PAX AUS Proxy - 2024 - Post PAX AUS Pin Action Report 2024
luckycharm
Perth, AURegistered User regular
Perth, AURegistered User regular
Hello to my Pin Family,
LAST UPDATE - Thursday Nov 7th -
Boxes Away!!! The box arrived in Houston and now all the little baby boxes and bags are mailed.
Cost - $248.50 AUD, 14kg
Cost - $289.00 USD
Total - 163.16 + 289 = 452.16
Shipping is getting more expensive, I WILL have to adjust prices next year.
Give 1 week to arrive at your house, if concerned after a week, PM me and I will find the tracking number.
Thank you so much for all your patience and trust. This was a crazy year with timesinks and my health. I'm finally recovering, but still have blocked ears. May I never do PAX unwell again!!
Edit Monday Morning-
Total amount of pins purchased: Over 360 (Show sets count as 1 pin)
Time Sink’s Requested: 244 (including the LE’s)
*People are forgetting what Timesink means....
Post PAX AUS Pin Action Report 2024
PAX AUS 2024 – The Year of the Lines and Chaos
** This narrative holds my opinions and experiences, and should NOT be taken as the only point of view as we all have different stories to tell.
Hi All! It is the day after PAX AUS and as the haze of the Pin Chace continues to affect us in different ways, I would like to tell you my experience as both a Pin Individual and as the Aus Proxy. The first thing is, I have been sick. I was struggling with a persistent cough for the 2 school holiday weeks before Aus. When I start to cough, my throat gets inflamed and I keep coughing. Because of the coughing, my ears got blocked up 3 days before PAX and it was hard to hear anything. So my physical pin game was not up to my usual standards. This caused me to fall behind on all your messages and payments, so I do Greatly apologize. I will be doing this today. Thank you for being so understanding and I will do my best to make sure all accounts are accurate and what pins I was able to acquire to be on offer for trade.
Total amount of pins purchased: Over 360 (Show sets count as 1 pin)
Time Sink’s Requested: 244 (including the LE’s)
*People are forgetting what Timesink means....
Post PAX AUS Pin Action Report 2024
PAX AUS 2024 – The Year of the Lines and Chaos
** This narrative holds my opinions and experiences, and should NOT be taken as the only point of view as we all have different stories to tell.
Hi All! It is the day after PAX AUS and as the haze of the Pin Chace continues to affect us in different ways, I would like to tell you my experience as both a Pin Individual and as the Aus Proxy. The first thing is, I have been sick. I was struggling with a persistent cough for the 2 school holiday weeks before Aus. When I start to cough, my throat gets inflamed and I keep coughing. Because of the coughing, my ears got blocked up 3 days before PAX and it was hard to hear anything. So my physical pin game was not up to my usual standards. This caused me to fall behind on all your messages and payments, so I do Greatly apologize. I will be doing this today. Thank you for being so understanding and I will do my best to make sure all accounts are accurate and what pins I was able to acquire to be on offer for trade.
The Pin chase started slow but good. We didn't get the quest until the Saturday, but I think it's because PA releases it on their Friday instead of Our Friday. I contacted every pin vender and almost all of them got back with me, keeping us up to date on the pricing. It was a real blessing to go into PAX with accurate info on the 3rd parties. But things had massively changed on the acquisition of PA pins.
Merch Lite, for the first time, was moved to the very back of the main hallway. And no clothes were sold there, only Show sets, LE's and other goods. But a LOT of the merchandise never made it. The D&D blind boxes were held in customs, and never showed. The Master Sword of TotK had a supply of 100-200 and sold out before the afternoon. The booth used to open at 9AM, was moved to 10AM. They tried to open earlier if they could, but there was never a guarantee. On Friday, the booth opened near 10 with only 3 registers open. It was hard for people to get to the purchase bonuses since there were no clothes to add. I heard stories of people spending 2-3 hours in Merch Lite for just 2 LE's. It was a tedious way to start the day. (I started each day at Cure Cancer)
Main Merch was once again in the Expo Hall and closed at 6. This caused people to feel the scarcity and line up for Merch for 3+ hours. The machines went down, people were told to leave the line since no ETA was given. No one was allowed to stay. In 10 minutes, the system was back on-line and people who had spent their time earlier had left. Merch started to run out of anything larger than an L and by day 3, merch from previous years were being sold at a great discount. Show sets ran out at the end of day 2 since there were no other pins for people to buy as fodder. I heard that on Sunday, Enforcers were going through PA’s traded pins to make full sets and sell them on lanyards.
Nekograms Bean & Snow Cone Pedro - Nice company and cute Cat game. They had their pins at a reasonable price of $20 with a discount of $5 if you bought both. They had allocated X amount each day, and did run out on Friday but I never heard anything negative about Hungry Sky and acquiring pins.
Displacer Kitty - The 2nd most favorite pin on the Proxy spreadsheet. Cookie Brigade did limit my purchases at the very beginning with a 2 at time. They have historically spaced out their pins to try to last the whole show, and I understand. I was able to eventually get 1 for everyone by trading, WRONG - was 9 short. Everyone will get 1 but if you ordered more than one, refunds will be given.
