London Film and Comic Con 2009

Written by A. H. on 20 Jul 2009

While MCM's London Expo may have carved out a place for itself in the hearts and minds of many as the premiere anime and manga-centric show in the UK, the growing interest in Japanese culture means that this town (well, city...) is now big enough to hold more events with a focus on anime in some shape or form.  So it is that this year's London Film and Comic Con found itself with a not inconsiderable amount of real estate available for vendors to showcase their Japan-o-centric wares, complete with a couple of very special guests on hand to help draw in the crowds.

Myself and Jacob were lucky enough to snag press passes to the event courtesy of the good people at Animeleague - So what did we find?

The show itself

Of course, as the name suggests this convention had a broader focus on films and comics, with plenty of focus upon science fiction and fantasy.  So it was that there were a fair few familiar names and faces on-hand to meet, photograph and obtain autographs from, all the way from the Harry potter movies through to the latest Transformers film, and from Doctor Who (namely Tom Baker) through to Red Dwarf.  Naturally there was also plenty of merchandise on-hand, taking in posters, comic books, DVDs and all six Star Wars movies on a single Blu-Ray.  Hmmm, I'm not so sure about the official authenticity of that last one...

In a similar vein, much of the anime and manga section of the event revolved around vendors - Like a miniature London Expo without the horrific crowd congestion in many ways.  Indeed, browsing the stalls here was a far more pleasurable experience for this writer compared to London Expo, with plenty of time to check out the merchandise and chat.  Oh, and with room to breathe, which is always a bonus.

In terms of those selling their wares, many of the usual suspects were present - Tokyopop had plenty of manga to choose from at very decent prices (including volume one of Welcome to the NHK - Hallelujah!).  Genki Gear had their usual range of top-notch t-shirts available, and others like Kamika-Z, Otaku.co.uk, AniMetal and United Publications had a relatively mouth-watering selection of anime, manga and figures to tempt you with.

Even for those without a wallet full of readies, there was still fun aplenty to be had - It probably goes without saying that DDR machines were present, complete with an ongoing competition to find the best players.  A wide variety of gaming and consoles were also on-hand for anyone to enjoy, although it was fascinating to see old and young generally ignoring the Wii and Xbox 360 units available in lieu of the MegaDrives, Dreamcasts and Super Nintendos dotted around.  It looks like retro gaming is alive and well here in the UK.

Cosplay may not have been as rife here as it was at London Expo, but it was still easy enough to wander around the event and find yourself stood next to a Mike Hatsune, an Envy from Fullmetal Alchemist or Rukia from Bleach.  Throw in plenty of Stormtroopers and a few actual, "real" Daleks rolling around (the latter of which crept up behind me and scared me to death on one occasion) and you have pretty much a full round up of your typical convention cosplay fare (complete with parades so that visitors could show off their creations.