TFCon 2015 *Unofficial* Feedback Thread

[dak]

Originally Posted by Scrapmaker

An opportunity for attendees to vote on the art contest. We wanna look at it, why not let us participate by voting?

There are a few things that prevent us from doing this. First, it is VERY easy to do a favourites thing. If one guy enters and his 10 buddies all vote for him or give high scores specifically to him, then he has an unfair advantage against everyone else. I've personally experienced a situation similar to this at Botcon and will never allow it in my contest. Everything must be judges fairly, and strictly based on the artistic talent/skill.

Second, we've thought about it before, and I believe in the first few years we had actually done this, but it had been a nightmare for following up and counting votes.

Basically, having 3-4 neutral, artistically knowledgeable people is a lot easier to manage and fair for all parties involved.

[Mike]

Originally Posted by Masta_Skidz

What day did you go ? Sunday is also Action Figure Expo, used to be 80's Con but that moved to it's own date. I believe Action Figure Expo is also on a different date but they also include into TFCon on Sunday to draw a different audience for that day to appeal to more then just us TF Fans. Personally I am okay with it but not entirely as I would prefer that it would stay just TF themed for the whole show.

On a side note if you were talking about the Chop Shop Goods booth that was clothing not really Tf themed at all, he has been there for about 3 years now and I enjoy that he comes as he always has the best shirts around. Other than him I can only think of the artists booths and they always feature some sort of TF Theme to them.

My gf and i were there sat morning. As soon as we walked in boom. No transformers in site until i started goin around the walls.

Not that it was horrible or anything but i think it should be transformers merch only. Or at least sell SOME TF stuff

[Megatron75]

Originally Posted by Mike

I REALLY wanted a nice G1 Optimus and Grimlock, but I couldn't find them in good shape. I saw a lot of KO's and re-issues, but no originals. There had to be some primes and maybe I just didn't see them, but I only saw one Grimlock, and his tail was all worn chrome.

Now that you mention it, I didn't see any G1 Grimlocks at this show. I saw a boxed vintage Optimus Prime or two; One of them was a Canadian Pepsi Prime. Pretty nice but I'm sure the guy would have wanted an arm and a leg for it. One regular dealer who normally has several tables of nice boxed and loose G1 items wasn't at this show. I did see a bunch of the usual KO G1 items but I'm not interested in collecting those.

[chroma23]

Originally Posted by Masta_Skidz

Lastly I would like to say that I'm not Happy with how the vendors where favoring US dollars / Canadian at a Canadian show

like another member mentioned, i skipped those vendors completely. These vendors are mostly US-based like tfsource and chosen prime. i dont blame them for doing this since they operate in the US and understandably they will think in terms of greenbacks, but they are just not getting my money this time, that's all

that being said, not all vendors were like that. in fact, with the canadian central bank lowering interest rates last week sending the canadian dollar further down to the dumps, i noticed that some vendors haven't yet reacted to the currency drop. as such, there are actually deals to be had if you look around carefully and be really mindful of how much things cost on the internet in USD, and obviously avoiding those who overcharge. having a currency exchange app on your phone really helps as i find myself checking it every 15 mins or so if i see something of interest. i actually spent more money this year compared to most of my previous years

maketoys cupola is a steal at $120CAD at their booth (as is all their other offerings at the table); their prices are extremely attractive, perhaps even cheaper than getting them straight from china. the cupolas at tfsource and chosen prime are literally just sitting there collecting dust. a certain member got utopia for $400CAD at another vendor too

[Metroplex79]

First off, thank you to those who stopped by my table and made purchases on Saturday. I was in the middle aisle in the middle of the main dealer room. I had my avatar posted on a couple of shelves.

I will admit I was one of those dealers that did not have 100% of my table was TF-related. But I know I had around 75%-80%. Plus most of my non-TF stuff were in two "$3 or less" bins. So hopefully I wasn't one of those dealers that pissed some of you off.

