A Highly Detailed Guide To LFCC Weekend

[Shangel]

Hi Guys!

 

I just finished writing my 22-page review of LFCC weekend (excluding pictures! ). For those of you that are interested, here's the link. I tried to be as balanced and informative as possible, while keeping it light and fun. Of course, this was just my experience of LFCC weekend. I'd love to know your thoughts and your own experiences!

 

http://shangelsreviews.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/london-film-comic-con-2015-detailed.html

[LulaBelle96]

I've just finished reading, and it's bloody brilliant! 😄 that hotel sounds lovely 😉 I remember seeing you around and being a few people behind you in some of the photoshoots over the weekend - glad you had a good 3 days, I basically had the same experience as you (though no blisters - lucky me!) 😄

[DavidB]

22 pages and I didn't even get my own section!

[Shangel]

Thank you, LulaBelle96! The hotel was certainly...umm...interesting

 

Next time, Mr. Bedwell, there shall be an ode to you. However, the only time I saw you for more than a couple of seconds this time was after you bought about 80,000 Pop figures and tried to convince me they were for your wife

[DavidB]

fair point.. we don't need that written up.. continue as you were

[GoogleKnowsUs]

This ode shall of course rhyme ...

[DavidB]

I look forward to it

[stijn171]

Just read your review (which is awesome) and tried to apply your categories to the guests I've met! This is harder than it looks btw

Sigourney Weaver, Bill Paxton and Christopher Lloyd were obviously big guests. They still were polite and all that but there's not much else to say about them. Although I made Chris and Bill both laugh quite hard at their photoshoots so that's always nice. I like to believe that's why Bill has such a big smile on our photo but that might just be a figment of my brain. Although Sigourney was very busy she still made eye contact, seemed to be a very sweet lady and was genuinely grateful when my mom told her she looked beautiful. I also thought it was pretty funny that she wrote "Ripley" underneath her autograph, as if we'd ever forget

 

I also did the Michael J Fox Delorean shoot which was pure madness, busiest and fastest photoshoot I've ever seen. Everybody got pushed through there like cattle on the way to the slaughterhouse. People weren't even allowed to kneel down next to Michael but everybody still did it anyways cause you're obviously not gonna stand next to the car with Mike sitting at your knees or something. For obvious reasons Mike didn't give handshakes which was totally fine by me. He also didn't say much except for an occasional 'Hi'. Still, when I walked up to him I looked him in his eyes and said "This is crazy!" to which he replied "Yeah tell me about it". My mom is still jealous about the fact that I got more words out of him than most people!

 

Other big guests which had no time to talk were Jason David Frank and Hayley Atwell.

Richard Dean Anderson I also consider a big guest cause his queues were always massive. They also seemed to move slower than a snail crawling backwards! The reason for this was that RDA was a goddamn Conversationalist, who would have thought? I shouldn't swear though cause he was amazing to meet. Truly a sweet and funny guy who cracked a couple of jokes like him being on a diet (after my mom gave him some chocolates) and being able to sign even a paperclip (cause obviously).

 

I walked up to some guests when nobody was queuing for them, that's always a perfect moment to have a conversation. The longest conversation I had was with Clifton Collins Jr. I even had two with him, one on Saturday and one on Sunday, which were both pretty long. I'd estimate I've been talking a full 15-20 minutes with him in total. We talked about his role in Capote, about Philip Seymour Hoffman, about working in the movie business, how the convention was for him, how he could talk to any of the guests if he wanted to (cause that's how bad ass he is), how if you want something you gotta get it done yourself, ... he was truly a super cool guy and when I asked him if I could get a picture he replied with a solid "spam yeah you can!" Probably one of my favorite guests of the weekend.

I also walked up to William Forsythe when there was no queue. Told him I couldn't choose what I'd like to get signed cause there were a couple of things I like him in. We then started talking about Once Upon A Time in America, about how it was such an Iconic movie and so forth. Forsythe was proud to be in it and told me it was nice for an actor to have such an all-time classic on his resume. I told him I had the restored version on Blu-Ray but that I didn't bring it. We talked about how much he liked that restored version and that he recently saw it in a theatre. So then I promised him I would be back the day after for him to sign my blu-ray. He said he'd be waiting for me and was happy to take a picture with me before we parted our ways. The next day I went searching for him saying to him "I told you I'd be back" and he still recognized me, which is always nice. So I gave him my Blu-ray which is a steelbook with golden finishing and all that. It honest to god looks amazing which is also the first thing William said to me when he was holding it. After another short talk and the signature we both thanked each other and he said it was nice meeting me. Definitely an amazing encounter with this nice man!

