German Film & Comic Con Dortmund 2024 - Spring Edition

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In May 2024 I was able to participate again with K.I.T.T. at the German Film & Comic Con Spring Edition in Dortmund. This was our 12th German Film & Comic Con!
So I drove to Dortmund on 3rd May 2024. The weather was very good this time, so I was able to go to the car wash again and didn't have to wash the car in a bucket on site because it was pouring with rain.
K.I.T.T. was also parked in Hall 6 this time - but not in the middle again, but at the entrance to the hall, where all the star guests were seated this time and the photoshoots took place. He was also given a red carpet again.
I myself had "taught" the car more than 300 new sayings in advance and combined them in a matching order, so that he now offers the audience a total of almost 500 different sayings. These include 3 A.I.-generated statements about my vehicle, which are regularly interspersed. So there will be even more variety in the future.
Once again, I was accompanied by Pepper and Drebin from our Project-K.I.T.T. Club, who looked after the car a bit in my absence (e.g. during photoshoots).

Star guests

The most interesting thing about every convention is of course the star guests. This time, a total of 21 of them were announced and I had photoshoots with 16 of them. Personal highlights for me were Richard Dean Anderson ("MacGyver", "Stargate") and William Fichtner ("Armageddon", "The Dark Knight", "Elysium", "Prison Break", "Mom", "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles", "Independence Day: Resurgence" and many more). Both also stopped by for a photo with K.I.T.T.

But other guests also found K.I.T.T. interesting. On Saturday afternoon, security staff at Edward Furlong's ("Terminator 2", "Pet Sematary II", "American History X") table were talking about K.I.T.T., so he spontaneously decided to have a look at the car. He also willingly posed for photos and was delighted to be allowed to take a seat behind the wheel, even humming the "Knight Rider" theme to himself. We talked about the car again on Sunday when I got his autograph on a "Terminator 2" poster.
On Sunday morning, 87-year-old Walter Koenig (Pavel Chekov from "Star Trek") stood in front of K.I.T.T. and asked a few questions about the car. He also took the opportunity for a photo...

German dubbing voice artists

In addition to the actors, 6 German dubbing voice artists were also on site again:
- Reiner Schöne (actor and German voice for Optimus Prime, Papa Smurf, Willem Dafoe, Mickey Rourke and many more)
- Peter Flechtner (German voice for William Fichtner, Ben Affleck, Phil Dunphy and many more)
- Sven Plate (German voice for Bugs Bunny, Wil Wheaton and many more)
- Giuliana Jakobeit (German voice for Amy Adams, Keira Knightley, Rachael Leigh Cook and many more)
- Philipp Moog (German voice for Barney Stinson, Ewan McGregor, Guy Pearce, Owen Wilson and many more)
- Hubertus von Lerchenfeld (German voice for Jason Segel, Seth Green and many more)
I visited their stage panel at the smaller Stage 2 on Saturday and then immediately caught up with dubbing legend Reiner Schöne for a photo with K.I.T.T.
I already have photos with Sven Plate and Peter Flechtner, but Peter didn't miss the chance to visit K.I.T.T. again. He also lends his voice to the Mustang from "Knight Rider" (2008) and also took on the role of K.I.T.T. in David Hasselhoff's series "Ze Network" (2022). I also took photos with the others throughout the weekend.

Other familiar faces

There are always a few familiar faces among the visitors at the convention.
My highlight there was German comedian Torsten Sträter, who has been attending the Con for years. Unfortunately, I had never met him in person. This time I got a hot tip from my friend Benny, who is friends with Sträter and therefore knew when he would be there on Sunday... Shortly before the end of the working day, I caught up with him in the merchandising hall for a selfie, whereupon he asked me about K.I.T.T. and said that he would like to have a look at him. Torsten Sträter has a few movie cars himself - including Batman's Tumbler (built by our mutual friend Olli Wirtz). He is also currently building the Batmobile from 1989.
After he had been busy with selfies, conversations and shopping for quite a while, he finally came along to K.I.T.T. in Hall 6 - on the way he also recorded a little video greeting for my wife, who is also a big fan of his.

I also met Alfi Hartkor (multiple unsuccessful contestant for the German edition of "American Idol") at K.I.T.T., who I had already met in Berlin in 2017 and 2018.
I also came across martial artist Ralf Seeger. He is best known from the VOX documentary series "Harte Hunde" and has also appeared in "Alarm für Cobra 11" and various other German TV shows.

Cosplayers

As always, a Comic Con also includes lots of great cosplayers. I photographed a few of them together with K.I.T.T.

Conclusion

Conclusion: The German Film & Comic Con Spring Edition 2024 was once again a complete success! K.I.T.T. and I experienced a lot again and met lots of nice people. K.I.T.T. was well received and survived his 12th GCC/GFCC well. We would love to come again 🙂