Journeys Are My Diary

Life, Adventures, Entertainment and more - A little bit of everything blog!

Comic Con and Cosplay

by 3 Comments

Last weekend, I attended my first ever convention – LFCC (London Film and Comic Con). I’m not going to lie – it was a whole big geek fest and I loved every moment of it! More importantly, I decided to participate in all the geekery, cosplaying on the Saturday.

Regular readers of my blog will know that I really struggled to decide what to dress as for LFCC. I had several ideas, none of which really panned out, until I finally settled on Vanessa (Ursula in disguise, from The Little Mermaid animation by Disney). Not just that, but I decided to make my own costume, so that not only was it homemade, it would be sure to fit.

That said, many people who dress up for these type of things, don’t have the time or skill to do that. This leads to them making costumes in different ways, buying them from proper cosplay shops, or even getting them from standard fancy dress shops. The really nice thing, that I found at least, is that no one really judges the quality of what you’re wearing, more that you’re just participating. Not only that, but no one cares what you’re actually dressed as either – everything is acceptable.

One of the most fascinating things about LFCC for me, was actually looking at everyone’s costumes and how they were dressed. There was such a huge array of characters, styles and fandoms. Our group was made up of myself as Vanessa, Amy as Ariel (Little Mermaid), my brother Chris and his girlfriend Erika as Han Solo and Princess Leia (Star Wars) and my partner Chris was Greed (Fullmetal Alchemist).

Obviously Amy and I made sort of a pair. We were at least from the same movie – a Princess and the Villain (though without being a fat, purple, octopus lady). I knew that very few people would actually understand my costume, but it didn’t matter to me as I liked having quite an unknown character to dress as.

My brother and his girlfriend, went as something a little more mainstream and well known. We knew there would be plenty of characters there from Star Wars but Han and Leia were also easy costumes for them to throw together. We jokingly set them the challenge of finding as many different characters to have their picture taken with and they definitely rose to the challenge.

Finally, my partner Chris went as probably the most niché of all our costumes – Greed from Fullmetal Alchemist. It was actually very late through the Saturday before we even saw someone from the same show as him.

The best thing really… is that anything goes. Whether you want to dress as someone from Disney, My Little Pony, Lego or Barbie. If you prefer Horror, Action, Thriller or Anime. If you’re a girl who wants to dress as a boy or a boy that wants to dress as a girl. If you want to be an animal like the Beast, an object like the Tardis, or even a Steampunk twist on a regular character – its really just fine to do whatever.

Though I didn’t take many pictures myself, between our group we did seem to capture quite a lot of costumes. Here are some of them:

I can’t wait to attend another convention, whether its LFCC or something else. I really enjoyed dressing up and given enough time, I’m sure I can think up another idea that I’ll be happy with!

Stay tuned for my next post… how I made my own cosplay costume!

*A big thank you to Chris, Chris, Amy and Erika whose pictures I pinched for this post!

Day 3: LFCC – London Film and Comic Con (July 11th-13th)

by Leave a Comment

Day 3 and my final day of LFCC – Sunday! This day, there was going to be 8 of us instead of the 5 from the other days. Our friends, Nat, Tom and Jon had joined us the evening before and so together we were all attending for the Sunday.

Having ended up in a long queue the day before, we were all prepared for a long wait that morning too. We were prompt getting away from the Travelodge, this time with all our bags in tow too. Luckily we could leave everything in the car at Hounslow, as we caught the tube to Earls Court yet again. We weren’t dressed up and for that I was glad. As much as it had been nice to Cosplay the day before, I missed my jeans and t-shirts! The eight of us headed out of Earls Court tube station and were very pleased to see a lot less signs of queues than the day before. However, it wasn’t long before we realised the queue was just being a bit better organised and wandering in a different direction. It was still almost as long as the day befores! That said, the queue moved steadily from the moment we joined it and it wasn’t long before we got inside.

There were quite a lot more celebrities there for signing on Sunday and so we made our way around, deciding if we’d want anyone’s autograph or not. As we were mostly in pairs now, we all split up to wander around and it was really nice just spending time with Chris as a couple. Though it was still fairly busy (and got busier as the day wore on) it wasn’t as hot or as busy as the day before. Also, as we’d seen and done most things, it was nice to just browse and take some time to buy some last minute souvenirs. Since I wanted to take something back for the girls, I ended up buying a Time Turner necklace for Megan, a Minecraft plush for Lily and then some Hogwarts biscuits for them both.

