Trade Shows, Podcasts and craziness

[Kevin]

Trade Shows, Podcasts and craziness

Man oh man, what a crazy week.

Monday and Tuesday, Wayne and I were in Baltimore for the Diamond Alliance Retailer Summit.

As you might guess, Robotech® was the main topic of discussion at the Palladium booth. Everyone seemed excited about it, the RPG, Shadow Chronicles and the live action Robotech® movie. We solicited opinions about the manga-size for the initial release of the Robotech® RPG from everyone who stopped by. About 50% were tickled with the idea, 20% weren’t sure, 10% hated the idea and 20% didn’t care as long as Robotech® was back in some way, shape or form.

Overall attendance at the event seemed up (lots of people), but interest in role-playing seemed down (a shame). Still, we spoke with a lot of people and the input we got was worth the trip.

On a personal note, I very much enjoyed hooking up with my old pal, Brom, artist extraordinaire. Brom hasn’t been to many conventions in the East, I haven’t been out West (I should do something about that, eh?), so we haven’t seen each other for 4-5 years. It didn’t matter, because we instantly reconnected and spent an hour or two over the day catching up with each other. Brom is a great guy, so it is always a pleasure chatting with him. He’s doing very well and has been promoting the release of his latest children's book, The Devil’s Rose, at the Harry N. Abrams’ booth (the publisher). Wayne Smith and I both managed to get a signed copy! Thanks, Brom.

I also got to spend some nice time chatting with Mark Smylie, the artistic wizard behind Artesia (Archaia Studio Press), AEG pal, John Zinser, as well as a few other industry people. The Baltimore Summit leans heavily toward comic books, so we are looking forward to the Fort Wayne Retailer Summit in October where the emphasis is on games.

Jeff Hansen picked us up from the airport, Tuesday night. We chatted a bit. Boy, is he excited about the Robotech RPG.

Wednesday, I got to the office at 7:00 AM. It was a crazy busy day. I was on the telephone or in meetings half the day (investor/banker, accountant, Ben and Morgan – convention organizers and buddies, Jason Marker, Jeff Hansen, Teresa, Julius and Wayne, etc.). The rest of the day I was busy dealing with business issues non-stop. In fact, at 5:00 PM I realized I hadn’t eaten breakfast yet! That’s how fast time flew by. Yikes. Left the office at 7:00 PM to get two weeks' worth of comics and feeling bummed that I hadn’t written anything.

Thursday was another packed day, starting at 7:30 AM (ate breakfast at 1:00 PM) and ended at 8:30 PM. Among other things, I spent 4-5 hours helping to label catalogs. We have a big, 19,000 person bulk mailing of our color catalogs to go out (no Robotech news in it because the deal wasn’t finished when it went to press in August). Alex, Julius and Margaret had labeled something like 14,000 leaving 5,000 to go. They were clearly burnt out and moving slow, so I called in Thom Bartold, and he, Wayne Smith and I joined the assembly line. Then, outta the blue Bill Bailey appeared! He knew we needed help and came in to give us a hand. Thom, Bill and Margaret all volunteered their time and all 5,000 were done by evening. Thanks everyone, especially the Herculean job by Julius and Alex.

Friday the madness continues for another hectic day. I’m working late to do the live podcast with Tommy Yune and Robotech_Master at 10:00 PM EST. And probably sleeping over the office to get an early start Saturday morning. I have to write my editorial and news stuff for The Rifter #40. Wayne has been sequestered away in his room working furiously on The Rifter® and will continue to do so through the weekend (poor guy). Number 40 should go to the printer on Monday and ship around October 10, 2007. Dyval is next. The Catalog bulk mailing should go out on Monday too.

Holy Moley! I just realized that I’ve been so busy, I forgot to write the official Robotech RPG Press Release!!!! Sorry everyone. It will appear next week (gotta get it approved by Harmony Gold before we can post it). But you can “hear” all about it on the live Robotech® podcast TONIGHT at Space Station Liberty!

Robotech® live Podcast tonight!
Friday, Sept. 14, 2007. Join us as part of the coast to coast audience

The guests are Harmony Gold Robotech guru, Tommy Yune and me, Kevin Siembieda, “live” to talk about Robotech® and the upcoming RPG products on RobotechMaster’s Talkshoe program Space Station Liberty (Robotech/Anime Podcast).

It will be at 10:00 PM Eastern Standard Time so that folks in the West (7:00 PM) and Central Time (9:00 PM) can ALL participate. It will be awesome, so join the fun and ask questions or just listen to the discussion. Tommy and I will give away all our secrets about Robotech!(Okay, maybe not all, but some.) It should be a blast.

Here is a link to Robotech_Master’s post elsewhere on the Palladium Message Boards with how to get to the podcast.

viewtopic.php?t=79101

Sincerely,
Kevin Siembieda
Publisher, Writer, Artist, Robotech Maniac
© Copyright September 14, 2007, all rights reserved.