Okay well to start off with, the venue was much smaller than I thought... If I compared it to conventions like MCM expo or Hyper Japan, I was pretty surprised. But then again, I didn't realise it was hosted by a student union. 

Located in Holloway road, some people may have recognised a bunch of cosplayers and more queuing outside the venue which is surprisingly nearby City and Islington college. The benefit of receiving press passes allowed us to get immediate entry to the venue after 10AM or so whilst others waited outside before entering. 

I think my main objective of the day was mainly to capture various cosplays which were on show as I was working alongside some friends acting as an assistant and picking up photography skills along the way. 

At the event, there were a few locations to head to, from the downstairs which featured low-key lighting with a small stage for guests, with doors leading to the small gaming room (inside there was Taiko drumming along with DDR and Super Smash Bros) as well as a door leading outside where you had that strong smell of BBQ food - trust me it made me feel so hungry but the prices made me question my appetite opps. The outside was pretty spacious where some of the cosplayers went to chill and trust me, I think my favourite part of the day was hanging there and creating dance videos with the group. Check out the video here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=713kSMAB2Zs

There was also the upstairs which had a much bigger stage where we had a host with two screens on the left and right which featured anime related videos. The event was originally an 18+ but recently it became more of an all ages event - you could see little kids running around aha. Anyways, also upstairs there were more stalls with the space in the hall much bigger than the downstairs. Whilst I was upstairs I managed to bump into two of the members of M.O.E otherwise known as the Maids of England. Here are Maid Nadeshiko (left) and Maid Miyuu (right).

However other than cosplayers and a few guest performances and interviews I didn't find that there was much to do, as the activities that you could do were quite limited. Before I chose to leave early, I proceeded to have a game of Taiko drumming. This is a Japanese game which involves an interactive drum, you have two types of colours in the game, and orange and a blue. For the blue coloured circles, you had to tap the edge of the drum, for the orange coloured circles you tapped the centre of the drum. For the small circles you usually hit with one stick, whilst the big circles you had to hit both simultaneously. E.g. for a big blue circle, you would hit both of the sides (left and right) with your sticks. The game is one of my favourite Japanese games, there's quite a few songs to choose from but it was difficult when all you could hear was DDR (Dance Dance Revolution) in the background playing Kyary Pamyu Pamyu's PonPonPon...

In conclusion, for it's money worth, I don't think it's the greatest convention to spend your money on - but that's just from my personal opinion it may be different for others...

Make sure to check out M.O.E, TobiNinjaFox and Nwanzo.

(I was working with Tobi as his assistant on the day, whilst Nwanzo was a new friend I made who is known for his convention videos).

Here is an example of TobiNinjaFox's work:

M.O.E's Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/Maidol.M.O.E

TobiNinjaFox's Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/TobiGaaraDango

TobiNinjaFox's website:

http://tobininjafox.com/
Nwanzo's Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/Nwanzo
Nwanzo's YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/user/NZOMVideos