London's Biggest Frozen Yogurt Party

Mayamada is teaming up with Tutti Frutti.frozen yogurt (Bedford st) the UK's tastiest frozen yogurt company to bring you a treat filled day for fun lovers only on Saturday 13th April from 3pm!

Love mango and chocolate? In the same cup? Then you're in luck....and a little weird. This and many other combinations will be available plus a brand new combination will be unveiled for one day only.

Once you've had your favourite flavour, head downstairs where you'll be able to check out the mayamada pop up shop featuring their fantastic range of anime inspired t-shirts, new comic, snapback caps plus the first showing of their brand new 2013 hoodie.

Things will quickly turn competitive with lively video gaming sessions during the afternoon open to people of all shapes, sizes and hand-eye coordination levels. Race around Mushroom Kingdom in the Mario Kart tournament or engage in fruit based violence in the Fruit Ninja tournament. With prizes for the victors be sure you bring your competitive streak with you. Capping the event off will be the return of the giant Jenga tournament that was a huge hit at the 2012 event. Players will compete in fast paced rounds for the chance to be crowned Jenga King or Queen. And while they last, tasty mayamada cupcakes will given away for those that arrive before 6pm so do not miss out on this one day extravaganza and get your free tickets right now!

LINKS

Mayamada website: www.mayamada.com

Event information and free tickets: http://frozentees2013.eventbrite.co.uk

Facebook event page for latest news: http://on.fb.me/11LkRJS

For more information about this event, or the brand in general, please contact the mayamada team at
press@mayamada.com.

George Galloway at the photobooth?

George Galloway, his wife and owner of Indonesian restaurant Toki East West

So the Purikura (photo sticker machine) booth I go to randomly was visited by George Galloway (past British MP) and his wife. Indonesian restaurant owner Ah told me his wife is Indonesian so they came for the food XD Random but nice -would love to encounter some modern celebs at LSPC soon.

Gakunowa Project

Kajon & me check her out: http://kajon.jp/

Been attending events by 'Gakunowa', they  are a London-based music community with the aim to expand and develop the music network hosted by Japanese musicians.

樂ノ輪とは、音楽好きの音楽好きによる音楽好きのための日本人ミュージシャン応援コミュニティです。現在ロンドンに滞在している日本人を中心とした音楽好きな人々が集まり、音楽の話をし、親睦を深め、その輪を広げていこうという目的のもとに活動をしています。

Flaviya Ke 

More information: http://www.gakunowa.com/ 

Follow them on Facebook for more news of upcoming events: http://www.facebook.com/Gakunowa

 I have reviewed two of there events so far on animepicks.co.uk

SociaLive vol 2 2012

and more recently their free event:

Mad Hatter's event at The Alleyway.

Flaviya Ke's Youtube check this fashionista out:

http://www.youtube.com/user/petiteapetite

MCM London 2012: Kawaii Stalls

Along my adventures at MCM, I came across a lot of unique and cute stalls – I have found a range of interesting items and brands you should all check out and show some love as it’s these independent companies that gives us the much loved trends aka the Llama frenzy – a must have companion for all Lolita’s brought to us by Tofu Cute.

http://www.facebook.com/TofuCute

Super kitch jewellery by Purple Rooster, it’s not just Pikachu made out of fimo clay, t’s a a pika-cake  some lovely designs wearable by men and women, I especially loved the Onyx necklace.

http://www.facebook.com/PurpleRoosterr

I found Pokemon fanatics where they were selling all things Poke-related, my favourite prizes from this stall were the awesome poke-badges form the first series!

Since the boom of the zombie craze has exploded in the UK, we had a stall with zombie mannequins including a zombe bride and a zombie nazi from ‘The Flesh Krafter’.

http://myworld.ebay.co.uk/Pikachu

Beautiful plastic Jewelry with a Alice in Wonderland/Lolita –esque style from Fondant Warfare literally killer jewelry. I spent the longest time looking at their merchandise spanning from Disney characters, retro my little ponies to their own range of Halloween designs.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Fondant-Warfare

A real treat was meeting the creator of ‘cyanaide and happiness’ comics and cartoons as seen on YouTube, he was happily setting up his branded stuff for MCM goers to ‘squee’ over and even did autographs and photographs for free, what a gent!

http://www.explosm.net/comics

I hope I’ve refreshed your memories on top stalls you visited and maybe showed a few more usual ones to look out for next time. Did you see any stalls you thought deserved a place in this article? Leave a comment below.