Cookie Scientist – A charity pin created by Cookie Brigade and Cure Cancer, I felt this had a reasonable print number because they didn’t run out. It has a little sparkle and I’ve heard it glows in the dark, but have not confirmed it yet. Unknown if Cookie Brigade will have any for sale at the US tables.
Chip-In – A popular AUS pin, it sold out by Sunday. In the Australian vocabulary, they do not use Fries to describe fried potatoes. They call them Chips. So using the phrase ‘Chip In’ both refers to the seagull gorging himself on ‘chips’, and to Chip-in is to donate to a good cause, which this was a Cure for Cancer Pin. Seagulls are also a huge pain in the butt, harassing you for your food, so seeing one eating chips is a common sight. Another example of Aussie humor that may not translate to the US.
Speedle – The design is of an Australian tiger beetle which makes sense to be on a pin for the Speed Run Charity group. The Australian tiger beetle is the World's fastest running insect recorded to date. The pin was easy to get, very bright.
Mental Health Elixir – The underdog of the show. Have you even seen enforcers have to create a tape line for a charity booth to manage pin purchases? I had not until this year, and I saw it twice. Cure Cancer and at the Black Dog booth. On Friday, I walked up and bought the amount I needed, nothing extra. I asked what was the print run on the pin…they said 750. This happened last year with the Press X for Science and it ran out quickly. Sure enough, on Saturday there were at least 30 people lined up in the morning. Not at Merch lite, or the Que Hall, but at a charity table in the main hallway. The Enforcers had to create a tape line and the pins were limited to 1 per person. The line was just as long on Sunday, and the charity spread out the sale of the pins throughout the day. While this allowed new people to buy a pin, it caused confusion if the table was fully sold out or ‘watch our social media page’ to find out more. I don’t know about the US, but the concept of Mental Health and taking care of yourself but here in Aus it is huge. I had people asking if I had one to trade because they wanted to support mental health. I hope next year Black Dog will have a larger print run.
Indomitable Kid – No issues, plenty of pins.
D10 Koala – No issues, plenty of pins.
Ribbit – The most popular pin of the Proxy list and there was always a line at the booth to buy their pins. They sold out on each day Friday & Saturday about Noon, Sunday at 11. Limit to 2 per person. GenerOZity have a history of re-printing their pins and having all previous years available, so if you missed out, I would expect you to have another chance next year.
Dirty Drawful Owl – Their first Aus pin, they forgot to bring equipment to sell their pin…eventually they got things together but had to enter everything manually. I would presume the pin will be available to purchase at future US shows.
E-Goop – A very sparkly pink pin! Looks better in person that on the Pin Quest announcement. No issues, plenty of pins.
Time Sinks:
AUS LE 2024 – To be honest, I really dropped the ball for this one. I prioritized Cure Cancer each morning to get Fallout and ESO, with the expectation that I’d be able to get the LE’s over the weekend. This never turned out. My grand plan to get LE’s failed massively on Sunday and I only have a handful. They will be up for trade on PinnyPals, but I will prioritize them for people who collect the whole show and not pick and choose. I will try to get more next year.
ESO - 10 Years – An interesting looking pin, has a nice 3D look that is better in person. There were several ways you could acquire this pin. You could buy it at Cure Cancer for 60 AUD, but they only had about 30 each morning and you had to line up by 7:30 at the latest. You could do their D&D at the PAX Tavern. Took from 30 min to 1.5 hours. I didn’t get to try it, and with my hearing blocked it would have been difficult, but others said it was a nice time. They had a panel on Fri @ 1 PM. Line up 1 hour ahead of time, and the first 100 people got a bag with some nice goodies, including a pin. The last way was Complete the ESO quest @ Epic Armoury’s PAX Epic SideQuest. I really wanted to do this, but had no time. I don’t know anyone who did try this so I don’t know how long it took, but it wouldn’t have been short. I have a few of these, please offer a trade on PinnyPals.
Fallout 76 – Probably the most popular of the timesinks other than the Moogle. The problem was, once again, that we knew roughly where to find them but not what was required. Then when we found out, Bethesda would change the procedure again. The best example of this would be the Fallout 76 Skyline Valley C.A.M.P (Handheld Lounge). On Friday, we didn’t know what to expect. We visit the CAMP, only to be told to return at 10am and the camp leader would ask us a trivia question based on the Fallout Game or Fallout show. But their availability numbers were very low. On Saturday, the line was over 100 people, and then enforcers tried to shift the line and tape down lines. In the chaos, a lot of people slipped in but it didn’t matter in the end since it turned out the Camp Leader had less than 10 badges available. Later that day, I was talking to another Pinny and they said they got one at 11 for ‘chatting around a campfire for a few minutes.’ I think we all would have been happy to sit and chat if that had been communicated. Another issue was the LG Booth. Once again, the dreaded Claw Machine showed up! On Friday, you had to wait in line to play Fallout 76, and then you got the chance to play the claw game. Then on Saturday, you also had to sign up for an LG account. On Sunday, I don’t know if they had any pins left in the claw game. Attending the Fallout cosplay meetup in a Fallout cosplay on Sun was another one, I don’t know how busy that was. And some were available for sale at Cure Cancer on Friday (30?) and Saturday morning (20), but none were available to buy on Sunday morning.
