• Austin St. John (Jason from “Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers”)
• Peter Davison (5th Doctor from “Doctor Who”)
• Sylvester McCoy (7th Doctor from “Doctor Who”)
• Neve McIntosh (Madame Vastra from “Doctor Who”)
• Catrin Stewart (Jenny from “Doctor Who”)
• Shaun Parkes (Zachary Cross Flane from “Doctor Who”)
• David Bradley (Walder Frey from “Game Of Thrones” and Argus Filch from
“Harry Potter”)
• Joe Altin (Pyp from “Game Of Thrones”)
• Ian Beattie (Ser Meryn Trant from “Game Of Thrones”)
• Dominic Carter (Janos Slynt from “Game Of Thrones”)
• Hannah Waddingham (Septa Unella from “Game Of Thrones”)
• Lew Temple (Axel from “The Walking Dead”)
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With that being said, let’s dive in...
Two days removed from my first ever appearance at “Em-Con” (that’s “East
Midlands Con”), I’m ready to sit down, gather my thoughts, and explore the
wonderful, wacky day I had. “Em-Con” took place over the weekend of the 30th
of April and the 1st of May (I was there on May 1st only),
in the wonderful Motorpoint Arena, Nottingham. This was my first time at
“Em-Con”, my first time at the Motorpoint Arena, and I believe my first time in
Nottingham as well, so everything was shiny and new, which is an interesting
comparison to last weekend’s “Wales Comic Con”, where everything was familiar
and held previous memories. This was Lee and the Em-Con team’s third version of
the event, so I went in with high expectations, but also expecting some
teething issues. Obviously, companies such as “Showmasters”, “MCM”, and even
“Wales Comic Con” have been doing this a long time, so they’ve had years and
years to tweak their system and listen to attendee feedback. The line-up for
the event was surprisingly stacked for a company that’s been around for such a
short time and consisted of big names such as Walter Koenig, Austin St. John,
David Bradley, and former ‘The Doctor’ actors, Peter Davison and Sylvester
McCoy. Walter and Austin were particularly big wins for Em-Con as both are
quite rare guests...and I imagine come with quite a hefty price tag too.
As predicted, Em-Con was a great event and I had a lot of fun,
especially with the guest interactions, but it did have some teething issues,
which I’ll get out of the way now so that we can enjoy the more positive
aspects of the convention for the rest of the review. Firstly, oh good Lord,
the selfie charges. I know that selfie charges are creeping into conventions all
around the United Kingdom right now (curse you, America!), so it’s something
that we’re all going to have to deal with, but they’re a right pain in the
fucking ass. If you’re meeting 10 people and all are now charging £5 for
selfies, that’s an extra £50 on top of what you’d have been paying a couple of
years ago. I absolutely understand and agree with selfie charges if an attendee
approaches the guest and wants a selfie without actually paying for anything,
as that’s quite cheeky and the guests need to make money, but I feel that if
you’re paying for an autograph already, a quick three-second picture shouldn’t
come with an additional charge too. It just comes across as greedy. If I must pay for a selfie, I think £5 should
be the maximum amount charged. It’s not a professional, studio quality picture
you’re getting; it’s not taking up a lot of the guest’s time. It’s a swift snap
with a mobile phone. For instance, Peter Davison (who is a bigger name) was
charging £10 for a selfie, or £5 if you were getting an autograph as well (it’s
called a ‘combo’ package). That seems fair to me, even though I dislike selfie
charges on principle. However, when someone (*cough* Austin St. John *cough*)
is charging £30 for a damn selfie, something is clearly wrong with
the system. For those keeping track, a selfie with Austin St. John cost the
same amount as a professional studio photo. That’s simply ridiculous. Why would
anyone even bother getting a selfie for that price? That’s greedy, and quite
frankly disrespectful to your fans that could have travelled hundreds of miles
and already spent a lot of money just to get to you. If you are going to charge
£5 for a selfie, be like Joe Altin. He came around the desk to take the selfie
(so that you’re stood next to each other instead of leaning over a desk), he
was appreciative, and he checked that the picture turned out well. To put it
simply, he cared. More on that later.
Secondly, communication. I’m talking about a very specific example here,
as overall I think Em-Con’s communication was good, but there’s certainly room
for improvement. Case in point: Miltos Yerolemou. Now, I know Miltos a little
personally, and he’s one of the most friendly, energetic, passionate men I’ve
met. Just a sweetheart of a man. Miltos was scheduled to attend “Wales Comic
Con” and “Em-Con”, but had to pull out of both after being cast in “King Lear”
in Manchester. That was in February. While Miltos didn’t cancel straight away
as he was trying to arrange his schedule and see if it was possible, he did
give both conventions a couple of weeks notice that he wouldn’t be attending (I
won’t reveal my source, but it’s as reliable as it gets). “Wales Comic Con”
announced Miltos’ cancellation, Em-Con never did. They still haven’t, actually.
I had friends that travelled 200 miles just to meet Miltos, only to arrive at
the venue on Saturday morning and be told that Miltos wasn’t there. You need to communicate cancellations with
your attendees. To be fair to Em-Con, I believe they communicated every other
cancellation as swiftly as they could, but you need a 100% success record with
situations such as this. People had paid for studio photos, people had paid for
‘water dancing’ classes (read: sword fighting), and were showing up expecting
Miltos to be there. That’s unacceptable.
