It's looking like a great set of guests! Jeremy Renner, Mads Mikkelsen, Famke Janssen, Ron Perlman, Dolph Lundgren, Dominic Monaghan, Ian McDiarmid... Check it out!

http://www.londonfilmandcomiccon.com/

Is anyone going? Or went last year? Because I have a question:

How are the queues now that it's advanced tickets only and held at the Olympia, particularly on Sunday? I didn't go last year but 2014 at Earl's Court was horrendous. I'm trying to organise a means of getting there at the moment but struggling to find a way to reach the Olympia before 8:30am best case scenario, and that involves depending on the Megabus at 2:45am from Leeds on a Saturday night as the only means of doing so, which is definitely not the most flawless plan. If the queues are a bit more lax than they were in 2014, there's a bit less stress. Really want to meet Famke Janssen and Dominic Monaghan!

I will be going for one day this year, aiming to meet Famke Janssen, Ron Perlman, Paul McGann and Rutger Hauer. And if I hadn't met them before I'd be after Ian McDiarmid and Mads Mikkelsen as well.

People seem to be going mad for Dolph and Jeremy Renner is a great name to have there and apparently someone big is getting announced tomorrow. It's a nice broad list of guests this year.

Anyway, I did go last year for both days to hit all the Sigourney Weaver activities and despite the amazing guests it was the least enjoyable of any Showmasters events I have been to in the 8 years of doing them.
I've been to shows where the Sunday is much more relaxed than the Saturday but last year at LFCC I felt there was very little difference between the days. I have never been to a show as ram-packed with human gridlock near enough EVERYWHERE.
Far too much was crammed into too small a space and guests/photos were spread out across 3 floors making it very difficult to get around the show and get to things on time. Apparently this year they have lost the top floor (the only one where you could feel the air con), spread out the bottom level and put all the photos/guests in one place each which should hopefully make things a lot easier for most people.

On the plus side I will say on the Saturday I was in the door by 9:15/9:20 and I wasn't near the front (think I only got there an hour and half or an hour beforehand).
Then again it all changed on the Sunday, they got everyone to 'queue' in another hall but it was just a disorganised mass of people who then all had to squeeze through a narrow corridor to continue the queue outside. This caused a huge bottleneck that slowed things right down, wasn't safe and rewarded the shovers as opposed to those who were there first. I would rather have queued outside.

Hope that helps!

That does help, cheers X. I've seen Showmasters' own post-show report which seemed to suggest a 40-ish minute queue time on Sunday, but I'm aware how skewed that might be and knew I'd get something more impartial here. That sort of time for Saturday does sound like an improvement, but that Sunday free for all queue sounds ridiculous and I hope they've learnt from it - will be looking at Twitter and the forums closely on the Friday. Regardless, that's still preferable to travelling cross country just to queue for several hours in the baking sun and not get in as so many did in 2014, which is my major concern for not getting there in good time before the doors open - especially as I'm not familiar with the Olympia whatsoever. I've heard similar about the air-con in the place unfortunately.

This might seem like a simple question but is the process the same as it was in Earl's Court - as in the people handing out the tickets are just in front of the guests? If it gets gridlocked again I don't want to be walking to somewhere completely wrong to get those and taking forever. Desperate not to miss out on meeting anyone!

I agree, I think the list of guests this year is a great mix. There's at least a good dozen or so I'd love to meet, but in practice it'll probably be three or four (plus some card swag) I'd love to meet Jeremy Renner but £75 is a bit too high for my budget that I would prefer to put towards two or three other guests with less manic queues.

I would put money on it being a Game of Thrones guest, and in all likelihood Kit Harington. We'll see if I'm even remotely right tonight!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: rwn410,

Thought the Sunday show was great - calm, cool and the stalls were well spaced apart with tons of room. Met everyone I wanted to meet and in good time - I was done by 11:30! Loads of spaces to just sit down and chill and the Suicide Squad costumes were awesome. Great trip.

Autograph swag:

Good to hear you had a good time Richard. I went myself, only on the Saturday and found it a much more pleasant experience than last year's pandemonium. It took less than 5 minutes to get in as well after being behind several hundred people in the 'holding hall'. I was quite impressed actually.

I met Dave Prowse, Jeremy Bulloch, Peter Mayhew, Paul McGann, but it was Famke Janssen that was the main draw for me. How did you find her? Like many others, I found her quite cold and distant and I thought her signatures were quite sloppy as well, quickly deteriorating even by Saturday afternoon.

Love all those autographs! Darn, I forgot to tell you to say hi to Famke for me....oh well, maybe next time.

quote:

Originally posted by X:
Like many others, I found her quite cold and distant and I thought her signatures were quite sloppy as well, quickly deteriorating even by Saturday afternoon.

Those autographed photos look good to me, her signature is not the best to start with, but the personalization and inscription is legible enough. Did you want her to personalize or was that a condition?

When you met these celebrity guests at shows it can go either way. If they are professionals, and knowing that fans are spending a good deal of money on them, some are very pleasant and accommodating. Others are bored and distant. A very few are absolutely nasty.

Whether its just a bad day or a bad personality depends on how many stories there are over how many shows. Some people are just not good with crowds, but for the individual who is buying that autograph, that single in-person experience is all they remember.

I have had way more good encounters with celebrity signers than I have had bad ones and those are the people who have held my good opinion.

quote:

Originally posted by Raven:

quote:

Originally posted by X:
Like many others, I found her quite cold and distant and I thought her signatures were quite sloppy as well, quickly deteriorating even by Saturday afternoon.

