Wales Comic Con 2019 Part I - A Detailed Review

Guests met and discussed in this review (with the franchise(s) I most associate them with personally) :-

• Charlie Cox (Matt Murdock/Daredevil in “Daredevil”)

• Ron Perlman (Clay Morrow in “Sons of Anarchy” & Hellboy in the “Hellboy” movie franchise)

• Kiefer Sutherland (Jack Bauer in “24” & David Powers in “The Lost Boys”)

• Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley in the “Harry Potter” movie franchise)

• Liam Cunningham (Ser Davos Seaworth in “Game of Thrones”)

• Jennifer Morrison (Emma Swan in “Once Upon A Time”, Zoey in “How I Met Your Mother” & Dr. Allison Cameron in “House”)

• David Tennant (The Tenth Doctor in “Doctor Who” & Kilgrave in “Jessica Jones”)

• Billie Piper (Rose Tyler in “Doctor Who”)

• Miranda Otto (Zelda Spellman in “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina” & Eowyn in the “Lord of the Rings” movie franchise)

• David Wenham (Harold Meachum in “Iron Fist” & Faramir in the “Lord of the Rings” movie franchise)

• Robert Buckley (Major Lilywhite in “iZombie” & Clay Evans in “One Tree Hill”)

• Mark Addy (King Robert Baratheon in “Game of Thrones”)

• Russell Tovey (Henry Knight in “Sherlock” & Alonso Frame in “Doctor Who”)

• Alexander Ludwig (Cato in “The Hunger Games” & Bjorn Ironside in “Vikings”)

Two quick notes before we get started...

1) If this is your first time on "Shangel's Reviews", check the tabs at the top of the website for a comprehensive list of all Comic Cons I’ve attended and reviewed, as well as the guests met at that event. There’s also a list of all the “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” and “Angel” episodes I’ve reviewed in thorough detail so far. Will I ever finish them? If I can find the time.

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With that being said, let’s dive in…

Where to begin, gentle readers. It’s been almost a year since my last review. There have been many reasons for this. Firstly, life is busy. I’ve moved, I’ve gotten engaged to the love of my life, I’m working two jobs, and I’m trying to juggle all this alongside Comic Cons and a social life. Secondly, frankly, Comic Cons simply aren’t as fun as they once were. Outside of “Wales Comic Con” and a handful of others, I find myself more and more withdrawn from the convention world. I’ve left almost all Comic Con social media groups I was a part of, I’ve massively scaled down my Facebook friends list of convention related people (around 75% are gone now), and I’ve gone from averaging 15 events per year to 8 or 9. For me, conventions are getting more and more expensive – too expensive. Coupling this with more queuing, less time with the guests, and an ever-increasing entitlement attitude from newer attendees, I find myself enjoying the con scene less and less with every passing year. Now, with that said, a few things have helped. Cutting down on Comic Con groups and Comic Con friends has given me a little breathing room from the scene. It was starting to become more “work” and less “fun”, which was zapping my enthusiasm. Cutting down on the number of events I attend has also helped as I’m more-or-less concentrating on the essentials. “Wales Comic Con” is home and has largely remained a bright-spot in my convention life. Other than Wales, I only really get involved with or attend events organised by friends, such as Jeff from “CovCon”, Mark from “Geeks”, or Lee from “Em-Con”. The only two exceptions are a couple of events per year organised by Showmasters (usually very well organised, fairly prices, and no “selfie” charges at autograph tables) and Starfury Events (whose style of events remain unmatched in the U.K., in my opinion).

So, you can see why reviews haven’t been high on my priority list. I’ve been crazily busy and somewhat burnt out with the con scene…but that has started to change again. Distancing myself from the scene a little more gave me time to miss it! I entered 2019 with a renewed excitement for events. I started the year with Showmasters’ “London Comic Con Spring” and then went straight into this event, “Wales Comic Con 2019 Part I”, the following month. I’ll touch upon this more in the review itself – yes, this is still intro. – but this edition of WCC really reignited my passion for events…but more on that later. So, with the passion returning and my fingers itching to review again, how can I make this work? I simply don’t have the time to write 20-page reviews for every Comic Con anymore…but I think I’ve figured out a solution. I’m going to review every event I attend again moving forwards, but they won’t be quite so long. They will be detailed enough to give you that “Shangel’s Reviews” vision of feeling like you attended the event if you didn’t or reliving the event if you did, but they won’t be quite so thorough or detailed.

