Sith-ing Pretty at Nor-Con 2016 #scifi #cosplay

Me in my Anakin cosplay in the Iron Throne.
The idea of a Sith queen certainly gave me plot bunnies!

This weekend my family and I got to geek out at Nor-Con in Norfolk. It was the first convention for my youngest, and only the second for my older two after they got to visit the Star Wars Celebration Europe with me in July. This year has seen me get back to conventioneering after...gosh, some 25 years, and to be able to share it with my family. I'm happy to say even hard-to-impress 12yo straight out said he enjoyed it - a rare admission!

Nor-Con was a fairly last minute decision with BristolCon already booked for the end of October. I'd looked at going the past couple of years, though more to check it out as a potential venue for me as an author selling my books than simply as a visitor. But hubs kind of pushed me a little, and with it so close (relatively) it seemed just plain silly not to go... Of course, we went in cosplay, although hubs settled for just a geek tee (spoilsport). I wore my newly completed Anakin outfit, 12yo was once more Hux, youngest had a Mace Windu outfit (a bought one because I haven't got around to making him one yet), and eldest in tribute to Connor Temple.

"Welcome to NOR-CON, the Norfolk TV, Film & Comic Convention organised by NOR-CON Events Limited and described in Sci Fi Now magazine as "The friendliest convention on Earth", we are quite proud of that you know......." 

Nor-Con 6 took place at the Norfolk Showground, their first time at this venue, and I thought it was fab. A single massive enclosed space with dealers, guests, exhibits, a stage and a photo shoot zone, and still plenty of space to move around. Unlike the London ComicCon in May, the handful of guests were far more accessible to visitors, sitting at tables with a price list for autographs and photos, proper photo shoots booked, and set chats on stage. Although not as big as the London conventions, that was actually an advantage and we spent the entire day there without getting bored. Eldest and I got a couple of selfies, while she got to chat to her two favourite actors from Primeval (Hannah Spearritt who played Abby Maitland, and Andrew Lee Potts, who played Connor Temple), and had a photo shoot with them both. 

The very lovely Norman Lovett (Holly) from Red Dwarf

Eldest and I with Danny John Jules aka Cat from Red Dwarf
(the second time I've met him - lucky me!)

Peter Davison (the 5th Doctor) and Ian McNeice (Churchill) - both from Doctor Who, though they've both done far more than that - were also present.

A rag tag, fugitive fleet... or models of anyway.

The Norfolk Star Wars club had some awesome sets!

There were two R2 droids and a Dalek trundling around, as well as lots of other awesome cosplay. The merch was varied and unlike the London cons the prices weren't hiked up. Everything was so relaxed and well set out, and it was just a lovely experience overall. We will definitely be going back next year! I highly recommend going to check out their gallery of photos from this year's event by going HERE to see what y'all missed. There's also some video footage (the sharp of eye might even spot me in the queue in the first few seconds).

Status Update

Not much is happening on the book front right now. My cosplay is pretty much done for the year aside from a second Rey outfit for a friend, and painting up the NERF Rey blaster for eldest's cosplay for BristolCon. You can see a round up of all my cosplay creations at my Tumblr blog HERE, and a post on the repaint will go up next Wednesday. With Nor-Con done my attention is now completely on BristolCon at the end of this month. Eeeep!

Chook Update

My girls are all well but not impressed by the sudden drop in temperature and are quite reluctant to emerge each morning now that autumn is well and truly upon us. Frankly I don't blame them - I'd quite happily stay in bed!

I won't be posting next week as the crew of Spacefreighters Lounge have been doing some swapping around (in case you hadn't already noticed I'm posting on a Friday and Laurie posted on the Tuesday). I'll be back on the 25th with a special announcement!