TFCon 2013 – Toronto, Canada

TFCon – the Annual 3rd Party Convention held in Toronto each year ran from 7/26 – 7/28.   Here’s the trip in a brief, but picture filled nut-shell.   I drove to Toronto with fellow reviewer, TJ Duckett of Kuma Style Reviews.

I was able to update this entry as the weekend progressed, though in the end, I took far too many pictures to be able to keep up.

TFCON –

7/25 – 4:30 am, TJ and I hit up Walmart for supplies! We’re on our way

Well Thursday was a bit of a drive and had its share of issues, but the weather was perfect –

And we successfully crossed into The Great White North!

Tomorrow, the fun begins!

Whoops, turns out I stayed out a bit later –

This is the squirrel….it was delish.

Friday:

Early morning customization class – I didn’t sign up, and regret that a bit…

Registration!!

VanGuardian – I’ll review him shortly – Rosewell has already been traded (SORRY ROS!)

I plan on grabbing the Reprolabel set for him tomorrow!

Then there was the charity auction Fall of Cybertron Predaking!

And this awesome Chica in her super rad Bumblebee suit!

The opening Ceremony!

Karaoke night!

SATURDAY – 6:45am – waiting in line for the dealer room:

Thankfully I was able to get in line with Abe, my TFCon Bro from Twitter, because by 8:45, the line was out through the lobby.

Then this enthusiastic Impactor showed up to show off her moves:

Then the mad rush to get in began –

Some FansProject stuff was on display – Fansproject Quadruple U –

Closer look –

And an early version of Motormaster

And our super awesome Chica in the Bumblebee outfit shows up In a First Aid costume…radical.

After picking up several purchases, it was on to artists’ alley, where some amazing people were busy at work!

Artists such as Matt Moylan – who’s known for his comic Lil’ Formers – he’s drawing me Blaster here. Legendary artists from IDW – Livio Ramondeli, Andrew Griffith and Alex Miline (Monstrosity, Robots in Disguise, & More Than meets the Eye respectively!) as well as other great artists and James Roberts (writer of MTMTE!)

So amazing to see such talented artists working their craft – but more on this later! I was able to pick up quite a few signed prints.

After artists alley there was more booths outside:

Outside, there were a couple of special guests –

Some more costume contest entries –

The custom figure contest –

Then it was time for the 3rd Party Panel! My picture came out a little crummy, but you can find clearer images at TFW2005.com.

There were some great announcements, and while I didn’t get great pictures of the screen, I was able to visit the prototype displays!

Can’t wait for all of these! Computron looks amazing.

As if all of this wasn’t awesome enough, it pales in comparison to how I spent my evening. But let’s back up a bit –

On Friday, I finally got to meet my Twitter-bro Abe face to face, and we were instant buds. He introduced me to his buddy Gus and the Three of us were hanging out and having a good time at the bar. That’s when Andrew Griffith showed up. Andrew draws the Robots in Disguise comics. I was very excited that I got to meet him:

(left to right: Gus, Abe, AG)

So Saturday, I see Andrew drawing prints –

I asked if he could do Wheeljack for me, and he graciously set to work:

Simply amazing! He even signed a Legends Bumblebee for me too (seems its his design!)

He was such a nice guy, I was thrilled to be able to talk to him! But I didn’t want to be a weirdo, so after thanking him for being so great at his craft and for my sketch and autographed ‘Bee I moved on, and stopped by Livio’s table, where I discovered HE was just as down to earth and friendly as Andrew! Not wanting to be too much of a pain, I opted to simply buy one of Livio’s amazing prints, and he even signed it!

I tell him how I loved Autocracy and am Loving Monstrocity, and ask if I could take a quick picture (meaning of him drawing) and he gets up for this!

Just awesome. Meeting these two dudes meant way more than anything I could have bought in the dealer room. But then I find out my new buddy Gus is good Friends with Andrew, and we all end up going to get dinner!

It was a great time. Told some jokes had some beers and a great dinner. Couldn’t have gotten better… Until it did. We get back to the convention/hotel and end up sitting with Livio and James Roberts and just hang out, joke around have some drinks and even talk a little IDW shop! These guys made my entire trip!

Such a great weekend. Met so many great people, and made so many friends – it was so nice being able to put faces to names from Twitter and the boards! I can’t wait for next year, because this weekend went by so fast, I can see why people get the “Post-con Blues”.

Luckily I have all this to keep me busy –

So stay tuned for more reviews and videos –

‘Till All Are One