The plan is as follows – after this review of “WCC 2019 Part I”, I shall write reviews for “London Comic Con Spring” and “Em-Con: Nottingham 2019”. Then I shall backtrack into 2018 and write mini-reviews for all the events I attended during my hiatus. The backtrack reviews will be much shorter than your average review from this blog. I also have to balance this around two jobs and attending “Starfury: Ultimates” and “Collectormania: Birmingham” between now and June 2^nd. That’s a lot of writing. The plan is to be all up-to-date with recent events and the backlog by the time “London Film & Comic Con” hits at the end of July. In essence, I’m gonna be writing a lot so check back to the blog often!

As part of my new shorter-and-more-manageable style of writing, I won’t be saying much about “Wales Comic Con” as a whole. If you want to know how the event works or information about the venue, or what to expect if you’re going to be attending a future event, click here. There are 9 previous “Wales Comic Con” reviews – with a 10^th to come from 2018 Part II – that you can peruse to get all sorts of information like the aforementioned. As I’ve said before, in all sincerity, “Wales Comic Con” has become my spiritual home over the past six years. From the first time I stepped onto the campus, I knew this place was special. The atmosphere was electric, there was an excitement in the air that I’d never experienced at a convention before – and Wrexham is fucking windy! Turns out my first impressions were correct on all fronts. Since that windy day, “Wales Comic Con” and the Glyndwr University campus have become home. The crew became family. The attendees became extended family. The guests became friends. The venue staff and security became mates. At the beginning of 2018, for the ten-year anniversary celebrations, things changed a bit. The event became “next level” – which it had to – bigger, better, stronger. This came with teething issues and quite frankly the 2018 Part II show was a struggle for me. That whole weekend was draining and tough, and I felt as though perhaps…perhaps…the magic of WCC might be fading as the event grows and grows. I’m happy to report that 2019 Part I changed all my feelings on that front. The magic returned.

I find myself in a rather unique position when it comes to “Wales Comic Con” in that I’m the only member of the team that helps out with certain things for the event, e.g. the Facebook group, but when it comes to the weekend itself, I attend as press. So I get to see both sides of the event. I get to see a lot of the “behind the curtains” magic, while also getting to see what the event is like from the point of view of the attendees. Entering the pros and cons section of this review, how do I do it? How do I objectively and independently review an event where I help with certain things and a lot of the team are friends? I like to think I have enough integrity to see both the positives and flaws of an event, and I like to think that everybody appreciates and understands that. Plus, I’ve been a part of the family for years. If I was going to be subjective, I would have started long before this event. Of course, I can only review things from my perspective. I’ll try to address a few things I read about as well, but I can’t comment too much on things I didn’t experience first-hand as it wouldn’t be fair. If you want to share your experiences and feelings on “Wales Comic Con 2019 Part I”, please do so below or while sharing this review on social media (which seems to be the more popular choice).

One final thing to note before diving into the pros and cons, and then diving into the play-by-play section, is that I will barely name-drop crew or attendees. If I started naming everybody I was excited to see or talk to, I’d inevitably forget someone and would feel like a total knob-jockey once I discovered this. So please don’t get all dramatic if you don’t get mentioned. It’s not because I don’t love you…well, probably not…I mean, it’s possible.

