Will call was on Friday, thankfully I went because of the lines for it the next day. It started to rain
So thankfully I brought a walking dead hoodie with me and we had to wait about 2 hours to get my grand admission 2 day tickets and photo op for Norman Reedus (Daryl). Already saw someone cosplay as Andrew Lincoln (Rick) who fooled quite a lot of people as most of them started taking pictures with him and shouting out "Andrew".
Line on Saturday was INSANELY long, 12,000 people lined up. Imagine an airport passport control right before you aboard, them lines make you annoyed because of walking left, right, left, right and so on due to the barriers. Arrived at about 9:30, meaning only VIP, GOLD and PLATINUM tickets were allowed in first as grand admission are only being let in at 10:30. However, due to so many people lined up for GA, had to wait about 3 hours to get into the building, which I didn't mind to be honest because I was way too excite for my first time at the convention. Some people dressed as walker started walking around and scaring people in lines. Once I turned around and a walker was staring right at my face up close, I slightly jumped and smiled to myself.
Some people, after waiting hours in the line were turned out and were not let in due to them wearing bags that exceeded the allowance, for example only see through backpacks were allowed, only handbags and tote bags or any other small bags that you can just open and right away see what's in there were allowed. Therefore people with normal backpacks were not let in. I got annoyed at the fact that they started complaining about it, considering it literally tells you what you can't and can bring to the convention.
Right as soon as I got in I went to see a few panels, which included Khary and Cooper (Ezekiel and his helper who's name I forgot). They both are funny people, surely made me laugh a couple times along with the audience. Since it was Cooper's birthday, the audience sang happy birthday to him along with khary. Then. Khary started talking about how people didn't care in the show when his men died, but when the tiger died everyone suddenly got shocked and sad.
After that, all GA fans were forced to exit the panel and re-exit for the next one which would start in 10 minutes. Meaning, if you got a good seat you'll have to abandon it for the next panel. And due to the line up there is a higher chance of someone else taking that good seat because of the people closer to the exit who get to the line up faster, and those seats are further away from the stage, meaning you'll be further away from the stage than you already were before unless you manage to line up before the panel ends. Besides, right after a panel, it is very crowded so hard to squeeze through to be in the first line for the upcoming panels.
Next panel I saw included Pollyanna (Jadis) :bademoticon: , Austin (Dwight), Steven (Simon) and Steven (Nicholas). It was also a really funny panel, Simon and Nicholas had a really good sense of humour. The crowd especially loved Steven Ogg (Simon). The interviewer asked the audience which one is the most likely to rive over the seasons and the audience mostly cheered for Simon and the saviours, but when it came to Nicholas, Nicholas cheered for himself along with some of the audience, which made it even more funny, considering Nicholas never had an army.
Afterwards, I looked around Olympia, there was a walker maze charging people £5 per entrance per person. There were a lot of stalls that sold merchandise, not just Walking Dead but also Game of thrones, Guardians of the galaxy, Avengers, Stranger things, Annabelle, Chucky and etc. The stuff was a lot cheaper (surprisingly) than what you'd pay in a local comic book store. For example, everywhere I've seen, even online, Daryl pop vinyl figures are £15-20, but in the event, it only cost £10. People were selling all kinds of stuff, jewellery, Lucilles, Daryl's crossbows, giant groots, annabelles in many sizes, talking chukies, keychains, clothes, posters and anything else you'd expect from a comic book store with extra.
However, do not buy food or drinks at the event, it's not worth it, bring your own as a small bottle of water costs £2.50.
I made friends with this lady in the que for Norman Reedus (Daryl) :bademoticon: :bademoticon: :bademoticon: , we started talking about him, how sweet he is and etc. Then spoke about supernatural and Jeffrey Dean Morgan (Negan), about his part in it as John Winchester. Saw Norman act like a diva and get out of his photo op tent then get back in 2 minutes later after he was done making a small circle around the fans.
For the photo op on Saturday, I was group C, so the photo op was at 4pm for me. Norman called me cutie as he stretched out his arm for a side hug to pose for the photo. He said "Awh, you alright, cutie?" before the picture was taken. I said "Can't wait for death stranding" and after it was taken he replied "It will be good, it will be amazing". Shame I could only say a sentence due to the fans having to come in, get a photo taken and get out. I would have wanted an autograph from him just so I could have spoken to him more, however, if you haven't bought it previously, only GOLD and PLATINUM have access to it (For cash sales). Then VIP and only then GA. But it would of been worth it for whatever the price would of been because I would of preferred to talk to him for 2 minutes instead of 2 seconds like I did. I paid £120 for the photo and do not regret it, I love the way it turned out and just being next to him was a great experience, considering he's been my favourite actor for about 4 years now. I also remember how nice he smelled
as if he sprayed 5+ bottles on himself.
I saw Jeffrey (Negan) :bademoticon: :bademoticon: :bademoticon: briefly, hugging a fan. Was Interesting to see him in real life.
On Sunday the lines were quite faster but just because I arrived at 10:30 which was already the time when they began to let people in. This time I only had to wait about 1 hour and 30 minutes because of the faster moving lines than Saturday where we had to wait a lot. Before I got into the loooong line, the security checked for deodorants, which were not allowed apparently and other stuff like usual (e.g. weapons, harmful liquids and etc.). Took a look down at the security's table and saw a huge stash of deodorants, like oh wow, a lot of walking dead fans bring that stuff to the convention. As soon as they check your bag they put on a sticker around a handle as an approval.
If you want to go to the toilet - good luck. Just don't ask, just good luck.
I met Tom Payne (Jesus)
on that very day. We said hi, then hugged then he asked me where I was from, after I answered, I gave him my phone and asked him if we could take serious and silly selfies. He took like 6 when I expected him to only take a few. I think it was worth it considering I paid £40 for it. He was a really nice guy. Then I asked if jesus was gay and he answered "yes", I said "Is he actually?" and he reassured "yep" then I said "Cuz I ship him and Daryl" so he joked saying "Fingers crossed".
Anyways, I already saw the difference in how much time you get when you're in a photo op (seconds) and when you're in a line for autographs/selfies (minutes).
In the line for Tom Payne I saw a pair of cos-players, one as Jesus and the other as Clementine
After that, I watched a panel with Michael Rooker (Merle)
, which was also very entertaining, he spoke about Black Ops and his role in GOTG (Yondu).
As I went upstairs I passed Steven Ogg (Simon) :bademoticon: :bademoticon:
without even realising. I so badly wanted to say that he had ONE job,
Spoilers to kill one and he killed everyone but one. But oh well, was nice enough.
Next year I promised myself to get at least VIP tickets so I could skip the lines and enter 1 hour early (9:30 instead of 10:30).
P.S. The actors seemed quite short in reality
and throughout the whole comic con, only saw people cosplay as Negan, Carl, Rick, Rosita, Jesus, Clementine, Walkers, Carol - but none as Daryl haha.
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