One Piece: Stampede Review

Howdy ladies and gentlemen of the internet, I’m back with another review and though it is a little later than I expected, I am sharing my thoughts on the latest film in the One Piece series; One Piece: Stampede via my podcast Film Focus.

On episode 90 of Film Focus, I’m reviewing One Piece: Stampede; the 14th film from the long-running anime/manga series which is directed by Takashi Otsuka. Now I have been a mega One Piece fan for just over a decade and thought the first trailer looked pretty cool, however, my hype levels really exploded when I found out that the film would have a limited release in the west with a couple of screenings in Canada. So I jumped at the chance to see an OP film at the cinema. So is the film good or not? Well, check out this spoiler-free review to find out.

Anyway here’s the review:

If you haven’t checked out my podcast before you can find it here: https://soundcloud.com/film_focus

So have you seen One Piece: Stampede and if so what did you think of it? Drop your thoughts in the comments section below and I’ll see ya in the next review, laters! 😀

 

AUDIO REVIEW: Dragon Ball Super: Broly

Howdy ladies and gents of the internet, I’m back again with another review and today I get to share my thoughts on Dragon Ball Super: Broly via my podcast, Film Focus.

Recently I shared my written review, however, I felt like I had more to say about this film and to properly illustrate how much this film means to me, I knew an episode on the podcast would be in order. Plus I also go into a little more detail about some of the stuff relating to the plot, characters and visual presentation. Now I have been following this film since the first teaser trailer and each bit of marketing has made my hype increase. And after waiting over a month after the initial Japanese release I’ve finally seen it and I am ready to pass judgement. So join me for this spoiler-free review to see how this latest Dragon Ball adventure turned out!

Check out my review below:

So have you seen Dragon Ball Super: Broly and if so what did you think of it? I really want to hear your thoughts on this film so drop your thoughts in the comments below and if you have some spare time subscribe to my podcast, Film Focus on Soundcloud and iTunes. Until next time, laters! 😀

 

Dragon Ball Super: Broly Review – I LOVE THIS FILM!

Howdy ladies and gents of the internet, its review time once again, first one of 2019 as well and today I am bringing you a very important review of a film I’ve been hyped to see for MONTHS! I am of course talking about Dragon Ball Super: Broly. Now I saw the film yesterday afternoon and I’ll just say it up front that I had one hell of a time with it and knew that I just had to write about it on my blog, so let’s not dilly dally and get on with this review. 🙂

Now, for those who aren’t aware, I LOVE Dragon Ball. I first came across Dragon Ball Z on Cartoon Network’s Toonami slot in 1999 and it changed my world forever as it opened my eyes up to the world of crazy shounen anime. And while my love the franchise started to wane in the late 2000s because of my new love for other anime especially One Piece, after the release of Battle of Gods, Resurrection F and the better episodes of the Super anime, I have found myself in love with this franchise as much as I was when I was 9-11 years old. So with the new Broly film coming out, I went from thinking “Oh they’re bringing Broly back again? Boo. I don’t want him,” But after learning about Toriyama’s involvement and the animation staff involved via AnimeAjay and my hype levels started to increase, and with the trailers, I went out of my mind waiting for this new film.

So the plot can be simply summed up as the following: “Goku and Vegeta encounter Broly, a Saiyan warrior, unlike any fighter they’ve faced before.” That’s the simplest way to put it. I could say more but then I would be getting into specific story details. This story is a simple yet effective one about revenge, sins of the past, control and free will. One of the things I loved about this story was the dramatic/emotional side of things, its something we rarely get to see in Dragon Ball and it was handled so well. The film was also incredibly funny and it had great moments of humour at just the right times. On top of that the film had so much great fan service for long-term fans of the series, and while there were some retcons and changes made to the mythology, it was handled in such a great way. The only nitpicks I had was that I wanted more time spent in the past and during the latter half of the film, the pacing is so quick that it’s a little hard to keep up. But these aren’t issues that deterred my positive experience.