Negatives

Mercifully, this section will be much shorter than it would have been for 2018 Part II’s review. The biggest negative of the weekend was the weather on Saturday. Storm Hannah hit like a bitch and the rain and wind didn’t relent from the event’s opening to the event’s closing on Saturday. Cold rain + strong winds = frozen to the bone, illness, and needing a lot of maintenance and work before any photos can be taken. It was brutal. The worst convention weather I’ve ever witnessed, especially after two April editions of WCC in glorious sunshine in 2017 and 2018. However, I will say that this isn’t the organiser’s fault. More queuing was inside than it normally is, multiple posts and warnings were put out encouraging people to plan ahead as the weather would be awful, and given the venue restrictions not much more could be done. I’m not going to get into the “Wrexham vs. Wrexit (leaving Wrexham)” debate here. Is the venue still fit-for-purpose after the expansions of 2018 and 2019 so far? In some ways yes, in some ways no. Time will tell how all of this plays out. However, it has been announced that “Wales Comic Con” will be moving to Telford for their Part II show later in the year! “Wales Comic Con: Telford Takeover” will be taking place at the International Centre in Telford during the weekend of December the 7^th and 8^th. The biggest criticisms I’ve seen floating around social media regarding WCC the past 2 years has been the venue – overcrowded, too much queuing outside, no longer fit for purpose. Jaime and Ash have addressed the issue by moving to a venue that is fit for purpose. It’s bigger, it’s better, and the queues will be inside – a mercy for December! I for one am excited about the move….and not just because it’s an hour closer to my house.

To be perfectly honest, outside of the weather on Saturday which can’t be helped very much, I don’t have any other major complaints at all. There are a few things I would tweak though. I feel as though virtual queuing tickets should all be ready at the relevant autograph tables and lines before doors open for the event. There seems to be a tendency at Wales for V.Q.’s to come downstairs and start being handed out around 10:30, which causes issues for those of us that need to collect a few as you have to keep going back and checking if they are being handed out, which is even tougher to do while also in an autograph queue. Ensuring guests are there ready for opening is also something I’d like to see more of, but I understand that logistically this isn’t going to be the case and isn’t the case at any other large-scale Comic Cons I attend in the U.K.

I’ve made my feelings on selfie charges abundantly clear on this blog time after time…after time, so I won’t flog a dead horse any longer. Whether or not a guest wants to partake in selfies and if they do, whether or not they wish to charge for them or have a combo price is almost exclusively decided by the guest and/or their agent. Part of my issue with selfie charges is that I’m an old-school convention attendee. I remember the days of £10 autographs and free table pictures (this was before the term ‘selfie’ really existed!), so adjusting to some people charging, like, £50(!!!) for a quick snap with them on your own phone – after already forking out money for an autograph – was and is a bitter pill to swallow. Alas, I’ve made my peace with it in most cases. If it’s for charity? No issue. If someone isn’t getting an autograph and just wants a picture? No issue, provided the charge is fair. The guest has to make money after all. My general rule of thumb now is that the selfie price should be 50% or less of the professional photo price. Of course, I’d still prefer they were free, but I have to think of the convention scene in 2019 and not 2009. But if a £3o professional photo guest is charging £30 for a selfie at any con? Fuck. That. Just gives me that vibe personally that the guest is there to make money first and foremost. Yes, every guest is there to make money. Very few guests would come for free. But I like to think that ‘most’ guests are there just as much to meet the fans and engage with them, and give back, as they are to get a pay-check. So, for me, the selfie price needs to be 50% or less of the cost of the studio photo up to the value of £20. Nobody should be charging more than £20 for a selfie on your own phone in my opinion. Some guests were charging £50 for selfies, which is simply disgraceful. It truly makes me appreciate some other guests more. For instance, Charlie Cox – a headliner – was offering free table pictures if you were getting an autograph. Mark Addy and Alexander Ludwig, just £5. Danny John-Jules, a donation to charity. Amanda Tapping, just £10.

Positives

Maaaaaaaaaaan, this event was a massive step-up from the previous one. I feel as though the 2018 Part II edition was marred with organisational issues – from too many guests to an overcrowded main hall, to an overcrowded photo area, to things running far behind schedule. On this occasion I feel as though the organisation was pretty fucking spot-on…or as spot-on as you’re going to get at a large-scale Comic Con! The crew were all phenomenal – from the old pros to the newbies – and I feel as though everyone involved with the weekend itself should be proud of themselves. From everything I personally saw, every single crew member was professional and gave a strong accounting of themselves. From team leaders to senior crew, to newbie crew, to the security team, to the Photo Co. You all did a marvellous job. There’s always room to improve from an organisational standpoint, but from everything I personally experienced over the weekend, it was great. A massive step-up across the board from December’s show.

