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rustydragonflyFriday over here.
This is a bit of a long one so I waffled for a while over the post! In the meantime, the official write up is here! And has been for a while... I'm just being lazy for mine. I also found a write up from another fan that perfectly captures the ahhh how is this happening adrenaline and caffeine fueled madness that is Dimension Jump.
As for my write-up, Saturday's the one full day of the con so this one's long. Here's an expert to tempt you in:
'I had a moment of oh crap oh crap I'm about to ask the co-creator of one of the best TV shows ever to sign a bit of paper tied to a cat's bum, what am I doing and how is this my life? but a guy a few places in front of us got a plastic dinosaur signed. So that's ok then.'
First off, breakfast time for me and Frankie. (And my mum, I guess.) Mmmm I love hotel breakfasts. You stuff your face with everything. My kind of meal.
I did have some toast, if anyone's wondering.
The morning schedule got a bit thrown off because of Chris getting stuck in traffic and being late to the photoshoots, so we did some milling about the hotel and seeing what was going on. So some pictures!
There's a spa around here somewhere. We didn't get a chance to try it out, but there was a party around the hotel who must have shown up for a spa weekend and were probably very confused.
Hanging around outside the merchandise room!
Frankie got a lot of nice attention, although a few people didn't quite get what she was meant to be. I guess probably understandable, since she only appeared for one scene in the first episode! I got a few people saying she looked like Salem from Sabrina the Teenage Witch, and when I looked at her again I could see the resemblence. I had more than a few people come up and ask to pet or photograph her, or ask about how she was made. And remember that text cut? We'll get to that in a minute.
Queuing up for the photos.
I got so. damn. nervous and I was super glad to have Frankie with me so I could cuddle something soft. When I go to another con (there's no if about it now) I will not neglect to bring one. The idea was I'd be holding her in the photo, but that... kind of didn't go to plan, in the best way. The photo sessions are pretty quick, so we walked in and said a couple of dazed sounding "Hi"s, in the manner of people thinking how is this happening I used to watch you guys over and over when I was a teenager what are we doing in the same room together how is this a thing. (Or not a teenager in my mum's case.) It gets a lot less surreal seeming as the weekend goes on, too, but at the start you're kind of wondering what happened in your life for this to be a thing. In a good way.
So I didn't get to hold Frankie, because as we walked in, Shend immediately exclaimed that he wanted to "hold the kitty!" So I gave her up and just stood there with the dazed grin of someone who doesn't realise there's a silly face being pulled behind them.
..I look such a dork.
And then just as we were leaving Hattie wanted to pet her! I was definitely shaking a bit as I left.
Aaanyway after that my mum was all "hey, you know that one guy who was chatting with us about how you made Frankie? That was Shend."
Oops. Didn't recognise him. And I felt bad because I couldn't remember his role, only that he was in S8, but to be fair I don't think I've seen that one since it was broadcast and that was... quiiite a long time ago. 1999? Oh crap, I'm old. I gotta rewatch.
Anyway the moral of the story is that now, nobody is allowed to call me a bad artist, ever.
Next up was question time with Mac and Shend. I was pretty quiet for these - I couldn't think of any good questions, and I didn't want to be a bore by asking something that had been asked a million times before! But it was lots of fun to listen to everyone else's and the weird tangents that followed! There was a lot of talk about deodorant ads and turkey costumes...
aaand that one time that Mac took off his shirt and declared he wanted to play the Hulk. I don't seem to have any photos of that because I was a bit busy going "what" but there's one on the official write up!
What happened next, well, you probably already know. There was some Big News to go out, but it couldn't be stated until midday, and there were a few minutes to go. Somehow this turned into a mass sing along to Tongue Tied to kill the minutes.
And then Doug Naylor walked onto the stage and the cheering was like God had shown up. Which I guess he sort of had.
Writers are trolls. I mean, that's no news, we all knew that, but Doug started out by stating that he wasn't announcing a new series of Red Dwarf. Pause. Everyone goes Very Quiet Indeed...
..he's announcing two new series!
