Sunday 23 March 2014

Adventures at Comic Con

Many moons ago Daniel was talking about attending a Comic Convention once he got strong enough in terms of his stamina in his wheelchair and managing his anxiety. I mentioned I wish I was thinner as I'd love to do cosplay. Daniel laughed at me and told me anyone could cosplay. I did some searches and found quite a few plus size Poison Ivy cosplayers and thought "yes I could do that".

I will do another post about my journey to finding my Poison Ivy, and how I did it.

I arrived bright and early at Comic Con in Birmingham and waited for Daniel. This was a good time to see some of the others and there was a group of three lovely young girls, all curvy in very cool cosplay outfits, completely sewn by themselves. You can find their Tumblr here .

Daniel finally arrived, and he looked completely stunning. His beard was back, his costume looked amazing and the wheelchair really did stand out with the Stark Industry stickers.

I really enjoyed dressing up as Poison Ivy and got a lot of attention and comments. I had never attending a comic con before, much less tried cosplay, and I think I am hooked!

I found the actual convention good but frustrating as there were so many people, and a whole empty hall, It would have been better to spread the stalls over both, or have the signing and talk area seperately. As Daniel says in his post, the noise was a huge issue.

I managed to have the beginnings of a panic attack. The crowds got to me, and I felt a bit responsible for Daniel as I knew crowds aren't his favourite thing either. I'm also struggling sleeping and being overtired really didn't help.

I was really brave, I am actually quite a shy person but there were two people I wanted autographs of. The first was Scott Adkins. I know of him as the manager of Holby City but he's now more famous as a rather dishy martial arts actor. He was very sweet and posed for a picture.


I debated getting another, as at £15 a pop they aren't cheap but I really wanted Billy Murray from The Bill. He was there because of his more recent work doing voices on video games. I waited patiently and he said "oh I am glad you came over, where is your handsome friend in the wheelchair?" I explained he was in the cosplay area. He was very kind and signed a picture, but no picture with him sadly, because he didn't have a minder I think. But it was great to speak to an actor I idolised and to find him to be a nice person.

My main feeling about the day is one of pride. Daniel and I have been friends for over two years now, and if you'd told me that one day we'd be dressed up at one of the busiest comic events in the country I would have said you were mad. We have come such a long way in our friendship and have grown in confidence immensely. I am now planning my next one, and this time my costume will be much more unique!