MCM London Comic Con (or MCM Expo as the older cosplayers know it as) has always been the main event in a UK cosplayer’s year. It is by far the biggest convention in the UK with over 120 thousand people attending over last weekend. Unfortunately for MCM it has a reputation for being poorly organised, busy and highly stressful for most vendors and con goers, so this year they made more improvements and did they make an impact?
After some trial and error it would seem that MCM have finally figured out a sensible queueing system that doesn’t leave con goers out in the rain or create a sea of people unable to move. This was helped, in most part, by the fact that MCM now took up most of the Excel Centre and had entrances and exits at both entrances as well as ways for people to come in through the riverside entrances and into the main hall. They also cut down on the traffic in the halls by opening up two smaller halls specifically for meeting up, food stops and for people to just hang out.
The con hall itself was much better laid out compared to previous years as they had everything in one hall instead of split between two, like last October. As well as the main stage there were separate stages for the YouTube stars and one for the gaming tournaments happening that weekend. The spaces between all the aisles, particularly in comic village, were bigger which allowed a much better flow of people around the con. Even at peak time on Saturday we found it pretty easy to move about the con (if you weren’t in cosplay).
As for the cosplay itself, there were loads more cosplay there than usual. Speaking to a lot of guests wandering through comic village in cosplay revealed a lot of con goers were going to a con for the first time and made a great effort to dress up for it. Meanwhile outside was where the major cosplay was happening with huge crowds of cosplayers and organised groups.
All in all it was a really good MCM, not as much stress as usual and, from feedback we have heard from friends who have gone, most people seemed to have enjoyed themselves. If MCM can keep up the good-ish organisation and keep growing MCM will once again become the highlight of a UK Cosplayer’s year.