Yes, it’s that time of year again… one of the UK’s biggest media shows collaborating TV and Film, Sci-Fi, Comics, Video Games and Japanese pop culture is back on the 23rd and 24th of May at the ExCeL London International Exhibition and Conference Centre. With its peaceful location at the centre of the Royal Docks soon to be filled with thousands of people from across the globe, this event keeps on growing in popularity.
The main point of interest in the gaming world is for anyone who, like me, loves to Cosplay but would also like the added bonus of being in the next ‘Guinness World Record Gamers Edition’ (again). The MCM Expo is holding a world record attempt on Saturday May 23rd. They will be hoping to smash their own record for the ‘largest number of people in costume from a video game’ which I was originally a part of. Anyone can do this as long as the character you’re cosplaying was in a video game first.
This year I’m barging my way to the front of the group!
The event will be packed to the brim with ‘Cosplayers’, and for me this is the best and worst part of the MCM Expo. It can all get very over powering with the amount of people and the stench. So I’ll just say it now, ‘Free Huggers’ and ‘Glompers’ beware, Ulala does not want to put up with a smelly ‘Devil May Cry’ Dante’s sweaty hugs. I will only start dishing out the ‘Free Vasectomies’ if provoked! Apart from this, it’s amazing to see the hard work and quality of some of the costumes that appear at expo. The masquerade is one of the best places to see some of the best costumes. I will not be doing the masquerade this year, I never win anything anyway but it’s good fun to watch. I recommend sitting at the back with a good zoom camera, as it’s not only the skits that can get a little funky; don’t let that put you off, it’s just an advanced warning. I’m also hoping that this year there will be a few more costumes from TV and Film and hopefully some Star Trek outfits in celebration of the new film.
Yes, I’m not Ulala, and yes, that whip is as fun as it looks!
For us gamers we will be treated to stands by Rising Stars, Ubisoft, Capcom, KOEI, Ankama, Eidos and Atari.
Rising Star Games have their debut at the London MCM Expo this year and have confirmed the highly anticipated title Muramasa: The Demon Blade and Rygar: The Battle of Argus will be playable for event visitors. Rising Star Games will also be demonstrating upcoming titles including Avalon Code, Luminous Arc 2, Angel Cat Sugar and Happy Party with Hello Kitty and Friends, as well as organising battle challenges on Valhalla Knights 2 and hands-on walkthroughs of the critically acclaimed and bloody awesome Little King’s Story. Other announcements of a major new IP will be unveiled on the first day of the event and a teaser trailer will be shown… excited!
Capcom will have a dedicated area for people to bring their PSP and play Monster Hunter. As well as cheeky peek at the soon to be released PSP title, Monster Hunter Freedom Unite.
Eidos are giving us gamers a chance to be among the first in the UK to play the awesome new Batman Arkham Asylum on both PS3 and Xbox 360 at the Eidos stand.
Koei Ltd also has announced that visitors to this year will be the first in the world to play the brand spanking new Dynasty Warriors 6 Empires. With gaming pods available, Dynasty Warriors fans will be able to drool over this new take on the Dynasty Warriors story, where tactics and strategy are just as important as giving your opponents a continuous and good pummelin’. Koei will also host Dynasty Warriors Strikeforce multiplayer combat sessions in the so called ‘beanbag lounge area’. So again, bring your PSP and your copy of Dynasty Warriors Strikeforce and play against other fans in some tactical battering.
As always there is a good variety of arcade games and rhythm action games from Guitar Hero to Dance Dance Revolution. All free to play, and as always, DDR will be attempted by me in 5 inch Ulala heels.
MCM Expo is always littered with celebrities to sign autographs and have photos taken with, and this year there really are some film legends attending. For starters Linda Hamilton, known for many roles but perhaps mostly for playing Sarah Connor in the hit movies ‘The Terminator’ and ‘Terminator 2: Judgement Day’. The Hollywood screen Legend, Tony Curtis will be making his first London appearance at this Expo. Also on the list is Lindsay Wagner, best known for her lead role as Jamie Sommers in the original hit TV series ‘The Bionic Woman’.
Craig Charles will be attending on the Saturday and everyone knows who he’s best known for playing… Dave Lister in the hit TV series ‘Red Dwarf’, as well as appearing in ‘Robot Wars’ and currently starring in ITV’s ‘Coronation Street’ as Lloyd Mullaney, so I will be asking him what went wrong with the most recent Red Dwarf episodes. There are always the odd one or two cheeky celebs that appear out of nowhere on the day too, so we shall wait and see.
For comic book fans, the MCM Expo has a rare treat this year. Warren Ellis is one of the special guests to the Comic Village area. A British writer whose recent work includes ‘Astonishing X-Men’, ‘Ignition City’, ‘Thunderbolts’, ‘Aetheric Mechanics’ and web comic ‘Freakangels’, and he will be about on Saturday May 23rd only.
As always there is an Anime and Manga area, an area that I tend to avoid if possible as there are always a large amount of ‘kooky kids’ trying to ‘Glomp’ and draw Manga at the same time. They generally hold drawing competitions and there are usually ‘TokyoPop’ artists who appear over the weekend, one of which is the creator of Manga ‘Dramacon’, Svetlana Chmakova wh0 will be signing copies of her new book on both days.
The London MCM Expo is my escapism. It may have been bombarded by an influx of kids and been taken over by Japanese related media as the years have gone on but I still go back for more year after year. There is always a huge amount of cool stuff to buy and to see and my recommendation for anyone attending the event this weekend, is to get there as early as you possibly can. It can get crowded very quickly and I can remember people in a four hour long wait at last October’s Expo and that was just to get inside the outer building!
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