Shenanigans in Belfast

Look out Northern Ireland, the SCC are going international... kinda, well not really. Overseas i guess.

what you are about to read or view, well lets be honest probably just skim over, is the SCC's trip over to Northern Ireland to attend the MCM Belfast Comic Con. 

This trip has everything, Comics, Cosplay, Airport delays, Food reviews, Sightseeing, Alot of chips, Drunken antics, Sketches, a Ginger George R.R. Martin, and more photos of plane wings than needed... (seriously they make up like 60% of the pics).

 Day Zero

So we set out about 9am on Friday morning, we figured to get there nice and early, despite hearing rumors that there was an incident at the airport, causing possible delays. which was lucky cause we missed our exit for the airport and had to drive pretty much into Bristol to turn around... mainly because we missed a second turn around point :/

  This is a bridge.

Thought something smelt funny (Har har har)

This is Tranters crotch. Alittle fun fact, Tranter does not own a pair of trousers that do not have holes in them

 

Webber is demonstrating his approval of Tranters Car Camera tom foolery.

  

so sure enough those rumors we heard about delays were true, this is the face of 4 hour Airport delays. but not to worry, people watching soon took over and proceeded to take up alot of our time. which wasn't a complete waste of time, because we did manage to find Waggy disguised as a normal person at the airport. look at him, thinking hes Clark Kent, pfft, you can wear those fake glasses all you want, we know its you Waggy. its only now that we realize that Tranter is dressed the same as Waggy2's lady friends... take from that what you will.

 

That's not the best photo of Waggy, but if you know him, you'll know hes not exactly a "Good" photo sort of person.

 

 So 4 hours after the intended departure, they finally see their chariot to the Sky's.

 

 and Tranter can hardly contain himself.

Salute to Jurassic Park

Wing Shot                      Wing Shot                           Wing Shot        

Airplane Selfie

Wing Shot                          Wing Shot                          Wing Shot

Told ya, there were more as well

"Welcome to Belfast"

Webbers first impression of Northern Island was "Well, its just a flat Wales really"

after grabbing the suitcase, the amount of care the luggage handlers apply to their job is demonstrated in full, when a big chunk of Webbers suitcase falls off

and yes, for the return journey and bit of gaffer tape had to do the job.

on the way to find the hostel there was a space toilet, so Webber had to use it. well, he needed to go anyway, and then saw this, so it wasn't like he saw it and felt obliged to use it, that would be ridiculous. Tranter did, but he didn't need to go.

A chip shop called 'Spuds', ha. insert a Irish Potato joke

after arriving at the hostel and dumping stuff, it was then time for exploring the city. the main shopping centre was Victoria Square (or Center, I'm not sure). it was cool, all the floors were linked together with this overly elaborate structure with elevators and escalators coming from it.

it was too late in the evening to go to the very top, but this height was pretty cool too.

Day One.
Convention time. the plan was to walk from the hostel to the convention, about a 40 minute walk, doable. but seeing as it was hammering down typical 'flat Wales' weather, and the fact that they got up late, a taxi seemed to be the best bet. arriving at the table, Tranter proceeded to remove his wet hoody and place it over the back of his seat, he then got up from his seat at about 1ish and wondered why his ass was wet. yes, he had been sat on the hood of his wet hoody for 3 hours, good job.
most of the pictures of the first are mainly just what was taken from and around the table area, due to not having much time to wonder around.

 

 it was surprisingly difficult to find a picture of our table where Tranter didn't have his middle finger up, more difficult that it should be.

 

 Never underestimate the importance one feels when given a plastic "Retailer" wrist band. Its a lot, especially when everyone else has those paper ones, that what they get for arriving on time.

Daryl Dixon was cool, he turned up pretty early. A bit disappointing that he didn't go with the string of ears round the neck, that would of been nice.

now I'm not 'up' or 'with it' when it comes to Pokemon, so I'm just gonna assume this is a Pokemon and commend you of the dedication to wear that much fur in an incredible humid crowded hall.

Batman Beermat, or Bat-mat, and a joker sketch card

gotta have a group of X-men Cosplayers

"you want a sketch of a guy without a face, absolutely". The Question and Alice sketch cards

The 5th Doctor Browsing the Sketch card folder, no doubt disappointed by the lack of 5th Doctor Sketch cards.

what do you say when your girlfriend tells you "I'm going to the con dressed as tank girl, and you're going dressed as Booga", you say "yes dear, id love to dress up as a mutant Kangaroo" and then you do it, with a smile on your face.

now this guy, besides from the obvious lack of weapons. for just some motocross pads and spray paint, this guy looks awesome.

mini deadpool wanted a sketch card of deadpool, so hear he his displaying what i like to call 

'Massive-headpool'

 so over the weekend we had a contest going each day. the artists had each contributed to some blank cover variants before hand, Avengers vs X-men and Justice league. in order to win one of these covers all you had to do was simply guess how many skittles were in the gumball machine. easy. ish.

with a guess of 176 he was the closest to the correct amount of 173.

