I want to be an assassin in London ..... trouble?

Hi there,
I am planning a trip to London England just like my trip to Boston earlier this year.

Since I am really enjoying Assassin's Creed Syndicate, I was thinking of making a hoodie and posing around the famous monuments just like my video below for Boston.

But there's a couple of snags.

First of all, in Assassin's Creed Syndicate, you either walk around normally with a top hat or you switch to sneak/lurk mode and you wear the hood. I was planning on doing the hood version cuz I seriously don't want to carry a top hat around with me. All fine and good but my friend was shaking his head saying with all the trouble London has experienced in the past, sneaking around in a black outfit with a hood is likely to get me arrested.

Personally I think that's silly. Boston had just had the bombings when we were there and everyone was perfectly fine with my crazy antics (again video below). Secondly, my wife is going to be standing right in front of me with a camera while I lurk around light posts and street corners. So any law enforcement seeing what I'm doing would be pretty uptight to give me trouble.

But I figure it's worth asking around if anyone here knows the current paranoia level of London. Would trying to do a little Assassin's Creed video get me in trouble?

I wouldn't really worry about it. Although the UK and European mainland aren't exactly the same in this regard, there's still less of a "shoot first, ask questions later"-mentality than the US has concerning law-enforcement. Just take the pictures, shoot the video and if an officer approaches you, don't make any weird assumptions and calmly explain what you're doing. He'll probably ask to take a picture with him too, vain as he is.
It is London, they are kinda used to people taking pictures of stuff. Unless you are taking photos of blueprints and leaving bags in strategic crowded places, nothing is going to happen.

I live in London and to be honest you will barely be noticed. There are so many tourists standing around taking pictures of things here... so don't worry about it.

Hope you enjoy London!

You should look up a place called 'The Clink', its on the site of an old London Prison. If i recall its an old cobblestone street ant they have a replica Crow-Cage hanging up outside. Might make a good spot to film at.

MystArt said:

my friend was shaking his head saying with all the trouble London has experienced in the past, sneaking around in a black outfit with a hood is likely to get me arrested.

Personally I think that's silly. Boston had just had the bombings when we were there and everyone was perfectly fine with my crazy antics (again video below). Secondly, my wife is going to be standing right in front of me with a camera while I lurk around light posts and street corners. So any law enforcement seeing what I'm doing would be pretty uptight to give me trouble.

But I figure it's worth asking around if anyone here knows the current paranoia level of London. Would trying to do a little Assassin's Creed video get me in trouble?

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When it comes to security (measures) these days,I would at least advise against being 'wayward/naive' just because you think something is silly.Opinions vs rules will get you into trouble,especially in these anxious times when you know that lawenforcement is extra alert.

My advise would be to do what you want/need to do for your photoshoot,but stay in sight ,your wife nearby and also visable as you mentioned,and don't do anything that would be considered 'provocative' that might get you into trouble.It's better to 'sneak around' in public and make it a show than to find some deserted part of town and people getting anxious after spotting 'a guy in black with his face covered'.Youngsters may be familiar with your characters,but keep in mind the majority of society isn't/doesn't understand the concept of cosplay/costuming.

Have a safe journey back and forth,and enioy your stay in London.

If you get approached by the police just tell them you are American and they will just roll their eyes and walk off

All very valid points and asking in advance is my best way to reduce any naivete
I'm going to order a cheap top hat off eBay, one that collapses and see if maybe going the non-lurking mode is the better option.

But thank you all for the input. Watch this space in a few months for (I hope) a sequel video.

Cheer up guv'nah!

Question for you,Art,or anyone familiar with cosplay/costuming and having to go through customs for that matter;
I read the info about forbidden items,but (as a non-native speaker) haven't been able to deduce from it whether my costume contains anything that would pose a problem at an airfield,like nuts and bolts,springs and hinges etc.
What could you tell me from your own experience about safety regulations at airports when it comes to bringing your own costume/armor to wear at a Comic Con?
I'd hate to have to return home with everything already paid for,just because my armor now apparantly contains something considered 'hazardous'...

To OP...

The police here are not aggressive unless they need to be. You would most likely get approached and ask what you are doing if anything. Like has been mentioned above, just stay out of alleys or any housing areas at night. Go out during the day and do your thing. What would be epic is to walk down a street hooded, then as you pass by something that would obscure the camera from you (like a bus shelter) and drop the hood and put on your top hat before you emerge from the other side lol. The UK has so many people wearing hoods all the time anywhere that you would not stand out lol. The most you would get is some odd looks from passers by. So long as you are not brandishing a weapon you will be fine.

Hope you enjoy your trip!

To George....

