IT NEVER ENDS!!

When Simon Furman penned those words into Transformers #79 I imagine he had no real idea of how they would continue to resonate through the fandom for decades to come and in some ways define what Transformers means.

A Very Special Gift (Part III)

I thought it only appropriate to post the last of the three gifts I received as a result of Charticon on the cusp of the one-year anniversary of the official start to the show (August 9th). This gift is perhaps the most meaningful, not only because it was so unexpected, but because it came from the entire staff of the show, whom all became my good friends after the show was over.

A Very Special Gift

Charticon provided me with many opportunities. It gave me the chance to meet people I had only known online prior, it allowed me to experience running a convention from the "other side" as it were, and it provided me with invaluable insight to the community as a whole. One very unexpected result of the show was that I was given some wonderful gifts for helping some people out. This is the first of these.

Back In the World Again

I thought about just making a new post like nothing hadn't happened, but I realized it would probably be better to address my five and a half month absence. The truth is, for a while I had given up on this blog and Transformers in general.

Just One More

A strange sequence of events has occurred over the past few months. Either an inordinately large number of vintage Transformers that I still need have become available or I have just finally decided to stop waiting and finish out the remaining figures I need. Regardless of circumstances, I have been purchasing everything in sight. I have probably spent more in four months than I have in the past two years combined.

Charticon Exclusive Baleful Head Upgrade

The final Charticon exclusive I want to cover was one that almost didn't happen at all. Originally I wanted to do something special for the wonderful committee of people I had working on the convention with me. Eventually I decided a "staff exclusive" head upgrade might be a good idea and I was originally going to keep it a surprise for everyone. But obviously that didn't pan out as I expected.

Charticon Exclusive Snipenose

Here we are still riding the Charticon Train. The next figure in our exclusive line-up was the custom class Snipenose figure. After we had decided to homage Quake with Warpath we thought it might be a good idea to give him a companion in the form of Needlenose. With Needlenose's recent resurgence in popularity in the RID comic, this seemed like another one of those no-brainers.

Charticon Aftershock, A Personal Look

Let me preface this by saying I know Flywheels is planning on doing a review of this figure if he hasn't already. Because I don't want to go over the exact same things I decided to make this post about my personal experience in creating this figure over the past ten months. This thing has been my "baby" and I am very proud to have such a nice finished product.

It is hard to even know where to start. When we first set up the idea of this convention there was no doubt in my mind that we were going to do an exclusive. And because I am very passionate about transformer toys in general, I decided I wanted to do an exclusive that would exceed all expectations, something that would literally be the best of the best. Did I achieve that?

Charticon Exclusive Tech Specs

Whew, it feels like I've been gone forever. Charticon took up so much of my time I barely had room for anything else (which I know my wife didn't appreciate, lol). But now I've got my time back and since we aren't going to have another show until 2015, I have some time to get back to the blogging community I love! It is amazing what six months away will do, especially to your stats! I was running around 5-6K visitors per month in December and then when I got super busy it dropped dramatically back down to 2-3K per month. But that doesn't really matter that much, I just missed talking about my favorite hobby!

So I thought the first couple of "return to the land of the living" posts should be about some things we did for the show, and this initial one is a doozy!

Charticon 2013, The Charlotte, NC Transformer Convention

I know this may not be as relevant here on the blog since most everyone I know on here lives in a different country, but I thought I would go ahead and announce it anyway. Next August the North Carolina Transformers group will be hosting the first Transformers Convention in Charlotte, NC. We have been working on this for a while now and it is looking to be like a great convention so far. If you are interested in attending (and are close enough) here are a few of the events we have planned:

Voice Actors and Voice Actor Panels
Cosplay and Costume Contests
4,000+ sq ft Dealer Room
Transformers Toy Panels
Trivia Contests
Kids Games
Friday night DJ Party

Plus much more, but I can't divulge too many details just yet. Anyway, Hotel Reservations are already up and pre-registration should be available before the end of the year. Check out: www.charticon.com for full details.

Part of the reason we are doing this is because Savcon 2013 was unfortunately cancelled and we all really enjoyed the last convention. So in an effort to continue the Southern United States TF conventions we decided we would hold Charticon instead.

Is it bad that it is still eleven months away and I'm already really excited for it?