For the last month or so my group have been running a bi weekly game of Savage Worlds in Star Wars/Warhammer 40k crossover called the The Enlightenment Heresy.

Now some of you may still be wondering how this all fits together here is a bit more of an in-depth description of the setting as its grown so far courtesy of my GM:

There is a large section of space (containing dozens of worlds) that has been cut off from the rest of the galaxy for millennia by a raging warp-storm.
The people in this warp-bubble have been isolated from the rest of the galaxy since before the dark age of technology (except for a trickle of ships that have been sucked in through the warp storm over the centuries).
The societies enclosed in this way have retained their understanding of technology, and have formed a republic (with a strong Star Wars vibe). It isn’t necessarily all peace and love, but within the bubble they don’t automatically attempt to genocide each other.

Inside the bubble (in the eye of the warp storm) the immaterium is relatively stable, meaning that warp/hyperspace travel is safer, the forces of chaos are less overtly powerful, and psi powers can be used more safely (provided they the psyker is disciplined and calm of mind, such as the jedi). Following a more intuitive or reckless path can still lead people to be corrupted by the insidious effects of the dark side, but psykers are not automatically feared.
Outside the warp bubble, the world is much closer to the 40k universe; the Empire (a combination of that of Star Wars and 40K Imperium) holds sway over a huge territory, the warp is turbulent, psykers have great but volatile power (and those psykers who fail to follow disciplines imperial teachings and fall to the dark side are hunted viciously by the inquisition), and stability is threatened by monsters such as tyranids, orks, and necrons.

The Empire has the history, ecclesiarchy, tech priests, space marines, and inquisition of 40k, but has an imperial bureaucracy and navy that matches that of the Star Wars Galactic Empire (complete with grand moffs, storm troopers, and star destroyers). It is oppressive to alien races, but doesn’t usually attempt to outright exterminate them (closer to Star Wars than 40K)
The center of imperial space (Core Segmentum) is tightly controlled (imperial creed, human-only worlds etc), but as you move outwards its attitudes and control are more relaxed (it is stretched too thinly to totally control everybody). The periphery of imperial space is full of Outer-Rim worlds (including wretched hives of scum and villainy), where aliens are tolerated as long as they do as they are told and pay their taxes (or bribe the Imperial governors to look the other way). Rogue Traders ply these space lanes, making a killing (if they are lucky) or being killed (when they are unlucky).

So you might be wondering why I'm telling you all this, well I thought I would try my hand at writing a Greentext Story of our first adventure as a writing experiment as I've a tendency to be Verbose.

If your unfamiliar with Greentext stores then basically they are anecdotes written in short, concise sentences most often seen on image boards using the site’s “green-text” code but have gain popularity across various different message boards.

Here is Chappa in all his early glory for you people curious about his stats, there have been some minor changes to the skills since but its still rather accurate. 

With all that covered I hope you enjoy our escapades.

Part 1: The campaign and Chappa are brought to life.

> Group decides to try running game over steam using Fantasy Grounds
> Spend one night in pub arguing theme over curry.
> Decide on Star Wars/ Warhammer 40k Crossover using savage worlds.
> Group created massive 40 page + document of ideas, pictures and notes for campaign.
> A bit creatively burnt out since I just finished one for another game that's still going so just skim it.
> Leave it a week then ask housemates what they are playing.
> Mostly 40k races.
> This is after they spent ages arguing that they want something different from usual Dark Heresy.
> AreYouSerious.png

> Drop idea for Blood Axe Ork or Tau characters decide to bolster up Star Wars elements.
> Realise I have no clue about the expanded universe past hearsay.
> To hell with it I'm a Ewok...
> A Ewok who is going to have piloting skills in battle suits and awesome in gunnery/engineering.
> Play Evil_Laugh.exe

> Start stating character and buying equipment.
> Find a Star Wars Savage world home brew.
> Discover Ewoks have the chance of breaking everything technological they use since they have 'All Thumbs'.
> Hell with it, sticking with concept.
> Throw a D4 into Pilot: (freighter class ship) just in case we need a backup pilot.
> Don't realise the item costs are much much cheaper than the Scifi Companion.
> Decently armed and armoured try to sink the remaining money on bionic spine and lungs.
> Still richer than Bill Gates.
> Buy and customise a B1 Battle Droid with as many reasonable upgrades as possible, to use as backup pilot and gunner with D6 in both.
> Play RogerRoger.wav

>Oh crap need backstory, everyone needs to be arrested by the Empire/Imperium for a crime.
> Read Wookieepedia on Ewoks.
> Oh damn there's Ewok fur clothes and Ewok Jerky?!
> Lightbulb.png

> Chappa Fliks is Born in my mind
> Ewok smuggled himself offworld to see the universe, found and forced to work on freighter for trip.
> Eventually let off on Imperium border world.
> Discovers Ewok Jerky and that there several Ewok farms in system.
> Tries to complain, no one speaks Ewok, treated like animal taken to nearest farm.
> Chicken Run with Ewoks and lasers.
> Joins up with local rebels/animal rights activist who help escaped Ewoks return to wild.
> Remains with rebels liberating other farms.
> Local Empire patrols gives no shits about 'animal theft', ignores complaints.
> Begins merc work to pay back rebels and gets enough favours for bionics when one raid goes bad and he nearly dies.
> Hides out in old Junk Yard full of droid parts and builds his own like Swat Cats.

