Heroes & Villains Fan Fest 2017

I hadn't heard of Heroes & Villains before, and it was quite by accident that I saw an advertisement for it. I was on Facebook and an ad came up saying that Robin Lord Taylor was attending the con. For those who don't know, he plays Oswald Cobblepot (The Penguin) in the TV show Gotham. It's one of my favourite shows, and he's one of my favourite people in it. I immediately booked a general admission ticket to get in. Imagine how thrilled I was when four other cast members were announced. Originally, it was: David Mazouz (Bruce Wayne), Sean Pertwee (Alfred Pennyworth), Drew Powell (Butch Gilzean) and Cory Michael Smith (Ed Nygma/The Riddler). Unfortunately, Cory had to cancel because he's shooting a new film. He was replaced by the lovely Jessica Lucas (Tabitha Galavan/Tigress)

I booked a room at the Premier Kensington, a hotel a stone's throw from Earl's Court Tube station. It was exactly what I needed - not far from the Heroes & Villains venue, small but practical and clean. The staff were really friendly and helpful, too. I only needed it to sleep and shower, so it was a perfect, reasonably-priced base camp.

Then it was simply a case of waiting for six months for May 2017 to come!

On the day, I left the hotel at about 07:30, and walked to the Olympia; it really wasn't far, about a 15-minute walk. On the way though, I seriously felt faint and sick. I don't know if it was nerves or tiredness (maybe both?) but it was so unpleasant and a bit worrying.

Will Call (which is where you change your tickets for a wristband/lanyard) was relatively painless, as I got there pretty much bang on time. I got my wristband that said 'HERO' on it, and met a nice kid and her mum - we hung out together while waiting to be let into the con. I'm so grateful for them; it would have been really boring if I had to wait on my own.

There was an older guy who appeared on the balcony above us to announce that us peasants (general admission) were to be allowed in half an hour early! Everyone cheered really loudly and he was loving the fame. He had a power trip by making us do a Mexican wave before we were let in.

I legged it straight to Robin's table and was right near the front of the queue. Robin took ages to show up but seeing him in real life was amazing. He's so tiny and gorgeous. He was waving and blowing kisses as he got himself situated at the table. Meeting him was in doubt for a horrible while because they were letting so many VIPs through and NO general admission people. I really resent that having more money = guaranteed to meet/chat to the guests. It's like if you can't afford it you're not 'as good a fan'. It really bugged me because it made the queues horrible at the con. More power to you if you can afford a VIP ticket, but I still feel like it's not fair on other people who have also paid.

Luckily the guy in front of me (if by some miracle you're reading this Adam, thank you so much!) told me to pretend we were there as a group so we could both go at the same time. It's probably thanks to him that I got to meet Robin at all. His line was crazy long all day - if I hadn't gone straight to him I doubt it would've happened.

So I got to meet Robin! I dropped £55 on an autograph/selfie combo but it was so worth it! Instead of a wall of writing about it, I'm gonna bullet point what happened:

• He shook my hand and asked for my name, then signed my season 2 DVD sleeve. I didn't really think that one through - there wasn't much space to write on, so his autograph is really cramped. I said "Yeah good luck writing on that."
  
• He kept calling me 'darling' and 'love'. I usually hate pet names. He got away with it.
  
• I gave him this small pride flag pin that I bought for him and he got really excited. "Thank you! Aww, that's amazing!" He then pinned it onto his shirt.
  
• He came around the table to hug me/take selfies and said, "I love your hair!" which threw me off a bit (I'm still not over it, by the way). I showed him my Oswald necklace ("Oh WOW!") and gave him the biggest hug. He apologised for being 'so sweaty, it's SO warm in here'. He was sort of damp.
  
• We took a cute selfie then I said "Be ugly!" and he did an ugly photo with me. Top lad! I then said, "Be nice again." and got a cheeky third photo. He had his arm tight around me the whole time and was just so lovely.

• I said thanks and he said, "Thank you, I love you!" 

