• Alyson Hannigan (Willow from “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” & Lily
from “How I Met Your Mother”)
• Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock from “Sherlock” & Doctor Strange
from the “M.C.U.”)
• John Cleese (Basil Fawlty from “Fawlty Towers” & Nearly-Headless
Nick from “Harry Potter”)
• Alan Tudyk (Wash from “Firefly”, Alpha from “Dollhouse” & K-2SO
from “Star Wars”)
• Alexis Denisof (Wesley from “Angel”, Sandy Rivers from “How I Met Your
Mother” & Viktor from “Grimm”)
• Steven Yeun (Glenn Rhee from “The Walking Dead”)
• Emily Kinney (Beth Greene from “The Walking Dead”)
• David Morrissey (The Governor from “The Walking Dead” & Jackson
Lake from “Doctor Who”)
• Natalie Dormer (Margaery Tyrell from “Game Of Thrones” & Cressida
from “The Hunger Games”)
• Conleth Hill (Varys from “Game Of Thrones”)
• Pilou Asbaek (Euron Greyjoy from “Game Of Thrones”)
• Finn Jones (Danny Rand from “Iron Fist” & Ser Loras Tyrell from
“Game Of Thrones”)
• Jessica Henwick (Colleen Wing from “Iron Fist” & Nymeria Sand from
“Game Of Thrones”)
• Daniel Portman (Podrick Payne from “Game Of Thrones”)
• Mark Williams (Arthur Weasley from “Harry Potter” & Brian Williams
in “Doctor Who”)
• James Phelps (Fred Weasley from “Harry Potter”)
• Oliver Phelps (George Weasley from “Harry Potter”)
• Matt Lucas (Nardole from “Doctor Who” & Various from “Little Britain”)
• Dan Fogler (Jacob Kowalski from “Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find
Them”)
• Benedict Wong (Wong from “Doctor Strange”)
• Wil Wheaton (Wesley Crusher from “Star Trek: The Next Generation”)
• Zoe Wanamaker (Susan Harper from “My Family”, Cassandra from “Doctor
Who” & Madam Hooch from “Harry Potter”)
• Bernard Cribbins (Wilf from “Doctor Who”)
• Edge (Wrestler)
• Christian (Wrestler)
• William Regal (Wrestler)
• Wai Ching Ho (Madame Gao in “Daredevil” & “Iron Fist”)
• Sacha Dhawan (Davos from “Iron Fist” & Ajay from “Sherlock”)
• Sean Biggerstaff (Oliver Wood from “Harry Potter”)
• John Carroll Lynch (Eastman from “The Walking Dead”, Varlyn Stroud
from “Carnivale” & Twisty The Clown from “American Horror Story”)
Two quick notes before we get started...
1) If this is your first time on "Shangel's Reviews", I'm
currently reviewing every single episode of "Buffy The Vampire
Slayer" and "Angel" in depth. A list of all the reviews I've
written so far can be located here. Yes, I
haven’t written one in a while due to my Master’s degree, but I am starting up
again really soon now that the Master’s degree is over.
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Ahh, the blank page. One of many, many pages that shall be filled over
the next few days as I review my weekend at ‘London Film & Comic Con’
(‘LFCC’ for short) in extensive detail...but where to begin? How about I start
with a few sentences about myself, as the LFCC review always brings in new
eyeballs? My name is Shane, alias ‘Shangel’. That’s pronounced ‘Shane-gel’, not
‘Shangle’. I’ve been writing about television shows and reviewing conventions
for almost four years now, and I’ve been attending conventions for just about a
decade. Writing was something that never really interested me. Like, at all.
Then, after attending ‘Hallowhedon 5’ in 2013 – a convention dedicated to the
works of Joss Whedon – I was struck by a sudden desire to write down my
experiences in extensive detail so that I’d be able to recall everything
vividly a decade or two down the line. After some urging from writer
extraordinaire, Kes Butters (rest in peace, you utter legend), I decided to
transform my experiences into a blog for others to read too. This was
complimented by my reviews of every episode of “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” and
“Angel” (I swear, I will finish those now that my Master’s is over). Four years
later, the blog averages nearly half a million hits a month, which equates to
over 300,000 unique readers a month. It’s humbling, it’s incredible...and it’s
a little weird. In a good way.
As far as LFCC goes, this was my 9th straight time
attending...jeez, that makes me feel old. I started attending back when the
event was small. When you could arrive half an hour before doors opened, roll
into the venue, join the back of a reasonable sized queue, and meet some of
your favourite sci-fi stars for £10-£15. Over the years, I’ve seen the event
grow. I’ve seen the queues get longer, the prices rise higher, and the event
become something of a staple of geek culture in the United Kingdom. 2014 was
the year that really changed the game for LFCC in my opinion. It was largely
down to Stan Lee. Stan’s appearance at LFCC 2014 was advertised as his last
convention appearance in Europe. Ever. Therefore, thousands of people flocked
to Earls Court 2 in order to not miss arguably their last chance to meet one of
their icons. 2014 and 2015 were transition years, as the attendance seemingly
doubled (or felt that way), while Showmasters tried to figure out how to
organise an event larger than anything they’d seen before. In 2016, they
cracked the code. Gone were the layout problems, overcrowding, and sometimes
questionable organisation that had plagued 2014 and 2015, instead replaced by
air-conditioning that you could feel, space to swing yours arms, expert
organisation, and a damn good line-up of guests. Alas, as far as I’m aware, no
day sold out in 2016. This time, LFCC Saturday sold out. Could Showmasters do
as good of a job as they did in 2016, even with a sell-out Saturday and
therefore more attendees to deal with? Let’s find out.
LFCC, by nature of possibly the largest Comic Con of its kind in Europe,
is always a mixed-bag. On the one hand, they bring in guests that nobody else
currently could in the UK. MCM might be able to in some cases, but it’s only
the past couple of years that MCM have really started putting effort into their
guest line-up. For me, from an A-List perspective, LFCC still currently puts
the ‘King’ in ‘United Kingdom’. On the other hand, A-List guests means higher
prices, longer queues, and way less time with them at the autograph table. As
someone who largely attends conventions for time with the guests, this is
always something of a drawback. Of course, twenty seconds with a hero is still
better than no seconds. ‘LFCC’
is such a large franchise by this point that the queues will always be long,
your time with the guests will always be limited. Yet, that’s not to say that
you can’t have an amazing time. I’m a glass half-full kind of guy, so I always
go in with realistic expectations and anything above and beyond that is a
bonus. Thankfully, there were some damn good bonuses at this event.
I
must note that this review largely comes from my own personal perspective of
the convention. I try to address overarching issues that many others may have
had too, but 95% of this is my own personal opinion based on my own personal
experience. Others may disagree with some of what I say, which is totally cool
with me. We all have our own unique versions of the experience and I’d love to
read about your personal views in the comments section at the end of this
review or on social media, so don’t be afraid to get in touch! Speaking of,
before getting into the meat of this review, I would like to thank all the
attendees at LFCC that came over and said “hi” to me or offered words of love
and support about the blog and my reviews. With all three days combined, more
than a hundred people came up to chat about the blog or say something kind,
which was a very humbling experience.
This
year was the first time I applied for press for an LFCC event. I always assumed
in the past that the blog wasn’t big enough to grant a successful application,
so I skipped it. This year, I gave it a shot...and it worked! I was successful!
Booyah! The plus side to this was that I could rock up as doors were opening at
9:00am all three days. Gone were the three hours of sitting on a hard arena
floor – or historically outside in the elements - waiting for doors to open.
The drawback is that press are let in at the same time as regular attendees.
So, if the press are let in at 9:01am instead of 9:00am, you find the guest
area already crowded with people by the time you get there. It makes getting
low virtual queuing numbers difficult at times. It varies day-to-day, which is
weird. On Saturday we were let in at 9:01am, but the regular entry attendees
were let in early, hence it was chaos (more on that later). On Sunday, we were
let in at 8:58am, which meant relaxation. It may sound like inconsequential,
petty nonsense, but trust me, at an event this size every second counts.
Before
diving into the play-by-play section of the review, let’s look at some general
positives and negatives of LFCC 2017. The first thing that springs to mind is
that it was a tale of two conventions. The first convention being the
organised, relatively relaxed, accommodating LFCC Friday and Sunday, while the
other was the overcrowded, hot, chaotic, sometimes aggressive LFCC Saturday.
Almost all of the complaints I have or that I’ve read about stem from LFCC
Saturday. Firstly, as briefly mentioned above, the general entry ticket holders
were let in 5 minutes early, which is drastically unfair for gold ticket
holders. Last year, the gold ticket holders were accidentally let in at 9:00am,
the same time as regular attendees. One of the biggest perks of buying a gold
pass is that you get let in at 8:45am. You can enter at your leisure, grab low
virtual queuing numbers for diamond guests (gold ticket holders don’t need
V.Q.s for non-diamond guests, they can just join the back of the autograph
queue), and have a pretty relaxed start to the day. Gold ticket holders were
assured that the same wouldn’t happen this year and it didn’t...they let
general entry in early instead. As far as I’m aware, this just happened on the
Saturday, but it still meant that gold ticket holders were arriving in the
autograph area, only to find that regular attendees had beaten them to the
punch. Not cool. It’s definitely something that needs to be addressed as
Showmasters can’t seem to get it right for gold ticket holders and regular
ticket holders on all three days of LFCC. Some days it’s perfect, other days of
the same weekend it’s chaos.
