Crowdedbrain headed down to MCM Birmingham Comic Con this past Sunday and once again the real stars of the show were the Cosplay attendees who were out in force with some amazing kick ass outfits – some of which must have taken them an age to prepare!
We met some awesome people and they were all great sports in allowing us to take their picture at the event and as a thank you everyone is automatically entered into our competition; which we will be running via our Twitter page @crowdedbrain_uk in the next few weeks. So keep tuned to the site for more details and also keep hold of your Comic Con entry ticket you may need it ;-).
For the most part we were keen to explore the event's stand-out features, including the Cosplay Masquerade and the Acorns Hospice Charity auction; which featured Star Wars illustrations by Ralph McQuarrie (commissioned by George Lucas himself). The latter illustrations were instrumental in getting the original trilogy of films made so they were a big deal!
Before the auction started we were able to sit in on a Q & A session in the theatre with Hollywood Actress Dina Meyer who most will remember from her roll in Starship troopers. She talked about the latter film and also her time on the film set of Saw IV. She seemed a pretty down to earth person and was really enjoying the banter between the audience and herself.
For the most part though to get your celeb fix there were several zones setup so you could get a signed autograph. To be honest a lot of the celebs I was struggling to recognise with the exception of Virginia Hey who was in Farscape, Lee Majors who was in Six Million Dollar Man and Fallguy. Plus of course the main star attraction Liv Tyler from Lord of the Rings and Hulk fame was there to get a pic with.
Auction time!
To be honest I was more interested in the charity auction which was great to be a part of! Before the latter started you were able to get a glimpse of the pictures from the auction in the Star Wars Zone (albeit they were copies on-display); which featured several costumes from the film. The illustrations I have to say were superb! Beautifully illustrated, is the best word I would describe them, so whoever won will be able to claim some cinematic history that's for sure!
The auction started off at £500 which is a lot of money for the average- joe-public to shell out. However I was under the impressions that the pieces of Art work were being sold separately but in fact they were being sold as a complete collection.
As per true auction style the bids were quiet to start with, as the audience was silent, then all of a sudden the bids started to fly! You can see the video below which captured these moments.
In the end the illustrations went for nearly 10 thousand pounds which is brilliant news for the Acorns Hospice charity who will certainly benefit from this generous amount!
Cosplay Masquerade
After the auction there was a brief gap before the Cosplay Mascaraed - which celebrates the popular costume performance art - started. If you were there the host of the Q & A sessions was back to throw to the crowd some cool freebies, so it was a great way to pass the time.
However not before long the two judges appeared and the show could commence! Basically the show comprised of three age groups with the main judging being done on the 16 and over categories (people who make their own costumes in other words).
Essentially each entrant (34 in total or minus the odd entry that was not able to attend) needed to go on stage in an attempt to woo the judges with not only their costume but also the actions of the character(s) they were trying to emulate – the better they do the more chance they have of winning.
Some people sang while others danced or posed! If you had never been to a Cosplay Masquerade before it was a fantastic experience; especially as the crowds were really positive and you could see how much it meant to the Cosplayers themselves when people cheered to show their appreciation of the costumes!
In the end there were four winners announced, Special Judges Award, Best costume and Best performance for example. So congrats to all the winners and kudos to all the entrants for a great show!
We've edited a video of all the winning performances below so you can see for yourself what was involved!
MCM eSports
Saturday was the day of the Street Fighter 4 tournament which we sadly missed, but the remains of the tournament were on hand so we got the chance to play on the PS4 version of Street Fighter 4; using competition grade arcade sticks.
On top this there was some League of Legends Gaming PC’s setup so the public could have a blast on this while spectators could view the game unfolding via a big screen above.
Deadpool
There were a fair few Deadpool Cosplayers on the show floor as well and for some reason the character is funny to watch even in its Cosplay form! One was carrying a white plastic bag and this just looked kinda funny, but cool at the same time. However our particular favourite moment - which we are kicking ourselves for not capturing - was a Cosplay Deadpool coming out of the glamour zone (sexy models is the polite way of putting it). It was the ultimate picture moment (darn it!) and typical of the comic character he was portraying!
Robot Wars and Stands Galore
In the far corner of the show floor there were some epic battles of Robot wars going on and you could hear the clatter of Metal robots colliding from halfway across the show floor! Up close there were some great battles and if you got chance to witness the event it offered superb entertainment; with little robots being flipped in the air and all over the place!
For the most part though the show was taken up with Memorabilia stands, Comic artists and more photo ops. One of which featured two cars from Transformers (Bumble Bee/Barricade) and the other was the Delorean from back to the future.
Additionally there were some other specialist stands at the show, including 'Geek Boutique' which is a company based in Bournemouth and they sell custom clothes targeted at Comic Book fans. You can check out the company here http://www.geekboutique.co.uk and if anything takes your fancy we managed to grab this 5% discount code (HIGH5GEEKS) which you can use to knock a bit of money off your purchase!
On the whole for comic and movie fans the show was a success and if you didn’t get chance to go this year the event is back on in March. So we hope to see you then.
Plus once again we would like to say a big thanks for all those who agreed to have their pictures taken. We are going to pick out the winners in the next week or so. Thus, keep an eye on our site for how to enter - if you were at the show in Cosplay format :-).