London Film and Comic Con 2016

I am sitting here with post con blues as I usually do after Comic Cons! The Saturday just gone was London Film and Comic Con 2016 and I had another fabulous day. I wasn’t going to go originally with saving my money this year but when Famke Janssen was announced I gave it and booked a photoshoot ticket with her.

So Saturday morning rolled around. I had done my Con preparation as usual the night before which I wrote about last year. I had ironed my dress, packed my bag and bought plenty of snacks and food for the day. I got up at 6am and headed to get the 7:21am train first stopping for my usually mccy d’s breakfast.

My outfit of the day

This year was quite different with the queueing, you had your ticket scanned on the way in to join the queue and we queued inside this year which was a nice change as previous years I have stood out in the heat or rain before. We arrived just after 8am and got in just gone 9am as tickets were already scanned it was just a case of filing inside.

My first photo shoot wasn’t until 12:40pm so we hit the stalls. This year I really liked how they laid out everything. The stalls were all downstairs spread across two huge halls. There were massive gaps between the stalls which meant the congestion stayed down to a minimum which meant stress levels and the heat was also kept to a minimum. We got round both halls fairly quickly as it was nice and quiet to start with.

I then headed up to the photo area which was on level 1 and queued for my photo with Famke Janssen. I got into the first photoshoot which I was pleased with. Unfortunately this was the first shoot I came out feeling a little disappointed. On my way in the crew stated that Famke wasn’t doing handshakes, hugs or any touching which I was ok with. I am really not a touchy feely person so I didn’t mind. However when I went it I felt this stiff atmosphere straight away. People were just standing awkwardly next to her and then leaving straight away. It was my turn so I gave her my biggest smile and a bright Hello! I got a very sniff Hi back and she looked straight at the camera and then I thanked her with no response and left.

I would be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed. The photo is quite awkward and I left feeling more of a burden to her than anything else. I don’t mind no touching as I said before but she seemed more annoyed to be there than anything else which left me a little sad.

After that it was only half an hour until Sean Maher’s photoshoot so we finished our lunch and just hung around until it was time to go to his. He was completely different from Famke, I was greeted by a huge smile and a hand shake. He then told me he had the same necklace as me but forgot to wear his and pulled me in for a good photo. My face did something kind of weird in the photo but I don’t mind too much as I was half smiling and laughing as he was so friendly and nice. He was busy playing with peoples props too and posing with them for photos which I thought was fab! I was really glad I meet him he was so friendly and lovely. I’m a bit gutted as he did a free talk on Sunday but I only had Saturday tickets alas.

Afterwards we just spent the rest of the afternoon looking around all the stalls and spending far too much money. Matt actually got more than me this time which I was pleased about as I hate leaving with bags full of things for me and nothing for him.

I managed to get a SDCC exclusive iZombie POP Funko and the amazon special captain America too. I also got a new backpack and some candy. Matt got some quite rare Vocaloid POPs and an Overwatch one too! They had some Gundam bits as well and he picked one of those up along with a new wallet which I am quite jealous of!

My haul

Matt's haul

All the POP Funkos we got!

In total we were there for 9 hours (10 if you include the queuing) and stayed till it closed. I had such a good time again and it only felt like we were there for a few hours not the whole day. We headed home exhausted where we ordered a take away and then fell sleep pretty much straight after dinner.

I can’t believe another year has come and gone! That was now my 5^th year at LFCC! I really hope they do another one before Christmas, if not I will have to hold out for DST and MCM!

Comic Con in a new but very familiar place.

This weekend saw Brighton host it's very first Comic Con! I had planned on attending in London until they moved it down to Brighton. I wasn't going to complain, Brighton is easier to get to and I also don't hate it like London. Actually quite the opposite I do love Brighton!

I ended up booking the tickets a few days before in hope they would have a guest I would be interested in, but alas they didn't. We got up on later on Saturday and headed out for breakfast about 10:30ish, much later than the summer cons! Usually I am up at 6am and on a train by 7!

But I had bought general entry tickets as I had no real plans there and no guests to see, plus I knew it would be much quieter than the London con so I was in no rush.

