London film & Comic Con was back with its main event of the year, LFCC Summer. With Temperatures reaching 29oc, Joseph Quinn experiencing his first convention, Saturday being a complete sell out, Stranger Things have happened at this marquee UK event.
As with every event Showmasters release their guest line up with great hype via social media through the months leading up to the event. For Star Wars the line up volume is always comparable to a Celebration and there are few other conventions where you can meet someone from the original trilogy and get an autograph for £10. This event was no different, Star Wars guest prices ranged from the much welcomed £10 background performers such as Stormtrooper Sydd Wragg to the most expensive Star Wars guest, Andy Serkis, who was charging £90. As always though, LFCC caters for many more franchises and they aim to pull in something for everyone. There were guests from Back To The Future, Gremlins, ET and of course the trending show of the moment, Stranger Things.
A full list of the guests in attendance can be found HERE.
With a big show like this we can always expect cancellations right up until the day. Fifteen Star Wars guests that were pulled from the event where: Barry Lowan, Omid Abtahi, Ken Coombs, Peter Ross, Paul Markham, Marolyn Turk, Tony Smart, Jim Dowdall, Ray Hassett, Eric Walker, Dawn Dininger, Julius Lafore, Julian Glover, John Galvin and Dimitry Karas.
Here’s some pictures of the Star Wars Zone taken over the weekend
Straight into the graphing and meeting guests, first up for me was Sydd Wragg and Terrance Musto who played Stormtrooper’s in A New Hope. Both where on good form and happy to chat about the film and their time in it, amazing value at £10 an autograph. I added them both to my Stormtrooper 8×10 OPX
Sat next to them was Ian Durant who was a Hoth rebel in the Echo base scenes in Empire Strikes Back. Talking to Ian, he told me he was a working musician and regularly plays shows across the UK with his band; The London Philharmonic Skiffle Orchestra
Here’s my Kurtz Joiner Archive image I had him sign along with Shirley Conrad on the sunday
One of the First things is did when i got home was get this poster displayed in my cinema lightbox, couldn’t be happier with it and will most certainly be a great conversation piece!
After a successful first day at the convention centre, I made my way over to the Hand & Flower pub adjacent to the convention. This really is a favourite place of mine to grab a beer and chill out, they have a great selection of craft beers.
A few of us moved on for food at the Cromwell Arm’s, another local place which is frequently visited when LFCC is on. I will say though it has had the same menu for the last three years I’ve been there, I guess if it works why change! Good beers, food and excellent company proved a great way to end the Friday experience.
I didn’t actually attend the event on the Saturday, I got messages from friends saying the event was completely packed, one of my friends had a very long wait to get in at mid day, and told me it was one in one out which is crazy and not very good for those of us that had paid for a Three day pass! I didn’t have any guests to meet Saturday so was just going to casually look around, so I made the decision to be a tourist for the day and went along with some friends to Camden Town in North London.
One Person that did attend Saturday was Star Wars Autograph News Podcast co-host, Stuart Harper. Stuart got probably the best photo shoot of the weekend I’ve seen, with the big Star Wars headliner of the day, Andy Serkis. As I’m sure you will agree, this photo shoot was an incredible Idea! it really goes to show if you put a bit of thought into what you want to do before the photo op, you can get an amazing memento of the moment.
Stuart commented “There was certainly a Stranger Things feel and a buzz to meeting those guests” referring to the crazy amount of people wearing Hell Fire T-shirts.” Stuart went on to add “I have never seen a T-Shirt worn by so many people. It’s the first time I’ve seen a shirt so popular, it was like they where giving them away free on the door!”
I saw this on Twitter which I think sums up the whole weekend….
I was back in LFCC Sunday morning, arrived just after 11am after leaving the hotel and grabbing breakfast at a great little Café called Georges. I would recommend Georges Cafe for a classic small London café, no frills, good coffee and has all the bases covered when it comes to breakfast. George is certainly a character! If your in the area, and looking for breakfast or lunch it’s worth checking this local place out over the convention food at Olympia.
Straight into the venue and over the the Star Wars Zone, bumped into a few people there and went about meeting some guests. First up was Les Conrad who was there with his wife Shirley. Both of them were over from France where they live and don’t do many conventions, so this was a great opportunity to add Shirley to my Hoth rebel piece and Les to my Gammy multi.
Also in the Star Wars Zone was Andy Purvis, Andy is the son of Legendary performer and Star Wars actor Jack Purvis and brother to Katie Purvis who was also at the show. Had a great chat with Andy who was over from Australia. He told me he was twelve years old when he was visiting the Elstree studio’s whilst his dad Jack was filming Star Wars. Jack said to him “One day do you fancy getting inside this costume and performing in the Cantina scenes?” to which Andy jumped at the the chance. Who wouldn’t right? Andy has only signed once before which was a private signing arranged by his sister Katie. I got involved with the signing but had to take the opportunity to meet Andy and add him to my Cantina multi piece.
