Ten Plus?

How I'm best known. The Doctor

Recently I’ve been putting together a bucket list and it’s got me thinking (dangerous I know). My main thought is what do I want to be known for...

I’ve mentioned before that the Facebook page first launched back in 2010 I envisaged only ever getting a few likes, almost two and a half years later the page has over three thousand three hundred which is totally mad, I’m just me after all!

Back when I first started all I ever did was a few pictures and hang out at events, which while being good fun had a danger of becoming very ‘samey’ within a short space of time. As a result, in October 2010 I did my first event write up which added to what I do...

Scarecrow

Scroll forward 6 months and my Blog was launched, by this point I found that I was becoming quite well known on the convention circuit, which again was something I never thought would happen!

Then in the August of that year I did my first ever non Doctor costume, Paint covered Benedick made his first appearance at Collectormania Glasgow.

By this point in the post you’re probably thinking “Matt, where are you going with this...” Well, bear with me, I think there is a point to this somewhere!

So moving on, November 2011 saw another new costume, this time totally non-Who related be debuted, Scarecrow, from DC’s Batman an  Arkham Inmate version. This was also my first ever group cosplay and it went down well.

Now, to the point of this post (I can hear the sigh of relief from the readers), February this year I got to thinking do I want to hang up the suit for the last time? I’d always said to myself that if the enjoyment wasn’t there then I’s call it a day...

Benedick - Party Version

Luckily for all of you a few charity events in quick succession re-ignited my passion for events (yay!) A couple of months later my maddest costume to date, Party Benedick, was unleashed on an unsuspecting London Film and Comic Con (thank you Liz and the DT Forum for helping to put the outfit together).

At the same time I also got involved with an audio version of the fan novels Tempus Temporis by Lady Soliloque and most recently I guest stared as an alien in an episode of Dogtor Who and my friend Tim and I launched our Podcast ‘Journeys in Fandom’.

What all this has made me realise is that I’ve evolved to now be much more than a guy in a pin stripe suit with a gravity defying fringe, but it does bring me back to good old Ten, without him I wouldn’t be who I am today, but I keep thinking do I use him too much, does he need a bit of time off?

I think for me I’ve got to the stage where I want to broaden my horizons and do more. One of the first things I hope to is remove the ‘10th Doctor Extraordinaire’ part of my page name. I’ve got to the stage where people are beginning to know me as me so the Doctor part is now no longer needed.

Journeys in Fandom

I’ve really enjoying both the audio and the podcast and would love to do more along those lines. For me I’d also love to give acting a try (although currently I lack the confidence). I’d love to do stage interviews with guests and next year when I return to the US I’m hoping to do a fan panel or two.

As for Ten, I’ve come to think of him as an old friend, I think going forward he’ll probably appear a little less often but will always be a part of me, let’s face it without him you’d never have heard of me!

One little extra thing I do want to say is thank you. Thank you to all the friends I've made and people I've met. I would name names but I'd be here too long and to be honest I think they know who they are.

It really has been a pleasure.

Time and Tide...

Following this post I did an addition, read it here