The third Sheffield Comic-con was held at the Magna Science and Adventure Centre this year. The event celebrates all things fun and fictional, with kids and adults alike sporting intricate costumes and props. This year the special guests included Bernard Hill (The Lord of the Rings), Joonas Suotamo (Star Wars) Sophie Aldred (Doctor Who) and Sylvester McCoy (Doctor Who).
Charles Wright tells us more…
Before I even entered the event, I was treated to one of the many joys that Unleashed Events’ Sheffield Comic Con offered, as I witnessed a queue full of people of all ages, in intricately crafted costumes, wrapped around the Manga Science centre. The sheer amount of love of media and fiction was immediately evident and couldn’t have been summed up better by the first person we interviewed, Chris, a man dressed as The Amazing Spiderman 2’s Rhino. He stated his love of the costume, made by a friend, but how difficult it was to wear at events, and how, in one sitting, he could only last 45 minutes at a time before overheating.
This struggle seemed to be a common occurrence among many cosplayers at this event, yet we found the best reasoning for this physical torment from a father-son duo from the cosplay company, Superheroes Cosplay Group. They were dressed as a xenomorph and a solider, and clearly creative ingenuity was invested in the creation of these costumes as the terrifying alien was made up of a fiberglass head, painted, fake fingernails for teeth and a wetsuit paired with parts of a Henry Hoover for the body. They told us how they had been doing this for seven years, and clearly still found joy in doing these events as they loved putting smiles onto faces and inspiring (and scaring) the younger generations with their brilliantly crafted costumes. Inspiring and spreading joy was one of the shared goals of all cosplayers at the event…well maybe not the xenomorph, otherwise known as the star of Alien, who preferred freaking out unsuspecting victims by creeping up behind them then staring at them with that frightening face. It was the scariest interview I’ve done yet.
The event had lots of stalls selling a little bit of everything spanning across all genres of fiction. There were posters, fridge magnets, cuddly things, memorabilia from all across fiction, and a seemingly endless amount of cute Funko Pops. Safe to assume that we left that event with less money than we entered with! At the other side of the centre, away from the stage and the stalls, were the big tourist events. You could sit in Jabba the Hutt’s throne, ride Back to the Future’s DeLorean or even look terrified next to a too lifelike slimer from Ghostbusters.
We spoke to a dinosaur fanatic, Andrew who ran ‘Rexy’s Reviews,’ a dinosaur fuelled exhibit that featured life-size dinosaurs, replica cars from the movies and even a recreation from the scene in Jurassic Park in which a man got eaten on a toilet! Andrew was very passionate about his display and believed that there was “no point in having a hobby like this and keeping it hidden.” The other biggest event was run by the Mos Eisley Misfits, a charity-based organisation that had a variety of excellent, home-made props from Star Wars including different backgrounds, outfits, droids and actors which were accessible to everyone for free. Chris, both the organiser of this charity fund raiser and a brilliant Chewbacca cosplayer, expressed that he had been fundraising for 10 years, built most of the props himself and loved fundraising, not just for his charity, but other charities as well. This amazing organisation has raised thousands for those who just need help while further providing memories to children and families that they could take home with them. A truly brilliant and genuinely kind cause.
Though we weren’t able to have a one-on-one interview with the celebrities at the convention, we did meet and hear them interviewed, and each one of them was a delight in their own right. Bernard Hill (King Théoden in The Lord of the Rings) met us towards the end of the event, and though he looked tired due to a day full of signing and overexcited fans, he still talked to us and enquired into our experience at the event. Joonas Suotamo (Chewbacca in Star Wars) was similar, in that our meeting was short as he was just about to leave, but he was sympathetic and offered us a fist bump with Chewbacca noises as a condolence prize. Safe to say I’m never washing this hand.
We saw Sophie Aldred interviewed on stage and, despite playing the role of Ace on Doctor Who over 30 years ago, Aldred expressed her love and connection to the character, and the impact Ace had on British media at the time. She was clearly overjoyed to be returning to the franchise in the upcoming Doctor Who episode – ‘The Power of the Doctor.’ However, when it came to actors from Doctor Who, there is no one quite like Sylvester McCoy (the seventh Doctor). He was amazingly energetic and ran around the stage as he answered questions, being cheeky and sarcastic about every question asked before detailing amazing tales at supersonic speeds. No one was safe from his berating, humorous remarks, not even me!
The clear backbone of the event was Lindsay, an organiser and passionate professional who was clearly living her best life. She greeted us with smiles and seemed eager for the interview and interested in opinions about the event itself. Lindsay was genuinely committed to the convention as she stated with bubbly care that these events were safe spaces for people to get together and express their passions in the Comic Con universe. Her care extended to making herself available as someone people could come to if they felt overwhelmed, and creating opportunities for people to get involved by creating game shows and cosplay competitions, so people can have fun and show off their creativity to a crowd who will truly care. She made everyone happy…well except for me as following our conversation I panickly signed up to help in the game show, and ultimately ended up as a contestant. I answered questions, ran around in a scavenger hunt and threw things at plastic cup pyramids. An eventful 45 minutes, but I’m glad Lindsay put smiles on people’s faces with my humiliation!
Overall, this event was delightful. There was a brilliant display of devotion across all forms of fiction, and it was put together excellently both by Unleashed Events and Lindsay and her crew. Despite it being rather busy at certain points throughout the day, and the embarrassment I suffered from pulling people onto stage as part of a scavenger hunt, I had a brilliant time and would highly recommend it to anyone interested, fingers crossed it will return next year.