MCM Expo London 2012: Report

We have provided a top picks article on the comics and stalls and now here’s a general overview of all the different goings on throughout MCM Expo.

Of course no event is complete without Namco Bandai holding their tournament. Plenty of gaming fans showed up to the Tekken Tag Tournament 2 finals at London MCM, see any famous faces? I caught Chef handing out flyers to a Street fighter tournament!

Matt Smith was around doing signings for the first time, so many people queued up to buy dvds. I also walking into a look alike in the queue and posed in front of a Tardis which happened to be nearby – I don’t plan these things, they just happen, honest.

Rising Star Games (creator’s of Virtue’s Last Reward) were offering great deals on RPG gems likeHarvest Moon, Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon, Rune Factory Frontier, with deals like 3 games for £30 and free soundtracks with purchases – turns out it’s well worth saving your money to spend on games at MCM.

The Euro Cosplay event was sadly severely delayed but the range of costumes were fantastic and the finals of the Euro Cosplay are to be held at Hyper Japan.

The Wii U hub was always busy but after a 10-15 min wait you got a chance to play this neat new console with a monster of a game pag which I found easy to use after much experience of hand console gaming. So don’t let change freak you out, the Wii U has a lot to offer.

A total lock down of fake items has been supposedly enforced, only official merchandise is allowed to be sold at MCM so you shouldn’t be ripped off. They even had security this year patrolling to stop pick pockets.

What did you think of this MCM Expo London? Have they improves on the previous conventions, or is there still room for improvement?

MCM Expo London 2012: Comic Village

London MCM Expo has created a new kind of stir around Halloween, new spooky twists on Cosplay, more emphasis on gaming and my favourite, the comic village. I spent most of the day speaking to a wide variety of independent artists.

Twisted Dark author Neil and his artist were chatting to passersby and offering their comics to people to read and enter the challenge of reading several chapters and not buying the book for 69p on a phone app! I like dark short stories so this was right up my alley, so I took a look the manga chapter that looked pretty but had a sinister story line. All the stories made you feel comfortable right until the end. Neil was also giving a talk at the Apple store on 15th November talking about how he left his career to make comics his mission and to try and integrate them into society and accepted as a real prestige.

Follow Neil and his endeavors on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/TPublications

I spoke to kitsch looking Laura Watton, author of the manga Squishy Chan’s Adventure, Team Player 7 general artist for the super cute brand PinkAppleJam. She’s been publishing her own comics since the mid-90s and has always juggled her day job/education with making comics and illustrations as well as Neil. It really is great to meet dedicated artists, its part of their lifestyle and you could see from her brimming stall she has lots to offer.

Follow her on twitter: @PinkAppleJam and see more of her beautiful art here: http://www.pinkapplejam.com

We also had the Simon’s Cat stall kitted out in all it’s red glory, sadly the author was not about to chat to as he was on his honeymoon, congrats Simon Tofield.

Follow the antic’s on Simon’s cat here: http://www.simonscat.com

I spoke to Kai Anthony Lynn aka Di-San, her artwork is to be featured in an upcoming publication ‘The Complete Guide to Drawing Manga’. Selling her original art as well as fan art Laharl from Disgaea stood out from the crowd.

Check out her artwork and commissions on tumblr: http://endlessdusk.tumblr.com

And now for something different from subversive comics. After days on the road, running low on supplies and haunted by memories of his past, sleep deprivation finally catches up with Our Hero. Realising that there is no safe place in the open he is forced to take shelter in a makeshift fort ruled by a devious leader known only as the ‘Father’. Will our hero be able to escape the clutches of the Machiavellian Father? And will he be able to continue his quest to find the bear responsible for the Zombear Apocalypse? Click below to find out: http://subversivecomics.com

