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Wrong Name's Wround Up LFCC 2018


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I started this last year and I thought I’d try to make it a annual thing, so here we are! I’m writing it now whilst everything is still fresh in my brain, but I apologise if I leave anything out (some bits have been on purpose!) or mis-remember things at all or even put parts in the wrong order. I’m trying my best! 

I had another amazing year at LFCC. With less guests on my list than previous years, I thought I would be less busy and maybe even bored. I was wrong! I had no problem finding stuff to do in the times between shoots and autos etc. and actually did some stuff I’ve never tried before!

I worked on the Thursday this year, which was a mistake. My whole day was spent getting excited and going over in my head what was about to happen across the next few days. No work was done during the day at all. My boss could see it was pointless keeping me around that day so let me out an hour early and i rushed up to Olympia for my pass collection. Judging by previous years, I was full expecting a one or two hour wait to get my weekend wristband and diamond passes. Again, I was wrong! The way the pass pickups were organised was so much better this year, and i really hope Showmasters continue using this method from here on out as there were no queues when I arrived and had my passes within 10 mins! A bit shocked at how quick the collection had been, I managed to meet up with some friends in the old haunt of the Crown and Sceptre for a catch up over some food and drinks. After a couple of hours we made the move to Latymers for the Thursday meet up. On our way over we happened to bump into one Mr Lance Henriksen who was just hanging out out the front of his hotel! We stopped and chatted with him for about 15mins and not one member of the group asked for an auto or photo which just made it for a really cool chat with the guy who is just so nice. I believe a few of the group managed to spend more time with Lance across the weekend, but that’s not my story! The rest of the night was spent chatting with old friends and making new ones at the meet up (many thanks to smithy270492 for organising that this year, good job buddy!) but due to my lack of hotel it was an early leave for me to head back on the train.

After a restless night of 2 hours sleep, my alarm got me up at 5am. I wasn’t feeling great. The heat had been unbearable in the night, and mix that with the excitement of the first day of LFCC and that just leads to trouble. I just about managed to get myself sorted and caught my train in time to arrive at Olympia at 7:20. By this time a queue had formed but isn’t wasn’t as long as I had expected and after a smooth bag search/wristband check as we entered the building at 7:50, I happily found myself in the first queue line, preparing for a nice 2 and a bit hour wait for the main doors to open. It was during this time that I managed a wave to Broo, and to be completely missed by both Chris1970 and teskothemad who stood near me, but I’m telling myself they didn’t do it on purpose! Opening of the doors went smoothly. No one was running or pushing that i saw and there was a general happy feeling in the air. VQ collection went without issue and I found myself with some great low numbers for the guests I needed. With that, I was off to my first shoot.

As I mentioned earlier, I went for the general 3 day weekend entry pass this year, but what I didn’t mention was that this is the first time since my first LFCC in 2013 that I have had one of these as I had usually gone for the gold pass to help make things easier. Previous years have seen me meet 20-30 guests but this year I decided with only 11 guests on my list, that gold wasn’t needed. This time I was right. My first photo was with Jewel Staite. I have been a fan of Firefly for years and she is the 4th member of the main cast I have now met. She was so sweet and lovely in that shoot and I have to give a special shoutout to that dress she was wearing, because, wow! 

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Jewel had arrived a little late to her shoot which meant I had missed the morning shoot for my only other one for the day, which was Meat Loaf, but it was fine as he had another one later in the afternoon which I would make it to. I had some spare time after that though so I decided to start on my autos. First up was Tom Vaughan-Lawlor who was a super lovely guy. I watched him explain to a kid how he wore a weird suit that a computer recognised and turned him into Ebony Maw in Infinity War and the kid was totally transfixed on every word. Such a great thing to see. He signed an 8x10 as well as my custom Avengers Villains poster that I have just started.

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After Tom, I made it over to Zach Levi’s auto table. The guy was already looking a bit warm (This was the hottest day by far across the weekend), but still enjoying himself with everyone meeting him. I realised after about 5mins of queuing that it was friend of mine standing in front of me in the queue which was great to have a catch up as we waited. As we got closer to Zach though, the guy in front of my friend had told him “When I heard you had been cast as Shazam I was worried”!! After he left, Zach was in fits of laughter, saying “At least he was honest!”. Zach was lovely to meet and told me a couple of quick stories about Chuck along with saying that he still hopes to make the movie one day (fingers crossed!).

