London, Ontario got a whole lot nerdier for Saturday September 23, for the fourth annual Forest City Comicon – a one-day event held at the London Convention Centre. TGON North was there to take in this small but fast-growing event, and here are some of our highlights!
Dicky Beer
Source: starwars.wikia.com
One of the highlights from this year’s FCCC was special guest stuntman Dickey Beer. Beer is the stuff of Hollywood legend as he’s appeared in some of the biggest films of all time going back to his first stunt on A Bridge Too Far in 1977. Some of his other credits include Superman III, Dune, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Transformers 3: Dark Side of the Moon and Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. All told he’s appeared in over 100 films but everyone was there to meet the man many would know as Boba Fett from Star Wars: Epidose VI – Return of the Jedi.
Funny enough, Beer admitted he didn’t even know the name of the character he was playing and only got the part when the hired stuntman wasn’t willing to perform the stunt where Fett is thrown against Jabba’s barge and falls into the Sarlacc Pit, a fall of over 30 feet. Beer performed the stunt several times safely as not only Fett but other background characters as well.
Also, something that is not commonly known, was that he doubled as Luke Skywalker during these sequences when Mark Hamill was required to jump from skiff to skiff and from skiff to barge. When asked how he got that part, his reply was he was, “the right size and the costume fit”, two things that would serve him well throughout his career.
Photo source: Skylar Shelley/Pixelyrics Photography
He also spoke about his part in the biker scout scene on Endor where the scout is thrown from the bike and hits a large tree upside down and backwards. Beer said that famous shot was not rigged and he performed it 15 times without injury.
In what was the most interesting bit of information was that Beer admitted he didn’t even really like Star Wars, as he preferred Indiana Jones. This was in no small part to the fact that when asked, he gushed over how Steven Spielberg was his favorite director to work with. In fact, at the insistence of his daughter who is now herself a stuntwoman, he had only seen Star Wars 11 years ago for the first time.
It was a wonderful and rare opportunity to speak with one of the great stunt performers of all time and get an inside look at the craft that is so vital to the filmmaking process. (source: Steve Dunk, The Game of Nerds)
Billy Boyd
This year’s headlining celebrity guest was Lord of the Rings’ own Pippin himself. Fans lined the halls and jam-packed the main salon for his Q&A panel “Second Breakfast,” and he spent a large part of the day signing autographs and taking photos with fans, both Hobbit cosplayers and otherwise! Boyd was exceptionally approachable and friendly, and appeared to take his time with each and every fan who stopped by his booth.
Billy Boyd at Forest City Comicon 2017. Photo source: Skylar Shelley/Pixelyrics Photograph
Other guests this year included London’s improv comedy group The 404s, Super Art Fight, Amber Nash, Jennifer Maillett, and Brian Hull.
Jennifer Maillett, VFX artist. Photo source: Skylar Shelley/Pixelyrics Photography
And now… Cosplay!
Of course, no convention would be complete without cosplay! Here’s some of our favourites from this year’s FCCC!
This year’s con may have only been one day (as opposed to last year’s event spread out over two days), but it proved to be a fun-filled day of nerdy fun for all attendees, whether their time was spent taking in the diverse schedule of panels, browsing the exhibitor’s hall, or checking out the latest in gaming (both digital and tabletop) in the Project Play zone.
We thoroughly enjoyed our time at this convention, and can’t wait to see it continue to grow in the years to come!
