So, most people who know me know that I enjoy going to conventions as much as I enjoy watching horror movies and drinking Pepsi Max. And Starfury Lux, a convention for the television series Lucifer, was my first convention of 2023. And it was a very mixed bag of good and bad experiences.

The first thing that happened was that I booked for the Travelodge that said it was at Birming Airport. I got my travel sorted and got to Birming Airport, then I took out my phone to check the location of the Travelodge, which…turned out to be at least a 40 minute walk. And my sense of direction is pretty awful at the best of times, so I quickly realised I wasn’t going to get to the Travelodge, as I’d only had a couple of hours’ sleep. And when I reached the hotel where the convention was being held, the Travelodge was an hour’s walk away. Fortunately, a friend was staying in the hotel where the convention was being held at and was able to add me onto her room, so it made things much less stressful for me.

I only had two photos booked over this weekend, but both were really great experiences. The photo above is with DB Woodside, who plays Amenadiel. I’d booked a photo with him back when Lux 2 was first going to occur, which was, I believe, pre-Covid…and then it got postponed again last year to this year. It actually ended up being right after my last day at my previous job and then I had a week before my new job started, which worked out really well time-wise.

This photo with Aimee Garcia, who plays Ella in the show, was the one I was most looking forward to. Upon her first appearance in the show, Ella very quickly became my favourite character. This was the first photo I booked back when Lux 2 was first confirmed and I was so happy that she was still able to come when it got postponed to this year!

The photos were good experiences, but I did unfortunately temporarily lose my phone in the photo op room. This would have been an anxiety-inducing event before my medical emergency last year, but having been diagnosed with diabetes and now having my Freestyle libre sensor in my arm, my phone is quite literally a lifeline that tells me if my blood sugar is too high or low. Fortunately, staff and fellow attendees (including my friend) were really helpful and one of the main staff members was setting up her laptop for Google to find my phone (except I had to input a security code that Google sent…to my phone). Fortunately, my phone was found underneath the table where the bags were left before the photos.

There were two different autograph sessions each day, Saturday and Sunday, with the idea being that attendees got half of their autographs on one day and half on the other. The only person whose autograph I didn’t get was Tom Ellis’. When I was in the autograph room, his was the biggest line. I was quite fortunate, as my badge number allowed me to enter the autograph room quite early on.

Scarlett Estevez, who plays Trixie in the series, was a really great person to meet! Because of her age, her autograph wasn’t included in either the gold or regular tickets, as she wouldn’t be able to sign as much as the older actors, with more experience at conventions. Thanks to one of my other friends, though, I had an early birthday gift in the form of money for her autograph.

I mentioned earlier that Aimee Garcia was the one I was most looking forward to meeting, as Ella is my favourite character from the series. I did tell Aimee this and that I was so happy to meet her! She told me she wouldn’t tell any of the others that Ella’s my favourite.

I did also get my convention booklet signed, the photos you can see below:

I did unfortunately have a bit of a traumatic experience on the Sunday of the event, as I managed to get stuck in one of the lifts at the hotel. It wasn’t for all that long, but it was an incredibly scary experience while it was going on.

However, despite the issues, I did have a really good time at the convention. I got to see some friends and Starfury has always been my favourite company for conventions. The organiser is open and transparent with attendees and cares just as much about them having a good time as taking care of the guests. Go for weekend conventions like Starfury, rather than the signing events where all you’re doing is running from one guest to another, with no time to rest and sit.

I’ve been going to so many conventions, I figured that starting 2020, I’d start blogging about them.

I only attended LFCC Spring on the Saturday and went with my niece on the coach, getting up at 5am in order to get on the coach at 6.20am.

So we got to London, got to Kensington Olympia for 9.30am. The doors were opening at 9, so I figured we’d get there after the majority of people had got inside.

Well… That didn’t happen. It was after 10 before we even got inside the building. And then there were bag checks. Which we both passed, though I was asked who needed so much Pepsi Max. Believe me, by the end of the day, I needed all the energy I could get!

As soon as me and my niece got inside, we picked up our diamond passes. I had those for Christopher Lambert and Mark Dacascos, while my niece had a diamond pass for Robert Englund.

My first interaction of the day was with Casper Zafer. He was so incredibly nice. He complimented my hair, which my sister had dyed for me Thursday night. He also wished me happy birthday for today, the 1st March. And he was my first photo of the day, too.

Casper played Finn in the Vampire Diaries and the Originals. So far, I have autographs from three of the original vampires and photos with two.

It’s worth noting that I had great experiences with all of the actors at this con. I’ve had actors who don’t acknowledge me at all and will even have a conversation with someone else while signing. But at this particular event, my favourite encounter was with Ivana Baquero, who played Eretria in the Shannara Chronicles and the main character in Pan’s Labyrinth.

I don’t tend to ask for quotes or character names on my autographs. The only thing I’ll ask for is personalisation. But when an actor chooses to add more than just my name and their signature, it means a lot. And Ivana included a quote from Eretria. And remembered me from the photo.

‘There can be only one.’

I loved Highlander, the movies and the TV series. And getting to meet Connor MacLeod’s actor was truly amazing. Probably shouldn’t have been grinning with my head about to be cut off, though.

This was the photo included in my diamond pass.

Mark Dacascos was one of the actors whose queue was a long one. I wanted to meet him primarily because of the television series The Crow. But also the movie Double Dragon.

He was talkative and engaging. Completely great with the fans.

There weren’t that many people getting photos with Robert Emms, which was quite surprising to me. I enjoyed his portrayal of Pythagoras in Atlantis and got to have a bit of a chat with him.

Tom Hopper, the Umbrella Academy. Yes, he is really that tall. Or maybe I’m just that short. I bought my niece an autograph from him as well. We got into a debate about Luther’s actions. Me and my niece, not me and Tom. She hates the character, while I just felt he was trying to do his best.

I got two extra autographs, one from Anna Shaffer and the other from MyAnna Buring. Both from The Witcher and both extremely great to meet.

By the time me and my niece had finished photos and autographs, there wasn’t much time for browsing. I’d missed out on the Brothers Trust stall, which I had wanted to look at. And our feet ached due to constantly going back and forth.

I did manage to get two books, both signed by their authors. My niece got quite a few items, with her final purchase being a Game of Thrones shirt ten minutes before closing.

The only real issues with the day were the delay going in and the photo times being randomly changed, a fact I discovered ten minutes before my first photo, which had only a five minute slot. But I did enjoy the day. Me and my niece got to spend it together. And despite multiple cancellations, we still got a lot of photos and autographs between us.