MCM Scotland 2014

Craig1981 · 6 Sep 2014 at 19:43

Just back from the first day of MCM Scotland, held at the SECC in Glasgow. I had a really good time. I got the early access ticket after the queue nightmare from last year. I got some cool swag and got a couple of sweet autographs.

Me and Hattie Hayridge from Red Dwarf. I can't believe how red I am in this picture! It was a pretty hot day and it really showed in my face!

And here's me with Ian McNeice. Really friendly guy. Shame the guy who took the picture using my phone didn't wait for it to focus first, so its a bit blurred.

Picked up some Japanese goodies, including some Japanese kit-kats! Raspberry, green tea and Hokkaido red bean. Nom nom!

Here's the signed photo's I got. Will get frames for them later. £15 a pop!

I also picked up some interesting comics from some Scottish comic book artists and got this cool print of Death and the Death of Rats from Discworld

And here's some more pictures from the convention:

Kosmiche · 6 Sep 2014 at 20:26

I don't recognise anyone except the red dwarf lady

Craig1981 · 6 Sep 2014 at 20:54

The two older guys in the picture are James Cosmo ( Highlander, Braveheart, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Trainspotting, Troy, Game of Thrones) and Ian McNeice (The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain, Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls, Doctor Who)

The man below him is Luke Evans, who was there to promote the upcoming movie, Dracula Untold. We got to see a trailer and then an exclusive clip that wont be shown anywhere else until its released. People weren't even allowed to have their mobile phones out while it was played. They actually had security people with night vision goggles watching the crowd.

The 2 pictures below that show TomSka, a Youtube personality that did the ASDF movies.

And the last one had DC Douglas (voice actor who did stuff in Mass Effect games, like the voice of Legion and Albert Wesker in some Resident Evil games) and Courtenay Taylor (another voice actor who did Jack in the Mass Effect games, among other stuff)

Craig1981 · 7 Sep 2014 at 20:05

Went back for day 2 of MCM Scotland today. Was there for pretty much the whole day. Am totally knackered now!

I got my picture retaken with Ian McNeice. I explained the first pic came out blurry and he didn't mind retaking it. This one turned out way better

Got my picture taken with DC Douglas today. He's a voice actor that did Albert Wesker in some of the Resident Evil games and Legion in Mass Effect 2 and 3. Really nice guy.

And here's me with Courtenay Taylor, who did Ada Wong in the Resident Evil games and Jack in Mass Effect 2 and 3. She was really nice as well.

Loved this guys full Dalek costume. It moved and lit up, and had the Dalek voice! Some guy stood next to it and took a picture, to which the guy inside responded "I CANT BELEIVE YOU TOOK A SELFIE!"

GAC · 7 Sep 2014 at 21:27

looks like it was less of a farce than the manchester one at least.

Craig1981 · 8 Sep 2014 at 11:45

GAC said:
looks like it was less of a farce than the manchester one at least.

Well it wasn't totally perfect. Chris Barrie was meant to have been there and puiled out at the last minute.

And one of the guest stars, Karen Dotrice, who played Jane Banks in Mary Poppins, didn't come back for the second day, when she was supposed to be going a Q&A session on the main stage. I bet it was because hardly anyone wanted to pay her ridiculous £20 fee for her autograph on the Saturday!

What happened at the Manchester one?

GAC · 8 Sep 2014 at 12:05

manchester was a shambles unless you got there at like 9am. i ended up waiting 4 hours to get in and missed all the panels.

p1RATE · 8 Sep 2014 at 12:09

We covered the Birmingham and Manchester event as press. I only attended the Birmingham one but i have to say it wasn't really worth it and i left quite unimpressed.

At least you seam to have had a more enjoyable time!

Craig1981 · 8 Sep 2014 at 12:22

GAC said:
manchester was a shambles unless you got there at like 9am. i ended up waiting 4 hours to get in and missed all the panels.

Ah. Well that pretty much sums up last years one in Glasgow. I got a general access ticket and got to the SECC about 10 - 15 minutes before it was due to let people in. Line was already massive by then. It took me about 2 and a half hours before I was inside, so at least I didn't miss too much.

But other people behind me had to queue for waaaaay longer. At the point I got in the line behind me snaked all the way round the convention centre and off down along the road into the distance. I think they actually ended up letting the last few hundred people in free of charge, because by that point they only had 30 minutes left before the convention closed.

This years one was split over 2 days and the queue situation was handled so much better. I got priority access for the weekend and only had to wait 30 minutes to go inside. I think even the general access queue all got in more quickly too.

GAC · 8 Sep 2014 at 12:59

biggest problem for manchester is mcm and manchester central (formaly the gmex) wont admit theres too many people showing up. the central can hold LEGALLY according to the manchester council licencing website 12'500. they claimed they had over 20k people in and alls fine ?!

if its the same next year i wont be going anywhere near.

when i attended the tokyo game show in 2007 they had 165k in over a couple of days and i only lined up outside on the first day for 30-45 mins and thats buying a ticket there and then.

mcm though do seem to have a high opinion of themselves though with some of the stuff they post. talking to a mate who does nycc and sdcc and he couldnt get over how small the numbers are for the queues.

Sui · 8 Sep 2014 at 13:03

London one is getting ridiculous, turned up for when it opened and was already really busy. When it came to a few hours later it was hard to move around. They've become too popular, they really need to limit tickets a bit more..

GAC · 8 Sep 2014 at 13:05

they said manchester next year will be pre purchase only, but i get the impression they will over sell it after the convo i had on facebook with them about the capacity at manchester central so probably another crush.

Craig1981 · 8 Sep 2014 at 13:35

I think limiting entry to pre-purchased tickets, priority entry and normal entry, would be the best way to go. But they probably wont do that because it means less tickets sold and less money for them.

GAC · 8 Sep 2014 at 13:38

well if they go pre purchase only that stops walk in's happening. like i said i can see it being over sold again come next year.

p1RATE · 8 Sep 2014 at 19:26

garriec said:
London one is getting ridiculous, turned up for when it opened and was already really busy. When it came to a few hours later it was hard to move around. They've become too popular, they really need to limit tickets a bit more..

Or make the event bigger surely?

GAC · 8 Sep 2014 at 19:47

p1RATE said:
Or make the event bigger surely?

honestly after the discussion i had with the mcm facebook monkey i wouldnt be surprised if they carry on until an event gets shut down or a riot happens as they really do seem ignorant about how busy these events have gotten the last couple of years sadly.

maybe they are waiting for reedpop (the guys that run nycc) to buy them out or something. as reedpop is a uk company surprisingly enough.