Date: February 16th, 2013.
Event: Heroes & Legends Belfast 2013
Venue: W5 Belfast
On February 16th I attended the convention known as Heroes & Legends, which took place in Belfast, Northern Ireland. This was the second year this event had been held, with the first time being last year (2012), but I didn't know about it, and there wasn't really a focus on Harry Potter at the first event. No Harry Potter celebrities, and only one cos-player cos-playing as Minerva McGonagall with a sorting hat set, where you could be sorted into your very own house. At this years event, there was a much larger focus on Harry Potter. Two celebrities (would've been three but one of them had to pull out), and one only had one Harry Potter picture (set aside just for me), and several cos-players this time (McGonagall was back, but accompanied by Severus Snape, Professor Quirrel, Bellatrix Lestrange and two masked Death Eaters), but I was only really interested in the celebrities, especially Chris Rankin (Percy Weasley). Chris was a really nice and funny guy, and you could tell a lot of the fan-girls at the event were there just for him (especially evident in the Actors Q&A, the only questions the other two actors in the Q&A got to answer were questions aimed at the group, and those directed just at Chris were all from girls). Not saying that's a bad thing, mind you. It was quite amusing to watch, actually. Unlike the other celebrity I met at the event (Ian Whyte), Chris had a wide selection (up to seven-nine I think) pictures to choose from Harry Potter. Even though I would've preferred one from the later films, I decided to go for one just of Percy, rather than one with multiple characters in the picture. My Dad and I were discussing at the table which ones were the best and which weren't in our minds, and while Chris was turned around talking to a James Bond actress beside him, we could tell he was actually listening to our conversation, which was made event when after a minute or two he turned around and joked, "Choices, choices!", which was pretty amusing. If you're not sure, my autograph reads, "Ruari! Believe in Magic, Chris Rankin, Percy, Weasley (at least, I presume Weasley is at the bottom, I don't know what else it could be). Chris also told lots of tales during the Actors Q&A, such as how he mainly works behind the camera now, giving orders to extra's and was telling us all sorts of orders he has to give to them. Also amusing was, after my Dad had taken the picture above with myself and Chris, Chris asked to see the picture himself and his only comment was, "My eyes." For those who can't tell, my camera does make peoples eyes look a tad red.