Which is again not new news anymore, but the room EXPLODED. Sure, you all know now that there's two new series slated, but I get to say it was there when it was announced, and I've never been surrounded by so many happy fans! You bet I'm still super excited, X was amazing (and Beginning feels! so many feels!) and if the next two keep up like that it's going to be great. I'm sure it'll be great!
Chris joined Doug for some more questions... of course everyone wanted to know when filming was going to start and when the tickets were going on sale! Note to self, more things to do before I die. A lot of questions about how things would be affected by That Spoiler (if you've seen the Beginning, you know the one)... no word yet! There's apparently going to be a Cat episode somewhere in there, which makes me very happy because he hasn't had one since the first series! That's a loooong time to wait.
The autographs were next so I prepped Frankie.pointytilly had asked me to get something weird signed, and Frankie was the best idea I had... but she's too fluffy, so I picked up a packet of coloured luggage tags and tied them to her tail as a compromise. They ended up being the blue ones because the red ones vanished somwhere in the depths of my bag. Still, it worked. We each got to have a signature in our con books and one personal item - Frankie for me, the photos for my mum. I got a little worried that getting everyone to sign a bit of paper tied to a stuffed cat's butt was a bit too weird, but I went with it in the end because why not?
So we headed back downstairs. This wasn't an easy task because one of the lifts had broken, right when everyone else was going back to their rooms to grab stuff like us. The hotel were really good about fixing them quick, though. No certain death this time!
We got into... a queue. And we weren't too sure what the queue was for, to be honest, but it was there, so why not. Turned out it was for Doug and he was doing a quick session. I had a moment of oh crap oh crap I'm about to ask the co-creator of one of the best TV shows ever to sign a bit of paper tied to a cat's bum, what am I doing and how is this my life? but a guy a few places in front of us got a plastic dinosaur signed. So that's ok then. I was pretty quiet when it came to my turn. I wanted to say "by the way, your show possibly saved my life when I was a teenager and getting shit in school so thankyou a million times over" but I just grinned and was all "can I have my book signed and a tag on the kitty cat?" Well he obliged anyway, so it couldn't have been too weird!
Bonus autograph get!
Meanwhile I'm not too sure if this photo is in chronological order, but I took it anyway to celebrate that I snapped up a couple of tickets for the coffee lounge on Sunday. More on that in... well, Sunday's post, I guess!
We then moved onto the rest of the autographs, which was done by pass number - we were pretty late on the list. There was a lot of queuing, too. This is a theme. Remember what I said in Friday's post about soft shoes? Yeah, I write from experience. But it was all worth it!
I didn't get pics with Mac and Shend because I didn't know it was okay. I'M SORRY GUYS YOU WERE REALLY NICE I JUST DIDN'T KNOW IT WAS OK TO ASK. Had a funny moment when the girl in front of me asked Mac to sign a DVD cover, to which he got all mock indignant because he wasn't on it. He crossed out Lister instead, since Craig wasn't at the con. "That'll teach him not to show up!" I said.
Hattie was so lovely. She was the first person I asked for a photo with so I was extra nervous, but she was just so nice about it, and she recognised Frankenstein and offered to hold her so she wouldn't blend into my t-shirt (black cat, black shirt... should have thought that through really, but it was my geekiest top dammit). She even exclaimed "Oooh, you're the one with the pussycat!" when I showed up. I was so happy!
And last for today was Chris. I was super excited because Rimmer was always my favourite, and on rewatching the series he still is! Okay, I love them all, but Rimmer's my top choice. I know he's a git, but I just can't help liking him somehow. Guess I always felt sorry for him! It's some good writing to have a character you alternately want to hug and punch in the face several times in the span of the same scene, but that's him.
On a tangent, that's one of the things I'm growing to appreciate about Britcoms. I'm finding fandom is very often insistent that characters be shining examples of humanity, and sometimes that's a bit tiring. In a Britcom, you don't get Good Examples. You get plenty of jerks, and even the characters who are nice slip up and make mistakes. As an utter screwup myself, I appreciate that! We can't all be perfect.
I just hope I'm not that much of a prat...
Chris, on the other hand, is not a prat! We got a bit held up waiting for him though, because one of the girls a couple of places ahead of us had said the R-word in conversation with him. Turns out that's "railways" - hmm...
