Guests met and
discussed in this review (with the franchise(s) I most associate them with
personally) :-
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Comic Con Wales was the 3rd iteration of its kind under "Monopoly Events" and the 3rd one I've attended. It has become something of a favourite of mine on my busy convention calendar as unlike most events I go to, Comic Con Wales is close to home, just 40 minutes away in Newport. What a result! After recent events in Liverpool (3 hours), Telford (90 mins), Manchester (3 hours), Nottingham (2 hours), and East London (3 hours), it's nice to be able to get out of bed at a reasonable hour, unlike the 4:30am alarm I have set for this coming Saturday for Monopoly's "For The Love Of Fantasy" event. I'm a morning person and 4:30am is even a little early for me...
Comic Con Wales took place over the weekend of the 10th and 11th of August at the beautiful International Convention Centre, which feels like it was custom-built for Comic Cons in a lot of ways. Not only is the venue modern, it's pretty big. Monopoly utilise the space well, with most of the merchandise stalls, guests, and Q&A panels on the ground floor, some of the guests, a handful of merch stalls, the gaming area, and photo areas A & B on the first floor, plus Jensen and Danneel Ackles on the second floor. Even at peak times during a legit sold-out Saturday it was still relatively easy to move around and not feel too claustraphobic.
As I've mentioned in a few recent reviews, Monopoly have lived up to their name and basically taken over the U.K. Comic Con scene. While companies like Showmasters, MCM, MegaCon, and Wales Comic Con (not to be confused with Monopoly's "Comic Con Wales") are still around, they're not the powerhouses they once were. A lot of the foot traffic seems to be turning to Monopoly instead. I believe this is for a few reasons: firstly, Monopoly's customer service is excellent. They reply quickly, they refund quickly, and they communicate well. Secondly, their marketing strategy is brilliant. They promote their shows and cross-promote across their social media channels. Thirdly, their guest line-ups are pretty spectacular. Fourthly, they are very, very well organised events. I've been to twelve or thirteen Monopoly cons now and every single one of them has ran on time, smoothly, and without much stress or fuss to get everything done. Plus, all guests have two (or more for headliners) photo sessions per day, not the industry standard one. This allows attendees a much more flexible schedule. Wanna show up at midday and still get your photos? Wanna show up as doors are opening and be finished by 1pm? Both are likely possible. This excellent scheduling is probably my favourite thing about Monopoly. It is so helpful to people that have a lot to do. The only two downsides I can think of are that the entry prices and guest prices are typically higher than the U.K. average - although there are a lot of extra things included in the entry price, such as custom-made props - and that the professional studio photo quality can be hit-and-miss, especially when compared to the unmatched Photo Co. team that have been taking the "Wales Comic Con" photos for many years.
For this particular con my schedule wasn't too taxing: 1 autograph from Laz Alonso, 6 photos (Jensen Ackles, Danneel Ackles, Kurt Fuller, Samantha Smith, Laz Alonso, and Brandon Routh). The rest of the day would be dedicated to checking out the merchandise stalls and vendors.
We arrived in Newport just before doors opened at 09:00am and were inside the venue by just after 09:00am. No fuss, no problems. The roads were clear, the parking is right by the venue, and the entry queue was well organised and moved swiftly. I decided to get Jensen's photo first at 10:00am so that the biggest queue of the day would be out of the way. I was at this particular con with my Wife, Susie, and my friend Hayley, who is Jensen obsessed. I queued for Jensen's photo with Hayley, who frequently looked like she was going to pass out...a lot of females in the queue did. At one point I started fanning 10 or so females around me...that's not a joke. When I got to the front of the queue, the Comic Con Gods were smilng down on me once again - the photographer wanted to adjust something and Jensen wanted to move the fan around as it was warm so I got some extra time to talk to Jensen while this was all sorted. As the fan was turned to face us, myself and Jensen joked about going for the windswept look. What an amazing start to the day! I always seem to get great luck at cons. For example, the camera broke for 5 minutes when I first met Alyson Hannigan so I chatted to her for ages.
One extra amusement at Jensen's photo was that Mark Sheppard was there giving attendees their bags back after their photo with Jensen was taken...I can only assume he came up to the second floor to say hi to Jensen and Danneel then got involved in his usual hijinks. After my photo with Jensen, Mark was looking at some of the prints I'd brought from home to get signed. When I approached him he said, "There are none of me in here, Shane, get out!" Amazing.
After Jensen's photo we had an hour or so to kill so we perused the stalls and I picked up some new prints :-
We then drifted over to Laz's autograph table to add his auto to my poster of "The Boys".
