The first thing I did after putting my money into a bank
account was to book a stall at the Cardiff Comic Con. So after setting up some wholesale accounts
with a couple of suppliers and asking myself which t-shirts I liked most I ordered
a bunch, DC, Marvel and a few Jinx ones which I’ve fallen in love with and now
own myself (It’s called a “marketing” expense) which were delivered quicker
than when I order things on Amazon, all carriage free.
For those who don’t know me my driving skills leave
something to be desired - the last time I drove something that wasn’t on Mario
Kart ended up with Bessie (my campervan) being killed by an 18 wheeler. My friends who were supposed to go up with me
bailed so I ended up booking a hostel in the centre of Cardiff and after work
getting the lovely train up.
So you’re most probably thinking “how did you carry 300
t-shirts?” The answer is 2 massive suitcases which are incredibly heavy. On the train I read my book (Broken Homes by
Ben Aaronovitch – A supernatural police book set in London, it’s alright but
not spectacular) and got to my hostel in Cardiff about 9pm. This was the second hardest thing of the
weekend, carrying 2 suitcases up 2 flights of stairs – I’m getting a hotel with
a nice lift next time!
So after a good sleep I got to Cardiff Moterpoint arena at
8am and ended up walking around the building until I found some other dealers
who told me where the entrance is! I got
inside, got my dealer wristband and told where my table was and set up. As I was doing this I realised that I’d
forgotten my camera so no photo’s of this con I’m afraid. At 5 to 9 I went to pee, why is this
important I hear you ask, well the hardest thing of the weekend was not peeing
for 8 hours.
My stall was near some unbelievably friendly traders who
were nice to the naive dealer I am and helped keep me sane as a Dalek went up
and down our Isle following pretty girls.
I sold about 60 shirts on Saturday and was unbelievably relieved as 5pm
came around and I could finally pee.
After tidying my stall I got some food at my favourite fast food
restaurant Wok to Walk – the first time I’ve ever seen one outside of my
favourite city in the world – Amsterdam.......
After this I decided rather than stay in the bar underneath
my hostel and spunking all our profits on my friend Jack I decided to see
Elysium at the Cinema and was pleasantly surprised! Good sci-fi film, slightly spoilt by the
smelly unwashed con attendee sat in front of me (SPOILER ALERT)but with a very
unhollywood ending with the main guy ending up dead.
Sunday was a lot quieter trading the most surprising thing
was biting into my sandwich to find it had Jalopenoes in it and not having a
drink! Over the whole weekend I sold
about 80 shirts, so we made a small profit and proved Geek is Chic was a viable
business, maybe not enough to quit my oh so cool day job (yet) but something to
build on.
The train journey home was slightly stressful as I was
worried about carrying all my money in a bum bag (like I said, I’m oh so cool)
but eventually got home and passed out in my nice comfy bed.
My Highlights of Cardiff Comic con included:
- Could see the Hoff from our stall.
- Too many cosplay of the Doctor.
- Cosplay green arrow who shouldn’t have been wearing lycra.
- Cosplay orange Power ranger with his ball bag hanging out........
- Lots of slutty Harley Quinn cosplay.
- Girl in tight leather pants and a bra with a guitar hero guitar, still not sure who she was supposed to be......
The next thrilling instalment in our blog about London film
and comic con and the race to Olympia.....
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