We had a bit of quiet time after that, so Frankie decided to lounge around the hotel for a bit. Look at that swank lobby!
This has nothing to do with the con. It was just outside the lift on our floor and I ended up breaking down and taking a photo.
Evening meant it was time for the costume competition. I was really excited for this because I'd seen photos from the earlier cons and there's so much creativity abounding. You wouldn't think there's much room for cosplay for a show about a handful of people in space after humanity goes extinct, but you'd be wrong.
Sadly I cranked the ISO up way too much to compensate for the light, so these came out pretty grainy. Admittedly my main camera is getting on a bit. Still, it does what I need it to most of the time.
I got a good seat for this too, right at the front. I put Frankie on the table behind me, and one of the guys sat around it exclaimed "FRANKENSTEIN!" Finally, someone gets it!
Rule one: there's always at least one Holovirus Rimmer. ALWAYS. I don't think I've ever seen anyone come as Mr Flibble, though!
Dave was back to do the presentation stuff. More loud shirts!
Cats! They were the red and blue hat factions, so spent a lot of the time hitting one another with the sausage and donut. Dave was quite happy when they explained that and it turned out it wasn't a metaphor for anything. Sausages, donuts... oh my.
Hands up those of you who are alive!
This was one of my favourites. I really liked Dog in Parallel Universe. He just wanted to be your friend! Shame about the butt sniffing.
The Dibbley family, complete with hotel bathrobes. Kind of cool to see some S8 love around. I didn't like it that much myself, but you know I'm no hater.
Nirvanah and Holoship Rimmer. These were hand made too, and apparently finished in a rush the day before. Hard to believe. I guess if not for the last minute, many things really wouldn't get done.
This guy was one of the people in our quiz team on Friday. OH CRAP I LET ACE DOWN. Oh, I'm sure he'd be cool with it...
I actually forgot who this girl had come as... ahh I'm so sorry!
This was another of my favourites! Rimmer on holiday, as seen in Justice. And that skutter! It rolled over the floor and everything. Apparently a vacuum cleaner died so it could live. Awesome.
If you're any good at lying, you can tell me what this person has come as!
Another favourite of mine, a really cool Inquisitor I'd seen roaming around all day. (Mac got a bit freaked out that morning when the girl inside asked him a question. "This guy! He follows me everywhere!") I got to talk to her on Sunday and see the costume up close, but that's for the next post.
Rimmer's dream from Thanks for The Memory. Recognised it instantly, that's one of my favourite episodes. Like I said, hugs and punches...
Legion! This poor guy couldn't actually speak in the suit. I guess at least he can take it off, which is more than you can say for the poor guy in the actual episode!
Really cool Starbug dress/hoodie. You can't see it from here, but she had a little cockpit window on the hood with the characters drawn on. And of course, the red and blue bulbs.
Miss Lola from Gunmen of the Apocalypse. Complete with Mind Rotter.
And this is the point where everyone said awww! Look at that cute Joy Squid. LOOKATIT. Apparently this kid's dad does a lot of cosplay too. Parenting: you're doing it right. My mum actually met the family at one point - kid and dad showed up to look at/pet Frankie, though I wasn't around at the time. She apparently went as Frankenstein herself at the last con too. Small world for cats. And squid.
Robocop Lister.
(not actual size)
This guy also ate his cigarette for authenticity...
You do see a lot of London Jets shirts floating around, I found. I guess they're good fan shirts because they don't look too unusual to the everyday observer, so you can wear them anywhere. And then someone asks... and you hook them in.
I loved this one - simple but effective.
I wonder who's next...
Yep, another one!
I actually saw this guy wandering around a few times over the day. That's not red-eye, he really had red contacts in!
Another Nirvanah! (Did I mention Holoship is another of my faves? Hmm there seems to be a pattern here...)
The big lineup.. I think I got everyone!
Holiday Rimmer and the skutter were third, and Robocop Lister second.
And the Joy Squid was first!
I really don't think I'd like to have been one of the judges for this one. Too many I'd want to give a prize to. Must have been a tough job.