I then Headed upstairs to find Katie. I’ve not met Kate before but very aware she has been on the convention scene for years and I’ve heard such great things about her from others. Katie was really welcoming and really took her time to chat and took great care with signing my 10×20 metalix official pix Ewok multi. Katie also said she had recently found out the Ewok she played has a name, Zephee.
Next up was a last minute decision to meet Misty Rosa’s. I don’t usually collect from the TV shows but I’d heard good things from others about Misty. She was over from the US and her autograph was very well priced at £20 so it had to be done. It was a great experience, we talked about her involvement with the show and she was very proud of the frog lady she played in season 2. I do hope Misty is at Celebration next year as she is a great with fans, cool with a selfie and has a great autograph. If you get the chance to meet Misty you should, she loves Star Wars and is very open about her involvement and happy to answer any questions
Finally my last Star Wars guest of the day to meet was none other than Quintin Pierre! I’ve been looking forward to seeing Quintin for a while, he is a very busy guy and has pulled out of a few conventions for work commitments so like many other collectors I was very grateful to see him at a convention. I recognised a few faces hanging around Quintin’s table, in fact Star Wars Autograph News Podcast host, Graham Miles was getting Ten pieces done before me!
I had Quintin sign my black and white Official Pix image in a red deco paint pen, really pleased with how it came out.
Overall this was a good show. LFCC has been running a long time now, and each year with a show of this size and a huge list of guests, the cancellations are inevitable, but the way they are removed is sometimes not obvious. I would prefer if Showmasters didn’t release the guest line up until a month or two before, this way when you buy a ticket, the probability of the guest you want to meet being cancelled would be reduced and improve the situation of getting what you paid for.
Showmasters must consider that they are not the only big show in the UK now and regular attendees of these events have now got many different options to consider now over the course of the year. Three shows a year is a lot, and for the first time since 2015, I didn’t get tickets for spring and I certainly have never bought a ticket for a convention and not attended on one of the days!
For the Friday and Sunday though, I had a great time at the event and added some great autographs to the collection. Stalls and dealers didn’t seem that varied but my interest is in posters and autographs so that’s all I was focussing in on. Lots of pops, toys and crafty stalls. Artists Alley was impressive, a whole balcony dedicated to comic book artists, If you know what you are looking for you could easily get a piece commissioned or pick up a print signed for a good price.
Plenty of Cosplayers who were out in force with so many cool outfits that really brings the convention to life.
There was a varied amount of panels, I didn’t catch any of them whilst I was there other than one I did try to catch I was asked politely to leave as it was a ticket only event. In my opinion It would be nice for a £20 ticket in to include panels as I find it hard to justify paying extra for them. I have noticed at other conventions I have been to, it is included in the ticket price, this would be nice to see at LFCC.
LFCC had some cool areas for people to hang out including a Scalextric area and a retro gaming area which you could walk up to and get involved. I also noticed free filtered water to fill your bottled up with which was a nice touch seeing how good the weather was to us over the weekend.
I say this every time, but for me a convention is not just for the fans, it’s about the the fans and that’s what brings me back each time. Each convention I go to I always meet new people, some of which have been involved with this hobby for years and can add so much insight to Star Wars signers past and present. This combined with re connecting with collectors who are now friends make the experience of these events very special for me.
Over the whole weekend, I got to meet catch up with collectors from around the country, the North, the Midlands, the South, Ireland, Wales and some that had travelled from the Netherlands. Saturday night in the pub was also really special, we were joined by actors and artists that work on Star Wars. They too are fans attending the convention and joined in on our conversations and banter. I spoke with Ross Sambridge (Snoke body performer in The Last Jedi, and Wookiee from Solo), Dee Tails (Creature performer in all the Disney-era films) and Samantha Alleyne (First Female Stormtrooper and many more characters in Rogue One and the Disney-era films) They were all on top form and were enjoying a few drinks with the group of us that were out. These actors have got to know the fans from previous events such as Star Wars Fan fun day and share the same passion for Star Wars.
It’s amazing how Star Wars brings people together from all backgrounds and meeting people on a social level from the films, not getting autographs but chatting and maybe getting a few photos together as you would on a night out was next level. I’ve not posted any pictures here of the social side of the weekend but believe me it was a blast. It came up in conversation at the pub Saturday, I think it was Stuart Harper who said “Imagine telling your 12-year old self that in 30 years time you would be in a pub drinking with the people who make Star Wars”
This 12 year old would not have believed it.
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