As for the characters I really enjoyed how everyone was utilised. Because of the nature of the story, the cast is limited to Goku, Vegeta, Frieza and a handful of regular cast members and the new character exclusive to this film. With Goku and Vegeta they’re as great as ever with Goku being very carefree and funny but also a little wiser, while Vegeta is just as serious and badass as usual. Frieza was beyond hilarious but also just as sinister and corrupt too, Bulma was really good and hilarious, the use of Beerus and Whis was cool and though Piccolo’s use in this film was minor, it was delightful. As for the new characters, Lemo and Cheelai were great, Lemo was this wise old dude who was chilled out and cautious, while Cheelai (the new waifu for a lot of DB fans) was a spunky and cool lady who took a liking to Broly. And finally there’s Paragus and Broly, Paragus was a tough man who has held a grudge for many years and isn’t the nicest man or father, and Broly, unlike his previous film appearances, actually has a good backstory as a victim of circumstance so when he fights you feel for him. Oh, and the voice cast for the English dub was really good especially with Sean Schemmel, Christopher Sabat and Monica Rial.

From a presentation standpoint, it was beyond epic. Visually this was one of the most visceral, intense, spectacular and mind-bending films my eyes have ever experienced. This film features absolutely fluid animation with various camera angles, tracking shots, rotations, layering of effects and a beautiful art style for characters which looks drawn/illustrated and a great sense of scale, a wonderfully varied colour scheme for space,  planets, environments, beam attacks and so on. Several times I found myself in awe at the quality of the animation with character movement from subtle things like hair movement and background details. Also, the film score by Norihito Sumitomo was fantastic, Sumitomo’s work on the recent films and Super has been fantastic and here he creates some of his most emotionally driven, beautiful and intense material so far, and besides this weird song with lyrics implemented during one fight sequence, everything was perfect in the audio department.

So to conclude, Dragon Ball Super: Broly is just fabulous and it truly is a film made for fans. Now I know that my opinion on this film is incredibly biased and a number of people probably won’t love or like it due to their lack of attachment to the Dragon Ball franchise, however, I do believe this is the best film in this franchise thanks to it’s really fun and interesting story, great characters, brilliant presentation and wonderful fan service. This is a film experience I am that I got to have in the cinema and if you’re a fan of this franchise you owe it to yourself to check it out.

So have you seen Dragon Ball Super: Broly and if so what did you think of it? Did it meet, exceed or come below your expectations? Also, what did you think of the new version of Broly and the retcons to the mythology? Whatever your thoughts are, drop them in the comments below. Until next time, peace out! 😀

 

A Brief Look Back At The Dragon Ball Z Films

Howdy ladies and gents of the internet, it’s Christmas Eve and my present to you lot is another film-related topic that is ripe for discussion and today I’m sharing my thoughts on the 15 Dragon Ball Z films via my podcast, Film Focus.

Okay so here is a subject I’ve wanted to cover for a while, and after a few delays, I finally got around got around to discussing the Dragon Ball Z films. With Dragon Ball Super: Broly recently released in Japan and the western release in cinemas dropping in January, I thought it would be interesting to revisit all 15 of the Dragon Ball Z films and see how they held up. Now I love the Dragon Ball franchise, I grew up with DBZ and the films have are an interesting collection of material that ranges from pretty awesome to very bad, and I thought it would be fun to examine each of the films briefly and discuss:

1) The pros and cons.
2) The story, characters and presentation.
3) Whether the films have gotten better or worse after my recent viewings from a subjective point of view.

So join me on an epic journey through these series of films to see which of them hold up and which ones do not. 😀

P.S. I tried my best to be as thorough and objective as possible, but this episode does feature some minor mistakes, some biased opinions and some films that don’t get as much time as others due to certain films having more interesting elements than others. So if any of this stuff bothers you, apologies in advance.

