Words cannot contain the joy you feel when you meet your heroes. During Wizard World Comic Con in Raleigh this year, I got to meet David Tennant, the tenth Doctor on Doctor Who and currently Alec Hardy on Broadchurch. David was the reason I fell hard for Doctor Who as well as other British shows like Broadchurch. In order to meet David, guests needed to have a special VIP pass. Since David was one of the few people I would pay money to meet, I felt the overwhelming need to pay the steep $400 to meet him. I used all of my savings to pay for the ticket and book a hotel room for three nights which after I paid for the ticket and saved out enough for gas, the hotel I ended up with was a cheap run down hotel about six miles away from the convention center.
Friday I had to work so I tried to focus on my job. When I finally got out, I tried to get to Raleigh as quickly as possible. The two and a half hour ride was longer than expected because of the gloomy rainy day but it was worth it when I pulled up to the convention center. Finding an open parking garage in the rain in the dark was almost impossible and I had to trek though the rain a few blocks to get back to the convention center but when I finally made it inside with my David Tennant VIP pass, the scene was breathtaking. The vendor floor was huge, as long as a football field and was filled wall to wall with comic books, toys, clothing, and signature tables.
I took a quick tour of the floor so I knew where I needed to be on Saturday and then checked into the hotel. Saturday morning my alarm went off super early and I ended up being an hour and a half early only to find lines already in place which made me thankful for the VIP pass which had the shortest line and thankful that I had stopped in the night before to pick up my pass. A man on the megaphone was trying to rouse the crowds but very few could understand what he was saying let alone hear him say it. Memories of the teacher from Charlie Brown kept popping in my head every time I could hear him.
I didn't have much cash left on me to spend and my VIP pass with David was for Sunday and not Saturday so I visited the Ian Somerhalder panel. I didn't know much about the guy but one of my coworkers loved him so I went so she could at least have a picture of him. Afterwards I browsed the artists tables and photographed cosplayers. All of the amazing Doctor Who cosplayers were either at the David Tennant panel or in line for his autograph and photo op but I did catch some superheroes.
I was also able to capture a few glimpses of stars from their signature lines. James Marsters played Spike on Buffy - the show that got me through high school. John Schneider played Bo Duke on the Dukes of Hazard and he was the first crush I could remember. My parents used to watch the show's reruns obsessively. Other stars that I couldn't get a good picture of included William Shatner (Captain Kirk from Star Trek), Kevin Sorbo (Hercules and the captain from Andromeda), Kyle Lowder (Brady Black from Days of Our Lives), Jason David Frank (Green/White/Red Power Ranger - my second crush) and Sean Astin (Rudy, and Sam from Lord of the Rings)
The lack of food choices led me to head outside in search of more and cheaper options. After walking three blocks North and getting soaked from the rain, I turned East and after only a block found the streets closed off due to Raleigh's Saint Patrick's Day Celebration. An entire festival just a block over with restaurants in the main plaza and food vendors lined down the street. By now I was freezing cold and soaked to the bone so naturally my first food purchase was fried Oreos. I purchased some overpriced blue crabs to make up for the unhealthiness of the first purchase and headed back to the car to eat and warm up. I headed back in to watch David's panel on the large screens outside of the ballroom. I finished out the day by going back to the hotel room to get rest before I had to wake early the next morning.
Sunday I was awake before the church crowd. I arrived at the convention center two hours before the doors opened but there were still about fifteen to twenty people in line before me for David's panel. When we were shuffled into the ballroom, I was upset to learn that although I had a VIP pass and was rejected from the Saturday panel because I had the wrong day pass, Sunday's panel had three rows of seating for VIPs but the rest was general public. I was pissed because I had waited in line the day before and told that since I didn't have a Saturday pass, I couldn't go in but for Sunday, anyone could go in.
The panel was amazing and David's personality is that of my dream guy. We finished the panel and had to rush downstairs to get in line for the photo op. We were ushered in like cattle but David took it like a champ and was very polite and charming. After the rush downstairs, we still had about two hours to wait for the autograph session to begin. I decided I wanted to wait with my fellow Whovians in line for autographs. We compared pictures from the photo op and talked about the show and how much we love David. He arrived early for autographs because he needed to make an earlier flight home. I contemplated having my autograph personalized (meaning my name or a personal message on it). I decided to have it personalized with my name and I'm so glad I did because when he said my full name in his Scottish accent, I don't think I've been any happier hearing my name spoken.
I finished out the weekend in a bliss but also a little saddened to be returning home. I'm not much a fan of the town I live in but my meeting with David will hopefully hold my peace of mind over for a while.
Song of the Day:
Vindicated by Dashboard Confessionals
Movie of the Day:
The Perks of Being A Wallflower