The auction was next. It was going to be held in the morning, but got delayed since Chris was late. I didn't have any plans (or money) to get anything, but went to have a look before it started anyway. (To answer the question you probably have: it's a tissue dispenser)
Had to get a close up of the Lego ship. It's even got a little crew!
PSIRENS SCRIPT. I was regretting that lack of money here...
Really pretty ship model.
Things got off to a great start when one of the microphones broke. Hattie and Shend swapped mics at one point. And voices. Uh, it made sense in context..
Hattie reads off the Psirens script. "From Series Six... whatever that is..."
I think that's the most terrifying red eye in all my photos on that second one. I'm sorry!
The mug says things!
The Ace shirt... which Chris pointed out does not actually read "What Guy"
See? Tissue dispenser.
Shend kept waving around the Lego ship and making whooshy noises when it was up. Thankfully it got sold without breaking.
And after that, the disco! I didn't get many pics of that because... well, you try photographing a disco. Everything was pretty quiet until Hattie and Chris got onto the floor. I think you can make them out here. Apparently Chris does "dad dancing" which looks an awful lot like my own. I'm scared.
I mentioned a while ago that the surreality of the con goes down over the course of the day. In the morning I was going "what is this and how is it happening?" over and over. By the time we got to this picture I was all... "yes, I'm on the dance floor with Holly and Rimmer, and the DJ is the presenter of Get Your Own Back. Of course this is happening. I FEEL PERFECTLY NORMAL NOW."
At some point there was a spontaneous conga line to the Ghostbusters theme.
At around midnight my mum slipped off to bed, and I hung around a bit longer. Remember how I said in Friday's post that my mum has a special talent for just missing Danny? About five minutes after she left, he showed up and chatted to a few fans. I'd heard rumours he was showing up at midnight, though he wasn't billed to be on until Sunday. Well, I guess he did arrive Sunday...
I went to bed finally about an hour or so later. Turned out to be a bit of a mistake because Chris showed up again at the end and I missed him! Lesson learnt, it's not over until it's over.
More to come in Sunday's post!
This is a bit of a long one so I waffled for a while over the post! In the meantime, the official write up is here! And has been for a while... I'm just being lazy for mine. I also found a write up from another fan that perfectly captures the ahhh how is this happening adrenaline and caffeine fueled madness that is Dimension Jump.
As for my write-up, Saturday's the one full day of the con so this one's long. Here's an expert to tempt you in:
'I had a moment of oh crap oh crap I'm about to ask the co-creator of one of the best TV shows ever to sign a bit of paper tied to a cat's bum, what am I doing and how is this my life? but a guy a few places in front of us got a plastic dinosaur signed. So that's ok then.'
First off, breakfast time for me and Frankie. (And my mum, I guess.) Mmmm I love hotel breakfasts. You stuff your face with everything. My kind of meal.
I did have some toast, if anyone's wondering.
The morning schedule got a bit thrown off because of Chris getting stuck in traffic and being late to the photoshoots, so we did some milling about the hotel and seeing what was going on. So some pictures!
There's a spa around here somewhere. We didn't get a chance to try it out, but there was a party around the hotel who must have shown up for a spa weekend and were probably very confused.
Hanging around outside the merchandise room!
Frankie got a lot of nice attention, although a few people didn't quite get what she was meant to be. I guess probably understandable, since she only appeared for one scene in the first episode! I got a few people saying she looked like Salem from Sabrina the Teenage Witch, and when I looked at her again I could see the resemblence. I had more than a few people come up and ask to pet or photograph her, or ask about how she was made. And remember that text cut? We'll get to that in a minute.
Queuing up for the photos.
I got so. damn. nervous and I was super glad to have Frankie with me so I could cuddle something soft. When I go to another con (there's no if about it now) I will not neglect to bring one. The idea was I'd be holding her in the photo, but that... kind of didn't go to plan, in the best way. The photo sessions are pretty quick, so we walked in and said a couple of dazed sounding "Hi"s, in the manner of people thinking how is this happening I used to watch you guys over and over when I was a teenager what are we doing in the same room together how is this a thing. (Or not a teenager in my mum's case.) It gets a lot less surreal seeming as the weekend goes on, too, but at the start you're kind of wondering what happened in your life for this to be a thing. In a good way.