End of ConDay1

Being part of 'Comic Village' with the other independent comic creators, everyone decided to go out for a drink (or two) across the road after the con. 

 Everyone had gone round the table introducing themselves, with the usual "I'm know ill probably forget in five minutes", to which Tranter replied "its ok, if i forget anyone's name, I'm just gonna call them DAVE"

It was good, sitting down talking to other like minded people. it was all quite civilized until Jenika Ioffreda (of Vampire Free Style) came round with Whiskey Shots for everyone, it then seemed to go down hill from there :)

so drinks were had, fun was shared, finally managed to ditch too crazy Irish people who had joined the group when one of them had shouted "Oi ginger" at Webber while he was out for a smoke. but it was getting on, so the group decided to move on. some were off out for more drinks, while others choose to head back to the hostel. so after much debate on where to go and what to do, the group split. Tranter and Sam were catching a quick train back into town, while Webber, Dave, Dave, Blue, Dave and Dave, grabbed a taxi to more bars.

25 minutes later Tranter and Sam came out of a little shop only to see Webber and the other climb out of a taxi. at this point all previous plan were thrown out the window and everyone was back to square one, so from somewhere the idea of a Japanese got into everyone heads. Probably because we were stood outside a Japanese Restaurant. at 10.50pm everyone stumbled in to be told that they are open, although the kitchen will be closing in 10 minute, WE decide that that is fine, and sit down.

its at this point the Welsh ridicule starts. where Webber proceeds to order a portion of chips, which everyone thought was funny enough, then Tranter accidentally ordered TWO portions of chips for himself, then people lost their shit, Steve was in hysterics, crying into his bowl of watery noodles. 

but hey, you cant say the Welsh don't try. Tranter and Webber proceeded to eat those chips entirely using chopsticks. ok, so Webber did stab alot of his chips with the chopsticks.

 

Blue ordered what can only be described as a cone of Sushi, she then tried to eat it in one go without picking it up. You Stay Classy Blue! :)

 I'm pretty sure we're not allowed back, and by pretty sure, i mean definitely not allowed back. But wait "how can you be sure" you may ask, easy, because as we were walking past the next day, the employees walked to the entrance and closed the door :/

Day Two

The plan was to get there abit earlier so there was a chance to have a quick wonder around, this did not work out, arriving later than the previous day, if only by a few minutes.

This guy was homework, as well as a Daenerys Targaryen (which we unfortunately didn't get a picture of) but ended up being done first thing in the morning, due to...stuff, the night before.

Again most of the pics are from and around the table area.

Batman, Robin and Nightwing

Raphael, you know, the guy from that Turtles movie, where they fight and i think one of them really like pizza or something

not sure where this was, but isn't that the cutest looking Cthulhu you've ever seen

Dr Fate, for the same guy who wanted the Question. excellent choice in characters i must say

 Deadpool is always very popular, because hes a dude. but one woman wanted two Deadpool beermats.

Like i said, Deadpool is always popular, there must've been like at least 5 or 6 cosplayers

 

 Conan For this guy

Despite not having as many comics as would liked, it was still a really successful weekend. This is the last issue of Copperopolis number 1, being picked up by the 5th Doctor. as well as the Cable and Deadpool double beermat below.

And the last piece of art from the weekend, a Dante from Devil May Cry

so that was the extent of the convention, great times were had by all, we hope. we the SCC had fun, so if you didn't then you clearly didn't try hard enough.

thanks to everyone who stopped by for a chat, flick through your comic (even more thanks to the ones who bought it) and everyone had took a chance of the Guess the Gumball machine.

End of ConDay2

But the fun doesn't end there, followers. Because as you'd expect, there a few more drinks, i mean, socializing and networking, after the Con. Plus Tranter and Webber go sightseeing, Phone dropping, Food tasting (well, they eat), and alot more plane wings.

so if your only in this for the Convention stuff, feel free to jump off this Adventure train right now, if that's the case, then i bid you adieu.

After the second day of the Con, drinks were again decided to be had. this time there was slightly more of a plan. The group planned to go to a bar beautifully titled "Filthy McNastys".

Unfortunately, everyone didn't quite meets the high standards of customer class set out by said named "Filthy McNastys", oh, except of course for Tranter, Who is generally considered to be the 'Scruffy one'. so blissfully unaware of what happen Tranter just strolled on into the bar, turned around to ask where everyone wanted to sit only to notice that everyone was stood behind a wall of bouncers eagerly waving me to come out. "hey, whats going on guys, why are you coming in", "we're not allowed in, too casual apparently". Its this point that Dave 1 (Steve) noticing Tranter's tshirt stated to the bouncer "oh so he can walk in in a Batman tshirt, but we're too casual", to which the bouncer replied very calmly (and in a very cool manner) "...well, hes Batman isn't he".