Furthermore,
the diamond pass collection system was different to last year and in my opinion
it was a step in the wrong direction. Last year, you joined the entry queue and
about an hour before opening, the crew would come down the entry queue, pluck
out the diamond pass holders, take them over to collect their diamond pass,
then return them to the same place in the queue. This time, you had to choose
diamond pass collection or to join the entry queue upon arrival. This meant
you’d likely be queuing for 20-30 minutes to collect your diamond pass, then go
and join the entry queue, which meant that you were way further back than you
ought to have been going on last year’s system. I’m curious to see what the
problem was with last year’s system as I don’t see why the overhaul was needed,
particularly as it seems to have created more problems than it’s solved.
Virtual
queuing! Virtual queuing is a beautiful thing. It allows you to take your place
in the queue, without physically having to be there until later. For events of
this size, virtual queuing is both useful and necessary. For those unaware, in
essence, you get a slip of paper with a number on it and there is a board next
to the guest saying what numbers have been called (1-20, 1-40, 1-60, etc.). You
can join the queue any time after your number has been called. However, there
are a couple of issues that come with this. Firstly, people pile through the
entrance area after opening, running up stairs, barging each other out of the
way, in order to get as low of a number as possible. The “no running” and “no
shoving” rules need to be enforced more vigorously. I saw someone knocked off
their feet, I saw dozens of people running (not pace-walking, running)...it was
anarchy. Particularly on Saturday. The other problem with virtual queuing
arises when the virtual queuing tickets aren’t taken away from you when you
join the queue. There were so many examples
of people meeting the guest, then giving the V.Q. ticket to someone else.
That’s great for the “someone else” as they may not get the opportunity to meet
the guest otherwise, but it’s unfair to the person holding V.Q. #301 if a guest
only signs up to #300 that day.
As
LFCC Saturday sold-out, if felt very overcrowded
in places. I’m sure that the attendance number did not exceed the Olympia’s
maximum capacity for the space used, so technically there is nothing wrong with
the amount of attendees that were there, but it was obvious that 90% of the
attendees were going to congregate in the autograph and studio photo areas,
while other areas were virtually empty. Getting to Photo C at 2:00pm on
Saturday was a chore in itself. Too many people to move more than a couple of steps
every 5 seconds. It was very claustrophobic and was not something that happened
last year whatsoever. I understand that bigger guests = more people, more
sweat, and more stress, but it doesn’t have to reach claustrophobic levels. I
suppose the plus side was that as some areas were pretty empty, you could run
away to those to recover and receive some much needed air-conditioning while
waiting for the next activity on your agenda to start.
Speaking
of Photo C on Saturday, all of my photos there were not called in batch order.
Instead, they called diamonds, then golds, then all the batches together, which
negates the whole system in the first place. You’ve got to call in the correct
order if that is the system in place. Not doing so will only cause complaints.
On the plus side, outside of Photo C on Saturday, every other photo area on all
3 days were superb. I’ll get into
more on that later. Finally, we have prices and “no posed photos” signs. More
and more talks seem to be chargeable at LFCC over the past couple of years. One
of the coolest things about LFCC historically was that if you had limited
money, you could always go to the talks and enjoy the experience. Now, a large
percentage of them seem to come with costs. Furthermore, more guests than ever
before had “no posed photos” signs up. Even people who weren’t very busy. Yes,
some guests choose not to do it, which is totally fine, and some guests are too
busy to do it, which is totally fine too. However, there seems to be story
after story of certain guests being happy to do them, but the sign going up
anyway. I overheard one guest having strong words with a crew member for this
very reason, stating that she’d do table pictures whether the sign was up or
not. Could this be an attempt to drive studio photo sales? Probably. But,
interestingly, it also detracts from autograph sales. Some people decide to
skip an autograph if there is no chance of a picture at the same time. It’s
just another of those disheartening cases whereby everything seems to come with
a price at LFCC these days...and those prices are always rising, which,
granted, is happening across the board at conventions in the UK, not just at
LFCC.
Now
that the negatives are out of the way, let’s look at the positives. There was
certainly more positives than negatives overall by some margin, particularly on
Friday and Sunday. Firstly, all studio photos came with a protective sleeve for
the first time this year, which was a cool touch. Con pros like myself always
bring protective sleeves anyway, but it’s a great way to help others protect
their photos until they can get them home. The air conditioning throughout was
working, you could feel it, and it was lovely.
The only exception to that rule was the guest signing area. I’m not sure if
there was no air-conditioning in that area or if you just couldn’t feel it due
to the volume of people, but the guest area was sweltering. To the point where two guests apologised to me for the
heat. However, the photo areas, concourse, and merchandise areas were all
lovely and cool pretty much throughout the entire weekend. Considering the
sweaty guest area, less people were smelly than previous years by some margin.
I legitimately was only surrounded by two smelly people all weekend, which shatters the previous record.
Historically there has always been a ton
of funky-smelling people at LFCC. Like, witnessing a teenager burst into tears
when a man next to her lifted his arm up. That’s the levels of funk we were
previously dealing with. Bravo to you anti-perspirant wearing people! Bravo to
the people wearing clean clothes! Bravo to the people who’d picked up a
toothbrush or a bar of soap in the week leading up to LFCC! You did yourselves
proud.
The
space available was used pretty well. Having photo areas A, B, C, and D next to
each other was a great idea. It really helped with clashes. Most of the guests
were also placed in areas that could accommodate them. The only problem day was
Saturday as guests like Natalie Dormer and Conleth Hill were not placed in the
headline guest section, but were instead in the secondary guest section, while
Pilou Asbaek was on the concourse with a massive
line. Unfortunately, there wasn’t too much Showmasters could do about it as
there were more headliners than there were spaces available at the back of the
hall for the headline guests (excluding the special guests that get walled off
from the peasants). At least Pilou was moved into the secondary guest area by
Sunday. For the photo area, I do think that big whiteboards or screens would be
very useful. It could show who the photo is with and what has been called so
far. Would save the crew’s voices! Also, speaking of the photo areas, 99% of
the crew were phenomenal. LFCC’s M.V.P. crew member, Phil, was leading the
charge for Photo A. You can’t ask for a better crew member in that role. He
keeps people out of the white lines and he ensures that the process runs
smoothly. Other standouts include the gentleman organising Benedict’s photo
line (Photo Area G) on Saturday and the bearded gentleman organising Photo Area
B on Sunday. His voice was so loud and clear! I could sit against the back wall
by Photo Area B, relax, and still know exactly what had been called because he
was so loud and clear. Phenomenal job! Almost all of my 23 studio photos started
on time or not long afterwards too, which is helpful as my schedule was pretty
full. If delays started happening, it would have fallen apart very quickly. The
only notable exception was the Phelps twins on Saturday morning as their shoot
started about half an hour late.
Finally,
the crew. The unsung, often unpaid heroes of LFCC every year. Everybody seemed
to be in high spirits, trying their best, and doing a great job. Some of the
newbies had that familiar deer-in-headlights look, but even they did a great
job! The only thing that was needed on occasion was more of them. Sometimes the
crew felt understaffed, but the crew that were there were fantastic. Kudos to
all for making the weekend so special for so many people.
Everybody
ready for the play-by-play?
Coming
into the event, I was hit with a plethora of cancellations. Cancellations such
as Mike Colter, Doug Jones (that broke my heart the most), Marc Blucas, Derek
Jacobi, Joseph Marcell, Tom Pelphrey, Kenny Johnson, Aimee Garcia, Ron Perlman,
Robert Hardy and D.B. Woodside. Yikes, that’s a lot of cancellations! Still, in
a roundabout way, this was a blessing. As it was, over LFCC weekend, I
ultimately had 17 autographs to get and 23 studio photos, and it was a chore. I
got it all done, but it damn near crippled me by the end. If you throw the
above into the mix as well, I’d have been fucked. Hard. With a rusty ladle. On
the plus side, excluding Dougie, all of the guests that I was the most desperate to meet all came. I was particularly worried about
Natalie Dormer (after her cancellation on LFCC 2014) and Emily Kinney (who has
cancelled on multiple Showmasters events before)...but no worries! Aly, Alexis,
Tudyk, Dormer, and Kinney were all present, alongside Steven Yeun, Conleth
Hill, Pilou Asbaek, and all the other incredible people I was salivating over
the prospect of meeting...not literally. That would be awkward. It would make
me memorable, sure, but not for the right reasons.
Myself
and my friends Hannah and John departed Gloucestershire a little later than we
usually would for LFCC weekend thanks to the press passes. It was a 5:30am
leave, ready for an 8:00am arrival, giving me time to collect my Alan Tudyk
diamond pass (see above for that fiasco), collect mine and Hannah’s press passes
(you can only get a maximum of two per outlet, so John slummed it with the
generals for the weekend), and get into the event. My Friday itinerary was
pretty relaxed for my standards :- studio photos with David Morrissey, Finn
Jones, Wai Ching Ho and John Carroll Lynch. Autographs from David Morrissey,
Emily Kinney, Alan Tudyk, Finn Jones, Jessica Henwick, Wai Ching Ho and Sacha
Dhawan, plus have a catch-up chat with Daniel Portman, who requested that I go
over and tell him my Master’s degree result once I got to the venue because he
knew I was getting it over LFCC Friday. 4x studio photos, 7x autographs, 1x
chat. A piece of piss in theory, a piece of piss in reality.
