The main issue us otaku from the United Kingdom have is that there are very few conventions in the first place. We hear tales of the Comic-Con and the Otakon, but unless we travel we can never really experience anything like that. Or so I thought...

If we are going into technicalities then my first convention was actually the Leipzig Game Conference back in 2008. Sure it was primarily a game convention, but the sheer number of cosplayers attending a non-anime orientated convention was staggering. Getting off the tram to arrive at the main building was interesting as it seemed we were being escorted by the Akatsuki rejects. Not that I was complaining of course, in face some of them were actually pretty good so I'm being a tad harsh. Anyway we got some hands on experience of Ultimate Ninja Storm and Broken Bond before they were released, so it was a pretty enjoyable experience. Still, myself and friends still longed to attend one back in the UK, and finally in May this year we did!

The convention at hand was the London MCM Expo, what I had assumed was a relatively unknown event. If I'm being honest we really didn't know what to expect. We started to twig onto how big this thing was before we even got there however, almost dying on the train ride there (I live in a town called Basingstoke, a good hour from London) because a Sasuke and Sakura pair were doing their hair and promptly gassed out the train car in the process. After the long train ride and walk there, we were treated to this:



Jaws dropped at the sight of the sheer amount of cosplayers at the venue. We had heard previously that the last MCM Expo had actually set the world record for most amount of cosplayers in one area at the same time, but none of us expected this! The halls were packed to the brim, meaning we waited half an hour in a queue to get a goodie bag (which incidentally was pretty awesome, free Hellboy figure and Slayers DVD). The dealers room was pretty sweet too, so we got to see many weird and wonderful items. I personally spent all my money on manga, but I was ever so curious about the Miku breast mouse mat thing someone was selling (you know those mouse mats with the squidgy wrist thing on them? That, but boobs). The only regret I have is that we didn't book tickets to see the cosplay masquerade, but that was because nobody told us to do it. Sad times, but there is always next year!

Highlights definitely have to be the Death Note cosplayer, the 'Alien' woman (you can't see it here but she had a facehugger on her back too) and a C.C. cosplayer so good I did indeed consider kidnapping her. In actual fact I recently went to Alcon, a small convention in a university in Leicester but found it rather dull for my liking. I think the MCM Expo set some high standards! I definitely recommend it to any other Brits and any of you people across the pond wanting to spend a weekend!

And if you are interested you can view all my photos of this years MCM here.