Review written by Steven Potter

As a regular attendee of the Scunthorpe convention scene, upon hearing of the cancellation of 2 events (S-Con and Sci-Fest), I decided to look into what other local events were happening.

Whilst Scunthorpe is still getting its own Comic con, (North Lincs TV & Film Comic Con presents Scunthorpe Comic Con 3 at the Baths Hall on Sunday 18th June 2017), I still wanted to attend more.

I had previously volunteered to take photos for S-Con and Sci-Fest over the last few years and had some of my photos appear on the Scunthorpe Telegraph website for last years Comic Con, but I really enjoy photography and knew a few people going to the Cleethorpes Con so decided to attend on the Friday.

As the event was being held at Cleethorpes Leisure Centre, which is only a short train journey away and a few minutes walk, I got got up early Friday morning and arrived at the venue not long before the doors opened.

Outside the building, an inflatable TARDIS and Mr. Stay Puft the Marshallow Man were on display, with many people taking their photos with them whilst waiting to enter the venue.

Upon entering the building, I was greeted by the staff and immediately noticed several props nearby, which including a bat signal, several models including Batman, ET, Rocket Raccoon, Groot, Star-Lord and Dobby, as well as a ghost containment system and Vigo painting from the GhostBusters movies.

There were a large number of cosplayers including members of The SuperHeroes Cosplay Group and The Sentinel Squad. Both of these groups travel the country attending events and collecting money for various charities.

I spoke to Katie Richmond Cosplay, who is a member of The SuperHeroes Cosplay Group and was one of the most popular cosplayers in attendance on the day, with her outfits based on Disney’s Moana and Ariel the Little Mermaid.

“Geeks Cleethorpes was a fantastic event.” said Katie. “I was there as part of the SuperHeroes Cosplay team who raise funds for Ashgate Hospice.” “The venue was fab and it was a pleasure to meet so many talented cosplayers”.

I also met and chat with several cosplayers including WolverSteve, who is such a huge Wolverine fan that Hugh Jackman knows who he is and he was personally invited to meet Hugh and attend the Logan premiere.

I managed to grab a chat with Luke Barnes, who played Rast in Game of Thrones. He told me how he enjoyed meeting his fans and how he is really busy with a number of projects, including several that he could not legally talk about at the moment. He did talk about an event he has coming up in Hull in June, that combines local music acts with a theatrical story and was really excited about it. Luke was also one of the judges in the cosplay competition at the end of the day.

I also chatted to Chris Rankin, who played Percy Weasley in the Harry Potter film series. Chris told me he was very busy with with projects that he couldn’t talk about but has a lot of events coming up where he will be meeting his fans, including Germany.

Alan Harris, best known as Bossk in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, told me how he had retired from acting many years ago and how much he loves meeting Star Wars fans. He even took time to pose for a photo with a member of The Sentinel Squad dressed as Bossk for me. He said he is really excited to be coming to Scunthorpe Comic Con 3 in June.

There were other guests including comic book artist Grant Perkins and YouTube gamers Pizza Games Fun Times, who were filming for their YouTube channel, but I was too busy to have a proper talk to them.

I really enjoyed myself and feel that the only negatives were that the event may need to look into finding a bigger venue if they continue to grow, hopefully with similar public transport facilities and that there could possibly be a few more interactive events taking place at the show, such as guest talks from the celebrities, have the comic artist do a live drawing on stage or have him offer a drawing class, a how to YouTube and Cosplay talks etc.

These could be paid for events or even add a few pounds on the ticket price to cover the events. They could even charge a little more for a V.I.P. ticket which would get you access to all the events.

“Geeks” Comic-Cons return to Cleethorpes Leisure on Saturday 11th November 2017 with their Heroes & Foes event that hopefully I will be able to attend. They also have a number of other shows coming up including Lincoln, with a full list of events listed on their Facebook page.

All images and content courtesy of Steven Potter