I am here today to take a break from toy reviews to regale you all with my journey to Collectormania 10 held on Friday 29th September through to Sunday 1st October.
Collectormania is a bi-annual movie, sci-fi and comic convention held at The Centre in Milton Keynes. Alongside various guests and cosplayers attending the convention visitors can also browse a selection of dealer tables established in a large area. This is the main reason I, as a toy enthusiast and all around general nerd, love these conventions – they are a haven for new and cheap toys to add to my collection and further distance myself from ever getting a girlfriend.
Let us begin what I am going to call…
COLLECTORMANIA ERECTOMANIA
The day did not begin well. It did not traditionally begin either. What occurred was a meld of Friday and Saturday I am going to call “Friturday.” Friturday usually occurs when one does not sleep in the period between Friday night and Saturday morning. I do not maintain the healthiest of sleeping patterns and an earlier abundance of sleep combined with the excitement of Collectormania were heavy contributors to the Friturday this weekend.
Departing at the keen hour of 7am, armed only with cash and my friend Michael for protection from bullies, we arrived at the train station where it began to rain. Fortunately Milton Keynes (just a 20 minute journey away) was host to more agreeable weather and even a spot of sunshine.
Now Milton Keynes is a nice place. Very Americanised in the road system and incredibly difficult for someone like me to navigate. Since I’d seen Flight of the Navigator enough times to know I know fuck all about navigating we took a taxi cab to The Centre – an incredibly large shopping mall where Collectormania is held. At my insistence to be early so as to skip the crowd (there was no crowd) we ended up waiting around as I circled the dealers area like a hawk in an effort to spot which toys would be on sale. I believe this vulture like behaviour worried Michael greatly and our friendship will never be the same again.
It was during this time that we began to notice people massing at one end of the convention awaiting some guests. Noteworthy people (relative to my interests) making appearances at Collectormania 10 included Faramir from Lord of the Rings, Shannon, Bernard and Boone from Lost, Winston from Ghostbusters, Andy from Child’s Play 1 and 2 and like a gazillion Star Wars side characters like Generic Space Crocodile. We did not meet the guests because they charge like upwards of £15 for a handshake and autograph and we are both poor street urchins.
By the time Collectormania 10 had gotten underway a number of creatures called cosplayers had shown up. These cosplayers are recognised by their attire which will often reflect that of a popular character from a movie, comic or television show. The coolest cosplayers on show were two Ghostbusters, one of whom was fully kitted out with a Proton Pack and a smattering of Storm Troopers and Bounty Hunters (one of whom took a liking to me, and by liking I mean threw me to the ground and put me under mall arrest or something so I did a hadouken and killed them (not pictured)).
It seemed there was genuinely a lack of cosplayers at Collectormania 10 (yet two fully operational Daleks running around), and as one who does not really endorse the act of dressing up unless one is a hot fertile woman which most cosplayers are not; I won’t say this marred the event for me in the slightest. The dealers tables were why I was there, and boy did I spend a long time perusing them.
On offer was all variety of things from action figures to Jedi cloaks. Autographs, props, posters, life size ET statues, donkey cocks, pics with the Knightrider car and on a Star Wars Speeder Bike, lightsabers and pretty much everything you’d expect to find there you could. Many bargains were to be had by all. Some of the cooler dealer tables include the one with all the cool props like an authentic screen-used Good Guys box from Child’s Play. It was seriously awesome. Another had a variety of rare Japanese toys like the Gremlins 2 Spider Mohawk and Gizmo PVC boxed set which I wanted so bad that I considered asking one of the cosplaying Bounty Hunters to steal it for me.
After about 20 trips around the entire convention, seven crying attacks, countless pennies spunked on toys and being sure we’d seen everything we could possibly want to see (except Shannon from Lost naked which was never going to happen lawfully), Mike and I decided it might be time to make a move home. A bus journey followed by a train journey (on a Virgin train, swish!) awaited us before we could stand back in Watford… and then it started to rain. I hate rain.
With the day tainted by more rain, I went on an insane killing spree and then broke a woman's back after throwing her pushchair with a baby in it into a river. It felt great.
So in hindsight Collectormania 10 was an awesome convention full of nerds and curious shoppers eager to get a look at some genuinely unusual merchandise and the freaks that had invaded their Friturday shopping experience. Good fun all ‘round, and plenty of the people there were indeed round.
Would I go again? Certainly. Roll on London Expo.
MORE INFORMATION:
- For more information on future Collectormania events, aspiring nerds should click this link to be transported to the official Collectormania website.
- Other upcoming conventions include the London Expo. Be aware the expo is pretty busy, generally anime themed and it is so hot in there you will probably want to kill yourself.
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