Check out my review below:

So have you seen any of the Dragon Ball Z films and if so what did you think of it? Also, which one is your favourite and are you excited for the Broly film? I really want to hear your thoughts on this film so drop your thoughts in the comments below and if you have some spare time subscribe to my podcast, Film Focus on Soundcloud and iTunes. Until next time, laters! 😀

 

Check Out The Impressions In Motion Podcast!

Howdy ladies and gents how’s it going? As some of you may be aware I have my own podcast, Film Focus which I have promoted via this blog since I started it almost two years now. But that is not the only podcast I have been part of. Back in September my best homie Chris and I started a podcast entitled Impressions In Motion; a podcast dedicated to the discussion of film, tv and video games.

I still haven’t made up a proper logo for the podcast yet because I haven’t come up with a fancy enough, but hopefully, I’ll be able to sort something out soon. We’re currently on Soundcloud and YouTube and while we’re getting some views on YouTube, Soundcloud is a little lacking at the moment. So I thought I’d spread the word on here and ask you, my blogging homies to help me out and check out my material.

Here are some of the best episodes:

 

 

 

And here’s the latest episode where my friend and I did our top 10 films of 2017:

 

Doing this podcast is a lot of fun for me and my mate, not only because we like to joke around and say a lot of stupid stuff. But also because we’re lovers of film and anime especially, but our interests are so different, so it is fun to hear my friend’s opinion as it informs me on films or something else I wasn’t previously aware of.

Anyway, if you have some free time and enjoy casual yet in-depth conversation about film, tv, video games and stuff of that nature then please check out our podcast, it is fun little time for sure. 😀

Podcast on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/impressionsinmotion

Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1BOjv8CkxiZlJzvgeHHyQw/videos

Podcast on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/impressions-in-motion/id1323236990?mt=2

 

QUICK REVIEW: Pokémon the Movie: I Choose You!

Howdy ladies and gents, time a film review from the cinema and this is a review I didn’t expect to be writing as I’m gonna be giving you my thoughts on the latest Pokémon film, Pokémon the Movie: I Choose You! Now I heard from a friend that this film would get a UK release but thought it’d be exclusive to London where I could see it, but after a friend mentioned on Twitter that she was gonna see it in Sheffield, I looked at my local cinema and to my surprise, they had two screenings! So I watched the earlier screening and I’m ready to share my thoughts.

Now before I go on with the review I’m going to say this up front, I have a MASSIVE nostalgic love for Pokemon when it comes to the original games and first anime series, so this review will be a little on the subjective side. With all that being said let’s begin.

Firstly there’s the story which focuses on the journey of Ash Ketchum and Pikachu along with two new companions who join him on his quest to find the legendary Pokémon, Ho-Oh. So the interesting thing about the story is how its a loose retelling of the original 1997 anime with focus on Ash and Pikachu and how their journey began, there’s a lot of fun, smart and delightful callbacks and direct references for those who watched that show and I was smiling so much. 😀 I enjoyed the plot borrowed the anime and referenced the video games, but was largely its own original tale. It was full of adventure, fun, hardship, danger and more, the film’s core themes about friendship, learning from your mistakes, good triumphing over evil and being good to Pokemon should come as no surprise to veterans of the show, but they are handled very well and have more dramatic and emotional weight than a good few of the original films. There was one part where I rolled my eyes because it felt like a direct reference to The First Movie and one line of dialogue which was just cheesy as hell, that being said the film’s made with children in my mind so I got over it.

As for the characters, I thought they were solid for the most part. Ash Ketchum was the same character I knew from the show, a young, strong-willed and passionate trainer who is inexperienced and has a lot to learn. I was surprised how much of douche Ash was in this film, but it certainly worked in the context of the story, I still was annoyed with him at times, but he wasn’t as much of a bonehead as he was in the old anime, and Sarah Natochenny did a decent job as Ash considering her deeper voice. I liked Pikachu too, he was a sassy little prick at first but that was a good point in my mind, afterwards, I really grew to like him a lot more and his bond with Ash was cute to watch. The new characters Sorrel and Verity were interesting new companions, some will complain they aren’t the original characters, but I thought they added something new with their backstories and personality traits. Cross was the new rival/bad trainer who was the definition of an asshole, but he was great and had a solid arc in the film, I liked the quirky old man Bonzi and Marshadow, I liked at first but it really became a little pest later on. And finally Professor Oak and Ash’s mother return and feel just like the original selves, and Even Team Rocket return and they have some fun moments, but I swear they were even more useless than before and really added nothing to the film which was a shame after their initial introduction.