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Next up was Matt Zimmerman. I loved Thunderbirds when I was a kid, so any chance I get to meet someone who worked on it, I jump at the chance. Matt seemed so happy to be meeting people and after calling me “another big guy” (I’m hoping that was a complement!) we had a great conversation about how both our names are shortened, but our full names is only used when we’re in trouble!

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Moving on from Matt, I saw that Jewel Staite’s auto queue had been cut off for her to go on a break. I went up to ask the crew member what time she would be back and was about to walk off when a lady (Jewel’s manager/agent?) shouted out to the crew member that she would sign for 5 more people as she still had some time! I handed over my VQ (which had been called) and managed to see her within a matter of minutes, even though she had had a massive queue all day. Once again Jewel was incredibly sweet and I basically melted in front of her. I asked about Season 2, I didn’t like the answer. I then spoke to her about her cameo in Alan Tudyk’s Con Man series and she was telling me about as well as how much she’d love to be on again. She happily signed with quotes my Firefly book (I hate that thing and regret starting an auto collection in it as it’s so heavy!) and an 8x10.

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I was doing really well for time and I thought I could fit in one more auto before having a rest. As I joined behind the few people at his table, I noticed that a blue bear was talking to Costas Mandylor and asking him to sign his wood. I gave natedammit a poke as he walked off and got the grumpy, annoyed reaction from him that I had hoped for and expected. He probably hasn’t bothered to read this far but if he does, it was nice to finally meet you Nate, even if it was just for a few seconds. I will try to annoy you for longer next time.

 

Costas was as cool as cool can be. He had been chatting with the people in front of me about what a great guy Tobin Bell is and our conversation went from there and delved more into the Saw films and as to whether or not we will see him back as Hoffman (he wouldn’t say). 

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Stopping for lunch is a new thing for me at LFCC, usually I don’t have time! I sat in the auto area with a group of friends sharing stories of our mornings so far and what autos we’d managed to get. Once we were done I went for a short walk around the stalls and stumbled on the Baker Street set where I had some photos taken. At the time of writing this, I haven’t received them, so apologies for not posting anything here. I did then also have a shot taken on the Stranger Things set, and although I do think it would have been better if the fairy lights were on, I do quite like the pic I got!

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After bumping into a few more people I know from various walks of life it was finally time for my photo with Meat Loaf. This was hands down the weirdest shoot I have done at a con! It started with everyone being given paper hand fans in the queue which were a godsend!

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We were then asked to turn and face a camera shouting “Meat Loaf” as they took what seemed to be an official pic of some kind. I’d like to know what this was for as I was close to the front and would love to have a copy. After that had happened, the queue started to move, slowly. Slower than any other photo queue I’ve ever seen in fact and had me worried that something was wrong. Once I got inside the booth I saw exactly what the hold up was. As we walked in, the man himself was shouting out that everyone has to introduce themselves to him as they come up for their photo and he was having short chats with most people as they did. For us attendees this was great, as I’ve never seen such interactions with a guest at a shoot before, but for the staff on the other hand… most of them were pulling their hair out! The photographer especially, who i saw crouched on the floor with his head in his hands a few times while Meat nattered away to people! The poor girl calling everyone forward was just laughing because if she didn’t she would cry as she tried to tell everyone to introduce themselves, because if she missed it, Meat would shout it out again! This was my favourite shoot I have ever done at a convention!

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After the shoot I went back round to try and see if I could get into Meat’s auto queue as he was the only auto I had left to collect for the day. Unfortunately, but after the photo experience not unexpectedly, it turns out that Meat hadn’t gotten thorough all of the diamond tickets yet. I walked up to find a group of low VQ ticket holders who like myself only had Meat’s auto left to get. The plan was to hang around to see if it was possible to get in the queue at any point but not to cause any trouble or get in the way and do everything asked of us. Eventually some crew members allowed us to join the queue but warned us that they would continue to add in any other diamond pass holders in front of us when they turned up. We agreed. We then spent the next hour and a half walking backwards more than we did forwards! Did we moan a bit? Yes, but we all understood the situation and were still very grateful to the crew for helping us out. Eventually, after waiting for 2 1/2 hours, we got our autos, and although Meat had been told to hurry things up, he still enjoyed a small chat with everyone who came up. Very happy to have my copy of ‘Bat Out Of Hell’ signed along with a Fight Club poster, where Meat drew Bob in as he wasn’t on it! The only thing I regret from this wait was that I did miss Jewel Staite’s talk, so I hope she comes back some day.