>Time Passes finally meet up on teamspeak.
> Discover rest of Parties characters:
> Tau Earth Caste Engineer, only survivor from a space hulk survey that turned 'Alien' has trouble working with others after been stuck alone for so long.
> Mr T'Ork aka Mr Torgue from Borderlands 2 as an Ork, actually turns out to be an amazing combination.
> Dark Eldar Flesh Crafter who is one of the most wanted men in the universe and is creepy/crazy as hell. He is also shaping up to be the parties only medic.
> A Cyborg detective/bounty hunter who looks like he is from Ghost in Shell, brought in the Dark Eldar for the bounty and got arrest for a number of minor charges by the Imperials so they would not have to pay him.
> Some strange man sized mantis creature which is apparently a Jedi. Played by the groups most knowledgeable Star Wars fan.
> Party thinks I'm making a Ewok Rocket Raccoon.
> Facepalm so hard mike gets feedback.

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First of all I apologise for posting this a little late this month unfortunately I haven't been in the best of health and had a bit of difficulty putting fingers to keyboard when it came to putting this all down.

Earlier this month on the 2nd & 3rd I attended North East Retro Gaming (NERG) in Newcastle, I had learned about NERG early this year and was initially not particularly excited about the idea due to the travel but it turns out my friend the delightful lady from Buzy Bobbins loves pinball machines and convinced me to give it a shot and attend with her.

I will say now I was not disappointed and very much enjoyed my time there with it been well worth the trip.

For those of you unfamiliar with the event NERG is a yearly event for the North East of England and NERG 2016 was the 4th annual event with there been hopefully many more to come.
The aim was to collect together 100 video arcade machines, 60 pinball machines and 60 consoles which visitor could view and play alongside various stalls selling classic game and consoles as well various video game toys and paraphernalia.



In addition the event has various competitions such as a Iron Man gaming event were contestants play a series of games and add together their score from each game, a Street Fighter 3 Tournament, a host of tombola's, raffles and a pair of cosplay competition for adults and children.


While there was a series of issues that arose leading up to the event such as a change of venue due to road closures for a local marathon the people behind NERG dealt with them well and kept everyone informed through frequent and detailed updated on their website and by email, they also did a deal with a local hotel the Ramada Encore for special offers for those attending the event. 
This meant that there were slightly fewer machine available this year but I certainly think it was well worth the £25 weekend ticket. 

There were also some issues on the day itself and it was to be expected that these machine (some of them older than myself) may break down over the day but even though the mechanics on hand were amazing often repairing machines in less than 20 minutes and it was certainly interesting to get the chance to look inside a few of these.


One of the most charming elements I found was that with the retro consoles not only was there the chance to play some consoles that never hit European markets but they also had little information plaques next to each one so it was interesting to lean about each machine and its successes and failures. There was also a remarkable amount of games on hand for each console and those that didn't have the physical copies often contained emulators that contained nearly the entire library.

I would advise that if you head to next years  event that you think of a few games you want to play on retro consoles a head of time as it will really help with the overload of choice that can occur.

Since the two of us were together we decided to have a competition of our own and see who was the better retro gamer while we looked around the event.

Our first match was on the absolute classic Tehkan World Cup, aka. Tecmo Cup which was the first multi-player soccer game featuring a trackball controller. Programmed by Michishito Ishizuka it was released to arcades in 1985 by Tehkan, Ltd., the former name of Tecmo.

 
While the trackball was initially tricky to use this turned out to be one of our favourite games of the day as it soon turned to fast passed action and a hard fought 5-3 victory to me.


Our next stop was just next door and another classic, Joust developed by Williams Electronics and released in 1982 is a mixture of cooperative and V.S game play were the goal is to take down waves of other gladiators on flying mounts.

 
This one I firmly dominated setting me ahead in a our little competition but this lead wasn't to last as we moved onto PaperBoy another arcade classic from 1985.


Now I've never been a great player of PaperBoy on home consoles and the unusual controls for the arcade machine certainly didn't help me here and I soon found myself losing all the houses on my route.


This was only the beginning of my losing streak as we moved to Pinball machines where I was quite trounced in the scoreboard.