With my
first photo session not until 11:45am (David Morrissey), I had two and a half
hours to start collecting autographs, get into a rhythm, have a look around,
familiarise myself with the location of everything, and get into the Comic-Con
spirit. As I’ve mentioned before, that first autograph of the day is always the
hardest for me. Believe it or not, I suffer with some social anxiety and I need
to get those conversational juices flowing before I’m ready to kick ass and
give my 50% of a decent conversation. The first way I do this is to familiarise
myself with the layout. Get comfortable, work out my schedule for the day, and
try to settle down a bit. The second way I do this is to start by meeting
someone I’ve already met before where possible. The ice is already
broken...and, mercifully, 99% of guests seem to remember if they’ve met me before,
which means the ice is broken from their side too. On this occasion, I’d met
David Morrissey before at the University of Gloucestershire earlier in the
year, but he wasn’t at his table. I’d met Finn Jones and Jessica Henwick a
couple of times before and they were
at their tables, so I started with them. Just as an aside, a big pet-peeve of
mine is guests not being at their autograph table ready for opening or at least
arriving shortly afterwards. So many guests here didn’t show up until
9:30am-10:00am...or in Alan Tudyk’s case, 11:00am. I feel sorry for the dude in
the brown-gold jacket that was #1 in Alan Tudyk’s autograph queue and had to
stand there for pretty much two hours waiting for Alan to arrive. Yes, these
things happen at pretty much every convention, but they shouldn’t. On our way
up the stairs to the photo areas, we saw ‘The Big Bang Theory’ living room prop
replica and oh my days did it look shoddy. It looked half the size of the TV
version, it wasn’t screen-accurate, and it definitely wasn’t worth the £10 per
photo. I’ve seen some of the photos since the event and the angle of them does
help, but it still needs to be screen-accurate at the very least.
Jessica
Henwick: Jess’ queue was slow-moving because Jess was spending as
much time as possible chatting to everyone, which is very cool. It’s a little
easier to do that on Friday or Sunday as it’s quieter (not quiet). As I
mentioned, I’ve met Jess a couple of times before and every time I see her
again, she’s joined another massive franchise. Literally. The first time I met
Jess was at LFCC 2015, just after she’d joined “Game Of Thrones”. I next saw
Jess at LFCC Spring 2016, just after she’d joined “Star Wars”. Now, for our
third meeting, she’d just joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe via Iron Fist. I
mentioned this to Jess, which got a big laugh, and we brainstormed about what
other franchises she could join before we saw each other again. “Star Trek” and
“The Walking Dead” were leading the pack. Now, I must mention that my
delightful friend Jaynee was crewing for Jess that day. For busier guests, when
you pay the crew member for the autograph, they’ll ask you if you want it
personalised and will write your name down ready for the guest. It eliminates
all those awkward spelling conversations with the guests themselves. Jaynee was
in a particularly devilish mood and wrote down “Sexy Shane” on the Post-It
note. Of course, when I got to Jess, I quickly enforced that I didn’t request
the “sexy” part and that it was Jaynee. Well, Jess said that she was going to
add the ‘sexy’ anyway. Gosh, what a welcomed self-esteem boost! Jaynee also
tried this trick when she was sat at Natalie Dormer’s autograph table the
following day, but I quickly changed that Post-It note over. I don’t know
Natalie. She doesn’t know me. So it would have looked like I’d requested “Sexy
Shane” in the vague hope that she’d give me a compliment – “SAY I’M SEXY,
DORMER!”
Just
after myself and Jess started talking, Finn left his autograph table next to
Jess’. He was either about to make a phone call or was receiving a phone call.
There was a speaker between Jess and Finn’s autograph tables playing music that
was connected to Finn’s phone. Jess turned the speaker off (otherwise we’d have
all heard the conversation), but quickly joked that perhaps she should leave it
on for fun. After catching up for a little longer, I told Jess that I thought
she was the standout of “Iron Fist”. It’s so great to see some female Asian
badasses on the small screen right now, particularly people like Jess and
Ming-Na Wen. I asked Jess what the training was like for “Iron Fist” and how it
compared to the bullwhip training we’d talked about in 2015 for “Game Of
Thrones”. Jess said that time-wise, it was pretty similar. She spent 6 months
training on how to use a bullwhip properly for “Game Of Thrones” and spent 7
months preparing for “Iron Fist”. However, she noted that the training for
“Iron Fist” was much more intense and much harder work. Although, she did joke
that as soon as the seven months was over, she just started stuffing doughnuts
for a while. Can’t say I blame her. *Game
Of Thrones season 7, episode 2 spoilers* Finn returned to his autograph
table as Jess was talking to me about Nym’s death on the most recent episode of
“Game Of Thrones” to air before the con. Jess said that leaving “Game Of
Thrones” was hard and that she really had to convince Marvel to give her the
time off – two days! – in order to return to film Nym’s demise. Finn returned
right as Jess said “Nym” and Finn said, “who?” Jess’ response was, “my
character in ‘Game Of Thrones’, you idiot.” It was hilarious. A total brother-sister kinda vibe going on
with those two. You can tell that they get along really well and have spent a
lot of time together lately. After giving away a tease or two for the imminent
amalgamation Marvel Netflix series, “The Defenders”, I thanked Jess for her
time, said I’d see her the following day for our studio photo, and departed. Guest Type = Conversationalist. Always
a pleasure.
(Regular readers, you can skip this section)
“Shangel, what’s a ‘Conversationalist’?”
I’m glad you asked. 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 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
below or on social media!
After leaving Jess’ autograph table, it was time to head one table to
the right to Finn Jones.
Finn Jones: I love
Finn. He’s such a stand-up dude. Always has time to chat, always smiling,
always happy. This ‘The Defenders’ promotion must have been killing him a
little bit because he looked knackered. Not rough, he was still very
presentable and his usual self, but he looked exhausted. Since LFCC, he’s
posted that he’s been in London, New York, Mexico and Japan within a week. The
jetlag alone must be kicking his ass
right now. I first met Finn at LFCC in, gosh, 2013, and have seen him a couple
of times since then at various events. However, I haven’t seen Finn in a couple
of years. Since he was cast as Iron Fist, so it was awesome to have the
opportunity to catch up a little bit. When I last saw Finn, he was about to
move to Los Angeles and I was about to start my Master’s degree. Fast-forward a
couple of years, I got my Master’s result on this day (Distinction, baby!) and
Finn is a leading actor in a Marvel television series. That’s pretty incredible
when I stop to think about it. Weirdly, Finn’s training for Iron Fist wasn’t as
long as Jessica’s. He had a couple of months to learn Tai Chi and martial arts,
while the rest of his training was on set as they were filming the series. Fair
play to the man. We also chatted about “The Defenders” and he asked me if I’d seen
the most recent trailer that dropped at ‘San Diego Comic Con’ the week before.
I said that I had and we had a little bit of a geek-out as Finn talked
about how cool and surreal it was to be
working on a show involving Daredevil, Jessica Jones, and Luke Cage. Finally, I
asked Finn how he felt about Ser Loras’ death on “Game Of Thrones” as I hadn’t
had a chance to chat to him since his character was killed off. Finn said that
it felt weird not being a part of the proceedings for the new season for the first
time ever. He also said that he missed the show dearly, but it was time to move
on. The King’s Landing plotlines needed to start wrapping up ready for the
end-game and Ser Loras was sadly one of those threads that needed to be pulled.
Notice how both of the first two guests I met were engaging, gave great
eye-contact, answered questions, joined in themselves, and gave me a wonderful
experience that went beyond what I was expecting. This is convention guest
meetings done right. It doesn’t take much to make us happy with the experience.
Guest Type = Conversationalist.
Emily Kinney: I continued
working my way down the ‘big guests’ row by jumping one space to Finn’s right,
Emily Kinney. Honestly, by this point, it was just great to have Emily show up
to an event. It took two years and three attempts, but it finally worked out.
To start with, Emily came across as quite reserved. Dare I even use the word
‘shy’. We’re so used to meeting our heroes and being the shy, nervous, anxious
ones, that sometimes we forget that the guests are people too with their own
individual quirks and shyness. We started by talking about “The Walking Dead”,
Beth’s death, and the nature of it. We also talked about what a wasted
opportunity it was given that there was so much story left to tell with the
character – her reunion with Maggie, dealing with her father’s death, etc.
Emily gave good eye-contact and was polite, but I was getting little back in
the way of conversation or genuine enthusiasm...so I used the ace up my sleeve.
In preparation for meeting Emily, I downloaded and listened to her debut album,
“This Is War”. I mentioned this to Emily and said that I’d really enjoyed it,
and her face lit up. Almost literally. The transformation was incredible to
behold. She went from being quite shy and reserved, to beaming and chatting
about her music. I asked her if a UK tour was on the horizon soon and she said
that she’s currently actively looking into it. I thanked Emily for her time and
said that I’d see her later in the weekend for the studio photo session. Guest Type = Responder.
Three down, four to go.
David Morrissey: There was just about enough time to get another
autograph completed before my 11:45am photo shoot with David Morrissey. Alan
Tudyk was still nowhere to be found, Sacha Dhawan hadn’t arrived yet, and Wai
Ching Ho was away from her desk. This left David Morrissey. As mentioned, I met
David Morrissey a few months earlier at the University of Gloucestershire as
part of their “An Evening With...” series. David was there for about an hour
and a half, talking about his career, partaking in a discussion, and answering
questions from the audience. If I wasn’t a fan of his before (I was), I would
have been by the end of the evening. He was so
interesting. So articulate, so appreciative, so thankful, and so
down-to-Earth. As I approached David’s autograph table at LFCC, he looked up to
me, looked into my eyes for a couple of seconds, and said, “we’ve met before,
haven’t we?” Correct! Apparently, the first thing he recognised was my Celtic knot
tattoo on my right forearm, swiftly followed by the bandana and my ruggedly
handsome facial features...one of those three is a lie. You pick which one. We
caught up a bit about that evening at the University of Gloucestershire and I
told David that I found it inspirational. Legitimately. David is from a
working-class family. He did not grow up with a silver spoon in his mouth. He
had to work hard to get to where he is now. This “Evening with David Morrissey”
took place about 2 months before my final Master’s degree exams and I used this
as motivation to revise harder and try even harder. I’m from a working-class
family myself. I grew up in a council house, I went to a pretty rough secondary
school, and if you’d have asked people when I was 15 or 16 if I’d amount to
much, they’d have likely said that I wouldn’t. So, I worked even harder. I
revised like a madman....while working two jobs, and I reaped the rewards of
that, a distinction. For my non-UK readers, that’s the highest result possible.
