LFCC write-up 2018

[The Friendly Dalek]

This is my first time doing one of these write-ups, so sorry if it isn't exciting to read. Long post incoming.  This was my 3rd year attending LFCC, and this year has to be my favourite so far. 

I am used to saying up for hours on end, and am more than well versed in long distance travel. I couldn't sleep at all on saturday, but managed to get an hour of sleep very early on sunday. This was all I needed to stay awake for the rest of sunday, and at 4am I left for London. I arrived at roughly 7:35, so there was already a large queue in the general entry area. The time passed quickly as I got into a conversation with the people directly in front of us. I never caught their names though. We (me, my parents and my friend) got into the building at about 9:05, and then it was the rush to get VQ tickets that I was dreading. I managed to get everyone who I wanted to see on VQ except for the 4 modern doctors, but I got the photoshoots with 3 of them, which I will go into more detail on later.

Whilst waiting for my VQ numbers to be called, my friend and I went downstairs to look at the stalls. I bought 3 Funko Pops (Spider-Man from Spider-Man:Homecoming, the Joker from the Dark Knight and Hellboy). This was all that I bought as the rest of my money went on autographs.

At about half 9 I went back upstairs to get my autos. The first person I met was Nick Castle. He was lovely, and I told him about how much I love Halloween, and how he was a major part of my love for the film, as his performance as Myers was absolutely brilliant. He was more than happy to personalize my auto, and I got a selfie with him.

After Nick, I met Pearl Mackie. Unfortunately she had a no photos sign, but she was personalizing. We spoke about Doctor Who, and she seemed really happy when I told her how much I liked her performance. She also called me "Darling" twice . She signed by Doctor Who series 10 steelbook.

I then went to Peter Davison. He was so nice, and loved the fact that he is one of my favourite Doctor's. 

My friend and I then both went to meet Andrew Cartmel, my friend saw him for his comic work, and I obviously saw him for his Doctor Who stuff. Turns out he was charging £5 for signatures, but in the grand scheme of these events, that isn't much, so I wasn't worried. Again, a nice experience, and he was very chatty. He signed a postcard and a Doctor Who dvd.

My next guest to meet was Bonnie Langford. For some reason, her and Colin Baker were along the back wall with some of the really big name stars, so finding her queue was a bit of a struggle. Once I found it, her's and Colin's queues had merged, and the queue split into two about halfway down depending on if you were seeing Bonnie or Colin. She was also very polite and talkative.

My last guest who I met for an autograph was Paul Taylor. This was genuinely one of my favourite guest interactions I've ever had. His queue was empty when I met him, so I spoke to him for a good 10 minutes.

I then went with my parents to see the John Schneider solo talk. They are huge fans of the Dukes of Hazzard, and I am a casual fan, so we all went to that talk, and it was great. So funny and insightful. My parents did get autographs from the three Dukes in case anyone was wondering.

After all of this, it was now a case of waiting for the photoshoots to start. I spent loads of time walking around the first floor looking at stalls, and my friend bought some more things. Then David Tennant's standard shoot began. I think his Tardis shoot over ran, as his standard shoot started way after the scheduled start. But it was worth the wait, as he was so kind and friendly. As I walked up to him he said "Nice shirt, man. And how are you?", and as I left he told me to enjoy the rest of the day, and I gave him a similar response.

As soon as I finished at that shoot, I went straight to Matt Smith's shoot. Again, he was very nice, and complimented me by saying "Looking cool, mate". He asked if I had a pose in mind. I said that I hadn't, so he suggested I do a thumbs up pose while he does his thing. Personally I don't like how I look in this photo (you may notice I had kept my thumb out of the picture ), but the memory of meeting Matt makes it worthwhile.

