Donald B. McFarlane's Blog, page 12
October 30, 2016
London Comic-Con 2016
It’s Sunday, and we’re off to London Comic-Con today. I haven’t been to an event like this since Dragon-Con more than a decade ago.
Knocked out a quick run in the fog on the Common first thing.
A little wordsmithing to get the mind ready for the geek-fest.
This film has potential.
Le Tube.
We arrive.
Paid a little extra for Priority entry. It was worth it. Zero line to wait in. Everyone else had to queue for a while.
Lots of VR on display.
Transformers.
White man saving ancient China from monsters. Totally Hollywood.
Spoke with a chap who was selling his books. While he said he has sold some books over the years, he doens’t think the large conferences are worth the £.
Lots of Suicide Squad variations.
Mercy from Overwatch.
She was kind enough to allow the GF to take a picture.
As you’d expect, a massive Japanese influence on the event. Had some lovely Japanese food for lunch.
Vintage video games for sale.
I have no idea why I took this photo.
In need of arms and armour?
Tony Stark. Nice suit.
I had one of these.
It seems like Andrew Lloyd Webber donated some performers.
VR pool.
The Joker doesn’t seem to mind being taken into custody by Gotham City PD.
Who you gonna call?
I might be familiar with this game.
Big Magic the Gathering store.
Lego meets Fantastic Beasts.
A popular costume this year.
I have no idea what this is.
Those suits cannot be comfortable.
As much as I like Luc Besson, I have zero faith in Cara Delevingne.
Back to the Future.
Aliens is one of my favourite films.
It didn’t end well for Bishop.
Xenomorph.
Lots of people playing video games.
Ditto.
So you’re telling me the Umbrella Corporation are the good-guys?
The Force is strong with the younglings.
Zombie teddy-bear. Naturally.
More VR.
Captain Lee Adama.
Comsume. Obey
That was fun.
Conclusions: Comic-Con was fun. Lots of great costumes, lots of horrible costumes. A lot of diverse fantasy and Sc-Fi wears on offer from a variety of sellers. Buy, consume, repeat. From my perspective, I found it enjoyable with a dark underlining. Why? If we ignore all the consumerism on offer, I look at all the authors trying to sell their books. Sitting behind their crappy little tables with a small stack of books in front of them waiting for someone to come by and make a purchase, probably not, maybe a chat. Is that my future? The average UK authur earningis is around £13k a year. Sitting there trying to hock my crappy sci-fi books at a mega convention? Then there are those other people. The actors you might remember from that show. You can get an autograph or maybe a picture with them. While that is going on, RR Martin is laughing all the way to the bank with his annual $25 million income and major film and TV stars are living it up in LA. Sure, they’ll show up to the necessary appearances here and there, but today, seeing those artists, authors, and actors who are trying to sell their works, not some Star Wars toys or comic books, it really hit me. Depressing to say the least.
