"you sing songs of the great tribble hunt!" (or: london collectormania 2009)
So, here's the thing. I geek, therefore I am. I like conventions, but geography and money have both conspired against me, over the last four years, meaning that I have only been to Glasgow Collectormania three times since 2005. So when ann_pan was all "OH HEY WE HAVE JOBS AND FREE TIME LET'S GO TO LONDON COLLECTORMANIA" I said, um, okay? Even though this was before I had a job that didn't involve the phrase 'shop monkey' and, well, London.
Here's the other thing: I am a control freak, and normally find myself organising conventions like a mad fiend because I like stuff to be organised. It came as a surprise to find myself on a train to London with no idea of the location of the convention, hotel, or even Tube stop I needed to end up on.
BUT YET THERE I WAS.
Key
ann_pan is Ann.
emerald_embers is Louise.
loneraven is Iona.
I had, very last minute, persuaded emerald_embers into coming with us. Well, I hadn't. Misha Collins had. Nevertheless, I provided her with means and a hotel bed so I can at least claim to be her enabler. I met her at Ormskirk, and together we trundled to Preston where we met ann_pan. One train journey to London, we all got to know each other thoroughly well, discussing the merits of convention virginity and Supernatural. I have never seen Supernatural and I never will, as apparently I will be addicted.
When we got there, we met up with THE DOCTOR. Okay, actually his name was Rob, Ann's friend, who we were sharing a hotel room with, but he was dressed as the Doctor. This made striding along through the underground very exciting indeed, even though it was horrifically busy. We eventually made it to the hotel, got knows how, and eventually went to a tiny Nandos for food.
I love the first night of conventions. You sit around a table, excited about the day to come and talking - well, we were talking - about the merits of various Batmans ("YOU CAN'T EVEN MENTION GEORGE CLOONEY!") and Terminator, and Doctor Who, and why coriander is the devil herb. It's such a lovely feeling, knowing you are With Your Kind.
This was further proved when we had a Star Trek dressing-up photo shoot, with me shouting suggestions for posing like "oh no, the Bolian ambassador has been sick in the soup!" and other variants. I spent most of the weekend as a rogue photographer, actually; it was a new role, but a fun one.
The next day we were awake stupidly early, helping to pin Rob into his costume (he was going as Gambit) and generaly trying to come to. We found ourselves shivering in a queue outside the venue by about 8.30am, and Louise managed to nab a free pre-paid ticket from the woman in the queue in front of us, which is frankly amazing.
Once were in, however, it was a bit different to the laid back Glasgow affairs. We found ourselves bolting for virtual queue tickets, and all went our seperate ways; Ann and I were a team, Louise found her Supernatural buddies and Rob found cosplayers, although we bumped into each other here and there. It took a while before any guests turned up, so we puttered around and marvelled at the stalls for a while. Despite being a very well-attended weekend, the convention had a very easy-going feel to it, as it was spread out over two floors.
First of all we attacked Jason Momoa who is apparently best known for being in Stargate: Atlantis which I've never really liked due to it having the name fundamental problems as all Stargate post season 6 - NEEDS MOAR O'NEILL. That said, I only remembered after I came home that he is going to be Khal Drogo in A Game Of Thrones, which he's remarkably well cast for. He was lovely, and Ann went all squeeful over him. Next was Robert Llelwyn, who Ann was also all squeeful over; he chatted to her for ages and I resisted the urge to tell him how much I like Scrapheap Challenge. Well, I do.
Then it was the DS9 guests. I don't know if you've realised, but I love DS9. I do. It's properly ace. First up was Chase Masterton, who plays Leeta; she is a bit Ronseal now, and very blonde, but was so charming to me. She said her best friend in third grade was called Colleen, so I obviously suggested that I could be her best friend. She took it well, thank god.
Next was ODO. I LOVE ODO. He was, well, obviously out of make-up, but he was charming to me. Most importantly, I didn't tell him I named my car Odo. Not once. All weekend. I am utterly proud of myself.
Slightly stunned, Ann and I wandered to Tesco and met Marcus from Big Brother. By accident. He is a prick, but on the bright side I shall flog the photo to Heat.
Then it was time for a wander around the convention halls. Ann bought a Tribble, which has three settings - happy, irritible or off. They vibrate and make noises and I love Tribbles and think they are AMAZING. We also had a go on some games at the gaming zone, and Ann broke the dance machine and I lost at Super Mario Kart. We also attended a Torchwood: The Musical panel (I was gutted to discover it wasn't an actual musical yet) before loneraven turned up.
She is afraid of Tribbles. See her LJ, it's an utterly charming photo of her basically betraying that she is a secretly a Klingon. I BET TRIBBLES LOVE CARDASSIANS.
