MCM London Comic Con May 2019 Round-Up – Cosplay Photos, Videos & Special Guests!
It was May, it was sunny, and we were at the ExCeL Centre in London, which can only mean the return of MCM Comic-Con to the capital for the first time in 2019!
If you’ve never been to MCM London Comic Con before, it is a giant and wonderfully fun gathering of geekdom split over the two sides of London’s ExCeL Exhibition Centre. The show is filled with everything a geek could wish for, from tv, film and comic book guests, to piles of geeky merchandise, video games, comic books, and amazing photo opportunities.
Along with all the guests, food and geeky merchandise, one of the loveliest things about MCM are the people. From the staff to the attendees to the guests themselves, it’s generally a wonderfully inclusive atmosphere, and fun for everyone.
The Guests
The guests this Con were an interesting mix of comic book creators and authors, stars from tv and film, and voice over artists. The big headline stars included Sebastian Stan (aka MCU’s Winter Soldier), star of ‘Stranger Things’ and ‘Hellboy’ David Harbour, ‘Supernatural’s Castiel, Misha Collins, and a large chunk of The CW’s Team ‘Arrow’, including Stephen Amell, David Ramsey, Emily Bett Rickards and Superman, Tyler Hoechlin.
In terms of media coverage, both Sebastian Stan and David Harbour (or rather, their management) had a blanket ban on press, meaning no separate interviews or recording in their panels. This was expected and is very common with the MCU stars, and not surprising with David Harbour, due to ‘Stranger Things’ Season 3 arriving soon, but it does mean we can’t bring you videos of those guys, so sorry about that.
We were allowed to film the Misha Collins and Arrow panels, which you can see in the playlist below. It was also likely that MCM didn’t feel they could pull the stars away from the incredibly busy signing tables and fan photoshoots, due to the huge demand, which is the right thing to do. The paying fans at the show really should come first.
However, we did get to sit down with a few of the guests in the media room. They included Brian O’Halloran, Marilyn Ghigliotti and Scott Schiaffo from the brilliant movie ‘Clerks’, and the Lintz kids – Madison, Matt and (the delightful, if slightly bloodthirsty) Macsen – who played Sophia and the old & young Henry on ‘The Walking Dead’. Both of those interviews are in the playlist below too.
Comics & Gaming
‘Doctor Who: The Edge of Time’
Unfortunately, due to the rushing around to catch guests on the panels and other things going on, I didn’t get a whole lot of time to look around Comic Village. I did stop for a chat with Jeremy Biggs of Subversive Comics, who was there promoting the epic ‘Bearlands’, cyberpunk ‘Metal Made Flesh’, and ‘Super Robot MAYHEM‘. I also spotted TPub, who are the people behind Tabatha, Turncoat, Theatrics, the hugely popular Twisted Dark series, and new book The Theory.
What I did get a chance to do was spend a little more time with the huge selection of gaming at this Con. First up was the new VR game, ‘Doctor Who: The Edge of Time’. Published by PlayStack and developed by Maze Theory, the VR game transports fans into a globally-beloved world of aliens, mystery and wonder, letting them embark on a brand-new and fully-interactive adventure, inspired by the show’s 55-year history and starring the Doctor’s current incarnation, played by Jodie Whittaker. We had a little chat with the developers of the game, which you can hear on the podcast below.
Next, we got to play a few rounds of futuristic combat racer Pacer which is arriving on PS4, Xbox One and PC. Whilst, on the surface, it looks a little like an upgraded version of the PlayStation classic anti-gravity racer Wipeout, it is so much deeper than that. The game features a huge amount of customisable crafts, weapons and cosmetics, ranked online play on hosted servers, In-game VOIP, and a stellar soundtrack that will immerse the player in both original and licensed tracks from CoLD SToRAGE, Dub FX and many more. At launch, it will have 14 different tracks, but each track you can play in various modes, such as night, backwards, and a unique “Storm Mode”, bringing the first-ever Battle Royale to an arcade racer. Whilst I, personally, suck at these sort of racer games, I can totally see the appeal of this one. Oh, and one more thing… It’s in 4K at 60fps… even on consoles. That is impressive!
Lastly, we come to SYFY’s ‘Eleven Eleven’ VR Experience. This is less of a game, and more an interactive story, but it is brilliantly done, and extremely engaging. Set on an island planet, users are placed at the centre of the action as characters count down the final 11 minutes and 11 seconds to an extinction-level event. Users have the ability to control their experience by following a group of interconnected characters and their stories, with over 90 minutes of content to explore.
The ground-breaking project is influenced by immersive theatre and uses unique storytelling techniques that enable users to view the action from multiple perspectives. It’s like being in the middle of a play which is happening across a city which is about to explode. So, you begin the experience following one character, who may then enter a bar and interact with another character. You can then either leave and continue to follow the character you came in with, or stay in the bar and see what happens with the people in there.
Whilst to “linear” story is only 11 minutes and 11 seconds, you can fast forward and rewind as you go through, jumping from one character to another as you want to find out where their story goes. I played solidly for a good 45 minutes, and I still had not seen every bit of the story. It really is one of the most interesting and engaging uses of VR storytelling I’ve seen so far.
‘Eleven Eleven‘ is available for Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, Samsung Gear, Oculus Go, SteamVR, PSVR and some smartphones via the SkyVR app, and well worth checking out if you have the equipment.
The Cosplay
Finally, we have the cosplay, and there were some brilliant displays of amazing work at the Con. As I have with the previous few shows, I joined in with my DC Red Hood cosplay (which you can see below). I’ve always found the cosplay communities at these events to be a really friendly group of people, and happy to stop and take photos when you ask. Whilst I love the artistry on the costumes, I do adore the cosplayers who bring the humour, and the one that totally outdid themselves for me this Con was the person who came as Daenerys’ Coffee Cup. Utter genius.
You can see all of our photos and cosplay photos from MCM London Comic Con May 2019 below. If you are in any of the photos, thank you for posing, and if you want the super high res version of the picture, just message me via the contact page, and I’ll email it over. Most of these are not yet fully edited but the full cosplay edits will be posted to our Instagram feed, so make sure you subscribe!