Those autographed photos look good to me, her signature is not the best to start with, but the personalization and inscription is legible enough. Did you want her to personalize or was that a condition?

When you met these celebrity guests at shows it can go either way. If they are professionals, and knowing that fans are spending a good deal of money on them, some are very pleasant and accommodating. Others are bored and distant. A very few are absolutely nasty.

Whether its just a bad day or a bad personality depends on how many stories there are over how many shows. Some people are just not good with crowds, but for the individual who is buying that autograph, that single in-person experience is all they remember.

I have had way more good encounters with celebrity signers than I have had bad ones and those are the people who have held my good opinion.

Take a look at her siganture on her X-Men The Movie auto cards... her autograph was lovely to start with. Every letter legible and just generally pleasant looking, as subjective as autograph 'attractiveness' may be! But we are talking 16 years ago.
Her Bond/Star Trek auto cards from 2004-2008 were far looser with the surname deteriorating, but still pretty neat and nice looking. The autos she knocked out over the course of the show last weekend were a lot worse, but hey ho, it's another 8 years later and if that is now how she chooses to sign these days, it is what it is. I have been spoiled by the trading cards but most fans at the convention won't know any better so I'm really being unduly harsh.

Famke asked if I wanted them personalising, which I (generally) prefer. I always think this is a nice touch from the bigger/busier guests, whatever their demeanour. I was very lucky to get a quote from her as well on the last one.

I do think some fans expect far too much at these shows from some guests, they are only human afterall, and this was only her 2nd convention ever so I don't think she's at all familiar/comfortable with the scene, but there was just something very 'off' about her Raven. On almost everyone's photoshoot pics I have seen she is near enough grimacing. This from a professional actress. On the organisers own forum there is a 10 page thread of people complaining about her and her bodyguard's behaviour, I have honestly never seen anything like it. I did get a lot more from her than many other attendees but I'd still say I was let down meeting my favourite Bond girl.

That's too bad X. Sometimes celebrities take themselves too seriously and honestly don't have any fun with fans. I know that Janssen had some sort of a problem with a stalker or someone getting into her apartment awhile back. Maybe this is not her thing, but then she shouldn't do it, as it does change how people think of you.

I do believe that we tend to give celebrities more credit than they deserve because we like to have idols. "Feet of clay" and all that stuff you know.

Those are some great looking photo choices X, and reminds me I haven't seen Goldeneye in years, probably nearing on a decade now even!

Famke was the main draw for me too - I had already been wanting to meet Dom Monaghan from the early guest announcements - X-Men and Lost are my main trading card collections and he's been an autograph gap in both (that's finally filled!) - but the two X-Men guests sealed the deal.

I was one of the first to see her on Sunday, and it was a nice enough interaction - I mean, I was awkward in the way I am with most guests where I never know what to say once I'm actually in front of them and scuttle off relatively quickly - but I am aware of the criticism she had following how the Saturday had gone down, mostly the photo shoots. I queued for entry from about 8am and she was the topic of a couple of conversations around me in the queue that I invariably listened in on. I wish I hadn't, because in isolation my experience was on par with most other guests I've met so I'm otherwise happy. It is sad, and those more scathing comments are sort of still playing on my mind even though my own experience was fine - brief encounter as per, but polite and friendly enough as far as I noticed. I think being very early on helped a bit. She was a couple of hours late so her queue wasn't swamped and my ticket was 50, so probably around 15th? to see her. It's very sad to see just how many people felt let down altogether though. The photoshoots - I'm not a fan of them in general anyway, but they don't look nor sound particularly worthwhile over on the showmasters forums. I've stopped reading them, now - it's a bit depressing and I'd rather retain a positive perspective.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: rwn410,

Can't speak to this particular guest but from my own experiences of reading forums after shows I have gone to the vast majority of convention goers have positive experiences they don't feel the need to comment on.

There is therefore a skewed perception of guests because the few bad interactions are always reported.

Well I'm glad I went to the London Film & Comic Con website because the forum posts are a real hoot. Of course you're right Triple-Frog, you are more apt to have people take the time to report negative comments than hear from people who were satisfied.

That said, there were an awful lot of peeved customers for this appearance. I suspect the real problem was the cost. It was over $200 to get the full package Diamond Pass and the individual autographed photo or photo session or public conference were also expensive. I think collectors did not feel that they got their monies worth when there was a "no-touch" policy enforced and Janssen was not an engaging personality.

Honestly I saw no problem with the autographs people got, but most of the photo session pictures that people have displayed were pretty bad. She barely cracked a smile in any of them and there was no touching allowed, so they kind of look like kidnapping photos rather than a fun time at the Con.

But I don't know why the photographer or the event guys didn't pull her aside and say smile a little. Hell, if one of those were my photo I would have told her to lighten up and give me another one. Did any of those posters with sad photos say anything at the time? Better to call it then and there than post negatives when it's all over.

The posts also say that she claimed to have had an injury and was in some pain doing the sessions. That's possible, but again people paid a lot of money so there doesn't seem to be a lot of belief in that. The no touching rule may have been because she was hurt or maybe she just didn't want to get to close to strangers, but that's the start of what went wrong.

Over the years I have at least shook hands with nearly all of the celebrities I met at paid signings. Many have been happy to exchange hugs or hold your arm or shoulder for paid photos. You can't go to a large show as a paid signer and expect no one to come near you. At the end of the day I think this was something that should have been worked out by the Showmasters before they booked her.