Then, however, we met Gareth Lloyd-Jones, AKA Ianto Aka YYYYAAAANNNNTTTOOOEEE which is what I and probably everyone else was howling this weekend. He was... not like Ianto, which is probably not a bad thing.
(Iona also went to talk to Rene Auberjonois, in which I remained resolutely silent but he did prove what a lovely charming man he is.)
After that we found ourselves at the Gareth Lloyd-Davies and Kai Owen talk, which was a sort of trainwreck in a delightful way. They talked about the panto that Gareth is doing in Preston ("Ianto panto!") and sang songs from High School Musical, answered questions about their favourite cheese, and caused a riot when they insisted everyone move forward into the Gold Pass seats. Well, what's a girl to do? I was very sad when it ended.
Another wander around the stalls discovered a corset stall, as goths and geeks are often interchangeable species. I'm not sure how, but I found myself being measured up for a corset as a lovely partnership hauled me into steel boning and informed me I had a 28" waist. 28"?! Do they mean human inches? Either way, I looked stunning if I say so myself and I found myself down by a fair whack of money but up by one beautiful black and silver corset. I LOVE IT. Iona was discovered to have a 22" waist (?!) and later one I managed to talk Ann into a green corset. I think I helped pay this couple's mortgage, but I don't mind. For the rest of the weekend, the stalls around the corset stall kept on talking to me and Ann, which is the kind of familiarity that being yanked into steel boning in the middle of a busy room will do for you.
We went to the cosplay as well, which was... um. I like cosplayers, but I don't understand anime in general, and I have an air of distaste for furries, especially ones that seem... well... odd. So, ah, the less said the better.
After a time, we headed back to the hotel. Becuase I am the baby Jesus reincarnated (managling at least three religions there) I trooped across cold, dark, wet London to pick up the pizza but was amply rewarded in love and adulation. We talked about geekery, and Stictly Come Dancing, and eventually Iona had to go which is officially RUBBISH as she missed the mini corset party Ann and I had. I LOVE MY CORSET IS IS WINNINGEST. Louise was a fab photographer and got some really good shots. They are on facebook if you want to check out my alarming waist to hip ratio.
The next was was even more disgustingly early, and I found myself waiting outside under a shelter, shivering desperately as the hailstones bucketed down. I was wearing my Jayne Cobb hat, which the lovely jennnlee knitted years ago and remains the best hat ever to grace this earth. Ann was dressed as Donna, a fact that will become important later.
We went in, and joined the scrum for John Barrowman virtual queue tickets, which we got quite early, all things considered. Then we were slightly lost for things to do. As such, we went on a mad quest to get photos of cosplayers in my DocSoc scarf, and to get as many photos of Ann and people dressed as Jack/the Doctor as possible. Four Doctors and six Jacks later, I had lost the ability to think of amusing nicknames for them, but it was great fun.
AND OH HEY GUYS I MET JOHN BARROWMAN. He was really lovely and desperately attractive in real life, and really does exude the charisma you've all heard so much about. I was shaking afterwards, and so were a lot of people. OH CAPTAIN JACK YOU ARE SO WIN.
The rest of the day was basically calming down from that awesomeness, to be honest! I went to the John Rhys-Davies talk, which was an experience; the man BOOMS very loudly, and is one of the guests that jus has so many stories to tell that the room just shuts up and listens. It had a much calmer feel than the Torchwood talk, too.
After that was the Star Trek talk, which I was filled with incoherant squee for. It was really lovely; again, calmer, and actually quite interesting to hear about the writing on DS9. I like the squeeful cheese talks, but I am a bit old school and do like stupidly geeky questions about anecdotes and directing too.
Ann had spent a bit of Sunday trying to work out who a Hot Guy was. Well, we knew who he was - there was a big sign saying Neil Roberts - as he was charging for autographs but neither of us were big fans of Charmed or Babylon 5 so could offer no opinions as to his professional body or work. However, Ann noticed a picture saying 'Doctor Who' with it on, so we decided to go and ask him about it. Turns out he directs some Big Finish stuff. I squeed a bit. We asked for a photo and were suddenly confronted by the most charming and lovely man in the whole world; he took a few photos with us, gave us both big hugs and kisses, and basically flirted something terrible. Ann and I melted a bit and ran away a bit squeeing.
The rest of the day was filled with wandering, ineffective Christmas shopping, and just the lovely feeling that being surrounded by fen can bring. (And wandering past Neil Robert's table more than strictly necessarily.) Time ran out far too quickly, as before I kenw it I was barrelling across central London, navigating the Tube far more effectively than Rob had done, and I fell asleep on the train home before it had left Euston. It was probably a very good thing that Louise was on the train with me!
