Saturday 22 March 2014

London Super Comic Con.... Part TWO!!! No major complaints but what i do have is minor nit-picks....

Last week I talked about our roundabout trip to get to Excel and the this time i am going to cover the Pros and Cons of the convention. Like i said in my last post

"I think the Cons did out way the Pros but again i did enjoy it. It was GOOD i mean it"

I do feel like this post is going to come across in a negative way but i want you to understand i did enjoy myself and i will try to explain my points the best way i can. And i will be going next year. 

Pros
When we got to the con there was not many people there at we got to the con late at around 11/11:30 and with the weather being so nice it felt good to be able to take my time. Things started well when we got to the hall but didn't see a sign or notice to where we should be queuing. I had a bad feeling when i asked a really jolly fellow where we had to go he had a big smile and was more than happy to help use. Unlike the last Expo i went to where the staff were in a bad mood or just not around. He pointed us in the right direction and we were on our way. We got our passes and goody bag... YAY goody bag got to love a goody bag... and then we went in to the hall. Right from the get go things were looking good. the hall was well thought out with wide aisles and there was a nice flow to the movement of people. compared to the last con this was a nice relief. So we walked the floor and had a look and eyed a few things so out of my price range and some WAY out of my price range. There was a decent amount of sellers and it was all comics and graphic novels for as far as the eye could see. What really struck me was the amount of families there. I don't mean kids with there dads but whole families mums, dads and the kids all going and all enjoying themselves. It has been a long time since i have seen this. A good family friendly con is always a good thing. 
And then there was the cosplay. I was impressed by a lot of the cosplayers there and some really cool costumes. The best part for me was the lack of anime cosplay, most of the ones i saw were from comics which is fitting we were at a comic con. Please don't tell me what i already know. YES manga and comics are the same. But It is cool to see something else other than the normal Bleach or Naruto people running around. Well i guess that should be Attack on Titan or what ever is really big at the moment..... which reminds me i need to catch up on Space Dandy, Kuroko's Basketball and Hajime no Ippo Rising... Anyway back to the cosplay. There was a really impressive X-Force Wolverine and a very cool Fem Captain America. Staying on cosplay there was two guess Yaya Hun and Riddle. World class cosplayers indeed. This is good as it shows that the UK cosplaying community grows from strength to strength. 

Cons
I have no major complaints but what i do have is minor nit-picks.... 
OK this is going to sound odd but the comics were a con at this convention.... wait... wait... wait a minute let me explain. There was a lot of comics and graphic novels but each table you went to you saw the same books. The prices were more or less the same so i found that to be disappointing i was hoping to see a better rang to the books. There was a only a few sellers selling toys or other high end collectibles. Normally i am all for wider aisles but i few more stalls would of been nice. I was also amazed at the fact there was no manga or anime there and no DVDs or blu-rays.
Another odd con i found was the number of artists do signings. That fact that they were doing signings was not a problem but it was a small problem when the artist was signing and the que was in the middle of the aisle. Now if they were at at the top or bottom of each aisle then fine but it was more annoying than a real problem.      
Also i was surprised at the complete lack of big companies there. I would of thought that Marvel UK would of been there at least to get people hyped for Captain America the Winter Solider that is out next week or other movie companies pushing their new movie. I understand that the Expo is a media con or a pop culture convention so a lot of movies get pushed there but at a Super Comic Con i was expecting to see something along the lines of say SDCC. Now i know that the UK can not compete with what the Americans can do at their conventions but there should of been some kind of Marvel UK presents at the con. IDW who have be doing the Transformers comics were there, so we should believe that none of the big comic companies could not have a presents. Then there's the outside of the con. Nothing you went out side the Excel building and there was nothing i was expecting to see a big screen playing trailers or something but there was nothing. Even though i enjoyed myself at the con i did find the longer i was there the more i felt that this was a small con in a big hall. Now this is not the same as an armature thing because it wasn't but with the lack of big companies it did feel empty. 

Final thoughts
OK i thought i hand more cons that that but still none the less the fact that it's called the London Super Comic Con but it was not as Super as i was hoping for. But and i do have a positive out look for this convention... i understand that this is a new con it was only the 3rd one so it will grow and when it grows more people will come and hopefully so will the companies stat to show support for this UK convention and it will truly be the Super Comic Con. I will be going next year and look forward to seeing how this con will grow and change. Well hopefully next post i should have some Vader news.         

No comments:

Post a Comment