I told David this and he seemed genuinely touched to hear it and gave me a
massive handshake and pat on the back after I told him the result I’d received
earlier in the day. He asked me what my next step was and I told him that I
have some interviews on the horizon, etc. He asked if I follow him on Twitter
(I do) and he told me to tweet him updates on the career front and that he’d
help me out if he could and that he’d follow me back. What a legend! Amusingly,
we didn’t even get around to talking about “The Walking Dead” or what it was
like filming “Doctor Who” in Gloucester! No matter, there’s always time for
that in the future. This conversation with David Morrissey was my favourite of
the day. He was a total gentleman, easy to talk to, and legitimately happy for
me and appreciative. I don’t have enough good things to say about him. Guest Type = Conversationalist.
After half an hour perusing the merchandise stalls, it was time to head
to Photo A for my shoot with David Morrissey. He greeted me like an old friend,
affectionately slapped me on the chest, and reinforced that I tweet him. Yes,
sir. I shall do. With just over an hour to kill before my second photo session
of the day, Finn Jones, I decided to tick Sacha Dhawan and Wai Ching Ho off the
autograph list too.
Sacha Dhawan: Sacha was a
delight too. The first thing I noticed is that his hair is much longer in real
life than it is on “Sherlock” and “Iron Fist”. It suits him! Both do
actually...he must be one of those annoying people that can pull off any look
or style – I’m looking at you, J. August Richards. Sacha told me that I looked
great and we started talking about “Sherlock” and what it was like filming the
intense fight scene between Ajay and Sherlock in the swimming pool. Answer:
wet...and long. Apparently, it was just Benedict, Sacha, and a handful of crew
on set for two days to film this, which gave Sacha and Benedict a lot of time
to talk and get to know each other. During one break from filming, Sacha
happened to mention that he was auditioning for the role of Davos in Marvel’s
“Iron Fist”. Benedict got his phone out and started typing away, which Sacha
found a bit rude. After a while, Benedict said, “I’m just emailing my contact
at Marvel to put in a good word for you.” Sacha got the job and the rest is
history! Granted, Sacha is a good enough actor to have gotten the part on his
own merits, but having Doctor Strange himself vouch for you isn’t going to hurt
your cause at all. After chatting about “Iron Fist” for a while, I asked Sacha
about his voice-over role in the “Game Of Thrones” Telltale Games Series as
Gryff Whitehill. Sacha loved doing the voice-over work and expressed his
interest in joining the show. I told him that they’re about to start filming
the final season in a couple of months, so if he wanted to join the show, he
better start auditioning quickly. Sacha was my first guest of the day who was
offering table pictures, so I politely requested one and Sacha graciously
accepted. The picture was taken and I was on my merry way...one table to the
left. Guest Type = Responder.
Wai Ching Ho: Another great experience! Honestly, Wai
reminds me a lot of my favourite grandmother...only she’s Asian. She has such a
warm, friendly face. So happy, so smiley, so excited to be there. I expressed
my love for her portrayal of Madame Gao in “Daredevil” and “Iron Fist”. She’s
one of the most three-dimensional, interesting villains in the M.C.U. by this
point. I asked Wai if she knew she’d be coming back for “Iron Fist” when she
wrapped on “Daredevil” and she said that she didn’t know. It was a decision
that was made later. As was her involvement with “The Defenders”. We continued
to chat about all things Marvel before I thanked Wai for her time and departed.
Wai was offering table pictures, but as I had a studio photo booked with her
later in the day, I didn’t want to justify making a 73-year-old woman stand up
again if it wasn’t absolutely essential. Guest
Type = Responder.
Soon after
wrapping up my conversation with Wai, it was time to head on over to Photo C
for my photo session with Finn. Finn was all smiles, handshakes and greeting
people. I love it when the guests take the time to turn to the attendees, say
“hi” and offer a handshake. It’s a small gesture, but it can sometimes be the
difference between a good experience and quite a cold experience. Finn’s an
expert at convention interactions by this point. My photo with Finn went off
without a hitch and I even found the time to say “hi” to Laurence Wreford,
who’s the agent for so many decent guests these days. As I was exiting Photo C,
an idea struck me. I could free up my only photo half-clash on Sunday if I were
to get my studio photo with Alan Tudyk on Friday instead of Sunday. My diamond pass
said “Sunday” on it, but I asked the crew if it would be okay to do it today
instead. They were totally fine with
it, so I hopped into Photo A, had my photo taken with Alan, and strolled out of
the area feeling as though I’d just solved all my problems.
With just
under an hour to kill before my final two studio photos of the day, I decided
to go and cash in on my Alan Tudyk diamond pass. Autograph time! One of the
perks of being a diamond pass holder is that you get to join the back of that
person’s autograph queue. No virtual queuing ticket needed. So when I got to
Alan’s autograph queue and was told that I’d have to wait, I was a little
miffed. No matter, I didn’t have to wait that long. Before I knew it, I was
face-to-face with Wash, Alpha, Wray Nerely, Steve the Pirate, K-2SO, Heihei,
and so many more awesome characters.
Alan
Tudyk:
Of course, the downside to Alan being so late and so popular was that my time
with him was relatively short. Not ridiculously
short, but about what you’d expect from a guest with that many people in his
queue. Alan was everything you’d
expect. Hilarious, quirky, awkward, engaging....and a total goofball. Yes, Alan
did make the Heihei noise for us – without us even having to ask. Out of all of
Alan’s awesome roles, I’ll always have the softest spot in my heart for Alpha.
Not Wash, Alpha. Wash was amazing too, but Alpha was where Alan’s acting
ability was truly able to shine. From paranoid stoner to frenzied psychopath.
We discussed what it was like working on “Dollhouse” and having to flit from
personality to personality so quickly. Alan said that it was confusing and all
he wanted to do was lie down, go to sleep, and remember who he was. It was a
joke, and it was funny. We also discussed the art of working with
motion-capture and the idea behind ‘Con Man’. It was recently announced that
‘Con Man’ will be airing on Syfy for the first time soon. I asked Alan if that
meant he had enough sway to get them to change the spelling back to ‘Sci-Fi’
like the good ol’ days. Alan quipped, “I wish”, before I thanked him for his
time. Guest Type = Big Guest/Responder.
All seven
autographs were completed. This just left two studio photos and a chat with Dan
Portman on the itinerary. Wai’s photo took place in Photo C at 2:55pm and went
off without a hitch. Wai was as delightful as she was at the autograph
table...and tiny! Soon after Wai’s photo session finished, it was time to head
to Photo B for my studio session with John Carroll Lynch, whom I’ve loved since “Carnivale” in the early
2000s. If funds had permitted, I would have gotten John’s autograph too, but,
alas, it was not meant to be. Soon after leaving the photo area, I headed over
to Dan Portman. As always, Dan was amazing. He greeted me like a mate, gave me
a little drum-roll so I could tell him the result, and he was ecstatic to learn
that I’d achieved the distinction I was hoping for. We chatted about my future,
career goals, etc., before I told him that I’d seen him in the audience at “UFC
Glasgow” a couple of weeks beforehand. Amusingly, they showed Dan on the big
screen just after a Scottish fighter had lost and wasn’t able to talk to the
audience, so Dan got booed. It was hilarious. We chatted some more about life,
the new season of “Game Of Thrones”, and what other conventions he has coming
up, before I told Dan that I’d come back and see him on Sunday afternoon to say
goodbye before we headed back to Gloucestershire.
As we were
about to leave for the day, another idea struck me...I know, be careful. My
brain isn’t used to having to work this much. It was 5:00pm. Emily Kinney’s
photo session would soon be coming to a close....could I try and tick two of my
Sunday photo sessions off the list on Friday instead? I’d already been
successful with Alan. Could lightning strike twice? I headed over to Photo B to
check and the red shirt working the area said that it was totally fine to join
the back of the queue and go in last alongside my friend Gareth, who also had
the same idea I did. This meant that my total studio photos for Sunday had
decreased from 11 to 9. What a help that would be! It meant that I now had a
near two-hour gap on Sunday in order to get any last-minute or missed
autographs completed. Without that gap, it would have been very tight, so a
massive thank you to the crew for helping out and being awesome. For those
keeping score, that was 7 autographs, 6 studio photos, and 1 chat completed on
Friday. It was a great start to the hectic weekend that is LFCC. Myself, Hannah
and John left the car at the Olympia and walked the ten-minutes to the Premier
Inn. It was a triple room, but they’d given us a double and a single, so Hannah
grabbed the single and I was left to share a bed with John for the weekend.
Thankfully, there was no spoony action. I didn’t wake up to find John wrapped
around me like a momma rhino protecting its young. For what it is, the Premier
Inn was fine. It was clean enough, tidy enough, and the decorations were just
about cheery enough to stop me from hanging myself from the tacky curtain
rails. After watching the first-half of “Horrible Bosses” on ITV2 (helloooooo,
Jennifer Aniston!), I was out like a light. Thankfully, unlike LFCC 2015, there
wasn’t the smell of used, salty condom emanating from the wardrobe...it’s a
luxurious lifestyle I lead.
Friday,
conclude!
Saturday,
commence!