And here be pictures.
It was, basically, a very good weekend. I am now very tired, even after two days being back at home. The weeks ahead are very busy ones, both professionally and personally, but that's a good thing too.
Here's the other thing: I am a control freak, and normally find myself organising conventions like a mad fiend because I like stuff to be organised. It came as a surprise to find myself on a train to London with no idea of the location of the convention, hotel, or even Tube stop I needed to end up on.
BUT YET THERE I WAS.
Key
ann_pan is Ann.
emerald_embers is Louise.
loneraven is Iona.
I had, very last minute, persuaded emerald_embers into coming with us. Well, I hadn't. Misha Collins had. Nevertheless, I provided her with means and a hotel bed so I can at least claim to be her enabler. I met her at Ormskirk, and together we trundled to Preston where we met ann_pan. One train journey to London, we all got to know each other thoroughly well, discussing the merits of convention virginity and Supernatural. I have never seen Supernatural and I never will, as apparently I will be addicted.
When we got there, we met up with THE DOCTOR. Okay, actually his name was Rob, Ann's friend, who we were sharing a hotel room with, but he was dressed as the Doctor. This made striding along through the underground very exciting indeed, even though it was horrifically busy. We eventually made it to the hotel, got knows how, and eventually went to a tiny Nandos for food.
I love the first night of conventions. You sit around a table, excited about the day to come and talking - well, we were talking - about the merits of various Batmans ("YOU CAN'T EVEN MENTION GEORGE CLOONEY!") and Terminator, and Doctor Who, and why coriander is the devil herb. It's such a lovely feeling, knowing you are With Your Kind.
This was further proved when we had a Star Trek dressing-up photo shoot, with me shouting suggestions for posing like "oh no, the Bolian ambassador has been sick in the soup!" and other variants. I spent most of the weekend as a rogue photographer, actually; it was a new role, but a fun one.
The next day we were awake stupidly early, helping to pin Rob into his costume (he was going as Gambit) and generaly trying to come to. We found ourselves shivering in a queue outside the venue by about 8.30am, and Louise managed to nab a free pre-paid ticket from the woman in the queue in front of us, which is frankly amazing.
Once were in, however, it was a bit different to the laid back Glasgow affairs. We found ourselves bolting for virtual queue tickets, and all went our seperate ways; Ann and I were a team, Louise found her Supernatural buddies and Rob found cosplayers, although we bumped into each other here and there. It took a while before any guests turned up, so we puttered around and marvelled at the stalls for a while. Despite being a very well-attended weekend, the convention had a very easy-going feel to it, as it was spread out over two floors.
First of all we attacked Jason Momoa who is apparently best known for being in Stargate: Atlantis which I've never really liked due to it having the name fundamental problems as all Stargate post season 6 - NEEDS MOAR O'NEILL. That said, I only remembered after I came home that he is going to be Khal Drogo in A Game Of Thrones, which he's remarkably well cast for. He was lovely, and Ann went all squeeful over him. Next was Robert Llelwyn, who Ann was also all squeeful over; he chatted to her for ages and I resisted the urge to tell him how much I like Scrapheap Challenge. Well, I do.
Then it was the DS9 guests. I don't know if you've realised, but I love DS9. I do. It's properly ace. First up was Chase Masterton, who plays Leeta; she is a bit Ronseal now, and very blonde, but was so charming to me. She said her best friend in third grade was called Colleen, so I obviously suggested that I could be her best friend. She took it well, thank god.
Next was ODO. I LOVE ODO. He was, well, obviously out of make-up, but he was charming to me. Most importantly, I didn't tell him I named my car Odo. Not once. All weekend. I am utterly proud of myself.
Slightly stunned, Ann and I wandered to Tesco and met Marcus from Big Brother. By accident. He is a prick, but on the bright side I shall flog the photo to Heat.
Then it was time for a wander around the convention halls. Ann bought a Tribble, which has three settings - happy, irritible or off. They vibrate and make noises and I love Tribbles and think they are AMAZING. We also had a go on some games at the gaming zone, and Ann broke the dance machine and I lost at Super Mario Kart. We also attended a Torchwood: The Musical panel (I was gutted to discover it wasn't an actual musical yet) before loneraven turned up.
She is afraid of Tribbles. See her LJ, it's an utterly charming photo of her basically betraying that she is a secretly a Klingon. I BET TRIBBLES LOVE CARDASSIANS.
Then, however, we met Gareth Lloyd-Jones, AKA Ianto Aka YYYYAAAANNNNTTTOOOEEE which is what I and probably everyone else was howling this weekend. He was... not like Ianto, which is probably not a bad thing.