When it comes to the presentation I really liked it. Visually the film was solid. The way the camera work added a cinematic approach to that the anime lacked, certain shots are framed and tracked in cool and dynamic ways. Also, the art and animation were very nice, all of the characters and Pokemon had a loose yet fluid style to their movements and the colour scheme was good. I will admit the detail in the art was lacking occasionally and some of the 3D CGI didn’t always blend well with the 2D material, both those are minor nitpicks. The film score was fairly good, it had the right sound for each moment and worked effectively in the emotional moments, though sometimes the music didn’t match the action on-screen. And while the music is primarily original compositions, there are some cool references to the original soundtrack and theme song which was much appreciated.

In conclusion Pokémon the Movie: I Choose You! was really fun, intriguing and much better than I expected, it captured the spirit of the original show but also did a lot of new things to keep things interesting. If you’re a fan of the show you may be disappointed with some changes, however, if you’re willing to accept a few changes you’ll have a lot of fun. And stay for the credits, its hella fun and nostalgic! 🙂

So have you seen this film and if so what did you think of it? Be sure to leave your thoughts in the comments section below and I’ll see ya on the next review! 😀

 

London MCM Expo October 2016 Review

Howdy ladies and gents, how’s it going? Today I am back on my blog to talk about the London MCM Expo, I missed the convention back in May but decided to give the October one a go and after my session on Saturday I just wanted to share my experience with you all. 🙂

So for those not in the know, the London MCM Expo is pretty much the most notable UK convention for anime and manga, comic books, films  and video games held two times a year in May and October. And just like last year I attended just for the one day (mainly because I dunno if I could handle all three days), and for the most part it was a good time. And while I’m no longer wowed by a lot what happens at this convention because I’ve been attending this madness since 2008, there’s no denying that MCM is still a good time.

Now like last year’s review I’m going to talk about what I got up to and separate this review into two halves; what and I liked and what I didn’t.

What I liked

This year’s Expo experience was a little different as I was technically like a tour guide for my mates who had never gone before so it felt weird to have to explain certain things and show off my knowledge haha. But it was nice to be with a group of people who were taking in the energy and had that surprise about seeing all this stuff for the first time like me and my friends had a good few years ago. As usual I enjoyed just being in the Expo hall, walking around, seeing what was new, what was the same and checking out the clothes, artists, toys and games. And there’s the cosplayers, while a lot of them were the usual suspects, but at the same time there was a lot to love with a good people dressed as Rey from The Force Awakens, Spider-Man was in full effect (especially ones from Civil War) and the amount of cool-looking dudes I saw dressed as Deadpool and the BvS Batman was pretty impressive too. As for the games I didn’t dabble in much this year, however, me and my best mate from uni had a few rounds of Dragon Ball Z: Xenoverse 2, and it was surprisingly fun. While I don’t think it’ll ever replace my love for the Tenkaichi series, it is definitely more fun then than a lot of the recent DBZ games I’ve played.

This man was the best cosplayer I saw all day, I’ve not seen many people dress up as Hagrid at the Expo, but this guy was the best one ever, so accurate! 😀

I also ended up buying some really lovely art, got to talk to some cool artists and got my picture taken with Danny John-Jules who plays Cat from Red Dwarf which was awesome as he’s my favourite character next to Lister and Kryten. And then the night ended with this crazy winner stays on style of lightsaber battles just outside of the Excel Center, it was pretty cool and funny to see different people stepping up and having these fun little duels.

Meeting Danny John-Jules was great, I was very delighted.