Ahh, LFCC
Saturday. The most chaotic, anxiety-inducing, crowded convention day of my
calendar year. You bring me such joy and yet such dread. I feel as though I’m
in an abusive relationship with you. The agenda ended up being pretty similar
to Friday, with the only notable exception being that it would be longer queues
and harder to get decent virtual queuing numbers. Before leaving the hotel on
Saturday morning, I’d decided to skip Bernard Cribbins and Zoe Wanamaker’s
autographs. In the case of Bernard, I’d recently met him in March. I’d gotten
his autograph (x2), I’d gotten a professional photo with him, and I had a
TARDIS green-screen photo booked with him for LFCC. With me having so much to
do during LFCC Saturday, it made perfect sense to cut a couple of the less
important autographs from the list. In Zoe’s case, I already had a studio photo
booked with her and I knew that her autograph line was going to be very busy.
As I largely know Zoe from her cameo in “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s
Stone” and her voice-over work in “Doctor Who”, I felt comfortable going for
just the studio photo after all. This left me with 8x studio photos and 7x
autographs to collect. At your average con, this would be a walk in the park.
At LFCC, on Saturday, it might get a little tricky if my virtual queuing
numbers were shit or if the studio photos started to run behind and bleed into
each other. Something I’ve yet to mention is that the night before departing
Gloucestershire for LFCC, I was working out and tore a pretty nasty gash up the
inside of one of my thighs. By Saturday morning, it was infected and started
making walking pretty damn tough. Every time I’d take a step, my clothing would
rub on the wound. Walking around the convention on Saturday and Sunday wasn’t
fun. Even worse was walking to the hotel and back each day. I was so fed up by
Saturday evening that I was going to catch a taxi back from the Olympia to the
Premier Inn. There wasn’t a single taxi in sight, in London, so I decided to
walk back in the rain anyway, but suffice to say I wasn’t at my happiest or
most pain-free on LFCC Saturday and Sunday.
My friend
Phil was right near the front of the regular entry queue. The autographs I was most
worried about were Alyson Hannigan, Natalie Dormer, and Conleth Hill, none of
which Phil needed, so I asked Phil if he could grab me some V.Q.’s for them as
a back-up in case press were let in a little late. Of course, press were let in
on time, but regulars were let in early, so my V.Q. numbers would have been
shit if it wasn’t for Phil. Massive shout-out to that man. My first studio
photo of the day was the Phelps twins, A.K.A. Fred and George Weasley from the
Harry Potter movies. It was scheduled to start at 9:20am in Photo B. It ended
up starting pretty much half an hour late because the twins were unaware that
their photo session was so early. Evidently nobody had told them. Oh dear. This
left me in a bit of a pickle as I had Benedict Cumberbatch’s photo at the same
time, which would then be followed by John Cleese and Zoe Wanamaker very, very
soon afterwards. If everything ran on time, my semi-clashes would have been
absolutely fine. As it was, it was stressful. The twins eventually arrived and
were great fun. Total gents. I quickly dashed off to the other end of the first
floor, Photo G, for my photo with Benedict Cumberbatch. As briefly mentioned
earlier in the review, the gentleman organising Benedict’s photo queue deserves
a Knighthood. There were so many people, so many batches, so much confusion,
and he handled it like a pro. Loud voice, keeping people out of the white
lines, answering queries...he did a stellar job. I was Batch #1 of 28(!!!).
Benedict had two studio photo sessions that day. One that was nearly two hours
long and one that was an hour and a half long. When you include diamond passes,
that’s over 3,000 photos by my calculations. How someone can take that many
photos in one day and still be gracious, friendly, and greet everyone is a
minor miracle. As I was batch #1, Benedict’s energy levels were still high when
it was my turn. He greeted me enthusiastically, shook my hand, asked how I was,
and looked me in the eye. When you have 3,000 photos to get through, taking
this much time with everyone is amazing. Absolutely amazing. Plus, it seemed as
though he was up for any pose, was having fun, making jokes, and generally
acted as though he was thankful to be there. Class act through and through.
Due to all
the diamond pass holders, John Cleese’s photo session was running behind. This
meant that John and Zoe’s photos were taking place pretty much concurrently. I
had the decision to go to Zoe first as she wasn’t a diamond guest. I got to the
front, the photo was taken, Zoe was lovely, and I headed over to John’s photo
area. It was just closing and they
hadn’t even gotten to the batches yet! Just diamonds...and perhaps golds, I’m
not sure. There were 3 people left in the queue. Everyone else was told to come
back for the afternoon shoot. Going to the afternoon shoot would have fucked up
my schedule royally, so I managed to blag my way into the morning session
somehow. The crew basically let me go through because I was going to be so busy
in the afternoon. Once again, great crew! Photo A was organised by the
legendary Phil and he took care of me and made sure I got everything done in
that photo area. Great guy and the best chaotic photo area crew member that
Showmasters have. John Cleese was surprisingly friendly and enthusiastically
energetic. I was fearful that he was going to be a dick or arrogant, or
something, but he couldn’t have been nicer. Plus, 99% of the stories I’ve heard
about people’s interactions with John at the autograph table have been overwhelmingly
positive too. Looks like John’s first convention was a success! Curious to see
if he’ll do more moving forwards. Straight after leaving John’s photo, it was
time to head a handful of steps forwards to Photo D for my studio session with
Wil Wheaton...or it would have been if it started on time. Wil was about 20
minutes late in the end. No matter, I had a bit of a gap between Wil’s photo
and the next one, so it caused me no issues. Wil had a ‘no touching’ policy
during his photo session. I know this pisses some people off as they feel as
though they’ve paid a lot of money for a photo and they should at least get to
avoid that awkward gap between them and the guest. I don’t really have a
problem with it as you never know someone’s backstory. They could have been
touched inappropriately at events before, they could be germophobes (which I
believe is the case for Wil)...you pay for the photo, not the right to touch
them. If they’re uncomfortable with touching, it’s their choice. Plus, there’s
always ways to avoid that awkward gap. Get close to them, just don’t touch
them. Everybody wins...or, in some cases *cough* GARETH *cough*, ignore the “no
touching” completely and put your arm around them. Always knew that man was a
troublemaker.
Due to
Wil’s photo starting late, it was straight from Photo D to Photo E for my
studio session with Conleth Hill, A.K.A. Varys from “Game Of Thrones”. In real
life, Conleth has a full head of hair. Not even a receding hairline or a bald
patch, or anything. A luxurious, thick bushel of grey locks. I believe this was
Conleth’s first convention (barring panels at San-Diego Comic Con, etc.) and I
must admit that he looked a little shattered. He was perfectly pleasant when I
was interacting with him, however. Top-notch bloke. Straight after leaving
Conleth’s photo, it was time to head back to Photo C for my studio session with
Jess Henwick. For those keeping score, it’s now 2pm and I’ve done nothing but
stand in photo queues all day. Jess had a little iron with her that she would
fist-bump people with for the photo if they wanted...Iron-fist, get it? Oh, the
wit.
It was
four hours until closing. I had one studio photo session left for the day –
Bernard Cribbins with the TARDIS console and green-screen at 3:50pm – and seven
autographs to collect. On Saturday, the ‘Heavy Metal’ comics magazine team were
at the event with Dan Fogler (primarily known for portraying Jacob in
“Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them”). Dan has recently created a new
comic and he was at the event to help promote it. If you bought a £15 ‘Heavy
Metal’ comic, Dan would sign 3x items for free and would give you a free selfie
with him. Pretty great deal when you think about it...which other people did.
The queue was slammed for hours and
hours. Dan was supposed to sign for 250 people, but I’m fairly certain he went way above that. He literally left
filming for “Fantastic Beasts 2” to come to LFCC for a day, work his ass off,
sign for hundreds of people, and then go back to filming. Total respect for that man. Due to the nature of the beast, my time
with Dan was pretty limited as he had so
many people to get through, which is totally fine. I was just appreciative
that Dan was there at all and that he was signing for free and offering free
selfies if you bought a £15 comic. It’s a great deal to me! We actually tried
to get the autographs done earlier in the day when on a mini-break between
photo sessions, but the line was moving so slowly that we had to depart. Later
in the day, when we returned, we noticed that the people we were queuing next
to were pretty much the front of the queue now, so I asked if they’d mind if we
took up our earlier position, rather than joining the back on a very long queue
again. They were totally cool with
it, so we actually re-joined the queue at the #1 position. Badass!
Natalie
Dormer:
Natalie was my first Showmasters guest autograph of the day. The first thing
I’ve got to mention is that she’s beautiful. The second thing that I have to
mention is that she was so much more talkative and engaging than I was
expecting! Headliners usually give you a “hi” and a handshake, and perhaps 20
seconds of their time, then it’s time for you to depart. Not Dormer. Obviously,
conversations running 4 or 5 minutes weren’t going to be on the horizon as she
was so popular, but she looked me in the eye, smiled, asked me how my day was
going, where I was from, etc. Then we chatted about “Game Of Thrones” for a
minute or two. The experience went beyond what I was expecting, which is always
delightful...particularly considering the price-tag of her autograph! We
discussed Natalie’s portrayal of Margaery and how it differs significantly from
her role in the book series. Margaery is more important in the show. She has
more screen time, a deeper character, she’s more complex. In the books,
Margaery, thus far, has never been more than a secondary character. Natalie
mentioned that she never wanted to portray Margaery as a victim, even when she
was arrested and was at her lowest. Margaery was always as cunning and
intelligent as Cersei. She was always one step ahead...until she wasn’t. But,
even then, Margaery was the only one to sense danger when Cersei didn’t show up
for her trial. Margaery didn’t lose to Cersei, Margaery was killed due to other
people’s actions who didn’t understand Cersei like she did. It was fascinating
to delve into Natalie’s psyche of Margaery like that. I asked Natalie if she
was ready to depart the show by the time Margaery was killed off and she said
that she was. She was expecting it. Margaery was never going to play a major
role in the humans vs. White Walkers war that’s imminent, so there was never any
way she’d survive the whole show. She was sad to leave the people and the role
behind though. I asked Natalie if she got to keep anything and she told me that
she was gifted Margaery’s wedding crown from when she married Renly. It now
sits on her bookshelf at home and is one of her most prized possessions. How
cool is that?! I thanked Natalie for her time and told her that I’d see her in
the photo session the following day. Guest
Type = Big Guest/Responder. She totally exceeded my expectations. Kudos to
the crew as well for not pestering Natalie to move on faster.
