In late May of 2023, the Entry Level Games team was lucky enough to attend MCM Comic Con in London, England. As one of the oldest and most well-known conventions in the UK, MCM Comic Con prides itself on both the quality and quantity of activities and guests.
In this piece, we’ll go into detail on the various elements that make a convention great, and how London MCM fares in each department. All feedback in this piece is based on our teams’ personal experience. Please note that our team only attended the event on Saturday. As such, our coverage does not reflect a comprehensive overview of the entire weekend.
Getting to the Convention
Travelling to Attend
Travelling to and within London can be stressful, even at the best of times. The ExCel Centre in which London MCM is held is also located in a fairly remote area. In the past, the location of The ExCel Centre could make it a somewhat difficult trip for attendees.
Thankfully, a train station has been connected to the convention hall in recent years, named Custom House Station. As a result of this addition, travelling to Custom House Station is now relatively easy to plan and takes much of the stress out of London transport. The DHL station and trains are extremely clean and frequent, meaning you don’t have to worry about being late.
After arriving at Custom House Station, the walk to the convention hall was clearly marked, with plenty of staff to guide the way. If you’re planning to attend London MCM Comic Con, then travelling to this station is a must for the most stress-free experience.
Hotels
Hotels have always been a mixed bag for London MCM Comic Con. As far back as 2013, accommodation prices have ranged from acceptable to extortionate. In 2023, considering the current cost of living crisis in the UK, it’s highly advisable to not stay at hotels close to the convention, unless you’d like to be seriously out of pocket.
The majority of hotels close to the convention centre must be booked a year in advance in order to ensure a reasonable price. If you’re unable to snag a room far enough ahead, then either travelling the day of, or getting an Airbnb if attending as a group may be your most economical option.
The hotel costs are not within MCM Comic Cons’ control, and therefore do not reflect negatively on the convention or organizers themselves. It is important to note that hotels in London, especially on weekends, will always be expensive when not booked in advance, so be sure to plan for this especially if attending for the full weekend.
Entering the Convention
Upon arriving at Custom House Station, members of staff led the way to the appropriate entrance. Each badge pickup location was clearly signposted and easy to find. The Entrance for press and disabled attendees (of which our team was both) was also easy to access.
When entering the ExCel Centre, Security checked each bag to make sure no banned or dangerous items were in our possession. Unfortunately, this check was less than thorough, simply involving unzipping of bags, moving one or two items, and then zipping them back up. This may have been a one-off experience, but it did bring into question the level of seriousness being taken by security.
After the security checkpoint, we were led into one of three queues for badge pickup. The queues were relatively short, and surprisingly, we received our badges within 5 minutes! When it comes to badge pickup for large conventions, this was seriously impressive.
Convention Activities
Stalls and booths
There is certainly a lot to do at London MCM, which makes sense for a convention prides itself on the sheer amount of stalls and activities attendees can take part in. After 5 hours of walking around, it’s easy to see there’s a lot of choice.
However, bigger doesn’t always mean better. In the case of London MCM, the large number of stalls and booths don’t offer much variety, leading to many stalls being very similar in nature and offerings.
The artist alley is exceptionally large, taking up a lot of the convention hall. Whilst it’s great to see so many artists getting a chance to sell their work, it seemed that simply too many were each selling the same or similar items.
Moving onto the gaming section of the convention, some big names, such as Bandai Namco, had booths set up. Unfortunately, this and many other gaming-related booths were hidden away and seemed to have a fairly small presence.
For the anime lovers at MCM London there are general stalls that sold anime figures, weapon props and other anime-themed merchandise However, much like the artist alley, these stalls and items seemed to be similar if not identical in a lot of cases.
When it comes to the Stalls and booths at London MCM Comic Con overall, there was little variety in what was offered, and next to nothing available for free. There were no free items for attendees. If you’re not planning on spending a lot of money, which would be understandable given the current cost of living crisis in the UK, then there’s not much to do. As summed up by one guest, “The convention just felt like a huge shopping centre, rather than a convention.”
Main Stage Events
Unlike some previous years, Main Stage events at London MCM Comic Con are now held in a private area covered in a large black barrier. There were lots of different and fun events available on Main Stage. Unfortunately, the queueing and secluded nature of Main Stage meant that it wasn’t as accessible as it might first seem.
Part of the appeal of MCM Comic Con was the social aspect, and how everyone could enjoy all elements of the convention. The fact that Main Stage was now secluded and hidden by a large black barrier, means that it’s not as open and friendly as perhaps it could and should be.
Special Guests
There was a range of special guests announced to attend the event this year. Aside from the shopping and money-spending opportunities, this is the main appeal of London MCM Comic Con. Unfortunately, some guest cancellations were announced just a day before the convention began, not providing fans much notice in order to request refunds if their favourite guest would no longer attend.
The guests themselves ranged from known actors and voice actors, to a mostly niche spread of various other talents. The prices for item signing were high, but not over the top. The group photographs were sadly exorbitant prices, rendering these opportunities unaffordable for most.
