London Comic Con 2023: photos from the wildly creative subculture

For anyone involved in the hyper-dedicated world of anime, comic books and video games, MCM Comic Con is the place to be if you want to immerse yourself in the fandom, cop exclusive merch, and connect with fellow fans. Taking place inside the self-contained fantasy universe of London’s ExCel Centre, the three-day epic is where pop culture meets cosplay, with attendees dressed in brightly coloured and brilliantly elaborate costumes, from Pikachus and pink-haired Lolitas to the Piranha plant from Mario and an endless cast of Baldur’s Gate characters.

“MCM Comic Con is such a nostalgic place for me, I first went there back in 2005 as Ichigo from Tokyo Mew Mew when it was really the only place you could connect with other anime and manga fans except for random forums,” says photographer Daisy Davidson, who is behind the hugely popular Instagram account, Hysteric Fashion. “It’s evolved so much over the years but it still has such an earnest energy as a place where people can connect with one another about what they love and express it in their own way via cosplay.”

Previously, Comic Con would be a space for nerds and weebs from various corners of niche internet fandom to come together. But now the mainstreaming of anime and video games post-pandemic has birthed a new gen of eager fans, whose online dedication to their respective fandoms spills out into the IRL convention. “I think in a sense, back in the day, Con was a place to connect because online communication wasn’t so easy,” says Davidson. ”Now, it’s almost too online that actually connecting with people IRL is such a refreshing thing to experience – it’s kind of gone in a full loop of why it holds such an importance to fans and how we connect.”

“I love how the energy is still as excitable and friendly as it was many years ago when being able to connect with other fans was much harder to do,” they conclude. “People still are so happy to chat and seeing the excitement people have when seeing someone wearing a cosplay of a character they like is so wholesome.”

Take a look for yourself in the gallery above.