Finally, studio photos. Well, this might not be a
problem yet, I’ll have to wait until the downloadable .jpeg versions are ready
before knowing for sure. Basically, I had five professional studio photos at
Em-Con. Two in photo area A and three in photo area B. The three from photo
area B turned out perfectly. The two from photo area A are dreadful. As in I’ve
never seen worse studio photos in my life dreadful. While the photo area B ones
are well-lit, perfectly in focus, and everything you’d expect from a photo that
cost you £10-£30, the ones from photo area A are dark, the contrast is all off,
and they’re blurry. Now, I’m not going to get too annoyed about this yet, as
this could be an issue with the printer, not the photo. I’ve bought high
quality .jpeg versions of my photos before and printed them through Tesco or
Asda, only for them to be delivered darker and blurrier than the ones that were
printed for me at the event. If this is a printer issue, I can live with it as
the high quality .jpegs are free at Em-Con after the event, which is a big plus
for them as they usually cost £4-£5 each elsewhere. If this is a photo issue,
it’s nowhere near good enough and I will be asking for a partial refund on both
that were taken in photo area A because my
camera phone pictures are a significantly better quality. I’ll keep you updated
once the .jpegs are available.
Now, let’s look at the positives instead, as there
certainly are some! Firstly, the crew were all terrific. All the
photoshoots I attended ran on time, which is very, very rare at conventions. In
fact, it’s so common for things to be running late, it has its own name, ‘Con
Time’. ‘Con Time’ runs 15 minutes behind regular time. I’ve attended over 60
conventions in my life, and I can count on one hand the events where everything
started more or less at the allotted time. Kudos to Em-Con for this. It makes
planning your day a lot easier. I have O.C.D., and I plan things down to
the letter. I create a detailed plan for myself for every convention, which is
broken down into 15-minute intervals. I know what time everyone’s photoshoot
is, even if I’m not getting one. I know what time all the talk panels are, even
if I’m not attending. This is simply to know when the guests I want will be away
from their autograph table (barring their lunch break). If one photoshoot
starts 20 minutes late, it has a domino effect. Sometimes a very stressful one.
I cannot overstate how important it is for things to run on time if you have a
lot of people to meet, which I inevitably always seem to. In addition, it was
clear that Lee and the team tried really hard to make the event as great as
they possibly could. They brought in numerous Daleks, Cybermen, a zombie cage
(with live actors playing zombies), the Impala from “Supernatural”, a TARDIS,
many other vehicles, many other displays and photo opportunities, most (or
all?) of which were free. Let’s not lie here. Em-Con don’t have the budget of a
Showmasters or MCM. They can’t bring over Michael J. Fox or Sigourney Weaver.
So they’re clearly trying to make the show as great and unique as possible in
other ways, which is nice to see. You don’t need to bring in Michael J. Fox as
long as you’ve got some decent guests and are trying as hard as you possibly
can. That’s the most any attendee can ask for. For a third-time event, it was
impressive.
Furthermore, the Motorpoint Arena is a great venue. It’s big, but not
too big. There’s plenty of space to move around without being squished, there’s
a nice, wide aisle way in the middle of the main hall, and you can stretch your
arms without knocking into people. I’m not used to many conventions where it
doesn’t feel like a cattle market, so this was a pleasant change of pace. The
entry queues were also fantastic.
Doors opened promptly at 10am, as scheduled, and we were through and in to the
venue within 60 seconds. Very, very impressive. I’ve mentioned before that the
crew were fantastic, but a particularly large shout-out has to be given to a
few people. Firstly, to the relatively short man with glasses running around
the photo areas, you were terrific. Funny, relaxed, and organised. The crew
member with Joe Altin was also great, as was the crew member with Dominic
Carter. I’m usually running around at conventions so much that I barely
register individual crew members unless I know them already, but all three of
these stood out as particularly lovely or efficient. However, as I’ve said
before, every crew member was terrific at this event. Not a rude or incompetent
person in the bunch.
There was clearly more good than bad here, but it’s my duty to offer
constructive criticism where I feel it needs to be addressed, so I hope the
communication issues can be addressed for the future. The selfie charges is
usually down to the guest, not the convention organisers, so that’s more aimed
at the convention scene as a whole, and the photo quality issue might not be an
issue, so time will tell with that one. Overall, from an organisation and
efficiency standpoint, Em-Con did well. Especially for a company still in their
relative infancy.
So, let’s get into the actual play-by-play of the day, shall we? Yes,
that’s right, all the above was just the introduction. To my faithful readers,
what did you expect? To my new readers, when I say ‘detailed review’ in the
title, I mean it. I offer you energy drinks and cookies to keep you alert for
the remainder of the review.
My friends Clare, Kim, and I departed a surprisingly crisp Gloucestershire
at 7am on Sunday morning, ready to arrive at the Motorpoint Arena at just after
9am. In a shocking and unexpected turn of events, everything went to schedule!
What kind of bizarro world have I entered here?! We left pretty much on time,
we got there pretty much on time, and we were in the entry queue right around
the time I wanted to be...someone pinch me? I have insomnia, so I can’t be
dreaming...hallucinating, perhaps? We queued, we entered. I’m sure you’re aware
of how these things work. After getting inside the venue, the first thing I did
was head over to the photo tickets area to buy my studio photo with Neve
McIntosh, who seemed too rare and too lovely to pass up the opportunity. I saw
the merchandise kiosk next to the photo sales area, so made a mental note to
collect my gold pass perks a little later in the day (a pen, an Em-Con art
print, etc). Later in the day, of course, I forgot. I never did collect them.
Shangel, you’re a fucking moron. Should have got them then. Really should have
got them then. In my defence, I was too excited to enter the main hall and
start meeting the guests.
My itinerary for the day was relatively easy compared to the chaotic
schedule I’d written for myself the previous weekend for “Wales Comic Con”.