MIGW ‘24 Pin – This was a disappointing pin because last year they had made a good improvement in their distribution method. Last year, you went to one booth, took a quiz to see what job position your personality would match in the gaming industry and then talked to one of the university recruiters. It was low key, personable, and you were not harassing the game developers or farming the whole floor. Well, that’s what happened this year. The Games Week pins were distributed to all the appropriate booths that were made in Victoria, but it seems like some people didn’t listen to how to deal with all the people looking for them. Many booths ran out of all their pins on the first day and didn’t hold any back so by Sunday, it was really a hit or miss. Then you feel slimy to ask if they have a pin or not, instead of appreciating their game. A pin easy to get if you have a little luck and the AR aspect is always amazing.
Dumb Ways to Die – Take a photo or video with the Bean mascots and upload it to social media. Sounds simple right? The mascot was this blue guy that looks like he belongs as a health insurance mascot, but he was easy to see. Problem was that he only came out at 11, 1, and 3, and people would line up to take a picture, so you would wait, and then get in another line to show the picture to get a pin. I took a picture and posted it, but when I went to redeem, they were out of pins. So not a hard pin, just had to time it right. (As a VR game, I did have some simple fun!)
KILL KNIGHT – complete daily game challenges when playing KILL KNIGHT. However, the daily challenge was to survive the onslaught of monsters coming for you. It felt like a diablo game with guns and blades and a lot of heavy metal music. Not a bad thing, but not my style of game. I tried 3 times, each time having to re-line up and failed terribly. Luckyily there was one other way, to take a picture of that game’s mascot. A creepy skeleton knight. He wasn’t out there all the time, but seemed to pop up around the same as the Blue Guy. So I did a selfie, posted and got a pin. I don’t’ know if they ran out, but I rarely saw them available for trade. Not a hard pin, just had to time it right.
MOUSE – by being one of the first to join the MOUSE: P.I. For Hire panel on Saturday 3pm in Quokka theatre, or beat the shooting challenge. I missed the panel because I was in the eternal que for the Paper Chicken, but I did play the shooting challenge. It played like a carnival game. They got a fancy nerf gun, had someone put it into a 3D printed pseudo-Tommy Gun. Looked cool, but too big, hard to aim and broke before the end of Friday. The task, to shoot at least 2 tin cans off the 4 can towers. They gave 10 to 15 bullets, not sure because I didn’t count. I wanted to shoot the gun! When I went on Saturday to try, they only had one gun in rotation, so the line went very slowly. Maybe 30 min to an hour until your turn, and then you had to succeed. I shot down 2 cans and got my pin. Huzzah! But I knew several people who had no aiming skill and got frustrated at the whole experience. Luckily, It was the most common pin traded in the Playside Studio pin trio, so I have a couple available to trade.
Rage Quit – Of all the time-sink pins, the Doctors have been the most consistent and always friendly. I saw them 3 times in the wild, but only had the opportunity to approach them once. I think since they sell their pin afterward, it takes a lot of the pressure off trying to chase them down. And they are pin collectors as well, so the conversation can go from medical or the pin’tacular! (Side Note, I did hear they have designs lined up for another 3 years of pins)
Paper Chicken – The Paper Chicken, how do I hate thee. The process and time to obtain this pin was so beyond ridiculous that I actually broke down crying on Sunday. On Friday, I expected to start lining up 1 hour before release. I was wrong- people started to line up 1.5 hours ahead. When that info hit Slack, all hell broke loose. I am a slow person, and by the time I got to the Que Hall, they had soft capped the line. The kicker was, the Enforcers had NO idea how many were going to be released. So there was an overflow line for an hour. When the Enforcers did get a number, it was only 200. There was easily over 300 people around, and about 45 minutes to go. I waited in line as they counted to 200 people. And I was number 201. I wish I was kidding. So I struck out on Friday. On Saturday, the line started 3 hours ahead of release. The enforcer who was in charge of the organization did an amazing job, one area with chairs for medical badges and one area for everyone else but everyone was counted the same. No group got preferential treatment. As a medical badge holder, I appreciated this and sat in a chair. There was some issues with numbers, a soft cap then a hard cap, then the expected number was wrong so they were letting more people in. We were calling people on their phones, trying to get them back after they had been turned away. A bit emotional, but I got my stupid Paper Chicken.