I didn't say anything that I wanted to tell him - how wonderful and brave and positive he is. I just kind of clammed up (which isn't like me) and I'm gutted that I didn't say more/have more time with him. He's so sweet and so incredibly beautiful as a person.

Straight after I was done with Robin I had to go and pick up my photo op with him (although nothing would top the Hideous Selfie). I got chatting to two girls behind me, Holly and Ali, who were dressed as the Riddler's henchgirls, Query and Echo. They'd decided on the costumes when Cory was announced and were gutted that he'd cancelled. They laughed when I called him a 'stupid giraffe man' (with all the love in the world, of course). We had a great chat about Gotham, our ships, and how there are always Harley Quinns and Deadpools at cons. They said to wait for them after my photo op and basically adopted me for the rest of the day ♥

As soon as I walked into the op, Robin was like "Hello again!" He held his hand out for me to shake. I was like 'lol no' and hugged him again. His pin was gone so I asked after it - he told me it kept getting knocked off so he put it away safely at the table. Then we took our picture and he said, "Bye darling!" Holly and Ali were soon done ("Aww, Robin called you DARLING.") and we went to pick up our photos together. I look so ugly in mine, I was really upset. Robin, of course, looks adorable. So that was a bit disappointing. I really ought to have known, I always look terrible when other people take my photo.

After we'd collected our photos, Holly and Ali invited me to Costa with them. We hadn't eaten so we were all feeling a bit rough. While we had cold drinks in the sun, we tweeted Cory about how much he was missing. We got back to Olympia for the Gotham panel. We didn't manage to get seats so a bunch of us sat on the floor. At one point, Drew Powell pointed his phone at us shouting, "THIS IS FOR THE CHEAP SEATS." so we'd all cheer on his video.

Also, Milo Ventimiglia was there.

The panel was fun. It was so strange to see them in the flesh. My legs were aching by the end but I'm glad I got to see it. Some highlights:

• Drew: David has pyjamas with pictures of Christian Bale on. Not as Batman, just photos of Christian Bale.
  David: ... I told you that in private, Drew.
• Jessica: I have the 'Butch look' that Tabitha always gives him. I also give Drew the 'Butch look'.
  Robin: Is it the Butch look or the BITCH look?
• Robin saying his inspiration was his mum (and finding out his mum was there somewhere!).
• Drew: My first job was a commercial when I was ten. I used the money to by a Pacman watch, which was FREAKIN' AWESOME.
• All of them being so astonished that they have so many UK fans, and how much they seemed to enjoy themselves!

After the panel I went straight to Sean's table. The queue was looooong. I spent my time chatting to two hilarious girls from Dover and a girl with an awesome guy dressed as male Poison Ivy. It took over an hour to get to Sean but his manager thanked me for my patience - he was sweet. I told Sean that I had orders from my mum to give him a big hug and he came around the table and gave me one. I think he thought I was only there because of my mum, which I feel stupid about. I totally forgot to tell him how I also love him. He was such a gent, even though he was pressed for time. He's so handsome and tanned in real life, with the brightest blue eyes. I took some photos and he told me to give mum his best. So sweet, and he smelled nice!

Holly, Ali and I wandered around the stalls, browsing for a bit, and went to Pizza Express for dinner. We had a laugh while we ate, especially when I referred to Jack the Ripper as 'Mr The Ripper'. After dinner we went to their hotel room and watched Doctor Who, then talked about Gotham for ages. I had such a great day!

Overall, Heroes & Villains was a lot of fun and I'm so glad I went. My main objective (to meet Robin) was met, so I was happy. I like that the con is more focused on getting people the chance to meet their favourites, rather than having tonnes of stalls and things like, say, MCM does. The stalls they did have were cute and interesting, and there were other things (like some kind of live-action horror thing) that I didn't have time to see because of all the queueing. If I were to go again, I think I'll actually take the plunge and buy a "VIP" ticket, so I can avoid having to stand around for hours. By the end of the day, my bad knee was in agony (and actually collapsed the next day, something that hadn't happened for a year) so I think it'd be better for both my health and patience to have a shorter wait time for guests. And I'd like to experience more of the con next time, too!