To Vauxhall and Beyond!
- Katherine Nicholls
- Mar 30
- 4 min read
Last week, Vauxhall hosted the Scifi Weekender and it was such a blast! From Lifesize DND games, Pop-Up Puppet Cinema to stars from the Scifi and Horror universe, there was something unique in every room.
The event officially started on Thursday evening (although if arriving early, there was a Cosplay WHOSE LINE IS IT ANYWAY show and an eighties-themed quiz in the early afternoon) with the official opening quiz hosted by Pirate Pete's Portable Party and entertainer Afro Pierre The quiz was phone-based, the room was extremely full so this worked fairly well (aside from when the WiFi briefly went down). There was definitely a good mixture of questions and alongside this, there were also some mini-games (with prizes), one of the most memorable included guests attempting to pick up plastic objects using mini-toy hands. As you might imagine, hilarity ensued.
After the quiz, there was a pirate dance party (hosted by Pirate Pete), DJ set with Level Up Leroy, and the SFW awards with the theme 'Back To The Eighties', a great way for attendees and artists alike to be showcased.
Friday was action-packed, with events starting at 10am and not finishing until 1am Saturday. With four different rooms with various interesting options, the visitors were spoilt for choice! As an example, on the main stage, there were interviews throughout the day with media guests such as John Simpkin, Tav Macdougall and discussions regarding cosplay, and video gaming, once late evening hit, there were bands, karaoke and a dance performance from Area 51.
Next door, visitors had the option of attending Q&A's, interviews ( I especially enjoyed the 'Ladies of Crime' discussion, a great way to celebrate female authors), a screening of the 'Neverending Story', and later on, performances and comedy sets from artists such as Graham Beck, George Coppen and Experimental Sonic Machines. To finish, there was a screening of the classic horror film 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre'.
For those looking for a quieter room, there were cosplay workshops, writing workshops and meet & greets available in the Timeport (Louie's Den).
If wanting somewhere to play games and catch your breath, there was the 'Games Room' which included Retro Gaming (old school computer games), a section for bionic building, board gaming, and excitingly, 'Full Size D&D' which unsurprisingly was booked out all weekend! I thought it was a great idea to have a room dedicated to gaming and I clearly wasn't the only one. I had a chat with Gabe and Ricky Poole who were running the Lifesize DND, they both had positive things to say. Ricky- "I love these events, people have their day to day jobs, then they come to our dungeon and relax, be happy and enjoy life", Gabe added "Great time, great place, great people".
In each room, there were also traders, artists, and authors including Heart Toy Dioramas, Darius Yancy, MR LEMON’S COMIC HEAVEN, C.C Adams, Nidhoggr Mead, Pirate Cat Creations and more!
Saturday dawned with another crammed schedule full of exciting activities, sadly too many for me to mention in this one article.
A few of my favourites included the wonderful 'Pop Up Puppet Cinema' with their version of the classic film 'Raiders of the Lost Ark', this was absolutely hilarious and the room was packed. Later in the evening, they also hosted a Pop Up Puppet Cinema Quiz which was as ridiculous (and amusing) as you would expect.
Another absolutely packed talk was 'Life In The Dark Room!' with comedian & improviser John Robertson talking about his live interactive videogame comedy show 'The Dark Room'. Later that evening, John Robertson presented his show (to another crammed audience, I was lucky to even get a seat) and I thought I was going to cry with laughter, the show was CHAOTIC in the best possible way and definitely not family-friendly.
Another highlight of the day included a live demo and Q&A session with Creature Bionics, an SFX and motion-capture company. I learned so much about the process, absolutely worth checking them out.
As night descended, we all settled down to watch the much anticipated Cosplay Finals. There were three different awards and each finalist had to put on a little performance for the audience. As an example, Elphababa sang 'The Wizard and I', whilst Joel, Ellie and the Clicker from 'The Last of Us' acted out a scene inspired by the show (they won an award for best performance).
The partying continued into the early hours with a performance by 'Victor and the Bully', a very popular Steampunk band, I especially enjoyed ' Halloween 365'.
The final set was by the talented DJ Level Up Leroy, he had everyone dancing (including me) and every song was a banger, I haven't danced like that in so long.
This event was fantastic, everyone was so friendly and there was so much to see and do. See below for some of my favourite cosplays, vendors and creators from the event:
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