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After the long wait for Meat’s auto I was drained, but still managed to head down the pub for a couple of hours to join the usual crowd before having to slope off early again as I needed to make up for the sleep I lost the night before.

 

I had a much later start on Saturday but still woke up before my alarm and just got on with it to get to the station quicker. After no hassle with the trains, I was hoping that the later start was going mean getting into the venue would be a breeze. Wrong again! It felt like everyone else going to the con that day had had the same idea as me. The queue went from the train station, to the main road, sealed a bit, then to a 3 lane split where two lanes were filled as one was emptied. This went back down to the gold pass queue, with more snaking, then round the whole building and in gate H. I will admit I was totally shocked by this but it actually only took about half an hour to get through as it was moving at a fast walk pace nearly the whole time. Bag check etc. was easy again but what did seem pointless to me was that we were then made to snake round the whole queue in the queue hall before just walking in. This seemed pointless to me.

 

Once I was in it was time to get back to work. I had a heads up from some friends who got there early that loads of guests had moved auto table positions so I took a tour round the signing area to see who was where and gage some queues to grab an auto. I turned up just in time to David Duchovny’s queue to be let in straight away behind a few other diamond pass holders with him turning up about 15 mins later. As expected with a bigger guest like David, we were wanted to move through as fast as possible without being overly rushed. The man himself called me by name and thanked me for coming, which was about it. I was happy with this as I have heard and experienced worse from other guests and I was just happy to have met him, no matter how briefly. I was never expecting him to be like Meat Loaf or anything as he just doesn’t seem the type.

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With one of my diamond autos under my belt, and the other out for lunch and a photo shoot, I took a walk around artist’s ally and bought several prints and commissioned an ink drawing from Martin Griffiths of Peter Venkman from The Real Ghostbusters.

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Next on my list was to get an auto from Mike Quinn. I have met Mike before, back in 2016 where I go him to sign a Star Wars pic for me and we chatted about his work on those films. This year I wanted to move onto a different show he has worked on, The Muppets. I saw Mike performing with the Muppets in a live show just recently in London and was blown away to be able to watch him and all the other puppeteers work their craft in a live setting. Talking with Mike he told me all about how uncomfortable it can be rolling round on the floor and having to hold your hand above your head for long periods of time. He also told me that he has now been working with The Muppets for 38 years and is the only person to have worked Kermit will all three men who have performed him over the years.

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Now it was time for Zach Levi’s talk. This one was high energy! He is very charismatic and you could tell how much fun he was having with the Q&A from the crowd. Questions about Shazam were avoided but with an answer that satisfied without actually saying anything! It’s easy to see how the guy got to where he is.

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After a lunch break I went and joined the queue for Sam Neill’s auto and with my diamond pass, I didn’t have to wait for him to come back for too long and only had a few people in front of me. This was Sam’s first ever con and he was very cool and calm with the whole experience. He loved that we share our first name and was happy to see my Event Horizon poster, a movie he said really creeped him out. He was a very special meet for me and I have been a fan since I was 10 years old and he did not disappoint.

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After Sam I tried to grab what I assumed was going to be a quick auto from William Hope, only to find he had a massive queue and had been put on VQ tickets! I took one and thought I’d try again a bit later. Before I did, I took another walk around some of the stalls and ended up with some more art and a sticker of a Porg! (I love those stupid things, even if I’m not the biggest fan of the film they’re in). Returning to William’s table I was shocked to find the vq system had gone and only 3 people in his queue. It had been less than an hour! I took my chance and got to meet him to find he too is a very sweet and gracious man who was so happy to be meeting everyone. Meeting him is a great addition to my Aliens collection and I have heard he doesn’t appear often so well done to Showmasters for getting him.

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After meeting William I went straight into the Duchovny talk. I have to admit, this was not my favourite talks of the weekend. Some of his answers were interesting, but there were a lot of them that he refused to answer, but I never felt particularly bored and he was always happy to take a compliment from the crowd.

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After the talk I rushed for a photo with William Hope, only to find it was massively running behind, so I went and had my photo with Sam Neill before heading back. Both men were just as lovely and sweet in their shoots as they had been earlier at their tables.

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With all my autos and photos done for the day I headed out and joined the queue that had already started forming for the Ray Park Martial Arts Demo. This was a good fun evening. Ray said he had nothing prepared for the night but it didn’t show as he flipped across the stage and through the lightsabers around in a way that only Darth Maul could! Those that were there may or may not have recognised me as I went up on stage and showed them all exactly how not to do it! Ray doesn’t have to worry about me stealing his job any time soon. It was great to see him interacting with everyone on stage and always being positive to encourage us to do our best. If it didn’t work, we tried again until we got it. It was a proper master class! Even with some of the younger kids who came up were handled really well by all the guys instructing, whether they were shy or loud, they were helped to do their best. I’m not ashamed to admit that a couple of the kids were way better with the lightsaber than i will ever be!