Conleth
Hill:
Next to Natalie sat Conleth Hill. Earlier in the day, his queue was slammed,
but by this point it’d started to thin out as there was only one person in
front of me in the queue when I joined the back of it. Bless him, he still
looked a bit knackered...or overwhelmed...or boiling hot, given the amount of
people and the lack of air-conditioning in the area he was sat. Amusingly, we
started by talking about his recent stint on ‘Car Share’ and what it was like
working with Peter Kay. We then transitioned into talking about “Game Of
Thrones”, his longevity on the show, and what the show has done for tourism in
Northern Ireland. I told him that I have this idea that Varys is secretly a
ninja – it would explain the outfit – and when the White Walkers get past the
Wall and the war properly begins, Varys will bust out some nunchucks and charge
headfirst into battle, with White Walkers and Wights dropping like flies around
him. That got a big laugh from Conleth – “It could happen!” Guest Type = Responder.
Next up,
my studio photo with Bernard ‘The Cribb’ Cribbins on the first floor concourse,
which was where the green-screen area was located. Just like when I met him in
March, Bernard was hilarious, full of energy, and enthusiastic. For a man
pushing 89 years old, he’s physically and mentally stronger than almost any
89-year-old I’ve ever seen! He was lifting 4 or 5 year olds up to sit on his
knee, he was joking around with all the staff and the attendees...he is a
national treasure in every sense of the word. The green-screen backdrop looks a
little sketchy, but overall it turned
out pretty well. Any photo that contains The Cribb is a winner in my book. Wilf
is still one of my very favourite Doctor Who characters of all-time. He’s incredible. Nothing but love for that
man.
It was now
4:20pm. This gave me just over an hour and a half to collect my final four
autographs of the day, starting with Pilou Asbaek, transitioning to Sean
Biggerstaff, and concluding with everyone’s favourite Buffyverse couple, Aly
and Alexis.
Pilou
Asbaek:
This was Pilou’s first convention and you could tell. Over time, 99% of the
guests on the convention circuit develop a barrier. An invisible distance that
separates you from them somewhat. They’re the most polite, friendly,
professional versions of themselves, but often they take out other parts of
their personality too. This is why I love
first-timers. They have no barrier, no walls, no overly-stiff
professionalism. They’re just themselves.
Crazy, open, wild, and hilariously close to who they are in ‘real life’. Marc
Blucas was like it at “Prophecy” last year (hey, fuck you, Rogue Events) and
Pilou was certainly like it this year. Honestly, all in all, with everything
taken into account, Pilou was probably my favourite guest of the whole weekend.
Even higher than Aly, Alexis, David Morrissey, Matt Lucas, Natalie Dormer, and
William Regal. He was just so much fun! When myself and Hannah were next in his
queue, Pilou got his phone out to show the couple in front of him a picture of
Mads Mikkelsen and himself that was taken in the green room just before. He
took the time to smile at me and Hannah, show us the picture too, and bring us
into the conversation, which was great. Evidently, Mads was Pilou’s acting
mentor and even Pilou still gets a little star-struck around him. Mads stole
Pilou’s beer in the green room and Pilou said, “I’m not telling him off or
taking it back off him, it’s Mads fucking Mikkelsen!” Hilarious. Although, now
that I think about it, perhaps that’s part of the reason why Pilou was so excitable
and interactive all weekend – beer!
When
myself and Hannah got to the front and were ‘officially’ meeting Pilou, he
continued to be interactive, giving lots of smiles and eye-contact, asking us
questions, answering our questions...it felt waaaay more like chatting with a mate at the pub than meeting a
celebrity at a comic convention. We discussed the most recent episode of “Game
Of Thrones” that had aired before LFCC, which involved a massive battle on a
ship deck, with Euron (Pilou’s character) making one of the coolest entrances
in TV history. The episode was basically Euron’s coming-out party. Pilou said
that the fight scene on the ship desk took a couple of days to film and that it
was very slippery because of all the
water. He said he nearly fell on his ass multiple times. Before coming to LFCC,
I read a really small, obscure interview with Pilou, where the interviewer
happened to mention that they discovered that Pilou’s first job out of acting
school was working as a clown in an amusement park. I asked Pilou what the
experience was like and he buried his head in his arms jokingly. He said that
the job was so embarrassing and that he made “a fucking shit” clown. He was so
bad that people used to throw beer at him. To be fair, that sounds amazing.
Suffice to say, his career has only followed an upward trajectory since that
time. I mentioned to Pilou that Hannah had lived in Copenhagen (where Pilou is
from) for a few months in 2016. They chatted about the area Pilou lived in,
which was the same one that Hannah was staying in. Pilou asked Hannah why she
was staying there (boyfriend) and Pilou joked, “typical Danishman!” When Hannah
mentioned that the male in question had broken up with her, Pilou said, “yep,
also a typical Danishman!” Pilou’s love for Denmark was obvious and infectious.
He said that unlike most actors, he doesn’t want to live in Los Angeles. He
wants to live in Copenhagen, one of the most beautiful cities in the world,
write and direct, and help build Denmark’s profile in the industry. Very, very
cool. If his line wasn’t so damn long, I could have chatted to Pilou all day
and never ran out of material or had any awkward silences. He’s the very definition of a conversationalist.
Incredible man, wonderful to meet, always smiling and laughing, swears like a
trooper, and he seemed legitimately happy to be there and to meet his fans.
What more can you ask for? Guest Type =
Conversationalist.
Sean
Biggerstaff:
Thankfully, unlike most of the guests I met over LFCC weekend, Sean was
offering table pictures. I couldn’t fit a studio photo with Sean into my
schedule and I must admit that I’d have probably been put off getting the
autograph too if it wasn’t for the table picture being available. It just adds
something extra to the experience and gives you a picture together to remember
the conversation. It’s a great memory! Puts a bow on the whole experience. Sean
is best known for portraying Oliver Wood in the Harry Potter movies. Amusingly,
one of the things that people say the most about Oliver Wood is that his name
is a penis pun. Who did they choose to portray this character? Someone with the
surname ‘Biggerstaff’...you can’t make this up. Tremendous. Sean was very easy
to talk to. We chatted about his imminent involvement with the upcoming Doctor
Who audio stories by Big Finish, where Sean will be voicing Jenny (the Doctor’s
daughter, portrayed by Georgia Moffat)’s companion. David Tennant will be
returning to voice the 10th Doctor too. Soon afterwards, the
conversation transitioned to Potter. I asked Sean if his
‘blink-and-you’ll-miss-it’ cameo in Deathly Hallows Part II was ever intended
to be longer and Sean mentioned that a moment from the book was actually recorded.
The moment where Oliver Wood and Neville Longbottom discover Colin Creevey’s
body and carry it inside. Sean said that it was a beautiful little scene and
it’s a shame that it hasn’t been made available. Gotta say I agree there.
Decent conversation, table picture, £15. Good value for money! Guest Type = Responder.
Alyson
Hannigan:
Myself and Hannah joined the back of the ever-increasing Alyson Hannigan
autograph queue at 4:30pm. According to Aly’s board, she was scheduled to be
back at 4:35pm. By this point, my mildly infected leg gash was killing me. No matter, Alyson would take
all the pain away. 4:35pm came and went, no Aly. We settled into a conversation
with my lovely friend Jules. No Aly. 5:00pm came and went...no Aly. 5:15pm, no
Aly. Eventually, we were told that Alyson’s photo shoot had run late and that
she’d be back at her autograph table momentarily. Special shout-out to the
gentleman organising Alyson’s autograph queue. I don’t recall seeing him
before, so he might have been new. Lots of people were crowding around Alyson’s
autograph area, people were getting miffed with the wait, and he handled
himself really well. Kudos! Mercifully, Alyson eventually returned to her
autograph table after a two-hour absence. My feet were dead, my leg was
throbbing, my energy was depleted, but I persevered. As predicted, getting to
the front of Aly’s massive autograph queue took all the pain away. There she
was: Alyson Hannigan. One of my very biggest idols and heroes since I was eight
years old. I knew that my time with Alyson would be brief. It was her first UK
convention, she was very, very popular, and she had two hours worth of
lingering people to get through in the next half an hour or so. I got right to
the heart of the matter. If I’m going to get 30 seconds with Alyson, I’m going
to talk from the heart and make them count.