The new layout worked incredibly well. There were no merchandise stalls in the main hall (they were all located in two large marquees), which helped take congestion out of it. Photo areas A & B were now in a large marquee next to the two merchandise marquees, which gave both of the areas more space and the ability to queue people inside more than was able before. Photo C was located where Photo areas A & B used to be located: in the Catrin Finch building. All 3 photo areas had instant printing (or close enough) of studio photos, which was a massive step-up! The days of waiting an hour or two for a photo to be printed appear to be over as irrespective of how busy the photo areas got, the photos continued to be printed instantly. Massive success on the photo front. Instant printing even when demand on the printers is high, plus the best photography team on the convention circuit. Not only do you now get world class photos (which has always been the case), but you also get them printed instantly…Hell, even the digital copies were being uploaded before the event closed for the day! “The Photo Co” of Kayte, Ollie, and Paul, take a bow! Best. Photography. Team. Ever.

Furthermore, the guest line-up for this event was as spectacular as they have been for the past couple of years. The difference this time compared to 2018 Part II is that the organisation and layout was so much better that it didn’t feel like quite as much of a chore to meet the headline guests. With names like David Tennant, Kiefer Sutherland, Sam Neill, Rupert Grint, Charlie Cox, and Jennifer Morrison on the bill, you know the event if going to be crowded, but at no point did it feel crushing. The queues, while long, felt well managed and the main hall felt less claustrophobic that it did in 2018. Comparing the event to 2018, from an organisational standpoint, it can be considered nothing but a massive success. Plus, compared to the last couple of events, there were very few cancellations, particularly of headliners. Of course, cancellations are always outside of the event’s control, but it’s great that only 2 or 3 guests I wanted to meet cancelled on this occasion. Yay!

Oh! Also! Was it just me or were there virtually no stinky people around the campus all weekend?! Granted, Storm Hannah helped, but still…I didn’t smell anyone funky all weekend! Has my constant nagging about anti-perspirant and dare I say having a wash finally started to break ground?! “WCC 2019 Part I” officially wins the award for the least stinky people at a convention since I started attending them in 2009. Be proud, people. Be proud.

One final note before hitting the play-by-play of the convention…

I was very humbled over the weekend for two reasons. 1) Hundreds – literally – of people came over to say “hi” or offer kind words, or praise my writing for the blog, or to get a cuddle or a selfie, or have a chat about everything and anything, or to wish myself and Susie congratulations for… 2) Myself and Susie got engaged a week before “Wales Comic Con 2019 Part I”. I did the whole thing properly. Four months of planning, asking her parents’ permission, down on one knee…the whole thing! Getting to celebrate with my fiancée (still adjusting to that!) a week later at my favourite convention, alongside a bunch of guests, crew, and attendees that have become true friends over the years, was magical. Simply magical. Hanging with my fiancée and bestie for the weekend…perfect.

Now onto the play-by-play…

Myself, Susie, and my friend Hayley (also designated driver) left Gloucestershire at 07:00 on Saturday morning. Ordinarily, we’d leave on Friday evening and stay in Wrexham overnight on Friday, but at the time I was booking the hotels for this event, I was in the process of moving and wasn’t sure what my financial situation would be like for April, so I decided to save some money for us all and travel up on Saturday morning instead. The journey to Wrexham was remarkably smooth. No issues, no traffic, and we rocked up to the venue by 09:15. We actually got the last car park space in the campus car park. We should have gotten the penultimate space, but as we had started reversing into the space, some fuck-knuckle drove up from the other side (going around the one-way system the wrong way too) and slid into it before Hayley. Dangerous. So there was almost a punch-up before leaving the car park. In the few minutes we were in the car park, I saw six near-collisions as people were driving the wrong way down one-ways in order to try and desperately find a space. Some people should have their driving licenses revoked. No matter. Passes collected by 09:30, caught up with some crew, and headed over to the main hall by 09:50. The virtual queuing tickets for the bigger guests weren’t out yet, so we decided to join the autograph queue for my most important autograph of the weekend: Charlie Cox. I was first in queue. Autograph numero uno for Charlie for the weekend.

