Summer of Sonic 2016 "Mr Yuji Naka is alright!"

[Badnik Mechanic]

Ferran may invite you to his house in Catalonia.

That is all. 

[Badnik Mechanic]

Did you back for a coin? Well...

 

[Haalyle]

No I didn't get to back for a coin and I'm extremely envious.

[The Tenth Doctor]

Some new guests announced today. Duncan Gutteridge (artist, made many a classic Megadrive picture) and James Wallis (writer of Sonic storybooks with Virgin and Adventure game books). Nce and varied is this years SoS

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tbird/the-summer-of-sonic-uk-fan-convention-one-more-run/posts/1589242

[Doctor MK]

Pleasantly surprised to see James Wallis added to the special guests, I really enjoyed his Sonic in the Fourth Dimension and Sonic and the Silicon Warriors novels so I'll definitely have to take the opportunity to get those signed. Unexpected highlight from the announcements so far for me!

[Badnik Mechanic]

 

[The Tenth Doctor]

The Cosplay contest is back! Summon your Robotnik's and Wes Weasley's!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tbird/the-summer-of-sonic-uk-fan-convention-one-more-run/posts/1612102

Also, take a peek at that coin (for those lucky devils who got one!)

[TinmanTI]

Hi everyone, I'm new around here. Been on the site for a while but never really posted before. Anyways, myself and a couple of friends decided we wanted to go this year, so we got tickets. Never been to something like this before though, so I have no idea what to expect. What happens at these kinds of events? What sort've time should I try and get there for? I really have no clue, heh. Is there anyone who could give me some insite into what sort've thing I should be expecting from this?

[bmn]

Spoiler

Psst, keep it on the down low, but we'll be doing something hopefully today that should answer a lot of that

Anyway, great to hear you'll be coming to the little thing we're doing

Queueing outside the venue entrance will probably start at around 9am (and is its own event, really!). Doors open at 10am, and we're expecting to be able to clear the queue by 10:45. The opening dedicated event "Welcome to Summer of Sonic" is scheduled for 11am.

 

If you haven't seen it yet, this retrospective has a pretty good showing of what goes on:

 

Also some raw stage stuff:

 

[TinmanTI]

Brilliant stuff, thanks for the quick reply! Any idea on the sort of time it'll be finishing? Sorry for all of the questions, I'm trying to get an idea of what train times I'll need to book for.

[DarkRula]

Well in the past the day usually finishes around 19:00-20:00 [7-8pm]. It varies between years, depending on what sort of events are happening throughout the day.

2011 was the last anniversary date, and that finishing time was 20:00.

 

Looking forward to the event even more now there's just over a month to go.

[AAUK]

There's a general (mostly chronological) Retro SOS playlist for all your previous SOS needs here: 

 

[Badnik Mechanic]

3 hours ago, TinmanTI said:

Brilliant stuff, thanks for the quick reply! Any idea on the sort of time it'll be finishing? Sorry for all of the questions, I'm trying to get an idea of what train times I'll need to book for.

There should be a travel/hotel guide going on the Summer of Sonic page very soon.

I know this because I wrote it.

 

But here are some tips from me which are not on the guide, I've staffed at all but one event and been to every event.

1: Get there early - There is no way to predict when the line will start to form because it gets earlier every year, an hour before it opens is usually a safe point to wait from, but if you want to make sure you're the 'first one in, get there 2 hours before opening.

2: Being at the back of the line doesn't mean you miss stuff. - At the most, getting in last means you'll have to wait to play on a game, or be in a line to buy merch, but otherwise, so long as you're there for it opening, or get in by the first hour of it opening, you won't miss anything. Signings happen at different parts of the day, stage events start an hour after opening. 

3: Consider staying in London overnight either the day before (I highly recommend this) or on the day. This is to ensure you have plenty of time and you won't have to worry about leaving early to miss a train/bus home.

 

I can only travel down on the day, and leave on the day, what should I do?

Riiiight... If it were me, here is what I would do.

1: I would ensure my train arrived in London at least 1.5-2 hours before SOS started, that way I'd have more than enough time to find an underground/bus stop and get to SOS with plenty of time to spare.

2: I would ensure my train home leaves at least 2 possibly even 3 hours after SOS. Why? Well aside from the fact the day may overrun by a short while, it gives me plenty of time to get back to my station, grab a bite to eat, a drink and then get on my train home.

Even if I take the first train of the day, I won't arrive in London until well after SOS starts, what should I do?