The weather was GOD AWFUL, and I had gotten dressed up so decided against wearing my rain mac (dear past self that was the WORST choice). I was determined to wear my new coat as it looks amazing on, but it doesn't have a hood. The drive down through the relententless rain and wind was almost enough to make us turn back home.

By the time we got down the rain had eased slightly but the wind by the sea was so fierce! I was still getting wet but I had no idea if it was rain or the wind blowing the sea in. Horrible! Matt said to leave my umbrella in the car, thinking back now it was probably best or I would of ended up with just a pile of twisted metal! The walk wasn't too far maybe 10 minutes but it felt like hours and the wind was strong enough to knock you off your feet. When we arrived I had awful ear ache and my hair was ruined and to be honest I was damp and annoyed.

That soon disappeared I was greeted by a sea of nerds, cosplay and stalls selling all manner or geeky knick-knacks. I was throughly impressed with the amount and the quality of stalls. There were your usually stalls I have see 100 times but lots of different ones this time too! I really didn't want to spend any money as Christmas is fast approaching but I ended up parting with £60+ whoops.

Does anyone else find when you get out a wad of cash with intention to spend it all you find nothing, just when you are broke you see an never ending list of things you want! waa!
Lets have a look at the mini haul shall we!

My mini haul!

Harry and Snape Pop Funko!

First are yet more pop funkos for the collection.. I got some Harry Potter, pops for my birthday so I have started on collecting HP. I wanted Harry but I wanted the quidditch one. He seems a little hard to find now, but I found in on one stall for a reasonable £15 so I just grabbed him! I also picked up Crimson Peak figures Thomas and Edith too but they are a christmas gift for myself from Sarah, but the deal was £10 each or 3 for £25 so Matt said well why don't you get 3 seems silly not to. So I picked up Snape too for £5! WOO!

I couldn't resist these at £3 SERIOUSLY! How could you?

This Elders wand necklace is amazing and comes in an amazing box

The earring above I spotted on my way out and were £3! They are silver plated and seem to be ok in my rather sensitive ears. I spotted them on our way out and was gutted when I didn't have any cash for them! (completely forgot about cash while battering through the wind and rain) but luckily I was able to pay via paypal! I'm actually gutted I didn't get two sets in case I loose one!

The necklace was one of the first things I noticed.. They seem to be Christmas pre order but I think they had some to buy there at the con. It was £25, which seems really reasonable as it is a weighty piece of jewelry and looks really stunning! It also comes in an Ollivanders box just like the real wands, I just fell in love it was gorgeous. I really wanted an Elders wand but I couldn't justify £28 on a wand that would sit in a box on a shelf! But in a necklace form I cannot complain I will get lots of use and enjoyment out of that!

HUGADABUGA

And I couldn't resist these two necklaces. The mask is the Hugadabuga man from Crash Bandicoot, if you're a 90's kid you will most likely remember him. I have fond memories of the mask and making the noise when you got him and the fish was just way too cute. I love buying from little arty stalls! 

Next to the Iron Throne

We were only at the con for an hour or so and we went back outside and continued to battle through the weather.

We had a little poke down the laines and headed to the shopping centre and after it got dark we then headed to Pizza Express ( I had doubled my clubcard vouchers again) and had a lovely 3 course meal.

We had planned on going to the cinema afterwards and the fireworks, instead we just headed to the fire works as Matt wasn't feeling 100%. We missed the first 5-10minutes but saw over 20minutes worth and they were awesome. I love fireworks and I would of been sad if we hadn't seen any this year!

It was a really good end to a really enjoyable day!

I really enjoyed Saturday but like all good days it flew by and it was just poof gone! That is the last day out for me and Matt now until our Christmas break. We have a trip to London and we are seeing Warhorse on the 23rd.

Before then though I have Elektra awards, Christmas party (i've been nominated for an award!!) and Mumford and Sons with my sister.

This is defiantly my FAVOURITE time of the year, so much to do and so much to look forward to!

London Film and Comic Con 2015 - Richard Dean Anderson!

So it is Monday and Comic Con is over and done with! I am feeling pretty meh about it. BOO.