This was partially because I had a gold ticket for Em-Con and could therefore
queue jump in the photoshoots and partially because “Wales Comic Con” had
double the attendees and therefore double the queue lengths for the guests. I
had five studio photos to get through – “Game Of Thrones” group photo, Joe
Altin, David Bradley, Austin St. John, and Neve McIntosh, in addition to twelve
autographs to get through – Austin St. John, David Bradley, Peter Davison,
Sylvester McCoy, Lew Temple, Shaun Parkes, Neve McIntosh, Catrin Stewart, Joe
Altin, Dominic Carter, Ian Beattie, and Hannah Waddingham. With a gold pass and
seven hours, I was fairly comfortable with my goals. This event was
particularly odd for me in that my usual photographers, Hannah and/or John,
were both unavailable for this event. My substitute photographer, Dom, pulled
out 12 hours before departure. This left me with nobody to take my pictures
with the guests at the autograph tables, barring the crew members. Thankfully,
as I was travelling up with my friends Clare and Kim, Clare graciously offered
to take them for me between various autographs and merchandise hunting of her
own. That was one stress out of the way! As I intended to meet Austin and David
first, and didn’t need selfies with either of them, Clare and Kim went off
merchandise hunting, while I looked for David Bradley and Austin St. John.
Austin wasn’t at his autograph table yet, but David was. Just as I was thinking
of a plan of action for meeting David, I spotted my friend Gareth, so chatted
to him for a while before queuing up to meet David. Now, Gareth and David have
a unique bond anyway, as Gareth had a studio photo taken with David years ago
that went viral. The “Game Of Thrones” fans amongst you will recognise it as
the one where Gareth and David are looking at a copy of ‘Wedding Planning For
Dummies’. It’s hilarious and totally unique...or was #CopycatConning.
David Bradley:
Where to start with David. For a ‘bigger guest’, David is very talkative. As
far as I could see, David was the only guest all day who had a big queue from
opening until an hour or so before closing. He’s played an important role in
three separate, huge fandoms (“Game Of Thrones”, “Doctor Who”, “Harry Potter”),
so it’s no wonder he’s a popular guest. Yet, he still takes the time to talk to
you. Ironically, my longest conversation with David took place later in the day
(more on that then), but this one was still decent. I always take a little
while to warm up at conventions, so the first guest I meet is always a touch
more awkward than the rest, but David was a great first choice because he’s
already such a talkative and friendly man that it puts you at ease. David
confirmed to me that “Game Of Thrones” has overtaken “Harry Potter” as the
fandom which he gets recognised for the most and the one which people talk to
him about the most. Gotta be honest, I thought “Harry Potter” would still be
ahead at the moment, but that’s not the case. I guess it’s because Walder Frey
played such a huge part in arguably the biggest moment in the show’s
history thus far, the Red Wedding. Before the convention, David was confirmed
by HBO as returning for season six, so I told him that I was excited to see him
back and see what the show has in store for him, especially as the show and the
books are basically up to the same point now. This is where David may have,
accidentally, let out a little spoiler. It’s not really a spoiler, but
if you don’t want to know anything at all, skip this bold section – *mild
spoiler warning* David said it was great to be back in the same set with
pretty much all the same people as when he was last in the show a few years
ago. However, he did say that there was someone new working with him, who he
wasn’t expecting to be there. My personal speculation is Jaime, as the show
might do Jaime’s Riverlands arc from the books *end of mild spoilers*.
Also my personal speculation, but I’m expecting Walder Frey to get
killed off this season...perhaps that’s just wishful thinking on my part, but
it’s about time someone offed that foul, loathsome little cockroach. We talked
about “Game Of Thrones” and “Harry Potter” for a while longer before I drew
attention to Gareth and David remembered the photoshoot that the two took
together. As a threesome (...I just had strange mental images as I typed
that...), we discussed the wonderful world of Twitter, viral photoshoots, and
chatted a little more casually, before myself and Gareth both thanked David,
shook his hand, and departed. Still one of my favourite guests ever. If you get
the opportunity to meet David, do yourself a favour and go for it. Guest type = Conversationalist.
*Goes to copy and paste my explanation from other
reviews*
“But Shangel, you’re speaking in riddles! What the feck is a
‘responder’?”
I’m glad you asked, random voice in my head.
A few years back, after attending many 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 a minute 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.
Feel free to let
me know your experiences with guests in the comments! You can even borrow my
categories to label them, like jars on a shelf.
With David met,
myself and Gareth headed over to say “hi” to Dan, a friend of ours who happens
to be the agent for a number of guests, including Ian Beattie and Andrew Lee
Potts from this particular convention. You can find the Facebook page for his guests
and their apperances here. I still need to
meet Ben Hawkey and Fintan McKeown, bud! Get them to Cardiff, Wrexham, or LFCC!
Dan even managed to add Dominic Carter and Hannah Waddingham to his growing
list of “Game Of Thrones” actors. More on those lovely people later. Check out
the page, like the page, and keep your eyes peeled for when his clients will be
attending a convention near you in the future.
Austin St. John: While Gareth chatted to Hannah Waddingham, I
headed back over to Austin’s autograph table, where he was now sat, looking
relaxed and flirting with his crew member. Now, while Austin was perfectly nice
and talked for a couple of minutes, this was the only guest I met all day that
was a bit of a letdown. What you must keep in mind is that I was a huge “Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers”
fan. MMPR, Star Wars, and wrestling all entered my life right around the same
time when I was very young, but I believe that MMPR just about beat the other
two. Therefore, Jason from MMPR was my first ever hero in life. As a three or
four year old child, I wanted to be Jason. Incidentally, the Pink Ranger,
Kimberley, was my first ever crush in life. Me and a whole generation of people.
