Wales Comic Con - A 2 day extravagansa!
This has been a long time coming, but here is my Wales Comic Con post.
This was WCC's first 2 day event, and as someone who has been going since 2010 I was looking forward to what they would do. WCC is the best con in the UK currently. The staff are helpful, they actually listen to you when you raise concerns and act on them. Other organisors would do well to learn from them.
It was also my first time going VIP, and I am so glad I did. I got it following Jooles and Sarah's experiences last year. The lack of queueing, the ease of entry, the extra photos were a bonus! WCC gets VERY busy, it is proper family day out and the VIP just cuts through all of the hassles. The lack of queueing was bliss! Will definitely do that again.
Friday saw me on the train to Wrexham after having to repack the case because nothing would fit in the small case. I arrived at the Premier Inn (one of my favourite hotels) at around the same time as Spark. The lovely people at the Premier let us check in early and we collected Jodie from the train station before being joined by the lovely Rosie. Jooles and Sarah arrived after their battle with the M25. We had our annual pizza (alright, my annual pizza), and ended the evening watching James' latest magnum opus 'Dragon Warriors'. Which is sadly terrible. Not good terrible, not so bad it's good, not heartwarmingly joyous despite being dreadful, just dreadful. James is obviously acting in a different movie, I wish we could have seen that one. Luke Perry has all but disowned it - with good reason. But it's served as a good lesson for me - never back a film on crowdfunding. I'm actually quite upset that my money has contributed to it :-(
Anyway back to the con :-) Saturday we sauntered over to the uni for about 9:30ish and joined the queue of about 8 people with VIP passes. We got in relatively easily, and because I know the layout like the back of my hand, I took Rosie and Spark straight to James' signing space, and of course he wasn't there :-) Spark and I went off to hold owls, buy Spike Dragons (from Goblin Dreams who are awesome) and have a chat to Gareth who was sorting out his table. I told him about DW and that compared to his Sherlock Holmes it was dreadful. Gareth went 'Yes!' and did a wee fist bump :-) I also managed a quick chat to Hannah, who is Absolutely Lovely!
We then trotted back to the not-line for James, and VIPs were called first. I got a huge hug from Mark who was genuinely pleased to see us :-) and a really nice chat with James about Shakespeare (there was a Shakespeare Live on BBC2 - which I STILL need to watch) and how he's a good dad cos he got DT's auto. Then I moved over to the lovely Amber and had a really good chat with her about Prince, Victoria Wood (no I'm not dealing), Amber's mini break in Wales and Tony Head's amazingness in the RHS. Amber is beyond lovely and I would love to meet her again.
The only other auto was Miriam Margolyes who was an absolute delight. I want to be like her when I get older. She was deliciously filthy, when I had my photo with her I had to crouch down cos she is tiny, at which point she said 'We're breast to breast' :-) Rosie made a comment about the two of us and she responded 'I think you'll find there's four' *laughs* I was thrilled she was able to attend.
Jodie and I went on a Pop hunting expedition and I picked up a Columbia and Magenta. I really want a Frank and then I may consider the other 3, but Frank is my main goal. That aside from badges was my main purchases other than food. I was tempted by the big canvases but I know I can't get them home.
I ran into Gem and Jemz who were rocking their excellent cosplay, Ariel and Femme!Poe, I'm so lucky to know such talented humans. Gem kept having small girls come up to her and she was BRILLIANT with them. She knows that she IS Ariel or whichever princess she's cosplaying to them, and it is gorgeous to watch. Her costumes are stunning too.
My photo ops with James were ok, again the con humans were reiterating The Rules, and the general mood was upbeat. Plus Jason Mamoa walked past us and he is BEAUTIFUL! I wanted to nab him for Jen as a present. Stunning human!
The only talks I managed was the Torchwood talk in which GDL teased us with the idea of more Blue Gillespie and an anniversary Big Finish *squees*. I was right in front of him, and didn't take photos cos that felt really weird. The WCC dude wound the talk up early cos BTVS was next (GDl 'Don't go to that, it'll be shit' *laughs*), but when we got into the hall the first three rows were Press and there were no VIP seats available. I was NOT AMUSED as we ended up at the back.
The talk was good, but I was still fuming. There was a marvellous moment when Amber said 'We all know you're big' to James and the whole audience fell about. Poor love, she ended up hiding under a cushion :-) After the Q&A I collared a steward and calmly stated the problem and asked that it be rectified for tomorrow, and then we headed back to the Prem for tea before the afterparty.
The afterparty was pretty good. We got seats (yay seats), and BeeCake were pretty good. My corset was less good. I've never really bonded with it, and it just wasn't in the right place so it was pressing on my floating ribs. I'm going to have to get rid of it cos it just isn't working for me. I ended up taking it off in a huff.
