My MCM London Comic Con Review
So I attended MCM London Comic Con with fellow FANdemonium writer Clare. Here we are with a different kind of con report, from my first experience of being press and comparing it to my experiences of cons over the years.
I have been attending conventions as an attendee for years, walking across my first in my local shopping centre on my lunch break in 2002. It was the first event that they had held there and I have fond memories of the journey it has taken me on.
Gaining like minded friends
It is through attending conventions that I have made the friends that I have and have kept in the happy state of mind I am in. I have to say unlike the friends I grew up with who I shared normality with I have to say that the friends and soulmates I have made at conventions. these friends who don’t live near to me seem to be the ones who understand me most. My closest friend who is my Parabatai in all sense of the word is Clare who also writes for FANdemonium and it was through a convention 9 years ago I met her and we have not stopped being awesome since.
For those who haven’t attended many conventions they can come in different forms. You have your signing events or comic cons where you have guests from different shows and films attending over one or more days. They have stalls selling stuff gaming areas, talks signing areas for the guests and photography areas for the guests.
Then you have your show specific conventions who will have guests from mainly the one show and base the whole weekend’s events around them. They also have photography studios, signings and talks but contain less stalls selling merchandise.
MCM Comic con is one of the UK’s biggest events when it comes to meeting the guests you want as it not only caters for film and TV but Anime, manga, comics and also it has major cosplay opportunities for those who take that seriously.
My First time As Press
This year I was able to take a slightly different look by being press. My pass enabled me access and the ability to go to press only interviews, but it did not give us a pass to jump in front of people or throw our weight around. We were only able to attend on the Sunday so we had a lot to try to squeeze in and we did miss a few talks we wanted to attend due to queueing for photos with our wanted guests as they were very popular. I guess most people would have had that same situation and it shows that a convention like this is sometimes an event you need to attend for more than one day.
My Press Pass
Security checks
Last year we attended as attendees on the Saturday and it was sold out for that day, busy but we managed to see who we wanted after spending most of the morning queueing to get in and then get our autograph passes which they call smilies. This year we attended on the Sunday and with 2 check points for security we could tell that the event was affected by the events in Manchester less than a week before. Normally you have just the one check point and bags get checked if they are large enough, cosplay weapons are checked over to make sure they can’t do any actual damage by accident. This year there was a checkpoint before the excel centre, where we had our camera bags looked into as well as the big bag of tricks that Clare brings with her.
After we gained our press passes we were shown to all the vital areas we needed for press access to make sure we didn’t have to find someone later in the event and ask questions. For my first press access event I did feel a bit anxious but having been an attendee before I knew basically what I was up for. The fact we planned out all our must see things to do helped.
The Layout
The good thing about MCM is that the show is placed mainly on one floor. They take out two huge halls in the excel centre and spread out what is needed over them. On one side you have the merchandise for films and TV, the guests for film and TV, photograph areas and one of the main talk halls. I have been to events before that are spread over a few halls, one in particular I had 4 photo shoots to get to on 3 different floors and they were at similar times, which involved a bit of running and my photos showing me red-faced and shiny, Luckily MCM have 3 photo booths all in the same area so you will find that your pictures would turn out ok, which the two I brought on this occasion did.
In the second hall which was right next door were the gaming areas, the comic/artists alley and for some the best place to get yourself together the catering area. A lot of the cons I have been to don’t have their own catering area, you sally have to make do with what is available at the venue and with the numbers that you seem you get, that isn’t really enough for the volume. MCM have a huge area of catering trucks that have lots of variety available for your tastes, even ice cream is an option which with the weather we have recently sometimes is needed.
Getting Autographs
We made our way in and after buying Smilies we headed straight to get some auto area, they don’t let you in unless you have a smilie and this saves on unwanted people queueing and cuts down on autograph time. The bad thing about this was that there was a lot of waiting around waiting for the person to arrive, with other events I have done they will have a board that tells you when the actor is due to arrive or if they are on break which is helpful if you have a lot of people to try to get autos from.
I also like the virtual queueing systems where you get a raffle ticket number and batches of numbers are called forward, I find this helpful instead of standing for a good hour or so for an autograph. I must say the queues were not that long but there still was a bit of waiting first thing when no one knew what time certain guests were due to arrive so at one point we left a long line to go and get auto’s of the guests we wanted who had already arrived and then went back to the long line. If last year is anything to go by anyone entering the vent after early entry would be waiting a lot longer than we did as we got to the front as soon as we could.
