Tag Archives: The Joker

MCM Birmingham Comic Con – Part 1

Posted on by
Reply

NEC Birmingham

19/20 November 2016 

It’s been a couple of years since the gang made a trip to Birmingham NEC for Comic Con.  Not that we didn’t want to, other stuff just got in the way, sadly.  November 2016 however would see us return to Comic Con for all the usual fun and games.

Right from the off, the number of cosplayers seemed to be even higher than previous.  There were all kinds of characters on view, and plenty of them, from every franchgise you could think of.

Boushh
Belle
Wicket
Bat gang
Monkey

The most popular costume this year was undoubtedly (and unsurprisingly) Harley Quinn.  Harley has always been a regular sight at conventions such as this whenever I’ve visited.  Following the success of the Suicide Squad movie, there were dozens of Harleys, of all types, everywhere.  Not to do any of the cosplayers a disservice – they all looked fantastic, whether they were original comic book or Margot Robbie inspired.

I tried to take as many photos as possible of the amazing costumes.  Everyone had obviously gone to great trouble to create outfits that were well made and accurate.

Unfortunately I couldn’t get photos of everyone, some people just slipped by and I missed them!

Double trouble
Always loved Black Canary
Ivy
Princesses
Scarlet Witch

Plus, as always, I appear to have had a slight technical issue – resulting in several photos that would have been very cool not turning out at all.  My apologies to Storm and Walking Dead Daryl (amongst many others) – both of whom had awesome costumes, but my poor skills resulted in terrible pics!

The stalls were full of incredible paraphernalia as always.  So tempting, but regrettably I’m not made of money.  I saw dozens of very cool items, picked up a couple of things, left loads more.  I’m still missing not buying the Elvira Funko Pop…

She-Ra
Pinhead
Canary and Arrow
Joker and Harleys
Deadpool

My Star Wars collecting has retired these days.  I’m now only picking up (affordable) figures from the Original Trilogy; as I’m up to date with all that stuff there wasn’t anything to concern me.

Still, I had a good look around and thoroughly enjoyed scavenging for groovy collectables!

All in all it was another great day at the NEC.  Always spectacular, a great atmosphere and loads to see.  Looking forward to returning in March for more of the same!

Daft Punk
Napoleon
Beast
Super family
Princesses
Merida
Group shot

Wales Comic Con Strikes Back – part 1

Posted on by
1

Wales Comic Con

Saturday 23rd April to Sunday 24th April 2016

Glyndwr University, Wrexham

It was time for another fun family day out in Wrexham, for Wales Comic Con.  Time to charge up the landspeeder and head over for more sci-fi shenanigans at Glyndwr University…

Following on from the success of last year’s events, Wales Comic Con is now spread over a whole weekend.  This was a good move, as there seemed to be less crowds this year  – without losing any of the welcoming spirit.

Tell your lad hes been a naughty boy!
Bane
Captain America Minion
Stunning Morticia
Aladdin and Jafar

We headed over on the Sunday, and though the weather wasn’t as amazing as this time last year, it still managed to remain fairly decent.  No matter, there were plenty of things to see and do, both inside and out, at the Con.

Although the guests weren’t of particular interest to me personally, it was nice to see a good amount of celebs in attendance.  The celeb who I was most thrilled to see was none other than Justin Lee Collins, who I didn’t know was there.  Most of the females in the vicinity seemed to be very taken with Jason “Aquaman” Momoa…

Eddie
With the troops
Flight crew
Deadpool
Captain and Cat

The amount of merchandise on sale appeared to be greater than previous, which was a bonus.  We splashed out on a few items, namely a cuddly Harley Quinn doll, a Walking Dead mug and some (delicious) peanut butter fudge.

The highlight, as ever, were the Cosplayers – dressed as all manner of characters from every facet of sci-fi, fantasy, and horror that you could imagine.  Yet again, the ingenuity and creativity on display was astonishing.  I took load of photos, which you can see here.  Despite my best camera having gone to the great Jessops in the sky, they mostly turned out OK.

