EVENT REVIEW: FTN reviews the Game Of Thrones exhibit at the Waterfront, Belfast

Hundreds die at GoT Waterfront exhibition: the Wall could fall at any moment.

A SENSATIONALIST headline? Yes, of course it is. Misleading? No. Not at all. I’ll come back to that later.

Thanks to the glory that is Reddit I was able to wrangle two tickets to the Game of Thrones exhibition. Northern Ireland may not be as “cosmopolitan” as HBO chiefs would like (lost? Check here for answers), but there’s definitely some good in our people. And I’m safer going to the Waterfront to look at swords, armour and wolf heads than I am going to Baltimore to view the scenes of The Wire.

I grabbed my mate and we headed down to see what was what. He wouldn’t stop whistling the theme tune the whole time and is now on a quest to be an extra. He seems to think by the time the show ends everyone but him will have been in it, and he’ll be a laughing stock.

This is a man with a mortgage. I definitely picked a dedicated fan to take with me.

It was good to see so many people from far away lands there. It may have just been coincidence they were in Belfast at the same time but there were Americans, Canadians, two cosplaying Nordics, Southerners, loads of different people. But remember we’re not “cosmopolitan” here.

The deaths had been occurring for a whole day before we got there. There was no blood, no stink of death, but there were screams from time to time and the clanking of iron. As soon as I saw it my eyes lit up. An Oculus Rift. I didn’t go to E3. I thought my little backwards industrial port city would never see the joys of state of the art virtual reality headsets. But there you go, I’ve been proved wrong.

As an avid gamer, I had to try it. But they don’t even give you a sword. Nothing. They just send you up the Wall, scare you, and then kill you off in a dubious R.R. Martin fashion. It’s fun to die when you get to respawn. Must be why Sean Bean continues acting.

The exhibition had some very cool props or relics; as the organisers called them. The artists who created them put a lot of effort in. There’s some brilliant details in the armour and although I didn’t really care for the dresses or the dragon stuff, I could still appreciate the craftsmanship.

I have prejudices. I like the warring, the nudity, the chess match of the politics. It’s got something for everyone, and that’s the stuff I like about it.

The weaponry was especially well smithed, and while I don’t enjoy the show for the costumes it was good to see how small many of the actors really are (This is not an imp joke). Just many people who look tall in the show are rather slight in real life. Not like Tom Cruise slight or anything; but a bit wee as we say around these parts.

Sitting in The Iron Throne was a bit disappointing because there’s a woman reminding you to be quick for a photo because others are waiting. I just wanted to treat someone as complete filth for a couple of minutes. And my arse knew it wasn’t sitting on iron. I still tried to look as deranged as possible; but the cake was a lie. Or poisoned…

Overall it was a decent exhibition. It’s good to see Game of Thrones paraphernalia but it did seem a little… small. I think the Northern Ireland Tourist Board should maybe have taken more of an interest than just sending an exploded version of their recent GoT filming locations map, but I’m not a judge. I don’t want to have my head crushed.

I mean; stories about warring provincial Kings, super-human warriors and mythical beasts hasn’t been a part of Ireland’s collective mythology for millennia or anything. Using Game of Thrones to advertise that certainly wouldn’t help bring in more interested tourists.

Oh, and I’m not paying £15 quid for a tee-shirt. If you think I’ve got that kind of disposable income then you must be a mad King.

The exhibit is touring… check it out if it comes to a place near you