So I didn't get to hold Frankie, because as we walked in, Shend immediately exclaimed that he wanted to "hold the kitty!" So I gave her up and just stood there with the dazed grin of someone who doesn't realise there's a silly face being pulled behind them.
..I look such a dork.
And then just as we were leaving Hattie wanted to pet her! I was definitely shaking a bit as I left.
Aaanyway after that my mum was all "hey, you know that one guy who was chatting with us about how you made Frankie? That was Shend."
Oops. Didn't recognise him. And I felt bad because I couldn't remember his role, only that he was in S8, but to be fair I don't think I've seen that one since it was broadcast and that was... quiiite a long time ago. 1999? Oh crap, I'm old. I gotta rewatch.
Anyway the moral of the story is that now, nobody is allowed to call me a bad artist, ever.
Next up was question time with Mac and Shend. I was pretty quiet for these - I couldn't think of any good questions, and I didn't want to be a bore by asking something that had been asked a million times before! But it was lots of fun to listen to everyone else's and the weird tangents that followed! There was a lot of talk about deodorant ads and turkey costumes...
aaand that one time that Mac took off his shirt and declared he wanted to play the Hulk. I don't seem to have any photos of that because I was a bit busy going "what" but there's one on the official write up!
What happened next, well, you probably already know. There was some Big News to go out, but it couldn't be stated until midday, and there were a few minutes to go. Somehow this turned into a mass sing along to Tongue Tied to kill the minutes.
And then Doug Naylor walked onto the stage and the cheering was like God had shown up. Which I guess he sort of had.
Writers are trolls. I mean, that's no news, we all knew that, but Doug started out by stating that he wasn't announcing a new series of Red Dwarf. Pause. Everyone goes Very Quiet Indeed...
..he's announcing two new series!
Which is again not new news anymore, but the room EXPLODED. Sure, you all know now that there's two new series slated, but I get to say it was there when it was announced, and I've never been surrounded by so many happy fans! You bet I'm still super excited, X was amazing (and Beginning feels! so many feels!) and if the next two keep up like that it's going to be great. I'm sure it'll be great!
Chris joined Doug for some more questions... of course everyone wanted to know when filming was going to start and when the tickets were going on sale! Note to self, more things to do before I die. A lot of questions about how things would be affected by That Spoiler (if you've seen the Beginning, you know the one)... no word yet! There's apparently going to be a Cat episode somewhere in there, which makes me very happy because he hasn't had one since the first series! That's a loooong time to wait.
The autographs were next so I prepped Frankie.
pointytilly had asked me to get something weird signed, and Frankie was the best idea I had... but she's too fluffy, so I picked up a packet of coloured luggage tags and tied them to her tail as a compromise. They ended up being the blue ones because the red ones vanished somwhere in the depths of my bag. Still, it worked. We each got to have a signature in our con books and one personal item - Frankie for me, the photos for my mum. I got a little worried that getting everyone to sign a bit of paper tied to a stuffed cat's butt was a bit too weird, but I went with it in the end because why not? So we headed back downstairs. This wasn't an easy task because one of the lifts had broken, right when everyone else was going back to their rooms to grab stuff like us. The hotel were really good about fixing them quick, though. No certain death this time!
We got into... a queue. And we weren't too sure what the queue was for, to be honest, but it was there, so why not. Turned out it was for Doug and he was doing a quick session. I had a moment of oh crap oh crap I'm about to ask the co-creator of one of the best TV shows ever to sign a bit of paper tied to a cat's bum, what am I doing and how is this my life? but a guy a few places in front of us got a plastic dinosaur signed. So that's ok then. I was pretty quiet when it came to my turn. I wanted to say "by the way, your show possibly saved my life when I was a teenager and getting shit in school so thankyou a million times over" but I just grinned and was all "can I have my book signed and a tag on the kitty cat?" Well he obliged anyway, so it couldn't have been too weird!
Bonus autograph get!
