Hey, all you Geeky folks! It’s that time yet again! The magical event where geeks, gamers, anime fans and cosplayers can unify in love and harmony, to celebrate everything pop culture and fandom. MCM has been a staple in many communities since the mid 2000’s with humble beginnings, to a mega beast of an Expo that caters to all walks of life. MCM in the mid-2010s did go through some pain growths which many fans felt, Reed Pop acquired MCM for the UK, bringing in an experience more akin to the US counterpart, and we finally have an expo to be truly proud of—giving us a safe place to hang out, geek out and buy plenty of cool merchandise. Game-News decided to venture into the fresh air and sunshine to look at the first of this year’s MCM events in London!
Game-News was kindly invited along, and you can check out our thoughts, feedback and awesome photos of the event below.
A Universe of Worlds and Cultures, all in One Expo 
The MCM London event takes place in the heart of the exhibition centre of London, the London Excel Centre near the docklands. It has been happening there for the last 20 years and it’s the perfect space for scale as it hosts shops, artists, and stages to see your favourite guests. MCM made the most of the space, filling out the North and South halls with a variety of shops and sights to behold. The October event hosted even more stalls, shops, food places and anything and everything to geek out over than in May. I feel this must be a peek at how much they can show and have, but then again, there could be more next time in May 2024.
Like before the North Hall hosted the more independent side of MCM, with the Artist Alley, which took up 1/3 of the hall, the independent shops and craftspeople who offered a great selection of goods and unique, handmade items to buy for themselves or as a gift. I was impressed that the artists had an immense amount of space, allowing more people to venture through the alleys with ease and check out the wonderful work of these independent souls who create such amazing bits for gamers, artists, and comic fans.
And there was a good chunk of food stalls where you could chill and eat. There was the biggest offering of variety for food this time around and it was wonderful, as everyone could find something to munch on and chill after walking around.
The centre land of course hosts the food venues always present at the Excel centre, but in the dead centre was the gaming longue. A fairly new area where people can go and buy various card and board games, but travelling up a floor is where they can try them out and play with other people. It’s a nice addition to the centre, and it has been around before, but not the last time if memory serves. But I do hope to see the gaming section again, as it’s a nice little place to chill from the crowds and play some great card and board games.
And speaking of chilling the Safe/Quiet area made a return to a slightly bigger room, but considering the scale of the event, I had hoped it would be much bigger than before. Still, this is a nice little place for those who might feel overwhelmed at the event (especially on Saturday, which is still insanely busy).
Reed Pop genuinely cares and aims to make the venue as safe and enjoyable as possible for those attending, where everyone feels welcomed. I encourage Reed Pop to keep doing this, expand the safe areas and continue to expand on this inclusive nature. I do appreciate the kindness and offers of vibing a quiet space for a little bit, but again this could be expanded upon more, as the event becomes very crowded. If you can, I recommend going on Friday as it’s a little less crowded than normal, if you had to pick only one day.
The South Hall was the more mainstream area of MCM, focusing on bigger companies, brands, and shops, including Forbidden Planet, the stages for cool photo shoots, and the gaming section which featured the Retro Gaming lounge. I was a little disheartened again to see the lack of gaming at MCM, or new games and a chance to see them. I understand MCM is different from Euro Gamer, but having a small-scale version of that here would be amazing! Maybe next time.
And I imagine many of them will come to EGX event later this year or at Rez.
And my big complaint of last year was the Press area … oh my god it’s so much better! Love it, love the food and coffee, just a personal note. Well done MCM. You made us Press people proud!
What always amazes me is the dedication to the many fandoms, including that of Star Wars, which hosts some of the best displays at MCM. Even if you’re not a big SW fan, you can appreciate the brilliant events, stands and displays featuring all the cool gear from the films, artwork and places to take photos! The staples of MCM from light sabre training, which is always awesome, and there were even more places you could try out Gundam making, drawing, and digital art.
Although as mentioned above, gaming could be a little more present.
However, MCM and Reed Pop managed to organise and lay out everything in a clear manner and made it easy to find what you needed, despite the number of stands, shops and events going on.