Austin was a friendly guy, but it was clear that he was there for monetary
purposes. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure most of the guests are to some extent,
but they at least try to hide it a little better. £30 for a selfie? C’mon,
dude. So, we chatted about MMPR, we chatted about conventions allowing Austin
to stay in touch with people from the show, even 20 years later. We discussed
the imminent movie reboot, and Austin joked that it would have been harder to
concentrate on set if Rita was played by Elizabath Banks in the original
television show. We also discussed the adult mini-sode with Katee Sackhoff and
James Van Der Beek, “Power/Rangers”, which Austin wasn’t such a fan of. He
thought that it was very well acted and technically looked brilliant, but he
thought that it wasn’t the message that the Power Rangers was all about, and
wasn’t a fan of Zack, the Black Ranger, being a drug addict – “a bit too
stereotypical”. Ironically, Austin’s views perfectly mirrored those of Jason
David Frank, the original Green/White Ranger and his arch nemesis. I asked
Austin why he took 15 years out of acting to become a paramedic, and the
conversation took an unexpectedly dark, intense turn, as Austin started talking
about 70% of the people he tried to save dying, talking about obese people, and
talking about transitioning from a fictional hero to trying to be a real one.
It was very admirable of him to do that, so big kudos to Austin! The
conversation we did have was pleasant enough, I just got the vibe from him that
he was more interested in flirting and making money than he was meeting his
fans. I could be wrong, but that’s how I felt. Austin asked if I wanted a
selfie before I left. I explained that I didn’t need one, as I had a
professional photo – for the same price – later in the day. £30? For a selfie?
A-no, thank you. Guest type = Responder.
Next up, two
former versions of ‘The Doctor’, Peter Davison and Sylvester McCoy. I met up
with Clare and Kim again, as Clare also wanted to meet them both, before
heading over to Peter Davison.
Peter Davison: I actually had a studio
photo with Peter, Sylvester, and Jemma Redgrave a week earlier at “Wales Comic
Con”, but didn’t have time to get Peter and Sylvester’s autographs (I got
Jemma’s though!). As I knew that Peter and Sylvester were both at Em-Con the following
weekend, their autographs went to the back of my priority list. I have a
confession to make. When it comes to the classic “Doctor Who” episodes, Peter
was my favourite. That’s right, it wasn’t Tom Baker. It was Peter. While I
greatly prefer the revived version of the show from 2005 onwards, I do have
some affection for classic “Doctor Who” as well. After talking about classic
Who for a while, we started discussing “The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot”, which is
a 30-minute comedy starring Peter, Sylvester, and Colin Baker, revolving around
the three former Doctors trying to get into the 50th anniversary
special. Peter wrote the whole thing and it’s absolutely hilarious. There are
so many cameos from “Doctor Who” actors and production staff, so many laugh out
loud moments...I urge you to check it out right after finishing this review.
Even if you’re not a Whovian you’ll get a kick out of it. If you are a Whovian,
you’ll appreciate it anyway.
I can confirm that
Peter is mulling over the ideas for a sequel, but is undecided at this present
time. I hope he gets around to making another one! We also discussed
conventions as a whole, as Peter gets to hang out with Sylvester, Colin Baker,
and other “Doctor Who” actors that he might not be able to without them. His
daughter, Georgia Moffett, was in Doctor Who’s “The Doctor’s Daughter”, and
played a cloned daughter of the 10th Doctor’s. The 10th Doctor was, of course,
David Tennant, who Georgia went on to marry. That’s right, people. The 5th
Doctor’s real life daughter married the 10th Doctor, who played her father in
the show. Furthermore, Peter (real surname ‘Moffett’) told me that his son is
good friends with Steven Moffat’s son. I swear, “Doctor Who” is one big
incestuous family. I love it. I grabbed a picture with Peter at the autograph
table, which only cost £5 as I bought an autograph. Totally worth the money,
and a lovely conversation to boot. Guest type = Responder.
Sylvester McCoy: Mad as a hatter.
Lovely, hilarious, friendly, but undeniably mad. Later in the day, I saw him
chasing a little girl around the venue who’d ran away with his walking stick. I
should probably clarify, chasing in a funny way, not a “get back here, you little
shit!” way. I started our conversation by talking about “An Evening With Sylveste McCoy”, which was a play he used to perform many years ago, which
involved stunts, such as setting his head on fire and putting nails up his
nose...charming, no? Tell me that’s not loveable family entertainment!
Sylvester talked about the show’s existence and what it was like performing dangerous stunts in
front of people in a live crowd setting. Some of the clips are on YouTube if
you wish to check them out. Then, of course, we talked about “Doctor Who” and
“The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot”. In many ways it echoed my conversation with
Peter, as they have such similar franchise experiences and I’ve always seen
them around together. Just like Peter before him, Sylvester was talkative,
friendly, and remained standing for our entire conversation, choosing to sign
the 8” x 10” on top of his suitcase, which he was using as a makeshift table on
top of his autograph table. I don’t know if he simply prefers standing or if he
wants to be eye-level with his fans, but it was a nice touch. I also grabbed a
quick picture with him at the autograph table for £5. Also totally worth it.
You can tell that Sylvester is a convention expert, as he gets the photographer
to give him a countdown to when the picture will be taken. That way he can make
sure he’s laughing at the exact right moment. The picture turned out great. A
seasoned old pro and a right laugh as well. Guest type = Responder.
By this point, it
was approaching midday, so I headed over to the photoshoot area (photo areas
‘A’ and ‘B’ are right next to each other, which is convenient), ready for four
back-to-back photos. One thing I loved about Em-Con is that Lee created a very
detailed layout map for attendees, which made finding things very, very easy.
Have a look...
Pretty cool,
right? Everything you can think of is right there in front of you.