 

Other conversationalists were Leif Tilden and Michelan Sisti from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. We had a nice chat about me growing up watching them and how superior their movies are compared to the Michael Bay monstrosity and all that. There was a bit of a problem with my TMNT steelbook being too glossy so the sharpie seemed to disappear after a first signing but Leif took his time and went over it a second time until it stayed. He also wrote Cowabunga Dude which almost made me explode from excitement! Strangely when Michelan signed it it stayed on it from the first time. Sadly, he used a black Sharpie on a pretty black area on the cover so it's still hard to see his signature. They both were happy to take pictures and Michelan even told me to come stand behind his desk so we could pose in front of his characters poster. Super awesome guys to meet!

 

Then there was Sean Gunn which I also considered a conversationalist. My sister bought a Rocket Raccoon doll at the con but had no idea Gunn played him in Guardians. So when we were standing in front of his table I was explaining that to her while she had Rocket in her hands and she got super excited about it. Sean had no queue and I could see that he was watching us having that conversation. Funny thing is we're from Belgium so we were talking Flemish to each other so Sean probably must have thought 'what the hell are they babbling about. After my sister was done freaking out we went up to Sean and he was a super nice guy. Him and my sister were trying to decide where on the box he should put his autograph. He was afraid to put it on the front cause then he would have to write through the name "Rocket Raccoon" and the brand name. My sister told him that was OK and he should sign on the front so people could see his auto clearly, maybe it was just me but he seemed pretty flattered by this. Then Sean and myself talked about Guardians a bit and I told him it would be cool if he could bring his brother with him some time. So then the conversation switched to Guardians 2 and how James was really busy with it and they start shooting somewhere next year and all that. He was more then happy to take pictures with both my sister and me, real nice guy!

 

Alice Krige was also wonderful to meet. My mom is a Trekkie so we asked her to sign a First Contact poster. She seemed amazed about how good it was still looking and said she hadn't seen it in quite a while. She also thought it was nice that Gates McFadden's signature was already on it. My mom told her that she was the Trekkie but that I was the one collection movie posters cause I'm currently studying Film Studies. Alice was genuinely interested and recommended me that I'd watch "Institute Benjamenta" in which she has the lead. She explained to me why it would be an interesting movie for film students to see because it's so poetic and beautifully made. She was amazingly kind and was happy to take a picture with my mom, she even stood up from her desk to take it.

 

Responders to me were Kenny Baker, Dave Prowse, Ray Park, Carrie Henn, Kevin Eastman, Frances Lee Mccain, Zach Galligan and Gregg Henry. They all were polite and friendly and up for short conversations. I missed my Kenny Baker shoot due to time delays and a clash but the lady sitting next to him would not allow me to take a picture with him. Nevertheless when Kenny saw my sister taking pictures of him signing with me standing at his desk he told me to lean in a bit closer and smiled for a picture. Dave Prowse still seems really proud of being Darth Vader and thanked me when I said how iconic his character and the movies were. He also agreed with me that the prequels were pretty lame and that Lucas shouldn't have tampered with the originals, which was kinda funny. Ray Park was enthusiastic and humble at the same time. He laughed when I confessed that he was my second favorite villain as a child cause nobody could top Darth Vader and he totally agreed with me. I did make it up to him by saying I had a Darth Vader costume and lightsaber when I was a kid which he thought was awesome. Was happy to take pictures.

 

With Carrie Henn I talked a little about why she wasn't in any other movie after Aliens. She always wanted to become a teacher so pursued that dream instead. I told her that if her first movie also was gonna be her last she made a damn good choice with Aliens to which she started laughing and obviously agreed. She explained how it was an amazing experience and she was happy fans still appreciated her after all these years. Then she made me jealous by adding she ended up having some pretty cool friends cause of the movie.