I thanked Alyson
for coming and told her that I discovered “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” two days
after my parents separated. If it wasn’t for Buffy, I might not have gotten
through that time. If it wasn’t for Buffy, I might not have survived being
bullied in school. If it wasn’t for Buffy, I assuredly wouldn’t have survived
my two closest friends passing away and my attempted suicide, as after
miraculously surviving my suicide attempt – while Buffy was playing in the
background – I woke up from a two-hour stupor just as Buffy was giving her
“strong is fighting” speech to Angel from the top of a hill in Buffy’s only real Christmas episode, “Amends”. Alyson
seemed genuinely touched, she expressed how grateful she was that I’d told her
this and that Buffy was there for me throughout my childhood, adolescence and
adulthood when I needed it. Just after we paid for my Alyson autograph and were
2nd in queue, a crew member told us that Alyson would no longer be
personalising due to time constraints. However, by this point, because I’d
already paid, I already had my name written down. Even though Alyson had just
been told to skip personalisations, she did it anyway. It was a wonderful
touch. I desperately wanted that
personalisation, so it was really cool for Alyson to do it anyway, even though
I didn’t ask. Guest Type =
Conversationalist (more on why during Sunday’s review)
Alexis
Denisof:
The final autograph of the day. The final thing on the agenda for the day. I’d
met Alexis four years earlier at “Hallowhedon 5” and he couldn’t have been
nicer. He was captivating on stage, he came down to party with us on the
Saturday night, led a Conga line, did the ‘Wesley dance’, and was generally the
perfect gentleman and human being. He beamed when he spoke of Alyson and his
family, he forbade photo session poses that were too intimate in order to be respectful to Aly, and I left
“Hallowhedon 5” citing Alexis as one of my all-time favourite guests. Suffice
to say, I was thoroughly excited to see him again. I was Alexis’ penultimate
autograph of the day as it was 5:55pm by this point. When I approached his
autograph table, he remembered me! From
four years ago! Instantly, it transitioned from another autograph table
experience to catching up with an old friend because that’s exactly how he treated
me. He asked how life had been for me and I explained that I’d finished my
Bachelor’s degree since last seeing him and that I’d just finished my Master’s
degree and received my result the previous day. When I told Alexis my result,
he whooped loudly and shook my hand enthusiastically, congratulating me. He
also scoped out that my tie had the Angel logo at the bottom of it. It’s a
custom-made piece from Australia that two of my Buffyverse friends bought me
for my birthday in 2014. Alexis loved
it. In fact, he requested that he sign the back of it for free – “a long-time
supporter and friend like you, I’ll sign it for free...just don’t tell anyone.”
I showed Alexis where Jonathan Woodward (Knox from Angel) had drunkenly signed
the tie the previous year, so Alexis went one step further and signed it in
massive writing. It looks amazing.
After
catching up on life for a few minutes longer, Alexis started to sign my 8” x
10” picture. As he was still conversing with me, he wrote “Sa” to start “Shane”
instead of “Sha”. He said, “Oh shit! Go and grab another one and tell them I
fucked it up!” By the time I’d returned, Alexis was with his final autograph
collector of the day, so I waited for that to conclude, making myself Alexis’
final autograph of the day. Boom. Once I got back to the front, myself and
Alexis started talking about Wesley and how Wesley has the greatest character
journey in the entire Buffyverse (he does). His transition from bumbling
buffoon in Buffy season three to a broken, hollow, badass in the final episode
of Angel is a sight to behold. The character is unrecognisable, yet none of his
journey felt forced. It’s incredible storytelling from Joss Whedon, Alexis
Denisof, David Greenwalt, Tim Minear, and everyone else involved. I asked Alexis
about his role on “Grimm” and what it was like reuniting with David Greenwalt
and Jim Kouf for the show. Alexis loved
working on the show and didn’t actually want to leave. The intention was for
Alexis to return in season five, but as NBC were now only committing to
one-season orders of “Grimm” and because the story that was planned for Alexis’
character, Viktor, was supposed to be a long-term arc, it kept getting delayed
and was eventually scrapped entirely. It’s a shame because Alexis made for a compelling
villain. Finally, we chatted about Alexis role as ‘The Other’ in the Marvel
Cinematic Universe and what it was like working underneath all that prosthetic
and costume. Apparently, Alexis could barely see under the costume and didn’t
have the facilities to drink or pee without help. Occasionally, every now and
then, someone would put a straw through the mouth of the costume and Alexis
would think, “Oh, I suppose I’ve got to drink now.” Hilarious. Alexis is a
real-life James Bond...even with his real-life American accent. He’s a handsome
devil, the perfect gentleman, engaging, interesting, charismatic, and the
perfect convention guest. If Alexis was at every convention I attended, I would
meet him at every one. He’s that good of a person. Guest Type = Conversationalist.
One last
thing to note regarding Saturday that I couldn’t wedge into the review
earlier...at some point during Saturday afternoon, due to rain build-up or
something, a ceiling tile caved in near the back of Alyson’s autograph queue
line. I mean, the ceiling tile literally fell down onto the floor. Thankfully,
nobody was under it at the time. It would have been just my luck after waiting for 20 years for Alyson to have been
walking under it when it fell, to have gotten concussed, and to have cancelled
the rest of the event. For the rest of the day, there was a little square patch
that was taped-off with a bucket underneath it to catch the drips. For some
reason, this is utterly hilarious to me.
Leg
throbbing, I decided to catch a taxi back to the hotel...until I couldn’t find
an unused taxi whatsoever. In London. Fuck. My. Life. Rather than wait half an
hour for one to show up, I decided to hoist my balls up (metaphorically
speaking), block the pain out, and walk back to the hotel. That was not fun.
The rain actually helped though as it gave me a distraction. Once we arrived
back at the hotel, we ate in the restaurant, zoned-out in bed, watched “The
Hangover” on ITV2, and all fell asleep to an episode of “Family Guy”, which I’m
sure is no reflection on the quality of the show...or is it?
Saturday,
conclude!
Sunday,
commence!
My review
of Sunday will be shorter than my reviews of Friday and Saturday. This is
because I only had 3x autographs to collect. The rest of the day was dedicated
to 9x studio photos. There’s not much to write about when it comes to studio
photos after you’ve already written about the first fourteen of the
weekend...well, except Alyson Hannigan, but more on that later. My autographs
to attain during Sunday were Matt Lucas, Mark Williams, and William Regal. My
studio photos consisted of Alyson Hannigan, Mark Williams, Benedict Wong,
Natalie Dormer, Steven Yeun, Alexis Denisof and Alyson Hannigan together, Pilou
Asbaek, Edge and Christian, and, finally, Matt Lucas. Compared to the previous
day, if everything ran relatively on time, it was going to be a piece of cake.
Press were
let into the building at 8:58am on Sunday, which gave us time to get inside the
venue, get in the lift, get to the first floor, and get decent V.Q.’s for Matt
Lucas and Mark Williams (William Regal wasn’t V.Q.’ing). The first item on the
agenda for the day was my studio photo with Alyson Hannigan, 10:05am, Photo B.
The queue was long, my anticipation was high, and it started pretty much on
time. When I got to the front of the queue, with my arm wrapped around Alyson’s
waist and her arm wrapped around me...the camera broke. It literally stopped
working. After 10 seconds of waiting for it to start working again, myself and
Alyson de-tangled and started chatting one-on-one. Anyone who has read anything
on my blog – or knows me at all – knows that I adore “Buffy The Vampire
Slayer”. I’m reviewing every episode, it was the first show I ever loved with
every fibre of my being, and no show has paralleled it (and its spin-off,
Angel) to this day. Meeting Alyson at her autograph table the day before was
incredible. Truly incredible. Alas, the greedy bastard inside of me that had
been waiting for 20 years wanted more. When the camera broke, I was secretly
overjoyed...after a brief second of fear, when a little voice in my head
screamed, “SAY SOMETHING! ANYTHING! DON’T FREEZE! WHAT DID EMINEM TELL YOU,
HUH? YOU’VE ONLY GOT ONE SHOT!” I like to think that my sheer determination
killed the camera. In actuality, it was probably just a technical glitch, but
my head-canon is that I have superpowers and destroyed the camera temporarily
with my mind – YOU CANNOT TAKE THAT AWAY FROM ME! Getting a few minutes to chat
to Alyson, a childhood hero, one-on-one for a few minutes was indescribably
incredible. It was a once-in-a-lifetime kind of opportunity. We chatted about
where I was from, how the weekend had gone for Alyson, when I met Alexis four
years earlier and he had to call Alyson and check with her if it was okay to reveal
what their family Halloween outfit for that year would be (“he knows I’d have
killed him if he hadn’t asked!”). We chatted about life, Buffy, my future
career plans, how the EW 20-year anniversary shoot for Buffy was...coming into
the event, I had a list of questions to ask Alyson. I knew that time would cut
this list down to one or two. I ended up raising all of them! Without that list and years of experience, having a
random, impromptu one-on-one conversation with one of my biggest idols may have
left me a dribbling, embarrassed mess. Instead, I was totally confident,
relaxed, and appreciative. I couldn’t be more thankful to Aly and Alexis for
making the trip across the pond. Wow, what a moment! The best moment of all of
LFCC without a doubt.
Still
trying to come down from my euphoria, it was time to dash to Photo A for my op.
with Mark Williams, who couldn’t have been smilier and more friendly. Soon
afterwards, it was off to Photo C for Benedict Wong, who brought with him a
portable speaker in order to play music, unwind, relax everyone in the queue,
and have fun. I hear that Benedict had the portable speaker with him at his
autograph table all weekend too. Surprisingly, in real life, Benedict is from
Manchester and has a strong Manchester accent, which is initially confuzzling
as you don’t expect it. Benedict was totally cool, totally chill, and was happy
to mess around and do any pose that was requested of him. My photo went off
without a hitch.
After
leaving Benedict’s photo, I had two hours free in order to get the three
autographs completed. It was my last real
gap of the day and therefore the weekend, so there was a little pressure on me
to get all three completed. In the end, it was a doddle!
