Last Saturday I had the privilege to be a part of Manchester’s second MCM Expo, or Manchester Comic Con as it is also known, along with 11,300 other enthusiastic Geeks who queued up for hours in the Manchester…. SUN (thought I was going to say rain didn’t you) just to get in and be a part of the festivities; I turned up at just after nine, staying until 5 and people were still in queues around 2 / 3 o’clock… now that is dedication to the cause!
The whole affair was on an epic scale and I have to say I was rather overwhelmed by it and didn’t know what to do first: look at the stalls, take pictures, talk to people, or just stand there and gawp. In the end I settled at taking photos to start, thinking; “I’ve got plenty of time, I’ll take a dander around the stalls and talk to people later.”
Fortunately / or unfortunately, depending on how you want to look at it, I didn’t get much of a chance to peruse the conventions geeky wares, I was so wrapped up in taking pictures of all the amazing Cosplayers (660 in total) and listening to the presentations from THQ (Darksiders 2 FTW!) and Wariwick Davis, to the point that I didn’t eat or drink anything all day; 8 hours with nothing, and this is coming from a 16 Stone, Viking type who enjoys his foody pleasures; must have been good then!
Don’t Believe me? Then Check out these photos I took (the higher Rez ones are on my Flickr and there was going to be a video but I had computer issues and lost a load of footage.. was not impressed)
If you have issues viewing this slide show then try using Google Chrome
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As you can see it was a beautiful day, The venue was amazing; there were thousands of like minded, awesome people around and, all in all, hours and hours of geek fun; you couldn’t have asked for anything more … Well maybe another day of it would have been nice 😉 . I came away feeling hyped, happy and fulfilled and will most definitely be back! In fact, I’d be trying to get to London if it wasn’t for my holiday in September; I doubt my misses would be too impressed if I canned off two weeks in T-Egypt for Cosplay, Comic Books and gaming…. not that I would *** cough***
If you didn’t go, then either make it down to London for October or check out the MCM website for future events next year, you wont regret it!
MCM Press Release
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“We were delighted with 2011, but 2012 was so beyond our expectations, ” said Manchester Comic Con co-organiser Bryan Cooney. “We knew we would have a great show but the turnout was even greater than we expected. The atmosphere was wonderful. We look forward to returning to Manchester next year and hopefully an even bigger crowd and hall!
Bringing all the magic of the famous MCM London Comic Con to Manchester, the North West’s celebration of pop culture gave visitors the chance to meet movie stars and top comic artists; play the hottest pre-release videogames; take part in art and costume competitions and, of course, check out a host of retailers offering great deals on everything from anime to sci-fi collectables.
Manga loved attending MCM Manchester Comic Con. It was our first, but won’t be our last. It was excellently organised and very well attended,” commented Manga UK’s Head of Marketing & Acquisitions Jerome Mazandarani. “Manchester is an amazing city and its people are warm and friendly. It was a great atmosphere.
We attended the show again this year after a successful inaugural show in 2011, and were very pleased to see that MCM had extended the venue and taken a much bigger floor space than the previous year,” said Diamond Comic Distributors’ Marketing Manager Mike Holman. “To say that this year was a success would be a huge understatement! From the opening of the show at 9.30 the flood of attendees didn’t subside throughout the whole day.
On behalf of Namco Bandai games I can happily say that not only did we thoroughly enjoy our time at MCM Manchester Comic Con, but it was a great event for showing off our upcoming game Tales of Graces f.,” added Namco Bandai Consumer and Community PR Executive Hollie Bennett. “The venue was great, the fans were brilliant and it’s been amazing to see just how well this show has grown in such a small space of time.
The next great MCM event of 2012 is our flagship show, MCM London Comic Con – the UK’s biggest and best pop culture festival. Held at ExCel London, London Comic Con takes place on 26-28 October.”
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