Meanwhile I'm not too sure if this photo is in chronological order, but I took it anyway to celebrate that I snapped up a couple of tickets for the coffee lounge on Sunday. More on that in... well, Sunday's post, I guess!
We then moved onto the rest of the autographs, which was done by pass number - we were pretty late on the list. There was a lot of queuing, too. This is a theme. Remember what I said in Friday's post about soft shoes? Yeah, I write from experience. But it was all worth it!
I didn't get pics with Mac and Shend because I didn't know it was okay. I'M SORRY GUYS YOU WERE REALLY NICE I JUST DIDN'T KNOW IT WAS OK TO ASK. Had a funny moment when the girl in front of me asked Mac to sign a DVD cover, to which he got all mock indignant because he wasn't on it. He crossed out Lister instead, since Craig wasn't at the con. "That'll teach him not to show up!" I said.
Hattie was so lovely. She was the first person I asked for a photo with so I was extra nervous, but she was just so nice about it, and she recognised Frankenstein and offered to hold her so she wouldn't blend into my t-shirt (black cat, black shirt... should have thought that through really, but it was my geekiest top dammit). She even exclaimed "Oooh, you're the one with the pussycat!" when I showed up. I was so happy!
And last for today was Chris. I was super excited because Rimmer was always my favourite, and on rewatching the series he still is! Okay, I love them all, but Rimmer's my top choice. I know he's a git, but I just can't help liking him somehow. Guess I always felt sorry for him! It's some good writing to have a character you alternately want to hug and punch in the face several times in the span of the same scene, but that's him.
On a tangent, that's one of the things I'm growing to appreciate about Britcoms. I'm finding fandom is very often insistent that characters be shining examples of humanity, and sometimes that's a bit tiring. In a Britcom, you don't get Good Examples. You get plenty of jerks, and even the characters who are nice slip up and make mistakes. As an utter screwup myself, I appreciate that! We can't all be perfect.
I just hope I'm not that much of a prat...
Chris, on the other hand, is not a prat! We got a bit held up waiting for him though, because one of the girls a couple of places ahead of us had said the R-word in conversation with him. Turns out that's "railways" - hmm...
We had a bit of quiet time after that, so Frankie decided to lounge around the hotel for a bit. Look at that swank lobby!
This has nothing to do with the con. It was just outside the lift on our floor and I ended up breaking down and taking a photo.
Evening meant it was time for the costume competition. I was really excited for this because I'd seen photos from the earlier cons and there's so much creativity abounding. You wouldn't think there's much room for cosplay for a show about a handful of people in space after humanity goes extinct, but you'd be wrong.
Sadly I cranked the ISO up way too much to compensate for the light, so these came out pretty grainy. Admittedly my main camera is getting on a bit. Still, it does what I need it to most of the time.
I got a good seat for this too, right at the front. I put Frankie on the table behind me, and one of the guys sat around it exclaimed "FRANKENSTEIN!" Finally, someone gets it!
Rule one: there's always at least one Holovirus Rimmer. ALWAYS. I don't think I've ever seen anyone come as Mr Flibble, though!
Dave was back to do the presentation stuff. More loud shirts!
Cats! They were the red and blue hat factions, so spent a lot of the time hitting one another with the sausage and donut. Dave was quite happy when they explained that and it turned out it wasn't a metaphor for anything. Sausages, donuts... oh my.
Hands up those of you who are alive!
This was one of my favourites. I really liked Dog in Parallel Universe. He just wanted to be your friend! Shame about the butt sniffing.
The Dibbley family, complete with hotel bathrobes. Kind of cool to see some S8 love around. I didn't like it that much myself, but you know I'm no hater.
Nirvanah and Holoship Rimmer. These were hand made too, and apparently finished in a rush the day before. Hard to believe. I guess if not for the last minute, many things really wouldn't get done.
This guy was one of the people in our quiz team on Friday. OH CRAP I LET ACE DOWN. Oh, I'm sure he'd be cool with it...
I actually forgot who this girl had come as... ahh I'm so sorry!
This was another of my favourites! Rimmer on holiday, as seen in Justice. And that skutter! It rolled over the floor and everything. Apparently a vacuum cleaner died so it could live. Awesome.