Since balls in reality were not working in my favour I decided to see if digitally I'd do any better with Marble Madness and its freshly fixed trackball and thankfully things did seem to pick up.


As the day continued we had a lot more games but I think I'm just going to post a few last honourable mentions:


Xavi Bowling on the XaviXPORT: Have you ever seen a console and thought "What The Hell?" thats what we did when we saw this though credit where it is due it actually was fun to play. Victory to me.


Twinkle Star Sprite: We only had ten minutes to try out this bespoke arcade machine by Pixel Arcade so we picked a game a random and found Twinkle Star Sprite a 1996 competitive scrolling shooter arcade game originally created by ADK. 
Whoever came up with this was a genius and it was certainly addictive to play. Victory to Buzy Bobbins. 


Parodius: Just by naming this game I've written myself into a corner, honestly just click the link or type Parodius into Youtube and enjoy the utter random chaos of this parody shooter. Victory to Me

With a narrow victory to me by just 2 games clinching the win on Sunday we headed home, while initially not in the best of moods as we left due to fatigue once we managed to sit and recover we agreed we had a great time. One thing that stood out to me was the general politeness and courtesy of my other con goers, there were very few instances of people shoving past me or bumping into me in spite of the crowd, kids were kept under control and generally everyone was pleasant, friendly and helpful. 

One final thing that really made me smile however was the opportunity to share some of my childhood games on the Amiga 1200 with a friend and been able to go back and replay some of my favourite games.

 
 Now to the bit I simply don't want to write about the GEEKS Lincoln Comic-Con 2016 that was on the 9th & 10th. Now if you've been following the blog you'll know I enjoyed last years event but was with slight disappointment due to the shambles of a cosplay competition  and that I had worries about this years event due to its relocation to Epic Centre on the Lincolnshire Showground.

If I had to describe this years event in a word it would have to be Meh.

If I could have two words it would be: Over Priced.

If I could three words it would be No Travel Options. 

Seeing a pattern yet?

I only attended the Saturday of this years event rather than the full weekend for two reasons, firstly my experience of the previous year was that its possible to see everything in a single day and second there are no local buses that travel up past the Lincolnshire Showground on a Sunday making it not possible for me to attend.

Considering the Epic Centre is extremely expensive to hire and there is a number of similar or larger venues located amongst Lincoln I can only guess that the choice was influenced by the availability of parking. Its been suggested that the target audience has also shifted towards those with a large  disposable income and that the increase in price and requirement for a car to attend is a way of dissuading poorer attendees who are less likely to purchase items at the event and this makes sense, when I was there it honestly felt like I was in a tourist trap of a convention.

Now on the lead up to the event GEEKs were relatively poor with their organisation of information and feedback on the events Facebook page, information like local transport options and day schedules were posted but were buried under general chatter and questions and their own drive to push for more ticket purchases.    


While the event on the day was better organised with events been announced over tannoy there were still issues with microphone failures and the ticket checking was slowed considerably by only a single person having a working bar code scanner which left us queuing in the rain.

Once in it was goody bag time for the early entry and whilst there were several varieties of goody bag they had all been sorted into boxes so if you attended with a group you would would usually end up with nearly identical stuff. My lucky dip was a DVD of Batman Gotham Knight, a Sign of the Deathly Hallows necklace and a Blake7 poster which together was worth about £5 hardly exciting stuff but to be expected, I managed to get a peak at a few other bags and there were a mixture of books and other DVDs.  

As we entered the event was split into three sections, the entrance area where the Epic Centres Catering had set up with tables and chairs, last year there had been some concerns over the lack of available food venues so this was a welcome sight while I brought myself a packed lunch and can't personally comment on the food other than the outrageous prices (£3.50 for a small tart that costs 80p elsewhere, £10 for a Sandwich, typical convention mark up to ripoff visitors) it seems the catering group screwed up badly with people reporting been made ill by the chips (bad or unclean oil has been suggested) and one person found that their sandwich upon opening was moldy.


The second section was the collection of shop stalls, while I mention last year I was a little disappointed by the stalls been a bit repetitive, well someone must of read that and passed the word along since this year there was but a single anime related stall (a stack of pre owned mangas ) and a box containing about 8 XBox games (I refuse to acknowledge that as a video games stall). No, this years theme was mixed meme shirts, posters, old collectable Star Wars, Doctor Who and Thunder Bird figures or various toys which was interesting for the first two stalls then got repetitive and crushed my dreams of my old toys been worth anything.
Oh and Pop figures, Pop figures as far as the the eye could see. 


Somehow with more stalls there was less variety though there were a few oddities like the little comic themed cravat scarf for dogs, or made as you wait rubber cosplay supplier and outfitter who had two stalls for some reason, or the hama bead artist who stole all their designs from Deviant Art and Pintrest but in all honesty I'm having trouble recalling anything note worthy or memorable.
       
