A bit of backstory: MCM used to be THE comic con organizers in the UK. They had cons in most of the major cities but recently they have been taken over by a new company and have cut out some much-beloved cons (I'll never be over that they got rid of Telford Comic Con it was always close to valentines day it was a great date day!)
But anyway. With that player gone a few have stepped up to try and be the next big con in Liverpool. I'd love to be able to go to all of them then chose my top con but I've recently passed my driving test so I'll be buying a car soon and am saving for a holiday so I can't go mad on cons this year.
I went to Liverpool Comic Con for one day on the Saturday and boy did I underestimate this con.
The Venue: Located in the Liverpool exhibition centre like the MCM that came before it, Liverpool Comic Con had a massive space.
They split it up into sections, the guests, the gaming area, the large photo-op props, the stage and the vendors.
Admittedly I can't tell you much about the guest's area as I didn't really go over there... The gaming area looked good, it's collection was plain impressive. They had a row of classic arcade games on free to play mode, VR games, console games, anything you fancied spending a bit of time on. It was very spaced out and as much as that counteracted the smell a lot of con game rooms tend to collected it looked like it took up a bit more space than needed. The large prop area was where you entered the con and it definitely made an impression, though like the big kid I am the first thing I spotted was the bouncy castles for the little kids... They had a full-size batwing, the mech for Alien and more. I liked them, not so much for the photo ops but because they forced more space into the con, being around that area gave you room to breathe, room to sit down something a low stamina person like me highly values at any con. The stage wasn't really its own section per say, it was slap bang in the middle of the large props. There weren't many chairs around but because it was in a large open area there was plenty of room around to stand about and see (if you're tall that is). They had the usual panels but also the dancing storm troopers from Britains got talent which was a nice addition and I'm surprised I haven't seen them at other cons.
The vendor area felt like I was back in MCM. It was suffocating, crowded and generally a lot of effort just to walk around. There was a nice variety of vendors there but I feel like they could have given them more space and am pretty disgusted that vendors didn't get given chairs. Ths is a long and tiring event and it made me relieved that I didn't apply to vendor there without checking it out as a guest first. They also could have done with splitting out the artists a bit more as well, they are always my favourite tables at cons but they were hard to find and I felt bad for a few trying to get recognition for their indie comic's when they were right next to more popular licenced stuff.
The loot: What's a comic con without buying things you want and probably don't need? Liverpool had a nice variety with some lovely artists! Here's some of what I brought:
The first thing I bought was an addition to my Saber figure collection. Beach Saber is now ready for a water fight and will hopefully work as a good catalyst when the Fate/Grand Order Summer event rolls around.
I literally completed Person 5 yesterday of posting this and Makoto has been my Queen so I had to buy this pic of her. I was also very happy to find an artist actually drawing characters from Grand Order. Also, I understand you can't see the business card well in the picture so if you would like to check out this artist her twitter is @cata_tide
Tiny dragon and his princess doll were too cute. I had to buy the sticker set, nothing on earth could have stopped me. Tiny blue dragon, *looks at Tim* with his princess *winks at Tim*.
And, hands down the best purchase. A commission of Dreda! She looks so fierce even though you can only see her eyes it's amazing! I'll get it scanned in properly and put in the gallery soon (need to update that anyway). This pic has really inspired me. I know I probably don't have the time but I'd really like t get back to basics with my drawing and hope to get as good as this one day.
If you can't read the business car you can find them on facebook if you search Chemmi - artist
Overall:It was a good con. They could do with making sure their vendors actually have somewhere to sit so they don't die through the day and not spamming my notification multiple times a day in the run up but considering it was their first year with such a large venue it was pretty good. I can only hope the address the issues and come back bigger and better next year.
Also, do not underestimate the con like I did. Com prep is important, make sure you take some food and water with you! Stay hydrated!
I'm in the process of organising my events for this year but when I am organised you'll be able to find my con schedule on my events page.