Friday rolled around and Matt had been having tooth ache all week and it was getting worse. On Thursday night I was late to bed sitting up with him why he was in agony. We had booked an appointment for Friday, but he had been waiting over a year to have his wisdom tooth pulled out. Instead we waited and it would get real bad again and they would patch it up and it would get real bad again…. So I said to Matt let’s just pay private and get the damn thing out, even though it would have been a hefty £150. Eep.

So the plan was for him to go along, get it patched up and then book in for the following week to have the thing pulled. Didn't turn out like that they pulled it there and then and said if was easy they would only charge NHS price (£50) and if it went wrong it would be private price. THANK GOODNESS it came out in one and he paid NHS price and walked out 1 tooth less. Bit of a shock for both of us.

Anyhow onto the comic con things! So although I was relived Matt wouldn’t be in crippling stabbing pain from his tooth I was now worried he wouldn’t feel great having a big hole in his gum!

Friday I had lots to do… shower, get my outfit ready, get my food shopping and start the washing (boring flat owning stuff I now have to do…. But I ordered my shopping online and I am VERY happy with that!).

So I packed my bag….

I made sure to bring deodorant, lady items, money, sun glasses and normal glasses, sun cream, spare tights, tickets, photo holder and then in the morning I packed sammichs, oreos, big bottle of water and my fully charged camera and back up batteries for our phones.

The food shopping arrived by 10pm and I was in bed around 11pm but I won’t lie I didn’t sleep well, I was far too excited.

I had planned on getting up around 6-6:20am but got up at 6am, which I am pleased with as I ended up having less time than I had thought! I straightened my hair as the weather had been pretty temperamental Friday and my curls had ended up kind of huge and poofy! I did my make up and put on my dress, I chose to wear my hell bunny fox dress, Matt bought it for me in October and it was such a summer dress I just haven’t gotten around to wearing it!

I was very happy with it and felt very good in it and just before 7am we headed to McDonalds and got breakfast. I covered myself in napkins in fear I would spill it all down myself on my very pale dress and white cardigan.. I checked my watch and realised it was 7:07am and thought OOH GOD OUR TRAIN COMES IN 11 minutes so we had to hurry it along a bit and headed across the road to the train station.

We made it to the queue for just before 8am.. I was expecting to walk round to a different entrance but we ended up queuing where we queued in 2012 as the queue was pretty huge it went all the back along the building. It didn’t take long until it snaked back up along the other side of the street!

Time went pretty fast and the hour zoomed by and just after 9am the queue started to move quite quickly and we were in just before 9:30am! We looked around a little bit as it was still quite calm in there and we then headed to photo shoot area C to queue up for my photo.

We were going to go to the Doctor Who talk which was free and then do the photo later, but I’m glad I changed my mind and went to the photoshoot first as it ended up getting really manic for Richard Dean Anderson later in the day so I have read.

I queued up and I was batch 2 so I was called in… and I went through. He was just so amazing and smiley and happy…. He seemed like he genuinely wanted to be there and was enjoying himself. I said ‘Hi’ and he gave me a squeeze took a photo and the as I left he said, “you’re very pretty” with a big smile on his face…. I swooned and said THANK YOU and then kinda ran off to get my photo! I am SUPER happy with my photo too. I think it turned out really well! 

When then headed upstairs to the first talk which was Richard Dean Anderson. The queues to be honest were a mess. We realised we were in the wrong queue as we had batch 1, however it worked out and we got great seats. On the way up we realised quickly the place was filling up and getting up the stairs and through the crowds to the super stage was quite a battle.

Richard Dean Anderson came on and he was just amazing, I think it is probably my favourite talk I’ve ever been to. He was so down to earth and genuine. He seemed like it truly was enjoying being there and he was more eccentric than I imagined! He was just great! He told some funny back stage stories from Stargate and was just really well timed and funny!

He also had a huge range of facial expressions that just added to his charm! The 40minutes went WAY too fast and alas it came to an end.

There was half an hour before the Game of Thrones talk but we decided to go straight out and queue again, which was a huge mess again but we got good seats and waited for it to start.  I was a tad disappointed with this one. Charles Dance and Rose Lesile cancelled alas, so it started with just Carice van Houten and Daniel Portman however they were swiftly joined by Finn Jones and Keisha Castle-Hughes.. The talk was enjoyable, but Charles and Rose were the main reasons I booked the tickets alas….. They were funny and charming though and I enjoyed it!