While the management of the talent set these prices, and not MCM, it doesn’t take away from the fact that these high prices represented yet another barrier preventing attendees from participating in convention events and experiences. If you’re travelling to MCM specifically to meet special guests, we’d recommend getting a one-day pass for the convention, both for affordability and value.
Food & Drink
There was a surprisingly large amount of food & drink options at London MCM Comic Con. From taco and waffle booths, to franchise options like Costa Coffee. These options were spread throughout multiple halls in the convention centre, so were simple and easy to find.
Unfortunately, actually getting this food was a lot more difficult than it may seem. We’ll go into more details regarding the issues our team had in one of our later sections, but the general availability for multiple payment methods made it impossible for a large number of guest to get food and drink.
Cosplay
Cosplay is one of the main focal points of any convention. The idea of attending and seeing a character you know is very exciting, as is showing off your very own cosplay. Both members of our team were cosplaying on the day of attendance and were recognized multiple times.
Being cosplay fans ourselves, we went out of our way to chat with cosplayers and get pictures of them. The number of attendees that were cosplaying at the event was truly outstanding.
One cosplay element that the convention was lacking, was a dedicated space for cosplayers to take pictures and socialize both with one another and fellow attendees. There was really no option besides stopping in the crowd and trying to take a picture. For this reason, a lot of cosplayers gravitated toward gathering outside, meaning those inside were potentially missing out on a lot of cool interactions since they may not have known where to find cosplayers.
The MCM App
The MCM app was an incredible resource when it came to preparing for the convention. There was information on all aspects, from floor plans to guest signing times.
Whilst it made for a good planning app, it wasn’t as useful once on the show floor. The high traffic and crowd of the convention hall meant many people just weren’t using their phones that much when trying to navigate.
All the incredible social ideas and plans MCM had seemed to go straight into the app, even including a fun treasure hunt game. This would have been excellent if offered in a physical form as well, but unfortunately everything was directed to the app.
Whilst great in concept, the MCM app takes all the awesome social aspects created by MCM, and moves them out of the physical space, resulting in lost opportunities for those walking around with their phones in their pockets.
Cash vs Cashless
One of the biggest issues surrounding London MCM Comic Con in May 2023 was a statement made by MCM themselves. One day before the convention was due to start, a post was made on the official MCM Facebook page. It read “There are no ATMs or cash points at ExCeL London this weekend.”, whilst following up with “don’t forget to bring a bit of cash, just in case”. You can see this in the image below.
Understandably, this didn’t go down well with attendees, who quickly turned to Twitter and Facebook groups to voice their outrage. Their voices were so loud that the original MCM Facebook post was removed just hours after being posted. Unfortunately, this just made the situation less clear for those seeking information on the cash situation at the convention.
MCM Comic Con is not and has never been, a cashless event. As such, many, including our team, took some cash as suggested by the original MCM Facebook post. This turned out to be a complete nightmare once inside the convention, which would ultimately lead to us leaving the convention early.
It seemed that not all stalls or vendors were on the same page regarding the payment situation. All stalls that we went to accepted cash, including everyone in the artist alley, and everyone in the gaming section. That all changed once the team wanted to grab lunch. Not a single food or drink provider accepted cash.
In the ExCel Centre, there are various food and drink chains that are within the convention centre and not controlled by MCM. MCM had provided various food and drink trucks with a large variety, and after trying 8 different trucks, not a single one accepted cash.
This left the team with only one option. We explored the surrounding area outside the convention hall, but to our surprise, none of them accepted cash either. To reiterate our earlier point, MCM Comic Con is not, and has never been a cashless event. MCM themselves advised people 1 day before the event to bring cash. There was actually a working ATM at the convention as well, which only furthered confusion regarding the deleted post.
Summary – You Make your own fun
When it comes to any convention, the most important aspect should always be having fun. As we’ve touched on multiple times, MCM Comic Con in London focuses a lot on areas people can spend money, rather than areas people can spend time and connect.
The main stage being secluded and closed off meant that people couldn’t just walk past and get involved. The overwhelming amount of stalls left no space for people to socialize and make new friends.
When it comes to what people talk the most about, it’s often the fun they had at cosplay meets dedicated to certain characters or games. These are all created and ran by the attendees outside of the convention hall.
The majority of the enjoyment that we have experienced ourselves and seen from others is generated from the fans. The fans are what make the convention great, which is both incredibly wholesome, and incredibly sad. MCM Comic Con in London was a shopping centre for anime and gaming fans, where most attendees took it upon themselves to create their own fun outside.
MCM Comic Con as a whole has continued to evolve and grow over the last 10+ years, and will no doubt continue to do so. Our main feedback would be to make it a more sociable event for all attendees. To bring unique experiences that can’t be found anywhere else, and combine them with the incredible and unique people that attend the convention.
Did you attend London MCM Comic Con in May 2023? Let us know your experience over on our Twitter and Instagram. Want to see our coverage on other worldwide events? Be sure to check out our dedicated events category.
Disclaimer: MCM Press / Media badges were supplied by the MCM team. These had no impact on the authenticity or fairness given when attending and reviewing the convention.