My only really grumble about Sunday was that the cash machine inside Earls Court was out of cash and on top of that, only a few of the stalls would take card payment. As such, midway through the day, Amy and I ended up heading out to find a cash point – only to find that 3-4 along the way were actually out of cash too. In the end, we stopped at a Co-op, bought some food and a drink and claimed some cash back. After that we headed back to the convention, buying the last few bits that we wanted.

I bought this beautiful canvas (as you might remember, it matches the decal on my laptop), along with some film clip pictures – ones of Tron for Chris and one of Harry Potter for myself and the girls.

Eventually, even though it was only about 1.30pm, we decided to call it a day. We had to get back to Hounslow, then drive back to Lincolnshire, and all of us were looking forward to getting back to the kids. All in all though, it was an amazing weekend and I’m so glad we went. I genuinely can’t wait to go to another Comic Con or another LFCC specifically.

My most prize posession/buy of the whole weekend, is by far my Funko Pop figure of Stan Lee. It’s a Limited Edition, LFCC 2014 Stan Lee Collectible. It’s taking pride of place in my dining room right now!

Tomorrow I will be posting all about the various costumes and cosplay that we saw at LFCC. I will also be writing about my own cosplay and how I made my costume – so please look out for that!

Day 2: LFCC – London Film and Comic Con (July 11th-13th)

by Leave a Comment

Yesterday when I started my post about LFCC, I had fully expected to write about all three days in one post. However the more I wrote, the more I realised it would be better as separate posts. So if you’d like to read about my Friday, and Preview Evening at LFCC, you can read my Day 1: LFCC post here.

Today I want to focus on the Saturday – by far my favourite day of the whole weekend. The five people in our group, had all agreed to dress up. As Amy had decided to be Ariel, after much thought, I decided to go as Vanessa – Ursula in disguise. My brother and his girlfriend decided to go as Han Solo and Princess Leia, while my partner Chris went as Greed from Fullmetal Alchemist.

I got up at 7am and jumped straight into the shower. I knew it would take me a while to get ready and we wanted to be out of the Travelodge around 8am. Once I was showered, I got straight into my costume and this is pretty much how I looked:

Next I moved onto my makeup. Since Vanessa doesn’t really wear makeup (or at least she doesn’t seem to) so I kept mine fairly basic. I’m not really one for lots of makeup anyway to be honest, so I preferred it that way.

Once everyone was ready, we set off for Hounslow again. While we waited on the platform, we took a group selfie. When we got on the tube, we took another. It was actually great fun, getting on the tube all dressed up – especially as no one really batted an eyelash.

On the next carriage over, there was another group of cosplayers, all dressed up in DC Comic themed costumes. There was The Joker, The Riddler and Harley Quinn. When we arrived at Earls Court, the first thing that hit us was just how much busier it looked today, than it had the night before. As we walked towards Earls Court 2, the queues looked huge (and chaotic) and we knew it was going to be some time before we actually got into the building! However Optimus Prime and all the other Transformers were outside the building and this time I wasn’t going to miss photographing them!

Eventually we found where we were supposed to queue. We had Early Bird tickets and the queue ran up one way and then back the other, but it didn’t seem so bad. We started to queue at around 9am but it soon became obvious that we would be queuing a long time. Though it had appeared to be a short line, the queue in actual fact went right around the building, way further than you could see. It was actually about 10.30am before we got inside of the convention hall. Even then, it was obvious to see that it was much busier than the night before, so we quickly wandered around to see whose autographs we might want, grabbing a VQ ticket. I got 176 for Anthony Head and 726 for John Hurt. Chris also got one for Casper Van Dien. I would have loved to also meet Jamie Bamber, T.J. Thyne, Edward James Olmos, Jenna Coleman, and Milo Ventimiglia, but unfortunately funds couldn’t run to that! Instead we then wandered off around the stalls, popping back every now and again to check what numbers our VQs were at.

The rest of the day isn’t so much of a step by step guide, but instead a vague relay of what happened. Chris met Casper Van Dien, we both met Anthony Head. Our group split up for the majority of the day, but every now and again, especially when it got too warm in the building, we’d all meet up outside and sit in the shade for a while. We had lunch, we checked out the West Brompton building and then we wandered around some more. There were definitely parts of the day when I wished we could go home and change. I loved my costume but it was just such a warm day that I wanted to trade it in for my jeans and a t-shirt. We also had to hang around for the Game of Thrones screening and commentary at 7pm, so it did feel like a bit of a wait at times.

At around 5.30pm, after checking John Hurt’s queue loads of times, it was finally my turn to queue! It felt a little rushed and almost like we were being herded into the autographing area, but at that point I didn’t care. I was about to meet Mr Ollivander!

