May as well post this two months before it happens as this board is a little slower compared to others.
I'm going to comic con in Manchester this year and it will be my first time at one of these events. The only other expo/trade show/con I've been to was a car show about 10 years ago and a market type of con when I was a small boy.
I'm not going to cosplay as I was never into the costume side of it all and I don't feel like getting on the tram dressed as a super hero.
My question is this. What should I expect? What should I avoid? By being new to this what shouldn't I do there? There's a chance I may be going alone. My brother wants to go but he's unsure he'll be free and I still haven't asked my mate if he wants to come too. Is the event significantly less fun if I go alone? Are any of you lads going to it (rest assured I don't want to meet up or something like that. Just general curiosity).
I'm curious about brony culture in the UK. I can't imagine any of us getting away with it like Americans can. We don't have the volume of weirdos to accommodate eccentricity on that level do we?
I expect it to be more of a "20% cooler" t shirt and fedora over here rather than say full naked body coated in blue paint. I can't imagine our bronies being any more annoying that the yugioh/mtg/warcraft guy from school.
>>10351 If you'd actually read the site, there aren't so many furrycons in the UK. And all of them are really small in comparison to Northern American ones.
>>10352 I know but even a more respectable appearance wouldn't stop are editors drooling at the prospect of profiling a bunch of social misfits who watch a young girl's cartoon.
I think furries are still culturally distant in such a way very few tabloids would understand quite what was "wrong" about it, and their readers less so.
There's the whole homophobia shtick to go with it too.
These are some interesting responses.
>>10347 >Worst case scenario, you go on your own and get a lonely brony on your arm for the entire time.
Funny you should say that but the mate I was going to ask is someone who I suspect is a brony. He has a MLP t-shirt he wears but that doesn't necessarily prove he's a brony. I had a shirt with Che Guavara on it once that I got as a gift but I don't subscribe to the man's ideals.
I have heard things about cons like them being nerd orgies where it's damn near impossible to go home without shagging someone despite your appearance and people are generally more flirty and "loose" shall we say but I thought with this being more small scaled compared to the cons in the US it doesn't happen as much. I probably wouldn't mind to be honest.
I watched a couple of videos of past Comic Cons at Manchester to see what to expect. There's a lot more cosplayers that I thought there would be. Something rather amusing about a star trek redshirt looking a little lost and superman and batman watching a tram go by at the end of the day.
I just wanted to mention that I am also CorriganLad from /emo/ so I was wondering if you lads want a story about what I may get up to on the fateful day.
>>10362 I had thought of bringing some deodorant because I was once in a game shop long enough that the smell just stuck to my clothes. What's the policy on bringing a bag? Might sound odd considering there's people walking around with big fuck off foam swords but I don't know if they do bag checks. They've got some high elf and safety rules on the site and I'm almost convinced they won't let me in with my lighter.
I dunno if thats a good or a bad thing really. I cringe so fucking hard when I think of Americans being so loud, unabashed and proud about stuff they love, unashamed despite how uncool it is. I guess we mostly just bottle it up, which is more beta in a way.
>I just wanted to mention that I am also CorriganLad from /emo/ so I was wondering if you lads want a story about what I may get up to on the fateful day.
>>10364 Probably but besides the t-shirt he's never talked about the show but he'll talk at length about video games.
>>10367>>10368>>10369 Ok I'll do it. I don't have a notebook (computer or even a paper one) but I have an old 5 megapixel camera which burns through batteries so I'll bring that along with a few batteries.
Also how much money should I bring? Do they have cash machines there? Can you pay for stuff with card?
Ladm8. A notebook will set you back a pound tops, and will eman you can properly record your feelings and peoples quotes. Trust me on this. View it as your first step into journalism.
I only use a debit card for Argos self-service because you jump the queue for the tills. It doesn't affect the length of time you spend at the service point though.
I might have a go at it. I have a bunch of unused nintendo points so I could use a few of them to get myself a notebook from them. Though usually my little stories come from memory alone. Could bring my note recorder too if I want to go full journo.
My brother has to go to work in the morning so I'll be wandering around on my own for a couple of hours.
Quick question. Do you get a handstamp or wristband at these things because I might have to meet my brother outside the convention centre and I'll be fucked if I have to buy another ticket. Also can you buy a ticket at any time because my brother is planning on buying one when he gets there rather than in advance.
It's over. If any of you went then maybe you saw me. I was the awkward looking one. That should narrow it down.
I took a few photos and a link to the gallery will be at the bottom. Sadly there aren't many and the quality is poor because I had to make do with a 10 year old digital camera with 16MB of internal space, not extra SD card and batteries that I'm unsure how long they were in.
Lets begin the story. My brother had to go into work all day so I went on my own. I'm not going to waste 9 quid so I went in there. I packed my wallet, 20 sterling cigarettes, my 3DS (in the hopes I might get a damn street pass at some point), that 10 year old digital camera, a notebook and a bottle of ice which I froze last night (better than warm water) wrapped in a plastic bag to ensure it wouldn't leak. The trams weren't that packed so it made me wonder how many people turned up at these things. It was when I saw the queues just past deansgate. I would have got early but I needed to stop off at a shop to get some gum and non-frozen water.