Sunday was a slightly later start, there were about 4 VIPs waiting to go in this time and we all floated around the BTVS signing area until James and Amber arrived, the lovely Nem appeared and I got to chat to my fake fake child for a while :-) . James had stayed till 6pm on the Sat and still hadn't got through everyone so the Sat people had priority, then it was us. I took Jooles with me as she was cosplaying Femme!John Hart and James recorded her for his vid. She also made it in which is utterly spiffing :-) It's a fantastic cosplay :-)
Turns out James was groped on Sat :( but the con was taking it very seriously which was fantastic to see. I spoke to the photo queue human and told her what a fabulous job she was doing which nearly made her cry because she'd had a lot of abuse by then :-( People suck sometimes. My second day photo ops were all thinking about things that would amuse His Nibs :-) We got to chat a bit to Mark, and promised to take him to see owls :-) He was amazed that there was so much to do, he kept saying 'You don't see this in the US, there's nothing like this at US cons' :-) I think it's cos WCC really tries to have something for everyone which means that people have more to do than just queue up in auto lines etc. It's also better for families because it's not all focussed around the stalls and the autos.
I popped over for a GDL auto, where I talked about the Sherlock Holmes drinking game and completely forgot to give him my name *ahem* :-) and then we hustled over to the BTVS talk. I'd had a quick word at the start of Sun with a WCC dude about the talks and had been told that Press did not have rights over the VIPs. This time there were 3 clear rows for VIPs and they cleared the room between talks which made everything easier. We ended up at the front and were able to snigger audibly when James stated that 'We just give the drummer a pair of sticks and he pounds on anything'. Amber joined us in the sniggering with James going 'What?' He's such an innocent!
James was stunned by the Sweet cosplayer (who was excellent and is also in the vid), and then he actually sang some of Rest In Peace - colour me stunned as he never normally does this. Amber then sang some of 'Under Your Spell' and you could have heard a pin drop. I got goosebumps. Her voice is amazing. Someone said they should do a musical and I would pay good money for that (only said I wasn't supporting movies, nothing about musicals ;-) ).
After the Q&A, Jodie, Spark and I floated round the Gaming Tent where Jodie found 1 of the Pops she'd been looking for, and I found stunning artwork. I'm thinking now that I should have got that Kaneda print.
I ended the day chatting to Bunny and Hannah (and telling Piggyback Girl that naked = public order offenses) and we then headed back to the hotel where we said goodbye to Jodie and ran into Nem again :-) Then we had a fabulous tea in the Prem with the lovely Scott looking after us. Seriously, it's not WCC without Scott :-) There was much laughing over tea, from the way Jooles ordered her burger to Sarah's comment of 'You think I'm special, I can dress meself'. Rosie set off for her drive South and I packed ready for Monday.
The journey home was very easy (as always) and I'm now looking forward to next year. WCC continues to go from strength to strength and it really deserves to.
This was WCC's first 2 day event, and as someone who has been going since 2010 I was looking forward to what they would do. WCC is the best con in the UK currently. The staff are helpful, they actually listen to you when you raise concerns and act on them. Other organisors would do well to learn from them.
It was also my first time going VIP, and I am so glad I did. I got it following Jooles and Sarah's experiences last year. The lack of queueing, the ease of entry, the extra photos were a bonus! WCC gets VERY busy, it is proper family day out and the VIP just cuts through all of the hassles. The lack of queueing was bliss! Will definitely do that again.
Friday saw me on the train to Wrexham after having to repack the case because nothing would fit in the small case. I arrived at the Premier Inn (one of my favourite hotels) at around the same time as Spark. The lovely people at the Premier let us check in early and we collected Jodie from the train station before being joined by the lovely Rosie. Jooles and Sarah arrived after their battle with the M25. We had our annual pizza (alright, my annual pizza), and ended the evening watching James' latest magnum opus 'Dragon Warriors'. Which is sadly terrible. Not good terrible, not so bad it's good, not heartwarmingly joyous despite being dreadful, just dreadful. James is obviously acting in a different movie, I wish we could have seen that one. Luke Perry has all but disowned it - with good reason. But it's served as a good lesson for me - never back a film on crowdfunding. I'm actually quite upset that my money has contributed to it :-(
Anyway back to the con :-) Saturday we sauntered over to the uni for about 9:30ish and joined the queue of about 8 people with VIP passes. We got in relatively easily, and because I know the layout like the back of my hand, I took Rosie and Spark straight to James' signing space, and of course he wasn't there :-) Spark and I went off to hold owls, buy Spike Dragons (from Goblin Dreams who are awesome) and have a chat to Gareth who was sorting out his table. I told him about DW and that compared to his Sherlock Holmes it was dreadful. Gareth went 'Yes!' and did a wee fist bump :-) I also managed a quick chat to Hannah, who is Absolutely Lovely!
We then trotted back to the not-line for James, and VIPs were called first. I got a huge hug from Mark who was genuinely pleased to see us :-) and a really nice chat with James about Shakespeare (there was a Shakespeare Live on BBC2 - which I STILL need to watch) and how he's a good dad cos he got DT's auto. Then I moved over to the lovely Amber and had a really good chat with her about Prince, Victoria Wood (no I'm not dealing), Amber's mini break in Wales and Tony Head's amazingness in the RHS. Amber is beyond lovely and I would love to meet her again.
