My X-Perience At The X-Men: Days Of Future Past London Premier

On Monday 12th May, Me and Kurt headed for London to see the X-Men "X-Perience" which was the premier for the latest film and also an event to participate in and try to beat a Guinness World Record! The whole day had me and Kurt buzzing to get through and get the chance to see the anonymous cast (no one knew who was coming to the Premier in Leicester Square).
So first of all. Hello everyone, it's been a while! How have you guys been? Me? I've been very busy preparing for many things for the next 2 months along with making preparations and decisions on going out and living moments that will be marked off my Bucket List (not that I'm dying right now!)
I've been buying parts for my Iron Man Cosplay for MCM Comic Con on May 24th, bought my ticket to see Stan Lee (Creator of MARVEL) at London Film & Comic Con, I am almost done purchasing my 1st car (which I aim to talk about in a week or two and reveal the type and class). And to top it all off, I am seeing EMINEM Live at Wembley with Lewis and Kurt on July 11th (this will be A-W-E-S-O-M-E)!

But right now, I am explaining in full detail my thoughts and moments me and my friend from work, Kurt had to endure at The London Premier in Leicester Square for X-Men: Days Of Future Past.
The day was okay, weird, uncomfortable, disappointing, but then suddenly awesome but then unsatisfied (this sums up the layout of the post too).

Right so, 6.00am, Kurt and I head for London, both wearing a White Tank top (luckily wearing a hoodie on top) with slight gelled up hair, no sideburns (we can't grow them) and hand made claws (paper for me and cardboard ones for Kurt) in a bag for the Leicester Premier of X-Men. We tried to cosplay as "Wolverine" from X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
After arriving there at around 8.45am, we saw nobody around the fountain but soon we noticed some girls with weird hair colours and believed that was the queue for the gathering of cosplayers. We headed over and were given Red Wristbands with numbers on them from Security (Me and Kurt suspected that we got numbers 236 and 237 because we didn't look like we were cosplaying as the guy just handed us a random one, because there were undoubtedly not over 200 people already there?!)

While patiently waiting until 11.00am, Kurt and I felt a little uncomfortable and jealous because all the other people were chatting and socialising so easily which we weren't feeling so confident about trying to join in or make friends. I think it was because of our "Wolverine" Costumes that we had to rush making and felt "mediocre" or maybe these people have had past experience with an event like this or even got to know each other over the Facebook event. But I did meet a beautiful "Emma Frost" cosplayer from X-Men: First Class and did get a photo with her.

Source: Facebook Manga Girl Photography

Anyway as more cool cosplayers turned up including the best "Wolverine", A "Sentinel" and "Azazel" Cosplays I have ever seen, it was finally about to begin. We all huddled over to the grassy area and were photographed like mad in a massive group shot and then everyone was called over by Character name to get a group shot of the same characters. Me and Kurt got with 7 other Wolverine's including "Raul" who was the most Awesome Wolverine I have ever seen!


Anyway, I was taking a lot of photos of the cosplayers before we were all lining up to go into the Odeon Cinema and got sit down at last. Me and Kurt were ecstatic thinking we were gonna see the film already or get a special video message!
But it turns out the Guinness World Record Judges came over and took a huge photograph on the stage and from the balcony, but sadly we were told we didn't reach/ break the World Record! Oh well, It was a nice try and felt good to be a part of the moment and we almost had it. So we all headed outside again and tried to do an 'X' position group shot again before all dispersing to the grass area (we are near the top right!) I thought it was okay, but it's not quite Carling! (Did you get my reference?)

Source: Facebook Andrei Guiamoy Photography

After all that me and Kurt went into Burger King next door to the Odeon Cinema for some food and soon we found ourselves at 2.45pm having to queue up again at the same spot from this morning. Only this time it took 1 hour for our wrist band number to be called out later.

The only problem was, I was still in Burger King due to my Crohns and THANK GOD Kurt text me and I hurried back over and caught up with him in the barricades past all the queues.

It was 2 hours until we were expecting the stars to turn up at 5.45pm. Reporters were showing up at 5.00pm Kurt and I thought the reporter "Laura Whitmore" was fine. (she blew my mind). The blue carpet was being rolled out and a black wannabe rapper was hosting and handing out free tickets to the crowd for people to see the film tonight with the actors.
Several people won the Cosplay Event and were hand picked by the "big Guy" Magneto cosplayer who was also one of the guys in charge of the whole event (along with "Raul" who was Wolverine!) These winners got tickets to see the film and were having fun on the screen and to pass the time until the fun was about to begin.
 

Yep, at around 5.45pm, everyone was screaming as cars pulled up on the blue carpet and would you believe it, the sunny warm weather turned into a rainy drizzle that carried on till the end of the day ugh.
Several amazing people turned up including "Dynamo The Magician", "Wesley Snipes" (Blade), "Stanley Tucci" (The Devil Wears Prada, The Hunger Games).
And soon our 4 X-Men turned up. Our 4 Secret guests attending this premier were "Patrick Stewart" (Old Charles Xavier/ "Professor X"), "Sir Ian McKellen" (Old Erik Lehnsherr/ Magneto), "James McAvoy" (Young Charles Xavier/ "Professor X") and "Michael Fassbender (Young Erik Lehnsherr/ "Magneto").
Me and Kurt were shouting our hearts out for attention though we both agreed at the end, it's too bad "Hugh Jackman" (James "Logan" Howlett/ "Wolverine") and "Jennifer Lawrence" (Raven Darkhölme/ "Mystique") didn't come here.