To summarise I enjoy stalls at these events because they are unusual, because they offer new or uncommon goods and experiences, because they are selling items I would find difficult to obtain however this felt like I was going through a huge Forbidden Planet Bargain Bin with the same few items on offer over and over. Don't get me wrong I like pops but they are honestly beginning to tick me off on how they are just taking over convention stalls.

Having managed to look at the entire range of items on offer in less than 30 minutes from entering I was dishearten to put it generously and decided to spend the rest of the day watching the panels.


The final section was various seating arrangements for guests to sign autographs and various photo shoots with a small area off to the side with chairs where the panels took place, like most convention prices often started at £15 and went up from there for autographs and photos depending on the actor but unlike most conventions there was very little queuing time which many autograph hunters said was a great bonus.
This was also the area for their retro gaming section but more on that later.


As someone who is a occasional causal viewer of Doctor Who the early morning panel wasn't of any particular interest to me but I wanted to see if there were any interesting insights, while the actors introduced themselves I still had no clue what characters they were (apart from Winston Churchill) but the crowd was a bit hesitant with questions to begin with and just as the questions began to pick up the hour was over.

With no interest on watching little kids do light saber training and having seen it all at the Sheffield comic con I went to see the cosplays of the new arrivals as the doors now opened to the normal ticket holders and amongst the typical super hero costumes there was some real gems.


Just a special mention here while Deadpool is a pretty common sight about the con now days this chap had the goofing around attitude which makes Deadpool a fun cosplay to play.

With a little more time to kill I noticed a stumbled across the retro gaming section initially mistaking it as part of a neighbouring stall that was selling second hand odds and ends, now I wasn't expecting another NERG but Sheffield Comic con had managed a few XBoxs and arcade machines and what did Lincoln have? Four Plug and Play knock off consoles of a Mega Drive, & Atari which were decent and the and a god awful pair of ColecoVision & Intellivision which perfectly replicated how the originals barely worked and was horrible to play.


Getting over the fact that advertising this as a retro gaming section was barely technically correct I noticed that there was no signs or notes or staff, the "consoles" had just been plonked down and left. As the only person old enough to actually have a few very early childhood memories of the ColecoVision & Intellivision and thus a chance to figure out the terrible menu selection and controls I found myself instructing several fellow bored looking curious onlookers on how the damn things worked.

Understandably most people who tried gave up after a single game due to the unresponsive pads that just didn't work most of the time and tried to get a go on the far more popular Mega Drive but some guy was determined to finish Alien Storm and wasn't coming off the machine after losing all his continues.


With another hour ebbed out painfully slowly I returned to the panel as the kids filtered off from their light saber training, I was ready for My Dalek Has A Puncture as from the title it sounded interesting and I was guessing it would be cosplay or comedy related. When I discovered it was a autobiography I suppressed a groan but decided to listen anyway on the chance it would be somewhat interesting or at least I tried.

With the initial error of the laptop not working so there would be no presentation with the panel this was followed up by microphone errors every few minutes growing ever more frequent, while Mr Becker tried to continue it was difficult to hear him as the increased attendance of the con had risen the background noise considerably. Then as a finishing blow various groups of people obviously not interested in the panel used the area for a sit down break talking loudly over him, I've not had the desire to slap people so hard for a while now.

Giving up on the panel I decided to take a bathroom break only to be accosted midway by someone making a fuss over over my cosplay, pleasantly surprised and a bit disorientated by the sudden attention I realised they thought I was a different character as I had removed my Payday 2 mask when I politely apologised and explained I was in fact a different character they started trying to shame me for wearing a video game cosplay to a comic event. 

No I am not a social butterfly at these events, I'm not the type to go up and bond with people over costumes or just introduce myself as I tend to interact with people better over joint tasks and working together so I wasn't expecting to make a hundred or so friends but this was the final nail in coffin in the convention for me as something in my head just clicked. So with walking away a "F$%k you and F$%k this S$%ty con" I went off to finish my business before returning to my friend to explain that while I did want to see the stand up, the cosplay competition and the Red Dwarf panel I wasn't prepared to wait about bored out of my skull for another few hours and that I was leaving but they were welcome to stay.    

Unfortunately they were also finding it difficult to find things to do and were reluctant to stay without me even though they really wanted to see the Red Dwarf Panel, so we both ended up leaving annoyed and generally upset and miserable. 

So well done Lincoln Comic Con I think my biggest frustration is the mixture of disappointment and anger caused by the whole thing, in spite of everything I had managed to get myself excited for the event and feeling positive only to have it crushed by the utter boredom of the day.  

I shouldn't be clock watching praying for time to move faster during an event I'm supposed to find fun because the organisers expect us to be bottomless wallets and the presence of generally inconsiderate crappy people.
Combined with the fact that the ticket was bought for me as a gift and while I get angry if I feel like my money has been wasted it makes me even angrier when its other peoples money spent on my behalf.  