What I disliked

Organisation, or should I say the lack of was fairly evident this year. Now I know this convention gets bigger every year and so it can be hard to accommodate so many people, but considering how many years this convention has been going down you’d think the basics would have been covered and yet there were a few issues when it came to:

• Lines to get in: Even though there was still organised lines for the people who had general and priority tickets, they got rid of the barriers that helped keep people structured and streamlined. So when me and my friends got to the Excel it took ages to get inside because there was a swarm of people rushing to through the barriers, plus I was very surprised by how little staff there were to check tickets and give out wristbands.
• Lines for Photo shoots: While it was a little better than last year, this year’s Expo still had problems with lines in terms of placing people and getting the photo shoots with specific celebrities to happen on time.

The only other things that I wanted to note was that this Expo felt a little lacking when compared to previous sessions with the types of guests, the amount of good games and unique stuff to buy.

In conclusion the MCM Expo in London was a good time. It is great to know after all these years that the Expo is still going strong with so many events, cosplayers, games and so on. While this year’s Expo will probably go down as my least favourite of my convention experiences, there were plenty of unique and memorable elements that made it worth attending. 🙂

So did you go to the recent MCM Expo and if so what did you think? Please be sure to share your thoughts in the comments below and I’ll see ya on the next blog post. Laters! 😀

 

Quick Thoughts on Fairy Tail Episodes 1-4

Howdy people of the internet, how’s it going? It feels like the longest time since I did an anime review (even though I reviewed DBZ: Resurrection F not too long ago), however it’s been a while since I talked about a TV series, so today I’m giving you a brief anime review of Fairy Tail.

Before I do the review, let me give you some history about me and this show. I started Fairy Tail back in 2010 when it was first aired and I watched up until around episode 30 and gave up, why? Because the show just never got that interesting and became a chore to watch so I bailed. However, the anime kept going well beyond what I thought it deserved and there was even a notable fan base for this franchise that started to grow over the years as well. So I’ve always wanted to check back to see if the show did get better or not. So this week I decided to check it out again and now I’m gonna give you my thoughts on the show so far from episode 1-4.

With Fairy Tail what I do like about it is that it has a nice visual style with the art direction, the music’s unique, the characters all have a quirky and strange personalities and the world has some interesting law and mythology. However, for all the show’s unique elements there isn’t anything exceptional or amazing about it that makes it start out when compared to other Shounen shows.

Story-wise so far the show has introduced Lucy, a lady wizard who wants to join a famous guild known as Fairy Tail and she eventually comes across Natsu and Happy, and after some crazy mishaps they establish a connection and become allies doing jobs as a group in the Fairy Tail guild. So far the stories have been one-off episodic adventures with no real significance besides a bit of character building and world establishment. The humour is mainly of the slapstick nature with a lot of physical humour and verbal jokes, some which work and some that don’t, a lot of the recurring jokes like Natsu’s motion sickness, Gray’s loss of clothes and a lot of the stuff that Happy gets old pretty quickly and I feel like the humour isn’t nearly as funny as the show seems to think it is. As for the characters they’re all okay. So far Natsu is fun, cocky and strong, but not nearly as charming or as cool as I think he should be. Lucy besides being pretty is a little silly and sassy and that tends to be both a good and bad thing depending on the situation. Happy has his moments, however, most of the time I find him annoy and Gray, at this point in time is just there.

Well at least the intro is cool, “Snow Fairy” by Funkist is gorgeous and it is easily one of the most kicks ass opening songs ever.

In the end Fairy Tail‘s not bad but it’s not bad and has potential to be more, unfortunately a good deal of the stories and characters are just stereo typical of the Shounen genre. But I’m willing to give it a try because I’m curious to know why this show is still airing and if it could be something I could love.

 

QUICK REVIEW: Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection ‘F’

Howdy ladies and gents, a belated happy new year to you all and hope you had a good transition into 2016. So with my first post of the new year what better way to start than to do a film review, and today I’ll be talking about Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection ‘F’. I had the fortune of getting to watch this early this morning and after it was over I had to review it just like when I covered Battle of Gods. So without further ado let’s talk about this film.

