London Film & Comic Con

[amberdreams]

Okay, LFCC is no San Diego, but it's big enough for me. This year our little band of hunters didn't have any GISHWHES tasks to do, so we could wander round and do our own thing, which actually meant at times we were like ships that pass in the night. I even persuaded Paul to come, and he enjoyed his mini-geek fest, going to a few of the free panels and ogling the Wonder Women and Cat Women. He has a bit of a thing for slinky women in black lycra LOL.

While Paul was safely and happily occupied, I did all things Alan Tudyk, because why not. I bought a Diamond pass for Alan for about the price of a single photo op with Jensen, so that seemed like a bargain to me. I very nearly missed his photo op in the morning thanks to stupid freight trains clogging up our line and making our train over 30 mins late, which really threw us out for timings. Luckily I'd looked at the plan of the entrances and decided we should go round Olympia widdershins instead of following the main group of people off the underground, and this meant we inadvertently did a massive queue jump and went straight in the main enttrance. Then they were directing Diamond Pass holders into a separate queue to pick up our badges, so we sidestepped the security and main ticket checks (wierd but handy for us). From that queue Paul went into the main building rather than wait with me, which was nice and easy.

Then I waited and waited and waited until there was only supposed to be 10 minutes photo op time left, and decided to approach a man at the desk called Raphael and wearing in a pork pie hat, who seemed to be in charge. He wasn't exactly the boss but he got my badge for me anyway - I must have managed to look suitable pathetic - so I legged it straight upstairs and joined the photo op queue. Turned out I queue-jumped in that one too as we were supposed to be in pass number order, but hell, I didn't want to have to wait until 5pm for the second round, so I kept quiet. Nobody chucked me out and Bonza! Hot, sweaty and by then, stupidly nervous, I got my photo with the man himself.

In case you're wondering - he was growling a bit and getting into the whole dino-fight, unlike me who was flustered about putting my T Rex on the wrong hand. And I forgot to take my cardi off. Doh.

That stress out of the way, I rendevoused with Paul, xlittleangx, Lone from Denmark (and JIB), theymp and his posse of kids, and (eventually) dizzojay. The rest of the day was easier because I had a guaranteed seat for Alan's panel, and then I could go get his autograph any time. I lucked out at the panel because I got there reasonably early so managed to get a central front row seat, which was cool! I didn't have a camera with me so only took a couple of photos on my phone.

Alan is clearly one of thise actors who's more than comfortable performing in front of a big crowd, and he rambled on happily before questions started. There were a bunch of DVDs under his chair donated by Fox, and he also brought a bag of 'crap' with him, and every person who asked a question got something signed - box sets of Prometheus, Buffy and other random stuff he was never in - as he said, some of his best work! LOL But he also signed an old newspaper, hotel toiletries and his SDCC badges! (Those got a frisson of excitement and disappointment from the audience, all wishing we'd been the ones to ask that question!).

Then at the end he had a bunch of Firefly stickers left, and threw them out at us - and I caught one! Yay!

Though having his signature on there means I can't use the stickers...Oh well, mustn't grumble. It's swings and roundabouts, hey?

We also went to Mike Rosenbaum's panel (free) and he was a lot of fun. He recorded us all here and tweeted it,

These peeps know what's up @insideofyoupodcast #insideofyoupodcast https://t.co/BKbJ0Wb72L #london #comedy @officialshowmasters #showmasters pic.twitter.com/WkytQYDXEw

— Michael Rosenbaum (@mrosenbaum711) July 29, 2017

Me and Paul are just about visible on the right about 4 rows back. xlittleangx took photos with her big camera so I only took this one, of him arriving. Paul had gone in saying, who is this guy exactly? And came out saying, he was fun, I'm going to listen to his podcasts... :D


What else. Oh yes, Alan's autographs. I decided to buy an extra one for my Aunty Margaret's collection.
Signed by Hoban Washburne of course.

And he liked my picture, he said how could he not, when I'd made him appear much better looking than he actually was. LOL

So all done and dusted, it was nice not to have to rush around anywhere or do any more queuing after that. We could just soak up the atmosphere and enjoy the many amazing cosplays. There were a bunch of people dressed as Thor, Loki, Coulson, etc who actually resembled their respective actors - so much so that you actually had to double take to check it wasn't really Chris Hemsworth or Tom Hiddleston.

Here's a cool (grisly) GoT cosplay Paul took a picture of

Oh! The only other thing of note was that before Alan's panel started they actually showed film & tv trailers on the big screen and one was for Midnight, Texas. It looked pretty cool, plus downstairs in the exhibition, they'd had a van giving out free food (all meat though, so no use to me) - so I thought I'd give the show a try. It's based on books written by True Blood's Charlaine Harris, doesn't have the cool theme song that True Blood did, but it does look like it might shape up to be really good. I confess I had to look up the main character's name because I couldn't work it out from the weird accents - there's no way it sounded like Manfred! -  but apart from that, it was easy to follow, the characters as immediately interesting (if a little unfeasibly pretty) and I'll definitely give the next episode a go.