I have to admit I went a little fan girl after meeting John Hurt! It was a long day and he wasn’t personalising autographs, but I still got to say how nice it was to meet him and he said it was nice to meet me too and then we shook hands. I almost skipped out of the signing booth!

By that point, the convention was starting to wind down for the day. Amy and I ran around taking shots of all the different celebrities, as the queues to meet them died down. Afterwards everyone had to leave the hall, but we re-queued as we needed to get back in for the GoT screening. Again it was another long queue and while it was supposed to start at 7pm, it was actually 7.30pm before everyone was even seated.

Even then it was 7.45pm before anything actually got started. We watched an episode of GoT, with a commentary from Finn Jones, Kristian Nairn and Daniel Portman. It was pretty fun but at the same time there were moments that just felt a little awkward. I also thought it was a bit of shame that Showmasters had advertised a Special Guest and then it was just a Joffrey piñata. That said, it was an awesome piñata and now I want one!

The screening finally finished around 9pm. We had friends waiting outside for us – two of which had been to the Harry Potter Studio that day, the other of which had caught the train up just to meet up with us. We all headed back to the tube and then back to Hounslow. There we got Pizza Hut and KFC for dinner before heading back to the Travelodge. Outside the hotel, we got chatting to someone who was running a stall at Comic Con. We also saw Optimus Prime in the car park again! Finally though, we all headed to bed, knackered from an exhausting day and ready for another the next day!

Day 1: LFCC – London Film and Comic Con (July 11th-13th)

by 1 Comment

Although I want to carry on with my #LincsBlogMeet company focus posts, I am absolutely desperate to tell you all about my amazing weekend. The weekend just gone was London Film and Comic Con by Showmasters and I really had one of the best times of my life!

Many months ago, Amy and I decided we wanted to go to a convention, largely to dress up. When looking through all of the available options, LFCC stood out the most, due to its sheer volume of celebrities attending. Not only that but it was the furthest one away, datewise, and still had more people listed than some conventions that were happening only a few weeks away. We also noticed that over the weeks that passed, more and more celebrities were added to their “attending” page and this totally sold it for us. On top of that, Stan Lee would be attending and he has long been my hero. It was also to be his last European appearance and so if there was any doubt, this sealed the deal!

We booked our tickets, way back in February and they arrived in April. I was so super excited to actually receive them – tickets for the whole weekend and a photo shoot with Stan Lee. Originally the weekend consisted of myself, my partner Chris, Amy, my brother Chris and his girlfriend Erika. However over time it developed into being Tom and Nat for the Sunday and then eventually even our friend Jon for the Sunday too. In all honesty, I know a lot more of our friends would have liked to come but there are only so many people you can fit in a car!

In order to keep things cheap, we booked a Travelodge at Heston, planning to catch the Underground into London each day. When the numbers grew, we also swapped from taking my own car, to taking my mum’s car, which I think is slightly more fuel efficient. On top of that, we spent months planning what costumes we may or may not wear.

Finally the day was here and though I was working until 1.30pm on Friday 11th, I was so excited to finish and get on our way. We left Lincoln at about 2pm and arrived at our Travelodge around 5.30pm. We checked in and stayed only briefly, before heading to Hounslow where we would catch the Tube to Earls Court. We paid for 3 days car parking there, topped up our Oyster cards and then we were off. The car journey had been only myself, Chris, my brother and his girlfriend, as Amy was arriving a little later. When the four of us arrived at Earls Court – left via the wrong exit and walked all the way around – it was about 7.30pm and so we got straight into the convention. My brother and I headed straight over to where the Stan Lee photoshoot was as we both had tickets, but our partners went off for a walk while we were queuing.

The wait wasn’t really that long and we managed to find plenty to talk about while we queued. My brother and I were really excited to finally see Stan Lee, even though we knew it would only be for a few seconds. Just as we were about to head into the photoshoot area, Chris and Erika joined us again, both having found where the programmes were being sold. They waited though while my brother and I went in for the photo and while it was literally only 2 seconds with Stan Lee, it was actually awesome.

For a little while I walked around like a giddy girl, chuffed about how Stan Lee had said “Hi” to me as I stood beside him and how I had said “thanks” after the photo was taken. I was also incredibly pleased for how the photo came out, half expecting to look fat or be sporting a double chin.

The four of us then wandered around the convention hall, seeing who was there to offer an autograph that evening. Many people were saying it was the best time to meet people and get their autographs as they had a lot more time on a Friday night. This was true about a lot of the things that evening to be honest. We soon spotted the Game of Thrones, Iron Throne. There was absolutely no queue and so we all jumped in to get a picture!

