If you were anywhere near SW7 last weekend you might have seen some rather colourful characters heading to the Kensington Olympia for the twice annual London Film and Comic Con.
N and I had day tickets for the Sunday and booked ourselves into a hotel nearby to make a weekend of it. Here’s a wrap up of our weekend!
We had to do quite a bit more walking than originally intended due to the complete closure of the Circle tube line. This did mean that we got to see more of the beautiful borough of Kensington and Chelsea though. As we walked along admiring the picture perfect town houses I daydreamed of life as a Chelsea local… before the prices in the estate agent’s windows brought me back to reality.
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| My new house #goals |
We popped into Anthropologie to pick up the perfume that I’d fallen in love with the week before. Oxford Street was absolutely rammed though so we didn’t stick around for too long!
As it was the weekend of Comic Con, we headed to the BFI Imax cinema (which boasts the biggest screen in Britain) to see Marvel’s Ant Man.
The cinema is opposite Waterloo Station and is accessed via a rainbow lit walkway so it’s really easy to find. I am not usually a big fan of 3D but on the huge screen it was a completely different experience and I was totally immersed.
Ant Man itself was the perfect feelgood movie. The main character Scott Lang is a down on his luck ex con (but a good guy really!) who gains superpowers by donning the Ant Man suit.
If you’re not sure whether you’ll like it and think that an ant size superhero sounds pretty lame, I recommend giving it a go as it might just surprise you! Paul Rudd is charming and funny in the lead role and there are lots of crossovers with other storylines in the Marvel universe. I won’t spoil any of it for you but look out for some great surprise cameos.
Oh and if you do go watch this film, remember that Marvel movies always have a bonus scene teasing an upcoming movie after the credits, so make sure you stay until the end!
Last year we treated ourselves to Gold Passes which meant priority entry, queue jumping and great seats at any of the chats taking place on the main stage. This was a fantastic way to experience the show, but this year Gold Tickets had gone up to a whopping £225 each. Ouch.
We purchased the £18 standard day pass instead. It meant much more queueing, but we passed the time by people watching. People in jeans and tee shirts stood alongside fairies, Disney princesses, grim reapers and ghostbusters. Anything went! I didn’t cosplay as such, but after finding a cute Military style dress in Dorothy Perkins I decided to pay homage to Agent Carter with a bit of red lippy and some pincurls.
Many people who attend the show cosplay (i.e. dress up) as their favourite characters. Some of these are simple homemade costumes like mine, others are jaw droppingly creative with perfect attention to detail and stunning special effect make up. These 3 were my favourite cosplayers who you may recognise if you watch The Walking Dead.
…it turns out that Frozen’s Anna is just as attached to her phone as the rest of us!
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| Sherilyn Fenn (Twin Peaks / Gilmore Girls) | Michael Traynor (The Walking Dead) |
This year’s Summer Con was okay but personally I enjoyed 2014 more. This year had quite a retro flavour with Back to the Future, Aliens and Nightmare on Elm Street being the main pulls. Last year Game of Thrones featured heavilly along with Battlestar Gallactica and The Walking Dead, so I was in my element as they are 3 of my all time favourite tv series.
Oh go on then, here’s a little throwback to last year and some of the talks I attended…
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| James Edward Olmos and Jamie Bamber Battlestar Gallactica Talk | Games of Thrones Talk |
All in all if you fancy something fun and a bit different it’s well worth a visit to the show. There is so much to do and see there with huge sections dedicated to comic books and illustration, young adult books, cosplaying, special effects makeup and gaming as well as plenty of film and tv memorabilia.
Winter Comic Con will take place on 7th and 8th November and you can find out more here: www.londonfilmandcomicconwinter.com
I haven’t decided whether to go yet, but I do know that Spike from Buffy will be there! Hmm decisions decisions…!!
Have you ever been to a Comic Con or had a go at cosplay? What did you think?
