It’s been just over a week since MCM Comic-Con returned to London’s ExCeL Centre for its first outing of 2024 in London, and was, once again, PACKED with epic displays of geekiness, cosplayers, and guest panels!
If you haven’t yet encountered the wonder that is “MCM Comic-Con London”, imagine a three-day festival of geekiness all taking place at the ExCeL Exhibition Centre. This event is a paradise for any geek, offering a treasure trove of delights. You’ll find renowned guests from TV, film, and comics, alongside a vast array of geeky merchandise, video games, comic books, and a spectacular showcase of impressive cosplay. It’s truly a haven for enthusiasts.
What truly sets MCM apart is not just its star-studded lineup but the essence of the event itself. Remarkably, tickets often sell out before any celebrity announcements, underscoring the magnetic appeal of the overall experience. Attendees are drawn by the opportunity to connect with like-minded individuals who share their passion for cosplay, anime, TV, film, indie comics, and games. MCM gatherings have carved out a niche with their reputation for fostering a warm and inclusive environment, providing a platform for people to freely express their interests. It’s hard to find a community more accepting, diverse, and inclusive than the one cultivated by MCM Comic-Con.
To give you some idea of the size and scope of MCM London, here is a walkthrough video from our friends over at Comic-Con News, which allows you a taste of the show.
The Guests
For the first MCM this year, we weren’t entirely sure what to expect regarding the guests. Sometimes we have no exclusive press interviews and just record the Main Stage panels. Sometimes we’ll have extra press events promoting specific projects. However, this year, there was a new PR team handling the press for MCM, so we didn’t know what that would mean for our coverage… Thankfully, they were outstanding, lining up a host of exclusive press room sessions, alongside recording a number of the stage panels, which means we can bring you a huge stack of video content from TV, anime, and video games!
On a side note, we aren’t allowed to upload the panels in full, due to MCM’s owners, Reedpop, selling virtual tickets to various panels across all their Comic-Cons (which is actually a pretty sweet deal!) However, you can view clips from the various panels in the YouTube playlists below – hit the little 3 lines with the arrow icon in the top right of each video to see the whole playlist. All the exclusive press interviews are single videos.
Here is all of our video coverage:
The Mandalorian – Exclusive Press Interview & Main Stage Panel
First up, we have three cast members from the epic Star Wars series ‘The Mandalorian‘… Whilst we all know Din Djarin as Pedro Pascal, he’s not actually the person in Mando’s suit for a lot of the filming… That person is Brendan Wayne (‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’, ‘Ahsoka’, ‘Devil’s Revenge’, and grandson of the legendary John Wayne). Wayne occasionally steps aside for stunt performer Lateef Crowder, about whom Brendan has some very entertaining stories! He’s joined by Emily Swallow (‘Supernatural’, ‘The Mentalist’) who plays and voices “The Armorer”, and Tait Fletcher (‘Breaking Bad’, ‘Love Lies Bleeding’), the on-screen actor for “Paz Vizsla”, who is voiced by show creator Jon Favreau.
Above we have the exclusive press interview, and below we have a playlist of 9 clips from the Main Stage panel, where Brendan, Emily and Tait were joined by Boba Fett himself, Temuera Morrison.
Ted Lasso Main Stage Panel
The next set of videos features the cast of the hit Apple TV+ comedy ‘Ted Lasso‘, as the stage was packed with Phil Dunster (Jamie Tartt), Toheeb Jimoh (Sam), Cristo Fernández (Dani Rojas), Kola Bokinni (Isaac McAdoo), Billy Harris (Colin Hughes), and Maximilian Osinski (Zava). A really entertaining panel where the cast reveals a host of secrets from their favourite episodes and lines, to who was actually the best footballer, to what biscuits they are! (15 videos in this playlist.)
Star Trek: Discovery Main Stage Panel
As the series warped away for the final time, the team behind ‘Star Trek: Discovery‘ appeared on the Main Stage to chat about the show… well, sort of… David Ajala (Cleveland “Book” Booker) was the only cast member to be there on stage in person. However, Sonequa Martin-Green (Michael Burnham & Exec Producer), Olatunde Osunsanmi (Director & Exec Producer), and Michelle Paradise (Co-Showrunner & Exec Producer) all appeared by live video link on a big screen, which generally worked well. Not quite as flashy as ‘Star Trek: Strange New World’ Holographic Panel at MCM last May, but Paramount+ still went all-out, building a USS Discovery set on stage for the talk. (7 videos in this playlist.)