Though I was hurt to learn from a fan near me that Hugh Jackman had got Skin Cancer and that's why he had a bandage on his nose which was I think after the operation to remove the lump (Thank Goodness, Wolverine cannot die!) So while the guests and actors were turning up, everyone was watching the big screen to see "Jonathan Ross" interview them along with reporters and cameras zooming and panning everywhere showing all the fans buzzing!

But as the 4 X-Men turned up and the rain got slightly heavier, Kurt and me were wondering when the actors were going to come our way? But to our shock, the barricades next to us opened up and an endless stream of maybe over 200 people were flowing past us with tickets in hand to see the Film today with the actors.

These men, women, teenagers who all must be rich or have friends in high places or just got lucky winning tickets were the bane of our day because the space that we were expecting the stars to come and see us, turned out to be a walkway for these lucky people to head to the cinema! So Kurt and me, stood there feeling betrayed and angry, I mean we got to the front and all we saw were lucky people showing off their "golden tickets" to the event. All that queueing, waiting and having high hopes was almost for nothing.

THAT IS, when all almost seemed lost, I heard girls and guys screaming "Andy!" "Andy!" I turned to my right and saw the one and only "Andy Serkis" (Smeagol/ Gollum From The Lord Of The Rings/ The Hobbit Films) and I had the courage to get his attention quickly and ask for a Selfie with him. To which he happily obliged and said "Sure, anything for a fan!" I happily replied at the end "It was an honour, sir!" That photograph was the best thing to have happened and helped fill the crater in my soul (I'm kidding) but it definitely made this trip worth it and it wasn't for nothing, sadly Kurt missed his chance but then again we both did get something else from that day.
As all the winners, guests and actors made their way into the Odeon Cinema, security called out shouting "Shows Over!"

So some technicians came over everywhere with small packaging knives and cut the wires that were holding these A0 (if that's correct) or slightly bigger than A1 sized thin cardboard X-Men: Days Of Future Past billboards. Kurt and I looked at each other, grinned and shouted out "we'll take two please, mate!" So after being awarded this huge poster, we headed off for home. Let me tell you, carrying that wasn't easy and we were real "eye-catchers" (we might as well have had paper stuck to our backs saying "MUG ME") as people were looking at us suspiciously and confused. I had to tell someone who actually asked us "Where did you get those?" "Did you steal those?" Of course I replied with "At the X-Men premier in Leicester Square, they were handing these out to the fans!" Luckily 3 other fans turned up right on cue and proved this person that I was telling the truth! Anyway heading down the Leicester Square London Underground was awkward and I made 2 girls giggle when I held my board and said "This wasn't properly thought out!" But anyway we made our way back to London Victoria and caught a train that got Kurt home to Three Bridges in 45 mins and me home to Horsham 15 mins later. It wasn't easy carrying that home. Luckily I live 5 mins away from the train station, Kurt said to me back on the train that he has to walk half an hour. Poor lad, least he got home in the end.

Apologies for Kurt's behaviour!
We weren't happy at all for the last 2 hours!

So at the end of the day, this experience has been kind of awful. Kurt and I are hurt and disappointed by all of this and the lack of effort, organisation and layout the event went (especially for us!) You should have heard Kurt swear when each star turned up and never come anywhere near our area. I mean we even saw James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender glance at us while being interviewed and they must have seen us and the other fans screaming our hearts out for a close up with them. Sure it was raining but Michael Fassbender stayed outside for like half an hour to see the fans but none of them came near us and it's a shame that our area was the walkway for the special guests.
I don't understand and don't know whether to dislike the stars for not coming over to us or hate the security/ people who organised the barricades. I mean we were not that far from the actual Blue Carpet but it's beyond frustrating to discover that our spot was just sightseeing the lucky bastards who were gonna see the films before any of the true fans in costume. That constant flow of maybe rich, executives or whatever people was heart pounding and made me clench my fists because Kurt and I were whispering to each other how angry we were that these people stopped any chances of the actors coming our way if we had any in the first place. WHAT THE HELL WERE THEY THINKING? WHY WERE WE POSITIONED ALL THE WAY DOWN THERE IF THE STARS WERE NEVER GOING TO COME NEAR US??? That's just poor and disrespectful to the true fans. I'd say around 100-150 fans at the barricades at the corner of the Blue Carpet all got selfies, autographs and stuff with the stars and the 20-50 fans in our line all got nothing. I know there were loads of fans and random people turning up on the grassy area behind us but to be fair, we were at the front and had no doubts about missing a chance, but we never had it in the first place. But we both did receive a Double-sided lanyard with a cool design showing both young and old Charles Xavier on one side and young and old Magento on the other side thanks to participating in the Guinness World Record event in the Odeon Cinema.

BUT IT CAN ONLY GET BETTER FOR ME AND KURT. We have MCM Comic Con on May 24th and are seeing a hot cosplayer called "Jessica Nigri" who is making her debut appearance at a UK convention for the first time ever. Then I turn 21 on June 6th and aim to go Skydiving sometime in June as my celebration present (but share a lovely dinner with friends on June 7th). A week later I am going with Lewis and his flatmates to the Download Festival to see LINKIN PARK perform their first and my favourite album, Hybrid Theory. On July 11th, Kurt, Me and Lewis are seeing the one and only legendary rapper EMINEM Live at Wembley and then the following day, Kurt and I head for the London Film & Comic Con to see "Stan Lee" - The Creator Of MARVEL!!!

This was just a high hope event that I am now trying to see as a minor setback in my 2014! Who knows? Maybe I'll see the cast again someday at MCM or LFCC with luck. Should I get them to sign the A3 Poster Kurt and I both bought each for them to sign or just for a laugh take the giant billboard and tell them "Kurt and I missed our chance at the X-Men Premier, so here we are!