Charlie Cox: Heading into the event, I was excited to meet a lot of guests. Liam Cunningham, Ron Perlman, Kiefer Sutherland, Rupert Grint, and seeing David Tennant again were all very high on my excitement list. However, undisputedly, I was most excited to meet Charlie. “Daredevil” is my all-time favourite Marvel television show. Higher than “Agents of SHIELD”, higher than “Jessica Jones”, higher than the 1990s “X-Men” and “Spider-Man” animated series! Being really excited to meet someone can sometimes be a mixed bag…are they going to live up to your expectations? Will they be a let-down? If they are, will it change the way you view the show you love so much moving forwards? This rarely happens, but it has happened before with other guests I’ve met. Thankfully, I had nothing to worry about. Absolutely nothing. Charlie was the highlight of the weekend, the best guest I’ve met thus far in 2019, and one of the best guests I’ve ever met over the course of my decade attending events! As I was Charlie’s first autograph of the day, things were still being setup and put into place, which resulted in me getting a relatively long conversation with Charlie – a rarity for a headliner in 2019 at any convention, I assure you. We chatted about “Daredevil” and our despair over it being cancelled while still on a creative high. We also discussed that if the character were to transition into the MCU movies if legally allowed, Charlie would want to be involved with the Spider-Man franchise because of the relationship between Peter Parker and Matt Murdock in the comics. Plus, of course, Charlie wouldn’t say no to being an Avenger. Interestingly, Charlie told me that he didn’t know Matt Murdock was blind until the night before his audition(!!) so he quickly had to entirely alter his approach to the role and try to become a semi-convincing blind man within 24 hours. Charlie is also currently starring in a play in London with Tom Hiddleston called “Betrayal”, so Charlie told me all about how that was going and what it was like to work in the theatre again after a number of years that were heavily involving television. As previously mentioned, if you were getting an autograph, table pictures with Charlie were free! Yep, a headliner offering free table pictures in 2019. Legend. I couldn’t have been happier after leaving Charlie’s autograph table. He exceeded my expectations of meeting him. He stood up throughout our conversation so that we were eye-level, he gave lots of eye contact, he was quick to smile, and he carried half of the conversation and asked questions back to me rather than it feeling like a Q&A scenario. Awesome, awesome man. Guest Type = Conversationalist.

(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 Charlie’s autograph table, it was now about 10:30. With my first photo of the day not taking place until 12:00, Rupert Grint, the lofty aim was to try and get all the remaining autographs completed by that time: Ron Perlman, Liam Cunningham, and Jennifer Morrison for Susie. This seemed like a tough challenge. 3 autographs in just under 90 minutes and all from relative headliners? Well, we did it.

Liam Cunningham: Ser Davos Seaworth is a favourite character of mine from the “A Song of Ice and Fire” book series and I’ve always felt like Liam brings the character to life masterfully. For a while, I thought Liam would be one of the main cast members that would be tougher to meet because I thought the chances of him attending a Comic Con outside of the contractually obligated San Diego panels were a long-shot. Then last year he was announced for a Comic Con in Dubai and a glimmer of possibility emerged. Liam told me that WCC was his third Comic Con ever (outside of San Diego), so for Thrones fans it was a big get! Liam was very engaging and talkative, if not a little overwhelmed by all the people. The weekend of WCC was also the weekend of the “Long Night” episode of “Game of Thrones” airing. The massive final battle between good and evil, between living and dead. I explained to Liam that I’d never been more nervous and anxious for an episode of television ever. It was the truth. Expecting lots of deaths of your favourite characters, not knowing who will be around for the final half of the final season…Liam chuckled at this and teased that tissues would definitely be needed for the viewing. We continued to discuss Thrones before the conversation shifted to “Doctor Who”. At one point during the process, Liam was relatively close to portraying the 8^th Doctor – a role that eventually went to Paul McGann. Finally, we discussed what it was like before Liam became an actor when he was working on electrical equipment in a safari park in Zimbabwe. That’s quite the eclectic collection of careers, right there. I thanked Liam for his time and told him I’d see him again in the photo session later that day. Guest Type = Responder.

