Angelophile

It may be unusual for Showmasters to confirm upcoming events, but they have confirmed the con would be returning and, more often than not, when, at every Bournemouth event so far, so it's a fair question. No signs in the lobby confirming this time though.

I'm feeling that there's a certain irony including the word COMIC in the name of this event if not including any comics guests.

Ah! Thank you. There was only one stage at the event last year, so cosplay events and panels were on the main schedule. Maybe that's changed.

Hmmm. Is there no cosplay masquerade this year?

Thanks! It was worth the effort building all the costumes.

Now that everyone's had time to draw breath after the event, I was wondering if anyone got any shots of our family Batvillain on the Saturday? My nephews were dressed as Two-Face and Man-Bat, my niece as Catwoman and my sister and I were The Ventriloquist (and Scarface) and Poison Ivy. Just wondering if anyone got any photos of us that they could share? Also, I was Chamber on the Sunday. If anyone else managed to snap any shots, I'd love to see those too! Thanks everyone!

Cool! So what do I have to do to register me and the kids (I've never done a masquerade before.)

See you all there, hopefully! Hoping there'll be a few photographers around too.

Looking forward to it! Is it still possible to register for the masquerade on the Saturday?

Who can I expect to meet there? :) I'll be in attendance both days. My whole family are descending in the Saturday and we have a Batman villains group happening, with myself as The Ventiloquist, with Scarface, my sister as Poison Ivy and the kids as Two-Face, Catwoman and Manbat. Sunday, I'm hoping to bring my Generation X Chamber costume, if the heat isn't too much for all the leather! Are there any groups meeting up we can say hi to? Any photographers we can snag for a shoot?

I have fond memories of his Transformers work. It'll be great to meet him.

I first saw it at LSCC and had a blast there. So glad it returned for LFCC. It should be a permanent fixture for sure! They made my niece and I look fab. :) http://www.syfyfancam.com/videos/gaummwogmykj/

Even better. Of course, a big help would be to have maps with exits and entrances marked on them. Looking at the Olympia AND Showmasters maps of each floor, there's absolutely no indication how you're supposed to move between them, where the stairs, lifts etc are situated. That really is a necessity so people can plan their routes between areas.

Yes! Please get them back for future events. The cam is fantastic, but what really makes it is the upbeat and helpful attitude of the SyFy crew manning the stand. They were absolutely awesome, getting those in the queue involved and turning what could be a frustrating experience, of the hour long queues, into a positive one with their attitudes. I can't say good enough things about them!

Navigating was the issue for me, mostly from the sheer number of people, but, despite the plans going up in advance here, when I was in the con there seemed little relation between the floor plans I'd seen and the actual event. Most obvious was that access to the upper two levels wasn't obvious and I didn't even manage to get up there at all. I was oblivious to their existence until too late in the day and so completely missed out on the comics and book zones. I was told afterward by those I was attending with that there were signs pointing to the upper levels, but they only mentioned Signings and nothing more. Not sure of the accuracy of that. I know it's a limitation of the venue, but if the only access to those rooms is via the lifts, it doesn't make navigation intuitive. Neither does the photo shoots, signings, etc being scattered across various areas, rather than being collected in one zone. I've seen it suggested elsewhere that there should be 'information points' at regular intervals, which makes sense to me. Positioned in the corners of each floor maybe? And should be manned by trained staff who are there just to answer questions about where everything is and point everyone in the right direction. But way more and clearer signage would help too. On a personal level, as a cosplayer, I'd have liked to see a bit more space dedicated to the cosplay zone and, ideally, an area set aside which was suited to allowing shoots. Olympia is really bad for having spaces where photographers can get shots and having a 'blank canvas' area would really help with that, but I know floor space is limited. In all honesty, I feel like most of the problems would be reduced, if not eliminated entirely, by the use of the Grand Hall in place of the mish-mash collection of smaller halls and I understand Showmasters were limited there, but I hope getting the Grand Hall will take priority in future. The Olympia simply isn't a great venue for cons this size, so whatever space is taken should be the biggest and most easily accessible.