London Film and Comic Con 2012

How is it that I have lived in London all my life, had a major part of my life meeting celebrities and spent many moments looking at the internet to see if there is anyway to meet my favourite stars and yet, it is only this year that I have finally discovered London Film and Comic Con??? And even then, I only discovered it by complete accident on Facebook through an album my friend had uploaded to her profile from last year's event!!!

London Film and Comic Con, to me, is the smaller and British equivalent to the more well known and quite possible world renowned San Diego Comic Con International! Obviously things are a little different for us Brits because our TV programmes are not done on a yearly season like in the US! And even then the main bulk of the guests are from America from Cult Classics! Even so, it is an event that provides an amazing opportunity to meet cast members of your favourite TV programmes and movies!

This year's LFCC was no exception. It was classed by regular attendees as one of the best line ups that Showmasters has ever gotten for the event! And I have to admit I agree, even as a newbie to the convention scene! The main draw for me was two cast members of one of my favourite TV shows, Charmed. What made it even better for me, it was two of my favourite characters as well, Piper and Leo, played Holly Marie Combs and Brian Krause. The moment I saw them as guests, I booked entry tickets and photo opportunity tickets! Now this was in February and the lineup just kept getting better and better, to the point I knew I would have to dig into my savings (money which I had been keeping for something else next year) to be able to afford to get all the autographs and photos I wanted!

The day had originally meant to be for just me and my husband, Jon. But our babysitter fell through a couple of weeks before and I knew I would never get another in time, so it meant the children had to come, which led to a major panic. Our second child, our first son, Mattie is autistic. One of the issues with his autism is that he is unable to queue for long and taking him to an event where you are going to spend most of the day queuing was not the best idea. But luckily, I was pointed in the direction of a specific staff member who was able to help in two ways. Firstly, he was able to give me permission to use the Gold Pass Holders' entrance, meaning we were able to walk straight in with no queuing needed (and I am thankful because the queues were ridiculously long) and secondly, he was able to arrange an Extra Help Pass, which allowed us to bypass long queues for photo opportunities and join the back of any autograph queues, regardless of whether or not it had the VT system in force. This made the day a lot more easier and quicker for us as a family and allowed us to meet all the guests we wanted to meet. So before I continue, I want to say a HUGE thank you to Showmasters for having this in place for families like ours, without it, going to these events would not be possible!

Now I am not going to go in to a blow by blow account because we had such busy and packed day and that  it would lead to a ridiculously long posting! So I am going to go through each guest we met instead!

Guest Number 1: Robert Maschio (Dr Todd Quinlan - Scrubs)

Robert was the first guest we met and as he had promised on Twitter, he was dressed in full costume right down to the "Doc" tattoo. He was very welcoming and commented on us bringing the children! And he was more than happy to pose for a photo. When I went to his photo opportunity, he even remembered my name and gave me a high 5!




Guest Number 2: Holly Marie Combs (Piper Halliwell - Charmed)

Holly was a main draw of the event for me and I am certain it showed on my face when I went for my photo opportunity with her. I had this goofy smile on face so big that I lost the ability to speak when it was my turn for a photo! But she was so lovely and welcoming! Luckily, I lost the idiotic smile by the time I went to get autograph and managed to get some words out! I had Owen with me, who immediately started flirting with Holly, so I got him out and asked if she would be have a photo with him and she was more than happy too as was Owen! After he had his photos, the crew member happily took a photo with my camera for me! Holly was a fantastic guests and I am so happy to of met her!

Guest Number 3: Dave Prowse (Darth Varder - Star Wars Triology)

This was someone I had to meet for Jon! Dave was an extremely nice guy, very happy to sign Jon's Star Wars DVD Boxset and even posed with it for the photo! But with Dave came my oddest moment of the day! I am not even sure what prompted him to ask it but he asked me what make of camera I had, so I told him and told him it was a great camera! Weird as it was, it was great to meet him and he really helped with the reality that celebs really are normal people!





Guest Number 4: Zack Galligan (Billy Peltzer - Gremlins)

Yet another guest I went to meet for Jon. Great guy and happy to pose for photos. Signed Jon's Gremlins DVD boxset! I actually turned up and queue just as he went for a quick break but he actually turned round and told those of who were waiting himself, which I thought was a very nice thing for a guest to do!







Guest Number 5: Danielle Harris (Halloween)

Now I will admit I have not seen Halloween (hate Horror movies) but I do know who Danielle is! I remember her from Charmed and Diagnosis Murder and I told her so and smiled at the fact that was why I knew her! You can probably guess by now that being Danielle is a beautiful woman (fangirling here) that Owen was straight in there with his cheeky charm and grabbing her attention. Luckily, Danielle was also happy to pose for photo with me and Owen. She also came out from behind the table to stand next to us for which I am grateful! Owen loved between his mummy and a gorgeous woman cos I can see it in his face in the photo!

