This weekend saw the inaugural MCM Expo take place in Manchester at the former G-Mex building now known as Manchester Central. Given that the last time a geek-centric event was put on in Manchester in the very same building fact fans was way back in 2008, the organisers were, in my opinion, taking a gamble, especially since after that other event (not run by the folks behind the MCM Expo) was deemed a failure, future Manchester based-events were cancelled. Could the MCM Expo folks pull off a miracle and make this all-new event a success? Judging by the fact they had only booked out a small portion of Manchester Central I dont think even the Expo organisers had much faith. But, to quote that famous Kevin Costner flick, if you build it they will come And come they did. In their droves. So much so that by midday the queue was outside the building, down the street and almost to Manchester Library! As for the event itself, there was plenty for attendees to sink their proverbial teeth into, including the comics village, with guests including
Antony Johnston,
Leigh Gallagher and
John McCrea, the
cosplay masquerade, the fine folks at
DDR, a
Robot Wars arena, the usual talks and stage shows including this first in the (hopefully) annual
Battle of the Bloggers competition and a handful of new videogames to play including
Earth Defense Force,
Warhammer 40k: Space Marine,
Mario Kart DS and the
all-new Super Mario 3DS (Mario Kart I got to play for a minute). There was a wide selection of things to do at the
Manchester MCM Expo, there was even more to buy. Merchants galore filled the floor of Manchester Central selling everything from American food and drink to the latest Manga, from brand new models and toys to a ridiculous (by that I mean a weird) amount of retro items, including video games, Star Wars figures and even SNES consoles and yes I did splash some of my pennies at the event, snapping up DC Comics' Killing Joke in hardback. There literally was something for everyone to buy, no matter what your interest, age or gender. Admittedly the real reason most of the press (who I got a chance to ask) attended the Manchester MCM Expo was for the
Battle of the Bloggers quiz and even that, being as it was a new entity at any MCM Expo turned out to be a big success (from what I saw). The stage area was absolutely packed! It was a great first run and judging by how it turned out in the end, bodes well for the
London Expo and the final at the
Memorabilia Show in Birmingham in November. And it wasnt just me who seemed to be surprised by the turnout, from the chats I had with attending guests and salespeople, despite any skepticism they had in the run-up, the event was a resounding success with some of the fine folks in the comics village saying they had sold out of their stock way before the end of the event. The picture below was taken of what was behind me when I got in at 10am;
The
Mario Kart 3DS was absolutely awesome it it great to see
Nintendo adding (proverbally and literally) another dimension to the game, although the characters are identical to the previous
DS title, there are a few all-new tracks. But I only had around a minute to play so hopefully in the next few weeks I can give you a fuller insight. I also caught up with guest
Warwick Davis (
Star Wars and
Harry Potter), to ask him about his upcoming show,
Life's Too Short, with
Ricky Gervais, he had this to say;
I've previously worked with Ricky in Extras, he is a excellent writer and director, when he asked me to star in Life's Too Short, I jumped at the opportunity to work with him again.
For a first event in what, at least for the organisers, was an unproven location, I can safely say the
Manchester MCM Expo was a huge success. If I had one quibble its that there was not enough room! By mid-afternoon it became quite tricky to navigate the show floor, but that can easily be rectified for next year Roll on 2012 is all I can say. But they're gonna need a bigger boat next year. As a final note, here's a video of part of the Cosplay Masquerade: http://youtu.be/iSfU4a1GhGc