Thank you to everyone who came along to MCM Expo London Comic Con. It’s such a busy show, and this time took up both sides of ExCel for the first time!
Here’s how the stall looked – with three new t-shirt designs it was tricky to fit everything on! I think I’ll have to start booking a bigger stall…
On the first day we left home earlier than usual so there was plenty of time to set up without any last minute panic, and even time to sit down and have lunch! *shock* We were next to the infamous yaoi guy (who is actually a really nice guy – and he bought a chopping board!). Another important job on Friday morning is booking your stall for the next London MCM in May – always a tense moment. A lot of the tables I wanted were already booked up, so next time I’ll be in a different area of the hall, near the food stalls in the Japanex section.
When it got to opening time I was surprised when they opened up all of entrances – usually only one door is open as an entrance and one as an exit, but with the change in layout everyone was free to roam in and out of all the doors. This eased the congestion, and meant we were right next to where people were coming in!
Friday definitely seems to be getting busier at MCM than it used to be, but it’s still the quietest day, and my chance to zoom off and have a quick look around, leaving Phil in charge while I get sidetracked chatting to people on other stalls! Most of my photos are from the quiet periods, but most of the time it’s really crowded – here’s a pic of the sea of people on Saturday:
The most popular t-shirt of the weekend was one of the new designs: Cakezilla! A few sizes of other shirts sold out, so there’s been lots of re-ordering to do this week to catch up. It was so great to see people wearing Cakes with Faces t-shirts. Cuter with Cat Ears seemed to be the most popular – maybe because it was near Halloween?
It was a really lovely surprise that some people brought me presents. I met Kitsugar, who bought a Croissant t-shirt last year, and sent me a photo on Facebook of a croissant that she’d crocheted. She turned up at the con with a crocheted croissant for me as a gift, all the way from Switzerland! He even has a tattoo:
I also got this super-colourful free hugs painting, featuring my ice cream character! Thank you so much for the lovely presents, I can’t believe that Cakes with Faces people are so lovely! It’s great to know my drawings have inspired creativity.
On Saturday the yaoi guy made his sale of the weekend – a man spent £16,000 on yaoi! Not joking – this actually happened for real! He had to borrow a trolley to take it home…
Once again the Japanese food stalls were a great addition to the show. They didn’t have as much veggie food as previously, but I did enjoy some pumpkin korroke from Peko Peko. There was a delicious-looking frozen yoghurt van, I didn’t manage to try it so let’s hope it’s back in May. I did, however, get some delicious Totoro-themed cupcakes from the Amazing Cake Company, who bought a t-shirt to wear on the stall (Neverending Supply of Cakes – perfect for them!).
There were so many cosplays – I enjoyed spotting the Attack on Titan cosplays (lots of Survey Corps and a few titans as well!), as there was a panel and signing from the studio that made the anime.
You can see all my photos from the show, including lots more of the stall, other stalls, the videogame demos, displays and interesting bits and pieces I spotted (including knitted battenberg in the steampunk exhibition!) on Facebook.
