More Memorabilia

So, another Memorabilia has been and gone this last weekend. With each I visit, it becomes more obvious that the winter ones - when it's bitterly cold and frequently raining on the way - are the best both in terms of guests (not that I tend to sit in on any of the Q&A sessions, or hunt autographs) and retail stands.

Not that this one was a slouch, in any way. Oh my, no.

That said, I went in expecting to blow vast amounts of money, and managed to leave with a little less than half the amount I had when I arrived even though I made out like a bandit. The biggest disappointment was that it had been rumoured that Hasbro UK would turn "events such as Memorabilia" into TransFormers events, to boost the profile of the upcoming live action movie. There was little evidence of Hasbro's presence, and nothing about the movie outside of the stall manned by the folks from Space Bridge, who had press packs for sale and a couple of movie toys on display (marked "Please do not touch!"). After that blow, I barely noticed that there was nothing of any interest in the Stage Area ;)

My haul for this show:
1 box of 7 miniature PVC statues of SD Final Fantasy characters (one reminded me of a character from my writing, so I couldn't resist), Revoltech Convoy, Beast Wars Neo TFs Stampy (white rabbit) and Break (penguin), RID Dreadwind and Smokejumper, RID Sideburn, Classics Ramjet, Classics Ultra Magnus & Skywarp 2-pack, a Danger Mouse t-shirt, a 'Weapons of Doom' t-shirt from Retro GT, 2 further t-shirts from Genki Gear (Monster Wrestling and Genki Robotics Corp), and birthday/Christmas presents for various friends and family. I also bought a 'Penguins are cool' t-shirt for my companion as an additional birthday present.

Things I missed out on:
I saw Alternators Mirage, but stupidly didn't snatch him straight up. Something else distracted me and, by the time I got back to that stall, Mirage was gone.

Stuff I forgot:
The same stall had Gen 1 Reissue Sideswipe - one of my favourite molds from that era - and I completely forgot to pick him up, despite buying other stuff there. I already have Reissue Red Alert and an original Tigertrack, but there's something about this accurate Lamborghini Countach model that makes me want the original red version... Even though I have little or no interest in getting Deep Cover or Clamp Down, the police redecos of the mold.

Stuff I didn't bother with:
Could have picked up THS-02b Black Convoy, but decided to leave it for the time being. I also noticed that the aforementioned Space Bridge stall still had its Japanese Armada Nemesis Prime, and the price has dropped again. I reckon if it's still there next time I go, I might as well bag it...

Stuff that wasn't there:
Oddly, while Classics Ramjet and Cliffjumper were available, Grimlock wasn't. Probably a good thing, or that would have been another reason for me to dither on one stall rather than looking around more.

It was, as usual, a great day out. Getting there early definitely makes everything easier and more pleasant, as it's not as crowded or as noisy when it's just the early-birds trundling around, and you can actually chat to the stall-holders (Genki Gear, in particular, are a fun pair. They've recently done a deal with Forbidden Planet which should see them turning a tidy profit). As soon as the doors open to 'the great unwashed', Memorabilia goes crazy, whatever time of year you choose to go.

My companion and I had also made the sensible decision to stay at the Birmingham airport/NEC Novotel, which meant that getting to the halls was a case of crossing the road to the airport, boarding the monorail (which is actually a cable-car rather than a true monorail) and then getting on a coach. This meant it took maybe 20 minutes to get from the hotel to the show, as opposed to something approaching an hour from our usual (far more extravagant) hotel of choice, due to the maze-like network of roads which inevitably lead you to the car park furthest from the halls you need to get to.

Of course, the Saturday also saw the return of Doctor Who for a third series. To be honest, I was rather disappointed. The story was a bit jumbled, and the script seemed to have been edited down from a two-parter/feature length story, so everything felt very rushed... Particularly the introduction of The Doctor's new assistant, Martha Jones. I'm very glad that Doctor Who is back on our screens, but I can't help but think that Russell T. Davis's fanaticism about the show will end up hurting it. And you've got to wonder why intergalactic 'police' would look like Rhinoceri...

Returning home on Sunday, I managed to stay awake for the whole day, but didn't get any photography done... Hopefully this coming long weekend I'll take a few snaps. The light is far better now than it was earlier in the year, so I may at last get some decent shots of MP Starscream, Cybertron Primus, and everything else I've picked up over the last few months.

Following on from Memorabilia, I've ordered Alternators Rumble (which I was all set to ignore - because it has no hands - until I learned that the piledrivers are spring-loaded, and saw some photos of model in some dramatic poses at Seibertron.com) and the awesome-looking Masterpiece Megatron, which will join Masterpieces Convoy and Starscream in my display case. Once again, I decided against ordering THS-02b for the time being, but I expect I'll cave in soon.

It has recently been reported that Australian Customs & Excise are impounding imported Masterpiece Megatrons due to some obscure bit of gun law that classifies the model as a replica gun (despite being way oversize, and despite there being no way it can be modified to fire - not even plastic pellets like the original Gen 1 model!). One can only sympathise with those Australians who preordered, only to be presented with a choice of forfeiting the model or having it returned to the sender... And one can only hope that UK Customs & Excise don't try to pull the same scam.

Prior to Memorabilia, I ordered the first two TransFormers Collectors' Club exclusives for this year, Astrotrain and Airazor. Originally, I planned only to purchase the latter (which fits in nicely with the BotCon set from 2006) but, after much consideration, decided I might as well get both... They are, after all, limited runs. Once they're gone, they're gone, unless someone decides to sell theirs on Ebay.

I'm now considering curbing my spending on TransFormers. Partly due to restricted display space, and partly for many other reasons... Obviously, I'll end up buying the movie toys, but I'll try to be sensible about which I get (that is to say, I'll not buy every version of Optimus Prime, for example). After that, who knows? Club exclusives only? Masterpiece/Binaltech-style high-end models only? The sensible option would be buying nothing more until I've got a place of my own to fill with whatever toys I can afford in between mortgage repayments... but part of me is thinking I should just stop collecting entirely.

In other news, a couple of years ago, when I was writing quite frequently, I came up with a new character. For whatever reason, my writing ground to a halt and I've done nothing along those lines for well over a year, though starting this blog was intended to get me back into the habit of writing on a regular basis. This plan may or may not have started to pay off... A few days before Memorabilia, a couple of my characters 'spoke' to me for the first time in ages. Not much, but an interesting hint of a short story. Over the Memorabilia weekend, I discussed this and my character in general with my companion, and fleshed out a few more details. I'm still nowhere near picking up the stories I've started, but at least some of my characters haven't deserted me entirely.

Something else to look into over the coming Easter weekend.

Work has, inevitably, gone a little hectic in the run-up to Easter. We're losing two days of Production time, meaning we have four magazines going out in four working days. That's insane however you look at it... Thankfully, it's going well for the moment... But next week will be absolute hell.