I don't have much convention experience. I attended the very first Melbourn Comic Con. Last year I attended the local speculative fiction convention, Conflux. But, inspired by the yearly Gallifrey episodes from the wonderful Radio Free Skaro podcast, I decided that I simply had to attend this one, even if it meant international flights.
I'm so glad that I did.
The four days that I was in Los Angeles was the most amazing experience.
I was very lucky. I may be shy, but I have been associated with The Happiness Patrol podcast for the past year, and the majority of members were attending the con. So on the Thursday afternoon after registering, I plonked myself in the lobby of the LAX Marriott (I was staying next door in the LAX Hilton) and put out a call on Facebook. I was soon scooped up by the ever enthusiastic Lewis and the rest of the gang.
I should note that one thing I was very pleased by during registration was that along with the program, I was given a bright orange sheet of paper containing the convention policies, including a harrassment policy. That's always a good sign of a well run con, I believe.
The Happiness Patrol was not the only group of podcasters that I met on that Thursday night. I met 2/3 of Radio Free Skaro (The remaining third, Warren, remained elusive through out the con, though he commented on my cosplay twice - I was just always on my way somewhere!). Steven seemed quite baffled that I'd crossed the Pacific on the recommendation of three guys from Canada. I also met 3/6 of Verity! podcast, which was lovely (Friday made it 4/6 as I was introduced to Liz as the Aussie fan in the hat). Kat was especially kind, as I lost The Happiness Patrol at one point, and I became one of her ducklings for the evening along with Giles and Mick. *winks*
The point where I had to stamp down on my fannish glee on the Thursday, however, was when I was introduced to Paul Cornell. He was as utterly lovely as I expected, and I was quite proud of myself for being able to add some vaguely sensible comments to the discussion about comics (I'm quite new to the genre).
It actually turned out to be a very Cornell-ish weekend. I dropped by his Saturday signing, as I'd lugged my paperback copy of London Falling along with me (and in fact had started re-reading it on the plane). After that, nearly every panel I ended up going to seemed to have him on it! I didn't mean to be a stalker, pAul, I'm sorry. I was even in the audience at the masquerade (the cosplay contest) where he ran a game of 'Just A Minute' in the interval.
That was quite hilarious, with Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant vying for top spot (Nicola won), Nicola constantly being challenged before finishign a particularly funny story, only to start it again the next time it was her turn, Katy Manning being argumentative and poor Daphne Ashbrook being completely out of her depth.
Goodness, everything is getting a bit out of order. Oh well.
I went to the Radio Free Skaro live show on the Friday morning which was much fun. I attended panels discussing both race and gender in Doctor Who, fan entitlement, the Matt Smith era, and the Paul Cronell panel about London Falling (a surprise, yes?). Deb Stanish asked some very interesting questions, Paul gave interesting answers, and now I'm terribly excited for the release of The Severed Streets in May.
I even cosplayed on the Saturday, debuting my hastily constructed Osgood costume. There were rather a lot of Osgoods running about, including my felloe Happiness Patroller, Michelle.
Another highlight of the weekend was listening in on Lewis interview Daphne Ashbrook and Paul McGann for The Happiness Patrol. I was able to introduce myself to Daphne afterwards, and then listen as she sang in the lobby will Lewis and others played guitar. She has such a lovely voice. I really need to track down her album.
Oooh, I also briefly met Katy Manning! No photos, but she is utterly adorable.
A wrap up of the weekend would not be complete without mentioning the awesome Greek restaurant that we ate at twice. I didn't like Greek food previously, my only example of which was the place in Canberra. The place we ate at in LA, however, was OMG so delicious. I miss it already.
Even after the official con finished, it still stayed brilliant, as I managed to meet Nat from the now defunct Bridging The Rift podcast late on Sunday night (well, early on Monday morning to be honest) and we chatted happily for a couple of hours.
I may not be able to afford to go to America every year, but count me in for 2016!