It almost makes it worse that a lot of people had a great time and that a lot of first time convention goers loved it and that GEEKS actually had a positive turnout, if it was a complete mess of an event then I would feel justified in having found it so generally tedious. It just makes it all the more obvious that I'm not really the target audience and that Lincoln Comic Con is focused now towards celebrity autographs and photos.         

Since GEEKS have stated their "new permanent home from this year onwards is the massive Epic Centre on the Lincolnshire Showground" this will be most likely the last review on the GEEKS Lincoln Comic Con I will write, because honestly for the price and content it better for me to go to Sheffield, Nottingham or Skegness events because they will have more to do there, have better public transport links and if the event turns out to be a bit dull I can go and see the local sights and amusements rather been trapped waiting for a once every 2 hour bus that costs over £5 each way.

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Greeting one and all I'm just going to be covering a few upcoming events in this post focusing mostly on the various Comic-Cons across the country. Just a heads up there will be a lot of links to Facebook in this post as may of these events do not have their own webpages.



MCM London Comic-Con: May 27th - 29th and October 28th -30th
ExCeL London Royal Victoria Dock, 1 Western Gateway, London E16 1XL

One of the biggest comic conventions in the country, it occasionally hosts the Euro Cosplay qualifiers and as a result you can often see top class cosplay on display.
Tickets often sell out so be sure to Buy tickets before the event as they will not always be available on the day.
This year you might see me there so look for the guy in the suit and hocky mask, events vary year to year so check out the Facebook page for more information.


Leicester Comic-Con: June 4th-5th

Scunthorpe Comic Con 2 returns for 2016 let's make this bigger than last years.

Admission - Pay on the door
Adults £2.50,
under 16's £1
under 5's free

Guests

Virginia Hey - Farscape/James Bond/Mad Max2
Hattie Hayridge - Red Dwarf
Phoenix James - Starwars The Force Awakens/James Bond - SkyFall

Display
DMC - Delorean time machine - Back to the Future
KITT - Knight Rider
Tardis

Groups
Sentinel Squad UK
The Super Heroes Cosplay team
Battlestar Galactica Fan & Costuming Club UK

Trader tables featuring, Comics, Toys, Collectables, Games , Lego and so, so much more..
We will have a cosplay competition.

The event will have an action packed stage schedule with a variety of performances, plus a massive selection of stalls with all sorts of geeky, quirky and unusual items. Over the weekend there will be a range of guests from TV and Movies, as well as authors and graphic novelists. A wide range of activities are planned that are suitable for the entire family, including workshops, card and video gaming events, roleplay games, and more!

---Special Guests--------------------------------------------------------------
-Kerrigan Mahan (Goldar and Magna Dedender from Power Rangers )
- Lauren Landa (Anime-Voice-Over) Sailor Neptune, Attack on Titan's Annie Leonhardt.
- Jeff Parazzo (The White Ranger from Power Rangers Dino Thunder).
- Kevin Duhaney (The Blue Ranger from Power Rangers Dino Thunder).
- Martyn Crofts (Britain's Got Talent Semi Finalist 2012)
- Paul Redfern - As seen in HUGO Film and Harry Potter
- Craig Hallam (Steampunk inspired Author)
- Nathan Robinson (Horror inspired Author)
- Nat Gosney ( Author of Wold Born Saga)
- TheSlowSniper (Pro Gamer / Youtuber)
More to be fully confirmed

---Traders / Artists and Authors fully confirmed -----------------------
- Hallam FM & Cash for Kids
- Cineworld Sheffield
- Genki Gear
- A.S. Chambers
- Edna's Lair
- Claws and Fangs
- Toku Toy Store
- Cazbounces Books
- Tilly Mcflossington Vintage and Crafts
- ManMade Designs
- Geek Cycled
- MovieMania
- Metamorphosis Arts
- Cosplaysuperheroes
- Runesmith
- Square Moriarty
- Serenity Bay
- Hoshi Kou
- Ryuuza
- Drix Productions
- Adam Booth
- NAFTIE&MORI
- Gurobunnies
- Pai Thagoras
- Melissa Nettleship Illustration
- H'art
- LAH Fabrics
- Black Candy Alternate Fashions
- World Of Pop
- Amy's Curiosities Emporium
- The Charm Bracelet
- Cool Cushions
- Sakura Sparkles
- Shinkurose
- Celestial Castle
- F'moush
- Twinkle Kitty Boutique
- Kingdom of Candy
- I'm in stitches
- Grimsby Labyrinth
- Incredible Innovations
- Geronimo Toys
- Comic Book Roses By Red
- Jon Turner Illustration and Creation
- Black Sails
- Chris Craft Art
- Handmade by Lizzie
- Sore Thumbs Retro Gaming
- PXLBUG Art
- Square Orange Art
- Mahou Kingdom
- Geek Stitch
- Handmade in the Hellmouth
- The Arty Mad Cow
- Time Was
- Jujutreats
- Effiena's Handmade Polish
- Nat Gosney (Author)
- Craig Hallam (Author)
- Nathan Robinson (Author)
Plus more to be confirmed

