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It's been a brief visit for me but it's good to be back. I had no problems getting in. But that may be because I was slightly later than usual. Once in everything seemed well organised. Quieter than I was expecting. Just the one photo session with Nick Frost - very funny man. Some additions to my TARDIS book - Sacha Dhawan, Christopher Eccleston and Bonnie Langford. All very chatty and enjoying being there. Likewise for Marina Sirtis and George Takei. They were all a real pleasure to meet. Big thanks to the crew for all your hard work making this happen in a safe environment. Look forward to bigger and better next year.

They need to bring Hattie and Norman from Red Dwarf in to do this. I’d 100% buy that photo!

As someone who always buys Diamond Passes for guests I really want to meet, I would be pretty peeved if they alternated the queue between DP people and non DP people. This is why we pay a premium for the DP. And there’s no way I’d want them to do away with them. If you had just prepaid autographs, I could see total chaos happening with the very popular guests, as people who have already paid for an autograph are then told that there isn’t enough time for them to get their autograph! They could limit the number of prepaid autographs they sell, but what would happen if the guest is a fast signer? Do you then just open it up for people who haven’t already paid? Surely, in that case, it’s exactly the same as happens now with Diamond Passes and normal pay fans?

George Takei

Marina Sirtis

I'll preface the following with "I had a fantastic time, and the event was well run, and the staff were brilliant as always. But"... I know it can't be helped, and is the risk with this type of event...but the number of guest cancellations, and the lateness of many of those cancellations, was quite a dampener on the event this year. And it was made worse by very poor, inconsistent, and in some cases non-existent communication from Showmasters. I originally bought all of my tickets in 2020. And like many had the disappointment of postponment after postponement of LFCC due to the Covid pandemic. Obviously I don't hold Showmasters responsible for that...it was just a disappointing side-effect (no pun intended) of the pandemic. But, once the November 2021 date was announced and started to look like it was actually going to go ahead, the first of the cancellations started to come in. It was once guests started to cancel did I discover that Showmasters had changed their policy of automatic refunds for cancellations to one of issuing vouchers (and more recently 'rolling' tickets over to another event). Now, again, I don't blame Showmasters for taking that action. It is inconvenient for us...but I do understand that the pandemic has had a considerable negative impact on business...and Showmasters like many businesses needed to to take action to ensure their viability. But equally...the pandemic has impacted ALL of us...and many of us, myself included, have also suffered signifcant negative impacts on our incomes. I'm not sure Showmasters have fully taken that into consideration. But...to make the "vouchers instead of refunds" situation worse, there seems to have been a lot of confusion as to the amounts vouchers have been issued for. With no clear indication of what vouchers covered. In my case for example, I received vouchers that actually amounted to more than my original total order, which lead to a few back-and-forth emails with Showmasters to correct them, and to obtain assurance that my non-cancelled guest tickets were still valid. And...may I just say...the process for redeeming vouchers is really bad. You can ony use vouchers to purchase a SINGLE ticket, and if you don't use the entire value of that voucher for that SINGLE ticket, you'll be issued another voucher supposedly for the remaining balance. So, I can't purchase more than one ticket and use my voucher as payment or part-payment against that order...which is the proper way of doingt things. Showmasters - you really need to get that sorted! Anyway, once I got the vouchers sorted, and received confirmation that my remaining tickets were still valid I thought things were all good. But of course, more guest cancellations followed...a couple of which were less than a week before the event. And emails to Showmasters were greeted with an automatic reply stating that they were out-of-the-office preparing for LFCC. Hmmm...think about it Showmasters, is this really good customer service? So, I personally went from six guests in 2020 (two of which were diamond pass guests) down to two guests for this years event. And continued confusion over vouchers/refunds...and no method of communication with Showmasters. And I had originally purchased a Gold pass, which over the years has really diminished in value anyway, but now for me this year was looking to be a complete waste of money (just at a time when money was an important consideration). But, I had already booked hotel and train tcikets, so I was now committed to go. Because of the cancellations etc, I decided not to bother going into the event Friday. I was in London...but it seemed kind of pointless. So I went Saturday. And joined a single queue to enter the event. So, given I had purchased a Gold pass, where was the priority entry? And I thought Gold pass people were going through a different door/entrance as priority? But nope, a single queue to enter the event, and then a rather ridiculous Gold Pass lane leading to the hall once you were inside. Not exactly priority entry! Oh...and once inside, picking up my last remaining diamond pass for...Robbie Coltrane, finding out that he had become ill over-night and cancelled. Now again, I don't hold Showmasters responsible for that at all. And of course I wish Robbie well and a speedy recovery. But equally it was very very disappointing...and now I was down to just the one guest for a 3-day weekend. Yipee. Once inside the actual hall, it was plain to see the effect the pandemic has had on LFCC this year. It was soooo much smaller, and although I have no idea of the attendance numbers it "felt" like there were considerably less attendees. And one thing I did notice was that the stage area was on the lower ground, and could be overlooked without any kind of cover from the upper areas. So, you could quite happily watch "paid" for talk that you hadn't paid for. Now there weren't exactly many paid for talks this year, but I could imagine people not being happy that they'd paid for a talk when that talk was pretty much open for everyone else to watch anyway. Not to mention the complete lack of security for the poor guests (I mean, there's nothing stopping anyone throwing something...or even themselves...onto the stage/guest). Now the likelyhood of that happening is probably remote...but you only need to watch the daily news to see crazy stuff like that. Anyway, as I had only one guest to see, and get autograph from, it wasn't exactly going to be a busy day for me. But, I stayed the whole day...and as I stated at the very top of this (rather long) post, I still had a fantastic time. Despite the above. But...I do think Showmasters need to consider the points I, and others, raise in these type of posts. I can only hope they do.