That brings me to Sunday. I was already exhausted, sick and prepared to wait in a 3 hour line again. When I arrived, I saw about 40 people ahead of me, but looking a bit lost. The enforcers who should have been in charge of the line were not there, the medical badge people didn’t have chairs, and had to sit down away from the line, and the area wasn’t set up like it had been yesterday. I tried to start setting up the chairs so the medical people could sit down inside the bulwark, but I was shut down so fast. I just wanted to sit down and eat my food while being in line, but I felt attacked instead. One enforcer told me one thing, then another said something else, but neither were understanding I was there for the pin too. It was too much, and I just started to tear up. Luckily, there was a lovely enforcer named Vik who saw everything and became a mother hen for all the medical badges. She recognized that with a line forming away from the people in chairs, we were at risk of being forgotten. She lead us to the other side and got us through the bulwark when they finally opened it, and made sure we had chairs. But even then, the medical badges were cramped with everyone else. I almost tripped over 2 people trying to go for a bathroom break. And the enforcers kept trying to cram everyone into a small area. This was the Que Hall, we had plenty of space. I didn’t feel like a human, but cattle. Saturday had been so much better, why change it? Are there no handover notes for events that happen over several days? Why did Reed-Pop have to only make 750? The pin community is a lot bigger than 750 in Aus alone. What happened to the pre-order when you buy your badge? That was much simpler and allowed everyone to order one. And Reed-Pop made more money! Seems like a win-win to me. So in terms of value, the Paper Chicken represents 3 hours of my life and quite a bit of dignity.
FFXIV Moogle – The pin that everyone wanted, and I expected to be difficult turned out to be not so bad. The first day, you had to line up and wait to use their computer to sign up for a trial account. I was able to skip the line because I showed the guy the email saying I had already signed up 10 minutes ago. (True) Maybe the line was 30 minutes from beginning to end, so there were a lot of Moogles flying around on Friday. Then on Saturday, they changed the requirements, before you signed up, you had to get into a group and do a tutorial, fighting this big boss and killing a Moogle? (I didn’t do that, and traded to get the rest of the Moogles) This extra step resulted in about 1 hour to 1.5 hours to get Moogle. Still very possible and they had pins available most of Sunday. So a reasonable timesink for a very recognizable IP Koopo!
(I have no Crowned Mog Pins for trade, I only saw one in the wild for trade and got it for myself. Soft-enamel, so not as clean)
**Okay, now that I have told you about the trial and tribulation in acquiring these pins, how do you get them? Because they are so limited, I will prioritize trade over purchase. I went through a lot of my trade stock to get these so that I could have cute and fun pins from the US to continue to grow the AUS pin community. The Aus Pin community is growing very quickly and will want pins from the US, both old and new. I want to spread these timesinks around, so for each pin, make a new offer. I asked what your timesink priority was, and I will do my best to see you get 1 timesink if I believe your trade is fair. (If you didn’t tell me, tell me in the trade comments) I’m not looking for Gold Overwatches or Leroys, but pins with recognizable IP, colorful, mental health, Gay Pride, Cute animals, and anything on my missing pin list. I hope this makes sense. If you still want to make a monetary offer, send me a forum message and I’ll keep it in mind.
I really hope there is change next year. The AUS pin community needs to be recognized as a growing group who need tables to trade on, chairs to sit, a panel each year (oh yeah, our panel was rejected) and a dedicated time each day to trade in the afternoon. We shouldn’t have to line up for 3 hours, squished in like livestock when their previous methods of pre-order works so much better and reaches many more people. Where the number of some pins printed causes unnecessary scarcity, even when the large company could easily afford to print more.
I could go on, but I’d just be repeating myself. Listen to the other attendees of Pax Aus 2024 and you’ll see a pattern of a sub-par PAX experience full of waiting in lines and wondering if they will be luck enough to get a pin because no one knows how many are available. Not my idea of a good time.
I would like to end on a good note by praising the Cure Cancer Booth and Adam, the man in charge. He was great getting information on pricing to me for the community. He took it in stride that he had people at 7am sitting at his booth, and did his best to be ready by 9 because he didn’t want us to waste our time sitting in a line. He offered chairs to the medical badges. He gave out Apples, Blueberries and some cookies to the early line people. He was up front with the pin numbers available each morning for purchase for the Fallout and ESO. And he helped out community members on Sunday who never found their own Fallout or ESO, providing one last pin miracle to those who needed that last pin to finish their Aus 2024 set. Adam, you were a perfect example of how the Booths and the Pin Community can come together and promote positive pin collecting while raising money for a good cause.
This has been another year of PAX Aus, thank you for reading.
Anastasia ‘Luckycharm’ Cooper
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Edit Friday Midnight: I dead. Good show. I got a lot of payments, I'll deal with it when I get back. I will trust you. I need sleep.
Paper chicken sucks, really bad
Moogle...there is some hope
Bethesda, some hope
Displacer Beast, little hope. Behind a limit purchase wall. Will do my best but refunds will be given
All other purchases no issues.
LE status unknown
I have some time sinks from last year Aus, will post more when I get home.
And Paper Chicken sucks The End
Sorry not professional.
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EDIT: Hungry Sky was $5 cheaper than expected AND if you bought 2, it was 25. If you have overpaid, 3 options will happen
1) Refund of the excess money AFTER the show is over.
2) Donate the money to Cookie Brigade
3) Donate the money to me for services rendered. (NOT a guilt trip, if you need your money back for cost of living, I do understand.)