When it comes to
photoshoots, there’s not much to say. They’re a very simple process. You queue,
you get to the front, you say “hi”, smile, the photo is taken, you thank the
guest, you leave. Nice, easy, relaxed, organised...usually, anyway. The first
surprise of the day came during my first photoshoot, with Joe Altin. I believe
I was the first person in Joe’s photoshoot and when Joe saw me, he recognised
me, even though we’ve never met! That was awesome. Due to there being 15
minutes for photoshoots (some more than that), I had some time to chat with Joe
before the picture was taken. I instantly liked Joe very much because of how humble,
friendly, and appreciative he was. He’ll shake your hand, hug you, thank you,
and acts more like a mate than a ‘celebrity’. Total legend of a man, and one of
my favourite guests I’ve ever met. We talked about our string of bad luck in
meeting each other so far, with Joe having to cancel a “Wales Comic Con” event
before, while I missed “Destiny Rides Again” last December. More on Joe later.
The photo was taken, it turned out great, and I rejoined the same photo area
queue as David Bradley was right after Joe. David’s started just a little later
than expected because David needed a quick break, but everything was done and
dusted before the allotted time was up. Another great photo! It actually turned
out better than the photo I had with David at “LFCC” last summer. It’s my new
favourite photo with David of the three I have. Once again, I rejoined the back
of the same queue straight away as right after David was the “Game Of Thrones”
group photo with Joe, David, Ian Beattie, Hannah Waddingham, and Dominic
Carter. I had a little joke with Ian before the photo was taken, then it was
time to bounce straight across to photo area A for my photo with Austin St.
John. Once again, everything started on time, and it was a very easy, quick
process. Em-Con, like most independent convention companies in the United
Kingdom, doesn’t have instant photo printing. It takes an hour or so for them
to be developed and then you collect them later in the day. Gareth collected
his Hannah Waddingham and “Game Of Thrones” group photos a little while later,
we said goodbye, and he departed for the day. Meanwhile, I re-met up with Clare
and Kim so that I could get the rest of my autographs done. For those of you
keeping track, I had eight autographs left to get before my final photoshoot
with Neve at 3:45pm. That gave me about two and a half hours to get the
autographs done. No worries!...Right? Neve, not at her desk. Catrin, not at her
desk. All 4 of the “Game Of Thrones” guests, not at their desks. Lew, not at
his desk. This could get problematic. No worries, Shaun Parkes is there!
Shaun Parkes: I’d briefly walked past Shaun a little earlier in
the day and he yelled “Alright mate! How’re you doing?!”, as he remembered me
from our meeting the previous weekend. I told him that I’d come over and say
“hi” later. Shaun is probably the easiest guest to talk to that I’ve met. An
argument could be made for a few others, Joe Altin included, but Shaun is
definitely near the top of the list. He can talk for England, he’s always
laughing and smiling, and he’s an absolute joy to be around. Hilariously, as
we’d talked so much about his career the previous weekend, we had more general
conversations, and covered topics such as sci-fi shows, conventions,
superheroes, “The Walking Dead”, Andrew Lincoln (Shaun went to drama school
with him), David Tennant, Matt Smith, James Bond, fashion, and selfie charges.
It was probably my longest conversation of the day and must have lasted a good
10-15 minutes. Plus, Shaun is only a £10 guest and doesn’t charge for selfies
if you’re getting an autograph. Go and meet him. He does a couple of
conventions a year, and you should all meet him. You won’t be disappointed.
Plus, he covers so many fandoms and has worked with pretty much everyone, so
he’s full of interesting trivia facts and stories. Grabbed a pic with him too! Guest Type = Conversationalist. One of
the best guests to meet on the circuit, bar none.
Joe Altin: By the time I’d finished talking to Shaun, Joe was
back at his autograph table. I saw signs up for Dominic, Hannah, and Ian saying
that they’d all be back from lunch at 1:30pm, so I thought it’d give me a good
conversation with Joe and by the time it was finished, the other “Game Of
Thrones” guests would be back and I could just work my way down the row. Joe is
mates with Lee, so Joe is obviously a big supporter of Em-Con and everything
that goes along side it. I must say, coming into the event, even though Austin
St. John was my first hero, the two people I was most excited to meet was Joe
and Neve McIntosh. I’m a huge fan of Pyp, Joe’s character from “Game Of
Thrones”, but even more so I’m a fan of Joe Altin the human being. Just from
the interactions I’ve had with him before this event and seeing his personality
shine through on social media, I could tell that Joe was going to be amazing.
He was. In addition to being effortlessly friendly and cool, Joe is
inspirational. He’s always posting about chasing your dreams, staying positive,
and being mentally strong. I take such inspiration from Joe on a weekly basis,
so it was truly magical to get to meet him face-to-face. While Joe was talking
to the family in front of me in the queue, I was sharing a joke with his crew
member. One of the children in the family recognised Joe but wasn’t sure what
from, so Joe was going through IMDB with the family to discover what it was.
Again, going the extra mile. When it was my turn, I chatted to Joe for a while
about “Game Of Thrones”, before Joe started writing on the 8” x 10”. After
writing a couple of sentences and signing it, he looked down at it, said he
didn’t like the layout, threw it away, and started again. Not many guests would
do that. Some barely care if the pen is working properly or half running out. I
was already impressed with Joe by this point, and we still had another five
minutes of conversation to go! We, of course, talked about Pyp’s graphic and
devastating death scene (Joe wasn’t called in advance, he found out about it
while filming something else. This echoes Mark Stanley (Grenn)’s comments from
November last year). Joe also told me the details about Grenn’s death that were
left out of the incredible Night’s Watch vs. Wildlings battle. In the show, you
see the giant charging at Grenn and the other Night’s Watchmen, then later you
see Jon discover Grenn’s body and the dead giant. What actually happened in
between those scenes was filmed and then cut from the episode...a fight
ensured, with Grenn eventually using his brain and stabbing the giant up
through the armpit, one of its weakest points. Eventually, Grenn killed Mag The
Mighty, only to have Mag fall on him while dying. That’s how Grenn died. He was
crushed to death by Mag The Mighty. GOD
DAMN IT! I’m such a huge Grenn and Pyp fan, in both the show and the books,
so it was tough to see them leave the show, especially as their book
counterparts are still alive at the present time. We also chatted about Joe
liking to play widely diverse characters as he can get bored playing the same
type of character over and over again.
