It is the place where people gather together twice yearly in London – to celebrate all things comic, sci-fi, cosplay, video games, anime and manga. The London MCM Expo aka London Comic Con becomes increasingly popular each year and takes place at ExCel near Canary Wharf, with over 75,000 fans attending over the weekend! What I absolutely love is how most visitors dressed up as their favourite sci-fi characters, usually wearing costumes they actually made themselves. Over two days last weekend I met and spoke to over 100 (wow that is a lot) men and women in costumes, and what became clear is the level of passion and dedication they have for the characters they like. These were real hardcore fans, and for many it’s their way of life. They live and breathe sci-fi. Just like I do for fashion.
Inside, the convention hall was broken up into several areas – gaming, comic village, VidFestUK and Cosplay. There is also an area where you can meet sci-fi stars from popular American TV programmes for autographs and photos, and two theatres where you could view and listen to special guests. A huge space is allocated to dealer stalls for those looking to buy TV, Anime and Manga merchandise – there was just so much to see! The hours just flew on by over the two days – I couldn’t believe just how quickly it went and thought the clock on my phone had to be lying each time I had checked it! My favourite part of the event was quite easily meeting all those visitors dressed up in costumes – they were all incredibly sweet, affectionate and surprisingly shy, which in turn just made me want to spend more time with them all.
