MCM ComicCon @ Birmingham NEC 2016 (1/2)

Having missed Liv Tyler at the previous MCM ComicCon I was keen to attend the first such event this year at Birmingham NEC despite there being a severe lack of big names on Sunday’s bill. Lindsay Wagner doesn’t really count. I’ve never been on a Saturday and I think maybe that might be a good idea for next time because for me the event felt a little flat this time. Sure it’s much bigger than the last time I went but none of the supposedly big stars were from shows that I follow and I could’ve sworn some Game of Thrones actors were going to be attendance but I could find any of them on the day.

There were the usual vehicles – Bumblebee, the Delorian etc. – and also this time (or maybe I only noticed it this time as I had seen all the old films recently) a replica of Mad Max’s car from the first film.

I only attended a fragment of one Q&A session in the inflatable dome featuring the two Red Dwarf stars Danny John Jules (Cat) and Robert Llewellyn (Kryten). These two seem to be regulars at Birmingham and I had already sat in on a Q&A session with them and two other Red Dwarf stars the last time I attended the event. Danny John Jules appeared to have a stalker who seemed oblivious of the crowd while she stood at the front taking photos of the TV screen. 

All the other Q&A’s were for computer game voice actors who I wasn’t particularly interested in. Sure it was nice to see Elias Touffexis from Deus Ex in the flesh and yes he has more cred than the guy who handed the reins of the taum taum to Han Solo in Empire Strikes back and then got the sack, but I wasn’t that interested.

Instead I’ll do two posts; the first (this one) about the non-Star Wars cosplayers; and the second for Star Wars stuff in which I might carry on my rant about Episode VII and feature some photos from me and my ComicCon buddy Adam Greaves.

I spotted two differences this time around with the cosplayers. Firstly there seemed to be less of them. Perhaps because the event was situated in a much bigger space this time they were more spread out and harder to catch on camera. I spotted a lot when it got around to lunchtime, but I didn’t want to interrupt their victuals. Secondly there were a lot more groups or duos where one person (usually a girl) was a cosplayer and the other(s) were not – either being the mum or mates in normal clothes. Despite some of the costumes being really good I wasn’t overly eager to look like a nerd in front of non-cosplayers. So I took a lot fewer photos than I wanted to this time.

People always ask me if I am ‘dressing up’ when I tell them I am going to ComicCon and my standard answer is that I would if I could afford a film authentic Star Wars suit. I’ll talk more about this is in the other post. I’m not clever or keen enough to make my own costume and I wouldn’t want to be one of those people who turns up with friends who aren’t cosplayers. I have huge respect and admiration for those people who make their own costumes and are brave enough to come to ComicCon with their friends or folks who may think it’s all rather bizarre.

I apologise for my general ignorance with respect to the characters the cosplayers are portraying. I did recognise two characters from Kill-A-Kill – from the tennis club and the marching band club – excellently executed but never in a convenient spot for me to ask for a photo. Most characters (apart from occupants of the DC and Marvel universe) were too obscure to me. Also I forgot to take my cards with me with this blog address on which was a bit of mistake as I do like to let people know where to look for their photos.

Anyway I think I should let the photos speak for themselves (with the help of a few captions):

 

 

 

 

Thanks to everyone who let me take their photos. I feel a bit of a wally for not being able to identify myself with my cards this time around. By the way if you want a photo of you removed from here then Tweet me and I will take it off (once you’ve proved your identity to me).