The story can be summed as the following:

“After The god of destruction Beerus decided to not destroy the Earth, the planet is back again in peace. But, Sorbet and Tagoma, previous Frieza’s servants, decide to revive his leader using the Dragon balls. Succesful in his plan, Frieza decides to return to Earth to start his revenge against the Saiyans who humiliated him once.”

The story for this film is serviceable, there is nothing significant that takes place and it is more like an episode of the old show, but adapted for film instead. What makes this film work though is the attention to detail when it comes to the history of the series. I love how this film was in direct continuity with not only Battle of Gods but also with the show, it made everything feel simple and cohesive. There are plenty of references and call backs to characters and events that took place, whether it was character interactions between Frieza and the Z-Fighters, the mention of Majin Buu or the fact that Future Trunks came back to the past to kill Frieza, there are a lot of cool easter eggs to be found, some are big and some are subtle, but it is a lot fan service. And there lies the film’s biggest strength; the fan service. It’s in full force, from the dialogue Frieza has to the use of the secondary Z-Fighters in battle to the crazy transformations and power increases, this is classic DBZ and there’s plenty to appreciate if you’re a long time fan of this franchise.

However, the film has issues like:

1. The film doesn’t further the law: Battle of Gods was great because there was a lot of interesting themes, but also because it or expanded the DB universe by introducing Beerus, his history and the concept of the Super Saiyan God. With this film, there wasn’t too many new elements incorporated.
2. Inconsistencies with the previous film & series: There were a few things that felt inconsistent or handled strangely like how powerful was Frieza’s new transformation was in comparison to Goku’s Super Saiyan God form and how could he fight on such a level after only four months of training? Or how in the last film Shenron granted one wish and left, but then in this film he could grant two (which was something Dende sorted out for Earth just after the Cell Games), so that was a bit off. And there were just a few other things that bugged me like that.
3. The story was a bit underwhelming with a lack of stakes: For all the nostalgia the story was a bit inconsequential and formulaic, Frieza’s return was fine and all but his motivations were so petty and his actions had no real consequences for anyone outside of Earth. And when something pretty crazy does happen, it is underdone by a simple plot device, and by the end of the film, as fun as it was, it feels like there was no need for it to have taken place.

But where this film succeeds over the last DBZ film is in its presentation, as this film provides far more action and fights from veteran characters outside of Goku and Vegeta. Visually this film was incredible. This is the classic art style married with some very slick and fluid animation which makes all the punches and kicks, beams and flying sequences really pop. There were a lot of really cool “Fuck yeah!” moments from several of the individual fight sequences and with some modern camera movements incorporated it added a level of speed and intensity that the series wasn’t able to pull off before. Oh and the english dub voice talent return to great effect and the sound effects are just as great as ever. Now some of the CGI sequences are ugly and unneeded, and some of the 2D animation looked like it could have been better, and I wasn’t keen on some of the music inserts too, but overall everything came together nicely.

In the end Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection ‘F’ was a lot of fun and from a nostalgic standpoint it succeeds at being an entertaining session with all of the action sequences and throwbacks to the DBZ series, however, there were certain issues with the plot and use of characters that held the film back from being better. Make no mistake, if you want some classic DBZ action with modern animation and nothing more, then this is for you, but if you’re looking for something a little more substantial, then you may be disappointed.

Rating: 8/10 (The film gets one extra point for the action sequences)

So have you seen Resurrection ‘F’ and if so what did you think of it? Please comment below and I’ll see ya on the next review, laters! 😀

 

London MCM Expo May 2015 Review

Howdy ladies and gents, today I am here to give you my review on the London MCM Expo. Now it has been AGES since my last review of this convention (the last one being in 2011), but I felt like I had to talk about it considering all the madness that’s took place. Now before I get started I just wanted to mention that I only did the one day because I just didn’t have the funds or the free time outside of work to attend all three days. But that’s about it. Okay, let’s get going!