As I wondered away from the comic village across Miku-Piku’s art on the other side with merchandise which was confusing but was drawn to via the very cool raffle prizes, including signedStreet Fighter poser by Yoshino Ono! This made sense when she explained she was a video games artist and her art and fan art was undeniable easy on the eye especially for the guys. Request commissions online: http://www.facebook.com/Miku-Piku-Art

These are just a few of the lovely artists I came across at MCM, if you know of others showcasing and like me to include them in my next convention write up email me: aisha@animepicks.co.uk

Allstars: All Access Event

Graffiti artist recreating the chars from Allstars game

Everyone who had liked their Facebook page at Eurogamer (to receive a month’s free PSN plus) would have received posts on their news feed of an exclusive ticket only event All access was holding off Oxford street in November.

cosplayer XD

You applied for tickets and only 200 people got a ticket plus one for a guest, this was in aid of their launch of the game Allstars: Battle Royale! The lovely people at Playstation All Access really outdid themselves for choosing a great venue kitted in gaming decor. A Bar with lots of space to game so consoles were all around with a booming DJ deck. Waiters offering posh snacks like feta cheese on sticks, mini burgers, Allstars branded cakes, even free alcohol & juice.

Whilst people were getting stuck into trying favourites like Call of Duty, we had previews of other new games like God of War, Injustice, Farcry 3, Tokyo Jungle etc. There were several tournaments including best posed photo in costume to win a PSP Vita and copy of Allstars Game, with clever choreography me and friend entered but my friend one and not me  - no fair as it one prize and it was my photo. Stingy

Psy doll gig

PSY Doll art for sale

 You should never judge a book by it’s cover, looking at the flyer art for this event it looked cute and I walked into another world. It was in a compound hidden away. The interior was beautiful with steampunk and luchidor decorations. The venue, the resistance gallery, also hosted a wide variety of events and meets. On this particular occassion I was here to see the Japanese cyber punk band psy doll perform XD

audience dressed up

in the maid cafe

Wrestling, the art of Kimbaku (rope art)and music events too. There was a projector showing Ghost in a Shell: Stand Alone Complex above the stage with the beautiful dark art of PSY Doll, which added to the haunting atmosphere.

You also had a chill out area upstairs with a mini maid cafe with classic and alternative maids catering to your needs.

The types of performances varied from dance (ballet) to performing arts and some Kimbaku. I’ve never seen Kimbaku before and was interesting to watch, three top students of Kimbaku showed their skills and one was even female. They all told a story and it’s not as seedy as one would assume.

Lastly PSY Doll performed some great electro sounds with the beautiful and Visual Kei lead singer controlling the energy in the room. A truly entertaining night at a bargain price.

For more alternative Maid events like their Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Oh-My-Lord

To find out about more intresting events go to animepicks.co.uk

http://animepicks.co.uk/author/aisha-ahmed/

Distant Worlds: 25 years anniversary of Final Fantasy

After my first experience of Distant Worlds last year, I waited patiently for the tickets to go on sale for the 25th Anniversary concert in London. Within minutes 25 years worth of excitement and music had been wiped from the website by Czech hackers. Luckily some people managed to buy tickets. I was not one of them.

A month went passed and more and more of my friends mentioned they had tickets and wanted to know if I was going – much salt was rubbed and eventually I forgot altogether until a few days before when a friend had happened to find tickets on gumtree XD

To read more about the playlist, images and video go read the full review on animepicks.co.uk

http://animepicks.co.uk/2012/11/distant-worlds-25-years-of-final-fantasy-music-celebrated-in-london/

Gamerdisco ft. IGN & Japan Underground

Another great Gamerdisco event ensues, with excited merry people outside the book shop venue discussing favorite characters and music mixes. Don’t know what Gamerdisco is? It’s basically a gaming clubnight filled with dancing, music and of course, gaming.

It was an added DJ bonus to have Tom the lead DJ and organizer of Japan Underground guest Dj-ing at this Gamerdisco, with some 8 bit favourites and even threw some Ponpon in for good measure to help diffuse tensions at the tournaments.

Fead more about the event and find morephotos on animepicks.co.uk :)

http://animepicks.co.uk/2012/11/gamerdisco-with-a-hint-of-ign-japan-underground/