_
**Old messages deleted, hit a character limit**
LAST UPDATE - Thursday Nov 7th -
Boxes Away!!! The box arrived in Houston and now all the little baby boxes and bags are mailed.
Cost - $248.50 AUD, 14kg
Cost - $289.00 USD
Total - 163.16 + 289 = 452.16
Shipping is getting more expensive, I WILL have to adjust prices next year.
Give 1 week to arrive at your house, if concerned after a week, PM me and I will find the tracking number.
Thank you so much for all your patience and trust. This was a crazy year with timesinks and my health. I'm finally recovering, but still have blocked ears. May I never do PAX unwell again!!
Edit Monday Morning-
Total amount of pins purchased: Over 360 (Show sets count as 1 pin)
Time Sink’s Requested: 244 (including the LE’s)
*People are forgetting what Timesink means....
Post PAX AUS Pin Action Report 2024
PAX AUS 2024 – The Year of the Lines and Chaos
** This narrative holds my opinions and experiences, and should NOT be taken as the only point of view as we all have different stories to tell.
Hi All! It is the day after PAX AUS and as the haze of the Pin Chace continues to affect us in different ways, I would like to tell you my experience as both a Pin Individual and as the Aus Proxy. The first thing is, I have been sick. I was struggling with a persistent cough for the 2 school holiday weeks before Aus. When I start to cough, my throat gets inflamed and I keep coughing. Because of the coughing, my ears got blocked up 3 days before PAX and it was hard to hear anything. So my physical pin game was not up to my usual standards. This caused me to fall behind on all your messages and payments, so I do Greatly apologize. I will be doing this today. Thank you for being so understanding and I will do my best to make sure all accounts are accurate and what pins I was able to acquire to be on offer for trade.
Total amount of pins purchased: Over 360 (Show sets count as 1 pin)
Time Sink’s Requested: 244 (including the LE’s)
*People are forgetting what Timesink means....
Post PAX AUS Pin Action Report 2024
PAX AUS 2024 – The Year of the Lines and Chaos
** This narrative holds my opinions and experiences, and should NOT be taken as the only point of view as we all have different stories to tell.
Hi All! It is the day after PAX AUS and as the haze of the Pin Chace continues to affect us in different ways, I would like to tell you my experience as both a Pin Individual and as the Aus Proxy. The first thing is, I have been sick. I was struggling with a persistent cough for the 2 school holiday weeks before Aus. When I start to cough, my throat gets inflamed and I keep coughing. Because of the coughing, my ears got blocked up 3 days before PAX and it was hard to hear anything. So my physical pin game was not up to my usual standards. This caused me to fall behind on all your messages and payments, so I do Greatly apologize. I will be doing this today. Thank you for being so understanding and I will do my best to make sure all accounts are accurate and what pins I was able to acquire to be on offer for trade.
The Pin chase started slow but good. We didn't get the quest until the Saturday, but I think it's because PA releases it on their Friday instead of Our Friday. I contacted every pin vender and almost all of them got back with me, keeping us up to date on the pricing. It was a real blessing to go into PAX with accurate info on the 3rd parties. But things had massively changed on the acquisition of PA pins.
Merch Lite, for the first time, was moved to the very back of the main hallway. And no clothes were sold there, only Show sets, LE's and other goods. But a LOT of the merchandise never made it. The D&D blind boxes were held in customs, and never showed. The Master Sword of TotK had a supply of 100-200 and sold out before the afternoon. The booth used to open at 9AM, was moved to 10AM. They tried to open earlier if they could, but there was never a guarantee. On Friday, the booth opened near 10 with only 3 registers open. It was hard for people to get to the purchase bonuses since there were no clothes to add. I heard stories of people spending 2-3 hours in Merch Lite for just 2 LE's. It was a tedious way to start the day. (I started each day at Cure Cancer)
Main Merch was once again in the Expo Hall and closed at 6. This caused people to feel the scarcity and line up for Merch for 3+ hours. The machines went down, people were told to leave the line since no ETA was given. No one was allowed to stay. In 10 minutes, the system was back on-line and people who had spent their time earlier had left. Merch started to run out of anything larger than an L and by day 3, merch from previous years were being sold at a great discount. Show sets ran out at the end of day 2 since there were no other pins for people to buy as fodder. I heard that on Sunday, Enforcers were going through PA’s traded pins to make full sets and sell them on lanyards.
Nekograms Bean & Snow Cone Pedro - Nice company and cute Cat game. They had their pins at a reasonable price of $20 with a discount of $5 if you bought both. They had allocated X amount each day, and did run out on Friday but I never heard anything negative about Hungry Sky and acquiring pins.
Displacer Kitty - The 2nd most favorite pin on the Proxy spreadsheet. Cookie Brigade did limit my purchases at the very beginning with a 2 at time. They have historically spaced out their pins to try to last the whole show, and I understand. I was able to eventually get 1 for everyone by trading, WRONG - was 9 short. Everyone will get 1 but if you ordered more than one, refunds will be given.
