This post is a writeup of my visit to the Birmingham NEC for MCM ComicCon 2023

History

It's amazing how much has changed since my last visit. MCM Brum was the very first convention I went to where I actively kigged, so it has a special place in my heart. In a way its where my kig convention career started, back in 2019 -- 4 years ago...

Back then I debuted Y'shtola and Renamon, my handler was CISCO Clown back then

And now, four years, later, I return with multiple new characters and an entire wardrobe of costumes

Yes, in case you didn't know, in the time between my first convention and now, I've developed some tricks, including using an old studio frame, originally intended for holding a green screen drape, as a makeshift hangers rail. It's not totally stable, but it does collapse into a very handy and compact space, so I use it in all my trips -- I just need to make sure there's enough space to put it up.

Weather

The UK has been going through a very cold spell with temperatures often hitting, or dropping below 0 deg C (32 deg F)

I was planning on taking Jessica Rabbit to the convention, but wasn't sure if I could survive the sub-zero temperatures, so on the way up, I decided to pick up some suitable winter wear

Day 1

On day 1, I was solo, so I went up to the hall unkigged in order to get my lanyard -- but it turns out they were using wristbands instead of lanyards, so I had to ask them not to put it on my wrist so I could put it on myself. I ended up using the loosest hole so I could slide my gloved hand through it later.

I bought some One Punch Man prints so my boss (their kids love the show and he found out I was going to MCM so asked me to keep an eye out -- however forking out between £40-£100 for figures was probably a bit too much of an ask)

so I took Jessica in her Winter coat up to the hall and then removed the coat and put it in a bag I was carrying. I had her heels there, but I opted to stay in sneakers for now

I discovered the life lobby had a floor-to-ceiling mirror surface, so perfect to show off Jessica in her full glory...

I also had a nice visit from Moxxie Hellhound who was very keen to get to be closer to Jessica.

VERY close (not that I'm complaining!)

Funny thing is, I've only known Moxxie since I happened to get a picture of him during MCM London in October last year.

Problem here was that during that visit, my Jessica skinsuit finally decided to give up the ghost (it had been having problems since the beginning, most of the problems were hidden by the dress, but this time it was not having it and decided to rip, the zipper decided to stop working (you could zip it but the teeth would no longer hold), and the zipper decided to detach from the fabric entirely...

So no Jessica for the foreseeable future. However, combining Azami with it might still be possible

ChaosKig arrived in the evening to do Days 2 and 3

Day 2

I went through the ticket queue with ChaosKig even though I had my wristband already. Looks like they are giving single use bands for the single-day ticket holders

My first kig spot was Sakura Lotus. Here she is talking to two cosplayers whom I'm 99% sure were female maskers (the two on the right of the picture). I didn't get a chance to get a picture of their faces.

After picking up ChaosKig's band, we headed back and got changed.

I made use of the mirror again

As we went around, we bumped into a random person who turned out to be a kig themselves: ConvolutedKig and they helped act as handler for us and even got some pictures

I went back (Jack Izumi walked me back to the hotel) and on the way, we stopped off at the nearby hotel where some of the kigs were staying, Skye snapped this of me:

I swapped to my newest girl: A Tio-model Sigma (as yet unnamed). We bumped into Skye Hayashi and a HK kig: "touch"

Sakura Lotus got some selfies with Tio

Back at the hotel later that evening, ChaosKig tried out Tio:

Day 3

ChaosKig had to get his wristband for this day too, and decided to do it in kig. I went in ahead as I had weekend. I took Jennifer in again. I wanted to bring her black lolita look, but I couldn't zip up the side, for some reason. So I took her original look instead.

I got a photographer who took this using my phone. I actually liked how this came out. My only minor critique is that I wasn't framed in the middle of the picture but other than that, I really like this picture.

While going around during this round, I stumbled on this Sailor Moon kig: thatcrazymagicalgirl -- who appeared to be staying at the same hotel as Chaos and I

And we walked about together, hand in hand. And as we headed out to cool down, we bumped into Helenako Chan

I swapped out to Tio again, but this time with a darker theme. I have a Dark Gothic themed coat and dress, so took it with her. Unfortuately, the video doesn't pick up all the detail on the coat. It is very figure hugging and I like it :)

After four hours, I headed out of the hall while ChaosKig (and Sakura Meiji) went round together and took the chance to run my zentais and under armors through the wash, leaving them to hang overnight to dry.

One underarmour dried pretty quickly, Jessica's zentai also. The second underarmor took a few hours and the BJD zentai took overnight.

Post Con

Most people checked out on the Sunday. I always prefer to spend an extra night so I don't drive tired. Walking 4+ hours then driving 2+ hours is gonna be dangerous.