MCM Birmingham Comic Con is a huge pop culture festival, covering gaming, comics, anime, movies, TV, and more. They were kind enough to invite NookGaming along. While we’re checking out the Birmingham event this time, it takes place in a variety of locations. Events may have different focuses and sizes, so an experience at places like London or Telford may vary.
No Pandemic at the NEC
I’ve been repeatedly asked about the COVID concerns while attending expos. MCM Birmingham Comic Con takes place at the NEC, which I found to handle them as well as practically reasonable under the current legal requirements.
All attendees needed either a COVID Pass or to take a lateral flow test at the center. The NEC had faculties to test for a fee and blocked everyone from proceeding through a hall without that or showing their pass. A wristband was then provided to prove this. I found this much better than how the ExCel handled it at EGX 2021, where it was a couple of people at the doors who didn’t always stop people.
Within the center, most people were not wearing masks and social distancing wasn’t possible. The hall was very full and at times even moving through a crowd was difficult. The strict enforcement to get in should help, but it’s still a concern.
One Giant Artists Alley
To me personally, one of the biggest attractions was all the anime and gaming-themed art on display. Birmingham Comic Con has an artist alley, but it felt like it spilled out of it and half of the con was an artist’s alley. There were prints to purchase and other crafts for sale all over the place. As well as pictures, writers were selling their books, an older gentleman was selling Japanese pottery, there were custom stickers, handmade toys, and all sorts.
A few highlights that stood out to me personally were GuiZang selling some beautiful anime and gaming art, Dawnie-chan with her original manga and artwork, Christie (pictured above) selling unique stickers and postcards, and a person drawing Pokémon from memory for £1.
I only bought a few postcards but could’ve easily walked away with tons of art prints if I wasn’t careful spending. Most things were reasonably priced, but there was so much on offer, it would be easy to overspend just on art prints.
Figures, Food and Fun
For those with cash to burn, it’s not only art that can be bought, but plenty more. Anime and gaming figures were practically everywhere. I probably saw at least twenty types of Hatsune Miku, including one that a collector told me he’d been looking for. I was happy to see Super Sonico too, as it’s always nice to see a visual novel company represented.
A few stalls covered older gaming hardware or customized gaming accessories. There wasn’t a huge amount of gaming-related stalls or activities at this Comic-Con – I’m told there’s often more at the London event. There was a single sit-down area to play games and a machine similar to Dancing Stage.
Get hungry while walking around? One nice thing about the NEC is that there are a lot of food options. There were a few cafes and stalls set up on the event floor itself, and plenty more outside of the hall.
Cosplay
As you’d expect with a convention like this, there was a lot of cosplay on display. Whether carefully crafted custom costumes or store-bought, lots of people were participating. Popular series were well represented with My Hero Academia characters always within sight. I was pleased to see that Sailor Moon still has a fanbase, with several Sailor Moon’s, a Sailor Mercury, and a particularly amazing Sailor Saturn complete with Silence Glaive.
As we focus on visual novels, I had to take a quick photo of some Doki Doki Literature Club and Phoenix Wright cosplayers.
There were plenty of non-anime cosplays too. A lot of Star Wars – this made sense as two of the actors were in attendance for signings and photos. A movie-quality Batman was walking around with some other superheroes. While I couldn’t say if it counts as cosplay exactly, there were even more than a few Daleks, at least one of which had someone inside. I even found a Dick Dastardly.
The convention supported cosplay well. There weren’t only masquerades with prizes for it, but panels on subjects like make-up, wigs, armor making, and more. They even arranged a cosplay surgery to help with repairs.
Panels and Demonstrations
Not only were there cosplay panels, but more on all sorts of subjects. From deep dives into comics to topics like marketing for artists, it covered a lot of interesting subjects.
Even for those not interested in watching discussions on topics, there were more exciting displays. Rhythmic gymnastic demonstrations and KPop dancing stood out here.
Verdict
If you love anime art and cosplay, MCM Birmingham Comic Con is worth checking out. Want to add to your figure collection? This is a great chance for that here too. The event itself isn’t too expensive, but there’s a ton of stalls to take your money, so it’s worth saving up.
The Birmingham event at least didn’t have so much on the gaming side, outside of the merchandise. I’ll be interested to see if the London event does more.
Many thanks go to MCM Birmingham Comic Con for providing a press pass for this event.
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A gamer since the days of Amstrad and DOS and someone who has dabbled in a variety of professions. He enjoys a wide variety of genres, but has been focusing on visual novels and virtual reality in recent years. Head Editor of NookGaming. Follow him and the website on @NookSite.