As for not enough vintage G1 products, I used to have a lot, but since I've been a dealer for 5 of the past 11 TFCons, most have been bought already, and it has gotten to pricy to replace with more new inventory.

I had a pretty good time this year. Even though I didn't get to do all that I wanted. It was great to see so many TF fans together. I'm not the chatty type, but it was nice chatting with people of all ages at my booth, even if they didn't buy anything from me.

My avatar was posted on the right on the white shelf, and in the back at the top of the black shelf.

Apparently, my cousin must have taken this pic when I went to the bathroom during a quiet period due to a panel happening.

Pic of my table:

[brr-icy]

Dealer room seemed decent, nice mix of vintage and new, with a touch of other stuff to keep the people we drag there that aren't into tfs amused.

[Omegatron]

Originally Posted by brr-icy

Dealer room seemed decent, nice mix of vintage and new, with a touch of other stuff to keep the people we drag there that aren't into tfs amused.

Agreed, this was my impression too.

My son's just as into Transformers as I am but my daughter loves Justice League and was thrilled to fine Green Lantern stuff. A little variety 10-15% is not a bad thing.

[Gumby]

For people slagging the vendors- It's a lot of the same ones that come in for these shows and you know what? That's GOOD. It gives you chance to build a rapport with them. It's like seeing an old pal and to be honest, it's one of the things my girlfriend and I look forward to- "Oh, hope couple Y will be there." "Think we'll see person X?"

As for what was being sold, having a mix of different offerings is great and it shouldn't be regulated to ONLY TF stuff as some are suggesting. Remember, it may not be your toy line but chances are it's someone's. Having said that, we saw a TON of TF stuff on both the saturday and sunday so not sure why people are acting like it was scarce. And you can't be mad at TFCon for vendors not having certain items (or even mad at the vendors themselves).

In regards to bad vendors, again, it's almost always the same people and I can honestly say that there are literally only 1 or 2 that just should NOT be allowed to sell at these shows. Negative attitude, outrageous prices (even for bin stuff!) and a table that looks like junk piled on top of other junk. If this is the only person who had an item we have looked high and low for for years, we will say "forget it" and walk away from it on principle alone.

Other than those 1 or 2, the other vendors are great, easy going, fun to talk to and usually give good deals.

[Iacon]

Awesome convention overall-- was great to see how it's been able to successfully expand, while retaining much of the indie charm of earlier iterations (by which I mean the 2010/2011 era... I can't personally account for any charm from earlier versions that might have vanished before I could observe it).

Minor quibbles I decided weren't major enough to bring up at the Organizers' Panel:

1) In the future, please indicate ahead of time if you're going to "clear the room" before a hot-ticket panel like the Cullen Q & A. I sat through 48 minutes of the 3rd Party panel just to save a seat. Don't get me wrong-- I agree with the decision to refresh the room... no point in having people (like me) attend panels they have no interest in just for strategic reasons, but it would have been good to know that I should have been lined up outside.

2) Some of the descriptions of the panel in the schedule were really vague... okay, just one, really-- Vangelus'. It just said "Video Review" or somesuch and didn't even state who was running it. I thought maybe it was a review of some type of video (like on-going footage of the Con... I mean, I'm not sure why that would be a panel, but I was curious...) but it was more like a YouTube Toy Review Tutorial... not really an aspiration of mine, but I felt bad about walking out halfway through (I had to eat at *some* point!).

3) Oh... hey, not really a quibble, but who wrote the convention comic? Couldn't find the author's name anywhere in the book...

Sooo... you guys know you gotta nab Welker next year, right?

[Masta_Skidz]

I would like to say that the A3U, FP and MT booth was amazingly run and had some great stuff on display and I was glad to see them back again this year as I was surprised to see them there last year

I would also like to add to my comment earlier, I am not against or outraged about having other items at your booths I just was not sure what to expect going in on Sunday as I am not usually there for that day sorry for that. Saturday I didn't really notice any strictly non-tf vendors and I as others do like to see the hand full of other offerings that they had it is a nice break in things to take your mind off the hunt for even a split second.