Princesses and a scoundrel
Joker and Two Face
Harley and Winter Soldier
Fantastic Ariel
Fred

So a big thank you to everyone who posed for a photo.  Everyone was very friendly and happy to be photographed – they were all super stars!

Speaking of Cosplay, my daughter Eloise was dressed as Princess Leia again and looked fantastic!  Quite a few people commented how great she looked, and asked for her photo!

Punisherette and Two Face
Princess, Luke and Yoda
Disney Princesses
Anarchy at the Con
Supergirl and man

This was also the first time I tentatively dipped my toes in the water of costuming at an event also.  After having been chided by various people at Sci Fi Weekender for not dressing as Tony Stark, I decided to give it a go.  I wore the same Black Sabbath that Tony wears in the film, and relied on my beard for the rest.  It was OK and a couple of people knew who I was supposed to be.  No one asked for my picture though…

Robert Downey Jr?
Loki vs Thor

I should also say that the staff seemed to be very helpful and efficient also.

All in all a grand day out for the Platinum Al family.  Looking forward to more later in the year!

The Wales Comic Con website is here.

It turns out that I have loads of half decent photos from Wales Comic Con.  Stay tuned for part 2 soon!

Penelope Pitstop
Mr Kent
Harley and Ivy
Wicket and Leia
Call of Cthulhu

Sci Fi Weekender 2016 – part 2

Posted on by
1
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Phoenix

Sci Fi Weekender 17th – 20th March 2016

Hafan Y Mor Holiday Park, Pwllheli

Day 2 at SFW, and again it’s all a blur.  I recall it was a lazy start to the day for me, breakfast and chilling in the caravan.  Kurt was feeling better, but Greeny was starting to suffer with the illness.  It would be mostly be another day of watching Star Trek, Big Bang Theory and Top Gear for those two.

Adam had got up early and made it to see a showing of a new independent film called Pandorica.  Classed as an action-horror, reports about the film were very enthusiastic.  The Q&A with Director and cast was my first event of the day – it was interesting although I’d not seen the film!  Definitely one to keep and eye out for: word of mouth was very positive.

Wheres Blessed?
Jokes
Rey and Leia
Papa Johns is just ahead of you…
Massive Wampa
Marvel gang

The highlight of the afternoon was, undoubtedly, an appearance by the incomparable Brian Blessed.  Larger than life and twice as loud, Blessed’s sci-fi credentials are suitably top notch.  A life long fan of science fiction, as well in starring in numerous genre pieces – you may have heard of Flash Gordon – his enthusiasm was both apparent and infectious.

Professor Elemental hosted the Q&A with Brian Blessed, who wisely let the great man get on and tell his tales!  A solid job from the Professor – a daunting task well executed.

Blessed’s talk ranged from his acting work to his many explorations and mountaineering adventures.  His recollections of the Flash Gordon movie, and it’s well deserved appreciation by audiences the world over, were affectionately told.  An unmissable audience with a real living legend.

Judges
Dr Strange and pals
Black Cat
Vinz Clortho and pals!
Chewie with friends

In the afternoon I took some photos and looked around the stalls again.  Unfortunately, this years SFW again clashed with MCM Memorabilia in Birmingham, so genre based merchandise was thin on the ground.  I picked up some cool Elvira cocktail glasses though!

A good feature this year was the retro gaming section, where numerous old consoles could be played for free.  This was very popular, and although I don’t play video games it meant I always knew where to find my crew if we split up.  They were always playing games…

Every year at SFW, the Cosplay final is something to behold.  There’s always a sense of excitement in the air, as the costumed competitors take the stage.  And every year, the audience and competitors are enthusiastic and good natured.  Everyone cheers for each other, and there’s a real sense of community.  It’s nice to witness all the attendees rooting for each other; even though there will always be favourites, there is no bitterness.

Wolverine
Rocket and Gamora
Urban Troopers
Tank Girl and friends
Aquaman

The costumes were exceptional, as you can see (hopefully) from the photos here.  Not everyone entered the competition, but there were so many great costumes whether they were entering or just dressing up for fun.  Massive respect to everyone.