Cookie Scientist – A charity pin created by Cookie Brigade and Cure Cancer, I felt this had a reasonable print number because they didn’t run out. It has a little sparkle and I’ve heard it glows in the dark, but have not confirmed it yet. Unknown if Cookie Brigade will have any for sale at the US tables.
Chip-In – A popular AUS pin, it sold out by Sunday. In the Australian vocabulary, they do not use Fries to describe fried potatoes. They call them Chips. So using the phrase ‘Chip In’ both refers to the seagull gorging himself on ‘chips’, and to Chip-in is to donate to a good cause, which this was a Cure for Cancer Pin. Seagulls are also a huge pain in the butt, harassing you for your food, so seeing one eating chips is a common sight. Another example of Aussie humor that may not translate to the US.
Speedle – The design is of an Australian tiger beetle which makes sense to be on a pin for the Speed Run Charity group. The Australian tiger beetle is the World's fastest running insect recorded to date. The pin was easy to get, very bright.
Mental Health Elixir – The underdog of the show. Have you even seen enforcers have to create a tape line for a charity booth to manage pin purchases? I had not until this year, and I saw it twice. Cure Cancer and at the Black Dog booth. On Friday, I walked up and bought the amount I needed, nothing extra. I asked what was the print run on the pin…they said 750. This happened last year with the Press X for Science and it ran out quickly. Sure enough, on Saturday there were at least 30 people lined up in the morning. Not at Merch lite, or the Que Hall, but at a charity table in the main hallway. The Enforcers had to create a tape line and the pins were limited to 1 per person. The line was just as long on Sunday, and the charity spread out the sale of the pins throughout the day. While this allowed new people to buy a pin, it caused confusion if the table was fully sold out or ‘watch our social media page’ to find out more. I don’t know about the US, but the concept of Mental Health and taking care of yourself but here in Aus it is huge. I had people asking if I had one to trade because they wanted to support mental health. I hope next year Black Dog will have a larger print run.
Indomitable Kid – No issues, plenty of pins.
D10 Koala – No issues, plenty of pins.
Ribbit – The most popular pin of the Proxy list and there was always a line at the booth to buy their pins. They sold out on each day Friday & Saturday about Noon, Sunday at 11. Limit to 2 per person. GenerOZity have a history of re-printing their pins and having all previous years available, so if you missed out, I would expect you to have another chance next year.
Dirty Drawful Owl – Their first Aus pin, they forgot to bring equipment to sell their pin…eventually they got things together but had to enter everything manually. I would presume the pin will be available to purchase at future US shows.
E-Goop – A very sparkly pink pin! Looks better in person that on the Pin Quest announcement. No issues, plenty of pins.
Time Sinks:
AUS LE 2024 – To be honest, I really dropped the ball for this one. I prioritized Cure Cancer each morning to get Fallout and ESO, with the expectation that I’d be able to get the LE’s over the weekend. This never turned out. My grand plan to get LE’s failed massively on Sunday and I only have a handful. They will be up for trade on PinnyPals, but I will prioritize them for people who collect the whole show and not pick and choose. I will try to get more next year.
ESO - 10 Years – An interesting looking pin, has a nice 3D look that is better in person. There were several ways you could acquire this pin. You could buy it at Cure Cancer for 60 AUD, but they only had about 30 each morning and you had to line up by 7:30 at the latest. You could do their D&D at the PAX Tavern. Took from 30 min to 1.5 hours. I didn’t get to try it, and with my hearing blocked it would have been difficult, but others said it was a nice time. They had a panel on Fri @ 1 PM. Line up 1 hour ahead of time, and the first 100 people got a bag with some nice goodies, including a pin. The last way was Complete the ESO quest @ Epic Armoury’s PAX Epic SideQuest. I really wanted to do this, but had no time. I don’t know anyone who did try this so I don’t know how long it took, but it wouldn’t have been short. I have a few of these, please offer a trade on PinnyPals.
Fallout 76 – Probably the most popular of the timesinks other than the Moogle. The problem was, once again, that we knew roughly where to find them but not what was required. Then when we found out, Bethesda would change the procedure again. The best example of this would be the Fallout 76 Skyline Valley C.A.M.P (Handheld Lounge). On Friday, we didn’t know what to expect. We visit the CAMP, only to be told to return at 10am and the camp leader would ask us a trivia question based on the Fallout Game or Fallout show. But their availability numbers were very low. On Saturday, the line was over 100 people, and then enforcers tried to shift the line and tape down lines. In the chaos, a lot of people slipped in but it didn’t matter in the end since it turned out the Camp Leader had less than 10 badges available. Later that day, I was talking to another Pinny and they said they got one at 11 for ‘chatting around a campfire for a few minutes.’ I think we all would have been happy to sit and chat if that had been communicated. Another issue was the LG Booth. Once again, the dreaded Claw Machine showed up! On Friday, you had to wait in line to play Fallout 76, and then you got the chance to play the claw game. Then on Saturday, you also had to sign up for an LG account. On Sunday, I don’t know if they had any pins left in the claw game. Attending the Fallout cosplay meetup in a Fallout cosplay on Sun was another one, I don’t know how busy that was. And some were available for sale at Cure Cancer on Friday (30?) and Saturday morning (20), but none were available to buy on Sunday morning.
