MCM London Comic Con occurred on the weekend of Friday, May 23 through Sunday, May 25, 2025 at the Excel Centre near Docklands. The Excel Centre with its wide open show floors and strip of food outlets remains a great venue. This Summer’s event was full of color, good weather, and a great positive vibe. The cosplayers were more video game than anime-focused as compared with previous years. However, many gaming/anime series were represented in some form. There were also cool and unique events happening throughout the weekend.
Cosplay
Comic Con, no matter where it is, always has a good selection of people dressed up as characters from anime and video game franchises. Many series are well represented from Disney characters through to The Legend of Zelda and Studio Ghibli franchises to Pokรฉmon. This Comic Con was no exception, and I noticed the Nintendo series was especially well-represented. Pokรฉmon seems to remain a popular choice for Cosplayers, and there’s usually an obscure anime reference or two around most corners. The quality of costumes is usually high, and guessing the franchise a particular cosplayer is based on can be a good conversation starter.
Here are some of the great costumes that people were wearing at the event;
There was some great cosplay on show at this year’s London Spring/Summer Comic Con. A great diversity of franchises was represented, and people from all age groups took part. There was also a competition or two on one or more of the stages at the event to decide who the best cosplayers were. These are often hosted by guest speakers and are great fun to be involved in, or to simply be in the audience spectating.
Lip syncing and drag
As a kind of extension of a cosplaying competition, there was a show where cosplayers would sing along to popular songs. I was sitting in the audience for this. A darkened floor space where over 100 fans and cosplayers were sitting, ready to watch a variety of cosplayers sing along to mainly anime and video game-related music. The vibe was great, and everyone was enjoying themselves. To top it off, it was even judged by two popular drag artists who are associated with Comic Con. I can’t remember their names, and I really should have made a note of them. It was a fun event nonetheless. This is why it can be good to grab a timetable of events, as there are some real hidden gems at all Comic Cons. The first act was someone dressed as Bowser singing along to the song Peaches from the Super Mario Bros. Movie. The contestant did great, it was quite camp, and the judges were fun but never too mean with their comments. It was still definitely an event where kids and families could attend.
Art of all kinds
Another great thing about Comic Con events, at least all that I have been to, is the amazing variety of art available to buy on the stalls around the show floor. From A4-sized prints, to posters, to t-shirts, and more, its good to attend with some money to be able to purchase art. Much is designed based of franchises, such as Pokรฉmon. There’s also a lot of art based on more generic anime tropes and storylines. Often, cards are sold at the same stalls as art, usually Pokรฉmon cards, but often cards from other trading card games.
Pokemon cards and retro video games
Many of the stalls on the show floor were offering Pokรฉmon cards for sale or trade. It was a common sight to see a group of youngsters amazed by rare cards, or a youth trying to barter with the salesman for either a good price for their cards, or a good sales price for a rare card that they wanted to buy. The first generation of cards from around 1998 is probably the most valuable. Some of these were available as individual cards or as booster packs. However, modern cards in sets were also available and were not too expensive. I was tempted to pick up a modern set, as in ten or twenty years, that price is sure to double, or triple.
What was a lot rarer at the event was sales of actual video games. Despite the event being a celebration of video game icons, video games themselves were quite rare. I found only two stalls selling games at the whole event. However, the range of games for sale at both these stalls was quite vast. From NES, all the way up to Switch and PS5, a lot was available. The focus was definitely on retro games. I’d say games and consoles from before the Switch made up 90% of the games on sale.
I was tempted to pick up a boxed version of Tetris for the NES (I’ve become quite interested in retro Nintendo products recently), but, in the end, when I discovered the Tetris game was actually a Famicom game (which would not play on an NES), I decided to go for Super Mario Land 2: The Six Golden Coins for the Game Boy (you can never have too many copies of Super Mario Land 2). Overall, I think it was a good thing that games are available at Comic Con.
To sum it up
MCM London Comic Con 2025 was a great Spring/Summer event where the colorful costumes of the cosplayers were luckily matched by great weather and a positive vibe. The Excel Centre near Docklands remains a great venue. The show floor was full of great art as usual, and if you looked carefully, you could even get a good deal on a rare trading card, or even an actual video game. However, that isn’t all that Comic Con has to offer. It provides an opportunity to meet celebrities, attend panels, and find gems of events. One such gem was the lip sync and cosplay competition, where passionate fans were treated to real fun drama. Overall, aided by good weather, this Comic Con was a fun event for all who have even a slight interest in games, anime, or dressing up. I’m just disappointed that it will probably be six months until the next London Comic Con.
