A couple of times a year for a weekend, if you head up to London you may discover the trains  and tubes are filled with people dressed in a peculiar fashion: anything ranging from elf-like robes to space suits and all kinds of armour. This may seem strange at first, but this is known as cosplaying which is short for ‘costume play’, an art form where a person dresses as a certain character and may (or may not) act as the character. If you think dressing up is for little kids, you could not be more wrong. Lots of the cosplayers there take it very seriously spending days and nights making their costume, however cosplaying isn’t just for incredibly dedicated individuals. You see groups of friends together as characters from the same show, children with their parents playing Batman and Robin in cheap costumes ordered from the internet, I’ve even seen an adult Spider-Man high five a Spider-Kid. 

So where are they going? To Comicon, a ‘comic convention’, which is an extremely popular event for all types of nerds, geeks and fans alike. There are stalls selling all kinds of merchandise; books, comics, toys, games, food, you name it you can probably find it there! Sure you can find most of that in other places, but, do you get to play games which haven't been released yet? Do you get to quiz actors from your favourite TV or movie series, have photos or autographs with them? At Comicon you can. And there’s still more, little known comic artists get an opportunity to sell their stories and artists get a chance to sell their works too.

Community is a huge part of the comicon experience. Cosplayers love to take photos with each other, share their thoughts on the shows and compliment each others costumes, gamers enjoy sharing hints and tips for multiplayer or how to use a specific characters special attack more effectively. Those who’re there to sell their stock adore talking about it and some might even make the offer of ‘if you can answer this trivia question you can get something for free’, which is a great deal.

Food from all cultures of the world can be found in the food halls or stalls at comicon. If you want pizza, sandwiches, sweets, ramen, fish and chips, something you've never heard of before but still want to eat, you’ll be able to find it at comicon. Trying out different foods is always a highlight, Japanese sweets and food is usually in abundance along with some Korean meals too.

Eleanor Mackintosh, Millais