Guest Number 6: Brian Krause (Leo Wyatt - Charmed)

Now this was the highlight of my day, meeting the very charming Brian Krause. Out of everyone I met, he really seemed up for anything that day! I thought I might become my idiotic self when I met him, either that or I would cry. Yet somehow I held it together due to very fact, Brian was welcoming. When I reached the front of the queue, he actually apologised for the wait, which I thought was very sweet of him. I told him he was my favourite character (which is the truth) and that I was really upset when they (sort of) killed off in the middle of the final season, to which he admitted he was too! Though I quickly replied that I was very happy he came back for the season finale! At that point, I asked for a photo, which he obviously obliged to and he came out from behind the table and pulled me in close for the photo (which is my favourite shot taken on my camera from the whole day). Later I had my photoshoot with, which had been moved back twice, but I was really happy to be able to have it, no matter the time it was at. When I went in, I had two of my boys with me and Brian noticed and commented on it. I told him I actually had 4 children and he was shocked. Perhaps I still look younger than I am! Brian was the most amazing guest and really knew how to make the fans feel comfortable and welcomed.

Guest Number 7: Anthony Head (Rupert Giles - Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

Anthony Head was definitely on must meet list and meet him I did! He was absolute gentleman and sadly I was unable to say much but "Hi" and "Can I have a photo with you please". Perhaps it was because I am currently watching a rerun of Buffy that I was starstruck by in front of Giles! Maybe it was another reason! Either way when it came to the photo, he leaned over enough so our heads were touching as to give me the best photo possible! When I went to leave, he noted that Owen was sleeping in blissful ignorance (or something along those lines)! But I will say this, he really has aged well!

Guest Number 8: Michael Winslow (Police Academy, Gremlins)

This was another of Jon's must meets and I have admit I had no idea who he was. The first thing I noticed while queuing was that every time he got up to have a photo, he would pull his collar into place and push his bowler hat into place as well in order to give everyone a great photo! He was a great guy to meet and added an additional speech bubble on Jon's Gremlins Boxset and then had me in fits of giggles after doing the Gremlin voices!!!





Guest Number 9: Ke Huy Quan (The Goonies)

Another of Jon's must meets and I have to admit while he was very polite and spoke to my boys, he was a very quiet guest. Not that it should put off anyone meeting him as he was willing to pose for photos for thoe who wanted them,








Guest Number 10: Alex Winter (Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure)

Another of the quieter guests, but still more than willing to pose for a photo. But the best part was how he signed the autograph, not only did he personalise it for me, but he did a quote without asking! How cool is that!!! Was very pleased to meet him, though wouldn't it of been cool to of had Keanu Reeves with him too?!




Guest Number 11: Mickie James (Former WWE Diva)

I am not into Wrestling but I was actually excited to meet her after how nice she was to Mattie during the photo opportunity and because she was a WWE Diva. And she was so lovely and actually asked if she could hold Owen for a photo! How could I say no? Sadly Owen was sick of the posing by that point, so it wasn't the greatest picture but it sure makes me smile when I look at it!



Paid Talk - Holly Marie Combs and Brian Krause (Charmed)

I didn't think I was going to make this talk as originally Brian's photoshoot had been rescheduled for the same time. Luckily, Showmasters came to their senses and move his shoot to later in the afternoon and asked him to join the talk, thus making the Charmed fans very happy. Sadly, on arrival, I found the row I was meant to be in completely full, so obviously, a few people had sat where they should not of been! But it didn't bother as I had to bring the boys to the talk with me (Thank you to the crew for allowing me to do so) and it allowed me to sit further back with more space for us. The sound system was not great so I did not hear everything spoken about but I managed to hear the answer to my question, which was from Brian!!! Big cheers were raised when Brian asked whether we wanted a Charmed movie (obviously we do!). I left shortly before the end as the boys were getting restless but I am glad I managed to make it.

Overall, I had an amazing day, despite some minor issues, which were all quickly rectified or ended up working in my favour. I am officially a convention convert and definitely plan to be back next year, but with my daughter in tow! I would highly recommend this event to anyone who has a dream list of celebs they wish to meet, especially if they are a part of a cult classic! And next year, I plan to say hello to those I have gotten to know through twitter or the showmasters forum!

And before I sign off, one last thing. My day was made further complete after one of my tweets was replied to by Holly Marie Combs! But what made it even better, it was in response to the photo of her and my son that I tweeted!!!