MIGW ‘24 Pin – This was a disappointing pin because last year they had made a good improvement in their distribution method. Last year, you went to one booth, took a quiz to see what job position your personality would match in the gaming industry and then talked to one of the university recruiters. It was low key, personable, and you were not harassing the game developers or farming the whole floor. Well, that’s what happened this year. The Games Week pins were distributed to all the appropriate booths that were made in Victoria, but it seems like some people didn’t listen to how to deal with all the people looking for them. Many booths ran out of all their pins on the first day and didn’t hold any back so by Sunday, it was really a hit or miss. Then you feel slimy to ask if they have a pin or not, instead of appreciating their game. A pin easy to get if you have a little luck and the AR aspect is always amazing.
Dumb Ways to Die – Take a photo or video with the Bean mascots and upload it to social media. Sounds simple right? The mascot was this blue guy that looks like he belongs as a health insurance mascot, but he was easy to see. Problem was that he only came out at 11, 1, and 3, and people would line up to take a picture, so you would wait, and then get in another line to show the picture to get a pin. I took a picture and posted it, but when I went to redeem, they were out of pins. So not a hard pin, just had to time it right. (As a VR game, I did have some simple fun!)
KILL KNIGHT – complete daily game challenges when playing KILL KNIGHT. However, the daily challenge was to survive the onslaught of monsters coming for you. It felt like a diablo game with guns and blades and a lot of heavy metal music. Not a bad thing, but not my style of game. I tried 3 times, each time having to re-line up and failed terribly. Luckyily there was one other way, to take a picture of that game’s mascot. A creepy skeleton knight. He wasn’t out there all the time, but seemed to pop up around the same as the Blue Guy. So I did a selfie, posted and got a pin. I don’t’ know if they ran out, but I rarely saw them available for trade. Not a hard pin, just had to time it right.
MOUSE – by being one of the first to join the MOUSE: P.I. For Hire panel on Saturday 3pm in Quokka theatre, or beat the shooting challenge. I missed the panel because I was in the eternal que for the Paper Chicken, but I did play the shooting challenge. It played like a carnival game. They got a fancy nerf gun, had someone put it into a 3D printed pseudo-Tommy Gun. Looked cool, but too big, hard to aim and broke before the end of Friday. The task, to shoot at least 2 tin cans off the 4 can towers. They gave 10 to 15 bullets, not sure because I didn’t count. I wanted to shoot the gun! When I went on Saturday to try, they only had one gun in rotation, so the line went very slowly. Maybe 30 min to an hour until your turn, and then you had to succeed. I shot down 2 cans and got my pin. Huzzah! But I knew several people who had no aiming skill and got frustrated at the whole experience. Luckily, It was the most common pin traded in the Playside Studio pin trio, so I have a couple available to trade.
Rage Quit – Of all the time-sink pins, the Doctors have been the most consistent and always friendly. I saw them 3 times in the wild, but only had the opportunity to approach them once. I think since they sell their pin afterward, it takes a lot of the pressure off trying to chase them down. And they are pin collectors as well, so the conversation can go from medical or the pin’tacular! (Side Note, I did hear they have designs lined up for another 3 years of pins)
Paper Chicken – The Paper Chicken, how do I hate thee. The process and time to obtain this pin was so beyond ridiculous that I actually broke down crying on Sunday. On Friday, I expected to start lining up 1 hour before release. I was wrong- people started to line up 1.5 hours ahead. When that info hit Slack, all hell broke loose. I am a slow person, and by the time I got to the Que Hall, they had soft capped the line. The kicker was, the Enforcers had NO idea how many were going to be released. So there was an overflow line for an hour. When the Enforcers did get a number, it was only 200. There was easily over 300 people around, and about 45 minutes to go. I waited in line as they counted to 200 people. And I was number 201. I wish I was kidding. So I struck out on Friday. On Saturday, the line started 3 hours ahead of release. The enforcer who was in charge of the organization did an amazing job, one area with chairs for medical badges and one area for everyone else but everyone was counted the same. No group got preferential treatment. As a medical badge holder, I appreciated this and sat in a chair. There was some issues with numbers, a soft cap then a hard cap, then the expected number was wrong so they were letting more people in. We were calling people on their phones, trying to get them back after they had been turned away. A bit emotional, but I got my stupid Paper Chicken.
