Last weekend, I went to Wales Comic Con with my family. Funnily enough it’s not actually in Wales, after moving across the border, to a bigger venue a few years back. I had a very mixed time. It’s my first convention in over 2 years, and while it was definitely good to be back in one, I do think this was oversold. On the Saturday we were pretty much stuck in queues all day, without really doing much. I missed the talks I wanted to see. For me and Tabby it was pretty much just a James Masters convention. He had his own room that was completely separated from the rest of the con, and he was incredibly busy, signing and taking photos the entire day. Thankfully we did get to meet him and the other things we had booked for the Saturday, but if that was the only day we went I wouldn’t ever want to go back again.

Thankfully the Sunday was the polar opposite. The queue was a lot shorter, so we were in on time in the morning. I am someone who gets up early for conventions, so the wait on Saturday was long. Sunday was a breeze. There was also a better atmosphere with Stormtroopers directing traffic and Jawa’s trying to trade chocolate coins for people’s children.

The Sunday was a blast, we had a lot to do, so still missed the talks, but Tabby added 2 more people to her Fellowship of the Ring collection, Sam and Gimli and I got 3 more signatures on my Empire Strikes Back poster that I’ve been taking to conventions since 2014. It was a lot of fun. My highlight, to be completely honest, was meeting Veronica Taylor who was the original voice of Ash from Pokémon when I was growing up.

I used to watch Pokémon every day before school. I wanted to be Ash, I had my own Pikachu cuddly toy that I carried around everywhere with me, as well as a toy Pokédex. While I’m not really into Pokémon anymore, it was still a massive part of my childhood and I was very happy to meet her and get this picture. It doesn’t show too well in the photo, but it’s s shiny picture like the cards used to be.

The other highlight was meeting Troy Baker, who voiced Joel from The Last of Us and Kanji from Persona 4. He had a long queue, but seemed very nice and happy to meet people. We got a Joel picture signed and he spoke about Persona briefly, as well as saying on of Kanji’s catchphrases in character.

II also found a couple new books to read from independent authors, which I’m looking forward to starting. Both of them are horror novellas.

The other good thing about the weekend a was the walking. I managed to walk well over 10,000 steps a day. My watch was all greens when it came to my targets. It’s a massive step in the right direction.

Thanks for reading, and until next time,

Ashley