Endoskull1
New Member
Hi folks, well its now a week since I suited up for the first time ever, to hunt at Collectormania in Milton Keynes U.K. and what an amazing experience it was.
Here is a brief history of how it all came about.
I joined the Lair at the end of august 2010 and was instantly hooked, so a couple of months later I ended up ordering a Mander P1 suit from Craig at Hellkat Creations. After weeks and weeks of pestering him, it eventually arrived in a pretty dissapointing condition. It had obviously been assembled in a rush and I realised it would need a lot of work to turn it into the costume that I had dreamed of.
So I worked on tweeking and improving it in the evenings and at weekends and 6 months soon passed.
In April I spotted that Elpidia Carrillo would be attending and signing in the U.K. during May, so I became determined to meet her in character.
Its now 8.45am on saturday 28 May 2011 and I am in my hotel room fully suited, heart pounding, sweating, and to be honest, fairly terrified to open the door ! Had I come all this way only to fail at the last moment ?
No !!
I left my room and stepped into the lift that goes straight to the convention with my heart now trying to burst out of my chest OMG, OMG, OMG.
" Does the suit look ok ?"
" Will everyone laugh at me ?"
Here I go, now gasping for breath, and..... WOW, I was mobbed within 20 seconds by dozens of photo hungry Pred fans. What a rush !!!
It took me about 2 hours to work my way across the convention floor to the table where Elpidia would be signing and I looked up to find a hand written sign..... CANCELLED. She would "not be attending" it stated. Obviously I was gutted but I was getting such a buzz out of being photographed every few steps, that I worked the room for around 3 hours before taking a break back in the hotel.
The next morning I costumed up again and entered the convention to find it even more crowded. Again I was in demand every few steps and it was very flattering to be so well received by the visitors.
Half way round the room I looked over to see a large crowd had gathered at the spot where Elpidia would have been, and YES, YES, YES, she was there. Her flight had been delayed by 24 hours.
It was at this point that I was approached by Predwolf (Tony) in his Stormtrooper suit. He introduced himself and we agreed that we had to get some photos with her for the Lair.
These can be seen on his post here http://www.thehunterslair.com/index.php?showtopic=24674
After we had done the photos and I had worked the room again, I went back to the hotel and de-suited so that i could return and meet Elpidia in person. I introduced myself to her as the person who had been in costume minutes before. She was very nice and expressed her gratitude to me for turning up as a Pred. I had a photo and spare Bio mask signed.
What a totally awesome weekend.
25 years after first watching the iconic first Predator movie, I am standing, in costume, next to an original cast member ! Bizzare !
So just a couple more things to say and then I will shut up...
Thanks to Tony (Predwolf) and his family,
Thanks to Elpidia for comming over,
Thanks to everyone who wanted a photo,
And most of all, thanks to everyone at the Lair for inspiring and educating me and making me yearn for my next hunt. Yes you get hot, yes you get jossled, yes its draining, but yes
it is a FANTASTIC experience !
Thanks again folks,
Phil.
Here is a brief history of how it all came about.
I joined the Lair at the end of august 2010 and was instantly hooked, so a couple of months later I ended up ordering a Mander P1 suit from Craig at Hellkat Creations. After weeks and weeks of pestering him, it eventually arrived in a pretty dissapointing condition. It had obviously been assembled in a rush and I realised it would need a lot of work to turn it into the costume that I had dreamed of.
So I worked on tweeking and improving it in the evenings and at weekends and 6 months soon passed.
In April I spotted that Elpidia Carrillo would be attending and signing in the U.K. during May, so I became determined to meet her in character.
Its now 8.45am on saturday 28 May 2011 and I am in my hotel room fully suited, heart pounding, sweating, and to be honest, fairly terrified to open the door ! Had I come all this way only to fail at the last moment ?
No !!
I left my room and stepped into the lift that goes straight to the convention with my heart now trying to burst out of my chest OMG, OMG, OMG.
" Does the suit look ok ?"
" Will everyone laugh at me ?"
Here I go, now gasping for breath, and..... WOW, I was mobbed within 20 seconds by dozens of photo hungry Pred fans. What a rush !!!
It took me about 2 hours to work my way across the convention floor to the table where Elpidia would be signing and I looked up to find a hand written sign..... CANCELLED. She would "not be attending" it stated. Obviously I was gutted but I was getting such a buzz out of being photographed every few steps, that I worked the room for around 3 hours before taking a break back in the hotel.
The next morning I costumed up again and entered the convention to find it even more crowded. Again I was in demand every few steps and it was very flattering to be so well received by the visitors.
Half way round the room I looked over to see a large crowd had gathered at the spot where Elpidia would have been, and YES, YES, YES, she was there. Her flight had been delayed by 24 hours.
It was at this point that I was approached by Predwolf (Tony) in his Stormtrooper suit. He introduced himself and we agreed that we had to get some photos with her for the Lair.
These can be seen on his post here http://www.thehunterslair.com/index.php?showtopic=24674
After we had done the photos and I had worked the room again, I went back to the hotel and de-suited so that i could return and meet Elpidia in person. I introduced myself to her as the person who had been in costume minutes before. She was very nice and expressed her gratitude to me for turning up as a Pred. I had a photo and spare Bio mask signed.
What a totally awesome weekend.
25 years after first watching the iconic first Predator movie, I am standing, in costume, next to an original cast member ! Bizzare !
So just a couple more things to say and then I will shut up...
Thanks to Tony (Predwolf) and his family,
Thanks to Elpidia for comming over,
Thanks to everyone who wanted a photo,
And most of all, thanks to everyone at the Lair for inspiring and educating me and making me yearn for my next hunt. Yes you get hot, yes you get jossled, yes its draining, but yes
it is a FANTASTIC experience !
Thanks again folks,
Phil.