Finally, I told
Joe how inspirational I found him as a human being. Joe told me that he never
had the opportunities to go to drama college like most other actors because he
came from a poor family. He had to work hard to get where he is now. I also
told Joe about coming from a poorer background, a Council house, etc., and that
I was just in the final stages of finishing my Master’s degree in psychology
and criminology. Ordinarily, that’s not something I’d bring up at an autograph
table as I don’t want to unintentionally come across as boastful, but sharing
that information with someone who’s been through a lot of similar experiences
to me felt normal and needed. It was a great conversation and extended beyond
the expected chit chat of the autograph table that can sometimes occur.
Absolutely wonderful human being! Definitely, definitely meet him if you get
the chance. Also got a picture with him at the autograph table too. One of the
most sincere, humble, nice people
I’ve ever met, and I’m not just talking about celebrities here, but everyone. Guest type = Conversationalist.
Ian Beattie: As Dominic and Hannah were busy with people, I
went over to say “hi” to Ian, who was at his table with a crew member and his
agent, Dan. Dan and Ian were wrapped in conversation about conventions and
trying to do some in the United States of America. After a little while, the
conversation became a three-way one, but I won’t go into specifics as it
involved other guests and people being evicted from the building. Anyway, by
this point, Ian knows me and I know him pretty well too. We’ve met a few times
before, we’ve had some long conversations, we’ve spoken on social media since
those things, and he’s a delightful human being. One of my favourite guests of
all-time and one of the ones which makes me laugh the most because he’s
genuinely bonkers. He’s hyperactive, quite loud, and swears. I can relate. I
was chatting away to Ian about “Game Of Thrones”, the coming season, what the
show has done for tourism and for Belfast as a larger whole, him missing being
part of the cast, especially at this time of the year, and him being an
international convention traveller now, before Ian started to sign the
autograph. The picture I chose was also Ian’s favourite one, and it was taken
by Helen Sloan, who’s employed by HBO to go around the “Game Of Thrones” sets
taking various still pictures to be used for publicity photos, etc. Ian was
talking about a particular picture she took of him that he’s been trying to get
a copy of for years, but Helen hasn’t had the time yet because she’d need to
search through thousands of pictures to find it. Ian is trying to convince
Helen to turn them into a book that fans can buy as all the photos will be
unique, most of which will never have been seen, and they’d make great pictures
to be autographed at conventions. I think it’s a brilliant idea! As Ian was
signing, he said, “You must have enough autographs of mine to make wallpaper
now?”. In actuality, this was my 4th, but the first one I ever got from Ian was
stolen as I was leaving “Wales Comic Con 2014 Part II”. It was the only thing
that was stolen. My bag was open, everything was there, except Ian’s autograph.
I can only assume that someone sneakily opened it and grabbed something at
random. After Ian signed the autograph, I was chatting to Dan, and I could see
Ian whispering to his crew member. I turned around to see that Ian had signed
another one for me for free, and he said, “That’s to replace the one that was
stolen, I felt responsible”. I. Love. Him. Furthermore, I grabbed two pics with him at the autograph table
– a normal one and one of him behind me in character as Ser Meryn. For those of
you keeping track, that’s 2x autographs and 2x selfies for the price of one
autograph (his selfies were free if you bought an autograph). Absolute legend
every time I meet him. If I’m ever going to a convention and he’s there, I will
always say “hi”. You should do so too. Guest
Type = Conversationalist.
Just a side note:
Every time I write a detailed review, I’m always repeatedly asked one question
– “Do you do all this from memory?!”. Excluding talk panel notes, yes, I do.
All my interactions with the guests, etc., is all from memory.
Dominic Carter: Dominic was a wildcard guest for me. He was a
last-minute replacement for another of my favourite guests, Ian McElhinney, who
portrayed Ser Barristan Selmy in the first five seasons of “Game Of Thrones”.
This gave me little time to research Dominic and think of some more unique
talking points, so coming into the event I knew little about him except his
work on “Game Of Thrones”. Thankfully, the ice had already been broken between
myself and Dominic, as I’d taken a picture of Gareth with Dominic a little earlier
in the day, which led to a mini-conversation before I had to dash to a
photoshoot. Therefore, talking to Dominic was so easy! He’s so much nicer than the snivelling douche-monkey he
played on “Game Of Thrones”, Janos Slynt. I mentioned to Dominic that I missed
him on the show because it’s hard to find such a convincing coward. Usually
villains are assholes, but they fight too. Janos was just unlikeable in every
way. He ran away from the Wildling battle and hid, he betrayed Ned Stark, and
he thoroughly deserved his neck massage from Jon Snow early in the fifth
season. Not long after Dominic was cast as Janos in the first season, he
received an email from George R. R. Martin himself telling him that he would be
killed off during the fourth season (if things got that far), but his character
was very important to the story. Therefore, even after Dominic left in the 2nd
season, he knew he’d be back in the 4th, which is nice for an actor, as
guaranteed future work is often hard to come by. It was a bonus for Dominic to
be in a couple of episodes of the 5th season, as he was expecting to go
chop-chop late in the 4th. We chatted about Dominic getting to be part of two
huge areas of the show, King’s Landing and the Wall, we chatted about what it
was like filming in those vastly different locations. He said that the Night’s
Watch crew really do feel like a band of brothers like in the show, as the crew
and cast members are largely separate from everyone else, filming by themselves
in Iceland. He said it took a while to adjust to Stephen (Stannis), Liam
(Davos), and everyone else arriving on set as it was such a change for the crew
and cast members to have so many new people around. He’s clearly a fan of the
show as he said that Janos has travelled more than most characters, but that
Tyrion is leading the way, having been to Winterfell, the Wall, the Eyrie,
King’s Landing, and now Meereen (amongst others). I love it when the actors are
clearly passionate about the show themselves, which shined through in all five
of the “Game Of Thrones” actors I met at Em-Con. Finally, we chatted about
Shaun Parkes, as he was a few years below Dominic in drama school. Dominic said
that his year were all ugly character actors, while Shaun Parkes/Andrew
Lincoln’s year were all handsome and stole all the girls from his year. LOLs.