Why don't you just find the con where everybody gets what they want, can afford it, and doesn't have to wait in any queue for more than 8 minutes. Copy that one.

If a guest has a diamond pass the only way to be sure you will get their autograph is to get the diamond pass, otherwise it is a gamble. Thats always been known to be the case. It is always a gamble if a guest is a fast/slow signer or maybe needs a few more breaks so cant always guarantee they will get to VQ tickets or how many if they do. I was lucky and got a low VQ for Brian but i still had to wait in a queue for a LONG time sunday pm to get it. Luckily he was last guest i needed auto for so i could wait and i just managed to get it at 4pm and make it round to my last photoshoot. I honestly thought i was gonna have to leave Brians queue to get to photoshoot without his auto, but i was lucky, could have gone other way... but as i said i rolled the dice with vq.

Peter Davison Colin Baker Sylvester McCoy Paul McGann Mark Williams John DiMaggio Billie Piper

The Diamond Pass process is the convention equivalent of the penalty shootout. Not ideal, people will always moan about it - but no one has come up with a better solution. For Brian Blessed, see Meatloaf, Peter Capaldi etc. Every Con there's at least one DP guest who sees very little VQ action - that's why you if you can't face leaving the con without meeting a certain person, you should buy the DP.

Yes it’s been discussed before that overselling DP passes has diminished their purpose to a certain extent and I’m in agreement with this. Even though you pay a premium, you end up in a line as long as a regular VQ line in any event and the VQ ticketed visitors will barely get a look in. A lot of people can’t afford the DP’s and even those who can might want to devote those funds to an A lister who’s more likely to be a sell out. No offence but surprised to hear Brian Blessed qualifies in that respect.

I loved the way SM did the screen shots so clever and I love my photos, and my Bernard Hill photo where is a floating head has got to be one of my fave photos of the weekend as it makes me laugh out loud every single time I look at it

Managed to watch Ghostbusters: Afterlife whilst I was away. Went in with high hopes and really didn't want to be disappointed. And I wasnt, it was a cracking film and i really enjoyed it. Yes it threw a lot of little nostalgic nods in there, but they wasn't over indulgent.

I didn’t get one that had the plexiglass but honestly, the ones I’ve seen from LFCC are the best I’ve seen at any con. You can tell that they’ve put time into researching how to do it and it’s hardly noticeable if it can be seen at all. I’m VERY impressed!

Heather Langenkamp Taylor Swift

Robert was fantastic to meet as always, really chats with his fans. Barely got to 50 VQ tonight but I think that's due to a few dealers lugging boxes full of items and handfuls of posters for him to sign. After a Pitboss intervention, there was now a 5 item limit and the queue went much quicker. Enjoyed his talk as well. Thanks for bringing him over, Showmasters. Photos were with a black background to obscure the plexiglass but it looked really effective!