Find a hotel/accommodation the day before. Go for the County hotel in London (details will be on the SOS website soon), cheapest option which is decent which will almost certainly have room with good transport links.

Otherwise a hostel is also amazingly cheap if you can cope with that.

I can't afford/can't stay the night alone for... reasons. What should I do?

Looks like you're out of luck, it sounds harsh but what else can I say? If you can't get accommodation, if you live so far out you'll miss the start, there really is nothing else we can advise, the venue city has been live for months now and if you were going you really should have been pro-active. Other than staying over at friends houses or camping in the car the day before (which some people actually did for SOS Brighton), but yeah you do that at your own risk and we don't advise it.

One year someone sent an angry email after SOS because they had to travel down on the day and leave on the same day and only gave themselves around 3 hours to enjoy the event. Well... there's really not much we can do about that, you have to make sure you give yourself enough time and try to sort out arrangements to ensure you can do this, we'll always offer help or suggestions, but you also need to be pro-active.

[TinmanTI]

Thank you very much for the great responses! Luckily, I'll only be traveling from Norwich so it won't be too difficult for me to get there early / on time. Having said that, I may consider staying the night before at a hotel.

Again, thank you very much! You've been really helpful

[Badnik Mechanic]

55 minutes ago, TinmanTI said:

I may consider staying the night before at a hotel.

If you can afford it, I strongly recommend it, even consider staying 2 nights. 

The reason being is as follows.

The first SOS I stayed the night before, then went home on the evening of the day. I will never do that again, the reason being is that I had to leave early when hanging out with some friends I met, the second reason was that I had to carry around a bag full of the previous days clothes as well as other items, which became heavy really quick.

 

[bmn]

Yeah, what we find is there's usually at least one group meetup (unofficial) on Friday evening - this is actually even more likely this year since quite a few people are staying at the venue - and meetups of smaller groups on Sunday morning. So if you can, it's nice to be able to stay both nights.

[TinmanTI]

Heh, believe me, I'd love to stay both nights! I'll have to check with the others that I'll be traveling there with though. Still, I'm crazy excited about this. Can't say I know too many people who are also into Sonic like I am, so it'll be nice to finally meet people with a similar love of the franchise!

[Your Vest Friend]

Alright guys, tickets are closer to being out at least. Check your email inbox for an email titled "Inviting you to Summer of Sonic 2016!". You'll get the link to a site where you can do stuff including accessing your ticket (closer to the event date). 

[Doctor MK]

Just noticed that James Wallis' name isn't in the special guests section of the Special Thanks page on the new website - is this just an oversight or will he no longer be attending?

[Badnik Mechanic]

3 hours ago, Doctor MK said:

Just noticed that James Wallis' name isn't in the special guests section of the Special Thanks page on the new website - is this just an oversight or will he no longer be attending?

Might be something going up about that soon.

Mind you... if you look in the credits/special thanks. You might spot a few names which make you go "Ohhhhh!"

[Your Vest Friend]

Eh, I'm probably going to be an on-the-day person. I don't see my parents trusting me to stay two nights in London alone. 

[Badnik Mechanic]

Ok everybody.

You should have got an email with a link to your 'Summer of Sonic Hub' if you still need some travel/hotel advice, it is included at the SOS hub, its not on the main site yet but it is on the hub. So give it a read if you need some ideas on places. 

22 hours ago, TinmanTI said:

 

Quoting so you get a notification to read this.

 

 

Important Update:

If you use Gmail Please check your Spam Folder. Gmail may have marked your message as spam and put it in there by mistake.

[Badnik Mechanic]

New KS update. 

Won't spoil the big surprise but as some guessed, James Wallis has pulled out of the event.

But..Two surprise guests announced!

[Doctor MK]

Disappointed about James Wallis, was looking forward to meeting him. Good to see some additional guests added to the line up to make up for it though. The t-shirt design looks pretty nifty too, simple yet effective!

[TitansCreed]

Just a head up, you still have 3 more days to get your submissions in.

Quote

Greetings fellow Sonic fans!

This year, we’re reaching out to you, the backers and fans of Summer of Sonic, and offering you a chance to be a part of the event (even if you can’t make it here on the day!). All you have to do is create and post a video, preferably on YouTube, of you telling us what Summer of Sonic means to you!

Gotta go fast though, as submissions need to be in no later than July 11th! Please make sure all submissions are in a horizontal (that’s lengthwise!) form, and (this is the important one!) NO LONGER THAN 30 SECONDSand submit an email with video link to support@summerofsonic.com

We’re looking forward to all your way past cool submissions!

With regards,

The Summer of Sonic team!