Dominic said he hadn’t seen Shaun in many years, so it was great to be sat
right near him and get to reunite at a convention. Lovely man, exceeded my
expectations, and I got a pic with him at the autograph table! Great
experience. Guest type = Conversationalist.
Hannah Waddingham: My third guest of the day that is undeniably
bonkers. The first thing to note about Hannah is that she’s much more beautiful
than you get to see on “Game Of Thrones”, as her character, Septa Unella, is
always dressed head-to-toe in greying rags, with only a portion of her face
showing, which Hannah has affectionately named her Bermuda Triangle. Hannah
was, also, undeniably lovely. She was infectiously enthusiastic to be there,
she never stopped smiling, and she was clearly appreciative of the attendees
that met her. Hannah has largely been a stage actress for most of her career,
so shifting into a large fandom was a new experience for her. She said that
filming the “Walk of Punishment” was both incredible and surreal. It was a boiling
hot day in Croatia, so, as you could imagine in that costume, it was hot.
Therefore, underneath her greying rags, suffice to say, Hannah didn’t wear
much. Furthermore, Hannah literally met Lena Headey (Cersei) for the first time
moments before filming their first scene together, the one where Septa Unella
talks to Cersei inside the sept just before the Walk of Punishment. Also,
speaking of season six, Hannah said, “Spare a sympathetic thought for me later
in the season”...I’m speculating that Cersei might not forget her treatment at
the hands of her captors last season. At least the Lannisters don’t flay
people, I suppose, so it could be worse if my guess is correct. I grabbed a
picture with Hannah and her big high-heeled shoes before taking a little break.
Lovely lady, very talkative, would absolutely recommend you meet her. Guest Type = Conversationalist.
With nine
autographs down and three to go, Clare and Kim wanted to sit down for a little
while and have some lunch, which was totally fine with me, even though I didn’t
eat. Unlike most conventions, Em-Con has plenty
of places to sit, as all the stadium seats around the venue are free to be
used. It’s a singularly weird (and good) experience to be sat in the stands
like you would for a sporting event, only to have celebrities sat on the arena
floor...well, on a chair...you know what
I mean!...with people dressed up as superheroes, and Harry Potter music
playing in the background. Totally unique and totally awesome. After some
refuelling and recharging was accomplished, it was time to knuckle down and get
the last three done before 3:45pm. That gave me roughly 45 minutes. No problem!
Catrin Stewart: Catrin’s a sweety (editing note: I accidentally
wrote ‘sweaty’ first time. She is assuredly not
sweaty). The first thing I noticed is that she sounds nothing like Jenny.
As I approached her autograph table, she’d just got back from lunch so her
queue was empty, therefore she was reading and happily drinking coffee. We
happily talked about “Doctor Who” for a while, and I can confirm that she’d
happily do a Paternoster Gang spinoff, which is something that was echoed by
Dan Starkey (Strax) last weekend and Neve (Madame Vastra) this weekend. C’mon,
BBC, make it happen! Catrin said that
herself and Neve had created a backstory for Jenny and Vastra from before the
Doctor met them and they also filled in the blanks for themselves on what
happened with Jenny and Vastra between the Doctor’s various appearances. I love
the fact that they cared enough about the characters to do this! Catrin is also
a big advocate for equality and more recently helping with aid for the Syrians
during this recent war and crisis. She was sporting a top that read, ‘choose
love’, and it was clear that she’s a wonderful human being. After chatting for
a little while longer about “Doctor Who”, I grabbed a picture with her (£5),
which turned out great! Guest type =
Responder.
Neve McIntosh: Alongside Joe Altin and Ian Beattie, Neve was
easily my favourite guest of the day. Not only was she talkative and friendly,
but she was just so damn hilarious and human!
There was no invisible wall between attendee and guest, which happens a lot at conventions. It was just two
human beings talking. There was no power relations or barrier at play. Plus, at
this point in the day, my energy was just starting to wain ever so slightly, and Neve brought my energy levels right back up.
We started our conversation by talking about “Doctor Who” and how Neve hopes
that the writing team don’t see her character (and Jenny/Strax) as inherently
11th Doctor sidekicks, excluding Peter’s first episode, as she wants to come
back to the show! She’s remaining hopeful that Steven will bring all three of
them back for at least one episode of his final season as showrunner next year.
Neve was also envious that Dan Starkey (Strax) got to play a character in
2014’s Christmas special, “Last Christmas”, as himself! No Strax make-up or
prosthetics needed. He played one of Santa’s two elves. Neve wants to play
another “Doctor Who” character in addition to Vastra where she gets to be
herself...I’d want to as well if it took me 4-5 hours to get into the Vastra
make-up and prosthetics every time! HOW
DO THEY NOT GO CRAZY?! After a few more minutes of Who’ey goodness, we
started chatting more generally. I mentioned to Neve that I love following her
Twitter account as it’s the perfect blend of swearing, sarcasm, and positivity.