The only other auto was Miriam Margolyes who was an absolute delight. I want to be like her when I get older. She was deliciously filthy, when I had my photo with her I had to crouch down cos she is tiny, at which point she said 'We're breast to breast' :-) Rosie made a comment about the two of us and she responded 'I think you'll find there's four' *laughs* I was thrilled she was able to attend.
Jodie and I went on a Pop hunting expedition and I picked up a Columbia and Magenta. I really want a Frank and then I may consider the other 3, but Frank is my main goal. That aside from badges was my main purchases other than food. I was tempted by the big canvases but I know I can't get them home.
I ran into Gem and Jemz who were rocking their excellent cosplay, Ariel and Femme!Poe, I'm so lucky to know such talented humans. Gem kept having small girls come up to her and she was BRILLIANT with them. She knows that she IS Ariel or whichever princess she's cosplaying to them, and it is gorgeous to watch. Her costumes are stunning too.
My photo ops with James were ok, again the con humans were reiterating The Rules, and the general mood was upbeat. Plus Jason Mamoa walked past us and he is BEAUTIFUL! I wanted to nab him for Jen as a present. Stunning human!
The only talks I managed was the Torchwood talk in which GDL teased us with the idea of more Blue Gillespie and an anniversary Big Finish *squees*. I was right in front of him, and didn't take photos cos that felt really weird. The WCC dude wound the talk up early cos BTVS was next (GDl 'Don't go to that, it'll be shit' *laughs*), but when we got into the hall the first three rows were Press and there were no VIP seats available. I was NOT AMUSED as we ended up at the back.
The talk was good, but I was still fuming. There was a marvellous moment when Amber said 'We all know you're big' to James and the whole audience fell about. Poor love, she ended up hiding under a cushion :-) After the Q&A I collared a steward and calmly stated the problem and asked that it be rectified for tomorrow, and then we headed back to the Prem for tea before the afterparty.
The afterparty was pretty good. We got seats (yay seats), and BeeCake were pretty good. My corset was less good. I've never really bonded with it, and it just wasn't in the right place so it was pressing on my floating ribs. I'm going to have to get rid of it cos it just isn't working for me. I ended up taking it off in a huff.
Sunday was a slightly later start, there were about 4 VIPs waiting to go in this time and we all floated around the BTVS signing area until James and Amber arrived, the lovely Nem appeared and I got to chat to my fake fake child for a while :-) . James had stayed till 6pm on the Sat and still hadn't got through everyone so the Sat people had priority, then it was us. I took Jooles with me as she was cosplaying Femme!John Hart and James recorded her for his vid. She also made it in which is utterly spiffing :-) It's a fantastic cosplay :-)
Turns out James was groped on Sat :( but the con was taking it very seriously which was fantastic to see. I spoke to the photo queue human and told her what a fabulous job she was doing which nearly made her cry because she'd had a lot of abuse by then :-( People suck sometimes. My second day photo ops were all thinking about things that would amuse His Nibs :-) We got to chat a bit to Mark, and promised to take him to see owls :-) He was amazed that there was so much to do, he kept saying 'You don't see this in the US, there's nothing like this at US cons' :-) I think it's cos WCC really tries to have something for everyone which means that people have more to do than just queue up in auto lines etc. It's also better for families because it's not all focussed around the stalls and the autos.
I popped over for a GDL auto, where I talked about the Sherlock Holmes drinking game and completely forgot to give him my name *ahem* :-) and then we hustled over to the BTVS talk. I'd had a quick word at the start of Sun with a WCC dude about the talks and had been told that Press did not have rights over the VIPs. This time there were 3 clear rows for VIPs and they cleared the room between talks which made everything easier. We ended up at the front and were able to snigger audibly when James stated that 'We just give the drummer a pair of sticks and he pounds on anything'. Amber joined us in the sniggering with James going 'What?' He's such an innocent!
James was stunned by the Sweet cosplayer (who was excellent and is also in the vid), and then he actually sang some of Rest In Peace - colour me stunned as he never normally does this. Amber then sang some of 'Under Your Spell' and you could have heard a pin drop. I got goosebumps. Her voice is amazing. Someone said they should do a musical and I would pay good money for that (only said I wasn't supporting movies, nothing about musicals ;-) ).
After the Q&A, Jodie, Spark and I floated round the Gaming Tent where Jodie found 1 of the Pops she'd been looking for, and I found stunning artwork. I'm thinking now that I should have got that Kaneda print.
I ended the day chatting to Bunny and Hannah (and telling Piggyback Girl that naked = public order offenses) and we then headed back to the hotel where we said goodbye to Jodie and ran into Nem again :-) Then we had a fabulous tea in the Prem with the lovely Scott looking after us. Seriously, it's not WCC without Scott :-) There was much laughing over tea, from the way Jooles ordered her burger to Sarah's comment of 'You think I'm special, I can dress meself'. Rosie set off for her drive South and I packed ready for Monday.
The journey home was very easy (as always) and I'm now looking forward to next year. WCC continues to go from strength to strength and it really deserves to.