Con Report: Wales Comic Con 2011

[eldabe]

NOTE: I wrote this up anticipating that I would have the videos of the Torchwood panel uploaded to my Vimeo account already. Unfortunately, I can't seem to split the video to upload without loosing the sound. So you can see the videos...but you can't hear anything. I'll update this post when I can finally get the videos uploaded properly, but for now I just typed up whole quotes for this post
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To sum up: EEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeEEEEEEEEEE!! \o/ \o\ /o/ \o\ /o/ \o/

I'm not sure how else to fully articulate how awesome it was. But I'll try.

First of all, it's the absolute smallest convention I've ever been to. Besides being a one-day convention, it was tiny. The whole con was in the gym of Glyndwr University, in Wrexham, Wales. There was an area set up for pictures, an area set up for panels, and tables for everything else. It was fantastic.

Why? Well, in small cons, you can meet people.

First, I met a_silver_story before I even got on the train to Wrexham. Listen, it's sometimes easy to identify people going to conventions, ok? (It didn't click that I've read her blog a bajillion times until I looked her up, though. In my head, it's the blog with the hilarious Jack/Ianto header. Have you seen the header? Have you?) And it was her birthday, so how fantastic was that?

Aaaaanyway, we were together in the line, and then we split up into people buying tickets at the door and people who bought in advance. *raises neurotic hand* So then I met these two lovely German women who flew in from Germany for this convention and ilizze. Which was brilliant! ilizze and I walked straight up to the photo-people, because she definitely wanted a photo. Until that very moment, I wasn't planning on getting one. Really! I wasn't!

That's when I started just throwing money away. (Worth it.)

We walked around the whole convention, plotting where Gareth was going to be sitting, and where the pictures were. ilizze had stuff for James Moran to sign, so we started heading there, but we got sidetracked by this cool comic group from Swansea who were doing a collaborative comic panel-by-panel. We each drew a panel for fun. That was, I admit, basically the only thing I did that involved comic books at the con. If I'd really thought it through, I might have approached the comic artists and asked them what it was like to work for an American company in the UK, which I am interested in. Guess I'll have to go back, huh? :D

Then we spoke to James Moran and then fiwen1010 came! I got to witness fiwen1010 and a_silver_story meet each other, and it was pretty awesome, let me tell you. Fans Meeting Fans: Best Part of Conventions.

But to be honest, I was at the con for one reason only. And he came downstairs while we were chatting.

We got in line to see him, and I tried not to shriek like a ridiculous fan (I was fighting a crazy adrenaline rush and having a surreal moment) and thought through my pre-planned casual things to say. And then I met him and totally froze and botched up taking a picture of him. *buries head* At least he probably doesn't remember me, although I may have given up my only chance to ask him about the comic he wrote, which is what I brought for him to sign.

At least I didn't faint, right?

Well, then we went over to the picture-taking booth thing, and was a lot more calm when I spoke to him. ("Hi" "Hi, how are you doing?" "Good, how about you?" "Good." *click*) but was utterly unmemorable. Which is still better than being the crazy one.

We stayed to watch a_silver_story get her awesome fez picture with Gareth, and then we trooped over to the panel area, to claim our seats. An hour and half early.

We sat through the Red Dwarf panel, which I've decided is a good thing if I ever become a Red Dwarf fan. (My association with Red Dwarf is thus. When I was hugely involved in the LotR fandom, there was one author who I believe wrote this epic meta fic about this academy that educated badfic writers about the right way to write fic. Anyway, she also wrote a few Red Dwarf fics. This was literally the only thing I knew about the show.)

Then they delayed the Torchwood panel for an hour, until after the wrestling panel. Most everyone left, except ilizze and I, who moved to better seats. And the group with this one Jack cosplayer, who was awesome and clearly a fan of absolutely everything.

I sat through a panel on wrestling for GDL. It wasn't as bad as it could have been, though. I actually find wrestling mildly hilarious -- I refer to it as "soaps for men" in my head. So you have to understand that it was kinda interesting to listen to.

BUT NOT AS INTERESTING AS GARETH DAVID-LLOYD AND JAMES MORAN BEING AWESOME AT EACH OTHER.

Before the panel, fiwen1010 and a_silver_story and a huge bunch of other people came back, of course.

I recorded the whole panel on my flip. (My real camera, which actually has better quality, broke before the con. I was stuck taking pictures on my phone the whole con.) They are supposed to be uploaded here, but something is going wrong with the cutting process, so I keep losing sound.