 

With Kevin Eastman I was doubting for days what I'd like to get signed of him so that was the first thing I told him. I told him I grew up loving the cartoons and the original movies but that he might prefer if I got a comic signed. I had my TMNT Blu-Ray in my hands and he said he had no problem signing that cause he also loved that movie. I agreed with him and said the Michael Bay one sucked to which yeah replied "yeaaaah ... well ... it had some good moments right?" I on my turn told him I think the new Turtles look just awful and asked him if he had any say in it. He said he didn't own the rights anymore so that he could say whatever he want about it but that the filmmakers wouldn't pay attention to him anyways. I said I thought that was disrespectful and those filmmakers should at least respect the opinion of the original creator. He seemed to appreciate that so he let me take a picture with him while he actually wasn't allowed to do that. Nice guy and I'm glad to have met him, next time I'm gonna get a comic signed tho!

 

Steve Cardenas and John Ratzenberger were the only people I'd consider grouchos. Ratzenberger seemed pretty bored and wasn't really showing any interest. I gave him a ceramic Hamm money bank and he asked me what it was. This was kinda weird cause it was pretty clear it was a money bank. Coincidentally I saw him again at the Inside Out premiere at the Odeon. When he was walking out the back his assistent was pushing him to his car cause he had to get back to the con. I asked him if he could quickly sign my Monsters Inc dvd to which he replied "Quickly? Don't you have much time?" to which I said "No it's you who doesn't have much time apparently. "Oh thanks for reminding me" was his answer. So it's not like John was unfriendly but he just seems to be a grumpy man in general.

 

Lastly there's Steve Cardenas, the only guest I was disappointed in meeting. He also seemed totally uninterested in the con. When I went to him to get my MMPR movie signed he asked me if I wanted to buy some sort of red bandana for an additional 15 pounds. Since I'm a student and I really needed to go easy on the money I spent I politely said no. This didn't quite seem to please him so obviously he wasn't getting any more interested in me. On top of that his autograph just sucks, he wrote it really small but with a thick silver marker which seemed to be running out of ink. So now it's just some weird little curls which are totally unreadable. Then there was his photoshoot in costume. Steve is obviously best known for his role as the Red Ranger and that's the character most people attending the con grew up watching him play. On his own instagram his name is "Steve_Red_Ranger" and he has a profile pic of him in the Red Ranger suit for crying out loud. So why the hell is he wearing his blue PR Zeo suit during his photo shoot then? Am I the only one who was disappointed in that? Anyways, it made up for a pretty funny photo though cause I posed with a confused 'head scratch' on it.

 

As far as the guests go LFCC 2015 was an amazing experience for me! As far as the organisation of it goes, that's a whole different story ...

 

[Zahariel]

"The ode of the twitter-man" 2016 will be an epic poem in 3 parts, all of which end with the lines "Sat & Sun entry tickets are sold out...!!"

[Banished_From_Rohan]

Excellent write up, well done. Can I say thanks to you on behalf of Luke (and Chris), Phil and myself for the photoshoot comments - we do our best to please wherever we can. Though it has to be said my voice was no longer booming on Sunday evening

[Shangel]

Excellent write up, well done. Can I say thanks to you on behalf of Luke (and Chris), Phil and myself for the photoshoot comments - we do our best to please wherever we can. Though it has to be said my voice was no longer booming on Sunday evening

 

No, no. Thank YOU guys for making our weekend vastly easier to manage. You guys are invaluable, especially when you consider that you're all volunteers!

[ritchyb1983]

Hi Shangel, I have to say that is one hell of a guide for LFCC 2015! very impressed, sounds like you had a enjoyable event it would take me weeks to right all that up! Read about the "accommodation or your DIT apartment" Cant believe what they left for you both in the wardrobe and you had to make your own bed!

 

Id have to go to Tesco, buy some washing up gloves or heavy duty gardening gloves and remove to the bin! nice :s

 

Looking at your grading im going to try and sum up each guest (autograph wise) this took ages!!:

 

Sigourney Weaver - Responder - Lovely lady, told her I was looking forward to the next Alien instalment, looked up and smiled and thanked me - not much conversation but that's due to her being a HUGE guest.

 

Bill Paxton - Responder - good bloke very smiley and happy, shame he didn't do personalisation's for non Diamond but can understand why. Said Hi, thanks and have a good day.

 

Michael Gambon - Responder - said thank you have a good weekend, didn't look up much though, but he had a huge queue, autograph was personalised

 

Richard Dean Anderson - Conversationalist - fabulous guest! happy to talk, looked up at you, shook your had said hello, thank you goodbye, had a smile on his face and was making jokes about the amount of chocolate he has received stating hes ganna get fat and then laughed. (I didn't think I would get to meet him because his queue was so long and he left early Friday, luckily got him 5pm on Saturday. autograph wasn't personalised

 

Catherine Tate - hmmmm ........ Responder: looked up was very polite had a brief chat wished me a good weekend autograph was personalised.

