Yes folks it’s that time of the year when cos players and exhibitors collide in a mass fusion of manga, video games and movies down at the Excel Centre in London. As per usual, the crowds came in thick and fast embracing both vendors and showcases with open arms.

What we liked:

• An expansion into video games. There were many more booths available for people to get their hands on the latest titles with Gamespot holding a prominent centre space at the expo.
• More amazing artists in the comic village. Always cool to meet and greet twice a year.
• Better layout of the Expo with more defined sections for people to hang around in.
• Queues seemed better managed and waiting times looked shorter.
• Large variation of vendors/sellers with more niche products to cater for everyone’s tastes.
• More staged events which filled out well and looked to have a very receptive audience.
• Again, seeing the reaction of ordinary Londoners on the tube facing a horde of boarding foam weapon wielding cosplayers.

What we didn’t like:

• No star guests to really get excited for when in the past there have usually been a few good movie actors or television show stars. What we got this year were writers and voice actors which although I know some people liked, I’d still say star guests were better.
• Seemed like there were less cosplayers at the event. I may be wrong about this but it did seem like there were a lot more “ordinarily dressed” attendees this year compared to cosplayers in recent years.
• The whole Daily Mail shenanigans. I’d rather not go into this and you can probably find out what happened with regards to the Daily Mail and the Expo but the whole thing left a bit of a bad taste in the mouth.
• Wrestling? Again? Really?
• Food was still ridiculously expensive but this is more in part to the Excel Centre and not the Expo organizer’s fault.
• Although Green Lantern was the “showcase” film, there really wasn’t anything there aside from ceiling banners and printed ads.

We were lucky enough to receive press passes to the event and here were some of the many photos we managed to snap up at the event this year:

Many thanks to David Axbey from the Expo for helping us out prior to the event and on the day.