Time to Comic Con Again...
Currently I’m sat reminiscing about my weekend at geek heaven, AKA, MCM Comic Con London. These events are always a blast, with so many options to choose from that it’s always a painful process to create your schedule.
Last year was phenomenal, but this year takes the cake, I have to say. I got to see some cracking panels, I upped to ante when it came to the cosplay game, and I spent both days with some great company, my usual con buddies.
So, let’s recap shall we?
Saturday
Prior to the con, myself and my Wolfgang (no context given to how they got their name, read my blog and try to guess) had agreed to do a joint cosplay effort to unify us. We spitballed many ideas, as the deadline rolled closer and closer. Finally, the suggestion of being a group of Vault Dwellers from Fallout came up, and we rolled ahead with the idea.
Me being me, I left everything right down to the wire. The night before, I took inspiration from Iron Man and stuck on some AC/DC, furiously throwing together my outfit, pretending I was just as talented as Tony Stark creating his robots.
I wasn’t. Trust me.
After some drama with yellow tape (and many expletives on my end) I managed to pull together my steampunk twist on the Vault Dweller. Sure it was a little scrappy, and by no means will it be appearing in a Cosplay Masquerade anytime soon, but I was still proud of my effort.
It all came down to the details in the end. The accessories, the makeup designed to make myself look dirty, and the floofy hair in spiky (emo-style) buns. With the Fallout 4 soundtrack playing in the background as I got ready that morning, I truly felt in character by the time I walked out the door, trying to ignore the stares as I walked to the DLR.
This insecurity didn’t last long, as by no time I was entering con territory, and meeting up with my fellow Vault Dwellers and the rest of the gang. I have to say, we made quite the group. There was one particular point where we got stopped loads of times in a row for photos. It was a pretty nice feeling, I have to say.
Crawl out to the fallout, baby...
After we’d gotten a little more familiar with our surroundings, the first panel of the day quickly came around. Using my trick of crashing the panel right before, I managed to grab some great seats in the house close to the stage, which was awesome considering the final crowd size. And who was it for? Why only Princess Shuri herself, Letitia Wright.
At the start of the panel, Letitia met a mini Black Panther (who also won a Marvel cosplay competition) and he decided to park himself right next to her for the entire panel. Fair enough kid.
Letitia was very down-to-earth, discussing how she’s glad to be a role model for both girls into Maths and Science, as well as young black women. And rightfully so. Shuri absolutely kicks ass, and has been one of the best additions to the Marvel movie universe in my opinion, and I think the audience all agreed.
I also want to give props to her for not cracking under the pressure from the presenter to give spoilers for Avengers 4. He pushed her hard to find out more about her contract, but did not budge. “Good thing you’re not Tom Holland!”, they joked at one point.
Very true indeed. Poor Tom (and Mark Ruffalo) cannot be trusted.
The Marvel cosplayers plus Letitia (mini Black Panther front and centre). Wakanda forever! Photo credit to the MCM Comic Con Twitter account
Next on the list was a Bethesda meetup. We’d actually been scouted that morning by some of the community managers for the company, not even knowing it was happening. So we felt pretty special to be asked to come along.
Let me also say, there were some of the most incredible cosplays there that I’d ever seen. One gent in particular had managed to construct an entire power armour suit that required a LOT of effort to get in and out off, nevermind walking in it. Us guys took one look at him, and agreed collectively that we need to step up our game next time.
Especially me, as the guys kept having to stick back on the numbers that were peeling off my back.
Rushing off to my next talk, I got to see one of the leading geek women in the world, Felicia Day. Her panel consisted of lots of advice to do with leading a business, keeping creativity up and coping with stress and anxiety. It was a great inspiration to hear first hand how she juggles a mix of projects (and not to mention, a new baby!).
Felicia also mentioned that she was completely nuts for Harry and Meghan, and quite fittingly ended her panel with a bag that had their faces on. She fangirled hard over this, which was fabulous to see. She also briefly talked about her antics on the set of Supernatural, and praised Misha Collins for his ability to continue to act whilst receiving wedgies from Jared Padalecki.
Well yeah, kudos to him.
We somehow ended up in a wasteland...