Ron Perlman: Ron is an interesting man to meet. It’s hard to gauge in one meeting what kind of person he is because he has naturally resting grumpy face, his sense of humour is very dry, and his tone of voice is quite monotonous and can come across as borderline disinterested if you’re not paying attention. However, we attended Ron’s panel the next day and that was a much better eye-opener as to who he really is and what he’s all about. Ron is a really intelligent, deep man, but if you’re just looking at him from across a room, you’d think he’s a grump. Our chat with Ron was brief as his queue was big and he didn’t look that interested in holding a long conversation. The chat that I did have with Ron was good, he shook my hand at the beginning and the end of the interaction, and he gave good eye contact, so it was a positive experience, just not a particularly memorable one. Ron’s selfie price was £50 if you weren’t getting an autograph or £80 for the combination of autograph and selfie (his autograph was £50), which in my opinion, as I mentioned earlier during my selfie prices paragraph, is way too much money. Guest Type = Responder.

Jennifer Morrison: This was Susie’s first and only autograph needed for the weekend. Susie is a massive “Once Upon A Time” fan and has met pretty much all of the main cast. With this being Jennifer Morrison’s first UK Comic Con, it was the perfect opportunity to get her Pop figure signed and tick Jennifer off the list. Due to Susie being such a massive fan of Jennifer’s, Susie was nervous in the queue. Susie was fearful that she’d just freeze up once we got to the front, so we agreed that I’d steer the conversation a little bit and help her out. It’s the first and only time I’ve ever seen Susie really tense up about meeting a guest, it was adorable. From everything I’d read going into the event, Jen can be a mixed bag. She’s either lovely and engaging, and wonderful, or she seems disinterested and doesn’t say much. Our interaction with Jen ended up somewhere in between those two extremes, but more towards the “disinterested and doesn’t say much” side. Jen was gracious enough. She smiled, said hi, and had a brief interaction with myself and Susie, but it felt a bit too “going through the motions” for my liking (and I don’t mean the awesome song from Buffy’s “Once More With Feeling”). There was no heart in the interaction. Never mind. I’ve heard through the grapevine since the event that Jen wasn’t feeling particularly well over the weekend of WCC, so I’ll gladly give her the benefit of the doubt on this occasion. A little rule I have for guests at Comic Cons is that everyone gets a second chance (unless they were a total dick!) as we all have bad days, but nobody gets a third chance. Guest Type = Somewhere on the border between “Groucho” and “Responder”.

It was now 11:45. We’d accomplished the goal of getting all four autographs completed by the time photos started for the day. There were going to be gaps in the schedule later in the day where we could have gotten autographs, but it’s always better to get them either early in the day or late in the day as during peak hours, like every big Comic Con, the signing area get a bit too congested for my liking. Beginning of the day is great as it’s just Platinum/VIP/early bird ticket holders in the hall and the end of the day is great as a lot of people have started to head home or have already gotten the autographs they need for the day, but that 11:30-3:00 sort of timeframe can be a bit too much for me sometimes, so I’ll always avoid being in signing areas during peak hours at any Comic Con if it’s possible.

The rest of the day was looking easy by my standards now. Photo, one merch marquee, photo, the other merch marquee, go get a few selfies from some guests, photo, photo, photo, go back to the hotel. As long as everything was pretty much on time (it was), it was going to be a relaxed day. When it comes to studio photos, there isn’t a great deal to say. You queue, you get to the front, you have a few seconds of interaction with the guest, the photo is taken, you leave the area, you collect your printed photo, you go mosey to whatever is next on your schedule. Once the guest arrives and the queue starts moving, photos are a very simple, swift process. My first photo of the day was Rupert Grint at 12:00 in photo C. I believe I was actually Rupert’s first studio photo of the day as well because none of the crew seemed to want to go in front of me and go first, so I did. Rupert greeted me warmly, said I looked great and that it was a pleasure to meet me. I also really appreciated that just before the photo session started, Rupert went to the bathroom to get himself ready. He took his baseball cap off that he was wearing for the autograph signing and he made an effort to look presentable for the photos that people had paid £125 for. Personally, unless the guest looks like a hobo or has their face massively obscured, I don’t really care what they wear or what they look like, but it’s nice when a guest makes an effort, particularly when the cost of the photo is three figures, so kudos to Rupert. The photo was printed virtually instantly, I collected it, and we headed to the first of the two merchandise marquees. I bought three prints from the always awesometacular and incredibly talented comic artist, Grant Perkins. It’s always great to see him and Eva.