---Costumers / Costume Groups-------------------------------------------
- The Super Heroes Cosplay
- Sentinel Squad UK (Star Wars Group)
- Transformers Costumers Bumblebee and Prime
- Princesses
- Richard Ashton ( Dr Who Impersonator)
- Hand of Korriban (Star Wars Group)
More to be fully confirmed

---Activities-----------------------------------------------------------------------
- OVER 150 Traders: Check out our site for our traders list.
- Variety of Contests: Cosplay, Talent, Kids Cosplay...
- Live Entertainment throughout the day (to be confirmed soon)
- FREE Face Painting (Subject to availability on the day).
- Photo Opperunitity Areas.
- Card / Roleplay Gaming Area by Patriot Games
- Video Gaming Area with Consoles
- Range of Contests with prizes to be won on the day!
- Workshops Area (To be confirmed soon)
- Tardis PhotoBooth
- Ironman Movie Replica Stand

Early bird entry at 10am
Normal entry at 11.30am
Close 5pm

Tickets online
https://www.wegottickets.com/event/357010

Ticket prices

Adults
£7 early bird
£5 after 11.30

Children
£3 (ages:5-16)

Family tickets
£18 early bird
£15 after 11.30

One of the major events this year is the Cosplay Competition which has cash prizes and the rules of which will be posted below:

At Didcot Comic Con we are running a cosplay competition. There will be two age groups, Over and Under 18's, so kids can play too!
*** Over 18: Top prize £100 and runner up gets £50. ***
*** Under 18: Top prize £50 and runner up gets £25. ***

We are hoping you are having fun preparing your cosplay costumes for our competition to win up to £100. In order to keep this family event safe and to avoid problems we have a few guidelines to follow on the day.

Cosplay Rules
* No real weaponry, or realistic looking weaponry, will be admitted.
* Unrealistic and colourful guns, foam projectiles, LARP weaponry and safe weapons are allowed.
* Bows are allowed if unstrung.
* Fights and use of cosplay weaponry, within the Event, will not be tolerated
* No overly revealing or controversial costumes will be allowed. Attire and costume must be suitable for a family event.
* Please wear footwear at all times.
* Please keep cosplay to a reasonable size as this is an indoor event.
* Attendees bring items to an event at their own risk.

This event has exploded in size since their very popular event back in 2015 and even better they also have their own website which I highly recommend checking out as its clear, concise and updated regularly.
Not convinced yet? See their announcement below:

This year's event is going to be massive, with 6x the space, taking over all 3 floors of the building! This is going to allow us to bring you more of everything we had last year, plus loads of new things to see and do as well as more to keep the kids occupied.

Taking all 3 floors gives us a a huge amount of space, a variety of different rooms and spaces and the ability to provide a dedicated area and facilities for the Cosplayers who bring the event to life.

We're also making improvements to the after party to make it a much bigger event this year, hopefully with lots of involvement from the guests - this year, as well as a bar and DJ, we will have some stand up comedy from Red Dwarf's Norman Lovett and Simon Fisher-Becker's show "My Dalek Has A Puncture". More to be announced!

For our latest guests and news please visit www.hullcomiccon.com

Check out some of our plans below and let us know what you think - we'd love to hear from you:

* Special guests from TV & film
* Comic artists
* Authors
* Signings
* Photo opportunities
* Talks, panels, demos, quizzes and workshops across multiple stages
* Open submissions and portfolio reviews on the day for the British Showcase Anthology.
* Memorabilia / traders
* Cosplay zone, panels and a cosplay contest with trophies and prizes
* Retro gaming - playable consoles, guests & talks - hosted by Keep It Retro: Gaming Event & Market
* Table top gaming, RPGs - hosted by Back to The Boar, also featuring Games Workshop
* Loads for the kids including a free bouncy castle, craft area and face paining
* Laser quest
* Scare maze
* Snacks, hot food and drinks available all day
* A massive after party featuring bar, DJ, stand up from Norman Lovett, Simon Fisher-Becker & a quiz

Check out our full guest list at:
www.hullcomiccon.com

For trader & exhibitor information please visit: http://district14.co.uk/traders/

Lincoln Comic-Con: July 9th-10th
Epic Centre LN2 2NA Lincoln, Lincolnshire


The first Lincoln Comic-Con was considered a runaway success which had far more attendees
than expected,  Lincoln Comic-Con is moving to a much larger venue and adding an
extra day of activities.
I was expecting good things from this up and coming convention but after some developments I do have some worries.
 First of all the Epic Centre at Lincolnshire Show ground is far less accessible with no real bus links so attendees will have to rely on own transport or taxi (Roughly £10-£15 from the city centre).
Secondly the ticket price has shot up from £3 for a day to £12 + booking fee for a day or £20 + booking fee for the weekend.

