On Friday Joel came to visit us in Belfast, because there was a convention to take place from the 7th to the 8th June of 2014. He arrived around 17pm here, and after a quiet Friday evening where we cooked some pasta and looked some films we (Nick, Eric, Martin, Joel and me) got up at about 10 pm in the morning to get ready for the event. After having a nice breakfast we took a cab to the Kings Hall which led us trough some nice neighbourhoods around Belfast which I‘ haven’t seen before. Around the Lisburn Road there is a big mansion district where a lot of really impressive houses are located. While we we’re driving to the venue the weather already started to getting worse. There was a huge load of rain coming to the earth and it didn’t seem to clear up so soon. As we arrived we we’re shocked about how many people lined up to get into the Comic Con. It was a queue which was about 300 meters long and we first had to walk to the end of it. As expected the weather seemed to side against us, so instead of getting better the rain steadily hold on while we were waiting to get in. We were curious about how long it would take to reach the entry and already got used to the idea that it could easily take 2 hours to get in, but as the people were moving in batches it happened to be slightly earlier. After about a hour we finally where in the batch that was getting access to the area.
The entry fee was 8 pounds which is okay in my opinion for a big event. After we’ve passed the gates a huge wave of humid heat was streaming towards us, which was at first really heavy but after spending a few minutes in the building you got used to it. It also had the advantage that the clothing was drying fast which was completely sodden after the rainfall. The convention itself wasn’t what like I’ve expected it to be. On each stand there was a lot of merchandise for sell, mostly more expensive then you can buy it elsewhere but anyway a lot of stuff huddled up. Me as I’ve never been a fan of animes and mangas and most comics at all (probably because I’ve never been interested enough yet to get deeper into it) was a bit disappointed, but anyway I’ve bought a few souveniers which aren’t related to comics in particular. Eric explained me afterwards that there’s a difference between a convention and a fair where more stuff is free available and new products are announced, while conventions usually are for selling stuff and meeting up like-minded persons. I now can say that I wouldn’t visit it anymore, but for more interested persons, it’s a nice thing for sure and it was an experience on its own that had to be made.