So the London MCM Expo, the biggest UK convention for anime, manga, comic books, movies and video games held two times a year in May and October, it came back this weekend, and I attended for the first time in two years. Last year marked the first time I hadn’t attended since I started going in 2008 which was really random to me, but since I had a great time at the London Film and Comic-Con in July, that more than made up for it. That being said, this event, even though it has gotten absurdly huge and different in appearance over the years, I have such a heavy load of good nostalgia associated with this convention, so it was only a matter of time until I went back. And my Saturday experience was a combination of joy, extreme happiness, tiredness, frustration and confusion. Make no mistake, MCM is still a great place to go for a unique and joyful experience, but some of its pleasures come at a cost, and I’m not just talking about you wallet.

Now I’m going to talk about what I got up to and separate this review into two halves; what and I liked and what I didn’t.

What I liked

This year was all about seeing what’s new, what’s remained the same and enjoying myself, and there was plenty to enjoy. Going to the Expo this year I noticed how huge the hall space was, I feel like it’s doubled in size since my first time in 2008. Walking from one side to the other felt like a 5-10 minute walk, but if you weren’t walking straight, stuck in walking traffic or had to make certain turns at different spots, then it would be a slightly longer trip.

There was this nice wall of cat drawings and I contributed as well, the one cat with his eyes closed and arms crossed on the yellow paper was mine. 😀

In terms of what I got up to, well I didn’t play too many games, see too many talks or even see the Cosplay Masquerade, but I did get to talk to some great artists, play some games and get some photos with some guests. I took a fair few photos of cosplayers. After 2012 I really lost interest in taking photos because I stopped making YouTube videos and it felt more like work than something I liked doing, so I really wasn’t going to do much this year, but then I got a good few photos this year. And just in general there was a lot of great costumes on show, loads of Star Wars, Star Trek, Batman, Spider-Man, Final Fantasy and Nintendo-related characters among many others. I was surprised by the amount of Game of Thrones characters with a good few Margaery Tyrell and Daenerys Targaryen ladies walking about.

When it comes to games I viewed some cool matches from Dragon Ball Z: Xenoverse, enjoyed seeing J-Stars Victory VS in action and looking at all of the crazy attacks and multiple characters from different anime in one place. The only other game I checked out was One Piece: Pirate Warriors 3, it looked a little more impressive than I thought, while the game looked just like your standard hack and slack with really dumbass CPU enemies that run around just to get beating up, but when I saw Fujitora in action with crazy attacks, combos and finishing moves it made me want to by the game. But when it comes to the games I actually played, it comes down to Splatoon and Super Smash Bros. Wii U.

Firstly, even though I’ve had no interest in Splatoon at all since its reveal at E3 last year because it wasn’t my kind of thing, I thought I should have at least given it a try. So with the demo on show I gave it a try and I found it to be pretty fun and much better than I expected. Running around, shooting ink, swimming and defending your territory, it was pretty fun. I even ended up getting the most ink covered for my team and didn’t die once, for a first-timer that was great. The controls felt a bit weird though with the use of the Wii U Gamepad to move the camera around and that threw me off when I trying to move around and defend myself from enemies.

But then I played some Smash Bros. and that’s when things got interesting. For me, this game series is my jam and this was the first time I got to play the game with a Gamecube controller (and it felt amazing), so we played a 6-player stock match, 5 humans and 1 Amiibo and 3 lives. The first match was hectic and it came down to me as Captain Falcon vs Ness, unfortunately I lost, but in the second match I came back with a vengeance as Lucina and schooled Ness as I sent him plummeting into the abyss! The final match I played as Fox, but was knocked out fairly early on because that tricky Mega Man Amiibo kept moving all over the place and giving me problems. 😛

Oh yeah you that where there’s an Expo there will be some Smash Bros. action for me!

But the highlights for me was three things:

• Meeting John Noble
• Meeting Iain De Caestecker
• Meeting Jon Schnepp and seeing “The Death of Superman Lives”: What Happened?

