A Comic Con Experience

A couple of weeks ago the Excel Expo Centre in London hosted the MCM London Comic Con Expo. Two of my friends (Helen aka Porkchop and Shane aka Hoofbite, aka Hoof, aka Oi Git) were in attendance so I asked them about their experience.

Whateverman: Before we get started, can I just ask you to let the readers know a bit about yourselves.

Helen: I am 30 and I have been gaming since I was 4yrs old. I am engaged to Shane and we have a son who is also a big gamer too. My dad got me into gaming on his old Amiga 500. I think I played a game called Nutz first, which led me down the path of the NES and SNES, then I became hooked! I am also a collector of gaming merchandise. Love figures, clothes and bags that are to do with gaming. I'm a casual gamer, I love all sorts of games ranging from puzzle based games to shooters and horrors. I also enjoy watching movies, mostly action/SciFi/horror stuff. I used to watch a ton of anime religiously but I don't really have the time to get into a lot of it now but I still do enjoy the odd series that I hear good things about and make it a priority to watch. I also enjoy SciFi/action TV series, things like supernatural or Arrow. So as you can tell I am a big geek, the only thing I don't do is read comics ha ha!

Shane: I'm pretty much the same as Helen except I went the route of Sega, I love fighting games and I do read a hell of a lot of comics!

Whateverman: So was this your first experience of a convention? 

Shane: No, we had been to the Eurogamer Expo in September 2013.

Whateverman: As that was specifically games and this covered a broader range of things, what did you expect?

Helen: Lots of comics and cosplays

Shane: The same, only I expected a map ha ha

Whateverman: Did it meet your expectations or better them/fall short? 

Helen: Not so many comics on sale as I expected but tons of cosplayers so it was better than I expected but fell short in some aspects what with the lack of comics

Shane: I didn't expect it to be so crowded or so difficult to get in and out of the place once you had got in. It seemed over the top compared to Eurogamer where access was much easier if you needed to get some air or have a smoke if you were a smoker. It was quite upsetting that they made you queue up again to get back in.

Whateverman: When you were inside what was the atmosphere like?

Helen: Sweaty! Ha ha.

Shane: It felt very fast paced with the amount of people there but there was a happy buzz about it.

Whateverman: As with all conventions today, you can't throw a stick in these places without hitting someone cosplaying. What was the best Cosplay you saw? 

Helen: It's gonna have to be the Tank cosplay (Left 4 Dead) he had his tongue sticking out and it was HUGE!

Shane: Oh God that's a hard one, there were alot of fantastic ones, I'd probably have to go with this one guy dressed up as a Survey Corps (Attack on Titan) He had the 3D gear and it looked incredibly well made.

Whateverman: Some people really do go to town when cosplaying so what was the strangest cosplay you saw? 

Helen: This one girl, I have no idea what she was cosplaying as but you could see everything bar her naughty bits.

Shane: Has to be the guy with a Geodude for a head.

Whateverman: Did you guys cosplay?

Helen: Yeah we both did. I was Sir Trooper, basically a Clone Trooper from Star Wars but very 'dapper'

Shane: I went as a Ninja themed Sith

Whateverman: It's good to hear you were original with your cosplaying. How did you come up with the ideas for them?

Helen: I wanted something easy and cheap that hadn't been thought of yet.

Shane: Well, I had a Sith outfit and I wanted to mix it up with something, initially I wanted it to seem Pirate themed but as it came together it fitted better with a ninja look.

Whateverman: How did you make them and were they easy to create? 

Helen: I didn't make it I bought it, so pretty easy really, I did add the smoking pipe, mini top hat and moustache to the helmet though and the top hat took some work.

Shane: Pretty easy once I bought all the parts.

Whateverman: Conventions always sound like fun places to be, but was there anything that you didn't like? 

Helen: The crowds

Shane: Ditto, it made it hard to browse stores or even take in half of what people were dressed up as.

Whateverman: So that's the bad out of they way, now tell me what was your overall stand out moment?

Helen: Probably when people kept stopping me to ask for a picture, it made me quite proud of my cosplay.

Shane: I'm going to have to go with when an amazing R2-D2 came rolling through the crowds.

Whateverman: Conventions are always a good place to buy some goodies, what was the most impressive thing you saw for sale? 

Helen: It's hard to say really, there was just so much awesome stuff.

Shane: I really can't say, there was so much there and the mass majority of it was amazing!

Whateverman: So what was the most expensive thing you saw for sale? 

Helen: Probably an R2-D2 hoodie that I came across, it was about £128.

Shane: Easily the metal Master Sword replica, it was beautiful but was over £300!

Whateverman: I can tell you seemed to really enjoy it so this is a pretty pointless question, but are you planning to go again? 

Helen: Yes!

Shane: Hell yes, but on a less crowded day ha ha.

Whateverman: Thank you very much Helen and Shane for your insight!

 
So there you have it, from my roving reporters on the ground, an all round good day out! Below is some pictures from their day that they've kindly consented to share:

.