If you're any good at lying, you can tell me what this person has come as!
Another favourite of mine, a really cool Inquisitor I'd seen roaming around all day. (Mac got a bit freaked out that morning when the girl inside asked him a question. "This guy! He follows me everywhere!") I got to talk to her on Sunday and see the costume up close, but that's for the next post.
Rimmer's dream from Thanks for The Memory. Recognised it instantly, that's one of my favourite episodes. Like I said, hugs and punches...
Legion! This poor guy couldn't actually speak in the suit. I guess at least he can take it off, which is more than you can say for the poor guy in the actual episode!
Really cool Starbug dress/hoodie. You can't see it from here, but she had a little cockpit window on the hood with the characters drawn on. And of course, the red and blue bulbs.
Miss Lola from Gunmen of the Apocalypse. Complete with Mind Rotter.
And this is the point where everyone said awww! Look at that cute Joy Squid. LOOKATIT. Apparently this kid's dad does a lot of cosplay too. Parenting: you're doing it right. My mum actually met the family at one point - kid and dad showed up to look at/pet Frankie, though I wasn't around at the time. She apparently went as Frankenstein herself at the last con too. Small world for cats. And squid.
Robocop Lister.
(not actual size)
This guy also ate his cigarette for authenticity...
You do see a lot of London Jets shirts floating around, I found. I guess they're good fan shirts because they don't look too unusual to the everyday observer, so you can wear them anywhere. And then someone asks... and you hook them in.
I loved this one - simple but effective.
I wonder who's next...
Yep, another one!
I actually saw this guy wandering around a few times over the day. That's not red-eye, he really had red contacts in!
Another Nirvanah! (Did I mention Holoship is another of my faves? Hmm there seems to be a pattern here...)
The big lineup.. I think I got everyone!
Holiday Rimmer and the skutter were third, and Robocop Lister second.
And the Joy Squid was first!
I really don't think I'd like to have been one of the judges for this one. Too many I'd want to give a prize to. Must have been a tough job.
The auction was next. It was going to be held in the morning, but got delayed since Chris was late. I didn't have any plans (or money) to get anything, but went to have a look before it started anyway. (To answer the question you probably have: it's a tissue dispenser)
Had to get a close up of the Lego ship. It's even got a little crew!
PSIRENS SCRIPT. I was regretting that lack of money here...
Really pretty ship model.
Things got off to a great start when one of the microphones broke. Hattie and Shend swapped mics at one point. And voices. Uh, it made sense in context..
Hattie reads off the Psirens script. "From Series Six... whatever that is..."
I think that's the most terrifying red eye in all my photos on that second one. I'm sorry!
The mug says things!
The Ace shirt... which Chris pointed out does not actually read "What Guy"
See? Tissue dispenser.
Shend kept waving around the Lego ship and making whooshy noises when it was up. Thankfully it got sold without breaking.
And after that, the disco! I didn't get many pics of that because... well, you try photographing a disco. Everything was pretty quiet until Hattie and Chris got onto the floor. I think you can make them out here. Apparently Chris does "dad dancing" which looks an awful lot like my own. I'm scared.
I mentioned a while ago that the surreality of the con goes down over the course of the day. In the morning I was going "what is this and how is it happening?" over and over. By the time we got to this picture I was all... "yes, I'm on the dance floor with Holly and Rimmer, and the DJ is the presenter of Get Your Own Back. Of course this is happening. I FEEL PERFECTLY NORMAL NOW."
At some point there was a spontaneous conga line to the Ghostbusters theme.
At around midnight my mum slipped off to bed, and I hung around a bit longer. Remember how I said in Friday's post that my mum has a special talent for just missing Danny? About five minutes after she left, he showed up and chatted to a few fans. I'd heard rumours he was showing up at midnight, though he wasn't billed to be on until Sunday. Well, I guess he did arrive Sunday...
I went to bed finally about an hour or so later. Turned out to be a bit of a mistake because Chris showed up again at the end and I missed him! Lesson learnt, it's not over until it's over.
More to come in Sunday's post!