I bought special hanzo and genji pops. Have been tempted to buy the what if doctor Strange. My stepdad was a little bewildered when he spotted my collection lol. He wondered what the heck they were (also found out most of my pops should be coming in Jan next year. I hope so because I have literally nearly waited a year for my bakugo and todoroki pop funko's.....)

Most important consideration - as a valuable customer, can I request a plexiglass divider photoshoot even if the Celeb doesn't want one?!

I totally understand that some guests were happier having a separation screen during their photoshoots, and the way it was done with a black line along the leading edge of the screen and a black background meant that it was more or less invisible. However, could someone please mention to future guests that if they want their photoshoots done this way, to wear any colour other than black! I’ve got a lovely photo of me next to Bernard Hill’s floating head! Bernard Hill

From many comments I saw, pre pay unfortunately did not work at all well over the weekend elsewhere, they weren't given any priority for getting them and many pre pays were turned away from the queue and are now having to try and get refunds.

As someone who often wears black t-shirts, it would have made for interesting shoots for me too.

Pre pay usually means also booking a time slot for the person in question, and then it's up to the organisers to make sure they stick to the time frames. The first time I encountered this was when the new organisers took over Star Wars Celebration in the US a few years back, and for the most part, they were successful in getting the people through the lines on schedule. As for DP for Brian, I imagine because he was only there one day, from a few people I spoke to he's been on their list to meet for quite a while and get stuff signed, so I'm not surprised he was popular and many DP got sold.

Ghostbusters: Afterlife was a very good and nostalgic belated sequel. Sure it would have been nice if it was made over 20 years ago but can't have everything. The scenes and storyline paid a great tribute to the original. If you are a fan you'll definitely like it.

Robbie Coltrane?

My floating head next to Sandra Dickinson is quite funny :-D although the girl in the bag drop zone did suggest photo-shopping a body into it :-D my head on the rocks body, like it ;-)

Latest Guest Announcement - Julian Glover Autograph: £20 Photo Shoot: £20 Buy Tickets Now James Bond Indiana Jones Doctor Who Game of Thrones Star Wars https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0002103

Jim carrey

Jim carrey

Truly, a Boy from the Blackstuff…

Mark Boone Jnr for me was amazing. Spent about 15 mins with him at the start chatting about everything SOA. I saw him around the venue about two or three times and he remembered my name each time and again at the photo. Went to say goodbye to him and got chatting again for 10 mins or so. Lovely guy. Kim Coates - EPIC Tommy Flanagan - Lovely but I was so starstruck by him that I just couldn’t think of anything to say! Came across shyer than I thought one on one. Still a dream to meet though! Staz Nair - ran over the say hi as we share the same birthday. He was lovely, very friendly and super chatty Robert Patrick - gave me some of his haribo’s (!) and just seemed to want to talk to everyone. Surreal moment but such a nice guy! My favourite con so far hands down.

King Richard was a very good story about Venus and Serena Williams rise to fame and great performances from everyone. Would have preferred a little more about their professional career to be featured though.

I have to say every guest I met this weekend was lovely, so list below not totally exhaustive. Appreciation for.... Robert Patrick lovely chat at autograph table and was fun and engaged in photoshoot as well. Great fun guest George Takei lovely man. Manahed to get his auto fairly easily even tho he was reduced hours and he was so sweet and a lovely chat at auto. He was same again in photo. Love my photo with him. John Wesley Shipp i was so looking forward to meeting him after he had to cancel the last time and it was worth the wait. What a lovely lovely man both at auto and photo. Also noticed how engaged he was with anyone at his auto table anytime i walked by. Sandra Dickinson met her late Sunday and she was so sweet. Shared some interesting stories and chatted away for ages as it was quiet. Total sweetheart. Ben Browder such a nice guy. Great chat, so approachable and friendly. Great guest. Marina Sirtis lovely lady. Even remembered me at photoshoot from first meeting at auto. Lastly, Brian Blessed. What a character. Was really sweet at photoshoot. Managed to get his auto and although could tell he was starting to flag a bit (understandale) he was still full of fun and had me giggling and smiling and i love his dedication on my auto.

