MCM Birmingham 2019
Covid-19 has had a large impact on everyone’s lives. Having people seclude themselves indoors for seemingly months on end and only having essential shops open. It is only recently that other non-essential retail stores have opened – even then there are new measures put in for health and safety. Many events like festivals and concerts have either been postponed or cancelled altogether. Conventions have been no exception with some of the biggest conventions hosted by MCM being cancelled.
MCM London Comic Con Covid-19 Statement
With the U.K.’s latest lockdown rules, from when this was written, we’re still currently limited to what we can do outdoors. You are only allowed to visit other people at their homes if they’re in a support bubble and big events can only really happen when if they are taking place outdoors where people can keep their distance from one another.
With the recent news of MCM comic con London being cancelled, is that it for cons for the rest of 2020?
Up until now many fans of geek culture were still holding out hope that MCM London in October would still take place after the cancellation of all MCM conventions prior to that event. This meant the closure of MCM London November would have been the last chance most people would have had to attend a convention for 2020.
MCM Birmingham 2019
This means that with the larger conventions deciding to cancel and postpone their events till 2021, it is likely that smaller conventions will follow this trend. This would be due to the fact that it would be hard to host any convention with the latest lockdown rules in place. Simply put a convention wouldn’t be able to reach its expected potential of enjoyment and fulfilment for fans who attend. With conventions being a heavily socially interactive environment, a convention that would have restrictions on those customs would take the heart out of it and what a fair few people enjoy.
Liverpool Comic Con 2020 with its seemingly never ending busy period
This is evident when I interviewed cosplayers and asked them what their favourite thing about going to conventions was.
The_AnyaPanda: “The opportunity to share your interests with other fans and have the chance to collaborate with photographers and other cosplayers.
I also love getting to make new friends — some of my best friendships I’ve made at conventions.
The love and support you experience is an incredibly up-lifting and magical experience and it’s definitely what keeps cons exciting for me.”
Spidey_Morpher: “Favourite things about conventions are you getting to show everyone your costume
“You get to meet actors, comic artists, writers you look up to and being in a venue full of like minded people.
“You also meet up with friends and make new ones.”
Cravendalebeast: “Probably meeting up with friends and seeing some familiar faces.
“Along with meeting other people from the same fandoms and getting photos.”
23.loucosplay: “Because the conventions are usually held annually or semi-annually, my favourite thing about going to them is having the opportunity to catch up with fellow cosplaying friends and also meet new cosplayers too.”
It's clear that to a lot of people, the social interaction you get from attending a convention is one of the main reasons why so many people enjoy going. It gives you a chance to share your passion of a fandom with tons of other people who have a similar interest.
That being said if conventions were to happen this year and would be limited to a very conservative version of what you expect from your standard comic con. This is most likely the reason why all conventions of this sort will be postponed until 2021. This will be disappointing for many but it does seem that people are understanding of why conventions have chosen to cancel their events.
MCM's comment section to their announcement of their cancellation of MCM London
I reached out to MCM for a comment on their recent announcement and if they had any plans to incorporate any new safety measures for upcoming conventions in 2021. They responded by saying that people should keep an eye out for updates on their website and that they don't have any further comments at this time.
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