 

Neve Campbell - Responder - No one was in her queue was I went straight on up, asked if she would like to be in another scream film, said only if it was a good story and think there needs to be a final conclusion, however with the TV series its highly unlikely another film will be made polite and friendly but the conversation didn't flow. autograph was personalised

 

Carrie Henn (Newt Aliens)- Conversationalist - Was dubious about meeting her (only went due to the diamond pass incentive) how wrong was I, very friendly, talkative, polite said the usual pleasantries. Asked would she have been open to another Alien film if it was made back then, she said she would have jumped at the chance, I asked if she would like to do a cameo in the new film, but didn't really answer. Had to ask the crew and the visitor how to spell Affirmative (first request was about 4pm on Friday) of course once you pop you cant stop - the rest of the queue wanted that on the autograph. very happy lady! autograph was personalised

 

Jason David Frank - Conversationalist (but a short one due to queue length) - very happy fun guy, agreed with me that Power Rangers Dino thunder was the best one and that it was a throw back to the original series. shock my hand said all the pleasantries and took a selfie (the only one to do this)autograph was personalised

 

Robert Englund - Big Guest Conversationalist - I was over the moon to be meeting The one and only Freddy Kruger!! "childhood" fantasy he was such a nice guy, talkative, friendly, happy smiling, looking at you when you spoke. Asked him about making another Nightmare film he said he would rather do a sequel no interest in a prequel even as a cameo, he did tell me though they are looking to do a prequel which I had no idea about!!! Top man! autograph was personalised

 

Kelly Hu (Abigail Chow - Warehouse 13) - Hmmmm toss up between Responder / Conversationalist - Very friendly and polite, looked at you when you were talking, had a smile on her face said that working on Warehouse 13 if only for 6 episodes was the best year of her life (Watching the TV show I can imagine there all like a family) Line was pretty long so couldn't chat much. Lovely lady. autograph was personalised

 

David Bradley (Filch Harry Potter, Abraham Setrakian The Strain - Responder. Nice guy didn't get a chance to chat much because his line was ridiculous, enjoying filming the Strain and he hopes its renewed for a third season, so am I !! autograph wasn't personalised

 

Steve Cardenas - The Groucho - Didn't seem interested, didn't have a favourite photo, made no attempt at conversation might has well have been on his phone! No one was in his queue so you'd have thought he would have chatted a little bit. autograph was personalised

 

Sylvester McCoy - Responder - happy friendly,I asked him would he like to do another 5ish doctors, he wold like to but it would have to be a new idea and sort after as everyone done this for free, which I didn't realise! autograph was personalised

 

Steve Coulter & Michael Traynor - Conversationalists - I was umming and erring over Steve and Michael but I was so glad I met them, both guys were lovely and talkative, were happy to talk about the walking dead, Told Steve he is the heart of Alexandria and wondered if Michael was going to continue being a A**ehole and what would he prefer he said he wants to be the bad guy! I asked If I could take a picture of both of them together and they happily agreed :) they asked me to get over in there and join in I couldn't be happier - both autographs was personalised

 

Daniel Portman - Responder - happy pleasant and smiley - didn't say to much but that was probably more to do with me being in a rush. very nice guy though! autograph was personalised

 

Gareth David Lloyd - Responder - I never thought id have the chance to meet Gareth, he was so lovely! I was in such amazement and excited that I couldn't really say anything, just hope I didn't dribble and have a gormless look on my face! autograph was personalised

 

Collette Hiller (Corporal Ferro - Aliens) - Conversationalist - very talkative, wanted to spend a minimum of 3-5 minutes with EACH person, talking about what you do for work, having a good weekend etc, however I was in a rush as by the time I got to the front it was time for a photo shoot really wanted to personalise the autograph for each person which was more than I could have hoped for.

 

Thats my partial (not very descriptive) review of the guests I met, not as in depth as your excellent review though.

 

Rich

 

P.s im gutted I didnt meet Sean Gunn couldnt remember him being in two episodes of Angel!!! They need more Angel and Buffy Guests - Role on James Masters at the Winter Con!

Also gutted I didn't meet Hayley Shame I didn't watch episode 1 of Agent Carter in time

Edited July 23, 2015 by ritchyb1983