Soon after, it was time to head to Photo B for my 13:55 photo with Charlie Cox. Just like at the autograph table, Charlie was engaging well, making everyone feel special, and he was incredibly sympathetic towards attendees who had all been caught up in Storm Hannah on the way to the photo session. He was cuddling people to warm them up! What a gent. After perusing the second merchandise marquee, it was 3:15. That gave us an hour before our next photo. It was the perfect time to head into the main hall again and get some selfies with some guests!

First up was Robert Buckley. We chatted and took a selfie together. During out chat, Robert noticed Susie’s ring and said that it was beautiful. I explained to Robert that was actually my doing and that I’d proposed the previous weekend. Robert congratulated us both and asked if he could take a picture with us both together….erm, of course you can! Honestly, outside of Charlie and the always amazing Mark Addy, Robert ended up being my favourite guest of the weekend. He was talkative, smiled lots, asked questions, and really made it feel like he wanted to talk to myself and Susie. Total class act…even if he was sporting a paedo ‘stache at the time…I really hope it was for a role and not just because he likes it. Guest Type = Conversationalist.

After Robert, it was time to head over to King Robert Baratheon, Mr. Mark Addy. Mark enthusiastically greeted me like an old friend. Out of the 11 WCC’s I’ve attended (that’s 11 straight), Mark has been at 10 of them, with December 2018 being the only one he’s missed. I’m fairly certain that I’ve gotten an autograph, studio photo, selfie, or just had a chat with Mark on all 10 of those occasions. Mark is delightful. He’s genuinely interested in the attendees! He asks questions, he gets involved in the conversation, and he makes you feel like he cares. Plus, on top of all of that, his table picture charge was £5. For an actor of Mark’s calibre, particularly in 2019, that table picture price is a steal. Mark didn’t want to charge me for a table picture and told me it was free, but I still ensured the money was handed to Mark’s crew assistant. £5 is a small price to pay for a catch-up and a selfie with the legendary Mark Addy. Mark asked how I’d been in the year between our last time seeing each other. I told Mark about my career and how that was going and then I mentioned to Mark that I’d gotten engaged to Susie last weekend. Mark asked if Susie was at the event and I pointed out that Susie was stood a few feet away from us trying to get pictures of the “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina” guests on her phone, blissfully unaware of the conversation going on next to her. Susie shuffled a few feet back to us and became part of the conversation with Mark. Mark told me all about how the last year had been for him, including his appearance in the latest season of “Doctor Who”! Another franchise checked off of the list for Mark! Myself and Mark took a table picture together and then after that one was taken, Mark pulled Susie into a picture with us too. It’s pretty cool that both Mark and Robert took a picture with me then both voluntarily invited Susie to be in a picture with us too. Guest Type = Conversationalist.

Following this, in briefer encounters, I had table pictures taken with both Russell Tovey and Alexander Ludwig. Both guys were great to chat to and were nothing but pleasant. I also love that Alexander Ludwig’s table picture price was £5. He was a £35 autograph and could easily have gotten away with charging £15-£20 for a table picture. It shows me that he was there to meet the fans, rather than to just collect money.

To end the day, it was time for a trifecta of studio photos :-

16:20 – the Doctor Who duo photo with David Tennant and Billie Piper (Photo C)

17:05 – Ron Perlman (Photo B)

17:35 – Liam Cunningham (Photo B)

Susie jumped into the Doctor Who duo and Ron Perlman photos with me. We actually have a bit of a theme going on with “Sons of Anarchy” as we’ve met 6 of the original 8 (season 1) SAMCRO members together at “Wales Comic Con”, so they all have white backgrounds. My CDO (OCD, but with the letters in alphabetical order, as they should be!) appreciates this. Just Mark Boone Junior and William Lucking to go! I’ve been wanting a photo with David and Billie together for a very long time. David is my favourite Doctor and the pairing of the 10^th Doctor/Rose Tyler is my favourite Doctor-Companion dynamic, so getting to check this off the bucket-list was very special. David and Billie were both lovely and gracious, and warm. The Ron and Liam photos were good too and all three photo sessions started pretty much on time, went off without a hitch, and the photos were all printed virtually instantly. Damn. Good. Work.