It is great to hear that actually start filming season 6 today! However unsurprisingly couldn’t give any clues into the season!

We then came out and were pretty hungry as it was gone 1:30pm ( I HAVE NO IDEA WHERE THE MORNING WENT) and found a quiet spot to sit on the floor and eat lunch. WRONG turned out it was quiet for like 1 minute and we had actually picked a bloody terrible space to stop. Oh well!

Prepacked lunch over we hit the stalls. This year it was over 2 floors. The amount and the quality of the stalls were in a different league this year! There was SO MUCH TO LOOK AT and so much to choose from.

(This guy was amazing, i believe he is called Spock Vegas and for a donation to a Epilepsy Foundation you could get a photo of him or a selfie and I couldn't say no!

 He didn't break character and sounded so much like the real Spock!)

(Just cause I love Arnie)

(My FAVOURITE cosplay of the weekend)

If you’ve read any of my other blog posts you will see I have spent the last 1-2 years paying of debt. All over years have been tight with money and guilt unusually stops me spending too much. This year though I decided to just get what I wanted and enjoy myself. Any money spent would be MY MONEY and I can do as I please with it!

And I did! I got less ‘bits’ this year. Usually I get some necklaces and accessories. Instead I got bigger pieces, including one very naughty buy!

• Star trek bow
• Wash and Zoe pop funks
• Baymax pop funko
• Lord of the rings ring
• Some art prints
• Brain slug hair thing
• And the big spend with the SDCC2013 exclusive Destructor and Gender Bender Futurama figure set… I just COULDN’T SAY NO! I would of regretted it if we hadn’t of gotten it! But it was rather a lot of money! I regret nothing!

We finished up about 5pm and Matt had been carrying my bags all day so my back wouldn’t hurt me (best boyfriend awards right there) and he wasn’t feeling 100% because of his tooth so we headed o a few last stalls and visited Jenna and Mike at Get Ready Retro to say farewell and at just gone 5:30pm we headed home. I was VERY RELUCTANT to go, although we had been in there for 8 hours I felt like it was only about half an hour and I had NO IDEA where the whole day had gone! I was still full of energy and didn’t want it to be over!

Once on the train home alas I did crash pretty hard and realised actually I was EXHAUSTED… we got in a ordered Pizza Hut and ate some and then fell asleep. I think we were in bed before 10pm which is unheard of for us! 

This year was much much bigger than any other year I have been! I had an absolute blast though and I am already excited for the Winter one. We usually go out for lunch and take lots of breaks outside but this year was so intense and being spread over 4 floors in total didn’t allow us any time to go outside! I am really glad we packed a lunch I will defiantly be doing that again next time we wouldn’t of had time to go out for lunch.

I always urge people to go to conventions, the atmosphere is great and being surrounded up like minded people is so much fun. It makes you feel comfortable and at home!

So now the post con blues are in full swing, and the next cool thing I have planned is the week I have booked off for my Birthday! But I shall go and wallow in self pity for the rest of the week wishing I could back! Haha!

I hope you all have a fabulous geeky week! 

Comic Con how I prepare!

So we are now into the count down for Comic Con. WAHEY! And this year is looking like it is going to be a corker! I am very excited. I alas have missed out on a chance to have a photo with Charles Dance, however I have booked my photo shoot with Richard Dean Anderson. I have also this week booked a Game of Throne talk and a Richard Dean Anderson talk! The Game of Thrones talk has a fab line up:

• Charles Dance
• Carice Van Houten
• Rose Leslie
• Daniel Portman

I think that is a fab line up and I can’t wait to go to it! I am slowly meeting the whole line up of SG1, I now only have Claudia Black to go until I have met all of them!

As this is my 5^th London Film and Comic, I thought I would write up a little what to expect and what I do to plan for Comic Con!

