My First Comic Con!

So this is a month late because I completely forgot it was something that I wanted to write about lol. But in September I went to my first ever Comic Con!

Comic Con Northern Ireland announced a lot of Vampire Diaries cast members and I knew I couldn’t pass up my opportunity to meet them. I am a firm believer in spending money on doing something one time if you can because when are you ever gonna get the chance to do it again? Which is why I went all the way to New York City with my friend for a KPop concert and why I was going to spend a lot of money to spend ten seconds in the presence of someone who was on a TV show I liked when I was 16.

Sadly for me and probably most of the Vampire Diaries fans in Northern Ireland, the main men Ian Somerhalder and Paul Wesley cancelled a month or two before the event. But that’s okay because there were still a lot of the cast that were going to be there, along with a lot of other celebrities.

So on Saturday 17th September I made the trek out to the Eikon Centre for Comic Con. And I say trek because I do not live close to there and also if you weren’t driving or having someone give you a ride there it was difficult to get there. Thankfully they announced shuttle buses for next year but I don’t know how I would have travelled if someone hadn’t offered to drive me there and had someone to leave me in Belfast when the event was over.

The first thing I thought when I got there was – “wow this place is huge”. I’d never been to the Eikon Centre before so I had no idea what it looked like or what to expect. It’s basically a massive empty space for events which makes sense haha. But when I went into the building it was filled with people and things to see.

For example, movie and TV show props which you could take your photo at which is fun, as well as lots of retro video game consoles to play old games on. It feels weird to say retro video game consoles though because they did have Wiis and PlayStations there but at the same time Sega Mega Drives so there really was a mix. In the first main hall there was even live wrestling taking place so it really was a sight to behold.

I think I was overwhelmed to be honest, and that was before I went into the secondary hall which held all the vendors and the signing tables for the guests who were going to be there. Plus, all of the people in cosplay and out.

I had originally planned to do Comic Con solo because another thing I have started to do is start doing things on my own. I have been the person who won’t do things because I would rather have someone to do them with, which is fine but at the same time can mean you miss out on some cool stuff you’ve always wanted to do. So I now just buy tickets to things that I want to go to and if other people want to go great but if not then I know I can do it on my own and it’s fine. That being said, that doesn’t apply to travelling outside the country yet but I’m sure I’ll get there in time lol.

Anyway, I was going to do Comic Con alone but I found out that someone from my pole class was also going for the Vampire Diaries cast so I decided to meet up with them and I’m glad I had people to hang out with. One, so I had someone to take my picture at things lol but also to have someone to fangirl with. I mean, I’m sure it would not have been hard to make friends at this event if I wanted, if there was ever a place to make friends with similar interests to you, it has to be at Comic Con. But it was still nice to share the experience with people you know.

I had only one meet and greet scheduled for Comic Con, originally I was going to have a few but with cancellations and everything it boiled down to one with Daniel Gillies. I decided to only go for him because he was one of the only main people who didn’t cancel lol. But also Elijah is my favourite Original vampire from Vampire Diaries so I mean of course I wanted a photo with him.

The least fun part about Comic Con and anything in life I feel is the queuing. No one likes standing around in line all day and that’s another reason why I was okay with doing Comic Con alone – didn’t really wanna ask other people to stand around with me all day haha. But thankfully the photo queues did move quite fast. I guess that’s only good while you’re waiting in line though because the reason the queues go so fast is because they are funneling people in and out so fast.

Literally, the only words that Daniel actually said to me were “do you wanna do a back to back photo” and naturally I felt pressured so I just said yes. I mean I could have said no and we probably would have had a normal photo but my natural instinct was to say yes so that’s what we got. When I was waiting for the photo to be printed, I was concerned it was going to turn out terribly because I feel like back to back poses are just naturally cringey. But when I got the photo I actually really liked how it turned out, so that’s a plus.

Am I said I didn’t get to talk more with Daniel? No. Because I’ve done plenty of meet and greets in my life to know that’s just how it goes. Plus, I never have anything to say to people I meet anyway, like to me I just want the photo and that’s good enough. Maybe it’s superficial but isn’t that what this whole meeting celebrity thing is about at least a little bit?

Besides, if you want to talk more to the celebrities everyone always says go to the signing tables and I believe them. If you wait in line for an autograph you have more time with them, because if they aren’t scheduled to be somewhere or are on break they will probably be at the signing table. So if you want to have your time up close with them spend your money there.

I personally didn’t feel like I needed to get autographs from anyone, as I appreciate a photo more but me and my friend did hang around the tables to get a glimpse of some people up close. Which I feel like is always a fun time at a convention, celeb spotting haha.

And then to end the day my friend and I went to the Vampire Diaries Q&A panel they were hosting, they were doing 3 cast members on the Saturday and 3 on the Sunday but I decided to only go on Saturday because I had done all the things I had wanted to do that day and felt like it would have been a lot of travel the next day for one Q&A panel.

Naturally, the panel was packed out with people, but it was still a nice chance to ask questions and learn more behind the scenes information about your favourite show. If anything though I feel like people always ask the same questions lol. Which is fine, but I would have liked if people had more in depth questions than “should Caroline have ended up with Stefan or Klaus”. I personally couldn’t think of any questions so maybe it’s my fault but yeah maybe next time I will prep some hard hitting questions for them.

Overall though it was a good day. I enjoyed the experience and if you’ve never been to a Comic Con I would recommend it! Obviously it’s better to go when there is something there that will cater towards you specifically but sometimes it’s just nice to go see what all the fuss is about.

And this does not conclude my Comic Con adventures for the year either, I am also planning on attending Liverpool Comic Con in November. It is probably the biggest(?) Comic Con in the UK because they always have a really good lineup. And this year is no exception as they have booked the Salvatore brothers (hopefully they don’t cancel again) and also some of the Twilight cast so I knew I definitely had to be there. Hopefully I can share my experience there a bit sooner than I shared this one haha.

Anyway I look forward to seeing what Northern Ireland Comic Con will bring next year, as they had a lot of success this year, I am wondering who they could bring next year. Hopefully less people I want to meet to give my bank account a bit of a rest but you never know…Guess I should start saving while I can lol.