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London Film and Comicon 2014

July 24, 2014 /
If you follow me on Twitter/Instagram you will already know that over the weekend of the 11th I was in London for the London Film and Comicon. Way back in February, Bee and I started looking for conventions to attend mainly to cosplay. She found this one and it looked a) feesible during the time of year b) good value for money (the entry tickets anyway) and c) a great host of guests, including Stan Lee for his last ever European appearance (the dude is over 90!) We booked our tickets and started researching costumes, both of us going through a few ideas (especially Bee) before finally settling. Her partner, brother and his girlfriend also originally bough tickets with us, and then late it was decided our other friends Jon, Nat & Tom would attend for the Sunday. All of us would also be child free and for the first time ever I would have a hotel room to myself for two nights. As the months passed and my costume took shape, I admit, I ended up quite giddy to the point I made myself sick (literally on the Friday) giddy with excitement and nerves but it ended up being an all in all awesome weekend! I arrived late to the preview night on the Friday however I attended all of Saturday in full costume and then for a lot of Sunday when I was able to take photos and really explore without dying of heat.
We stayed in a hotel a fair way out of London near Heathrow Airport but it ended up being a brilliant idea because a) it was cheaper b) we didn’t care about wearing costumes on the tube and c) OPTIMUS PRIME STAYED AT OUR HOTEL (well in the car park anyway!) I definitely wouldn’t hesitate in doing this again.
Today I’m going to share my photos and my experience as a whole, and then fingers crossed, if I get around to photographing (hopefully on the beach eee), my costume I’ll have a whole post dedicated to that, because lets face it, the cosplay was CLEARLY my favourite bit… I’d do it every weekend if I could..
Anyway, these photos are a mixture from both days. I didn’t take as many as I hoped, but I did take over 100 and editing them to remove the indoor “yellow” tinge has been a blooming nightmare!

 

 

 

As I mentioned above, for me, the cosplay was the most amazing part. Not just taking part, but seeing everyone else dressed in all manner of things and it being completely normal! For once I was normal! The Saturday was insanely hot though, not just outside, the actual venue was ridiculously hot and over crowded so much so I think there have been complaints made. I looked like a complete wreck before even getting inside due to having to queue for well over an hour despite having “early bird” tickets. And the the humidity in Earls Court 2 made my hair go flat. I honestly take my hat off to anyone in a full body suit like the many Spidermen, the Darth Vaders, the Judge Dredds and to anyone who wore a wig or a mask for the whole day! My dress was 3/4 length sleeves and that was bad enough. Which is why I’m sharing a photo of Anna coronation dress cosplay & Snow White from Once Upon a Time as they are both sleeveless options that I would love to do at some point.
Anyway, how amazing is Bee’s costume? As she has done her own post about her costume I wanted to write a little bit here. Bee made her own costume, from scratch and I can’t tell you how awesome it was. It looked just like Vanessa’s! For anyone who has been living under a rock for the past 20 odd years, Vanessa is Ursula’s human form in The Little Mermaid. Which of course made sense with me being Ariel (in her blue dress, DREAM COME TRUE). I have always joked that the reason our friendship works so well is Bee’s love for the villains matches my love for the Princesses. If I ever do dress as Snow from Once Upon a Time, I know that Bee will make a kick ass Regina.

 

 

 

One of the main parts of LFCC was the fact there were loads of stars from various Sci Fi and Fantasy TV shows and movies.. including some big names like Carrie Fisher and John Hurt. You were able to pay to get their autograph or pay to have a photo taken with them. In hindsight I really wish I’d had more money to meet all the Game of Thrones stars who were there, especially Daniel Portman who plays Podrick as he has the most beautiful Scottish accent! Swoon worthy. Also Lena Heady, she was seemingly awesome. I recognised a fair few from shows like Game of Thrones, Buffy, Power Rangers, Star Wars & The Hobbit. I was also incredibly sly and took sneaky photos whenever I had the chance. Thankfully by the end of the day, no one really cared so I did manage to get incredibly close. I know for next time that prices range from £15 – £60 so if there is anyone I really want to meet I can set some funds aside from that. Both Bee and her partner (and then Tom on the Sunday) met some stars and had autographs with them. John Hurt actually had this insane mustache that you can see over on Bee’s blog!

 

Finn Jones & Daniel Portman having a sneaky cigarette before the GoT talk.

On the Saturday evening we paid an extra £20 for a Game of Thrones “talk” I use this term loosely because although it was funny and a great atmosphere. We simply sat with 900 odd other people watching the GoT episode The Battle of Black Water, which in my opinion isn’t exactly one of the best episodes although it seemingly was the most expensive to make. There were three members of cast, Daniel Portman, Finn Jones and Kristian Nairn, and there was supposed to be a “surprise special guest” but that simply turned out to be a Joffrey pinata, which although was cool and some lucky sod got to smash it with a fake sword, I would of probably preferred Jack Gleeson there to comment on the episode with the other three. However, I’ll never look at Peter Dinklage’s nipples in the same way again…

 

 

 

 

The final part of LFCC was of course all the fantastic stalls that were selling all things geeky. There were loads selling such things as replica movie props, to photos, American & Japanease candy, retro toys, anime & Disney items.. there was stuff to buy from every geeky fandom you could imagine from Doctor Who to Star Wars and everything in between. A big part of both our days we spent simply wandering around the stalls.. on both days it was incredibly slow business as the place was packed. Often a seat in one of the little alcoves was required to simply take a break from the hustle and bustle. I did spend the majority of my money there on pretty much only Disney and Pokemon, two of my favourite things. I’m so incredibly pleased with everything I bought and Little Miss loves her starter Pokemon (Pikachu, who else?!)

 

 

Over all, despite the insane queues, the expensive food, the lack of air con and the over crowdedness, it was a bloody brilliant weekend. Especially the Saturday.. because although I did love being able to stroll around on the Sunday, talk to the stall holders and take photos.. I much preferred being Ariel for the day! It was such an awesome experience that I really cannot wait to do it again! October, anyone?

Look out for a post on my cosplay costume & one of my “haul”!

Have you ever attended a convention or taken part in cosplay? Is it something you’d like to try?

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