London Expo news - scheduled events for the weekend revealed! [Updated]

The MCM London Expo is this weekend, and with that in mind, the full program of events have been revealed to the public!
(Note - You can enlarge any of the images in this post by clicking on them.)



NOTE - The images in this post can be found in the official program of the weekends expo which is available to view in ebook form here.






















Some key notes for the Anime/Manga goers (from our perspective) are as follows -

*On Saturday at the Comic Village Stage, 11am is the start time for the Anime Industry panel and will include the "heads of the three biggest Anime distributors in the UK: MVM, Beez and Manga Entertainment".

*The Voice Actors panel (also at the Comic Village Stage on Saturday) featuring Roger Craig Smith, Stephanie Sheh and Michael Sinterniklass will be at 3pm.

*There will also be a Voice Actors panel at the same location on Sunday at 3pm featuring Roger Craig Smith, Stephanie Sheh and Michael Sinterniklass.

*There are two notable 'Star Guest Signing' areas marked on the floor plan. One by the 'Comic Village Stage' and the other behind the Tokyopop stall. It's quite likely voice actor signings will take place at one of the two. If past expos as anything to go by (or perhaps the smiley face that is looking straight at us when looking on the map), they'll likely be at the area located behind Tokyopop.

*Manga, Beez, MVM, Viz Media and Tokyopop are all located within close proximity of each other by on the cross road of 'Expo Boulevard' and 'Games Avenue' (see floor plan).

*The likes of Namco Bandai Games (showcasing the latest 'Naruto' and 'Dragonball' titles) and Temco Koei Europe are situated on 'Games Avenue'. These two companies in particular are located closer to MCM Expo Theatre (Stage 1).

*As was first revealed on the Manga UK twitter last week, there will be a variety of titles available at cheap prices at the Manga UK stall. (See picture below)


Source: MCM Expo Program ebook

UPDATE -

In an update to the above info, Manga UK revealed via Twitter that there will be free signings with Stephanie Sheh and Michael Sinterniklass at the Manga stand on Saturday from 2-3pm, and again on Sunday from 1-2pm.

Beez also confirmed through Twitter that they'll be stocking 'The Big O' (released this week in here in the UK),"...the last few of some of our Anime Legends print runs!" and, will likely have 'Mobile Suit Gundam Uincorn' volume 1 on Blu-Ray available for purchase.

Sources: Manga UK Twitter / Beez Twitter




For those of you cosplaying at the expo (particularly on Saturday), you might want to read the following from a press release sent to us by the press office of the expo -

This Saturday will see London MCM Expo playing host to the inaugural Euro Cosplay Championships Final, sponsored by Virgin Atlantic and Cosplay.com. And to judge the competition, which features 30 outstanding cosplayers from 18 countries, we’re flying in a trio of top notch international cosplay judges!

Coming all the way from Japan, Goldy is known the world over as the undisputed master of Gundam and mecha costumes. As well as meeting Expo visitors over the show weekend, Goldy will be displaying two of his newest costumes and even running a hands-on workshop for attendees on Friday.

Thaís Jussim - better known as Yuki - has been making costumes since 2000, winning several competitions in Brazil and becoming the best-known cosplayer in her country. In 2007, Yuki represented Brazil at the World Cosplay Summit in Nagoya, Japan, and she has thrice been a finalist of the Yamato Cosplay Cup International.

Jia Jem has been making award-winning costumes since 2003. Now retired from competition, she continues to share her cosplay knowledge both online and through convention workshops. Jia has travelled the world as a special guest, including events in Spain, Italy, Germany, Chile, Mexico and Japan.

This weekend’s London MCM Expo will also see the launch of the new Totally Cosplay zone; a dedicated area devoted to everything cosplay, including competitions, panels, workshops and a dedicated stage!

The new Cosplay area mentioned in the above information is situation in the 'Cosplay Cul-De-Sac', located next to the 'MCM Expo Theatre'. The fourth stage of the expo is known as 'Totally Cosplay' which (as you can probably guess by the name) is the dedicated are for Cosplay they mentioned! (See map for location)

Source: Press Release