The run up to this year's London Film and Comic Con has not been as exciting as it was last year and one point I had actually contemplated not going as they were not enough people I was actually interested in meeting. But as is normal in the last few weeks in the run up to a convention, more names were announced that made me want to go. I had even said no photo shoots this year, as I just did not have the money, but two huge names announced made me change my mind on that as well.
This year, the team had learnt from problems last year and made the photo shoot schedule easier for those who were not able to attend till the standard entry time, by scheduling those with double shoots before and after 11am. This meant I was able to drop off Charlie at gymnastics and head straight up there with Matthew, rather than leave at ridiculously early time. Luckily as we had permission to skip the queues and head straight in, I did not need to worry about how long queue was, which according to Twitter, it had gone as far back as Earl's Court 1! I knew it was going to busy but I don't think anyone expected that to happen!
Guest 1: D'Lo Brown
The first guest we met had no queue and was one of the people Jonathan wanted me to meet, the wrestler, D'Lo Brown. I honestly have no idea who he is but he was really nice and quite happily posed for a photo with Mattie. We chose the right time to go and meet him as by mid-afternoon, when we had decided to leave, he had a sign stating no posed photos.
Guest 2: Eve Myles
Eve was the guest that made me decide to come to LFCC this year as she is unable to do Cardiff in August. As expected she had long queue, which was moving quickly. While waiting I decided to take a shot of her, which she spotted me doing and she gave me a smile and a giggle while I took the photo. Once up there, she was so nice to us. We told her how we loved Wales and how I loved the welsh accent (which I really do love). I asked if she was allowing posed photos, and she told me they wouldn't let her, from which I sensed she seemed disappointed by, but to make up for it, we decided to do a posed "unposed" photo of her and Mattie! Eve clearly stated to the crew member that she wasn't posing, even though technically she was!
Guest 3: Joe Dempsie
Joe was the reason I had to come on Saturday as it was the only day he was scheduled to appear and I was prepared to do so, as I absolutely loved him as Chris in Skins. I am pretty certain I was the only person in the queue who had not seen Game of Thrones and was only meeting him for the fact he was in Skins and I told him so and I think he really appreciated it. I told him that I had watched back the first two seasons of Skins and that he was amazing as Chris and that it is shame they could not get him back for the final episodes as his character died! He preceded to tell me about the rehearsals for his death scene. The producers/director (cannot remember who) had decided that they wanted his death scene to involve him bleeding from his nose and him covered in vomit. Now being that the character was meant to die from a brain haemorrhage, the medical adviser who was working with them protested and told them that this does not happen when someone has one, but they decided against it and went with the very disgusting, yet emotional death scene. This led Joe to giving me a great message on my autograph, "Chris is alive". I also got photo bombed in my photo with Joe!
Guest 4: Dan Starkey
For those who do not know Dan or even recognise him, he plays Strax, the Sontaran friend of the Doctor's in Doctor Who. He was absolutely gem to meet, even talking in the voice he uses, to help Mattie be convinced it was him. We told him that he had met Matt Smith, or in Mattie's eyes, the Doctor last year, which Dan preceded to talk to Mattie about. Dan has been kind enough to tweet me back after I posted our photo on there yesterday, with the word Splendid! I also did attempt to get some inside info on the 50th anniversary episode from him, but he refused, but as I said, it was worth the try.
Guest 5: Diamond Dallas Page
DDP as he is known on Twitter was another one of Jon's guests. Again, I have no idea who he is, except that he is a wrestler. But even so, he was very nice and thought it was funny that I had been sent to get his autograph on behalf of my husband. He very kindly posed for a photo with Mattie (which I had purposefully made sure Lena Headey was in the background for) and did his famous Diamond hand gesture. Sadly, my camera focused in on Lena instead of Diamond, so the shot was not as good as it could have been.
Guest 6: Armin Shimerman
Armin is probably best known for his role, and the reason I went to meet him, on Buffy as Principal Snyder, or as I see it the dude who got eaten by a huge snake on graduation day! Armin was very nice to meet and was more than happy to pose for a photo.
Guest 7: Courtney Gains
I have to say I was surprised when I went to meet Courtney that there was no queue (not complaining though) as he is an actor who has appeared of number of well known movies. For me, though it was his role in Sweet Home Alabama that had me add him to my list of planned meets. As I approached, it turned out they had just been talking about the movie! He even added a quote, "Hells Bells" from the movie to my autograph!