First of all get your tickets. I used to wait until a few weeks before booking my tickets so I could get all the things I wanted in one go and save on p&p. This year however tickets have been selling out so I would advise once someone is announced you want to see you book your ticket and entry ticket in one go! There seems to be a large number of people who booked photos and other tickets but waited to get entry tickets…. Then they sold out! So get your entry tickets as soon as you buy any other tickets.

You can’t really do much planning until a week or so before the event as they don’t announce talks or the schedule before then, but I would advise arranging and planning travel! This year I am pleased to say I will be traveling from my new flat which is around 4 minute walk from the station with a mccy d’s breakfast on the way.  So the plan is a mccy d’s breakfast and then hoping on the train. It works out considerably cheaper to get a return rather than a travel card so we will be doing that as we are always too tired to venture anywhere else in London. Be warned you will be KNACKERED afterwards!

Arrival time I would advise the earlier the better. Every year so far the queues have gotten bigger and bigger! I am hoping to get to Olympia for around 8:11am. The doors open at 9am so it is a little later than I would like to get there, but currently I don’t have ‘too’ much planned so that should be plenty of time. If you have LOADS to do and LOADS of plans then I would advise just getting there as soon as possible. I never have more than a few things booked so I'm not too fussed about getting in too early! But hopefully I will be in by 9:30am at the latest. This the new ticket system this year I think queuing times will be much less! I hope anyway!

When I get in I usually head straight for any tickets I want to buy or any free talks that require tickets. I usually have a plan for the day after the schedule is posted up! Makes the day easier and makes sure I can get to everything and everyone I want to go to! I also like to plans and make lists, but I would advise it if you do have a lot of people to meet!

As far as things to take, I also pick a nice dress and outfit as I always get photoshoots so obviously I want to be in a nice outfit! I usually prefer a backpack, it leaves my hands free and helps prevent my back hurting (I tend to get a bad back). My backpack is pretty small but enough room for the bits I need. I also take:

• Deodorant
• Water
• Make up
• Camera
• Phone
• Portable charger
• Cash, cash, cash!

Deodorant, because well I will warn you it is going to be RAMMED In there and you get very hot and I like to feel fresh when I meet any guests! Water because it is rammed and gets very hot! Make up to just make sure I haven't sweated half of it off my face before my photo! Camera and phone to document the day and keep in touch with the outside world, and if I get lost I can all my over half! And my phone never lasts all day so a portable charge works well too!

Cash is my next thing. Even if you don’t really plan on buying things still take some! The queues for the cash machines are INSANE and most stalls don’t accept cards… actually pretty much none do from previous experience! 

You will most likely get caught up with the excitement of the day and spend more than you planned so defiantly take some cash! I will most likely take £100+. I have no intention in spending that much, but I would rather have it than wish I had taken it out!

I would advise planning a spot of lunch too. Look up the area before you go and pick somewhere to eat. You will need to stop and eat at some point. I like to go out of the venue and sit down and rest, but you can just grab something and eat on the go or find a ‘quiet’ spot to eat!

I would mostly advise just enjoying yourself, try not to get too caught up in the planning and stress and just relax and see where the day takes you! It is an amazing atmosphere and everyone is lovely. You will see some amazing cosplay and art, and obviously see some of the stars you love in the flesh too! AND make sure you eat and drink enough cause SERIOUSLY it is a tiring day and if it's hot like it has been the last 2 years you will need all the liquids you can get!!

HOWEVER through all this excitement I will mention post con blues, they are just awful and hit you like a ton of bricks!

So the count down begins - 2 weeks this Saturday! I CANNOT WAIT!

Comic Con 2014

So Comic Con is over again for another year…. *weep*

You may of guessed that this is going to be a COMIC CON THEMED POST WAHEY!

I’ll started with mentioning that I haven’t been online much at all of late as I have been rather unwell all week. Last Monday I felt like I had caught a nasty head cold a colleague had. No worries I thought it is only Monday. Tuesday felt a little worse and Wednesday I felt terrible and went home. Thursday I did feel a little better but very stuffed up but was still hopeful for the weekend. However Friday I was even worse and again went home from work. I slept in the afternoon and woke up and burst into tears as I just didn’t want to go at all.

