MCM Comic Con’s spring edition returned to EXCEL London (May 24th-26th 2024). Once again we attended this event as official press thanks to MCM.
MCM London has become one of the largest and premier pop culture events in the UK offering attendees a wide range of attractions, opportunities and experiences covering a wide range of interest areas.
Special Guests at this years event included:
- Temuera Morrison (The Mandalorian)
- Emily Swallow (The Mandalorian)
- Phil Dunster (Ted Lasso)
- Billy Harris (Ted Lasso)
- Jim Cummings (Winnie The Poo)
- Rob Paulsen (The Animaniacs)
Plus many more guests!
Areas and attractions included:
- Autographs & Photo Ops available to purchase with the special guests.
- Stage Talks & Panels with casts and creators including Ted Lasso & The Mandalorian
Check out our clip from ‘The Mandalorian Cast Panel’ - Free Promotional Photo Ops/Activations for upcoming films including Doctor Who
- ‘Cosplay Central’ dedicated cosplay zone including the ‘MCM Championships of Cosplay & Masquerade.
- ‘Pop Asia‘ an area incorporated within MCM London Comic Con offering a fusion of Japanese, Korean & Asian culture.
- ‘The Treehouse’ family orientated activity area.
- ‘Side Quest’ gaming area including modern & retro gaming, arcade games & board games for all to play.
- ‘Artist Alley’ a dedicated comic book area featuring special guest writers, artists and small press.
- ‘Writers Block‘ featuring many authors attending over the weekend panels with panels & signings taking place.
- ‘MCM Fringe‘ MCM’s fringe stage which hosts live music and entertainment including after hour events. With a new fun Beach theme this year! ‘Costa Del MCM’
- ‘MCM Creators‘ the creators pavilion is MCM’s newest space and features content creators from the world of cosplay, podcasting and more.
- After Hours events featuring DJs, entertainers and special screenings including the latest episode of Doctor Who
- And much more!
Check out our full gallery of images from the Show below:
There was also stalls selling a wide range of merchandise and other items with major brands such as Forbidden Planet and Bandai offering exclusive products, discounts and giveaways as well as an official promotional store for BBC Doctor Who.
Overall Con Experience
Being one of the UK’s largest events the entrance queue was quite long but we found this to be very well managed as the queue area in in a seperate hall. The venue also offers a central mall area with Cafe’s, toilets and cash machines/cloakroom facilities as well as offering seating areas. In addition to this there was also a food truck style catering area offering many enticing options for attendee’s. The photo op, autograph and main stage areas were also well managed.
What really stood out for us about this event was the amount of activities available beyond autographs and photo ops; many of which were free such as the panels and promotional photo ops for upcoming films although there was less of these available than at previous events. There were also a focus on anime and cosplay compared to Film. TV and other fandom groups as is common to most MCM events. It was a nice relaxed atmosphere most of the time and would be great for a family day out.
The newly added Writers and LLARP area were a welcome addition and the Artist Alley area seemed to be much larger than in previous years featuring a mix of industry talent and independent creators. There were fewer film/tv related activiations this year possibly a result of a lack of output due the Writers/Actors strikes. There were also a lot more themed areas this year as well as After Hours events including DJs and a special Screening/Q&A of Doctor Who to enhance the overall experience and value for attendees whilst creating a great community vibe even for such a large event,
We thoroughly enjoyed our con experience and hope to come back again!
MCM London Returns 25-27 October, 2024.
Check out our clip from ‘The Mandalorian Cast Panel’
Indie Mac User 