Unlike my friends who currently have exams, I managed to get time off work to go all three days too Expo this year!
I travelled up Friday lunchtime, alone as the last of a species would be as everyone else was busy and had to come later, or was coming on the Saturday only -_- I like going on the Friday sometimes because it’s a lot easier to get your queuing for a ticket out of the way so you can just roll straight in on Saturday. I decided NOT to cosplay or dress up as the temperature was pushing 28 Degrees Celsius (apparently hotter than Ibiza). I’m glad because waiting in the ticket queue was so darn hot!
Taking the train was the easiest way, and the closer I got to Expo, the more cosplayers I saw. When at Canning Town station, that’s when cosplay levels reached an all time high XD. Reaching the venue I had a wander around then went through Snow White’s haunted forest (courtesy of one of the events sponsors, ‘Snow White And The Huntsman@ movie) which was really cool with spooky trees and red eyed bats which glowed.
Once in, I made a beeline for the stall ‘AnimePang’ which was where my roomates for the weekend were working. After hellos I enjoyed the quietness of the event, admiring cosplays, browsing of what to buy later and enjoying the activities such as the movie circle where you could view previews of all the upcoming films. Some people I know are in the ‘Snow White’ movie and the trailer looked really cool so I’ll definitely check it out when it’s released! Despite being dressed in my normal clothes, a lot of people thought I was cosplaying and asked to take my picture which was hilarious XD
One of the funniest things I saw were Storm Troupers queuing up and a burger stand. Enough said.
I met up with friends for a good old cosplay and nerdy chat whilst checking out passer by costumes. It was great to catch up and see everyone again, which is one of the great things events like this can do!
I headed to the hotel ‘Aloft’ (which had a pool but I had no swimming costume – BOO >_<) of which the room and view was fantastic! We could see all the cosplayers bellow head to and from the Excel Centre and see airplanes fly low to the ground, coming in for landing. After freshening up, my roomates and I went in search of something to eat. Big mistake. We went in the opposite direction we travelled last time (as there was only one expensive pub) for at least an hour, crossing the Thames and passing London City Airport only to turn back, hungrier than ever. Our food scavenging trip ruined, we went to the hotel’s restaurant ‘FEDE’ (which was drastically overpriced with long waiting time for the food) but at least the meal was good overall J
Saturday morning came eventually and after the hotels breakfast I started to get changed into my cosplay – Esther Blanchet from Trinity Blood, Nun version. It took a while as I was putting coloured contact lenses in for the first time (her eyes are dark blue, mine are green-y, hazel) but I was surprised at how effective and cool they looked once in. Make up and hair took a while as I had to tint my eyebrows red and applied my newly learnt eye shadow techniques but I was really happy with the overall effect. After donning my outfit (of which I regretted swapping my under-hoop for a petticoat as it was hotter and kept on tangling around my legs) I helped my roomie Eleanor with her make-up and finishing touches to her costume.
I managed to get straight into the event with my Weekend Ticket, but it was already bustling! Although not as many as the October event (I suppose due to exams etc) Saturday is always the busiest day and I was thrilled to see such amazing cosplays and meet interesting people with the same interests as myself. I bumped into a woman cosplaying Queen Esther (an older version of my character) and had a picture with her. Her costume was some detailed and beautiful with each individual rose and bead and she had to have a helper arrange her collar as it was so big and kept on moving!
I went to the NEO stand as recently I owe them a lot. I won the pre-Expo cosplay tournament where the public voted for the winner in a series of bouts pairing up the competitors randomly and awarding them points on the winner. As I have never been popular in these type of public votes (especially those online) I was so shocked, but over the moon, to win, albeit by four votes! This means I got a NEO subscription for a year, so I don’t have to hunt high and low for the magazine :D
Anyway, despite probably being very sick of me I went there anyway and giggled at seeing myself on leaflets, their display and the advertising board. I wanted to have a good picture of my cosplay and theirs is the best value for money. I met a Sailor Scout cosplayer and a Princess Ashe cosplayer in the wedding dress version. They were both lovely and as Ashe was in the masquerade I hoped she would get far as her hand made costume was so beautiful, especially the headpiece!
After talking to Nanime and Kairi (teehee) it was my turn and got a lovely picture for my trouble. Talking with everyone in the queue made time fly by! A group of cheerleading zombies were doing chants and dances to promote the new Lollipop Chainsaw game release. They were loud but very entertaining and I got a free lollipop!
As I was getting exceptionally hot, I decided to go outside and cool off. A swimming event was taking place and I was asked about why everyone was dressed up (I must have one of those faces ;) ) The lady seemed quite knowledgeable about manga and praised my costume, saying we all looked like we were having “so much fun” which couldn’t have been truer! I saw some people swim in the Thames which must have been nice and cool *sigh*.
The J-Pop Dancers Meet was also taking place outside and was a great place to say hi to those who you knew online but hardly met in person. I also said hi to Scarlett, Rachel and the members from MK Dance Group and joined in with some of the dances such as Uni, Caramelldansen and Danjo. Lots of people, some not even from the event were watching and cheering and it was great to dance with everybody in the sun! It was being recorded (I accidently walked in front of the camera >_<) so I hope to find it and watch it as it was a lot of fun to do.
Scarlett and I went off for ice cream and big bottles of water at the local convenience store and then joined the rest for listening to some DJ sets. Everyone got really into it, having a few dancers bop around in the middle to everyone join in J My favourite part was when Snape and Dumbledore joined the rave XD
Saturday was fantastic, and Sunday started off great too! I met some people including Bunny, the creator of cute brand Bunny DeCoeur for purikura (always a great laugh) and bought my favoutire popping candy at Cyber Candy. I was dressed as Emmy Altava from the Porfessor Layton games, and although not many people knew who I was (next time I’ll have to put a group together!) the ones who did were really nice and supportive!
I spent some time in the artist alley drawing something related to this year’s theme of water – Ryuujin the Water Dragon XD Hardly a work of art but I enjoyed creating him just the same. It was great that you could use the high end drawing utensils for free too!
I never really spent a lot of time in the artist alley but this year there was a lot of talented drawers, sketchers and painters with fantastic creations! After buying a few postcards and a print of Wolf Link (whose creator timidly asked if she could sign it – being so talented to make it she had every right!) I had a mini commission of myself drawn as a pirate on a dinosaur which was hilarious XD
My friend Jess and I bought some snacks from the Japan centre and watched Kelsey’s/KimonoTime’s performance joining in with the dances and Ota Gei!
After a last walk round I went home as the heat was getting to me and I didn’t want to come back too late. I made one last purchase of a bumper pack of sweets and snacks from Tokyo Toys and a great deal on Pocky and Pepero from Art Box. Jess and I had some on the train home and returned back exhausted, but happy that we had such a great time at another fabulous MCM Expo.
See you all next time <3
Finny
For more pictures and video clips, see my YouTube video!
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