William
Regal:
I met 30 guests over LFCC weekend. Regal was in my top 6 favourites after all
was said and done (alongside Aly, Alexis, Pilou, Matt Lucas, and David
Morrissey). More than any other fandom or category, for me, wrestlers have
always been the most hit and miss. They’re either incredible or they’re quite dismissive and not really interested in
conversing. Thankfully, Regal was the former. Man, what a gent! He has a story
for every occasion, he gives amazing eye-contact, he’s humble, appreciative,
interesting, his voice is hypnotic, and he is so damn friendly. I had the
most fun time talking to him. We chatted about a few things that I won’t go
into because it’s to do with my family, we chatted about his career, the
British wrestling scene, his goals, and his longevity. Regal started wrestling
when he was fifteen years old in Blackpool. Being a wrestler or being involved
in wrestling is literally the only job
he’s ever had. He broke into the business during a time where it was still
considered ‘real’ and it was tough to become a wrestler. He was beaten,
battered, stretched, and pushed to his breaking point for a couple of years
before he was finally accepted. Regal talked about his retirement match a few
years ago and that he didn’t know it was going to be his last match. Suddenly,
at 46 years old, his body was breaking down. His back was a mess. He wasn’t
self-pitying though. After a career that spanned 31 years, he felt blessed and
appreciative, not angry and bitter. The chat with Regal went on for quite a
while because Regal is a natural-born storyteller. Plus, he was offering table
pictures! Wahey! Guest Type =
Conversationalist.
Mark
Williams:
This year has been the year of the Weasley actors. I’ve caught up with Chris
Rankin (and his amazing girlfriend, Ness), who are like extended family by this
point. I’ve met Bonnie Wright, I’ve met James and Oliver Phelps, and now I’ve
met Mark Williams! As someone who grew up with the Potter books and movies, I
feel incredibly blessed to be living the life I currently am. Not only getting
to attend conventions, but getting to help book guests for some, helping to
organise or crew for some, getting discounts and hotel rooms comped in some
cases, getting travel expenses covered in others...I know I live a very blessed
life in my secondary career and I couldn’t be more appreciative. Hopefully, one
day, between this and that, it will be my primary career too, alongside a part-time
job where I’m using my Master’s degree. THAT’S
THE DREAM! Anyway, I was thoroughly excited to meet Mark. Not only is
Arthur Weasley a favourite of mine, but I adored
Mark as Brian Williams, Rory’s father, in “Doctor Who” too. We chatted about
“P.S.”, which is a five-minute storyboarded video on YouTube that the BBC
released to act as an exclamation point on Rory and Amy Pond’s departures from
“Doctor Who”. In essence, Rory and Amy had children and one of their
grandchildren arrives in the present day and goes to visit Brian, handing him a
letter to explain to Brian why Rory and Amy wouldn’t be coming back (they got
stuck in the past). I asked Mark if he was ever approached to record this
properly and he said that he wasn’t as far as he can recall, which is a shame.
We also discussed “Father Brown” and what it’s like to be filming most of it in
Gloucestershire, my home-county. I think Mark was offering table pictures, but
as I’d just had a studio photo with him, I didn’t bother. Let the man rest his legs
for a while! Guest Type = Responder.
Matt
Lucas:
Talk about saving one of the best for last! OH EM GEE was Matt fantastic. When
I got to the front of the autograph queue, Matt said that he loved my suit and
Angel tie, loved that I’d made the effort and dressed up, and asked if he could
take a picture of me. I said “sure, go ahead!” It’s a unique, alien experience
for a guest to be requesting a picture of you for a change! I congratulated
Matt on his recent honorary degree from the University of Bristol (not too far
from me!), which led to a brief conversation about my Master’s. Matt said, “Oh,
so you actually got your Master’s the old fashioned way, by working for it! How
bizarre!” It was hilarious. In fact, pretty much everything that comes out of Matt’s
mouth is hilarious. We talked about “Doctor Who” and his recent portrayal of
Nardole. After finishing up his first episode, “The Husbands of River Song”,
Matt didn’t know that he’d be returning at all, let alone as a regular,
semi-Companion! He talked about his time filming on the show and what it was
like to say goodbye to it. We talked about Nardole’s exit and how poetic it was
that it rivalled the Doctor’s role on the show. I told Matt that I’d see him in
the studio photo session later in the afternoon. Matt turned to Hannah and
said, “will you be in the photo session too?” Hannah replied that she would
not. Matt offered her a table picture with him, even though Hannah hadn’t
purchased an autograph. What a wonderful gesture! Hannah often accompanies me
to conventions and autograph tables, and often she’s drawn into the
conversations or is a part of the experience, but only two people have ever
offered her a table picture before. She’s blagged a few more in her time, but
only two have offered themselves without being asked – Dave Prowse and Matt
Lucas. Couldn’t be more impressed with Matt. Funny, talkative, appreciative,
humble, generous...a wonderful experience. Guest
Type = Conversationalist.
After
leaving Matt’s autograph table, it was time for a quick sit down before
back-to-back-to-back photo sessions with Natalie Dormer (beautiful as ever!) -
who had her hair down for the photos on Sunday, which I actually prefer to the
hair-up look on Saturday – followed by Steven Yeun (very friendly and greeted everyone
warmly), and then finally Aly and Alexis together, who greeted me like an
extended family member. But, gentle readers, the fun didn’t stop there! Soon
after leaving Aly and Alexis’ photo, it was time to head to Photo D for my
shoot with Pilou. Pilou was arguably the most fun guest I’ve ever seen in a
photo session. He was messing around, happy to do any pose. He was shuffling, dancing, greeting everyone happily,
bending over in front of people if they couldn’t think of a pose...the guy is
an utter legend! He better come back to a con in the UK again soon! After our
picture was taken, Pilou wanted to take another one because he didn’t think he
was ready the first time. In reality, he looked great the first time and the
second...and I ended up getting a copy of both photos. Hellooooo, bonus photo
for free!
After
another little break, it was time for my photo with Edge and Christian. Like
most wrestling fans of my generation, I grew up watching the Hardyz, the
Dudleyz, and Edge and Christian. They were the definitive tag teams of my
generation. I met the Dudleyz together in 2015. I met Edge in 2016 and
Christian a month before LFCC at “Collectormania”, but I’d never met both of
them together. Edge and Christian were famous for performing ‘five-second poses’.
They would think of a goofy pose, turn around, and stay still for five seconds
while people took pictures. Edge, Christian, and myself did a five-second pose
for the studio photo picture. I’m actually really pleased with how it turned
out...crazy eyes and all! As I was leaving, I had a brief chat with Steve
Lynskey, who is a wrestling referee and the man behind bringing wrestling
guests to Showmasters conventions. I told Steve that he’d brought over the
Dudleyz, he’d brought over Edge and Christian....now he needed to bring over
the Hardyz, my favourite tag team of all-time. Steve said that his original
plan for LFCC 2017 was to bring the Hardyz over, but after they signed with WWE
again, that option was off the table (WWE don’t allow people under contract to
do conventions except very specific ones that they have a relationship with).
OH. MY. GOD. That means that when the Hardyz leave WWE, there is a strong
possibility that we’ll see them in the UK for a convention! Jeff Hardy is
arguably my biggest idol ever. He’s the reason I started wearing a bandana.
He’s the reason I started wearing all black and painting my fingernails in my
teens. He’s the reason I started wearing eyeliner. I almost never get
star-struck at conventions by this point, but I may become a bumbling mess if I
meet Jeff Hardy...YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
Finally, I
headed to Photo A for my studio session with Matt Lucas. Matt greeted me
warmly, the photo was taken, and it was time to depart. I said goodbye to Phil,
who was still organising and working hard outside Photo A. I said goodbye to my
friend Bella, who was in good spirits after a rough week. I said goodbye to Dan
Portman and checked in with him about how his weekend went. As we were leaving,
while all the autograph queues were dead and the guests were starting to
depart, one queue was still long. Like, wrapping half the autograph area long.
Mr. David Bradley. The legendary David Bradley. I’ve met David on four
occasions and he’s always been a total gentleman. Legitimately one of the kindest,
nicest, most interesting men I’ve ever met in my life, so to see him doing so well was heart-warming. We headed
back to the car, I tried to recover some feeling in my gash...wait, that
sounded really wrong...and we headed back to Gloucestershire.
Summing up
LFCC is always hard because it brings so many strengths and weaknesses every
year. When it comes to your generic, everyday LFCC Friday and Sunday, by this
point, Showmasters have it down to a science overall. Everything runs pretty
much on time, the space is used well, it’s easy to get around, and you can get
a lot done. LFCC Saturday – when sold-out – is always a clusterfuck. Partially,
that’s not Showmasters fault, as having that many people in a venue will always create problems, some of which
are unsolvable. However, more can be done to ensure a better time for
everybody. Using the space a little differently, making sure that different
ticket types are let in at the right time, going back to last year’s
entry/diamond pass collection system...these would all be positive steps
forward in my opinion. While the organisation and ability to move relatively
freely didn’t live up to last year, the encounters I had with the guests were
even better than last year. For every negative, there seemed to be two or three
positives. Would I return to LFCC? Well, I’ve been to the past nine, so I’d say
that answer is a resounding ‘yes!’ With a few little tweaks, this event could
get even better. It’s still way better than it was in 2014 and 2015, and the
event seems to be going from strength to strength overall.
Thank you
so much for reading! Please, please share this on social media, tell your
friends, give me some feedback, and let me know how you found the event if you were there. If you weren’t, give me
feedback anyway! Every comment – on the blog or on social media – is always read and appreciated. You can
catch me next at “Gloucester Comic Con” on September 9th and 10th
(where I should be head of the crew again), then I’ll be popping up at some
indies like Loughborough Comic Con and potentially Reading Comic Con, before
the crescendo in early December to close out the year in style, my favourite
event on the calendar, “Wales Comic Con”. Boy, will that one be a blast! Stay
strong, stay safe, stay happy.
- Your
friendly neighbourhood Shangel
You were behind me in the q for natalies autograph . She was so lovely and it was nice to meet you :)
ReplyDeleteIt's taken me 3 hours in between regular life but man this was a great read. Really heartwarming and motivational. Especially the David Morrissey bit. I'm behind on my masters dissertation and that part was really the get up and go I needed for tomorrow. You're a great writer mate.
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