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After the demo it was back down the pub for a bit to see the usual rabble. I managed to stay out a bit longer this time (a whopping 22:30!) but it was still an earlier finish than i really wanted!

 

The Sunday started a little earlier than the day before to try and avoid the long queues, and it worked. I was in in no time, although I was a little bit wetter than I’d hoped thanks to the rain. I wish I’d remembered about my emergency poncho before I’d walked half way from Hammersmith! Once inside there was no time for looking around as I was straight into my Duchovny shoot. It was fist bumps around as we walked up for our pics, and I got the same level of greeting from him as I did from my signing session, so I left happy.

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After David’s shoot I said hi to a few people and went into Meat Loaf’s talk. After the past couple of interactions with him I had expected it to be good and he didn’t disappoint! His stories made you laugh and cry and realise what an amazing life he has had. He told us he’s been called Meat since he was 4 days old, and talked about his favourite songs and how he sees himself as an actor not a singer, in that every song he does he performs a different character. It seems unlikely but if he ever does manage to get back on tour, I have to go.

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After the talk I killed some time round the stalls again and met up with some friends I hadn’t seen over the weekend yet and bumped into others I didn’t even know would be there! I love how random comic con can be for stuff like that! Then it was time for my Zach Levi photo. David Tennent’s photo before us was running a bit late and there were further complications when a poor girl in David’s queue fainted. His shoot finished without her getting a pic but we heard people say that they would try to sort out a selfie with David at the auto booth as the medical staff took her away. I hope she recovered and got her pic. Zach was as energetic and friendly has he had been earlier in the weekend which is great to see from a guest on day 3 of a con. I only realised from standing next to him just how giant that guy is and he’s definitely moved on from his Chuck days to being in shape for Shazam too! 

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With my final shoot for the weekend over, it was time to collect my final autos. I met Emily Carey and Barbara Coles, both of whom seem so pleased to be there and talk to everyone as they signed away and posed for photos at the table.

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My final auto was Ray Park and when I got to his table he remembered me from the night before and was telling what parts he thought I did well, and what I needed to work on more. I will follow his advice and either get a lightsaber or just practise with a stick to see if I can improve my skills. Ray is a gent and a legend and I still am amazed that I go the opportunity to get a short lesson from him!

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Photos and autos completed, I headed into my final activity of the weekend which was Sam Neill’s talk on the main stage. It was great to see how relaxed Sam was as he answered any questions people had. The majority were of course about Jurassic Park, but the was also a nice mix about some of his various projects, yet no one asked about Event Horizon or The Dish! I had my hand in the air to ask a question for much of the talk but as I finally got handed the mic, they wrapped it up! Oh well. 

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Walking noticeably slower than normal and feeling both physically and mentally exhausted, there was enough time to head down the pub one last time before heading off to central London with a group of friends for a meal before saying goodbye and heading home. 

My mission was complete. I had everything I set out to get from the weekend, and more. I love meeting the guests, and none of them this year disappointed me at all, but as ever it’s my friends and other attendees that made the weekend for me, so thank you to everyone I hung out with or talked to no matter how long for as it’s you guys that bring me back every year.

Thanks for reading!

Wrong Name

 

TL;DR - Went to LFCC, met guests for photos and autos and had fun.

 

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So what was your question going to be about, Event Horizon (which did get a mention) or The Dish?!  I was sat a couple of rows behind you, I felt your pain...I arrived 5 minutes late for the talk but I don't think anyone mentioned Death In Brunswich or The Piano, two other great films of Sam Neill's.

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3 minutes ago, MVronsky78 said:

So what was your question going to be about, Event Horizon (which did get a mention) or The Dish?!  I was sat a couple of rows behind you, I felt your pain...I arrived 5 minutes late for the talk but I don't think anyone mentioned Death In Brunswich or The Piano, two other great films of Sam Neill's.

I was gonna say that in a couple of the scenes in Event Horizon he had to wear some heavy make up and prosthetics and I was wondering how that experience was for him.