Baldur’s Gate 3 Cast Main Stage Panel
One of the biggest Main Stage panels I think I’ve ever seen, with 10 cast members from the epic Larian Studios D&D game, ‘Baldur’s Gate 3’. They included Neil Roberts (Dark Urge/Tav 5) – who joked he was only there because they wanted Neil Newborn and set it to the wrong Neil, Andrew Wincott (Raphael), Scott Joseph (The Emperor), Emma Gregory (Minthara/Booyahg Shekt), Dave Jones (Halsin), George Taylor (Rolan/Booyahg Piddle/Dead Drow Raider), Ethan Reid (Dream Visitor), Emerald O’Hanrahan (Tav 4), Tina Barnes (Tav 8), and Josh Wichard (Tav 1). It was a really interesting panel with them talking about memories of creating the game, doing performance capture, and Dave (Halsin) discusses THAT infamous “bear” scene… (7 videos in this playlist.)
‘Naruto’ Exclusive Press Interview with Maile Flanagan
We’re now back to the exclusive press room interviews. This one is with Maile Flanagan, the English dub voice actor for the beloved anime series ‘Naruto’. The series follows a mischievous adolescent ninja, who struggles as he searches for recognition and dreams of becoming the Hokage, the village’s leader and strongest ninja. Like many anime series, it can be found in the UK on streaming service Crunchyroll.
‘Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End’ Exclusive Press Interview with Mallorie Rodak & Jordan Dash
Next, we have another exclusive press room interview, this time with Mallorie Rodak & Jordan Dash from the anime ‘Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End’. Mallorie Rodak voices the English dub of Frieren, and Jordan Dash voices the English dub of Stark. After the party of heroes defeated the Demon King, they restored peace to the land and returned to lives of solitude. Generations pass, and the elven mage Frieren comes face to face with humanity’s mortality. She takes on a new apprentice and promises to fulfil old friends’ dying wishes. Can an elven mind make peace with the nature of life and death? Frieren embarks on her quest to find out. This can also be found on the streaming service Crunchyroll in the UK.
‘One Piece’ Anime Cast Exclusive Press Interview
The last anime exclusive press room interview features this English-dub voice cast for the massively popular anime series ‘One Piece’, which is currently in its 21st Season! The line-up included Colleen Clinkenbeard (Monkey D. Luffy), Eric Vale (Sanji), Sonny Strait (Usopp), Ian Sinclair (Brook), Luci Christian (Nami), and Mike McFarland (Buggy). Again, this can be found on the streaming service Crunchyroll in the UK.
‘Zelda: Breath of the Wild’ Cast Exclusive Press Interview
From anime, we move to gaming, and we have an exclusive press interview with Patricia Summersett, who voices Princess Zelda, and Sean Chiplock who is the voice of Revali, Teba, AND the Great Deku Tree in the massive hit Nintendo game, ‘The Legend Of Zelda: Breath of the Wild’.
‘Sonic Frontiers’ Cast Exclusive Press Interview
Lastly, we have an exclusive press interview with the cast of Sega’s 3D platformer and action-adventure game ‘Sonic Frontiers’. They included Roger Craig Smith (Sonic the Hedgehog), Colleen O’Shaughnessey (Tails), Ryan Bartley (Sage), and Dave B Mitchell (Knuckles).
The Cosplay
MCM Comic-Con would not be complete without the cosplayers, and they were out in huge numbers! The shot above is from outside of the Excel on Saturday, and in the many years I’ve been covering this show, I have never seen it so packed! I was a little pushed for time for this event, due to the number of press events and panels to record, but I did manage to take a few fun photos of some of the fantastic cosplay.
If you are in any of the photos, thank you for posing, and if you want the high-res version of the pictures, just message me via the contact page, Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram and I’ll send them over.
I’ve also included some of my cosplay photo edits below, but I’m still working through them, so even if your unedited photo is here, make sure you subscribe to our Instagram feed, as a full-edit version may pop up!