The main reasons I went to this convention was for those three points listed above. When it comes to the photo sessions, when I saw that John Noble, yes, the Walter Bishop from Fringe was gonna be there, I literally exploded in my mind at the chance to see him. So waiting to see him yesterday was insane, long and extremely tedious, but just getting there, meeting him, shaking his hand and being so humbled by his kindness, it was the best kind of overwhelming experience. It was a heartpounding and lovely moment. And then I got to meet Iain De Caestecker later on, I liked him in Filth, but I’ve mainly been invested in his performance as Leo Fitz from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and the guy was SO nice and friendly, loved it.

Overwhelming happiness, that’s what it these photos were all about yo!

And the final part of my day was seeing a screening of The Death of “Superman Lives”: What Happened?, the documentary from Jon Schnepp looking into the cancelled Superman film from Tim Burton starring Nicholas Cage. Seeing this film was great, it was such an intriguing and informative look into a film that got so far into development but then got canned. All of the great guest contributors, archive footage, editing and humour all came together in such a fantastic and fascinating manner. This was definitely a story that needed to be told and I’m glad that Schnepp was able to get this documentary finish. And speaking of Schnepp, I just wanted to comment on how great it was to see the man in person. He introduced the film and then did a Q&A afterwards and he was just as hilarious, charming and humble as he is on AMC Movie Talk and getting to meet him after all of these years of watching the online show felt like a dream. Oh and shaking his hand was such a delightful feeling. 😀

Such a good film, one I would recommend to anyone who is curious about this project.

What I disliked

Firstly I have to address the LINES!

Now I know exactly how Cartman felt, it was enough to drive one to madness.

Now I’m no stranger to standing in lines at events like this and I’ve gotten used to it especially when it comes to playing games, watching the Cosplay Masquerade or getting autographs/photos with celebrity guests… That being said, usually there’s a system in place so that you know where to go when you start to queueing and avoid collisions with the general public just passing by, but NOPE, not this year. Those guys at the Excel really dun goofed this year. When it came to photo sessions specifically there was no order, everyone was everywhere, lines for certain people were spread across three different locations, some people skipped the queue altogether and the general public just trying to get by had to force their way through. There was SO much frustration and it was all because of miscommunication and lack or order.

And the staff, they had no clue. Really, you could have asked four or five staff members where you were meant to stand before you got the correct answer  and by that point you had probably wasted 30-45 minutes of your time. And only after allowing you to stand in the wrong places do the get organised and attempt to get a system in place for the different queues passing into each other, and even then, there was conflicting information and a lack clear instructions because no one had a bloody megaphone! I know I complained about the waiting periods at London Film and Comic-Con last year for their outside lines, however, at least their photo session tickets had clear sections to stand in and system in place for calling you up when it was your turn. This kind of thing can’t continue in the future as the fans I was standing with were ready to revolt out of anger, confusion and sore legs.

Now imagine these lines, but with 5 to 10 times as many people squashed in one spot. Chaos!

The only other thing I would complain about is more of a nostalgic nitpick, and it relates to the state of the Expo. A few years ago this convention was big, but it was controlled, fun and felt unique, but in recent times the convention has gotten a little too big. There’s so much going on with the stalls, events and guest stars, I feel like the event’s gotten too big and out of control. Sure making the Expo bigger to accommodate more stuff is always interesting for new and returning fans, but I feel like this isn’t the event I remember and some of the charm has been lost.

In conclusion the MCM Expo in London was a good time. After a little break from this convention it was nice to go back and revisit the place that exposed me to the madness of fans and the content on display. This even was pretty frustrating though, unorganised staff, loads of queues and lack of information really knocked this experience down a few pegs, if the Expo is to continue then it needs to get its act together. But other than those formalities I had a hella good time and should I find a reason to return in the future I may do so.

So did you go to the recent MCM Expo and if so what did you think? Please be sure to share your thoughts in the comments below and I’ll see ya on the next blog post. Laters! 😀