My 2nd LFCC: My Experiences and the Overall Day

[Chris164]

I've noticed one or two of these topics pop up, and both have been fascinating reads. So since it's my birthday today, I thought I'd take another shot at this. And I also apologise in advance for the long post coming right up!

So LFCC has gone and passed, an event which lived up to, and surpassed my expectations in every way! As a massive Whovian, meeting the likes of Matt Smith and David Tennant have literally been childhood dreams, and it still feels like the events that passed were all a dream. With several photos and autographs on my agenda, I can safely say this LFCC was the most I've ever spent at any convention... and it was damn well worth it.

So, here's the play-by-play of my day:

After waking early at 3am, and getting the earliest train at 6:45, I arrived around 8:10, picked up my diamond passes and queued until 9:15 when they let us in. I had bought 3 diamond passes, and got some relatively decent numbers for Pearl and Peter, but I had one of the first diamond passes for Matt which made it a lot easier to get my photo and autograph later on.

With that in mind, my photo schedule looked a little something like this:

Guest	Photoshoot Times
	From	To	Area	Batch
Peter Capaldi	10:05	11:00	B	Diamond
	15:00	15:55
Pearl Mackie	11:20	11:50	B	Diamond
	16:15	16:45
Matt Smith	09:30	10:25	D	Diamond
	15:00	15:35
Arthur Darvill	09:30	10:00	B	2
	13:35	14:00
Paul McGann	11:40	12:05	C	1
Ingrid Oliver	13:35	14:00	C	1
Doctor Who Group Shoot	14:30	14:55	D	1
David Tennant	14:00	15:00	G	2

Now, I personally like meeting a guest at the autograph table before having a photo - it's mainly because sometimes, a guest recognises me in the photo op which is a gratifying feeling. And as you can see from the schedule, it seemed less likely events would play out in this order. So with that, I moved straight to Matt’s photoshoot where I would meet Matt around 9:50. I have to say, Matt is a genuinely nice guy (no bias, I promise). When it got round to my turn to meet him, he was taken aback by the cosplay I was wearing (I was potentially the only person who met him in his green jacket). We both grinned at the camera, he praised the cosplay and gave a solid pat on the chest, something I didn't see coming! That's not the last of him in this post, but I couldn't feel more acknowledged by the childhood hero I grew up with in secondary school!

With that decision, I missed Arthur's morning shoot, which wasn't a major problem, I could come back later to meet him. And with a bit of time before Peter Capaldi's shoot, I went off to bug Ingrid at 10:06 and Pearl at 10:15 for some autographs. Ingrid was very engaging, talking about art styles, the shading and the overall look of my drawing. We briefly discussed how I'm an inconsistent artist because I can't seem to replicate the shading (which she seemed fascinated by). With this enjoyable conversation over, she allowed me to choose the colour of the sharpie, and after letting her know she'd see me again, we parted ways for the signing.

Pearl was up next, who was in awe of my artwork (both of them!), and I couldn't have been more impressed by how genuine and welcoming she was. We briefly talked about how long each one took, decided the colours of the signatures before I went on to give her a copy (in black) of the screen print that I made. I probably spent a good 2 minutes just talking to her as she shook my hand twice during this encounter. Out of the many guests I've met, she's certainly one of the fondest encounters I've had to date, it was simply incredible.

    

With these friendly encounters over, I headed over to Peter's shoot with something in hand at around 10:50. Basically, I wrote a letter 5 years ago, and received a response 6 months later whilst he was filming his first series. When I got to the shoot, I showed him the letter which he briefly read before realising how much time had passed. I may have distracted him from the photo by accident, but off-camera, his response was "I'm glad it made it through!" I've waited 4 years to meet the man, I couldn't resist showing that letter!

With Peter's photo over, I headed to Paul McGann's photoshoot (meaning Pearl's photoshoot would have to wait till the afternoon). A quick 10 second encounter of shaking hands, talking about my cosplay and Paul teasing me that I'd be warm, and I was off. Initially I had a drawing I wanted signed, but I was so busy that getting a VQ ticket was off the list. Also, don't ask about my hair in this photo, I don't know either.

When 11:30 rolled around, it was time to get Matt's signature. I briefly engaged in a 1 minute conversation where he asked "is this your handiwork?", giving him another drawing to keep (which he appreciated very much), and ending with a fist bump. It was a short encounter, and not surprising given how big of a guest he was, but to finally have a signature from him was just surreal. An utter joy to talk to, my encounters with him couldn't have been any better.

