I attended the London MCM Expo on Saturday 23rd of May 2009 and it was an even bigger success since the last time I came back in October of 2008! This time I was going with two friends where the pirate from Pirates of the Carribean on the right was Muzz, and in the center was kyle as Cid Highwind from Final Fantasy 7, which leaves me on the left as Kisuke Urahara from Bleach. The MCM Expo is not an anime convention per say, it is a convention of Movies, Video Games and Anime so us three had cosplayed to reflect that. I had 3 hours in sleep in total, because too many things were running through my head the night before. Thus I woke up at 6:00am after sunrise and put on my cosplay at 7:00am. I had a family member agreed to drive me and my friends to the London MCM Expo and back for £18, which split between the three of us meant we paid £6 for transportation which isn't bad. I had to meet my friends at my school as the pick up point at 7:30am and then we departed.

I was not excited about the event until the night before, however the closer we went to destination my heart thumped harder. I discussed between my friends and I the plan for the day which was wait in line for tickets, sell my sword, attend the actual MCM Expo, meet people, attend the Bleach Group meeting, the Guinness World Record Attempt and take Video Footage and Photo's. My friends laughed at how seriously I had organised a fun day out. When we arrived at the MCM Expo at 8:30am my head appeared out from the car door and I thought to myself "Im back home". Since the three of us had bought fast track tickets we simply needed to stay in a que until they officially started accepting the tickets and let people in at 9:00am. Well waiting in line I met the person I needed to see the most which was ~the-last-quincy because he was purchasing my Senbonzakura. He paid me the money, we posed for a photo, and now he is in possession of the sword.

When the clock striked 9:00am the line finnally started moving and people were let into the MCM Expo. We had decided to purchase anything we needed at the opening of the MCM Expo because there is not much people, and every stall is fully stocked. So we searched around for possible merchandise to purchase, however once again everything was overpriced and I will say now, I bought nothing, and neither did my friends. I went to check out the swords, but I knew if I bought one all I would do with it is stick it in my closet forever. Plus there was not any "good" swords there was only the "less crapiest to the most" hell even the wooden swords they sold were cheap knock-offs, they were barely imitations and only served a purpose in an un-choreographed swordfight between people. I did not care about the video game, movie or even anime section of the MCM Expo. My friends and I stepped outside the Excel center where the real fun began.

The actual convention pales in comparisons to overseas as the MCM Expo does not offer any real interactivity with the visitors, its only purpose is to sell high priced merchandise. The real fun is the people who attend because without them a convention fails. We started recording the various video footage of all the different cosplay groups to make the May 2009 MCM Expo Video. We saw ~SodiRyfe who was like the greatest Captain Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Carribean cosplayer ever! and my friend Muz dressed as a pirate enjoyed his time with the group very much, even engaging in sword fights. While this was going on I met *NekoFlameAlchemist cosplaying as Genesis from Final Fantasy VII Crisis Core, her rapier looked fantastic and she looked even more amazing! At around this time Kyle had left us to join in the que to sign up for the Guinness World Record Attempt of breaking their previous record for largest group of video game cosplayers!

Then I had my fun by meeting a large number of people from DeviantArt. The first was ~Felix-demon well I did not actually see her, I saw a blue streak in the corner of my eye coming towards me at fast speed, I thought "sonic?" nope it was her cosplaying from Ouran High School Host Club. She had glomp tackled me to the floor, and with me wearing geta sandles it was not difficult to trip and fall. And thus we met with her lying on me still hugging. Acompanying her was her friends also cosplaying as Ouran such as ~Idril-Lissesul, they just arrived and needed to get in line and purchase tickets, so we hugged and posed for a photo and promised to meet again later in the day. Then resting over by the ledge recovering from my glomp tackle I met the ~Meredith-de-Drac cosplaying as sanzo from Saiyuki. Just as I was talking to her another familar face walked passed ~Enyaron cosplaying as Zack Fair from Final Fantasy Crisis Core. I was talking how great my luck was because I met both of them last MCM Expo.

Then I finnally got to meet *eugenidesofattolia cosplaying as General Claud from Saiyuki because I had spot her twice but was unable to meet her before. However she needed to search for her friends so we promised to meet again for lunch. A few steps later I met ~yuki-senshi cosplaying as Sexy No Jutsu Sasuke from Naruto. Then my friends and I decided to walk back into the Excel center when I met ~hakuloveszabuza as Lu Bu from Dynasty Warriors 6 and how awesome and detailed her cosplay was! Then ~dancefloor-insulin had sneaked up on me and while I was walking, meeting once again since the last expo. It was time for the Bleach Group Photoshoot and I was apart as both the entire group, and the Division 12 photoshoot where ~mimitakashi16 was one of the many Kisuke Urahara's there. While I was waiting I met ~maylee cosplaying from Division 4 where we talked how disorganised the bleach meeting really was. While turning around I even met ~baka-lime who was very sweet and cute and posed for photos.