I find it great fun spotting and naming the characters.  The variety and imagination on show is consistently astounding, not to mention the talent that goes into making the costumes.  So again, thanks to all the Cosplayers for letting me take your photos.  Too many of my pics didn’t work out.  I also missed far too may opportunities.  But I hope that the photos here capture some of the creativity I witnessed.

And I sincerely apologise for not dressing up!  I lost count of the number of people who chastised me (with good humour, of course) for not dressing as Tony Stark…

Mario and friends
Dungeons and Dragons
Captain America
Edward
My Little Pony ladies

Anyway, there can only be one winner of the Cosplay final, and that was the Robot Overlord fellow.  I can’t remember the character’s name, but I swear it was truly incredible!

Later on in the evening, I zoomed over to the Prog Rock area to catch some music.  I was very happy to catch the Focus set; the song “Hocus Pocus” was an obvious highlight.  I only saw a couple of songs by Ian Anderson (of Jethro Tull fame) – though they were impressive – before heading back to the spaceport.

Nostromo crew
Mr Tumble!
Arrow and Canary
Zombies
Wonder Woman

For the rest of the evening, my compadre, Ste and myself had a few beers and hung around with various SFW attendees.  We saw some old pals and met a few new ones.  I took more photos – including the now traditional “no photos” social media-proof shades pics.  And we managed to stay up partying till after 2 in the morning!

Not such a good thing going home Sunday…

Still, another great time at Sci Fi Weekender.  And yes, Greeny and Kurt got better, thanks for asking.

If you were there, it was good to see you.  Hopefully we’ll see you next year.

And big thanks to Adam, who organised the whole thing for us!

The Sci Fi Weekender site is here.

The HRH Prog site is here.

PS: There are photos left unpublished, so there will be Bonus Scenes in a few weeks.  Be warned!

Party
Rebel pilots
Alien girl
Indy and friends
Oscar D2
Two Face
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Cosplay winner!

Superhero Action Figures

Posted on by
Reply

You may well be familiar with the Mego action figures of the 1970s – they made dozens of superhero dolls approximately 8 inches tall.  You can see my Batmobile and Captain Americar toys (all I have left from my Mego collection) in an earlier post.  They also made figures for Planet of the Apes and tons of other licenses.

Other than the 8″ line, there were also a series of 3.75″ superhero figures, known Comic Action Heroes.  These examples of this range of figures have been in my collection since the late 1970’s.

IMG_2766

Originally I bought a Spiderman figure, from the sadly long gone Toy & Hobby in Chester, but he broke.  This line of figures weren’t the most robust – a common problem was the legs breaking off.  the body below the waist was made of rubber, and likely to give way.

So Spiderman was posted back to the Customer Service department.  A few weeks later I received a parcel containing some replacement figures – these are the ones you see here.  No Spiderman unfortunately, but I got a few others as compensation.

The Dynamic Duo of Batman and Robin was pretty cool to have.  Strangely, Batman’s head was made out of soft rubber which was attached to his cape.  As a result, you could pop off Batman’s head if you so desired.  Also a bit bizarre, the Boy Wonder is actually taller than his pal!

The Joker was a nice figure, quite good facial detail.  I remember also owning Superman in this batch, but he’s long since disappeared.  And I think my sister had the Wonder Woman toy.

The final figure from this range is The Incredible Hulk.  Raging green and mean, he wears traditional purple pants and also has a good face sculpt.  However, Hulk’s left arm (not seen in the photo) fell off, and had to be reattached with glue.  Like I said, not very robust.

A couple of years later, Mego made further superhero action figures, in the Pocket Super Heroes line.  They were very similar to the earlier figures, but with straight legs rather than bent.  My only figure from this line is Lex Luthor.  Again Lex has a good (for the time) face sculpt – I’ve always thought there was a resemblance to Gene Hackman.

These Super Heroes were pretty cool figures that I loved.  A shame that they weren’t very durable, and that Spidey isn’t in my toy box any more.  Still, cool seventies toys that bring back loads of memories.

You can read more about this range of toys at Toymania here.