To sum up: Gareth David-Lloyd and James Moran were hilarious together, clearly very comfortable with each other. Highlights include them making many, many jokes about Ianto's death, and the fact that Moran killed him again in Girl Number Nine. When the interviewer asked the inevitable "What was it like to kiss John Barrowoman?" question, the fans all groaned and James Moran stepped forward and said, "It actually wasn't too bad. We were...in his dressing room, and he's like 'Can you help me with this?' I mean, it's how you get the job. There are some things you have to do."

LOLERS.

Most importantly for this post, Gareth David-Lloyd was asked how he though Ianto was recruited to TW1, and he said, "I think Torchwood probably handpicked people, they go through school stats and the just sort of...handpicked. He was probably...approached and [was told] this is a secret organization, do you want to join? And if he said no, they would have retconned him. But he didn't. He said yes. *SMIRKY SMILE* So I'd say it was his school statistics and his ability with coffee that got him the job."

(For the record: GDL might live in my head on this one. Which is funny, because we disagree on other things about Ianto.)

Regardless, they were right there! It was so cool!

Right before the panel, I read Jame Moran's short story in the Consequences Torchwood book, (borrowed from ilizze). It's extremely tongue-in-cheek, but there is one scene when Ianto basically pulls Jack out of a coma by whispering about some sort of significant into his ear. ilizze and I went right over to James Moran and asked him what Ianto said. Because when are we going to have such a perfect opportunity, right?

He, of course, refused to tell us, even though we pleaded. So I asked, "Is it a sex thing or a sentimental thing?"

He responded, "A little bit of both."

WRITERS. He did say that he felt it was better for the fans to come up with their own interpretations. Which we'll do anyway. And he did include the cross-dressing team scene, so we'll forgive him.

Then we went over to GDL to get him to sign the pictures we took with him (MORE MONAY) and to ask him more about one of the questions during the panel. You see, we were discussing how Ianto might have gotten recruited to TW1, and then GDL's response on that.

As it says in Fragments that Ianto was only so-so in school, we wanted to know why TW1 would have chosen to recruit him. Gareth David-Lloyd said the same thing I would have said, basically that TW1 was clearly looking at other qualities in their recruits than just raw grades.

THIS is when I managed to be awkwardly fannish and kept talking to him when I should have walked away. But he left the con floor pretty soon after, and odds are he still won't remember me, so I've decided to suppress the bit of me that's dying inside. Plus, I was an American at the Wales Comic Con. I don't think I heard another American accent that day. (WHICH IS PRETTY AWESOME. BRITISH ACCENTS ARE SO DARN COOL.) Meaning that I can blame any pushiness on my innate Americanness. Yes, this works in the UK. People found me "amusing" rather than ridiculously bothersome at times.

fiwen1010 left about this time, which is a million times sadder, because we've met up three times in the UK, and now I don't know when I'll ever see her again. I MISS YOU, FIWEN.

a_silver_story also left before the concert, which is reasonable, because we had very little idea when it was supposed to start or end. Facebook said 7-10, but really, who knew?

Then ilizze and I walked into town to find some dinner and we swung by the train station because I was still figuring out what I was doing about transportation that night. (Originally, I was taking a cab. Thanks to ilizze, I ended up taking a train. It was the craziest night ever.

We went out to dinner, and as we were sitting down, a while group of women from the con just strolled on in, and we joined them in a big table of AWESOME. They were all Blue Gillespie fans and we chatted and had a great time and exchanged names and we ended up sitting with them at the concert. I don't remember everyone's name, but absdax and I had already had fun with the Supernatural car for a bit. (Again, haven't seen more than one episode of Supernatural, but what if I become a fan one day, huh??)

Right, the concert!

So, I've listened to Blue Gillispie music on MySpace and such before, so I knew what I was in for before I got there. All I have to say is that they are waaaaay better in concert. Just, no comparison. I admit that I might have been distracted by Gareth's arms, though. (Drummer did not take off his shirt, despite encouragement from the band and the crowd.) It was a really fun time. I took a few videos, they should be up soon. James Moran was hanging out in the back for most of it, chatting with people from what I can tell. I got a mixed drink that no one has heard of in America. Awesome cap to the convention.

I took the train back with ilizze, and we ended up talking Ianto meta for well over an hour. GOOD TIMES. GOOD TIMES. :D :D :D

I took some videos at the concert, and hopefully I'll get those up as well at some point as well! Argh, technology.