Yesterday's Game of Thrones season premiere (don't tell me anything, I haven't watched it yet!) reminded me that I went to the touring exhibit last year when it came to Vancouver
and that I still hadn't posted the photos yet. Dammit, brain! Okay well here they are, and it is rather pic-heavy.
We waited seven hours to get into this exhibit. Yes, seven hours. So yeah I took a lot of pictures to make it worth my wait. The exhibit had real props and costumes from the series on display (although I remember that most of Cersei's wardrobe was missing because production needed it back for filming.) It was really amazing to see the level of detail and craftsmanship that went into every little thing. As someone that used to study fashion and garment construction, the costumes were especially incredible to see up close and in person. I usually don't post super large photos and then size down, but I've done this for some of the photos so that you can click through and see all the details.
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| Props from the other side of the wall: the Dragonglass daggers and Wildling gear |
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| Costumes - left: Jon Snow / right: Ygitte |
The wait to get into this exhibit was unbelievable. The way the system worked was to show up at the PNE and claim a pass that allowed you access to the exhibit at a certain time, starting from time slots early in the day to evening. Bf and I showed up at 10:30, half an hour after the PNE had opened, and were shocked to find that they were already handing out passes for
5pm. (Only half an hour later and we overheard that they were all out for the day!) We had parked at a friend's house which was a 30-40 min walk away, and decided it was pointless to walk back to the car, do something else, and then come back and walk over again. I had foolishly planned that seeing the exhibit would take only a few hours, but since we got such a late slot, we ended up hanging out at the PNE allllll damn day. Came back to the outside of the exhibit building at 3:30ish to line up outside, got in and then
waited in another line inside. Once we got through that line and into the actual exhibit, there were lines for special parts of the exhibit, like the iron throne and the virtual reality feature. The whole thing was just a nesting doll of queuing up. I get that it's a really popular show but holy that was a long day.
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| Costumes - left: Brienne of Tarth / right: Jaime Lannister |
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| Weapons props, including Ned Stark's sword, and Joffrey's crossbow (amazing detail) and sword |
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| Accessory props, including Sansa's necklace, Tyrion's hand of the king chain, Joffrey's gorget |
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| Costumes - left: Arya / right: the Hound |
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| Daenerys costumes (click through for larger image because hnng that gold filigree bodice part) |
The entire area was full of stills from the series and quotes from characters, but I had to give special attention to Tyrion because it is Tyrion, obviously.
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| Tyrion's doublet (click through to see the beautiful details) |
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| King's Landing (left to right): Sansa Stark, Oberyn Martell, Margaery Tyrell, Joffrey Baratheon (click through for larger image) |
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| Detail on Sansa's dress |
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| Detail on Margaery's dress |
I love all the details and the way they work the Tyrell rose motif into this dress. Thorns and leaves on the bodice, and check out the train of fabric roses in the above photo.
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| original storyboards - this is the episode with the bear pit (click through) |
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| set illustrations (click through) |
For line up #5631, you get to take a photo on the iron throne. (FYI my face is not super tan from wandering around in the sun all day, my legs are just really pasty.) I kind of wish I had slapped on a lipstick with a badass queen vibe like MAC Fashion Revival or Sephora Cream lipstick in Crush...
One woman showed up in full, series-appropriate costume--like a big, elaborate gown with accessories and all, just to take a photo on the throne in it. I remember being in total awe of her dedication, because she probably waited for hours just like everyone else, except wearing like 50 pounds of fabric in August. Her photo was probably frigging epic.
Next line up: the Game of Thrones Oculus Rift feature. It was a virtual reality thing that allowed you to experience ascending up the Wall in the elevators like they do in the series.
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There's bf all strapped in with his Oculus Rift headset. (This photo looks really creepy without context, right? It's not just me thinking of a horror movie?) Once it starts, you feel elevator slowly jerk upwards. Through the headset you see the ground getting further away below you and hear the wind whistling. Cold air blows at you and gets colder the higher you go up. Finally you reach the top of the wall, "exit" the elevator, and look out to see a battle happening below. (Spoiler alert?) one of the enemies below shoots an arrow at you and it hits you, causing you to fall off the Wall and tumble all the way down. It was really crazy realistic and I am pretty sure the guy next to me was screaming as he fell down. The experience was super cool and unlike anything else I had ever tried; after doing that, I actually felt like all that waiting might've been worth it just to experience this thing, which is saying a lot!
Obviously there was a ton of $$ merch available to buy at the end. We bought a set of glass tumblers with house crests on them and I bought bf a ceramic Stark stein, because we waited a million years to get in so why not, I guess.
Anyway, hope you liked the photos! Which costume did you like the most? What's the longest you would wait to get into this exhibit?