That brings me to Sunday. I was already exhausted, sick and prepared to wait in a 3 hour line again. When I arrived, I saw about 40 people ahead of me, but looking a bit lost. The enforcers who should have been in charge of the line were not there, the medical badge people didn’t have chairs, and had to sit down away from the line, and the area wasn’t set up like it had been yesterday. I tried to start setting up the chairs so the medical people could sit down inside the bulwark, but I was shut down so fast. I just wanted to sit down and eat my food while being in line, but I felt attacked instead. One enforcer told me one thing, then another said something else, but neither were understanding I was there for the pin too. It was too much, and I just started to tear up. Luckily, there was a lovely enforcer named Vik who saw everything and became a mother hen for all the medical badges. She recognized that with a line forming away from the people in chairs, we were at risk of being forgotten. She lead us to the other side and got us through the bulwark when they finally opened it, and made sure we had chairs. But even then, the medical badges were cramped with everyone else. I almost tripped over 2 people trying to go for a bathroom break. And the enforcers kept trying to cram everyone into a small area. This was the Que Hall, we had plenty of space. I didn’t feel like a human, but cattle. Saturday had been so much better, why change it? Are there no handover notes for events that happen over several days? Why did Reed-Pop have to only make 750? The pin community is a lot bigger than 750 in Aus alone. What happened to the pre-order when you buy your badge? That was much simpler and allowed everyone to order one. And Reed-Pop made more money! Seems like a win-win to me. So in terms of value, the Paper Chicken represents 3 hours of my life and quite a bit of dignity.
FFXIV Moogle – The pin that everyone wanted, and I expected to be difficult turned out to be not so bad. The first day, you had to line up and wait to use their computer to sign up for a trial account. I was able to skip the line because I showed the guy the email saying I had already signed up 10 minutes ago. (True) Maybe the line was 30 minutes from beginning to end, so there were a lot of Moogles flying around on Friday. Then on Saturday, they changed the requirements, before you signed up, you had to get into a group and do a tutorial, fighting this big boss and killing a Moogle? (I didn’t do that, and traded to get the rest of the Moogles) This extra step resulted in about 1 hour to 1.5 hours to get Moogle. Still very possible and they had pins available most of Sunday. So a reasonable timesink for a very recognizable IP Koopo!
(I have no Crowned Mog Pins for trade, I only saw one in the wild for trade and got it for myself. Soft-enamel, so not as clean)
**Okay, now that I have told you about the trial and tribulation in acquiring these pins, how do you get them? Because they are so limited, I will prioritize trade over purchase. I went through a lot of my trade stock to get these so that I could have cute and fun pins from the US to continue to grow the AUS pin community. The Aus Pin community is growing very quickly and will want pins from the US, both old and new. I want to spread these timesinks around, so for each pin, make a new offer. I asked what your timesink priority was, and I will do my best to see you get 1 timesink if I believe your trade is fair. (If you didn’t tell me, tell me in the trade comments) I’m not looking for Gold Overwatches or Leroys, but pins with recognizable IP, colorful, mental health, Gay Pride, Cute animals, and anything on my missing pin list. I hope this makes sense. If you still want to make a monetary offer, send me a forum message and I’ll keep it in mind.
I really hope there is change next year. The AUS pin community needs to be recognized as a growing group who need tables to trade on, chairs to sit, a panel each year (oh yeah, our panel was rejected) and a dedicated time each day to trade in the afternoon. We shouldn’t have to line up for 3 hours, squished in like livestock when their previous methods of pre-order works so much better and reaches many more people. Where the number of some pins printed causes unnecessary scarcity, even when the large company could easily afford to print more.
I could go on, but I’d just be repeating myself. Listen to the other attendees of Pax Aus 2024 and you’ll see a pattern of a sub-par PAX experience full of waiting in lines and wondering if they will be luck enough to get a pin because no one knows how many are available. Not my idea of a good time.
I would like to end on a good note by praising the Cure Cancer Booth and Adam, the man in charge. He was great getting information on pricing to me for the community. He took it in stride that he had people at 7am sitting at his booth, and did his best to be ready by 9 because he didn’t want us to waste our time sitting in a line. He offered chairs to the medical badges. He gave out Apples, Blueberries and some cookies to the early line people. He was up front with the pin numbers available each morning for purchase for the Fallout and ESO. And he helped out community members on Sunday who never found their own Fallout or ESO, providing one last pin miracle to those who needed that last pin to finish their Aus 2024 set. Adam, you were a perfect example of how the Booths and the Pin Community can come together and promote positive pin collecting while raising money for a good cause.
This has been another year of PAX Aus, thank you for reading.
Anastasia ‘Luckycharm’ Cooper
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Edit Friday Midnight: I dead. Good show. I got a lot of payments, I'll deal with it when I get back. I will trust you. I need sleep.
Paper chicken sucks, really bad
Moogle...there is some hope
Bethesda, some hope
Displacer Beast, little hope. Behind a limit purchase wall. Will do my best but refunds will be given
All other purchases no issues.
LE status unknown
I have some time sinks from last year Aus, will post more when I get home.
And Paper Chicken sucks The End
Sorry not professional.
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EDIT: Hungry Sky was $5 cheaper than expected AND if you bought 2, it was 25. If you have overpaid, 3 options will happen
1) Refund of the excess money AFTER the show is over.
2) Donate the money to Cookie Brigade
3) Donate the money to me for services rendered. (NOT a guilt trip, if you need your money back for cost of living, I do understand.)
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**Old messages deleted, hit a character limit**
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