London Film and Comic Con is fast approaching this year, once again at London Kensington Olympia, a huge number of people, some in costumes, will be going on the last weekend of July to endeavor and have fun at London's biggest comic con event. London Film and Comic Con is most certainly the biggest convention event that you can find in Britain, the biggest convention event is San Diego Comic-Con, which I would love to go to. I've always wanted to go to a San Diego Comic-Con, just to see what the experience is like.
LFCC has been at the Olympia for a considerable amount of years now, since 2015. It's back for this year. From the 27th to 29th July, so Friday to Sunday. There are loads of great things there, from cosplay competitions to stalls selling merchandise, action figures, T-shirts, prints, etc.
One of the main reasons people go to LFCC is to get an autograph from or a photograph with some of their favourite Film and TV stars. This could be anyone from things such as: Game of Thrones, Star Trek, Star Wars, Doctor Who, Harry Potter, and Lord of the Rings to name a few.
I'll be going again this year, this will be my fifth LFCC. I've been going to this event for the past five years, I can't believe it's been that many already. Time goes by too fast nowadays. I think I've come to know what to expect from this sort of conventional event.
Having said that each year I've been to LFCC, I've had different experiences. But all the same, it can be hot, it can be very cramped because there are a lot of people there, and expensive, tickets aren't cheap and showmasters can charge a fortune for guest autographs and photos.
But I am excited to be going, I'll be going with a friend who went with me last year, and I can never be too sure what to expect on the day. I imagine there will be certain things which will remain familiar with me, but the actual course of events of what we do will be a mystery to me which I'll find out on the day.
It has been announced, however, that one of the guests going this year is Christopher Eccleston. Who I know as being the Ninth Doctor from Doctor Who. Eccleston is the Doctor who got me into Doctor Who in the first place and an essential part of the reason why I love the show so much, and to me watching him as a nine-year-old boy, I really liked his humour and his wit, and his serious moments as well, he really sold the character of the Doctor to me, which I am forever grateful for. He was amazing!
So leading up to Eccleston's first ever convention appearance, which surprised me and excited me when I heard it was announced that he was going to be there this year because he's been vocal that he doesn't like getting asked and offered a decent amount of money to sit and sign autographs and do the whole convention thing. And with this being the first time, maybe the only time he'll ever do it, I guess I must have realised it wasn't going to be cheap.
This is what LFCC released on their website when they announced that Eccleston was going.
£95 for an autograph? £85 for a photo? It's enough to break your bank account or save up all your pocket money for a whole year.
Eccleston will be appearing at LFCC this year on the 29th July, that's the Sunday. And the Sunday only. So if you want to book your tickets to see Eccleston, you will have to book them for the Sunday. Don't go on Friday or Saturday expecting to see Eccleston. He won't be there. Although a lot of people were very happy to hear that Eccleston would be attending a convention and actually acknowledging, Doctor Who on his CV, lots of people took a step back when they saw the prices.
As I said before, £95 for an autograph, £85 for a photo, £95 for a photo with the exterior of the TARDIS, and a diamond pass is £235, that will give you a guaranteed autograph from Christopher Eccleston, a guaranteed standard photo with Eccleston, and an exclusive mug.
From what I've heard from regular convention goers, hearing what people's thoughts and opinions were on this story, the diamond pass does one hundred percent guarantee you a photo with and an autograph from Christopher Eccleston. Even if you do pay that £85 for a photo or £95 for an autograph, it doesn't guarantee you anything really, the queue might be too long, you might not be able to get there, it will all be done on a first come/ first served basis. I am fully aware that even though I have paid £85 for a photo, I might not get one.
Now, the whole pricing for Eccleston has become the dominant and most talked about thing about this year's convention. I'm not at surprised by the prices being what they are, because pricing for a big named guest or with this being Eccleston's first time at a convention, it's not out of ordinary for conventions like this to pass off those sorts of price tags. There are people who have been to conventions and got a photo with Marvel's Stan Lee for £100. But on the other side of it, there's the context of Ecclestion doing so much over the past fourteen years to distance himself from Doctor Who and the BBC and the genre material that is it exploitative to maybe charge that much money for an autograph with everything he's said and done since Doctor Who. It's not up to me, I didn't choose the price, but it may be a key factor as to why people and fans of Doctor Who and regular convention goers are so outraged at this.
So it's service to say that if you don't think it's worth that price then, by all means, don't pay it. It's that simple. I've paid £85 for a photo because I want a photo with Christopher Eccleston as I'm sure thousands of other people will too. This will probably be my only chance to get a photo with him and actually meet him. And I did realise if ever the oppertunity came for me to meet Christopher Eccleston at a convention, it wouldn't be cheap.
But there are going to be other people there, I'm not just meeting Eccleston on the day, I'm meeting Peter Capaldi and Jason Mamoa as well. Who are both going on both days, they're there for the whole weekend.
The whole convention scheme and the pricing at conventions, I think, is very subjective. It's probably down to the organisers of the Comic-Con, and Eccleston's agency who booked him that set these prices and if they want to set these sorts of prices then that's their decision. They're in every right to do what they want. At the end of the day, the convention is a business and it needs to bring in the cash, like any other business to succeed and profit towards their next one. But we'll see what happens. This whole thing might backfire on them and if they ever decide to book Eccleston again they may reconsider and lower the prices a bit.
What I am worried about however is if they don't get many sales in autographs or photos, it could get misconstrued or misinterpreted. Rather than thinking "people were put off by the prices, we should lower them to something the average person can afford", they might think "well, there's clearly not much interest in people wanting to see Christopher Eccleston at a convention. We won't book him again." I'm hoping they won't misread the fandom like that, because I know for a fact there are loads of Doctor Who fans who love Christopher Eccleston and the Ninth Doctor and would love to have a photo with him or his autograph.
I guess it will all come down to how it will be on the day, but I am very excited and very interested to see what is to come.