However I went to bed at 9am and woke up at 6am and made myself get ready. It took me much longer to get ready and organised and we headed off. Got our pretzel for breakfast and I had a coffee and we were there by 8:30ish. I went on a mission of a walk to find a cash machine and then we were in around 9:30 (door opened at 9am)  I did however put my new Flamingo dress on and I got sooo many compliments on it!

We had a little look around stalls and my photo shoot was at 10:25. I wanted to get the morning one as I felt so rough I didn’t know what I would look like by the afternoon. Had that done and I was super pleased with the photo! I most likely stunk of olbas oil as I had been walking round sniffing a tissue covered in it.

I am really happy with the photo though. I was so excited to meet David Hewlett, I have always said he would be one of the ultimate people I would like to meet.

We then found the photo area with the Game of Thrones, throne and I had my photo taken on that! Again I was pretty pleased with the photo I thought it looked pretty cool, even though I look a little like a puppet in the picture. Ha ha!

We then attempted to go to the stalls to find a plastic folder to put my photos in and it was soo rammed. We did find one and then we went outside to cool down a bit although at this point the sun had come out and it was baking. We went to the shop round the corner to get some water and on the way there my nose suddenly cleared (it was a fairly gross event involved me swallowing it yuck!). I suddenly felt 100x better and all the pressure in my face was gone. I was so pleased I wanted to tell the people in the shop about it ahah! I had to take painkillers all day to get the headache and crappy feeling at bay, but it was far more bearable that feeling like your face might pop any moment now.

We then headed to the Sherlock talk. We queued for about an hour and tbh we were really disappointed. The speakers were awful and we couldn’t hear a word they said or any questions asked. It was a shame and I’m VERY glad I didn’t pay for that!

After we headed out for lunch and I had a delicious salad from subway. My tummy had stared aching from all the pain killers I had been taking but some Gaviscon helped that a lot. I would have the salad from Subway again though it was really nice.

Afterwards we went and did all the stalls. It was so crammed we could barely move of see. We didn’t get much, I got some badges (to replace old ones I lost) and a print and key ring. I also got Jon Snow Pop Funko and a GoT necklace which I loved and for £5 I thought was a bargain. Matt also got a book which I’m pleased about as he usually doesn’t get anything.

I then talked myself into have a autograph with David Hewlett. I usually wouldn’t do both but he is quite a special person for me to meet and he wasn’t doing a talk so Matt talked me into it! There was about an 30-60minute wait so we went an had an ice cream and went back. Luckily we planned it perfectly as we were the LAST people to get one done.

I’m so glad and excited I did it though. His voice was going but he was really friendly and seemed so pleased to be there and meet me. He asked if I had meet many other cool people and I said tbh I was just here to meet him and then I told him that A Dog’s Breakfast was one of my favourite movies and he said it was so much fun to make and he wanted to do a second one and I said he should and he said Yes I KNOW I SHOULD :D

It’s a big thing as usually I can’t ever think of anything to say and I always wish I could!

We then poked round the stalls as it was gone 5pm now and it was getting quieter and we could have a proper look and at 6 we joined the queue for the GoT screening.

The screening was a little disappointing. There was meant to be a ‘special guest’ but they did turn up. The seats were also so small that Matt ended up in agony he said it ruined the whole day that made me a little sad. I have to say I was a little disappointed but it didn’t ruin my day at all.

The cast were quite funny but the episode they picked didn’t have them in it much so they didn’t have that much to say alas.

We then headed off and had pizza express which was lovely and we were home about midnight! It was a long day up at 6am and back at midnight!

I have post con blues a bit at the moment. I am still a little out of it as on Sunday I felt pretty rough again. I thought it was because I over did it on Saturday but Sunday night my ears started to bleed a bit again and they were blocked and I was in a lot of pain. A trip to the doctors and I have ear infection in both ears and a sinus infection. I’m on antibiotics at the moment but I’m not completely with it at the moment. I can’t wait to feel better it has been over a week now alas!

We have a 'Secret Screening' at the cinema tonight so I am looking forward to that! Luckily I feel well enough I think to do that. Well I hope so anyway!

Not looking forward to when post con blues hit but I had another amazing Comic Con and I can't wait for October to do it all again now!