Brighton Film and Comic Convention 2015

Conventions are fantastic places. There is something so very special about an entire building full of people who are all there because of a shared interest. They are a place to see and discover new things, meet new people or even rekindle an old interest. A place to admire people's effort and work that they put into what they love, and a place to find inspiration for your own talents.

They're also a good place to spend lots of money and get annoyed at yourself for not taking enough money for that thing you've always wanted and you knew it would probably be there and you kind of deliberately didn't take enough money because you thought you might buy it...

and I'm pretty sure these can apply to almost any type of convention, for anyone with any interests. Conventions are special, and I would highly recommend that you find one for something you're interested in and just go to it.

A few weeks ago, the conference hall of the Hilton hotel in Brighton was rammed with guests for the Brighton Film and Comic Convention. As I've written about my interest in visiting conventions before (here and here), I couldn't resist the chance to go to a Film and Comic Convention in my own city.

So now I am just going to overload your browsers with pictures of some of the fantastic costumes and creations that were on show that weekend. These are some of my favourites that I saw, and I can't thank the people wearing them enough for letting me bother them with my camera. Enjoy! Please excuse the varying light conditions. I'm not one for on-camera flash and the lighting was not quite as forgiving as the MCM Expo from the last time I uploaded any cosplay.

Dawn of the Rise of the Cosplay of the Original Planet of the Apes 

The first 'new' Harley Quinn I saw in the day, accompanied by who I assume is Joel from The Last of Us.

When playing Mario Kart at 200 CC (Reverse) goes horribly wrong... 

Now-non-canonical-characters have a place to hang out. Apart from that middle guy might be Kylo Ren. He can do what he wants.

After some consideration, I've decided, not to endorse your park...

Scarecrow and Harley

A Tusken Raider gets straightened up before heading out onto the convention floor.

And here we have, I feel, the clear winner of my imaginary cosplay competition - 

Jump in the line, rock your body in time.

Then came the shopping. After looking at custom Nintendo 64's...

Jurassic World Monopoly...

and an imported copy of Jurassic Park for the Sega Megadrive/Genesis...

...or Jurashikku Pāku to you japanophiles out there...

I finally settled on some badges and keyrings, which were much more in my price range.

It wouldn't be a complete convention trip without some minor celebrity spotting. Ticked off the list from this one we have -

• James Marsters
• George A. Romero
• Carl Weathers
• Kenny Baker

...which is a pretty solid victory, if you ask me.

Seven Days of Cosplay

As the title suggests, these might not be the most recent photos. But remember; cosplay is forever, not just during events during the month of May.

A few years ago, I visited the MCM Comic Con. Lots of awesome things to buy and awesome things to look at and things and things and things. I went with a friend, had a laugh and took a camera just to take. The photos captured my memory of the day perfectly, but I really felt like I'd missed a trick by not taking a bit more time and care in actually taking the photos.

Evidently I didn't think any of them were worth having as separate images.

For a photographer, going to these conventions is a load of fun (beside the point that I love most of the stuff they have there anyway). The cosplayers dedication to their image and the time you can see that they have put into their costumes is such a draw for me. You really get to see some fantastic, mind blowing creations, and I hadn't felt like I had captured that on my first trip. So when I decided to visit the convention again this year, in May, I also decided that this time was going to be different. Being a lot more confident than I was two or three years ago, I went, camera in hand, boldly annoying people throughout the entire day. Here are some of my favourite shots that I took



First up we have Raiden and Bladewolf from the wonderful Metal Gear Solid spinoff "Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance." Now before we all get worked up again about that absurdity of the word "Revengeance" (although Blogger's spell check definitely won't let me ignore it), let's just take a moment to think about how fun that game actually is and also how fun this is as a double costume. It's definitely not one I would have thought of myself, and think it's a pretty fantastic idea.



These cordyceps fungus sufferers from "The Last of Us" were doing a great job of stumbling around making noises at passers by. That's dedication.



More cosplay teamwork here from some genderswapped Adventure Time characters!



進撃の巨人! There was plenty of Attack on Titan cosplay around, but this Female Titan was one of the best. Especially the eye makeup. Creepy.



The Ice King and his penguins. Probably one of the more original double costumes that was around at the event!



This was by far the best Princess Mononoke that I came across at the event. Definitely the best mask.



Either screaming with pure delight or absolute terror. It's hard to tell sometimes.



No one ever really takes into account the feelings of their Pokemon. Sometimes they just feel a little emotional.



And here to finish is some amazing Futurama cosplay, posed with by my partner in crime!

Such dedication.

So cosplay.

Actually, we can't finish without the classic "Nerd and Storm Trooper" image

I hope everyone going this weekend has fun! No matter how you feel about this convention, you can't deny that it's a whole lot of fun when you do actually go.