Edited by Wrong Name
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Great read, just like last year! I think I only saw you once this year. I was in an auto queue on the backwall (would have probably been either Zach, Meat Loaf or Matt Smith). A friend of yours was stood behind me, and had got some VQs for you I believe. Didn't notice it was you until it was too late

Edited by tenaciouspirit
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Just now, tenaciouspirit said:

Great read, just like last year! I think I saw you once this year. I was in an auto queue on the backwall (would have probably been either Zach, Meat Loaf or Matt Smith). A friend of yours was stood behind me, and had got some VQs for you I believe. Didn't notice it was you until it was too late

Thanks man! That sounds like you were probably in Matt Smith's queue. I did not see you at all unfortunately. Hopefully see you at the next one.

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Awesome write-up! I had actually seen you on the Friday sitting in a group in the autos area but I didn't want to interrupt/intrude, will hopefully get to bump into you next year to actually get to say hi! ;)

Your photos look great and that's awesome to hear that the weekend was a good one on the whole (ouch though that you just missed out on asking a question, hopefully he'll be back another year! :) ).

Thanks for sharing!

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53 minutes ago, MVronsky78 said:

So what was your question going to be about, Event Horizon (which did get a mention) or The Dish?!  I was sat a couple of rows behind you, I felt your pain...I arrived 5 minutes late for the talk but I don't think anyone mentioned Death In Brunswich or The Piano, two other great films of Sam Neill's.

I really wanted to ask about The Tudors but was far too scared to! :lol:

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1 minute ago, Broo said:

Awesome write-up! I had actually seen you on the Friday sitting in a group in the autos area but I didn't want to interrupt/intrude, will hopefully get to bump into you next year to actually get to say hi! ;)

Your photos look great and that's awesome to hear that the weekend was a good one on the whole (ouch though that you just missed out on asking a question, hopefully he'll be back another year! :) ).

Thanks for sharing!

That was probably around lunch time? Please interrupt next time you see me chatting to that lot! I know them all from being on here and there were one or two you would have known too. But always come say hi to me as I like meeting people from on here properly.

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3 minutes ago, DaveyMorgy said:

I did see you in the queue to get in on the Friday, but you were too far away to chat... I was in the second line.

Good read like last years... probably bump into you at the Spring LFCC.

I saw you at one point too, but I was in Meat’s queue at that point and there was no way I was leaving that one! Hopefully catch you at something soon.

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Have you been writing this since you got home? I don’t think I’d have the energy to write a diary like that over the next 2 weeks never mind as quickly as you have. Great read. Love hearing others convention experiences. Never expected to get one so incredibly detailed!

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5 minutes ago, Ravogd said:

Have you been writing this since you got home? I don’t think I’d have the energy to write a diary like that over the next 2 weeks never mind as quickly as you have. Great read. Love hearing others convention experiences. Never expected to get one so incredibly detailed!

I did the writing yesterday afternoon and sorted the photos out this morning. Took me longer than I hoped but I enjoy doing it and it's nice to have a write up to go with the memories each year which is why I try to do it straight away.

Edited by Wrong Name
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54 minutes ago, Wrong Name said:

It is particularly awesome and they are two of my favourites! 

I was almost tempted to get the Falcor/Worm one...

all her work was fantastic but I am not a Star Wars fan, we joked after she saw my Ludo tattoo that maybe that could be something she works on next (a Ludo canvas, not my tattoo...)

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1 hour ago, Broo said:

Awesome write-up! I had actually seen you on the Friday sitting in a group in the autos area but I didn't want to interrupt/intrude, will hopefully get to bump into you next year to actually get to say hi! ;)

Your photos look great and that's awesome to hear that the weekend was a good one on the whole (ouch though that you just missed out on asking a question, hopefully he'll be back another year! :) ).

Thanks for sharing!

Aww you should have come over then I'd have got to meet you too :unsure:

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2 hours ago, Wrong Name said:

That was probably around lunch time? Please interrupt next time you see me chatting to that lot! I know them all from being on here and there were one or two you would have known too. But always come say hi to me as I like meeting people from on here properly.

Absolutely will next time :)

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3 hours ago, robmoriarty said:

great write up.

did see you a handful of times back and forth between photo a and the signing area on Friday, but one of us was always queueing/busy!

Thanks! It’s always the way at these things! We’ll get to say hi one day.

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2 hours ago, Iceman71 said:

Great write up again Sam glad I bumped into you a couple of times. I thought this was gonna be a quieter show for me but was still getting home every night knackered.

 

 

Thanks man. It was good to see you. As you have read, I was exactly the same way!

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