Again, I was really pleased with the photo, thinking it came out pretty well. Everyone else seemed pleased with their photos too. The rest of the evening we spent walking around the hall, up and down each aisle, looking at all the stalls. We were well behaved and didn’t buy anything, knowing we would have a proper look over the next few days.

Amy text to say she was outside and actually the evening was drawing to an end anyway. I was excited to get outside and photo the Transformers who had been outside when we arrived. However when we got outside, the Transformers were gone. I was really disappointed but I figured they’d be back the next day and would just be sure to photograph them then! We met up with Amy and caught the tube back to Houndslow. There we decided to get food, some of us getting kebab and the others getting KFC. We ate outside on a wall near the station, before finally getting in the car and heading back to the Travelodge. There we got a wonderful surprise, spotting Optimus Prime parked in the car park!

We spotted him out of the window and quickly stopped to take some photographs. However I knocked my can of coke over in the car and since it was Mum’s car, we all panicked a bit, parked up quick and cleaned up the mess. Once we’d all dropped off our stuff in our rooms, my brother and I headed back outside to take a few more photos. We both took pictures in front of Optimus Prime, just to prove we were actually there!

Finally we headed back to our rooms and all just went straight to bed. It had been a long day, I was tired from work, the driving and of course heading straight out to comic con. We were all really excited for the next day, as it felt like it would be the main day of LFCC.

Come back tomorrow for Day 2: LFCC – London Film and Comic Con (July 11th-13th)

OMG I’m going to a Comic Con!!!

by 3 Comments

For several years I’ve fancied going to some sort of Comic Con, largely because I’m a massive geek. In an ideal world I’d travel over to America and go to the Comic Con (San Diego), meet all the stars, get their autograph and have my picture taken! However, I’m not made of money and so the chances of that happening are incredibly slim.

The thing that’s awesome about Comic Con’s, is that they’re really not just about the fandom of comics. They pretty much cover all mainstream fandoms. Doesn’t matter if you’re into Superheroes, Dr Who,
D&D, Anime, Magic: The Gathering, OUAT, Pokémon, Fantasy Art, Star Trek, Game of Thrones, etc. etc. it’s all just covered under the same umbrella.

Anyway, I’m getting slightly off point! A few weeks ago, when Amy was here to visit, we were talking about Cosplay and Disney Dress-up. This is a fairly regular topic for conversation these days, as we hold many Murder Mystery parties and always love an excuse to dress up – Disney being the costume of choice wherever possible. After my partner turned down the idea of a Fancy Dress party for his 30th birthday, we were really beginning to give up hope of ever truly going all out on a Disney costume. That was until, I suggested we go to a Comic Con – and so the idea was born.

Source

I started to look through several different options for Conventions, the majority being in London. Some were big and some were small – some looked better organised than others. I’d previously looked into going to London Comic Con, but when I checked this time there was still no Guest List. Being mothers and given that that convention is in May, we couldn’t really wait for a guest list to be published before deciding, as we need to organise child minders etc. However I stumbled across London Film & Comic Con in July and this looked perfect.

Sold instantly on the fact that STAN LEE will be attending, I then grew more and more excited as I looked through the Guest List. While I’m not a massive fan of any one attending (except Stan Lee of course), it was great to see so many famous names. Amoung the guests listed as attending are; Summer Glau (Serenity/Firefly), Glen Morshower (Tranformers/24), Ian Mcdiarmid (Star Wars), Kristian Nairn (Game of Thrones – HODOR!), Giancarlo Esposito (OUAT/Revolution), Colin Baker (Doctor Who), plus loads more from Star Trek, Starship Troopers, WWE, Lord of the Rings, Lost and so on. I also recognised several of the names from the Comic Creators list, as well as author Patrick Ness.

Source

The more I thought about it, the more I wanted to go. I knew Amy would be sold on the Cosplay alone so I just had to convince my partner and then even my brother and his girlfriend so there would be a group of us going. Most importantly I had to ask my mum to babysit!

Luckily everyone was in and so now it’s a thing! We’ve all bought our tickets and I can’t wait! Even better, my mum agreed to buy both myself and my brother a photoshoot with Stan Lee. That’s booked too – which is amazing since apparently this is his last European appearance!

Now we have just four months to decide what cosplay we’re going to go for! I’m sure Amy will go Disney Princess all the way. Maybe even two costumes, one for Saturday and one for Sunday. I’m trying to convince Chris into Hellboy and since I caught him looking at pictures the other day, I think he might! As for me, I’m really torn. I’d love to do Belle or Megara from Disney, but it might be fun to do someone like Lara Croft or Katniss Everdeen!

Anyway, cosplay ideas are a whole nother post entirely! Watch this space ;)