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Pouring the plaster into the mold...
And Viola! Trevor's head!
And the crew that made it happen! Big thanks to Malika, Fal and Trevor!
Darren showing off his A3 helmet made by Terry English. He loves that helmet!
Darren is the only one at the con who was wearing a set of Marine Armor made by Terry English. At one point I noticed a USCM helmet sitting on a table, and it had been signed by Terry. So I assumed it was a helmet that he had made. I looked closer to the helmet, picked it up, and realized that it was one of my helmets. Terry had signed my helmet! So I went to find Darren and asked to borrow his helmet. He asked why, and I told him that if Terry was going to go around signing helmets that I made, I decided I would go and sign helmets that he made! The look on Darren's face was priceless. I wish I had gotten a pic of that! Ultimately, the answer was no.
Mantroon with his face.
Pug attacks Malika!
Marines hanging out in the UKCM room.
And here's the pic of me and all my Marines! That's right, I made every set of armor in the pic! How awesome is that!!??
And here's the UKCM pic. They let me sit in as an honourary member (see, I spelled it the British way!),
Trevor's face, signed by all the Marines. After we all signed it, we gave it to Trevor as a gift. He was so happy!
Trevor and his wife getting the face. She immediately pointed out all the things that needed to be fixed on the face; where he needed botox, a nose job, tuck this, nip that, etc..
Mantroon starting to pack up.
Alien Spunk. Yummy.
This was a gift from the Scottish Marines. It's a horny facehugger!!
Alien egg.
After that, it was time to leave the NSC for good, and finish up the weekend at the bar!
Eeek! A Bug!
Alien pee.
Pug attacking people at the bar.
Brits do seem to have a perverted relationship with their deserts!
Mantroon meat.
I did get to finally sit down with Terry and talk armor. He was impressed with my suits, mostly because they are all hand sculpted and not direct copies of his work, like many others. He did tell me that he didn't like the way the shoulders on my armor lie, and told him to go to hell. Who the hell does he think he is telling me what's wrong with my armor? So he hit me again. When I came to, we talked more, and he broke out a pen and some paper and drew up a better way for me to strap my armor that would make it look better, and make the shoulders lie properly on the armor, AND take A LOT of the stress off the shoulders, so they won't break as much. So I'll be trying out his ideas very soon, so we'll see how it works out. Thanks again, Terry!
Terry showing me how he really feels about me.
Mantroon doing the same.
Pug, in his person costume.
The last straggler's left at the end of the night.
Monday
The next morning, packing up Darren's van before heading to the airport.
Of course, Monday was the 5th of November. And sadly, I couldn't find anyone who actually knew the whole poem! For the Americans out there who have no idea about British Holidays, and who didn't see "V for Vendetta", the 5th of November is the day that Guy Fawkes TRIED to blow up Parliament, failed, and was later hung, and drawn and quartered. That's right, the Brits have a holiday celebrating a man who TRIED to do something, but failed. But, hey, at least he got off the sofa and got out of the house, right?
So, as we remember it:
"Remember, remember, the 5th of November,
The day we smoke lots of pot.
Oh, tis the season,
Of goat and sheep pleasin',
So long as we never get caught!"
Sounds like a Blink 182 song.
Anyway... after Darren and Kevin dropped me off at kerbside check-in (that's right, KERB, and opposed to CURB, and these Brits claim to have invented the language, yet they can't seem to spell), I boarded the plane, and flew back to the US, already dreaming of the next time I would get to invade another UK Convention!
BIG BIG THANKS to (in no particular order):
The UKCM, the UKG, the NSC, Malika, Darren, Kevin, Mantroon, Ian White and his wife (who for some reason, I got not one picture of), Trevor Steedman and his wife, PVB, Fal, Baz, Reverend Scapegoat, Techno Viking, Fraz, Purple Pixie, Kona, Karen, Harry Harris, Terry English, Geordi, Model Shop Guy, the Lads from Hadrian's Wall, Mike Rush, Sixty, Andy, Padsbrat, Diznee, and everyone who bought some Spat Swag (Spwag), or attended a Spat Panel (Spanel), or bought Spat a drink (Spink?). I'm sorry if I've forgotten anyone, but it was a long weekend and I met so many people. And some names are real names, others are nicknames, and still others are screen names. So it gets a bit confusing to me.
I hope you like the pics and captions, and I hope that you guys will invite me back to other cons in the UK.
Until then...
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