 

And finally, this was the biggest one for me. Christopher Eccleston. He was the first ever Doctor who I saw on tv, and has firmly remained one of my favourites. I also admire his other work such as in 28 Days Later. He was the man who introduced me to my all time favourite tv series, and I was so excited to finally meet him. I had brought myself around to thinking that I would never get the chance to meet him,  but SM made my dream come true. And he did not disappoint. He was happy and smiley. A couple of places in front of me was a family, including two children. Eccleston's face lit up at the sight of them, and he knelt down to speak to them and have the photo taken. I thought that was really sweet of him to do. When it was my turn, he saw me and said "I love your shirt." Yes, they all complimented my appearance for some reason.  He asked me my name after the photo was taken and told me to enjoy the rest of my day. He was the highlight of the day, and I'm so grateful to him for coming and making everyone's experience a great one. 

After that, it was time to head home. That was one of the best days of my life, and one that I will certainly never forget. All the guests who I met were wonderful, and all the crew members who helped me throughout the day were also very nice, and a credit to SM. My only regrets were missing my Capaldi and Duchovny shoots due to me writing down the wrong times for them, and not being able to get autographs from any of the modern Doctors. However, every cloud has a silver lining (I believe that is how the phrase goes?). I saw Capaldi and Duchovny walking around throughout the day, and I got the photos with the the Doctors which more than made up for not managing their autographs.

Overall, this was an amazing day and I can't wait for LFCC next year. Thank you so much SM for providing me with the opportunity to have such a wonderful event and meet some of my heroes.  

Edited August 29, 2018 by The Friendly Dalek

[The Friendly Dalek]

I will add photos of the signed Series 10 steelbook and the dvd signed by Andrew Cartmel later.

Edit: They have now been added.

Edited August 8, 2018 by The Friendly Dalek

[Wrong Name]

Nice write up dude. Sounds like you had an awesome time! Make sure you keep a copy of this somewhere (in a Word file or something) so you have it to look back on in future years.

[The Friendly Dalek]

1 minute ago, Wrong Name said:

Nice write up dude. Sounds like you had an awesome time! Make sure you keep a copy of this somewhere (in a Word file or something) so you have it to look back on in future years.

Thanks, glad you like it , and I wrote it up on Word first, so I do have a copy.

[Broo]

Aw fab write-up! Really happy to hear you had such great moments with the guests you met, and your photos are fab too :) cheers for sharing!

[The Friendly Dalek]

1 minute ago, Broo said:

Aw fab write-up! Really happy to hear you had such great moments with the guests you met, and your photos are fab too :) cheers for sharing!

Thanks  I always worry about how I look in photos, but yeah, in 3 years of con-going I've never had a bad experience with a guest. 

[ChloeLou]

This is a great write-up! It sounds like you had an amazing time! I always love reading about people's experiences. I'm glad you had a great time!

Edited August 7, 2018 by ChloeLou

[Ravogd]

Great write up. Really interesting to see the con from other people’s perspectives. Glad you had such a good time. Pity you didn’t get to meet all the Doctors you wanted. Maybe next time. About Andrew Cartmel. He didn’t charge me for a signature but then I did buy 2 comics at £5 each. He was happy to sign anything I wanted. He signed the comics I’d just bought, my Battlefield DVD and my copy of his New Adventures novel Cats Cradle which he complimented me on its pristine-ness. Maybe if you’d spent the fiver on a comic he’d have signed it?

[The Friendly Dalek]

16 minutes ago, Ravogd said:

Great write up. Really interesting to see the con from other people’s perspectives. Glad you had such a good time. Pity you didn’t get to meet all the Doctors you wanted. Maybe next time. About Andrew Cartmel. He didn’t charge me for a signature but then I did buy 2 comics at £5 each. He was happy to sign anything I wanted. He signed the comics I’d just bought, my Battlefield DVD and my copy of his New Adventures novel Cats Cradle which he complimented me on its pristine-ness. Maybe if you’d spent the fiver on a comic he’d have signed it?

He did sign the dvd, and he said that if I bought a comic I wouldn't be charged for the signature, but I just wanted the signature so I payed the £5. I will add the image of the signed dvd to this later.

Edited August 7, 2018 by The Friendly Dalek

[Kurdamoni]

Great read, nicely done!  Seemed like you had a great time, it was my third LFCC too and i'm already looking forward to the next  

[The Friendly Dalek]

Andrew Cartmel and Pearl Mackie autographs have now been added.