When packing your suit/props you have to think of placement. My parents got stopped because of the way my mum packed her suitcase, she had bars of soap in a container which had wires for a phone charger in it too, now when going through a scanner, some dense blocks next to some wires showing up on the screen is going to say one thing, and their bags were searched by the F.B.I. (The locks were broken and there was a large sheet of red paper saying so inside, when they got home and opened it) So the best thing to do is try and pack with the placement of electronics in mind, if there are any, and always remove batteries from power packs.

Plastics, foams and the like will not show up on airport scanners as metal does, so it will be rather obvious on screen that the items are not real. That being said, it should all go in the hold, never as carry on. So this will mean the sturdy hard plastic cases, and slap a fragile sticker on it too. It may also mean a little extra charge on luggage, though.

So really, stick it in the hold, try not to pack anything in a way it might look bombish, remove batteries... And if you get asked about anything in your luggage, be honest The worst that will happen is your bags will be searched. So long as you are not transporting anything illegal you should be fine. Most airlines will have some form of information on their websites, (or even google it) about what is acceptable and what isn't for taking onboard an airplane.

You can always post things ahead of time if you have someone you can post to. But make sure it's sent weeeeeeeeeellllllllll in advance, and remember there is a customs charge on goods over a certain value (I think it's $100 or more, but can sometimes be avoided if it is sent as a "gift") which could send the cost of postage up even more. To give you an example, I bought a predator mask from a seller in the USA, and the postage ended up being more than the mask cost. Not to mention the courier service on this end delivered the box to the wrong house, left it in the person's garden, exposed to the elements and never bothered to leave a note through their door. Which in turn caused the box to sit outside for 3 days get rained on twice before I finally got my (thankfully undamaged) mask.

Thank you,DMT.So what I gather from your post is that due to the 'invisibilty' of foam and plastic on the scan,the hinges/bolts/nuts/springs in my backpack will stand out and look obvious enough to recognize them as harmless,and in the worstcase scenario I would have to demonstrate my costume at the airport?

Well you probably won't have to demonstrate the costume but may have to open your case so they can see it's a costume. You are able to transport guns on airplanes so long as you inform the airline and it is safely in the hold so I doubt a costume will cause much problems as I said so long as it doesn't look bombish you should be fine you can always contact the airline in advance and let them know what you are transporting to be safe

Thank you again

Thanks DMT excellent points and I think I'll be fine. As you say, it's not as though London has never seen its fair share of eccentrics before.
By the way George, at a local fan event I went to this year the security in the convention hall forced anyone brandishing any weapons to stick in a yellow stopper with a ribbon on it otherwise they couldn't bring them inside. It made a fair number of stormtroopers unhappy. I would hate for you to do all the right things to get your stuff to your event only to have security bork your weapons at the event itself.
Good luck to you.

A note on weapons... I know that in the UK, not sure about elsewhere, but any replica gun must have the tip of their barrels covered in bright orange (or other highly visible colour). Some are excluded from this rule, such as very futuristic, that looks nothing like conventional firearms, spacey kinda guns. But on the whole, anything gun like should have a visible barrel to indicate it is not real. I suppose you could use something removable for photo opportunities. Which I guess is understandable... If there was some person in a strange outfit wielding a shotgun in the street, very few people will immediately think "Ah Cosplayer." Especially now with the "goings on"

Thank you,Art & DMT.
My crafting ambitions however 'revolve' mostly around particular Marvel costumes instead of weapons,so thankfully I won't have to worry about that hurdle.
My 'worrying' had to do with backpacks with iron (animatronic) parts in it that might get you in trouble at the airport.I assume I can always verify this at the Travel Agency where I arrange my trip.

Speaking as a Policeman from London I can tell you they really won't care a great deal. They may speak to you but if you're not bothering anyone then they've got better things to do.

Carrying anything that resembles a real firearm is likely to draw attention as possession of an imitation firearm is a specific offence in England but as bringing one into the country is also an offence you'd probably already have got into trouble when it was found in your suitcase.

Carrying offensive weapons (swords, some knives, clubs etc) is an offence under the Prevention of Crime Act 1953 and anyone carrying a sword in the street is likely to be detained for some period however case law has given rise to a known defence to the offence of Possession of a offensive weapon in public and that is when said weapon is part of a costume (the example usually cited is one of a man dressing up as a policeman carrying a truncheon) but really every circumstance will be treated on its own merits and any successful attempt to use this excuse would require a costume that is clearly identifiable as such to any member of the general public requiring no specialist knowledge.

Please stand on the right.

Live the dream.

Well I finally did it! And very happy with how it all turned out. Good thing I did the top hat route instead of the hoodie. Didn't have any problems at all.

Yeah, well, wear old-timey clothes and a Top Hat in London and they'll just assume you're a tour guide... or a slightly lost and confused toff.

Angelus Lupus said:

Yeah, well, wear old-timey clothes and a Top Hat in London and they'll just assume you're a tour guide... or a slightly lost and confused toff.

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LOL that describes me to a T