The Comic Convention you’d be crazy to miss but even crazier to attend

Why would someone with no knowledge of any anime, comic books, and video games attend an event aimed at bringing these people together? Curiosity, that’s why.

The MCM London Comic Convention starts much earlier than I anticipated; costumed attendees with bright hair and elaborate costumes board the Jubilee line at Westminster on their way to the ExCeL centre where the event is being held. The excited chatter describes their speculations on what they’ll see today and whilst the startling juxtaposition of businesspeople commuting to work and young adults dressed in tinfoil armour momentarily takes me aback, the cosplayers are oblivious to the judgement of the general public; this is their weekend and they arrive in blazing confidence, flooding into the DLR on the last leg of their incoming journey.

I strike up a conversation with a young, glamorous singer with deep blue hair on the train. Sagey, 21, a London-based make-up artist, talks to me about why people enjoy dressing up as their favourite characters so much.

“It’s a chance to become, if only just for a weekend, someone you really admire.” It doesn’t matter that the character is fictional; good fiction is always believable and is expertly crafted to arguably teach us so much more succinctly than real life role models.

In fact, having a role model in the first place is a sign of humility and self-acceptance that there is something or some goal you aspire to be that you haven’t achieved yet.

Sagey is dressed as a male singer from a long-named anime that I forget almost instantaneously. Her long white jacket is elegantly adorned with golden tassels and yellow rope, and the gold-and-black gloves and collar complement the purple-blue hair in giving off a regal aura.

I ask her what part of her costume took him longest to prepare, and she replies, “The costume was actually made by a family friend – the make-up takes a while though; it takes maybe three hours to get ready, and I usually come as a different character every day.” As well as layers of foundation to change the colour of the skin tone, the eyebrows are also purple and heavy eye shadow brings out Sagey’s large, dark blue eyes peering out innocently underneath special contact lenses.

The feeling I got as I entered the main hall of the ComicCon venue is best described as one which would give any conformist a heart attack. I was afraid that knowing nothing about the convention would mean getting physically and mentally lost, but instead I was instantly trying to suppress laughter at the incredible incredulity of it all.

Elsa from Disney’s Frozen walks past me without a second glance with a Batman and several Stormtroopers following her. A female Loki and a male pixie stop and have a chat with Katniss Everdeen in the magnificent white winged dress from Catching Fire. A white knight with a staring sun emblazoned on his chest looks inquisitively at a black one with a boar sigil and one arm as he walks by. This is, beyond a doubt, one of the most amazing places I’ve ever set foot in. I simply stand there and try and take in the extraordinary atmosphere a little more.

After composing myself, I enter the nearest hall and find myself facing an uncountable number of busy stalls, all advertising colourful merchandise. Food stalls sat in the corner selling Western and Japanese style foods and other innovative treats, such as flavoured ice with fruit. There are big trademarks and vaguely familiar internet brands that draw the eye, such as a giant inflated Pikachu hanging off the ceiling, clearly above the Pokémon stall.

Video game brands such as Square Enix and Harvest Moon hang their recognisable banners from the ceiling, and I notice some stalls belonging to apparent YouTube stars and other internet phenomena such as Cyanide & Happiness and Weebl’s Stuff. Famous hardware brands such as Nvidia and Samsung appear too, to demonstrate their latest technology. I take a peek into a theatre and there’s an ongoing panel from RoosterTeeth who have also gained online fame through popular humour.

But the heart of all the commercialisation is raised high upon the shoulders of the independent creative artists and businesses who humbly come to events like these to sell their creations to avid fans. They make graphics tablets and drawing tools and marker pens; movies and comics and posters; action figures, trading cards, plush toys, manga; leather fantasy boots and weapons, swords and throwing knives, and shorts and hats - I even witnessed a tail shop (called TellTails), supplying detachable tails for roleplaying your favourite animal. And it goes without saying that the immense creativity that goes into crafting, designing, and building your own costume underpins the entire event.

This struck me as immensely profound in the context of this community. That such events totally rely on resourceful and innovative artists speaks volumes about the people within this cultural subset – a non-judgemental, universally accepting attitude which doesn’t give a shit about what you look like, how old you are, where you’re from, what your costume’s like, or any discriminatory reason you can think of. There are teens and young adults dressed as the same characters as parents with their children of five years old. Female Captain Americas and male fairies pass by every two minutes. Total strangers stop each other in the corridor and compliment each other on their costumes. And Sagey’s costume was so convincing that I only found out that she was a girl during a post-interview chat.

After all, what can you pass judgement against, when every individual is so strikingly different? Would I be singled out because I didn’t come as a character? “Absolutely not,” Liam, a seventeen year old student studying in London, tells me. “It’s 11am and I’ve already spend £170 on action figures. ComicCon isn’t about just about cosplayers; it’s about anyone with an interest in this side of the creative industry. We’re here to appreciate all the work that these artists, big or small, have put in into creating something they’re really passionate about.”

And it turns out that people appreciate these events very much – the bigger the better. The London events now attract over 100,000 visitors, only around 30,000 fewer compared to the world’s biggest event of its kind in San Diego. There are visitors from all over London, the UK, and even Europe – a German Daenerys Targaryen and Shae from HBO’s Game of Thrones were very happy for me to take their picture.

A different Daenerys, with an elaborate black dragon hovering over her, is accompanied by Melisandre and Queen Cersei, with Jon Snow hanging around the side. “We usually go to the Manchester events as they’re closer to home,” Cersei tells me. “There are events all over the country, but the London ones in May and October are definitely the biggest; it’s not just the MCM Expo – there are other conventions too.”

When asked how long they spent on their costumes, they replied with, “About a few months, spending a little time maybe two days a week.” I begin to think that not all people make costumes for the character’s sake – they could be inspired by the costume designer themself when deciding what their next big project is. I leave as Melisandre gets her picture taken with a female White Walker who simply walks up and joins the group. About fifteen girls in matching cat costumes walk by and spoil the first take.

And so every once in a while a hidden community emerges from the general public: perhaps consisting of those not receiving a second glance on the street, or those too shy to voice their opinions; to celebrate a place where anybody can put hard work in and gain recognition for their creative work, regardless of the genetic lottery or any other prejudices of the English society that still exist in the 21st century.

Perhaps some have dreamed of a utopia hidden within today’s societal confines, but the answer may be surprising: what kind of convention conjoins a society of open-minded, non-judgemental strangers?