MCM London Comic Con 2019: How Was it This Year?

The final weekend of October always holds MCM London Comic Con, one of the biggest (if not, THE) biggest comic convention in the UK.

Let’s start with my own personal experience of the convention before we compare my views with others and cosplayer spotlights! I personally felt like this year’s con was organised a lot better than the previous years. This year, we had an electric board with the timetables of all guest photo ops and signings, with the room they’re being held in. I thought that was a brilliant addiction that made the weekend go a lot smoother. In previous visits to the con, the stress of finding out rooms and timings to guests events ruined the entire day for me. I always ended up running around like a headless chicken trying to find which room I was supposed to be in. I thought the guest lineup for this convention was fantastic. My favourite guests were Sophia Lillis, Jaeden Martell, and Wyatt Oleff from IT chapter one.

On the Friday of the convention, I attended the panel with all three of them. I thought it was great. The panel was well advertised so I knew exactly where and when it was. I started lining up maybe an hour beforehand to get a good seat, as it was packed to the brim. The interviewer was very sweet and funny, and the kids seemed to enjoy themselves. I also met the kids on Saturday, to see that photo check out my Instagram “@katiscreative”. Here’s a solo photo I got with Sophia Lillis, though! She was lovely!

Other guests included Simon Pegg from such movies as “Hot Fuzz” and Jason Mamoa from “Game of Thrones” and “Aquaman.” Simon Pegg even made a surprise appearance at the MCM traveling cinema stand!

Stalls at this convention were great as always. There’s one thing I can always say about MCM, and that is that they know their target audience. This convention was filled with geeky stalls galore, my favourites being the FUNKO stand and the Tokyo Toys! I was slightly disappointed that the Build a Bear stall from last year wasn’t included but oh well, ya win some, ya lose some. Their decision to make the FUNKO stand card only was a great one, as it made the lines go down a lot faster than in previous years. The exclusive pops for this con were Dustin Henderson from Stranger Things, Halloween Stitch from Lilo and Stitch, and the Sanderson Sister from Hocus Pocus.

I have one complaint about this convention and conventions in general. It seems as comic cons are becoming a lot more mainstream and are attended by nerds, cosplayers and normal folk alike, prices are getting out of control. Every year it seems that entry tickets are getting more and more costly, and for the average person, that’s not good at all. With more tickets being sold in general as the marketing gets better (adverts on the tube and places around London), surely they’d be able to afford to bring entry tickets down a peg or two.

Now onto the views of other people. If this review was just my opinion, it wouldn’t be very fun would it?

I asked another con go-er called Adam (@adamlukins on Instagram if you wanna give him a follow!) about his thoughts of MCM London. Adam states that Saturday felt very overcrowded, more so than previous years. However, he did state that Sunday was more quiet, yay!

He says that in his opinion, the organisation was a 7/10. Not bad! Adam also believes that as comic con is getting a lot more socially acceptable, they kick up the prices. Agreed! Adam has the idea that cosplayers who go every year should get a seasonal pass. I think that’s a great idea!

Next, we have Ellie (@onceuponanellie on Instagram). Ellie felt that the con, in general, had a similar vibe to last year. She said Sunday was a lot less crowded (the same as what Adam said!). Ellie gave the con an eight for organisation! Guest lineup was a six and the overall experience was a nine! I’d say that’s a pretty good review!

Onto Chris, he’s the count Olaf in this photo! Chris thought that the con was a lot quieter than the previous time he went, that’s good! Fewer people equals more space to breathe! He rates the organisation at a nine, guest lineup at an 8 and prices again at 8. Crowds are hard to avoid at events like this, but in my personal opinion, they need to sell fewer tickets. Especially on Saturday. If you’ve been to MCM London before, then you know EXACTLY what I mean.

Here are some amazing cosplayers I found! Pokemon-Human cosplays are super awesome and I just NEEDED to snap some pics of them! Their social media stated below if you would like to give them a follow!

Overall, I feel like this con for me was better than in previous years. Of course, there are a few things that I’d love them to fix, such as overcrowding issues, pricing and even the cost of food. (Is it just me, or do they purposely raise food prices for the permanent shops in the convention hall when there is an event?) I’m going to give an overall rating to MCM London 2019 as 8/10! Until next year MCM!

Edited by Maddie Morrow