Guests met and
discussed in this review (with the franchise(s) I most associate them with
personally) :-
• James Marsters (Spike from "Buffy The Vampire Slayer")
• Juliet Landau (Drusilla from "Buffy The Vampire Slayer")
• Melissa Joan Hart (Sabrina from "Sabrina The Teenage Witch")
• Crystal Reed (Allison Argent from "Teen Wolf")
• Barry Bostwick (Brad Majors from "The Rocky Horror Picture Show")
• Zach Galligan (Billy from "Gremlins")
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With that being said, let’s dive in…
"For The Love Of Fantasy" was Monopoly Events' first foray into England's Capital City, London. Unlike their Comic Con events, "For The Love Of" prefixes dictate that a show is centring around a specific franchise or genre. For instance, "For The Love Of Horror" focuses on horror shows and movies, "For The Love Of Wrestling" focuses on wrestling, and "For The Love Of Fantasy" focused on fantasy shows, specifically vampires this time around. Most of the guests in attendance were from "The Vampire Diaries", "The Originals", "Buffy The Vampire Slayer", "Twilight", and "Teen Wolf". Long time readers will know that "Buffy The Vampire Slayer" and its spinoff, "Angel" are arguably my favourite shows in history. I've met all of the main Buffy cast other than the Queen, Sarah Michelle Gellar herself, and Michelle Trachtenberg. A number of the cast have gone on to become acquaintances or dare I say friends. It's a wonderful position to be in after having posters of these people on my wall when I was an adolescence and teenager.
Myself and my friend Hayley were in attendance for the Saturday. I had two autographs to get - James Marsters and Juliet Landau - plus five photos, the most important of which was the twenty-seven-years-in-the-making duo photo with James and Juliet. I had previously booked this particular duo four times before: one time I had to cancel due to illness, one time Juliet had to cancel, and twice James had to cancel. Fifth time was the charm! While I'd met James and Juliet many times before and even shared green rooms with them (Birmingham for James and Wrexham for Juliet), I'd never been in the same building as them both together at the same time. The eight-year-old in me that first started watching Buffy couldn't wait to see Spike and Dru together...but before that was the dreaded travel. 5:30am departure, 8:30am arrival. Thankfully, there was no major traffic so the journey was smoother than anticipated.
When we got to the ExCeL, I was very confused. There was also a Jehovah's Witness convention happening at the same time. I wondered why the con attendees looked more formally dressed than usual!
Fair play to Monopoly, the turnout for their first London show was excellent. It was very busy. The entry queue was very long. We joined just before 09:00am and were inside the hall by 09:30am. FTLOF took place over one massive hall. The photo areas were down one end, the Q&A area was in the middle, the merch stalls were down the other end, and the guests were scattered throughout the length of the hall. There were the typical prop displays that Monopoly have become famous for - Supernatural's '67 Chevrolet Impala, "Baby", for instance - plus a pretty decent line-up of guests including Ian Somerhalder, Paul Wesley, Joseph Morgan, James Marsters, Charisma Carpenter, Juliet Landau, Susan Sarandon, Taylor Lautner, and Tyler Posey.
Let's get the biggest negative out of the way first: a small minority of Vampire Diaries fans. Specifically, around 200 young females. Whenever Ian or Paul crossed the hall, spoke, sneezed, or breathed, they'd scream. They'd push attendees out of the way just so they could stick their phone in Paul or Ian's faces for half a second. This was a first for me. I've been to other cons with Ian and Paul. I've been to other Monopoly cons with Ian and Paul. Nobody screamed. Nobody was rude. I don't know what was different about this event, but entitlement was in the air. Again, not with everyone, but with a small amount of people. My estimation is that it was their first ever Comic Con and they didn't know how to act. So, for those people, here are the expectations....no screaming, no shoving, no treating the guests like zoo animals. Walking up to an autograph table, sticking your phone in a guest's face without asking, taking a picture, and then leaving isn't acceptable. Treat the guests and other attendees with respect. Join the queue, have your moment with the guests, have an incredible day, but don't be a twat. Pretty simple. Imagine being the attendee you just pushed out the way. It could be their first con. They could be nervous. They could have social anxiety. You could have just ruined their day. Imagine being the guest. Imagine 200 phones getting thrust into your face at the same time. Imagine being screamed at. They're humans. They're as capable of being overwhelmed as you are. This isn't what cons are about. Don't be that person.
Other than that the event was awesome. While some of the photos were delayed and some of the queues were disorganised, it wasn't any more so than at a typical Comic Con. The best thing about the con, by far, were the guests. Most of the guests arrived late. I'm not sure why. My 09:30 Melissa Joan Hart photo started at 10:15. The delay didn't stop Melissa from being incredibly kind and engaging. After that it was time to go and see Juliet Landau. I'd brought an A3 Spike/Dru print with me to get signed by both Juliet and James. For those of you that haven't met Juliet at a con, she loves to talk to her fans. She's very engaging and you'll definitely get your money's worth. She's also just started a Buffy rewatch podcast - the first of its kind with an actual cast member from the show associated with it. You should give it a listen!
