girlingray

Containment!! Brilliant announcement. Thank you

Thanks for the heads up.

Great announcement! I remember watching him in Sharpe years back and have loved him ever since. Thanks

Brilliant announcement! I was planning on doing my usual, and coming just Friday and Saturday - but definitely coming Sunday too now! Thanks for getting this guest for us

Damien Molony - Being Human

Santiago Cabrera, please

Benedict was lovely. Due to a stack of other photo ops, even though I was batch 2 I didn't get to see him until the end of the Saturday photo op. I was afraid it would be rushed at that point in the day, but Benedict still shook my hand and said hello, and then complimented my necklace after the photo. It's little things like that which the guests don't have to do but add to the experience immeasurably - giving a feeling of having a little connection, being noticed as an individual rather than just another in a long line of people to meet. I was only at the event Friday and Saturday and meeting Benedict was a wonderful end to my weekend.

Sorry guys, duplicate post deleted!

Something's having fun and games with me - same reply posted 3x ... sorry deleting the duplicates!

I think the cardboard folders were a nice idea. I saw a lot of people carefully putting their photo into the little corner cut outs, so clearly they were useful for some people. Personally I have a folder I use, so I turned them down when offered. However, in a lot of the shoots I was given my photo and the sleeve at the same time and it was too busy and crowded to give it back so they were wasted on me. That's probably a good time saving measure for the photo op crew, but I think it would be better (less wasteful) in the future to let people take one if they need it - if that's feasible.

Not my first cancelled guest for this event - but the most depressing! Was really looking forward to meeting Mike (particularly as I'm rewatching The Good Wife season 6 at the moment and was getting even more excited to meet him every time Lemond Bishop was on screen!). Seriously hoping for another chance soon

Just got my first diamond pass! Can't wait to meet Alan

Lovely! Coincidentally I was watching Lucifer yesterday and I thought how much I'd love to meet him

I can see some corrections now, so I assume it's been updated. But I still can't see George Takei's first photoshoot session on the Saturday. I think I'm going to assume this schedule is still a work in progress and look again in a couple of days! Hope everyone else's queries and confusions are now resolved with the edits

What are the timings for the Wil Wheaton Saturday talk? The schedule says 11.05 - 9.30 Also, the second George Takei Saturday photo op is at 16.50 (I'm assuming the 2 in brackets after his name means it's the second slot as there are other guests with a 1 then a 2). But I can't see the first photo op - the schedule is not that easy to read, so I might just be missing it but I'd appreciate it if someone could let me know one way or the other as I would prefer to go to an earlier slot if there is one available. Thanks

David Lyons Billy Burke Idris Elba Warren Brown Damien Molony Robson Green Aidan Turner Lenora Crichlow Richard Armitage Lennie James Andrew Lincoln David Morrissey Gina Torres CLAUDIA BLACK

Just been watching the last season of Justified on DVD - it would be great to meet any of that cast! Timothy Olyphant, Nick Searcy, Mykelti Williamson, Walter Goggins, Jeremy Davies in particular.

Merlin guests would be brilliant.Particularly Bradley James, who was ace in iZombie too (any iZombie guests would be very welcome!), and Santiago as he'd join my currently tiny list of guest meets from The Musketeers!

I use Arrowfile clear 6x9 pocket refills for the photo op photos. They're a perfect fit and each sleeve takes 4 photos (I get the clear version, which is code RE1523C - you can just search for that on the Arrowfile webpage. But if you go to the 'pocket refill sleeves' tab at the top of the page you'll see they also have ones with white or black backing).And I use the Arrowfile clear 10x8 pocket refills for my autographs (RA9790C). These have some 'empty' space at the top of the sleeve but as I'm using these for safe long term storing in an album (rather than displaying on a wall) that's fine with me. Each of these sleeves take 2 photos. Both sizes fit into the same album - which again I get from Arrowfile - so I can have my autographs and photo ops in the same ring binder. If you look at the specifications section of the sleeves you're going to buy it will link you to compatible albums. That is fantastic fella thank you , struggling since Nic sadly died to find suitable sleeves.How do you find them in black as when I search for RE1523C and change the C to a B or W there is no products listed ? Unfortunately they don't do black and white in all the sizes - which is why I stick with clear (I also print out my over the table photos with guests as 7x5) so I can have all my variously sized sleeves the same colour.The easiest way to see the various options available is to: 1) go to http://www.arrowfile.com then 2) select 'Pocket refill sleeves' from the row of options at the top of the page, then 3) select to view more for 'Photo and document pocket refill sleeves' on the next page, then 4) use the check box filters on the left side of the page to see what options are available by colour (black, clear, white) or size.

I use Arrowfile clear 6x9 pocket refills for the photo op photos. They're a perfect fit and each sleeve takes 4 photos (I get the clear version, which is code RE1523C - you can just search for that on the Arrowfile webpage. But if you go to the 'pocket refill sleeves' tab at the top of the page you'll see they also have ones with white or black backing).And I use the Arrowfile clear 10x8 pocket refills for my autographs (RA9790C). These have some 'empty' space at the top of the sleeve but as I'm using these for safe long term storing in an album (rather than displaying on a wall) that's fine with me. Each of these sleeves take 2 photos. Both sizes fit into the same album - which again I get from Arrowfile - so I can have my autographs and photo ops in the same ring binder. If you look at the specifications section of the sleeves you're going to buy it will link you to compatible albums.