We went to Chozen Noodles and I bought a small box of noodles for £4 and a large sushi for my friend Muz for £6. While waiting in line for lunch I met :devdawnkestrel cosplaying as Lavi from D. Grayman and we held eachothers props. I got my lunch I sat on a bench overlooking the open field and next to the river. Finnally *eugenidesofattolia and myself got to engage in conversation properly while my friend Muz slept. While eating I met properly *LunasMoon cosplaying as sanzo, while also meeting ~Pratatooie cosplaying as Hakka also and finnaly ~x-amykins-x as another sanzo all from Saiyuki because they were all going to enter the cosplay contest as a Saiyuki Group Skit. Then looking near the river I saw =mercuryheart cosplaying as Schrodinger from Hellsing, she looked much prettier in person I was blown away! I can say now the noodles I ate tasted disgusting, at the end of the box was just wet, oily, bland noodles, I had to throw it away half finished I could cook my own noodles with a wok better at home!

When we approached the stairs of the Excel Center, the Guinness World Record attempt had finnally began. I could see Kyle cosplaying as Cid Highwind near the center and I took many photographs. The previous record was broken and the UK once again broke the world record with just 20 cosplayers! As the crowd dispersed we finnally met Kyle again and he said he waited in line to be apart of the World Record Attempt for 2 hours! While looking around I met the taleted ~Orochimarisu cosplaying as Diao Chan from Dynasty Warriors 6, my her cosplay in person was much more amazing then I could imagine!. While walking around I found a yourichi cosplayer and glomped her of course who happened to be ~RukiSacarie13 who was friends with ~mimitakashi16 the captain urahara at the bleach photo shoot and ~Missxcannie cosplaying as Uchiha Sasuke from naruto who I unfortunetely failed to meet.

While working back near the entrance I met an amazing ulqurriro cosplayer and ~PrincessWombat cosplaying as Ryou Bakura from Yu-Gi-Oh kindly took the photo. I met an Hollow Ichigo cosplayer named ~ashleyeveryday and saw he was using my White Tensa Zangetsu which he borrowed from his friend ~gk5 which I sold to her Last Expo in May 2008. It was nice to see my sword again in person, ah what beautifull sword. While sitting on the Excel Center Steps I met ~yezilein cosplaying as Kagura from Gintama where she looked very pretty in her dress. While walking back inside the Excel Center I ran into *Awaken-Benihime quite possible one of the UK's greatest swordmakers. He admired my benihime while I was looking at his master sword, which was perfect in every aspect of the word. At around this time I also met with all my school friends who had also came to attend the MCM Expo.

When walking back outside I finnally saw the extremely skilled ~One-Sky-One-Destiny cosplaying as C.C from Code Geass with her group. I talked how amazing her cosplay was, and she talked about the future of our DA. Then turning around I met ~CorruptMirage who was not cosplaying and his father did the honor of taking our picture, what a grat family. While wandering further I met ~Skyla-dream cosplaying as Genesis from Final Fantasy VII Crisis Core and wow! what a long rapier she had it was amazing! Finnally it was nearing the end of the Expo but amazingly by stroke of luck I had ran into, *eugenidesofattolia, ~Meredith-de-Drac and ~Felix-demon the three people I would miss the most dearly when leacing. It was hard to discribe even in a convention of 35,000 people bonds are made through friendship which allows you to meet eachother no matter what the consequences.

Thus the Expo had ended for the three of us, and man were we tired. My geta sandles were killing my feet, girls think they have it tough walking around in stilleto hills huh!. My fathers £300 HD Video Camera which I used to take video footage and photos was undamaged, thankfully and I had not lost any of my belongings. My wig had behaved itself all day and there was little wind to blow my hat away. With one last walk into the MCM Expo failing to buy anything again we walked one last time back outside. There was less people now, everybody was going home tired, but there was a litter as far from the eye can see, it seems alot of people had failed to locate bins. With one last look at the Excel Center home of the MCM Expo, I ducked my head into the car that was driving my friends and I home. Thus the long drive back home was silent as we were all too tired to talk, in comparison to the drive there where we talked egarly about what would happen in the day. And in the words of the ending of my May 2009 MCM Expo Video "Thus ends the Expo".

Last time I went to the MCM Expo in October of 2008 I barely met 10 people. However this time out of 30 people I was able to meet 25, which I hail a great success because out of 35,000 people it was by pure chance that I would run into the people I wanted to meet from DeviantArt with no prior organisation! I say this all the time but the best way to discribe this experience is "World Peace" For 2 days in one location everybody is united under one common understanding whether it be movies, video games or anime. Everybody has a social barrier that limits the meeting of random strangers. But on this day the social barriers are dropped and people welcome random strangers to engage in conversation, take photos and even hug eachother warmly! nobody will feel insecure, you will not wierd out the people next to you however "geeky" your conversation is, you can be wierd as you want because chances are everybody next to you will understand you and even join in on the fun! With everybody meeting one another, even if they are a random strangers they will accept eachother, and thus if this happened in modern society it would be "world peace"

You know there has to be somthing in the water in Germany, it seems it is the land where everybody looks beautifull and are blessed with the abilities to cosplay greatly. Miss hana-no-ren really puts that statement into perspective, I met her a long, long time ago, and she was one of the first people to introduce me to the world of cosplaying. Back then I was so perplxed at the beauty of not only her cosplays but her face. Her eyes were very stunning and isntantly captured the attention of the viewers. With this ability as a coslplayer she has has control over a crowd with a simple squint of her eyes, damn there must be magic at play the secret to her beauty is out of this world. Coupled with her photography and costume making skills she is a real threat to the best cosplayers in the world, they are going to be dethroned when they meet her!