Walking into H Con, which this year was at Fleming Park in Eastleigh, the first thing I see is a cosplayer who looks so much like Captain Picard that, for a second, I thought it was Patrick Stewart. After I recovered from this initial shock, and realising he wouldn’t be wondering around in costume even if it was him, I started to explore the two halls of stalls, signings and exhibits.
This years H-Con was spread across the 25th and 26th of July. I attended on the 26th meaning I missed signings by John Challis (Boycie in Only Fools & Horses) and John Altman (Nick Cotton in Eastenders).
The main draw for the Sunday was the fifth Doctor Peter Davison. I managed to meet him twice on the day and attended his Q&A session. He was a true gent, always smiling and seemed to remember the name of everyone he’d met that day. He was joined, at the Q&A, by Sarah Sutton who had played Nyssa; a companion to both Davison and Tom Baker. During the Q&A Sarah dropped a few hints that her relationship with Baker had been and still is less than harmonious.
As previously mentioned H-Con was split across two halls of various stalls and exhibit. There was also a small room set aside for the Q&A sessions. The first hall was a mixture of stalls and signing tables. All the signers seemed friendly waving at people as they walked past and always willing to pose for photos. The second hall was mainly exhibits. Amongst the props and photo ops there was also a whole wall of retro consoles to play with; ranging from the PS3 all the way down to a number of consoles from the seventies I’ve never heard of. Also a small group of reptiles and exotic animals to both look at and hold.
The whole event had a friendly atmosphere and felt more relaxed then some of the larger conventions. Everyone seemed to be chatting to one another just enjoying the day.
To finish I’d just like to mention three more cosplayers who not only had amazing costumes but, in the case of two of them, had more than a natural passing resemblance to the characters they were paying tribute too. So those of you dressed as Ygritte from Game of Thrones, Chewbacca from Star Wars and Amy Pond from Doctor Who – you all looked awesome.
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