Laz Alonso: Laz was very pleasant to meet. I'm going to give him bonus points because he was actually quite sick - to the point he cancelled his appearance for Sunday. His face did look pained, but his personality didn't show any hint of being under the weather. He was talkative, engaging, and seemed genuinely appreciative of being there and giving back to the fans. Guest Type = Responder.
What's a "responder", I hear you ask...
Many years ago, after attending numerous conventions, I devised a system whereby to categorise my experiences with guests and their level of interaction in order to compare the quality of my experiences across conventions and time. I have O.C.D., shut up. The following three types were found :-
· The Responder: This type of guest is often polite and friendly. If you ask them a question, they’ll happily answer. If you comment on something, they’ll respond or smile gratefully. However, they won’t carry the conversation forward, you have to. These are the most common type of guest, and this is what you expect when meeting someone at a convention. This is a great category to be a part of.
· The Groucho/Big Guest: There are two aspects to this category. Firstly, you have the groucho. The groucho is there for monetary purposes or is generally just having a bad day, or is a bit of an ass. If you meet enough people, one of them is bound to be an ass! The grouchos aren’t interested in conversations above a few words. They’ll say ‘hi’ (sometimes they don’t bother with that), sign, say ‘bye’ (sometimes), and you’re on your merry way. Of course, in certain situations this is relevant and expected, which brings me to the second part of this category, the ‘big guest’. Some guests are going to be insanely popular. Such as Stan Lee at LFCC ‘14, who had an entire building to himself basically. When you get a huge queue like that, the guest can’t take a lot of time with everyone. If they did, many people would go home disappointed at not getting to meet them at all. Therefore, the convention company and the guest want to get through as many people as possible. You cannot have a huge guest and expect to get above 30 seconds with them, which is perfectly fair.
· The Conversationalist: This is easily my favourite type of guest. They’ll answer your questions with a smile, ask you questions in return, and are happy to chat for an extended period of time (extended = above 2-3 minutes), regardless of where the conversation leads or how long you’ve been talking. Obviously, there has to be some cut-off point if there is a queue behind you, but you leave the experience feeling euphoric and like you gained a lot more than just the autograph you queued for.
Historically on my reviews I’d write down everything that was said at the autograph table. I’m not going to do that anymore as I feel it’s personal between myself and the guest. What I will do is give a few little notes and the category.
Another thing I really appreciate about Monopoly is how much time and energy goes into little extras for the attendees. Not just the typical vehicle replicas, Daleks, and the like, but handmade replica props for free photo opportunities. For instance, as Giancarlo Esposito was there (Gus Fring from "Breaking Bad"), his autograph table wasn't a regular table, it was a replica of the Los Pollos Hermanos set. Therefore if you wanted a selfie with Giancarlo it was done with Los Pollos Hermanos as the backdrop. How cool is that?!
After Laz's autograph it was time for three photos back-to-back-to-back: Laz himself first, then Brandon Routh, then Samantha Smith. Like Jensen, I'd met Brandon and Samantha before, but Laz, Danneel, and Kurt Fuller were new to me. Brandon was as charming and polite as ever, Samantha was as wonderful as ever, and Laz was just as cool as at his autograph table.
There were now just two things left to do: Danneel's photo and Kurt's photo. As Jensen and Danneel were sharing the second floor for their autographs and photographs, the room had to be changed over a few times to switch between autos and photos. When it was time for my photo with Danneel they were in the midst of a change: Danneel's photo was just after a Jensen autograph signing and just before another one. Therefore, when myself and a handful of others joined Danneel for the photo session, we got to chat to her while everything was getting setup. Another win! As I said earlier, I'd never met Danneel before and she was genuinely delightful. What a lovely human! Kurt Fuller was equally lovely. All six guests were awesome actually. Plus, I watched some of the engagements that Giancarlo and Sean Astin had with their fans at their autograph tables and they were both really engaging as well. I've met Sean and Giancarlo a few times before so didn't need to get anything, but they are two "headline" guests that deserve a particular shout-out for being so engaging with their fans. John Barrowman - who was also there - too. Not a dud in this bunch.
At this point it was just after 4:00pm. Everything was ticked off of the list. It was time to go home. If you've never been to a "Comic Con Wales", I'd highly recommend it. The venue is awesome, the line-up is always brilliant, and it is a very well organised event. Monopoly are definitely the company to beat right now and they seem to be going from strength-to-strength so I don't expect that to change any time soon. I thing it's pretty safe to say I'll be back next year. In the interim, I've got Monopoly's "For The Love Of Fantasy" this coming Saturday, so I'll see you there. "Comic Con Wales" was the best Monopoly con of the year so far for me, so FTLOF has a lot to live up to. As it contains the twenty-seven-years-in-the-making and fourth-time-is-the-charm duo photo with James Marsters and Juliet Landau, I'm expecting it to be incredible.
- Your friendly, neighbourhood Shangel
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