Review: Guildford Comic Con

Over the Bank Holiday weekend Guildford held its first ever Comic Con, and having had a week to digest the experience I am pleased to say that I still feel it was a success. Having been to several conventions in America and ones in London I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect when preparing for this one. Would attendance be good? Would people cosplay or would they be too shy? Should I dress up myself and risk being one of the few?

Luckily, I was going with two good friends of mine – and they couldn’t be more different. One was a first time convention goer and had no idea what to expect, the other is the type of person who throws himself into every event at every single opportunity. Simply stated I knew I wouldn’t be the most over the top person there and I really did want to have the whole convention experience. As someone who often struggles with large groups of people cosplay is a coping method for me. I don’t have to be myself in that group of people, I can take on a persona. I chose two different costumes to wear over the weekend, ones that I had tried and tested before and felt comfortable in, which allowed me to experience the rest of it without any concerns.

On the Saturday there was some trepidation as I heard some reports of people leaving an hour after arriving and there generally not being much interest in the guests etc. We were finishing off our costumes and so didn’t make it to the venue until almost midday, which is when the day release tickets went on sale. Arriving at the Spectrum my confidence wasn’t boosted much either. The signage towards the event was pretty poor and as we approached the main entrance to the building we were notified by a couple of people in hi-vis vests that it would be easiest for us to make our way into the venue via the underground carpark. It did feel a little bit like we were being hidden away I have to say!

Yet as we made our way I felt my worry subside a little, we weren’t the only ones dressed up and the groups of people arriving were all in the spirit of other comic con’s I’d been to before. People of all shapes, sizes, ages and whole families were there. A whole family of four dressed up in Star Wars regalia were especially memorable. As were three friends dressed up as the Sanderson sisters from Hocus Pocus. 

There were also the technically excellent costumes such as a lady we met who had made a truly epic battle Charizard, please go see her on Instagram at @misspikacosplay or the stunning Ariel who made one of the most gorgeous dresses I’d ever seen, again please check her out on twitter (@ballerinamousee)! What was noticeable was the real sense of community at the venue. We had long conversations with total strangers about topics that none of us had previously chatted about and the stallholders were especially friendly, not pushy about selling their wares and just enjoying the atmosphere as the rest of us were. In fact, several of them said how much they were enjoying the Guildford Comic Con over some of the larger ones because of the ability to talk to people. Though there was some crossover in merchandise the fact that it was smaller also meant that more of the stalls had unique products and therefore were able to get more customers.

On the second day I have to say it went very much like the first, but we knew more what to expect and it was noticeable that even more people had come in costume. Since we’d spent the previous day browsing the stalls (which somehow didn’t get dull!) we had a plan. We remembered items from the previous day that we wanted to buy, but were also going to make more of some of the cosplay events that were going on. Having totally missed these the day before I was curious about what sort of talks were going on. As a total novice to taking part in cosplay events myself, more doing it just for my own fun but never really performing, I was inspired to hear Cherry Pie Cosplay talking about her experiences and advice for people. She came across as very warm, funny and knowledgeable. I am certain that I was not the only one who went away from listening to her to be totally inspired about putting myself out there even more in the future! Want a glimpse of this awesome lady’s talent? Go find her on Facebook @cherrypiecosplay. Seriously, go see her! I am willing to bet that at next year’s comic con there is going to be a whole lot of amazing cosplay on view!

So the final verdict?

Swag gotten: shoes and t-shirt from @squeezssparkles (twitter), a limited edition Smaug Pop and lots of pocky that was consumed far too quickly. All of which make me smile a week later.

As for the three of us? Well let’s just say all of us are excited about going back next year and we’re already planning our group cosplay. Not a bad result at all!

Added bonus: got interviewed by @getsurrey for their live Facebook stream! https://www.facebook.com/getsurrey/videos/1358254680868957/?hc_ref=SEARCH