The combination of these factors and my extreme irritation at booking fees have left a extremely sour taste in my mouth, quite bluntly I'm half tempted to tell "GEEKS" Lincoln to go f%%k themselves and its quite likely things will not be going so well this year due to the reduction in drop in attendees.

Here is the line up n the events:

Our new permanent home from this year onwards is the massive Epic Centre on the Lincolnshire Showground..

Contained within this spectacular building will be some of
the best UK retailers of collectables and merchandise, which i'm sure
will meet almost everyones "geeky" needs..

Included in the admission price will be some fantastic extra value content, stage shows, interactive displays and our new retro gaming zone which will offer some 8-bit & 16-bit cartridge classics from yesteryear

And of course we have our special guests too, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy, David Prowse and Hattie Hayridge, and that's just naming a few, more are lined up to be announced over the coming months..

Scheduled professional quality photo shoots with our guests will be available to purchase over the full weekend..

Cosplay is a massive part of our event and of course we have related competitions over both days, so please let your creative juices flow and wow us with your skills by registering for entry on the day.. There's plenty of prizes to be won, so get planning/making your costumes now

I just like to mention the last Cosplay competition was a bit of a joke , with no organisation and some winners been partly picked on how suitable they were for the prizes and the judges own personal character preferences, I only hope its more profession this year.

I wish I could tell you more on this but since "GEEKS" handle multiple cons they haven't really put much effort into the Lincoln Facebook page and most of the links are broken, making me even more irate with them.

Seriously guys get your damn act together it reflects really badly on you and makes me worry your going to utterly screw the event up.

Horror Con: July 9th-10th
Science Adventure Centre, Sheffield Road, Templeborough, Rotherham S60 1DX


I'm just going to outright say it, I'm personally not a fan of horror and I'm not really sure what is happening at this event beyond the blurb :

HorrorCon UK is an opportunity for us horror fans to get together and celebrate our love of the horrific, macabre & grotesque, a chance for us to meet & reassure each other that there is nothing wrong with us in the head!

With your support we hope to make this the biggest and best HorrorCon in the UK!

This is NOT a film festival AND we aren't just another convention; there will be an eclectic mix of Guests; Writers; Presentations; Cosplay; a Market-Place and much more to be announced!

Autograph prices will range between £10 - £20

On the bright side these guys have a pretty cool web page so if horror is your thing I would recommend a look.


Yorkshire Geek Fest 2016: July 16th
Elsecar Heritage Centre S74 8 Barnsley

Another small event Comic con comes to Barnsley, bringing famous faces from TV and Movies along with traders of all weird wonderful and amazing items on around 100 stalls.

Information is limited right now but if you like visiting the various costume, comic and games stalls at these events keep an eye on their Facebook page for more information.

The Cosplay Summer Ball: July 17th
Plymouth Guildhall PL1 2AA Plymouth

Don't fancy been bombarded by stalls and want a slower more formal event this might be for you. 

The Cosplay Summer Ball is an event where you can wear the most formal cosplay you can or even just Lolita/pretty dresses/suits. You don't have to dress up but it's up to you :)

Scarey Knights will be making an appearance as guests! Amazing bunch who have out of this world costumes! They do a lot for charity and for the studio ~ Please support them on their Facebook page as they're really helping us out.

Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/ScareyKnights/

We are also raising money for Studio 65 after a recent break which included over £12,000 worth of equipment. We are also hoping to use any profits to go towards the community to help the people of the southwest achieve more through cosplays including modelling, Photoshoots and other opportunities!

There will also be a masquerade aspect! You don't have to wear a mask but there will be a mask competition for the best crafted and best idea ^^
(Clue, maybe incorporate it into your character? I.E Batman mask but more Masquerade style would be a good idea)

Tickets are avaliable Online!

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-cosplay-summer-ball-tickets-22169765365?utm_term=eventurl_text

The venue is the Guildhall and as you probably know from devcon it is a gorgeous venue for something of this nature.

There will be food and drink provided, lots of music to slow dance to and of course the cosplay contest to show off all those wonderful ball gowns and suits. There will be anime and geeky themed items around the hall including themed foods, drinks, games and Cosplay King and Queen!

Please share this event around as much as possible to make this afternoon spectacular!

Gamer, Geek and Collectors event by Keep It Retro: July 30th



Returning to video game focused cons  we have the 7th GAMERS, GEEKS & COLLECTORS fair hosted by KEEP IT RETRO, with £2 entry and kids under 12 free there is no reason to miss this.