Juliet Landau: When I was sixth or seventh in the queue - alongside my friend Melly - Juliet spotted us both and jumped out from her autograph table to hug us. Both Juliet and her delightful husband, Dev, treated us like old friends. I hadn't seen Juliet or Dev since before the world went crazy with Covid so it was particularly lovely to see them both again. As I've mentioned before, my new rule for the blog is that I don't talk about what was said at the autograph table. It's a private convo between me and the guest. However, I will say that Juliet was, as always, incredible to talk to. She's an everywoman who is acting, directing, writing, and hosting a podcast, so I'm shocked that she still has time to attend Comic Cons. Guest Type = Conversationalist.
"What's a conversationalist", I hear you ask...
Many years ago after attending dozens of conventions, I devised a system whereby to categorise my experiences with guests and their level of interaction in order to compare the quality of them across conventions and time. I have O.C.D., shut up. I found that guests fell into three categories :-
The Responder. This is the most common type of guest. This guest is polite and friendly. If you ask them a question, they'll answer. If you comment on something, they'll respond or smile gratefully. However, they won't carry the conversation for you. You have to. This is a great category of guest to be.
The Conversationalist. This is the best category of guest. They do everything a responder does, but they also start, steer, and expand upon the conversation. It feels more like two old friends talking and less like a fan/guest dynamic or a Q&A session. You leave the experience feeling euphoric and like you gained more than just an autograph or selfie.
The Groucho/Big Guest. There are two aspects to this category. A headline guest won't have much time to talk to you. Their queue will be massive. You shouldn't expect much time with these guests. If they took too long talking, some people would miss meeting them entirely, which wouldn't be fair. Then there's the groucho. The groucho is strictly there for monetary gain. They don't really have an interest in getting to know their fans. They may say "hi" and "bye" (sometimes!), but that's about it. It feels soulless, transactional, and heartless.
James Marsters: Ahhh, James. Portrayer of the coolest vampire in entertainment history. Much like Juliet, James is really engaging. He makes great eye contact and he makes you feel like you're the only person in the room while you're talking to him. His genuine appreciation for his fans oozes out of him. I did the math before this con: I've attended over 200 Comic Cons. I've met over 1,200 guests. I've been an attendee, press, an agent, and crew. I've been in green rooms, I've seen the differences in some guests between their autograph table persona and their attitude behind the scenes. With James, what you see is what you get. He's a class act. I've seen him in a green room with his head on the table because he was sick, only to go out and meet the fans without showing any hint of sickness in order to give them the best experience possible. He's also personally stuck up for me when I was getting sexually harassed backstage at a con (a story for another day). When people say don't meet your heroes, they're not talking about James. Out of the 1,200 guests I've met, James is probably my #1 all-time favourite. I'm going to briefly break my own rule here and talk about one thing we discussed at the autograph table. James also greeted me like an old friend. Last time I saw James, myself and Susie were engaged and planning our wedding. We're now married. James was so genuinely happy for me. That was really cool. Guest Type = Conversationalist.
With the autograph portion of the day completed, it was now 12:30. Time for the long awaited Spike/Dru duo photo. It was as magical as expected.
After the duo, it was time to rush to Zach Galligan's photo....or was it? Melly had purchased an extra photo with Juliet and wanted me to be in the pic with her! I rushed back to Photo A, took the picture with Melly and Juliet (thanks Melly!), and then rushed back to Zach's photo, which was just finishing. I got there just as the last person in his queue was leaving the photo area. Phew! Made it! The added bonus of this photo was that it was taken by Kayte, the best Comic Con photographer in the United Kingdom. Seriously, if you're organising a con and need a photographer, hit up The Photo Co team. They're phenomenal. Zach had a Gizmo with him for the photo, which was pretty cool too.
Next up were the final two photos of the day, Barry Bostwick and Crystal Reed. Just as Barry's photo session was starting, he came around the curtain to the queue...
Barry: "Who are you all queuing for?"
Us: "You!"
Barry: "What a waste of money!"
Legend.
Barry was so much fun and he looks tremendous for a man that will soon be turning 80! Crystal and her gigantic heels were also really lovely. Much like last weekend at Monopoly's "Comic Con Wales", there wasn't a dud in the group. All the guests were fantastic.
By this point it was just after 3:00pm, so it was time for myself and Hayley to leave - Hayley had to get back to the Shire (Gloucestershire) by 6:30pm to help organise a gig.
Monopoly's first "For The Love Of Fantasy" event was a complete success. The only negative of the day was pretty much out of their control. The attendance was bigger than I was expecting, the venue was very fit for purpose, and Monopoly are continuing to go from strength to strength. After back-to-back con weekends, I've got a little break now. Myself and Susie are in Northern Ireland and Ireland in September for holiday, then we return in time for Starfury's "Cross Roads" event in Birmingham at the end of September. With FanX Live and For The Love Of Horror in October, and Comic Con Liverpool and LFCC Winter in November, there is still a lot of Comic Con goodness to be had before 2024 reaches its conclusion.
Stay strong, stay safe, and I'll catch you at the next one!
- Your Friendly, Neighbourhood Shangel
FINAL SCORE: 8.5/10
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