My MCM London Comic Con Experience

Dressed in my geekiest of clothing such as a Spider-Man t-shirt and my Ash Ketchum Pokémon Hat as pictured above, I attended my first ever comic con at the MCM London Comic Con on October 27th 2013.

Having always wanted to go to one of the famous comic cons of the US such as the San Diego Comic Con or E3 (Electronics Entertainment Expo), the MCM London Comic Con was my closet and best chance of ever experiencing a convention so this year, with my friend Jamie, I attended my first ever comic con.

The fan convention held at the ExCeL London International Convention Centre is dedicated to Japanese anime, manga, video games, cosplay and other popular media such as movies and famous YouTube creators and artists from the internet and around the world. 

Jamie and I arrived at the convention by midday, after travelling on the DLR and then bus from Greenwich. 

We had already ran into a lot of cosplayers (people dressed as characters from various cartoons, video games, anime and movies for you non-nerds) whilst travelling, almost getting into a Pokémon battle with an Ash Ketchum cosplayer due to wearing the same hat as he was. The fight was broken up by Link from the Legend of Zelda as we disembarked the DLR.

Queuing for walk-in tickets didn’t take long at all and before we knew it we were walking down the main hallway for the convention, with 8 large halls being used for the convention with each hall dedicated to a certain aspect from cosplaying to the Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading card game tournament. 

We made our way to one of the main halls and began walking around and taking in all the expo had to offer, from all the stalls selling various merchandise to the fan artist section.

One of the first stalls we went to was the TomSka stall where we got to meet the famous YouTube celebrity Tom Ridgewell and have a photo with him. Jamie’s photo with him came out fine, but of course due to my luck, my photo came out blurry and shadowed. 

As we left the stall, Tom went to give us both the “Horns of the Devil” sign with his hands as saying thanks for stopping by, but instead flipped the bird at us. It was hilarious so we let it pass.

Afterwards, me and Jamie did some more walking around and eventually came across the video game section of one of the halls where we played some Nintendo video games such as the un-released Mario Kart 8 and Super Mario 3D World.

On our way out of the booth, after getting beaten by a 9 year old on Mario Kart, we decided to get some food. Realising I had no cash on me, I decided to go to the cash machine at the convention. Everything had a cue at the convention. Even the cash machine.

After grabbing a hot dog, Jamie and I continued to walk around the convention, running into even more cosplayers from tons of our favourite anime, games and cartoons.

The one cosplay that caught my eye was this Transformers family, made up of Mum Arcee, Dad Soundwave and sons Rumble and a baby Optimus Prime. After taking a photo of them, Mum Arcee told me that Optimus had to transform and roll out into a fresh diaper.

I turned around a corner of a row of booths in one of the halls and was pushed aside with the Force by Darth Vader and let him pass. He was closely followed by 20 Storm Troopers, who all turned their heads and stared at me as they walked past.

I ran into a lot more cosplayers, such as a Pikachu who I posed with and a Jedi Lynx with a lightsabre. I didn’t question it and walked on.

As we were leaving the convention, I ran into a wild Entei from Pokemon, so I decided to try and catch it. After a tough battle, I decided to let it go. The Entei told me her name was Sarah and that her costume took 3 months to make. Incredible!

And that is what I loved about my time at the convention. That the convention was a place where any fan of anime, video games, cartoons or cosplaying can come and just be themselves, rather than hiding themselves away from the world in their bedroom where no-one could ridicule them. I used to feel that way, but since coming to the convention, I have learnt that I shouldn’t be ashamed of who I am, but proud of who I am. At the convention, I truly felt like myself.

At the MCM London Comic Con, the nerd culture’s talents are celebrated and praised in a place where people of all ages and races can come together to enjoy and talk about what they love with other people who all feel the same way; and no matter what other people say about them or laugh about them behind their backs, they are dedicated to loving and being a part of a great culture of people who stand up for one another. 

I’m a proud nerd and this was my rant!