We found a parking lot a few blocks away from the venue and accrued quite an amount of attention from our fellow meter-waiters. "Where are you all headed?" "What are you dressed up as?" "Ah, Comic Con. I wonder why cousin Timmy wasn't going to that. He's really into that kind of stuff."
Once inside the convention center, we navigated our way back to the event. An RV tractor-trailer convention was happening in the next auditorium; talk about the perfectly opposite crowd!
After checking in and getting our wrist bands, we decided to walk through all the little booths, which mainly consisted of graphic artists and collectible sellers. We saw a lot of action figures, t-shirts, and replica swords and wands.
We saw a lot of people dressed up as Spiderman, a lot of Star Wars characters, and a lot of obscure comic book superheroes. There were a few that stood out: Spiderman villain Doctor Octopus, TV-painter Bob Ross, an aged Luke Skywalker, and a spot-on Legolas and dying Boromir, complete with Uruk-hai arrows coming out of his chest. Most people didn't really get our costumes, but were impressed once we told them. A few people even asked to take our picture!
After walking around for a while, we headed to the auditorium where the Lord of the Rings actors were to have their Q&A session. Another one of the big names, John Barrowman, of Doctor Who fame, was in the middle of his segment. Neither of us knows anything about Doctor Who, but he was basically putting on a stand-up comedy show rather than just talking about his time on the show. It was pretty entertaining, and nice to sit down for a bit.
And then it was time for the main event! Sean Bean, Billy Boyd, and Sean Astin, or Boromir, Pippin, and Sam from Lord of the Rings were all together for the first time in several years. In fact, this was Sean Bean's first Comic Con ever! Pretty cool that we got to be at it too. He was very clearly not as used to this kind of event as the other two, who mentioned they weren't used to having this big of a crowd.
They told a lot of the stories I already knew from the DVD commentaries and behind-the-scenes interviews, but there was a lot of new stuff, and it was just so exciting to see them in person. It was also neat to see them interact with each other and hear their worldly accents. The guy on the far right was the host and kind of directed the conversation, which was good. Andrew and I were both excited when he asked Sean Bean about his other famous roles of Ned Stark on Game of Thrones and Alec Trevelyan 006 of Goldeneye. On his tendency to play bad guys, "The roles are so juicy, and you can get away with doing it however you want. I did consciously have to start taking some good guy roles, like Ned Stark, I guess he's a good guy, but you know the others are more fun." Now imagine him saying that paraphrased thought in his drawling English accent!
Once the Q&A ended, we hurried over to get in line for our photo with the three of them. There was quite a line, but it was moving quickly and gave us time to come up with our poses and if we were going to ask them a question. I figured I would be too excited to ask anything so Andrew decided he would ask Sean Bean if anyone calls him "Seen Bean," which is what we all call him around our house.
When we were just a few people back, we got our lightsabers ready and headed in the little tent. It was very rushed, but they liked our costumes and appreciated our "Thank you, you guys were amazing in Lord of the Rings," comments. As we were being ushered out, Andrew asked the question and Sean Bean didn't hear, so Sean Astin said it again, and he responded, "Yeah, it's great."
What a fun experience. I can now cross 'Meeting Actors from Lord of the Rings' off of my Life List. If I ever go to another Comic Con, I think I would do a more straight-on costume, take the time to pose in character when someone asks to take a picture, and get an autograph instead of/along with a photo because then you can talk to the person a little more. Now I just need to find a place to hang it up!
(photos by e.hunt, and a WizardWorld Photographer)
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