DAY ONE, CONCLUDE!

DAY TWO, COMMENCE!

Sunday was, without a doubt, the easiest day in my history of “Wales Comic Con”. 5 photos and 1 panel was the schedule for the day. No autos to get, no selfies to get. Hell, outside of a brief trip around the main hall towards the end of the day to say goodbye to friends, I didn’t step foot in that building all day! I could get used to these easy days…

At the time of attending WCC, I wasn’t decided yet on whether or not I’d ever write another review. Due to this, I didn’t take notes during the Ron Perlman panel we attended. It was a great panel though. Ron was funny, sarcastic, and wasn’t afraid to give his opinions on any topic. Kim Coates was also his favourite cast member to work with on “Sons of Anarchy”.

Some lovely person happened to film four of the “Wales Comic Con” panels over the weekend. The Marvel panel, the Umbrella Academy panel, the Stargate panel, and the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina panel. Give them a watch if you so wish! While you’re at in, why not go and subscribe to the YouTube channel? Big thanks to Airlim for recording these!

 

Also big thanks to Dave Scoffin for a lot of the photographs that are used within this review. Please check out his Facebook photography page here and give it a like!

Outside of Ron Perlman’s panel, it was a day of studio photos. Miranda Otto at 11:15 (Photo A), David Wenham right afterwards at 11:35 (Photo A), Jennifer Morrison at 14:10 (Photo A), Kiefer Sutherland at 14:20 (Photo C), and finishing off the weekend with Charlie Cox…again…at 15:10 (Photo B).

Miranda Otto and David Wenham were lovely. Really interactive and came across as lovely human beings.

Jennifer Morrison was more of the same as the previous day. Said “hi”, photo was taken, said “bye”. Every photo I witnessed during this session all went that exact same way. It was very robotic.

Kiefer was awesome! He introduced himself to everyone (“Hi, I’m Kiefer!”…I love the fact that he didn’t presume you’d know who he is, even when it’s people that have paid for a photo with him!), was really pleasant and interactive…and he was even handing out free copies of his latest album, “Reckless & Me”, to people that had paid for a studio photo with him! What a legend.

Charlie was…well, Charlie. The friendliest, most engaging, most talkative, most wonderful guest of the weekend, once again. I told Charlie that I was heading home soon after this photo session, so Charlie gave me a big hug and thanked me for coming and said it was great to meet me over the weekend. I feel as though this officially makes us besties and my mind cannot be changed.

We headed to the main hall to say goodbye to some friends and then we were on our merry way back to Gloucestershire!

My reviews always end with a “final score”. It’s a barometer of my own personal perspective on the event, mixed with the median perspectives of the comments I’ve read through the social media pages and groups (removing the extremely positive and negative comments from a handful). Overall, for myself, the event was a massive step-up from December, as per the reasoning I gave earlier in the review. Instant printing, amazing photographs, excellent crew, everything was more or less on time, the layout was vastly improved…for the most part, everything worked in ways that it perhaps didn’t in December. I’m excited for Part II in Telford and I’m excited to see what the future holds for Jaime, Ash, “Wales Comic Con”, and Mercury Promotions. With all that being said, I will personally miss the magic of the Glyndwr University campus. That campus has given so much to me over the past six years…lifelong friends, incredible experiences with guests, and some of the best days of my life. More importantly than all of that, I met Susie through “Wales Comic Con” while it was still being held in Wrexham. I first saw Susie face-to-face in Wrexham. The hallowed grounds of the campus will always be special to me. Will another WCC in the future be held there? That hasn’t been announced one way or the other. Even though this chapter appears to be over – whether temporary or permanent – I’m ridiculously excited for the next chapter. Telford, we’re coming for ya!

For my money, “Wales Comic Con” is still the best signing event in the U.K.

Stay strong, stay safe, and stay happy!

-        Your Friendly Neighbourhood Shangel

FINAL SCORE: 9/10