Did you cosplay in Glasgow this year for the MCM Comic Con? You might see yourself in the montage video of smartphone shots in this review. Let us know in the comments below.
Bigger? Better?
I think so. Let’s jump to the controversy first. I wasn’t convinced by the location of the main theatre. It meant stars like Robert Picardo, Ian Beattie and Ian McElhinney had to compete with fighting robots. They had to raise their voices and the audience had to strain to hear. On Sunday there was a crazy conga throughout the expo – fun, yeah – but also loud.
Additionally, the theatre was right beside a line of burger vans. You could literally see the smog in the air; a haze of fatty smelling meat mist.
I think it was last year they had the theatre across the hallway in one of SECC’s lovely theatres. That worked really well. I understand why they made the change, though – I bet people complained the never found the external theatre. Additionally, putting the theatre where it was this year did help channel Con attendees around the hall. You had reason to go from the back right all the way through to the front left.
That’s my only grumble.
I do believe the con was better organised than before, bigger and better. On day one all the premium ticket holders had made it into the building before 11am. On day two they even let us queue inside and I think everyone was into hall 4 within a short period of doors opening.
The big difference for me was the use of the space. Whereas I worry about the main theatre I think the huge improvement was the Comic Village. This time the indie artists felt very much a part of the show. It was easy to get to them, it wasn’t a squeeze and as you toured around the big name stalls you had ample opportunity for a clever pop-up banner from a small publisher to catch your attention. That’s exactly what Comic Con should be about, I think.
The Comic Village stands were simple but packed with talent. It’s especially pleasing to see so many local creators. I’m glad they weren’t priced out of the market.
As it happens, the merch booths were pretty good too. There was a great showing from CEX who have their offbrand “WeBuy.com” site to promote. I think the Comic Con crowd is exactly the audience CEX should be targeting. I didn’t see a single booth babe – this is a good thing. I did see one stall manager wearing a Lolita goth maid dress but had trousers on too and was selling said dresses. I did come away with the impression that one of the stalls might need to look at their diversity in hiring policies as all the employees (except the male manager) was a young woman, in shorts, and a yellow tee but this may just be me being a worrywart liberal again.
Saturday was good. Sunday was better. There were great cosplays on show on both days but I think, over all, Sunday had the better ratio. You know; less morphsuits and onesies and more homemade cosplays. Not that any individual cosplay is right or wrong; just that there’s a magic ratio of cosplay types that seems to help create the famous Comic Con vibe and I think Sunday won out.
I’d recommend MCM Scotland Comic Con to anyone interested in going to a large and anime-leaning comic con. You know; the type with lots of cosplay. There are other Comic Cons in Scotland but MCM are the biggest fish in the pond. The fact that they’re calling the Glasgow event “Scotland Comic Con” should leave you in no doubt about their intentions – I very much doubt we’ll see an MCM Edinburgh Comic Con. Thankfully, it’s not very expensive getting the train from Edinburgh to Glasgow and on the way back you might get to share the carriage, as I did, with a Doctor Who, a Harley Quinn and characters from Soul Eater.
