| London MCM Expo | |
|---|---|
| Status | Active |
| Genre | Multi-genre |
| Venue | ExCeL London |
| Location | One Western Gateway, Royal Victoria Dock, London Docklands, London, E16 1XL |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| First held | May 2002 |
| Organizer | MCM Expo Group |
| Official website | http://www.londonexpo.com/ |
The London MCM Expo is a multi-genre fan convention held in the London Borough of Newham twice yearly, usually on the last weekend in May and October. The convention mainly focuses on anime, manga, video games, sci-fi, cosplay & popular media from the United Kingdom and Japan.
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The MCM (Movie Comic Media) Expo Group are organisers of the London MCM Expo, Midlands, Manchester MCM Expo's & MEMORABILIA Birmingham. It was founded in early 2001 by Paul Miley (ScifiShows) and Bryan Cooney (Wolf Events), both well known organisers within the convention entertainment industry.
The convention is held twice each year, usually on the last full weekend of May and October. There have occasionally been exceptions to this; May 2009 being one of them.
The event started as a single day and has now expanded to run across three days attracting attendance and involvement from industry luminaries such as: Universal Studios, Twentieth Century Fox, Manga Entertainment UK, NEO Magazine amongst others.
London MCM Expo features a large floorspace for dealer stands and exhibitors which include media companies such as movie studios and TV stations. There is also a theatre space that includes a large stage with projection monitors on either side and seating for approximately 1000.
Guests from popular media are commonly invited to the show. They take part for a variety of reasons. Often, this is to promote their latest product or production whether it be movie, TV or print. Sometimes it can be to raise awareness and funds for a charity or cause important to them. It is common to see television and film personalities selling autographs and interacting with their fans both in person and on stage during Question and Answer sessions. Along with panels, seminars and workshops with comic book professionals, there are previews of upcoming television and feature films, portfolio review sessions with video game companies.
The event also includes an autograph area as well as the Artists' Alley where comics artists can sign autographs and sell or do free sketches. Despite the name, Artists' Alley can include writers and also models.
Ticket holders are allowed to, and in many cases, encouraged to take part in Cosplay. Cosplaying has become one of the most popular parts of the show. This can be to show off the costumer's latest work, just to show devotion to their favourite characters or engage in role-play with other cosplayers in the same series, as well as just meet new people with mutual interests.
In 2010, MCM Fringe Festival was re-vamped and given a new logo. The main purpose of Fringe is to allow cosplayers to organise photoshoots, meet-ups, picnics and get togethers. Organisers are more easily able to create their own event within the Expo and broadcast it. At the same time, the rest of the Expo Attendees can search the website and decide to go to it. Photoshoots will be more successful and likely to get more people from the same anime or game to take part. Previous events have included picnics, dances and video gaming tournaments.
The Eagle Comic Awards were founded in 1977 and are the longest running fan voted awards for the Comic Industry. They are now held at the London MCM Expo each May
In May 2010, in answer to a large number of non-paying attendees, the Security and Ticketing System was given a complete makeover. Wristbands were put in place and given to everybody when they handed in their ticket. Wristbands were needed to enter the Expo Hall and Expo Theatre, and Security were enforced to make random spot-checks.
In October 2010, stronger wristbands were given to weekend ticket holders. This was due to Weekend Attendees having to wear them all weekend; Wristbands are unable to be removed without voiding them. The paper version of advance tickets were also scrapped. Advance tickets are now only available as an e-ticket which must be printed and taken to the event.
MCM BUZZ is a website in association with MCM, bringing all the latest in media related news from movies, comics, interviews with celebrities and a live podcast.