Welcome, guest. Register to remove this message!

[Groundsplitter]

The NTFA Staff is pleased to announce Nordic Mini-Con 2010 in Aalborg!

Two years ago we held the first ever Nordic Transformers convention, in Arlöv in Sweden. The convention was a big success - we had presentations, competitions, a customizing class, a popular art contest, an exhibition with some more exotic (from a Nordic perspective) Transformers figures and other sci-fi figures, a sales room, plus the worldwide première of the first episode of Transformers Animated. People came, chatted, mingled, and had fun!

People have asked for it, we have been looking for opportunities to do it, and now it's time for the sequel: Nordic Mini-Con 2010! More of the same, only bigger and better!

The convention will be held in Aalborg in northern Denmark, with NTFA co-founder and staff-member Fighbird as the main organizer. Connections are great - you can get there by air (there's one bus going directly from the airport to the location for the convention), by train, and of course by car. If you live close to Oslo or Gothenburg you can take the ferry over to Hirtshals or Frederikshavn and then the train the rest of the distance to Aalborg. And if you live in southern Sweden, you can go by the Øresund train to Copenhagen and then switch to a train to Aalborg.

It will once again take place over the span of a weekend - the question is, which weekend? We are choosing between five dates in May and June, and now we want your input on which dates would suit you the best! Click on this link to go to the poll (you need to be logged in on the board to vote) and give us your answers! And feel free to give us your arguments for and against a certain date in that topic - we will consider all serious opinions. (The poll will remain open until 24:00 on 14 October).

Are you interested in contributing to Nordic Mini-Con 2010 somehow? Perhaps you want to sell/trade at a dealer table, or arrange a panel, competition or presentation - if so, please contact the NTFA Staff, either via a Personal Message or e-mail to one of the staff members, or via the contact form.

(Information on prices and how to register for the convention will be posted at a later date.)

UPDATE: Date and location revealed! Read more here!

[DkConvoy]

OMG! *gets joygasm* I am SO there !!!

[Inkku]

....*SCRIEEEEEECHK..!!* i knew it i knew it i knew it.. (actully no, but heck yeah ) i'm so gonnabe there..

Joona... can you plan nice, safe and economical trip..??


*bounces happily around in glee..*

[palaste]

Joona... can you plan nice, safe and economical trip..??

I think so, yes. First we'll have to find out when the convention actually is, and then I can start asking around who is going to come, and plan a trip to Aalborg from either Helsinki or Turku.

[Groundsplitter]

Joona... can you plan nice, safe and economical trip..??

I think so, yes. First we'll have to find out when the convention actually is, and then I can start asking around who is going to come, and plan a trip to Aalborg from either Helsinki or Turku.

Some advice: if you plan on going by car again (I get that impression from Inkku's post), allow an extra day for the return trip this time.
I didn't mind leaving Arlöv so early myself, but I did feel sorry for you Finns travelling so far and then only experience half the convention.

[palaste]

Joona... can you plan nice, safe and economical trip..??

I think so, yes. First we'll have to find out when the convention actually is, and then I can start asking around who is going to come, and plan a trip to Aalborg from either Helsinki or Turku.

Some advice: if you plan on going by car again (I get that impression from Inkku's post), allow an extra day for the return trip this time.
I didn't mind leaving Arlöv so early myself, but I did feel sorry for you Finns travelling so far and then only experience half the convention.

Good idea. The schedule therefore would be to only leave one day after the convention. So far, the plan is to go by ship from either Helsinki or Turku to somewhere in Sweden or Denmark, and then drive the rest of the way. Getting a car is a problem for later on, not now. Despite Turo's comments last time, I think Heidi did a good job at driving.
That's what I always do when travelling abroad myself - I arrive the night immediately preceding the event, and leave the morning immediately succeeding it. That way I don't miss one single minute of the event.

[Inkku]

Joona... can you plan nice, safe and economical trip..??

I think so, yes. First we'll have to find out when the convention actually is, and then I can start asking around who is going to come, and plan a trip to Aalborg from either Helsinki or Turku.

Some advice: if you plan on going by car again (I get that impression from Inkku's post), allow an extra day for the return trip this time.
I didn't mind leaving Arlöv so early myself, but I did feel sorry for you Finns travelling so far and then only experience half the convention.

Good idea. The schedule therefore would be to only leave one day after the convention. So far, the plan is to go by ship from either Helsinki or Turku to somewhere in Sweden or Denmark, and then drive the rest of the way. Getting a car is a problem for later on, not now. Despite Turo's comments last time, I think Heidi did a good job at driving.
That's what I always do when travelling abroad myself - I arrive the night immediately preceding the event, and leave the morning immediately succeeding it. That way I don't miss one single minute of the event.

hehe.. i do remember some commets what passed by, while i was driving.. i did take a "small" risk, but we managed to get the ship in time, righ.. *that was best "road trip" ever*

would be nice, if we could stay longer at this time

[palaste]

Joona... can you plan nice, safe and economical trip..??

