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London MCM Expo May 2006
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London, May 27-28 2006. The London MCM Expo. It’s a fantastic event. What more can I say? Well, how about it’s chock-full of nutters! That’s right. Our survey says 86% of the attendees were a couple of cans short of a six-pack. The remaining 14% were a six-pack short of a six-pack. In other words, madder than an inbred glue-sniffing hatter. More about the nutters later (and the hatter, for that matter). When me and Pete set up on Friday evening, we noticed we’d won a new friend. We had no idea who he was, but he was small and he liked reading. So we let him be.
On Saturday, I wandered round the hall and marvelled at the weird and wonderful creatures on display. Some wore garish colours and ridiculous costumes, in an attempt to draw attention to themselves.
Others wore more elegant outfits, which could almost be their usual attire.
As I ventured deeper into the cosplay jungle, I came across a familiar site. Yes, it was the Tokyopop booth, a favourite watering hole for many of the attendees. Tokyopop - they did their best, bless ‘em. It must be hard, being a minnow of a comics publisher, when the mighty Tozzer posse’s in the house, but they get 9/10 for effort. I’m afraid they lose a point for scattering like scared cockroaches when the Tozzer Cam reared its head. We did catch one of them, though. I think I’ll keep him in a jar.
Here’s a tip for all you budding photographers. If you want to take a picture of a hot young filly, without seeming like a perv, just do a “group shot” and pretend you’re interested in everyone else too.
Speaking of hot young fillies, well there's plenty of those in Heat magazine, but those weekly gossips mags can be so cruel. One minute a celebrity’s a paragon of beauty, the next minute they’re a laughing stock. And so it was when Heat featured Lara Croft on their front cover.
It’s not every day that we get to meet real life celebrities, but the MCM Expo never disappoints. Nichola and Claire were promoting their forthcoming feature film, which, judging by the title, has got something to do with vacuum cleaners. They claim their audience will be bigger than Tozzer’s. I know, it’s laughable.
Another celebrity we met was Gregory Itzin (the President from 24), who came along to our stand, and asked for a Killer Babe T-shirt. At first I turned him away, as he’s been so mean to Jack Bauer, but then he threatened to bomb my house, send in the troops and steal my oil, so what could I do? At least he paid for the shirt. Not with money, as such, but with 120 shoulder-firing Stinger missile launchers, 36 armoured personnel carriers and a home torture kit with instructions in Arabic. Well, it seemed like a good deal at the time.
Some of the crowd were into dressing up as obscure cartoon characters, while others had slightly more sinister intentions. We’re talking hardcore criminals here, straight out of Reservoir Dogs. One crew, masquerading as board game players, were planning their next take-down.
Later, we were interviewed by a new show on Sky, called Gamebox TV. I tried my best to come across as a mumbling idiot, and I think I pulled it off brilliantly. The interviewer was certainly impressed, picking up one of our new Killer Babe Ts.
Now, let’s talk about the nutters. For they were many.
Ok, it looks like we have a nutter overload, so I’m just going to throw a bunch of images at you and leave it at that. Welcome to Nutsville:
So that was the MCM Expo. As Sunday evening came around, we began to dismantle our stand. We’d had a great time, sold most of our stock, and met a bunch of wicked people - and I mean wicked in the sense of them being slightly evil. We gently removed the little guy from our display, and left the Excel Centre with weary smiles on our faces.
Thanks to everyone who came along, and thanks to the organisers for putting on such a cool shindig. See you soon! Rob |
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