Michael was lovely. Very softly spoken, smart and gentlemanly. I was very grateful that he was standing up and coming out from behind the table for everyone who wanted a photo after getting his autograph - he didn't need to do that and it just felt like he really cared that we were there to meet him and wanted us to have a good experience. My photo op with him was very nice too, and is a definite favourite from the weekend - big smiles from us both (which I appreciate, I know it must be draining doing so many photo ops, and I was right at the end of his first Saturday slot catching him just as he was about to leave as I was late from another shoot which had overrun, but it's so nice when the guest actually looks like they're enjoying themselves in the photo). A great guest who more than lived up to my hopes for what meeting him would be like.

I agree with others here. The hard plastic sleeves available at the event can be used to store your autographs temporarily to get them safely home if you don't have a folder or similar with you - but the autograph ink sticks to the inside of the plastic (even after the ink is dry) and they ruined a couple of my autographs before I realised they were no good for long term storage. I get sleeves and albums directly from Arrowfile online. They're not particularly cheap, but I've used them for years now with no more damaged autographs. They sell different sizes of sleeves - including the size for the photo op prints. They often have free postage and packing weekends, so it's worth getting on their mailing list to find out about them.

I was there Friday and Saturday and had a much better experience than the last 2 years. I really felt like SM had taken on board our feedback from last year. The guests and the crew were as great as ever - the crew are always so helpful and cheerful, and the vast majority know both what they're doing and can help with other queries too, and this good crew experience was the same this year (photo areas A, B and C particularly well organised - D could have done with calling in batches on Saturday for some shoots as there were a lot of people trying to queue together - but it still went reasonably smoothly). But a few of the organisational changes which had been made for this year made my time much more enjoyable over and above the great guest experiences and nice crew. Queuing inside worked well for me. I arrived about 9.15 on Friday and walked straight in. Saturday I was there 8.55, I joined the massive queue in the hall and was in by 9.20 (I really like not having to walk forever to join the end of a queue miles from the venue and then traipse back to the venue when the queue starts moving, with queue jumpers casually wandering up and sidling alongside the queue as it moves along). This was a big improvement for me. Having the photo op areas on the same floor and close together was so helpful - I had 16 photo shoots on Saturday (and no Gold pass), I honestly believe the only reason I could do them all was the proximity of the photo op areas. B, C and D were very close together, and A was only a short walk away across an area which had a lot of open space to it, so there wasn't as much crowd-dodging as usual to get between them - saving valuable time. There was also more space around the photo op areas for people to wait for their batch to be called, whilst still having space for people to get past. The only change I'd recommend here would be to not have a photo op area by the lift if possible. There were a lot of people with wheelchairs trying to get through the queue at area C to the lift. I'm still a massive fan of the instant printing of photos. The photographers did a good job, as usual - I like the 'ready' and similar announcements meaning I always knew when the photo was going to be taken (there were a few very top of the guests heads being chopped off in photo area B on Saturday - but the rest of the photo was good, so that's not a big thing for me - not enough of an issue to ask for a reshoot, just noting it for the photographers to be aware of for the future). Having all the guest autograph areas and photo areas on the same floor made it easier to pop to check where a VQ number had got to, or the queue length of a guest in between photo ops. It meant I could use my time much more efficiently. Having the extra space generally on that floor and the stalls being in a different floor meant the autograph areas felt less crowded. To be sure there were some very busy areas at particular guests, but overall it felt much easier to move from place to place this year. The Suicide Squad costume display area felt well positioned, it was a quieter area in between blocks of autograph tables which meant the whole space felt more open and less crowded. The only change I'd recommend here would be to have a second sales desk on that floor - to make it easier to buy vouchers for paying for autographs by credit card. Having so many of the guests there all day Friday too was brilliant as I could get most of my autographs that day when it was quieter, leaving Saturday for photo ops with the busier guests who weren't there Friday. I was also able to attend some of the free talks on Friday, which was a nice bonus, as I rarely have time for the talks. Having the additional space overall was great. There were more places to sit on the floor for lunch, an aching feet break or bag sorting, without being in anyone's way - particularly near the main stage. The building felt cooler and whilst there were clearly a LOT of people attending, I did not experience that feeling of being constantly closely surrounded which had made the last 2 years feel so unpleasant. Thank you SM and the whole crew for a very enjoyable 2 days. I only wished I'd been able to attend Sunday too!

My feet hurt still. They're throbbing as I sit here! But I'm still on enough of a high from the guests I met at the weekend that I don't care!

I had time to go to some talks on Friday, which isn't usually the case as I'm dashing between photoshoots and autographs. All 4 that I attended were interesting, but the Amir Arison and Aaron Stanford talks were particularly enjoyable; both of them were lovely in photo ops too, particularly Amir who was very enthusiastic about giving a big hug. My favourite autograph experiences were Jamie Harris and Keith David. Both talked for a while, Jamie was very nice to chat with, funny and it was just like talking to a mate. Keith was about to go to lunch, but still took time to chat - he complimented me on my necklace and when I told him I was sad that Enlisted had been cancelled he took my hand and almost crushed it saying thank you and that he'd been disappointed too - a really lovely guy. My favourite photo op was with Jeremy Renner. I've said in another thread - he was enthusiastic, friendly and seemed genuinely happy to be there. He gave me a wonderful hug in my photo op and we're both grinning - my favourite photo from the weekend and possibly my favourite from all my LFCCs!