I think so, yes. First we'll have to find out when the convention actually is, and then I can start asking around who is going to come, and plan a trip to Aalborg from either Helsinki or Turku.

Some advice: if you plan on going by car again (I get that impression from Inkku's post), allow an extra day for the return trip this time.
I didn't mind leaving Arlöv so early myself, but I did feel sorry for you Finns travelling so far and then only experience half the convention.

Good idea. The schedule therefore would be to only leave one day after the convention. So far, the plan is to go by ship from either Helsinki or Turku to somewhere in Sweden or Denmark, and then drive the rest of the way. Getting a car is a problem for later on, not now. Despite Turo's comments last time, I think Heidi did a good job at driving.
That's what I always do when travelling abroad myself - I arrive the night immediately preceding the event, and leave the morning immediately succeeding it. That way I don't miss one single minute of the event.

hehe.. i do remember some commets what passed by, while i was driving.. i did take a "small" risk, but we managed to get the ship in time, righ.. *that was best "road trip" ever*

would be nice, if we could stay longer at this time

It wouldn't be a problem for me. I will have about 24 paid vacation days available, and I plan on using a bit more than half of them on an InterRail trip and a fishing trip with my father. That will still leave more than enough to go to the convention, arriving the night before, and leaving the morning after. It's all up to people's schedules. At this time, when we don't even know when the convention is, and who is coming, it's too early to make definite plans.

[Smokescreen]

Quite interested. It's a heck of a trip down there but I guess that goes for any convention. I can get relatively cheap tickets to Gothenburg with some luck and then I'm almost there. Let's say I get to Gothenburg, how much is ferry and train in terms of time and cost?

[Groundsplitter]

Despite Turo's comments last time, I think Heidi did a good job at driving.

hehe.. i do remember some commets what passed by, while i was driving.. i did take a "small" risk, but we managed to get the ship in time, righ.. *that was best "road trip" ever*

would be nice, if we could stay longer at this time

Knowing myself I assume that I must have made some comments on your driving as well, but in retrospect we saw that you were right in taking those risks, and that Turo was right in insisting that we leave so early, so I have never dwelled on it since then. If I remember correctly we arrived at the harbour with only 20-25 minutes to spare, so we were cutting it quite fine. That's another very strong reason why you should allow for more time in the schedule, so you don't have to take those risks.

[Groundsplitter]

Quite interested. It's a heck of a trip down there but I guess that goes for any convention. I can get relatively cheap tickets to Gothenburg with some luck and then I'm almost there. Let's say I get to Gothenburg, how much is ferry and train in terms of time and cost?

I did a quick investigation right now, and I find that Stena Line operates on the Gothenburg-Fredrikshavn route (as well as a route Oslo-Frederikshavn that I was unaware of - we should compare that alternative to Oslo-Hirtshals when we get closer to the convention date). At least in theory the price depends on both the season and on how early you book the trip (although I saw no difference in price between this weekend and a date in April).

Right now you can't book trips further away that April 2010, but it gives us at least some idea of what the prices will be. The cheapest tickets (Economy) in April are 150 SEK in one direction. There is also a Flexi ticket for 225 SEK that has the advantage that you can change the time and date as late as 2 hours before departure at no extra charge. Considering that the schedule will probably be finalized quite late, it might be a wise idea to go for the Flexi ticket if you want to book early. Although in your case I realize you must also try to coordinate it with the train, so it depends on how "flexible" the train tickets are.

[Hound]

Sounds sweet, I'll definitely try to be there.
Anyone from Norway planning on taking the trip?

[predaking]

I am definitely going. AND I am willing to pay transport expenses (ferry, car rental, petrol) for others to travel with me if they can get to the dock in Stavanger or Kristiansand on their own.

The reason is that I plan to bring a lot of wine home, and there is a limit of 40 bottles per person for simplified customs expedition (which is a heck of a lot cheaper than regular customs). Which also means that anybody traveling with me can't bring any alcohol across the border themselves.

[Inkku]

Despite Turo's comments last time, I think Heidi did a good job at driving.

hehe.. i do remember some commets what passed by, while i was driving.. i did take a "small" risk, but we managed to get the ship in time, righ.. *that was best "road trip" ever*

would be nice, if we could stay longer at this time

Knowing myself I assume that I must have made some comments on your driving as well, but in retrospect we saw that you were right in taking those risks, and that Turo was right in insisting that we leave so early, so I have never dwelled on it since then. If I remember correctly we arrived at the harbour with only 20-25 minutes to spare, so we were cutting it quite fine. That's another very strong reason why you should allow for more time in the schedule, so you don't have to take those risks.

thanks. i was keeping my eye on the clock also, and i was slightly worried, do we get there at time. i started to rise the speed up, after i did calculate the time, what i takes to get the harbour in the speed what we were travelling at one point, the traffick jam was a nerve breaking moment, and i after that, i did see how far we still are from harbour and how much time we have, before the ship was leaving, i was more than just nervous i was so sure at one point, at we don't get there at time, and suddenly, the road was open again..

[DkConvoy]

*still drooling* ... *pinches myself* I cant wait to meet all of ya' peps