We then made our way to the main stage, and got to see Rosario Dawson from Luke Cage. Now time to be honest, I didn’t actually realise she was going to be on, so it was a lovely surprise for me personally. Otherwise known as Claire Temple from the Marvel Netflix shows, Rosario talked about her unusual role across the series.
She’s the only character to appear in every single show, being like the glue in the middle of the cast. Despite not having superpowers, Rosario praised Claire for being badass in her own way, which got a big clap from the audience. I mean honestly, half the characters in Marvel probably would be dead if it weren’t for her.
The next event after that was the Cosplay Masquerade. Seeing as I had so much fun last time, I had to stick around for at least part of this. One performance particularly stood out for me, and that was Chucky from Rugrats, performing a medley of 'baby' songs. I've tried to scour the net to find the mystery performer, but she still evades me. So if anyone has knowledge, hit me up so I can credit!
The day was rounded off with a drink and a quick pop-in to the RTUK meetup at the local pub. I got to say hi to some old familiar faces, and got a glimpse of some of the events team from the company. All in all, it was a lovely way to finish the day.
By the time I got home, I was ready to collapse. So I crawled into bed, and didn’t really move until the next morning, because I knew I had to do it all over again...
Sunday
Despite my over dramatic end to that previous subheading, this day was actually a whole load of chill. No cosplay, I just picked the comfiest geek-style outfit I could and rocked up nice and early to meet my Supernatural buddy, Amy.
Now here’s a little tip for all you readers who are conning again at some point this year. Getting to the venue early on Sunday is a great thing to do. Why? Because there’s not that many people there, so queues are low, and temperatures are bearable. But more importantly, all the vendors are freshly stocked!
With this in mind we scoured the stalls, looking for our fresh purchases for the weekend. Mine ended up coming from the highly popular Funko section. I only originally planned on buying an Iron Spider funko pop, which I did end up getting. But, I came away with something else as well. Something a little bigger.
I was (and am still) in love.
WE are Groot
I’d been thinking about getting a new bag, and Groot has always been one of my faves. I ummed and aahed for a few minutes, but the bag had already stolen my heart and I just had to have it. It’s already received a few compliments at work, so I consider that a successful purchase all in all.
We wandered the halls some more, picking up other little bits and pieces. Honestly, one of things I love the most about an event such as this is the chance to support small businesses. Artists, designers and merchants who have unique and bespoke crafted items that you won’t find anywhere else. Thank you MCM for hosting these wonderful people.
You can find a full list of the vendors that attended right here.
Then it was time for the big event of the day, my photo op with Felicia Day! Having already ticked of a Supernatural con the year before, I was super stoked to meeting my favourite female from the series, Charlie Bradbury. And let me tell you, she was so warm and friendly to everyone.
She even said she loved my pants, so get in!
Whazzup, bitches!
After scoffing on some warm waffles filled with chocolate goodiness (seriously, MCM is outdoing itself when it comes to food omg) myself and Amy were a little pooped. Me because of my escapades the day previously, and her because she’d been out driving to the con since six in the morning.
Yeah. Ouch. The things we do for Comic Con eh?
So we decided to take some R&R for the afternoon, hopping across to the Emirates Airline cable cars where we travelled across the Thames to the lovely O2 arena at Greenwich.
As a side note, if you’re not afraid of heights and you're in London, pleasepleaseplease do this. It’s only just under £4, and you get some of the most spectacular views from across the city. Plus the journey is super smooth, and one of the quickest ways across!
But why were we going to the O2 arena? Well, only to watch Avengers: Infinity War. AGAIN. I will never tire of it. #BestMarvelFilmEver #DontFightMe
We so happy to be flying the friendly skies
It was really the best chill way to finish my weekend. Even if I walked out the cinema near to tears (again) clutching onto my Groot bag for dear life. It’s safe to say that I didn’t feel so good.
...sorry not sorry.
In short, this weekend was KNACKERING. Honestly, people who do cosplay every single day? I have no idea how you do it. If it hadn’t of been for the bank holiday, I wouldn’t have survived my working week.
But to summarise, MCM did it again. They put on a HELL of a show with some absolutely fantastic entertainment. Now all they have to do is outdo themselves again in October.
Can they do it? Stay tuned to find out.