Eternals was a good superhero film but felt much longer than necessary. Visually impressive with some good characters just felt a little slow at times.

I met him yesterday and we spoke about Rocky Horror. I said i woke up with the song Dammit Janet in my head and he said he gets that song stuck in his head sometimes. He was really lovely. Later i had a phot op with him he's so tall!

He was very chatty and kind yesterday. He took a lot of time with everyone. We spoke about The Flash and then talked a lot about Dawson's Creek and he said he loved the fact that it was being repeated again in the US.

As usual I just want to heap loads of praise on Robert Englund. I managed to get him on Friday and had an image from Phantom of the Opera to sign. He loved it and we spent a good five minutes or so talking about the film and how he hadn't seen that still before. (Apologies to anyone for holding up the line). Consistently one of my favourites, I had another photoshoot with him and we did a non Freddy pose for the first time. Also well done to Showmasters regarding the plexiglass and black background. Probably the best example I've seen where it's virtually hidden. Top marks also for George Takei. Knowing he was signing for a limited time I made it to first in the autograph queue yesterday. George as always was lovely, took time with each item I had (3 in total) and personalised as well as adding a couple of character names as well. Both he and his husband Brad are simply lovely. I also want to acknowledge Joey Cramer. Such a personable person he was chatty and engaging with everyone who came to meet him and he looked like he was enjoying himself. Great bloke.

Showmasters have just released this statement on social media: We are sorry to inform you that Ryan Hurst made the decision last night not to return to LFCC as agreed and instead attend a different event. Obviously, we are extremely disappointed that he made the choice to break his promise to the fans about being here today. If you had a group Sons of Anarchy photo shoot including Ryan for Sunday, the difference will be refunded and you can use your ticket for the 3 person group shot which is still going ahead. All individual photo shoots with Ryan today will also be refunded. Please bear with us we process these.

I found Ryan Hurst very rude he was playing on his phone & even didn't look up/say anything. I don't think he worth it £50 for autograph like he didn't want to be there.

Had a great time yesterday and looking forward to today. My only comment would be it would have been helpful to know that any plexi screen photos would be taken on a black background so I could’ve worn something different as I had a black top on!

What happened? Never seen a guest announced who then decided to bugger off to another con half way through. Mad

I've been loving every second to be honest, it really has been too long!

Just to let people know, he's been announced as appearing at another event tomorrow.

Just got home from a very tiring day, but looking forward to tomorrow. Had to stay a lot longer than I thought I would as my last photoshoot wasn’t until 5:45pm! By which time, the hall was almost deserted. All the guests I saw were fantastic and really friendly and the lack of crowds meant I could spend a bit more time talking to the guests than I would normally be allowed, which was great. Had 4 photoshoots, 2 with a plexiglass screen and 2 without. Was really pleased that the shoots with the screen were done against a black background, and the edge of the screen also had black tape down it, meaning it was basically invisible in the final photo. Personally, I loved the smaller show. The vastly reduced crowd numbers made for a very pleasant experience, and the photoshoot areas were well organised without the massive scrum that invariably happens when there are large numbers. I pre-ordered a couple of autographs for 2 of the more popular guests, thinking it would save me rushing around trying to get everything, but in a way I regret it now as there was ample time for me to have got the autographs personally. If I was to change one thing, it would be to get more trade stands in. The spacing between the rows was huge, and I’m sure another row could have been inserted without really affecting the social distancing. Roll on tomorrow!

Thank you. Awesome.

Sorry, I don’t know who told you that. I’ve just double checked with the organiser’s and Mr. Eccleston is still scheduled to attend. Thank you!

At the very least you can take a look around. Have a look at the stalls. Maybe see some cosplayers. Pull faces at whatever guests are still there.

Gesundheit.

Wow, already a forum for this event! hoping for Timothy Dalton

Super sad as my treasured Friday 13th poster sustained some unexpected damage on its way to meet Mr Millkie, and didn't need to. I've decided in lieu of this to slightly singe and perhaps tea-stain the edges to disguise the damage, and I think it will actually give it a more rugged Voorhees-esque appearance. Mother of invention and all that jazz...

A heads up, both of these guests have cancelled, confirmed at the info desk