Not Much of a Collection

So... Collectormania London, eh? Where did it go wrong?

Well... the entrance was via Pizza Express at Olympia. Up the stairs, though a massively empty room in which the tickets were sold, then through the doors into... what looked very much like a completely empty industrial lockup.

Empty, that is, apart from the first row of 'star' guests... evidently not thought of highly enough to actually be inside the main show area.

Beyond this tragic scene was possible the most poorly laid out retail area, boxed in by some of the most weirdly-placed stage areas, and even more blocks of star guests basically crammed into whatever spare corners they could find. I was vaguely amused to see that Mercedes McNab was "unable to attend due to ill health", because she was in the crap horror movie I saw last night, Vipers, in which she was eaten by a pack of snakes. I wonder if the 'ill health' was brought about by the appearance of this film on television the weekend she was attending the show...

There was a 'Japanese Culture Area' which could politely be described as 'sparse', or more accurately described as basically nonexistent beyond the sign, and a robe hanging on a partition.

The retail area was pretty dull - for me - but fairly standard Collectormania guff - lots of autographs, photos, posters, cards, DVDs (some of which looked pretty darned dodgy). Only a couple of stalls were selling TransFormers, and those were a good £5 over average retail, so I elected to save my money until these later waves hit the UK shelves.

I did buy a Christmas present for my mother, and one for my companion... and a purple, cat-shaped neck rest for myself. Other than that, I suspect my companion bought more than me - mostly from Genki Gear, who complained about being lost in the back of the hall, to the point where it seemed that no-one was coming to their stall and, in fact, the poor folks allotted the space behind their stall packed up an left the show yesterday. We didn't even feel the need for a second turn around the place. I doubt we spent much more than an hour there before leaving, rather disappointed with the whole thing.

I dropped in on my folks for dinner - an Iceland three-bird-roast, which was pretty tasty - and much chattering, and picked up a few nicknacks before heading home by bus, thanks to the engineering works (not even the tube strike, which started this evening!)

I really shouldn't be up this late, considering I need to be getting up for work in just over five hours... but I'm not exactly tired right now... That said, I'm only still up because I decided to watch another shit horror movie featuring snakes, Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid, which was on straight after Beowulf. What is this, Serpent Movie Weekend?