(Iona also went to talk to Rene Auberjonois, in which I remained resolutely silent but he did prove what a lovely charming man he is.)
After that we found ourselves at the Gareth Lloyd-Davies and Kai Owen talk, which was a sort of trainwreck in a delightful way. They talked about the panto that Gareth is doing in Preston ("Ianto panto!") and sang songs from High School Musical, answered questions about their favourite cheese, and caused a riot when they insisted everyone move forward into the Gold Pass seats. Well, what's a girl to do? I was very sad when it ended.
Another wander around the stalls discovered a corset stall, as goths and geeks are often interchangeable species. I'm not sure how, but I found myself being measured up for a corset as a lovely partnership hauled me into steel boning and informed me I had a 28" waist. 28"?! Do they mean human inches? Either way, I looked stunning if I say so myself and I found myself down by a fair whack of money but up by one beautiful black and silver corset. I LOVE IT. Iona was discovered to have a 22" waist (?!) and later one I managed to talk Ann into a green corset. I think I helped pay this couple's mortgage, but I don't mind. For the rest of the weekend, the stalls around the corset stall kept on talking to me and Ann, which is the kind of familiarity that being yanked into steel boning in the middle of a busy room will do for you.
We went to the cosplay as well, which was... um. I like cosplayers, but I don't understand anime in general, and I have an air of distaste for furries, especially ones that seem... well... odd. So, ah, the less said the better.
After a time, we headed back to the hotel. Becuase I am the baby Jesus reincarnated (managling at least three religions there) I trooped across cold, dark, wet London to pick up the pizza but was amply rewarded in love and adulation. We talked about geekery, and Stictly Come Dancing, and eventually Iona had to go which is officially RUBBISH as she missed the mini corset party Ann and I had. I LOVE MY CORSET IS IS WINNINGEST. Louise was a fab photographer and got some really good shots. They are on facebook if you want to check out my alarming waist to hip ratio.
The next was was even more disgustingly early, and I found myself waiting outside under a shelter, shivering desperately as the hailstones bucketed down. I was wearing my Jayne Cobb hat, which the lovely jennnlee knitted years ago and remains the best hat ever to grace this earth. Ann was dressed as Donna, a fact that will become important later.
We went in, and joined the scrum for John Barrowman virtual queue tickets, which we got quite early, all things considered. Then we were slightly lost for things to do. As such, we went on a mad quest to get photos of cosplayers in my DocSoc scarf, and to get as many photos of Ann and people dressed as Jack/the Doctor as possible. Four Doctors and six Jacks later, I had lost the ability to think of amusing nicknames for them, but it was great fun.
AND OH HEY GUYS I MET JOHN BARROWMAN. He was really lovely and desperately attractive in real life, and really does exude the charisma you've all heard so much about. I was shaking afterwards, and so were a lot of people. OH CAPTAIN JACK YOU ARE SO WIN.
The rest of the day was basically calming down from that awesomeness, to be honest! I went to the John Rhys-Davies talk, which was an experience; the man BOOMS very loudly, and is one of the guests that jus has so many stories to tell that the room just shuts up and listens. It had a much calmer feel than the Torchwood talk, too.
After that was the Star Trek talk, which I was filled with incoherant squee for. It was really lovely; again, calmer, and actually quite interesting to hear about the writing on DS9. I like the squeeful cheese talks, but I am a bit old school and do like stupidly geeky questions about anecdotes and directing too.
Ann had spent a bit of Sunday trying to work out who a Hot Guy was. Well, we knew who he was - there was a big sign saying Neil Roberts - as he was charging for autographs but neither of us were big fans of Charmed or Babylon 5 so could offer no opinions as to his professional body or work. However, Ann noticed a picture saying 'Doctor Who' with it on, so we decided to go and ask him about it. Turns out he directs some Big Finish stuff. I squeed a bit. We asked for a photo and were suddenly confronted by the most charming and lovely man in the whole world; he took a few photos with us, gave us both big hugs and kisses, and basically flirted something terrible. Ann and I melted a bit and ran away a bit squeeing.
The rest of the day was filled with wandering, ineffective Christmas shopping, and just the lovely feeling that being surrounded by fen can bring. (And wandering past Neil Robert's table more than strictly necessarily.) Time ran out far too quickly, as before I kenw it I was barrelling across central London, navigating the Tube far more effectively than Rob had done, and I fell asleep on the train home before it had left Euston. It was probably a very good thing that Louise was on the train with me!
And here be pictures.
It was, basically, a very good weekend. I am now very tired, even after two days being back at home. The weeks ahead are very busy ones, both professionally and personally, but that's a good thing too.