San Tan Valley, AZ
Expo was good this year, but the excitement was not as high as last year to me. With not a lot of “New” in the NIB catagory, with minor reveals by CGC, JJP, and Stern, there just didnt seem to be as much anticipation or FOMO anxiety as there was last year. I had a blast flipping the machines I had not yet flipped, seeing machines I have never seen before, and playing the ones that were working. I stepped up to the Scared Stiff they had sitting with the other two Elvira machines next to her signing booth and proceeded to rip it up and took it all the way to Scared Stiff and Monster Multiball. That felt phucking fantastic... put up a high score. I have to say, whoever owned that SS, it was spot on working all the way...
The new BKSoR with topper is just a wonderful sight to watch... and play. I played that machine too in the Marco room, put up the GC late Friday afternoon. My brother and I agree, we both like the topper, the game, and we now are scheming to get one without the wives finding out...
Finally flipped a Wonka... fun flipper, but not an immersive Willy movie experience. Feels like playing an adult redemption game in a way, or maybe it plays more like a slot machine... 
There were a lot of vendors, but there were obvious missing ones too. A lot less tempted my wallet this year as compared to last year.
I went to TPF last spring and comparing the two, the concensus between the wife and I is this show was good, but it could have been better, and TPF seemed like a better experience this year than Expo, but this was our first year at TPF and our umpteenth Expo, so our experience is somewhat limited to campare the two.
Brought home a video TV mod for my Family Guy, but not much else. Saw some things that would have been great, but sadly when you fly to Chicago, bringing back a set of Bar stools is out of the question.
Lots of good fun was had by all...
As far as any real complaints, or contrasts, I will say this-
The people running TPF seem more keen on the fact that a lot of us pinheads are really fat bastards, and so their offerings for T-shirts and hoodies and wearable merch included sizes appropriate for us said fat bastards.
I was able to get both a T-shirt and a zip up hoodie from TPF in a 5xl mens size. They had every size up to 6xl in most styles, even after the first day of the show.
Expo had the max size of 3xl, but they sold out of the 3xl hoodies before they even opened the registration desk to sell them, they only had 2xl hoodies left when they opened. After watching the show all weekend and by simple observation, I saw the bulk of those 3xl hoodies went to staff and the inner circle, because not too many oversized regular folk were wearing them, but boy the oversized staff sure seem well outfitted... but this is moot since a 3xl would look like a extra small on me. The people doing the shirt and hoodie merch for Expo ought to ask TPF for some pointers, like preordering your shirts and hoodies in the right size when we preregister for a start.
Ok, that was my big gripe... everything else was pretty dope.