There is always a great mix of Pokemon, anime, gaming and more, with Pokemon taking the spotlight, and the number of virtual merchants being very prominent. These were the likes of the TikTok store and more, which I found a little odd, but I know the popularity of trading cards is immense and these outlets allowed for a great connection between buyers and vendors.
Our favourite places to shop and drop! As always, MCM provides some of the best shopping experiences for those geeking out, or looking for cool, unusual bits for themselves of loved ones. I feel the best thing about MCM each year is just the new stalls and goodies you can discover, from the everyday gaming gear, movie props, and Marvel tat, but then coming across rising stores that grant access to thriving new ideas, and wonderful trinkets that can only be made by the most professional crafters of strange and wonderous galore.
Blind Box EmpireAgain, one of the last discoveries from 2023 was Blind Box Empire, and I love this shop. Blind Box Empire, a sweet little store that sold mystery boxes (which is being seen more of), but the goodies offered were just out of this world. Normally you get the same corporate tat seen everywhere, but Blind Box Empire brought a whole neat collection of cool characters, lovingly cute critters, and sweet little titbits I couldn’t help but adore. The store, the goods and everyone running it were super awesome!
My favourite is Monday Bruce, who is now my favourite spiritual animal, as an everyday 9 to 5 working Rabbit who sums up the feelings of working, and Mondays in the most perfect way since Garfield. I do hope his popularity grows as well as Blind Box Empire. Season 3 was released, and I had to pick up a few! Can’t wait for season 4!
You can visit their online store for a ton of different goodies, including the Monday Bruce series!
FigigoWe also had the return of the homemade, customisable Funko-character-inspired stand, Figigo, which again makes custom artwork in the form of figures based on yourself, your friends or your furry companion. We discovered these guys end of last year and the guys running it were super nice and cool, very talented and produced some amazing figures which is a neat twist over the Funko Pop formula.
Some of our other favourite discoveries were
Horns of Odin, which produce all manner of different, tasty meads which again make great, unique gifts for friends and family (I recommend the Black Cherry Mead, so good!). And our favourite Cosmic Cat Lady
Helenasia, who produces some amazing cosmic-inspired cat art which is anything any cat lover would die for.
This is what makes MCM worth venturing to, seeing all the new stores and special discoveries, and of course, gifts for loved ones. Yet, I couldn’t find my special stall that sold discounted Video Game collectors editions …. Sad days.
A nice boost to Star Power 
One of the biggest, if not the biggest issues I had with May's event was the lack of Star Power, but this time the organisers did do a stellar job at getting hold of some major talent, such as Andrew Scott (Sherlock, Spectre), and Stephen Amell (Arrow) t name a couple. These guys were fantastic to see and listen to, particularly Andrew Scott, who spoke about his one-man show and working on various projects in the past. It was really lovely seeing him speak from the heart, discussing AI, and how creativity from people will never be replaced.
However, the big thing to held back a lot of interesting discussions was the Writers Strike, which is still ongoing, and this meant the stars could not discuss anything major or minor from TV shows, and various films they’ve been in or were going to be in.
This resulted in Stephen Amell telling us about his holiday. Which was quite funny, and nice, but a real downer as he could not answer questions about certain projects. I get this is not the organiser's fault at all, and it’s bad timing.
Still, the star power was much better, and amazing to see a great line-up of famous faces. I do hope for one year, there will be a mega star guest, who rocks the roof. Such as Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman. That would be amazing.
Overall?MCM still proves to be the best event in town for pop culture, and geek fandom, and despite the star power, there was plenty to see, eat, and fun stuff to do. I was overjoyed to see MCM and Reedpop continue to listen to feedback and praise them for expanding with even more games, cosplay, and awesome stalls for shopping.
There is something for everyone, with an epic level of cosplayers hanging out, posing for photos, the many wonderful artists and independent sellers making great items to buy, and the fans who love to hang out and make MCM feel so alive and well. Wishing all the best to MCM as it continues to grow and be the giant of the geek culture showcase for the UK for many years to come. Thanks again MCM and Reedpop for the invite and we look forward to seeing you in October!
Press passes were kindly provided to Game-News for the visit.