Once again we attended this event as ‘Official Press’ thanks to Showmasters !!!!

Held at the London Olympia during the weekend of 8th – 10th July 2022.

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Guests that attended this weekends event included:-

• Christopher Lloyd (Back to the Future)
• Katee Sackhoff (Battlestar Galactica)
• Joseph Quinn (Stranger Things)
• Andy Serkis (The Lord of the Rings)
• Robert Englund (A Nightmare on Elm Street)

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This event marks the first time LFCC has returned since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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As in previous years the event offered autograph & photo opportunities with stars from TV & Film covering a wide variety of interests and genres as well as many vendors selling all varieties of related merchandise.

There were also specialist talks and Q&A panels with the stars throughout the weekend. These panels as with previous years were a mix of free and paid ticketed panels.

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There was also opportunity to get yourself a professional photo with many replica props featuring stars at the event such as Christopher Lloyd in a DeLorean and Robert Englund in full Freddy Krueger make up (billed as the last time Englund would be doing this).

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This event also had dedicated zones for other interests such as:-

• Star Wars Fan Zone – Brought to you by FanthaTracks.com, The Star Wars Zone was filled with costume groups, fan sites, props, exhibitors, official licensees and actors from the movies conducting their signings.

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• Cosplay – The Cosplay Zone this year teamed up with Animangapop specialists in Japanese and Asian POP Culture. This is the area to visit to see all the amazing costumed visitors and grab some great photo opportunities with some professional Cosplayers.

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• Comics – Where fans and newcomers can explore the myriad worlds of sequential art. From superheroes to the cutting edge all aspects of the art form can be found within – you could even meet famous comic creators in this area.

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• Young Adult Literature Convention (YALC) – With numerous authors attending over the course of the weekend this area included talks, writing workshops, book signings, book-themed activities. This years authors included Jacqueline Wilson and Heartstopper creator Alice Oseman.

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We attended the event on the Saturday and Sunday. Entry to the venue on the Saturday was slightly chaotic as it was oversold so organisers had to operate a 1 in 1 out policy throughout the day.

Inside the layout was different than previous years with all the various areas crammed into less space and utilising less of the venue. The YALC area which was once on its own floor was now on the first floor and the talk stages were smaller than previous years and squeezed into the main exhibition hall.

The comics zone seemed to be hidden away with very little signage around the event in general and several attendess stated it was hidden behind a ‘grey wall of shame’ AKA partition walls.

The signing area also proved massively chaotic on Saturday with my different lines bleeding into each other due to lack of space and barriers. Unlike previous years it seems like all the ‘talent’ was just clumped into one big room with a few branching off into the hallway.

As one attendee stated online “a taped line on the ground isn’t going to control anything”. This was exactly the case and the look on several of the volunteers faces especially around the Stranger Things actors proved this was one hell of a mess! This also caused quite a stir on social media on Saturday.

On Sunday it was quieter and the organisers seemed to have tried to improve things with more signage and spacing between guests and floor directories were more noticeable.

However one constant issue faced by attendees and commented on highly was the lack of seating.

Joseph Quinn’s queue, which proved to be extremely popular over the weekend was managed better with railings and a Partion room set up. Although he was still doing photo shoots and autographs past the show’s closing time to get through all the Diamond passes that were sold.

Overall we had an enjoyable weekend with a little chaos and would come again.

Going forward we hope that organisers will take note of the problems encountered over this weekend and learn from them. Let’s hope a return to pre covid LFCC will happen next year.

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