Welcome to THE GAMERS, GEEKS & COLLECTORS fair hosted by KEEP IT RETRO.
We was the first to bring you hulls only dedicated retro gaming event. Over the last 18 months we have made each 1 better.

Now it's time for our biggest event to date.

Join us at the guildhall on 30th July for HULLs biggest gamer, geek and collectors fair.

With the usual consoles set up around the venue for you to play the classic games of yesteryear such as Mario, sonic and more. Comps, tournaments and giveaways.

We will have 40 tables filled with games, consoles, comics, toys, plushies, hand crafted gaming items, anime and more.
Storm troopers will be hanging around throughout the day make sure you grab a photo with them.

Cosplay is encouraged and we will be running a comp for best dressed.

Full list of traders will be posted soon.

 No list of available games yet but I'll be watching the Facebook Page for updates.


Newark Comic-Con: August 7th

Newark Showground, Drove Lane, Newark, Nottinghamshire, NG24 2NY Newark, Nottingham


Aside trying to get a copyright lawsuit through their poster this event is dirt cheap though its a slight hassle to reach, details are vague beyond the Facebook blurb but if your willing to chance it there is the opportunity for a great time.

Newark Comic Con, to be Held at Newark Showground, Lady Eastwood Event Centre.

We will be taking over the Lady Eastwood Event Centre for the day, this is currently under going a massive refit and extension, for its new launch in April 2016, we will have 1,600sqm to fill, hope your going to help and fill it.

Newark showground is very well located, has good road and rail access, free onsite parking for all.

Admission
Adults £4
Under 16's £2
Under 5's Free

Guest's
Jeremy Bulloch - Starwars - Boba Fett
Hattie Hayridge - Holly - Red Dwarf
John Challis - "Boycie" - Only fools and horses

Displays
Baymax - Free Photo(with your own camera)

Groups
Sentinel Squad UK
The Super Heroes Cosplay team

Trader tables featuring, Comics, Toys, Collectables, Games , Lego and so, so much more..
we will have Guest's, Cosplay competitions, Displays, and so much more.

Keep checking this event page for more details as we have them and please keep sharing and inviting your friends - spread the word!

The Asylum Steampunk Festival: August 26th-29th
The County Assembly Rooms, 76 Bailgate, Lincoln LN1 3AR


Do I really have to describe this one? I have made several different posts on the previous Asylum Steampunk Festival events but for the newcomers here is the basic description below:

The Asylum Steampunk Festival is the largest and longest running steampunk festival in the World, attracting participants from around the globe. It takes place over the August Bank Holiday weekend in the historic City of Lincoln.
For four glorious days the historic streets of Lincoln are thronged with thousands of splendidly dressed steampunks enjoying a festival which strives to combine art, literature, music, fashion, comedy and simple good fun.

In all honest option with the massive growth of the event, the sheer number of people attending, rude abrasive paparazzi (which is a becoming cancerous problem in the event, the next guy to shove a camera into my moustache without asking is getting it smashed) and the massive flood of frankly crappy quality expensive jewellery stalls or book stalls I don't care about at the event some of the shine has come off the event for me.
Also I've seen many of the events and talks from my previous attendance it doesn't feel like there is much variation between the years,.

That said I really recommend it for a newcomer it is a wonderful welcoming experience with a great atmosphere, it really does take over the area around Lincoln Castle (as shown by the map drawn by Artistic Doctor Geof below) and things are improving for the better as can be seen on the official webpage.



UK Ponycon Leeds: October 22nd-23rd
Armouries Dr, Leeds LS10 1LT

UK PonyCon, formerly known as the International My Little Pony Convention, is an event held in the UK celebrating Hasbro's leading 1980s toy brand, My Little Pony. Established in 2004, we are a charity fundraising event that aims to raise money and awareness each year for our chosen charity, as well as spreading the love and fun of My Little Pony!

 Suitable for all the family, kids and collectors alike, PonyCon is a fun day out with events and activities running throughout the day, including collector’s displays, sales stalls, quizzes and competitions, as well as expert advice in the form of panels and workshops. Whether you're young, or just plain young at heart, you'll find plenty to do and see at PonyCon

Frankly the Royal Armouries in Leeds is amazing to go to normally so it puzzled me initially that they were loaning space for a convention of all things.
 Now I haven't attended myself but I was informed the previous years event was a lot of fun and for those of you who are worried that its a bony only event your fears are unfounded its welcoming to everyone and I recommend checking out the official website for more information.

Finally I want to thank the Lovely Lady over at Buzy Bobbins for helping in finding all these events and some of the information for the more awkward Facebook pages, I hope this helps you guys have a great summer and maybe I'll run into a few of you.

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