Guest 8: Frazer Hines
Even though I knew who Frazer was, this was another of guest Jon wanted to me meet. He was an absolute pleasure to meet and was even raising money for charity at his table, to which I donated. When I asked for a photo with him, I had planned to give my camera to the crew member as I had been doing all day but Mattie was adamant he could take the photo, which he did and it turned out really well. At this point, Frazer turned round and told Mattie he could tell his daddy that he had taken photo of mummy with her gentleman friend!
Guest 9: Louise Jameson
Louise was sat next to Frazer so we went to her next. I know her more for her role in Eastenders than when she was on Doctor Who, not I knew that until she was announced as a guest! Again, Mattie want to take the photo of us, which Louise was quite cute and which we showed her after he had taken it!
The final two guests were the huge names that really sealed the deal for me this year at LFCC; Danny Glover and David Hasselhoff! I knew that the chance of getting a photo with them at the signing table would be highly unlikely so I decided to just get a photo with them, even though I knew it would mean not having time to say anything significant to them, just a simple, "It is nice to meet you" and a thank you. But that didn't matter to me as I prefer the photos to the autographs! Both were great to meet and Mattie even got a Hi-Five from David!
The day was amazing! Kicking myself, for forgetting to pick up some comics for the boys and not getting more photos of those who were cosplaying. Though I did get one or a woman dressed as a cat from the musical, Cats. What was even better was that she stayed in character the entire time I spoke to her!
On arrival, Mattie and I headed over to the British Icons Exhibition in the Spectators Village. It was a chance for everyone attending to see a selection of trophies, medals, footwear, and equipment amongst other things and celebrate the amazing achievements of British Athletics at the Olympics. There was a TV in the corner showing highlights from the Paralympics last year and as we approached, it just happened to be showing the exact moment Aled Davies has won his gold medal, which also happened to be the day we had attended the athletics. The exhibition featured athletes right up to the present day, including a signed top from Jonnie Peacock and an amazing collage of shots, which Mattie had his photo taken in front of, with the biggest smile on his face.
The rest of the village was amazing, yet very busy. There were a selection of entertainers around the village, though I am not sure if they were part of any of the ceremonies from last year. There were also two vehicles from the ceremonies, one of which Usain Bolt had used to make a spectacular entrance on Friday night. There was also an Athletics Agility area, where you could try out a number of sports. As it was a popular area, Mattie just tried out the running and raced two children who had been stood behind us in the queue. Amazingly, he did not have a meltdown when he lost the race, but I think he was just happy to have had a try!
The approach to the stadium, across the bridge, was even more packed than it was the previous summer, but then again it was the only bridge open this time round. Even so, it was great to be back at this stunning stadium. Though it was weird seeing it without all the Olympic/Paralympic signs, even if the anniversary signs were just as good!
We had managed to secure seats in Block 125, which turned out to be amazing seats. The block was directly on the bend at the end of the finish line, near to where the Olympic Flame had been lit barely a year ago. I was definitely impressed as we had gone for the lower end of price scale. The stewards, as always, were fantastic, with one willing to take photos for those who asked.
Before the events began, the pre-show introduced a number of medal winning paralympians onto the track and there was a quick video allowing us to relive the amazing summer the year before. By the time the events were due to start, the stadium was full to the rafters, with so much love and admiration for these amazing athletes. It was as loud and as crazy as it had been the last time I was here.
Being able to watch so many of our British Paralympians compete was truly amazing. Hannah Cockcroft and Richard Whitehead stormed to victory to enormous roars from the crowds. Jonnie Peacock only came third and even apologised for not winning in front of the home crowd but no one cared, because we had been able to see him race in what was a truly great and exciting race. And then David Weir completely dominated his race, taking the lead and extending by a huge distance with two laps to go and to thunderous applause!
So glad I had the chance to attend and hope to attend more events like this in the future. Mattie had a great time, despite wanting to go home before we had even taken our seats. He was cheering so loudly for anyone who was British and was so excited every time we won an event. Definitely want him to attend these events more often as athletes are so inspirational for him, because as I told him, they do not let their disabilities stand in their way of being able to achieve their dreams!