I thought my early pass would get me in quick thinking that large queue over on deans gate was just the general entry. It wasn't. Took me an hour to get in. Now this being my first con I was unsure what to do other than wander around. It was my assumption that comic con primarily deals with western comics but the amount of anime dealer tables were an abundance. I've never really been into anime really. I did watch dragonball z a lot and the occasional hentai. I was flabberghasted to see a table selling hentai. It wasn't even sugarcoated with a different name. Then again sugarcoating something would make the situation worse. I saw a poster of what I was pretty sure was an actual hentai series. I think it was bible black. That one VN where a man becomes a sorcerer and rapes a lot of women and gets raped/killed himself at times.
Still unsure I wandered to see if there was any sort of exhibition section. Immediately I saw the Delorean. I had to sit in it. Then I saw the sign that said 5 quid to sit in it and get a photo. I might like BttF but not enough to pay 5 quid to sit in a replica. I went to the robot wars section but it was two men fiddling the innards of a robot and had been like that for the duration I was there. I had a craving for cigarettes at that time and looked for a smoking area. Took me damn near 10 minutes to get out the building. I even bumped into Harley Quinn in a wheelchair, my leg smacked against hers. I did apologised and then wondered why I did, it's not like she could feel it.
This was when I brought out the camera as all the people who spent weeks making their costumes were outside. Again I was unsure of the protocol for snapping photos plus I didn't want to be that guy to ask young girls to take photos of them wearing skimpy outfits. There's something in me that makes me think it's wrong. I think I didn't even intentionally photograph any women.
In again flashing my stamp. I had drunk that bottle of water and all I had left was the still frozen ice bottle but I decided it would be best to take a visit to the toilets before I really need it in the crowds. In there there was the Joker and some other guy. I picked the furthest urinal and I couldn't go. I swear both the joker and that other guy was watching. I had to leave without peeing. I went back to the toilets about 10 minutes later and to prevent myself from not peeing I went into the shame stall and had to pretend I was having a shit.
As I exited the toilets my back felt damp. The ice bottle was beginning to melt and the condensation went out the plastic bag and soaked through the main bag. I had no choice to put up with that for the rest of the time I was there.
I had a new objective. Find Warwick Davis and Michael Mando (Vaas from Far Cry 3). Mando was easy enough. Lot more tanned that I thought he was but I got a photo. I couldn;t find Warwick but then again many people can't. I did find him eventually but his head was turned away and I couldn't get a good shot of him. I assume it was him or else I took a photo of a dwarf sitting a table. I considered manning up and queuing up for an autograph but I realised they charge you for that now. Kai Owens from torchwood was there so I snapped a photo of him. The lesser known cast from Merlin was there but I didn't watch that show so I didn't bother.
There was some of conference area and I had to take a seat to see what was happening as it was packed in that area. I was right at the back and I couldn't see who was at the guest table. I just wanted to sit down for a bit. I was sat near somebody who was wearing a square golf bag of sorts with no arm holes. I thought it was a bloke until they got up and spoke in a feminine voice that she wanted me to move. I don't even know how she could see out of it.
I felt it was time to leave (the BO was coming) and perhaps I should pick up a souvenir as I'm a sucker for not leaving empty handed. Got a hoodie and then realised moments after I left the stall that it might be a while until I could wear it IF THIS FUCKING WEATHER KEEPS GOING ON.
I think I would have stayed longer if I went with someone else but I had already gone through the entire centre several times and saw everything that interested me. Plus the batteries in my camera were dying but at least they lasted as long as they did. I noticed as I was leaving the building that across the street there was a graduation ceremony going on and the cosplayers made them feel better about wearing the graduation frock they have to wear.
I jumped on the tram to get home and the queue was still massive for the early entry line as I passed deans gate. It was about 12:40pm by then It occurred to me then that I had spend 30 quid on a hoodie.
MASK OF SHAME COUNT
3
FURRY COUNT
3
DANTE COUNT
2
TIMES I DROPPED SOMETHING AND LOOKED AWKWARD
6
TIMES I SPOKE TO ANYONE THAT WASN'T STAFF OR SOMEONE I WANTED TO PHOTOGRAPH
ONCE
PEOPLE IN WHEELCHAIR COUNT
7
STREET PASS NOTIFICATIONS
76
>>10693 They're all lying to you, it's just a trick to make you build up your confidence so you do something stupid and we get to read the subsequent hilarious thread about your life failings in /emo/.
>>10697 To add to this. I was going to go and take photos (i post in art sometimes) but decided not to when I'd gotten back. had I known about this thread earlier I would have offered to tag along.
I have no shame in shooting scantily clad women. I often ask them to pose, they do love a big camera.
As for my favourite female cosplayers that I saw:
Harley Quinn in a wheelchair
Videl
round face ellie from TLOU
All the poison ivys
square golf bag girl with no armholes
Generic anime girl who had her arse sticking out which I totally didn't point my camera towards and looked through the camera display
That's about it. There was a guy who just decided "fuck it" and went topless and wore some metal bra of some kind.
>>10706 Me looking awkward immortalized in a photo is hardly a good thing.
I just checked youtube and I wasn't in the 9 minute video even though I saw several parts where I was in that area.