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Airsoft EXPO
Review - by Yosser
The exhibition centre is a fully heated, in-door event and much warmer and secure than the ‘cow-sheds’ that the airsoft element is normally relegated to at the BSS. However show goers were disappointed to find a number of exhibitors had pulled out although the organisers Meridienne Exhibitions had attempted to keep show goers fully informed via the usual social media outlets. It was a huge disappointment to many who had made the trip from all over the country to miss out on the likes of Airsoft World just because a certain Scottish Politician was indulging his ego. I was so looking forward to seeing their ‘electronic range’. Maybe one day we’ll see them south of the boarder. The disappointment from airsofters in general was palpable at the lack of support from vendors, manufacturers & exhibitors in general for the expo event.
I can’t talk for the numbers on the Sunday but a fair few airsofters turned up on Saturday to enjoy the displays and vendors on offer. Players could checkout a large selection of airsoft and tactical gear from JD Airsoft with possibly the best selection of gear on offer at the expo. Other airsoft vendors included Badger Tac2, and SOCOM Tactical along with Cloud 9 Combat and Enola Gaye for all your ‘smoke & ‘nades’.
The award for the loudest exhibitor had to be for the boys from Incentive Designs who were showing off a number of devices from a sentry turret to a muzzle flash generator called the MFG Venom. These are the latest in realism for your AEG and give you the ability to generate a 'realistic' muzzle flash. They also showed off the SMG Rattle – a M60 mounted machine gun with added MFG AND programmable sound for added effect. A great bit of kit and extremely loud, so loud they could only demo it once an hour and could be heard back in the car park. They also showed off a prototype tracer unit built into a modified magazine. These looked sweet so let’s hope it isn’t long before we see these on sale.
Airsoft Expo highlights Video - © Airsoft Odyssey 2014
Infiltration Airsoft had some great gadgets and gizmo’s on display which all form part of their ‘airsoft experience’ events. They have exciting scenarios coveringe a wide range of missions and scenarios and members get an RFID card which can record details from in game objectives. One of the videos from Infiltration included a ‘meth lab’ setup which needed to be raided or controlled by players and players could scan their RFID cards to ‘prove’ access to various gaming areas. They had some great in-game props which added to the gaming experiences.
Gunman Innovations Airsoft had the scenario area in which they ran ‘Flying Lead’ a mash-up of Cowboys & Zombies in a kind of LARP (Live Action Role Playing) meets Airsoft setup. Each Cowboy was issued with a replica Colt .45 single action revolver whilst the poor Zombie villagers had their rubber pick-axes and shovels with which to defend their Beans & Vittels. Players had a great deal of fun throughout the weekend on this stand which was a credit to the hard work and effort put in by Mich & Helena.
The show did leave me questioning if airrsoft is big enough to support its own dedicated show and I came to the conclusion probably not at this time. Only with a tie-in with the larger ‘shooting fraternity’ will airsoft grow, at least until it gets the support of the foreign manufacturers as well. It’s always noticeable how the UK does seem to be a poor relation in this respect, we just don’t have the mass to attract the attention. We must also attract the wider ancillary services like, providers of action cameras, custom kit makers, target providers, boot sellers and even those experience companies providing live shooting events. Anything and everything airsofters could be interested in. Pricing also has to be a key factor both for tickets and stands especially for new events trying to establish a foot hold in a market place in order to attract and grow an event.
I do hope we see an Airsoft Expo 2015 – we need this for airsoft in the UK to help grow and encourage the sport.
Yosser says: From my perspective it was a grand day out, meeting and greeting airsofters and getting to chat and meet new groups and see some gear I hadn’t seen up close and in person before. I even got to meet a fan from Norway – lol. However I can understand the disappointment some airsofters felt at the event. It is difficult in UK to get retailers, and players to support a BIG dedicated event. It just never seems to achieve the critical mass it needs. I do think a trick is being missed with the lack of tactical kit suppliers or the commitment from large distributors or manufacturers that other large events seem to attract outside of the UK, until that happens and until players themselves get behind and support such events maybe we’ll never get beyond niche?
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www.meridienneexhibitions.co.uk; Leading Exhibitions for Modellers and Hobbyists.
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