Ghent Comic-Con: The Aftermath
I’m from the “good old TV generation”. A kid from the 80s and 90s who grew up with Star Trek, MacGyver, The A-Team, Knight Rider, Quantum Leap, The X Files, Buffy, Friends, Stargate, Ally McBeal and so many other shows. An only child who made herself busy with the small screen, spending way too much time watching, often behind her parents’ back.
Even though I’m now almost as connected as today’s kids from the “tablet and smartphone generation”, TV shows are still an infinite yet traditional source of entertainment. Not only has the Internet helped a lot and now partly replaces the TV, but as I said in a previous post, it also connected me to other viewers and people with the same interests as mine: creative geeks with multiple interests, talents and skills.
Adults, just like kids, need stories. The fairytales and ghost stories from our childhood evolve as we grow up, but fiction is still necessary at all ages. We can find stories everywhere. They’re in books, comics, zines, TV shows, feature films, video games, etc. But once the stories have been told; once they’ve been listened and processed; once the characters are gone, dead or living happily ever after; once the last chapter, the final episode or the ending credits are over… What’s left of these stories?
The memories. The love. The enthusiasm. The crave for more (a new season, a sequel, a prequel, a spin-off…). And the fans.
Fans. That’s it! That’s what make the stories unforgettable and the feelings shared. That’s where everything starts, like when a fan base emerges on the Internet via websites and message boards. That’s what turns a solitary and abstract moment into a lively and tangible experience.
I’m part of the fans who want to connect and meet, and occasionally let their love and creativity speak for a day. The fans who release the kids in them once in a while and enjoy events such as comic-cons. And my local one is FACTS.
I’m just a little Frenchie living a Belgian life in Ghent with my Flemish boyfriend. He introduced me to FACTS after we met a few years ago, and since then I’ve experienced the coolness of the event by crafting my own costumes, enjoying the art and cosplay of other people, attending panels and seeing a few of my childhood and adulthood heroes. Richard Dean Anderson was there. And so were David Hasselhoff, Summer Glau, Christopher Lloyd, Carrie Fisher, Amanda Tapping and many more.
Amanda Tapping
Summer Glau
But never ever did I think I’d be able to meet, in my city, 2 actors from my favorite show (Firefly) at the same time: Morena Baccarin and Nathan Fillion. When I learned the news, I knew I had to do something special. It took me hours to make the costume, and I dedicated most of my spare time to this project for about three weeks. But the final result was really worth it: it was not really easy to walk around with my costume, and it also required some adjustments to enter the panel room and the photobooth, but the way people reacted, as well as the FACTS crew and even the actors, turned this day into a living dream.
Starting from scratch
Building the structure
Painting
Finished! The shape is a bit phallic though… 🙂
Washburne’s shirt
Accessories
I was completely overstressed a few the days before the event. Would the costume be solid enough? Would it fit in the car? Would I manage to enter the panel room? Would they let me in the photobooth with such an enormous outfit? The FACTS crew was awesome: they fixed the tail when it was broken, sent me to the VIP line as some people queuing were cheering at me although I cut the whole line, and they also gave me a lot of space to access the photobooth. And cherry on the cake: the faces of the actors when I got in…
Picture with Morena Baccarin and Nathan Fillion
In the photobooth
From just watching TV shows as a child to connecting with fans on the Internet, meeting some of them in real life, doing cosplay, talking to random strangers and seeing actors at FACTS… What a blast!
Nathan Fillion panel
Morena Baccarin panel
Nathan Fillion and Morena Baccarin panel
Last weekend particularly, but also during the previous editions of FACTS, I felt like I belonged. Everyone was geeky, nerdy, eccentric, weird, smiling, surprising and funny. It was a time of gathering and sharing; a short and fun break in my very ordinary (but pleasant nonetheless) life. I’m back to it now but I’m waiting impatiently for the next edition of FACTS in 6 months.
Life is made to be lived, to socialize and to experience love and happiness. Watching a lot of TV – with all the crap being played – may not seem like the best way to entertain a child or an adult. However, for me it ended up with a lot of exchanges, sharing, enthusiasm, and somehow also creativity.
My Regan costume from “The Exorcist”
Me as young Sophie with Turnip from “Howl’s Moving Castle”
Thank you to everyone at FACTS for organizing these very special moments and encounters among the fans, and for creating lots of awesome memories.
At the “Belgian Browncoats” stand
Thank you to the artists for telling us good stories (writers, directors, actors, designers, cartoonists, artists of all genres).
And thank you, the fans, for sharing my interests or making me enjoy your very own hobbies, energy and eccentricities.
And since Firefly is definitely one of the hit-show in my life, I’m ending this post with 2 videos that I made a (long) time ago. Maybe I’ll start working on a new one soon. Till then, keep flying!