 Tranter, Dave 1, Dave

 

Blue, Angry Scottish Lady-Dave, Scottish Dave

At the end of the night, plans quickly broke down again when Angry Scottish Lady-Dave tried to take everyone to a gay bar she thought was round the corner, it quickly became obvious that she didn't know where it was, and it involved getting a taxi. At 1am, the boys called it quits. This could mainly be due to the fact that all this was happening literally outside their Hostel, like, they could reach out and ring the door bell it was that close.

 Dyslexia claimed some more victims when Webber read this sign as "Machete Museum" 

 

you can imagine the disappointment

Webber as George R.R. Martin

For people whose job it is to point tourist in the right direction of landmarks an such, they sure do enjoy getting in the way of photos

A clock tower, from a distance.

So they went back to Victoria Square (or Centre) and went up that Towering platform in the middle. Webber felt Sick from the height and going up the escalator so all his photos are from the center of the platform.

This is the image to be used on Tranters Autobiography, "The Page is a Playground, and my Hair is Caught in the Swing Set"

Tranter however took a couple of pictures hanging his phone out over the edge

...and they look quite cool too.

...Till he dropped it!

 

Just in case the boys hadn't had enough of toys comics and collectibles after spending two days at a comic convention, the felt the need to seek out Forbidden Planet

Brilliant

Now let me tell you about a place, a beautiful place, a place were dreams are made off. Especially if your dreams include custom made burgers and diabetes.

Ladies and heavy breathing gentlemen, i present, "BUILD A BURGER"

This place was recommended because of the creativity of the burgers and strange variety of burger toppings that are on the menu. One topping that was emphasized in this recommendation was none other than 'Gummy Bears'. The plan was not to have Gummy Bears in a burger, but this strange topping was enough to peke interest in this restaurant. so it was decided.

So these are the feasts our Brave Fearless Adventurers of food decided on:

WEBBER
6oz Steak burger with Pulled Pork as a topping,
A side of Chips
Peanut Butter Dip
DIET Coke

TRANTER

6oz Steak Burger with Chopped Peppers and Onion Rings

A Side of Chips topped with PEANUT BUTTER, CHOCOLATE SPREAD and GUMMY BEARS

Bottle of Fanta (not Pictured)

WARNING

Your body will probably develop Type 2 Diabetes by just looking at the following pictures, so proceed with caution.

Not one to shy away from the challenge of diabetes...

 Now, i know what your thinking "that's disgusting", but you're only thinking that because you've never tried Chocolate Chips. And let me tell you, its like being born again, like having your eyes opened what it seems to be for the first time. judge this all you want, but we all know that you are at least curious as to the culinary delights this combination grants you. Don't act like the next time you have chips from the chippy, that you don't grab a lighter and melt some of that Dairy Milk you've had in the cupboard saving for the right moment, over at least one of those chips just to try it, while hoping your friends don't catch you, ashamed of what they might think.

Webber thought exactly the same, that's why he only went for the Peanut Butter, rather than the full sha-bang of Peanut Butter, Chocolate spread and Gummy Bears. And boy was he wrong.

Webber Taking a bite of Peanut Butter Chips. i should clarify, that second picture is from generally being full at the end of the meal

Likewise hear with Tranter. Its all fun and smiles, until the Sick-Burps start

so in all 5 stars, Definitely getting a second visit. 

but not for like another whole year, play it safe on the arteries yeah?

Last bit of sightseeing while on the way back to the hostel to collect our things and head home.

I'm not sure this woman in the background approved of Webbers Shenanigans, because she quickly moved seats and proceeded to give him evil looks as he was pretending to throw up into the sick bag while the flight attendants were doing their demo-dance

Ha, never gets old.

Taking Off, cool

during take off and pretty much all of the flight, Tranter had his head glued to the window fascinated by the whole flying thing.

Tranter:

"I refuse to believe that i am the only person on this plane who is glued to the 

window in amazement. like, how are people just sat there calmly just not bothered

 by this, like its such a normal thing. PEOPLE this is amazing"

Webber:

"oh i know, don't get me wrong, i did find it amazing and exciting... when i was 5"

Tranter:

"...."

And for all who were eagerly await more shots of the plane wing, BOOM, enjoy!

So that was the Belfast Holiday/Trip. i hope you've enjoyed this post as much as i haven't enjoyed writing this book of a post out. Its now i realise this post probably should have been split into two or possibly three posts, oh well.

 keep an eye out on our Facebook page for more info on some Blank Cover giveaway, as well as news of upcoming convention, and seeing as most of you who can be bothered to read this were probably directed here from the Facebook, that shouldn't be a problem.

All artwork for Copperopolis Issue two is now complete and handed in, it just needs sending to the printers then we should some crisp new Issues for you lovely people, but don't worry, you horrible people can still get it if you want, but just to let you know we're gonna have Waggy lick the cover of your copy.

Live long and prosper True Believers, and may the force be equal to mass times acceleration
EXCELSIOR 

... your a wizard Harry!