After that, I went off to get my photos with Ingrid at and Arthur. Missing the morning shoot, batch 2s were further ahead in the line, so I quickly dashed out of Ingrid's line and moved into Arthur's line at 1:40 where a quick 5 second encounter passed, and a photo I was happy with. I returned to Ingrid's line for a photo at 1:55, where we spoke for about 20 seconds as she remembered me, and suggested we do a classic Doctor Who pose. All her idea, and I'm happy she suggested it.

Okay, 5 photos down, 3(ish) signatures done, I headed over to David Tennant's queue, where I stayed till 2:28. However, the queue wasn't moving, and I needed to head to the Steven Moffat-era shoot in two minutes, so I quickly decided to leave Tennant's queue to go down in size, and head to the Doctor Who group shoot, where my photo was taken at 2:50, where I was greeted warmly by Matt and Peter once again, alongside David Bradley and Steven. Before and after the photo was taken, Matt and Steven were discussing "the other jacket", aka my green one that I was wearing. Matt was saying how he didn't particularly like it (although did say it looked good on me, so thanks for the compliment!). Out of all the photos I took that day, it was certainly my favourite. My two favourite Doctors, plus the previous showrunner and Bradley, how could I resist?

With that great and wonderful encounter out the way, I headed back to Tennant's queue, where I was at the back of a quieter queue (shoulda done that from the start!). We were explicitly told that we would be immediately in, snap, and out, so we couldn't engage in conversation or hugging etc.. However, when I got to meeting David at 3:15, I found he didn't seem to care about those rules, engaging in conversation with everyone and giving hugs to various people. He complimented my cosplay, though noted that I must've been boiling, to which I replied "you're totally right". A big, last minute name like Tennant and yet he was so gracious with time, that's what they call a Time Lord.

With the big shoot out of the way, I decided to kill more time before Pearl's photoshoot. Peter wasn't returning for a few hours, so I went and met Arthur Darvill, whose queue had gone from virtual queuing to open by 3:20, with nobody there. I showed him my drawing, he signed, and that was it. I don't know if he was simply tired, but he didn't seem to want to engage in conversation, only ever really looking up when returning the drawing. It was a little disheartening to be honest, but I know these days can be long and tiring, so I don't hold anything against him, and scouring the forums told me that I wasn't the only one with this kind of encounter. Ultimately, I'm just happy to have another drawing dedicated.

Now came Pearl's PM photoshoot. Again, a quick in-and-out experience, though Pearl did recognise me from earlier, we greeted each other warmly, and departed both incredibly happy. I can't emphasise how amazing Pearl is, and how friendly and engaging she is. With that, all my photos were done at around 4:30pm.

Now lastly, I needed to get my autograph from Peter Capaldi, which took longer than expected. Peter was behind on diamond passes from the day before, and was taking his time, talking to people and hugging. Eventually, pass numbers up to 100  was called and I got into the main line with one drawing in hand. 5:30 rolled around, and I got to stand face to face one again with Peter. He was incredibly gracious with my drawing, and even though he apparently stopped doing personalisations, it seems he made an exception to artwork. Because I showed him that letter from years ago, he remembered my name without need for a postick note. I then handed him a copy of the screen print in red I made for Pearl, which he graciously accepted. A fond handshake later, and a joke about how it better not take another 4 years to meet him, and I was on my way, in disbelief that any of the events that had transpired had even happened.

So that's the play-by-play done, and without a doubt, the show was absolutely brilliant! Even with the massive crowds, I found the crew to be incredibly helpful, and most of the events transpired smoothly and without trouble. If I had any regrets, it was not being able to have a drawing ready for David Tennant to sign, and also not meeting Christopher Eccleston, who I've heard positive stories about post-con. Ultimately, this was one hell of an event, good job Showmasters. You've got my attention for next year!

 

Edited August 18, 2018 by Chris164

[The Friendly Dalek]

Wonderful write-up, and I'm glad you had such wonderful experiences with the guests.

Edited August 7, 2018 by The Friendly Dalek

[ChloeLou]

This is great! I'm glad you had such wonderful experiences. This is a great write-up!

[chewer]

I really enjoyed reading this and agree with you how fantastic all the Doctors were to meet. I only had a photo with Arthur which was as expected so happy there.I understand that his London show had only finished the night before so I'm sure tiredness was a major part of people's experiences with him. Moffat too was a real trooper on the day and a great guest I thought. It is a very well done to Showmasters this year.

[Wrong Name]

Nicely done. Glad you had a great time.

[Broo]

Fabulous write-up and wonderful that you had such positive experiences. Makes me particularly happy to hear how complimentary they were about your artwork! Congrats on an awesome lfcc! :)

[Kurdamoni]

Nicely done! Great read