As you guys know, I’ve been in London for 3 months now and I am still realizing some stuff. For example: last weekend’s Comic Con, that I found out about barely on Friday, as in the first day of the convention.
The first 2-3 minutes were of a slight annoyance at myself because I saw who was attending and knew I might have seen that a bit too late. But after those minutes past, I had a proper look on the website and ended up sending some emails, trying to accomplish what, at that hour of the evening, seemed like an impossible task. I decided that if I won’t be getting the pass I wanted, I will just buy a regular ticket and hope the actors I wanted to talk to will talk to me. So I went to bed saying to myself that if I don’t receive a reply to one of my emails until next day around lunch time, I will just buy a ticket for Sunday.
Now, I would like to begin this sentence by thanking the people from MCM Expo. I don’t know if I am the only late one they got, most probably not, but I woke up to an email that authorized me to collect a Press Pass for the event, for Sunday. Thumbs up for your team MCM Expo, it was a great pleasure to be able to attend!
Now, Sunday. While getting closer to the ExCel Exhibiton Center, it was so easy to guess where everyone was going. How so? Because at least half of the people on the train were wearing a costume.
Like a complete geek, I woke up early and was there 5-10 minutes after they opened. Saturday night, after the Carmina Burana concert (I will tell you guys all about that in another article), I did some research, saw who was doing what and at what hour, and was clear about what I wanted to achieve. I got there and was swept away by the costumes from the first second. I am telling you, even for an organized control freak like myself, it is really hard not to get carried away.
Various actors were signing and after analyzing the schedule I decided that, first of all, I should go settle the matters with Neil Jackson, who started his work day quite early, half an hour after the convention opened on Sunday. Stopped for a map of the place, so I could figure out where I was and where I was supposed to go, managed not to get distracted by the huge Pikachu stand and went for table one.
All the actors were helped by someone from the MCM Expo team, and each and every one of their staff people, that I interacted with, was extremely nice and seriously helpful. Now, regarding Neil I will not tell you guys that much in this article because he agreed to a short interview, which you guys will be getting in a few days. But I will tell you this, the man is sweet and very polite, always smiling and did his best in making everyone else smile too. And, from what I could tell, no one needed any kind of Sleepy Hollow necklace to see him fully.
After I managed to settle everything with Neil, I got super excited and decided to do some rounds and take some photos. You could have found all types of characters in that convention center. If you can think of it, it was there most probably. I saw Iron Man, Captain Jack Sparrow, different Japanese cartoon characters, a few Sailor Soldiers (Neptune was quite popular), Elsa and her sister Anna, the Predators from Alien, Lego Batman and regular Batman, Loki, Darth Vader, an American police car with a few Policemen, as said, whatever you could think of.
Most of the people who weren’t wearing a costume, were wearing a Pikachu hat or some kind of ears (Cat, Leopard, Bunny) or a dinosaur tail. They actually had a stand that was dedicated only to tails. Everyone was taking photos or admiring the costumes, everyone was excited about this or that, everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and be happy.
The crowds would change from time to time as people would go from one part of the expo to another, or some would go into the theater and attend one of the panels. Kids were excited, adults were as well, which is incredible to watch.
After a tour and my interview with Neil, I stopped for a short chat with another actor I wanted to catch – Shane West. I already had some photos of him from earlier and went for a short chat. Now, I first saw Shane in “A walk to remember”, I was a teenage girl when that movie came out and I had a total crush on him. Let’s put it like this: seeing him in person confirmed I have really good taste when it comes to men. Even if he was suffering from a huge jet lag, Shane was patient enough to talk to everyone, show his tattoos when someone asked, smile and take photos with everyone, including myself. He was nice yet he had that bad guy thing going on (which let’s admit it girls, we do like), charming and seemed like a super fun chill guy. When I left his table, I passed a group of 3 girls that were excited over the edge about him, autographs in hands and smile on their faces, and for a short moment, my present self related to my younger same as excited version.
I stayed for a few panels after, including the “Breaking out of the DOME!” where the best phrase was “If they ask me to kiss a good looking guy, what can I do?” or “TT Games – LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham Presentation and VO Panel” where I found out it is good to pretend you are a kid who is home alone when the telemarketers call to trick you into buying something. Went back out in the crowd to take a few more photos and just enjoy the pleasant madness and the day passed without me even feeling that.
I left MCM Expo Comic Con felling a bit sad that it ended, but being so happy and feeling so grateful for the amazing day I was lucky enough to have. On the train 2 kids, a brother and sister, both wearing the now classic Pikachu hats, were looking at the photos they took. Now I don’t know why, but that gave me a good, Christmas like, can’t-wait-for-the-next-one kind of feeling.
This article has been written in partnership with Edge and Back. More photos can be found on their official Facebook page.
