Continuing on from this months earlier post I must admit I've been somewhat dreading writing this as I've been struggling with how to describe the rest of the event I attend so I think I'm just going to get the negatives out of the way at the start and more on to the fun stuff.

Now one of the best parts of attending any convention is to meeting other fans and take part in theme meet ups to chat and take part in group photos, having attended in my Payday 2 cosplay I was a
mixture of excited and nervous. Now one thing I discovered over the weekend that for Payday 2 no one will bother you for a photo if your by yourself since people are only interested in having a full set, this is somewhat double edged as its great to be able to move around without been pestered but at the same time its a bit disheartening to have no comments or attention when your wearing a somewhat uncomfortable costume.

So in this state of mind I was getting increasing psyched up to attend the meet with desire to join in over coming social anxiety and according to the information on the MCM page the meet up was to occur near a police car in the halls. Now this is where the lack of distinction between the stalls and poor map basically came back to haunt me, I had remembered that on the Friday I had seen several emergency vehicles that were selling photo opportunities for charity in the centre of the halls so fighting through the crowd I made my way there.


Myself and 4 other people turned up and had a brief chat disappointed at the lack of turnout but we grouped up and made a few kids happy (why these kids who looked 8 knew about Payday I don't know). I found out later that the main meet up had happened at another collection of police cars which were over by a corner booth, that whole area had been empty on Friday so there was no way to know beforehand without having gone through the terrible booklet to cross reference the map.
This screw up kind of put a damper on whole day and if it hadn't been for the kid who was leaping around in excitement at seeing us five I think I would of been more annoyed by it all.

The other massive disappointment were the game panels, now some of them were pretty good in particular:

Lets Play Live: Rise of the Tomb Raider with Camilla Luddington



Team17 Presents: Worms W.M.D



KOEI Tecmo Presents: A.O.T. Wings of Freedom


Though the KOEI Tecmo Presents was a bit shaky at the start once they moved into their comfort zone and moved away trying to talk about the anime it got better, I even managed to ask a few questions at the end though the lack of couch co op does mean I will not be buying the game.

Now much to my surprise sound on the video is actually better than been there, due to the background noise and halls echo there was a few people who were difficult to make out during the presentation. Perhaps I wouldn't of found this particular panel absolutely god damn awful but I seriously doubt it due the mind numbing stupid repetitive commendatory.

I was looking forward to the Square Enix Presents Dragon Quest Builders, I Am Setsuna and Star Ocean 5 but it was obvious these guys presenting only had two sentences of information on each game and what made it worse was that even though one of them had played the game before they gave it to the guy who had no idea of the controls to play.


It was painful to watch and like someone had given a controller to their grand dad who has never used a console past a Atari before and then watched him fumble about blindly while he explained he was a old pro at games. I had a chat with a few other watchers later and it was a draw between which bit was more maddening to watch Dragon Quest Builders or Star Ocean 5.

Now even though I am a minor Youtuber I tend not to network much at these events with other Youtubers, its partly because I feel like its the equivalent of a guy who plays at open mike night at his local bar trying to socialise with a world famous rock star.
I did however meet a interesting pair of chaps Luke & James of Luke & James Play and seem to be starting up their own couch co op channel:


Finally while I must admit some might say I've been rather negative in my description about the experience on the whole I enjoyed it, I think I have a preference towards smaller conventions but not because of the crowd.
Smaller conventions in my experience have more events or activities for visitors to take part in and do whilst larger conventions focus on having on events that visitors simply watch rather than participate.
However this is where community plays a big part and is the reason why I was disappointed to miss the Payday 2 meet up, the appeal of larger events is the atmosphere and a con goer can revel in their fandoms and hobbies, dressing up or discussing them and finding like minded people.
A few people I spoke to actually told me that conventions are the one place they feel at ease because its like "coming home" or they can discuss their hobbies without been mocked or insulted about them.

So for the final bit of this overview I'm going to post a few of my favourite costumes a meet ups at the event.   

Glory To Arstotzka! One of my favourite costumes at the event was a working booth for the Passport Inspector of Papers Please, unfortunately the picture is a little fuzzy as a passerby bumped into my friend as she took photos.


I almost managed to bluff my way past the booth before I made the mistake of mentioning that I had not eaten breakfast at the time. Apparently not eating a apple a day is reason enough to be denied entrance to Arstotzka.

 There were some impressive Space Marine crossover costumes towering over the crowd but the best of them was Warmaster Vader who was a Darth Vader inspired costume.


A entry for the cosplay compensations this costume of Isaac from Dead Space was simple yet highly detailed with a working lit backpack. 


The MS Paint Adventures Homestuck may of ended this year but that didn't stop the fans attending full force in this massive costumed meet up.

A costume doesn't always have to be complex to be amazing and this con goer absolutely nailed the Justice League cartoon version of Hawk Girl spot on.

Sometimes you come across some strange sights at the conventions and it doesn't come much stranger than watching Majin Buu copy the The Stig as Deadpool in a Winne the Poo Costume looks on in irritation.


Just going to show that no matter how old a franchise is someone out there will cosplay it, this amazing Yellow Ranger and Rita Repulsa brought back old memories.

Finally just going to show that anyone is welcome several furry artists turned up in full fur suits of their original characters.