Photos with your star
The photo studios were set up right next to the autograph area, which in my mind was not the best bet. It was still pretty much in the main area and when I have been to some events they tend to try to make the photo studios a little further away from the action. This means people queueing and collecting photos can do so without walking out into other people as they pass by.
I must say that over the year’s photo collection has improved along with the technology that is used. I remember the days of collecting photos 2 maybe 3 hours later if you were lucky, but these days they are almost ready by the time you exit the photo studio meaning all should be able to go home with them by the end of the day. Unless there are any problems which they try their best to stop, especially with up to 20 printers on the go at once.
Cosplay
One of the main things I love seeing at these events is the effort and time put into some of the costumes and the variety that they come in. From the point of view of someone who has done some cosplay before and made them herself I can really appreciate the pride people have in them. One of my fave this weekend was an amazing Winnifred Sanderson from Hocus Pocus, way better than the one I attempted a few years back. If asked nicely most of the cosplayers are happy to take pictures with you, but asking them does make them happy in case they like you have somewhere to be within the event. I think the cutest one was a remote control BB8 along with its Jedi just casually queueing up for a photo with one of the guests.
Panels
We managed to get to the panel for Rebecca Breeds and Luke Mitchell who were on a big stage and were pleased when intro to some pretty loud music making them feel as much of a star as we all believe them to be. I was pleased they put them together as they have acted on the same shows as well as being a married couple who have both moved across from Australia where they both began and met to America for some more challenging roles.
As well as attending that panel we were able to go to the press panel for class with 3 of their beautiful young cast members Greg Austin, Fady Elsayed and Sophie Hopkins. Greg has been an attendee at MCM for years before finally coming back as a guest and knowing exactly what both sides of the experience is like. All three of them are loved by the Dr who fans for being in the spin-off that takes place in a school that has on occasion appeared in Dr Who.
Meeting the guests
Honestly I can go on for ages about how many people will see a guest and feel nervous but the guest will be feeling the same as well, but I have always remembered the nice and friendly guests the most, I have on occasion met a guest who has not been in the mood or smiled and sometimes it is the distance they travel to the cons.
My favourite guest I have ever met is one that has remembered me on the 4th occasion even when I was in a cosplay and wearing of all things a bald cap and he stopped mid conversation to say hi to me. So don’t forget that you can make an impression on them as well and that they enjoy the experience as much as you do and it’s the smiling caring faces that they will appreciate, the time and effort you put into a cosplay for their show, the ability to ask questions they are not used to.
But if you are like me who has been doing cons for about 15 years you may still find the odd guest you go to meet and get a little tongue-tied. I have on many occasions gone up to a guest and just managed “Hi are you having a good time?” I must say it has taken a while for me to be able to ask a few questions whilst with a guest.
What to get signed
The one tool I love and try to take with me to conventions is my autograph book, I am on my third book now and cherish all of them, I do have the odd autograph on a picture or of a photo with them depending on how many times I have seen a guest and in total I have over 140 autographs over the years and will continue for a while as there are few that I would love to get and will wait as patiently as I can to get them.
My Autograph books
Merchandise Stalls
If you have the time and the money I recommend the merchandise stalls, MCM has a huge range available as they have the space as well, the range that is on offer can be mind-boggling at times and well it is best to do a round before buying things as on many occasion I brought something and then seen something else I really want but have run out of my budget.
T-shirts, jumpers, hats, collectors’ cards and toys, comics, jewellery and so much more. Some of the jewellery can be replicas of jewellery in the shows, I have an assortment of rings, necklaces and such that I love and I will be buying more. But sadly this time round with only being there one day I was unable to go round the many stalls available unless you count the artists village with the independent comics, books and artwork, where I managed to get Madame Butterscotch book 4 written by Lisa Cummins.
Lastly…
So I am going to finish by saying if you are one of the many people I passed at the weekend or will pass in the future, we may be seen as nerds or geeks when we go to conventions by those people we call normal, but isn’t it the geeks who rule the world by creating shows and films and being the driving force behind what is loved by all.
Thank you all for reading and well hopefully ill see you at the next con.
