And I dressed up! #firsttimecosplay
The convention, Collectormania, was a combination of lots of different fandoms and it was all very exciting with lots to see and do.
- There were stalls with lots of memorabilia--games, comics, nostalgia items, sports stuff, clothing, and loads of different types of tv, movie, and geeky collectibles.
- There's a 'Cosplay' zone, where you can hear from the top cosplay experts.
- A 'Prop' Photo shoot zone where they had stuff like Ecto-1 (the car from the original ghostbusters), a console from the Tardis in Doctor Who, and a lifesize Groot from Gardians of the galaxy that you could pay to take pictures with.
- Several Photo Shoot Zones and Autograph tables where you can meet and greet with Celebrity guests.
and.... - The Main Stage: where some more exciting celebrity guest could talk to an audience, answer questions etc.
All sorts of people were there: Cosplay stars, football legends--like Pele, WWE wrestling people (meh), and actors from TV and Film (Game of Thrones, Buffy/Angel, Harry Potter, DC/Marvel Shows, Terminator, etc). But I came for a select few.
I toured around the stalls for a few hours and bought a few pieces. There was soooooo much I wanted, but ended up with only these:
I got Autographs from John Barrowman and Carlos Valdes.
Didn't get much out of John but Carlos and I talked for a few minutes. He's so funny, genuine and charming. At previous conventions (there's youtube videos) he's told fans that people(especially his brother) tell him his doppelganger is the werewolf guy from twilight--Taylor Lautner.
I told him while he was signing his autograph "You know that everyone tells you you look like that guy from twilight?" He kind of looked up and had an annoyed-ish look on his face like 'oh here we go again'...then I told him that Taylor and I grew up in the same town, and that people I know from theater who went to school with him said he was kind of a jerk and that in my eyes Carlos is definitely 'the better doppelganger'.
He smiled and chuckled a bit and then made a joke about keeping that one to himself for sake of ruining Taylor's reputation and thanked me for the compliment and for coming up to see him.
Later in the day I also had a photo taken with Carlos. He recognized me and said hello again before taking the picture with me. There were ALOT of people queued up to see him though, so it was just a quick hi, take photo, goodbye and go. But man....for 5 seconds having his arm wrapped around me felt good and my fangirl heart went 'Sqweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!'
After that it was all talks at the main stage:
First was John Barrowman--he came out in his Captain Jack Harkness Coat to the Doctor Who theme tune....then reveled that he was wearing a Tardis dress, blue leggings and heels underneath. This man is sooooooooo flamboyant and we love him for it.
He answered questions for an hour, including mine, which was about if he had a 'dream role' in terms of Broadway and the west end (he said no, but he'd love to be in Le Cage Au Follies again), but then that led to him asking if we wanted to hear him sing which of course we said yes. :) Your Welcome audience.
Next I saw a panel of Game of Throne Stars
Daniel Portman-"Podrick Payne"
Gemma Whelan-"Yara Greyjoy"
Kristian Nairn-"Hodor"
and Ron Donachie-"Rodrik Cassel"
I also got to ask a question in this panel (two actually). I told Kristian that I've had the pleasure of hearing one of his DJ sets, and asked which he prefers more acting or DJing? --He said he loves doing both, but he can't imagine himself not creating music.
Then I asked Gemma when she got the script for the infamous 'horse riding scene' at the beginning of her arch, what was her reaction? She said Confused. Because in the script, Yara is referred to by another name at that point, so she didn't realize that would be her. It wasn't until the day of shooting that she realized--someone told her when they were on set. And she was like 'Why not?' She had scene what happened in the first episode so the whole incest thing wasn't a shock.
Last was a 'Buffy' talk with Charisma Carpenter (Cecilia from Buffy/Angel) and Julie Benz (Darla from Buffy/Angel). They were so much fun. Charisma couldn't understand people's British accents when they asked questions so Julie had to keep on translating. Charisma also kept answering question with 'I don't know I'm not a writer, I'm not that creative' to any questions speculating where plots would have gone, or if they could make a spin off movie/show about their characters what would happen. And Julie was just like....'Id love to see darla in the 50s as a loving housewife' , or 'I'd love to see Darla in the 70s' Good stuff.
Then sadly it was time to go home. They ushered people out fairly quickly for 6pm, but oh well....it was fun while it lasted.
I toured around the stalls for a few hours and bought a few pieces. There was soooooo much I wanted, but ended up with only these:
I got Autographs from John Barrowman and Carlos Valdes.
Didn't get much out of John but Carlos and I talked for a few minutes. He's so funny, genuine and charming. At previous conventions (there's youtube videos) he's told fans that people(especially his brother) tell him his doppelganger is the werewolf guy from twilight--Taylor Lautner.I told him while he was signing his autograph "You know that everyone tells you you look like that guy from twilight?" He kind of looked up and had an annoyed-ish look on his face like 'oh here we go again'...then I told him that Taylor and I grew up in the same town, and that people I know from theater who went to school with him said he was kind of a jerk and that in my eyes Carlos is definitely 'the better doppelganger'.
He smiled and chuckled a bit and then made a joke about keeping that one to himself for sake of ruining Taylor's reputation and thanked me for the compliment and for coming up to see him.
Later in the day I also had a photo taken with Carlos. He recognized me and said hello again before taking the picture with me. There were ALOT of people queued up to see him though, so it was just a quick hi, take photo, goodbye and go. But man....for 5 seconds having his arm wrapped around me felt good and my fangirl heart went 'Sqweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!'
After that it was all talks at the main stage:
First was John Barrowman--he came out in his Captain Jack Harkness Coat to the Doctor Who theme tune....then reveled that he was wearing a Tardis dress, blue leggings and heels underneath. This man is sooooooooo flamboyant and we love him for it.
He answered questions for an hour, including mine, which was about if he had a 'dream role' in terms of Broadway and the west end (he said no, but he'd love to be in Le Cage Au Follies again), but then that led to him asking if we wanted to hear him sing which of course we said yes. :) Your Welcome audience.
Daniel Portman-"Podrick Payne"
Gemma Whelan-"Yara Greyjoy"
Kristian Nairn-"Hodor"
and Ron Donachie-"Rodrik Cassel"
I also got to ask a question in this panel (two actually). I told Kristian that I've had the pleasure of hearing one of his DJ sets, and asked which he prefers more acting or DJing? --He said he loves doing both, but he can't imagine himself not creating music.
Then I asked Gemma when she got the script for the infamous 'horse riding scene' at the beginning of her arch, what was her reaction? She said Confused. Because in the script, Yara is referred to by another name at that point, so she didn't realize that would be her. It wasn't until the day of shooting that she realized--someone told her when they were on set. And she was like 'Why not?' She had scene what happened in the first episode so the whole incest thing wasn't a shock.
Last was a 'Buffy' talk with Charisma Carpenter (Cecilia from Buffy/Angel) and Julie Benz (Darla from Buffy/Angel). They were so much fun. Charisma couldn't understand people's British accents when they asked questions so Julie had to keep on translating. Charisma also kept answering question with 'I don't know I'm not a writer, I'm not that creative' to any questions speculating where plots would have gone, or if they could make a spin off movie/show about their characters what would happen. And Julie was just like....'Id love to see darla in the 50s as a loving housewife' , or 'I'd love to see Darla in the 70s' Good stuff.Then sadly it was time to go home. They ushered people out fairly quickly for 6pm, but oh well....it was fun while it lasted.