Neve said that she used to watch what she said a lot more, but then decided to
just be herself and let the chips fall where they will. Simply a devine person
to be around. I grabbed a picture with her at the autograph table (£5), and
after Clare took a couple of snaps, Neve tilted her head and pulled a funny
face into my cheek, so I actually have two different pictures with Neve for the
price of one! Bargain! Also, Neve squished her head right against mine for the
pics, so she’s clearly not worried about boundary issues or letting fans get
too close. I think it’s the Scottish in her. They never put on fake airs and
graces. Finally, Neve mentioned that while she loves doing conventions around
the world, it’s always a little more magical to do them in the United Kingdom,
as the fans truly appreciate the show here and have been brought up with it for
over 50 years. There’s such a deep history between U.K. residents and “Doctor
Who”, which is something that no other countries can truly compare to. Guest type = Conversationalist. Meet
her. If you can’t meet her, tweet her.
Lew Temple: After going with Clare and Kim to meet Danny
John-Jules (fuck off is he 55 years old! He looks 40!), it was time to meet Lew
Temple, who portrayed Axel in “The Walking Dead”. Lew was a total legend. He
was stood around the peasant side of the autograph table, ready to shake hands
and interact with anyone who walked past, even if they weren’t going to meet
him. He wanted to talk to the cosplayers, take pictures, and interact with all attendees. Lew was clearly someone who wasn’t just there
for financial gain, which always makes me respect the guest more. Furthermore,
I think Lew just enjoys life! As a younger man, Lew developed leukaemia and
only had a 40% survival rate. He spent 8 months in hospital before finally
beating the disease! That’s a tough mo’ fucker, right there. Of course, we
chatted about “The Walking Dead”, Axel’s incredible, unexpected, and shocking
death on the show, how good the show has been since (he’s still a fan and
watches every episode), and how much preparation he did for the role before he
started filming. Lew also noted that Andrew Lincoln really agonises over actors
that have to leave the show due to their character being killed off. He takes
them personally because everyone on the cast is a tight-knit little family.
Simply, Lew was great. We took a picture together, which turned out
terrifically, before Lew requested we also do a back-to-back picture as well,
and then he dragged Clare and Kim into the proceedings, gave Clare’s camera to
the crew member, and all four of us did various superhero poses together. Lew
went above and beyond what was expected of him, and he also took three pictures
for the price of one. Very classy man and totally friendly. Guest type = Responder.
I dashed back to
photo area A for my picture with Neve, which went perfectly well, before
waiting around for an hour for my picture with Neve to be developed. During my
hour’s wait, I discovered two things :-
1) Fuck! I hadn’t collected my A3 art prints from Lee
Bradley! A few days before Em-Con, I won a competition on Facebook. The
competition was simple – like and share Lee’s artist fan page (located here), and the winner would be randomly drawn to
receive 6x Marvel A3 art prints. For the first time in my life (as far as I can
recall), I won something! OH EM GEE! So, at 4:30pm, I finally remembered to
grab them! Thankfully, Lee was just leaving, and he recognised me and gave me
the art prints. They look beautiful
as well. I just need to figure out where I’m going to put them now...
2) Fuck! I didn’t use my free autograph ticket. When
you get a gold pass at Em-Con, it includes a free autograph and three free
photoshoots. I’d received 12 autographs that day (13 if you count the extra one
from Ian Beattie), and twelve times I’d feckin’ forgotten! Useless. I had no
more autographs to get, so I ran back to David Bradley’s autograph table to get
one for my sister, who’s a big “Harry Potter” fan. This ended up being a
longer, even more interesting conversation with David, as it largely revolved
around how he got into acting in the first place. During his early 20’s, David
was an engineer for eight years. He started doing theatre work on the side to
eliminate some shyness and meet girls. After a while, he was encouraged by the
theatre group to apply to drama school. He had never thought of it historically
because he was from a poor, working-class family. He applied, he was rejected.
A year later, he applied, he was rejected. Third time’s the charm...he applied
again, he was rejected. Not until the 4th attempt was he accepted! He said he’d
have given up after the first two attempts if it wasn’t for his theatre group
encouraging him to try again. I think we can all agree it worked out okay for
him. Interestingly, David said his phone has never rang so much as it has done
the past decade. He gets more acting offers in his 60’s and early 70’s than he
did throughout his younger and middle-aged life. Another fantastic
conversation!
Any annoyance I
had at having to wait around an extra hour for a photoshoot to be developed
disappeared, as if I’d left straight away, I’d have forgotten the A3 art prints
and I’d have forgotten the free autograph. I collected my Neve photoshoot, then
headed over to say goodbye to Neve, Ian Beattie, and Joe Altin, as they were my
favourite three guests of the day and most of the other guests had already
started to head home by this point. I found Clare and Kim sat in a cafe just
outside the venue, and we headed home to Gloucestershire.
As always, the
mark of any convention is a simple question, “Would I attend again?”. In this
case, I would. As always, it’s guest line-up dependent, but overall I was
impressed with my first Em-Con experience. The venue was great, the guests were
terrific, the crew were brilliant, and it was apparent that effort was being made.
If Em-Con could start to fine-tune some of the things I mentioned at the start
of this review, I think they’re on to a winner.
Until next time,
gentle readers, enjoy life and take care of yourselves. Starting June 2nd, my
“Buffy The Vampire Slayer” and “Angel” episode reviews will be making a return,
plus I’ll be writing about “Prophecy”, “LFCC”, and other conventions over the
coming months. If you could spread the word and share this review on social
media, that’d be absolutely grand! Thanks for reading, thanks for supporting
me, and I’ll catch you down the road. If you were at the convention and want to
talk about your experiences, feel free to do so in the comments section, or
alternatively send me a message on Facebook or Twitter. Again, thank you.
I always feel as though I were there with you!
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