Today I went to the annual TF Nation event, which has again broken attendance records and is the largest European event dedicated to the world of The Transformers.

 

The event is a weekend style event but due to funds and because of the style, the only event I feel comfortable to take my children to.  It’s not that it’s more family focuses than other events ; although the free entrance tickets are an added bonus. But because even tho it’s a big selling event, it’s not line after line of queues.

 

Sadly the headline guest Scott McNeill has to cancel last minute due to a medical issue. Which was disappointing but I think it did better for the vibe of the event - as I will explain in a bit.

 

I’ll preface this with the fact I didn’t watch any of the panels or the after hours events , due to timings and tbh the kids wouldn’t enjoy. But I heard some great feedback and await a couple of them being released as podcasts.

 

I arrived about 11am walked straight up to register and there were no lines, which was nice. The Sunday is always a quieter day and many had weekend passes anyway.

 

The next stop was the main hall - which had the guests and dealers room. One of the main things that sets this event apart from other events, the guests are usually the secondary attraction to the stalls. Where you would usually have people discussing which guests they want to meet or what getting signed , here it’s people saying which stalls they are planning to hit first and what items they want. They even have a preopening ticket option so people can get ahead of purchases and deals.

 

So when I arrived I … went straight to meet the guests.

 

It has always been part of the ticket that the guests will sign usually 2 items free, since Covid many of the headliners have reduced this to 1 , usually with no notice until in the line.  They also started to charge for selfies ( which I’m never a fan of) esp as they don’t do photo shoots ( they have created a legends pass which is an add on meet and greet , autograph and digital photo package , but you can’t just buy a photo shoot).

 

But this year the item limit was removed and no charge for selfies , maybe because there was no headliner so the others didn’t feel they needed to do this or they were just nice. I did notice some guests were sponsored by other companies so maybe that had a factor. Either way it was a welcome change back to the fsn friendly days of yesteryear. Which then removed worries about being pressured to buy selfies etc which I find really takes away the interactions at other events.

 

The first guest for me was Neil Kaplan the 2nd ever voice of Optimus Prime playing him in the 2001 Robots in disguise series. Fun fact Neil was the first ever voice actor I met way back at Botcon Europe in 2002 … my son made me show him the old selfie and we commented on how we had both changed in 23 years and how that was probably the last time anyone had seen his co star Wankus.

 

Neil was so lovely , signing all the items we had and taking real time with us. Making sure to write nice messages and other things on the autographs to make them unique.  He said he may be slow and the lines may take a while but he never leaves a fan behind. He knows that interaction is what matters.

 

Next was Evan Michael Lee , he was the voice of Jazz in the recent Transformers One movie, not a huge name but a huge personality. He was full of real love and excitement. He was a bit shocked so many wanted to meet him and he was loving the different items he was signing and discussing the movie and how he still hopes to return in some form.

 

Sophia Myles - so sweet and had a lovely chat , she brought her dogs with her who are just as adorable.

 

I was happy that got all my items signed and selfies so I went to check out the stalls. I purchased a couple of cheap second hand figures from the guys at ToyFu.

 

ToyFu are an amazing stall. The items are from donations and all the sales money goes to charity. They raise so much each year and the stall grows and grows each time. Not only do they give the money to charity but they also keep the prices as low as possible so fans also get good deals.

 

I looked around the other stalls but when you’ve collected Transformers for nearly 40 years not many I need now and a lot has sold out the day before.

 

After the brief stall Interlude I returned to carry on collecting my signatures ; this time it was the comic guests. Many I have met and known for years. Was nice having a catch up with Alex Milne, JP Bove, James Roberts , Simon Furman , Andrew Wildman, Jason Cardy and Nick Roche - a lot of these chats kinda became about how we’ve all aged over the last 20 years of events together. These guys are what make TF Nation each year. Good guys who care about the fandom and the franchise.

 

The only new guest was Marcelo Matere. A spectacular artist who is the art work you would see on many latest figure boxes.

 

Overall a great day out , saw some fun guests, hung with good friends and got alot of value for my ticket.  My son enjoyed it and still talking about it hours later.

 

I can’t recommend this event enough. The team behind it really do care about the fan experience and deserve all the credit for the success TF Nation has become

 

Rating 9/10