, with their agent, chose the questions they wanted to answer.

[purple-bot]

The only problem I had as a dealer on Saturday was all the unattended children. Several times I had to deal with random 5-10 years olds at my table just playing with all my stuff. This lead to a couple broken figures I wasn't able to sell or had to sell much cheaper because some random kid were bashing my loose figures together. And no parents to be seen. And although the majority of my loose figures were bagged, they still managed to open things and misplace parts. I don't think I should have to have a glass devider at my table just to avoid 'play time' with my merchandise.

I don't know how this could be dealt with other than telling all parents as they walk through that they must tend to their children at all times.

It's just a little heartbreaking when you have kept a figure in great condition for the passed 20+ years. Only to have some little brat manhandle and break it cause someone let their 5 year old get away from them or let them walk off on their own

[Aernaroth]

Originally Posted by Oasis

Iacon, you were right about me being caught between a rock and a hard place, so thank you for acknowledging that. Mike hadn't shown up yet so we debated what to do.....and it was a relief that we could show the rest of the movie.

Oddly enough I was at the back of the room yelling for the movie to keep going. I think it was very hard for us to communicate with the dark, the crowd, and the size of the room (having switched my phone to silent so as not to go off during the feud also complicated things).

Stressful as it was, I felt like it was a minor hiccup. The movie commentary started back up after a few minutes delay, and the feud happened afterwards. Still, definitely something good to keep in mind for future years.

[omegaprime]

Custom 3d contest judge by the people attending ..

[blindsorcerer]

Send all camera and cellphone to the side . I was staring at like 8 hands holding cellphone over their head at the Frank Welker q/a . I considered leaving ... Was pretty unpleasant .

Blindsorcerer

[Iacon]

Couple things I forgot to mention:

There's a mathematical flaw with Faction Feud that was pointed out by sachiel_ca. Since each round offers a total of 100 points and there are 3 rounds, a team can win the game prematurely just by getting greater than 100 points in the first two rounds. There were several match-ups where the game was already decided after two rounds, but the game continued for a third round... even though it was mathematically impossible for the trailing team to catch up. This could easily be solved by making the third round worth double the point values.

I was initially skeptical about not be able to use my own camera for the photograph with Mr. Welker, but I was quite pleased with how professionally this was handled. The guy behind the camera told me that the pictured would be e-mailed before the end of the day... and lo and behold, at three minutes to midnight, it shows up in my inbox! As long as you guys can maintain this turnaround speed, I'm cool with the change.

I can somewhat understand the complaints about parking, but I'm not sure what folks want the organizers to do about that. Shy of having the Hilton build a new parking lot, are they suggesting that they should change venues for the sake of parking? And really, it wasn't *that* bad-- I arrived at about 10:20 AM on Sunday and had to park on the street, but it was still close enough to an entrance that the trips back and forth to my car were still manageable... (and this is coming from someone who typically drops stuff off at the car about a dozen times in a day)

The anecdote related by purple-bot hurts my soul. Though I'm not sure how the organizers can force attendees to better manage their children. Perhaps those stormtroopers that show up on Sunday should start patrolling the aisles, instead of just standing at the entrance lookin' impressive...

[1one]

I would like to see a panel discussing:
1) a brief history of the toys
2) why people would want to collect them
3) the differences between toy lines
4) a good place to start collecting for someone who is new to the franchise or had no previous interest in the toys. (like me ^_^)

In other words "This is Why We Like Collecting Transformer Toys and Why You Should Start Collecting Them Too!"

(Become One of Us....One of Us...One of Us...)