As we near the end of the year and the winter months roll around, the convention season is usually relatively quiet apart from the MCM events and a handful of December shows including Farthest From. However, the pandemic and its ongoing aftereffects have seen a much richer event calendar roll into the later months, and that was on display in Gateshead in the North-East of England as Gateshead Unleashed arrived at the Lancastrian Suite. Bringing fans from around the local area and far wider – including myself driving up from the Midlands and Rebel Legion CO Mark Mulcaster who travelled from Hertfordshire just north of London – Gateshead Unleashed was a busy, bubbly and enjoyable afternoon of fun from the galaxy far, far away and beyond.
The hall was very well attended, with numerous stalls and stands offering a plethora of content and collectibles for fans to browse and purchase, all in front of the main stage. On the floor below was a wrestling ring where Contract Professional Wrestling were showing off their skills while the main floor had Comic-Creators and Authors and plenty of attractions to keep the hoardes busy and occupied. Remember, the event was taking place on Halloween, so there was certainly a spooky atmosphere to the whole event (and a first-class food area upstairs offering much-needed tea and sausage sandwiches).
For fans of the GFFA there were stalls spread out across the hall with much to offer, including Funko by the table-full, comics and magazines covering Star Wars, Marvel, DC, the indies and much more and figures, models and t-shirts for every flavour of interest.
Making Tracks co-host Mark and his partner Karen were there with local Rebel Legion members to pose and march the halls along with numeous cosplayers and costumers from a wide gamut of franchises. It’s always great to see the Rebel Legion in force at a show, and as always their professionalism and love for what they do shone through.
Fans of another great ILM project were certainly in for a treat as a Jurassic Park dedicated stand and display brought the creatures of Isla Nubla to Gateshead, staffed by a wonderfully generous and welcoming couple. Great fun for the kids (and by kids I mean anyone with an interest in large things with sharp teeth and John Williams).
Myself and Mark had the opportunity to find a quiet corridor in the bowels of the building and record the 113th episode of Making Tracks, which you can listen to below. In there, you’ll hear the moment during my interview with Hugh Quarshie when he was inducted into the Rebel Legion as their latest Honorary Member by Mark in his role as CO of the Rebel Legion UK. In the episode there’s also a chat with the wonderful Keith De’Winter, looking back at his time in the Star Wars galaxy.
Back in July I travelled north to Doncaster for Doncaster Unleashed and had a superb time and once again the Unleashed team provided a quality afternoon of entertainment for folks of all ages, some excellent guests and most importantly a great family atmosphere that right now couldn’t be more welcome. Hats off to all involved.