What other random stuff was I going to post...?? Nope, I can't remember. So I'll finish with a random pic of Jensen looking a lot hotter than LFCC's Raphael in his pork pie hat.

Comments

[caranfindel.livejournal.com]

Okay, I have no idea what the characters in Midnight, Texas are named, but now I'm dying to know what name you couldn't understand!

Your Tudyk art turned out really nice, I think. He seems like a cool guy.

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Tudyk was a perfect convention guest - he seemed to really enjoy being there, which was nice. Plus he had plenty to say about any topic fans threw at him. So yep, pretty cool!

Oh this guy in Midnight, Texas is apparently called Manfred but it variously sounded like Maverick, Menfeed and gawd knows what else to me! But I do have a talent for mishearing so it's probably just me. LOL

[jj1564.livejournal.com]

I'm pleased you had a good day despite the hold up on the train and managed to get your Alan photo op, and catch some of the Firefly stickers! I'll have to come along next year, it looks like fun, I love the GoT cosplayers!

I've heard about Midnight, Texas and can't wait to watch it. Jensen's halo has slipped in that pic!

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Is it a halo? Or is it an alien spaceship...

LFCC is a lot busier than Heroes and Villains was, and on 3 floors too, but they seemed to be looking after people in wheelchairs just as well as H&V did, so I reckon you'd be fine, and enjoy it a lot. They do get some very good guests though of course you don't get quality time with them. This type of con feels more utilitarian an event than Rogue or Starfury to me.

[jj1564.livejournal.com]

Hee hee, could be a spaceship!

It seems much bigger and busier than H&V, but it's good to know they look after disabled people. I think if I'd gone to this I would've just got photo ops with Mike Rosenbaum and John Cleese, and then just wandered!

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

i think a lot of the volunteers are the same people, which helps. I saw a couple of wheelschair bound cosplayers too! Hey, you could go as a Dalek LOL

[kalliel]

What a lovely day this looks like! I love your photo op with Alan Tudyk. Just thinking about those dinosaurs makes me wax fondly about Firefly. I'll bet they didn't have half an inkling what an impact such a random pilot prop might make, now almost 20 years out. <3333 And the stickers are cool, too! You're so lucky to have caught some. :D

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Someone asked him in the panel if he got to keep the dinosaurs and he was very aggrieved that the props people wouldn't let him take any when the show got cancelled. Then a few years later he bumped into a guy who worked on the Firefly set, who casually said :oh I got one of your dinosaurs, you know." Apparently this guy stole it! LOL But then he did offer it to Alan, so he does now own one of the dinosaurs, even though it had one foot chewed off by the other guy's dog.

[tsuki-no-bara.livejournal.com]

alan tudyk seems like he'd be a really fun con guest. the pic of the two of you is adorable. and i'm glad michael rosenbaum was fun too! i watched most of the first season of his show impastor, which is ridiculous and silly but still really charming, and i'm not totally surprised he gives good panel.

i keep seeing previews for midnight, texas but didn't know it had started yet. so it was worth checking out, huh?

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

It seems Mike Rosenbaum's reputation in fanfics is well deserved (apart from the ones who cast him as a villain because I get the impression he's crazy in a good way, not bad).

Re: Midnight, Texas - I enjoyed it so reckon it's worth a go. So far there's no relationship to rival the Winchesters but the ensemble of characters was varied enough to give everyone somebody to root for, and it was creepy and intriguing.

[milly-gal.livejournal.com]

Looks like, despite the train hold up, you had a great time. Alan - how I love thee let me count the ways! - So glad you got your op and the piccies signed! :D Thanks for the report, sounds to me like Tudyk is a great con guest. Hopefully I'll get a chance to see myself one day :)

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

I hope you wiil too! I haven't forgotten your drawings etc, I will try and get everything packaged up when we get back from London on 14th.

[milly-gal.livejournal.com]

Hey, no worries hun, enjoy your time away and think about it when you get back ♥

[julchen11.livejournal.com]

'What a wonderful post, sweetie. I'm glad you had so much fun! and you look great!!!
And Jensen... oh dear... I can only sit and stare :-)) Thanks so much for sharing all These goodies with us!

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Aw thanks, and yes, bonus Jensen. Has to be done.

[somer.livejournal.com]

WELL, IT LOOKED LIKE YOU HAD FUN! And it seems like it was very eventful! WHOOP! Glad you had fun :) <3

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

It was fun, thank you!

[aerynsun5.livejournal.com]

So fun for you! And you got your drawing signed and it looked awesome! Good for you!

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Thanks, it was fun, nothing like a SPN con but still interesting.