MCM Ireland Comic Con or Dublin Comic Con

Billy West is at Dublin Comic Con, I wanna meet the voice of Zapp Brannigan and drink some champagne with him. Will probably go to MCM too as it's a while away. Have never been to either before myself.

DCC was terrific last year and looking to be better still this year. MCM in the other hand are a bit shoddy by many accounts, for some reason thinking faded pop stars and soap actors are appropriate guests. That's without getting into their poor treatment of artists and apparent unwillingness to provide promised prizes to competition winners. I wouldn't give them a penny.

They both have their ups and downs.
Before we start I like my comic cons to have Comic people at em. Not a fan of TV /Movie folks who charge for autographs and pics.
Just a pet peeve. Dislike how the american style events are becoming more commonplace here.
But at the end of the Day Both events got a few thousand people who wouldn't normally do the comic scene to come out for the day. Which can't be a bad thing. Can it?

Both are fine if you like the Cosplay aspect. Lots of people to pose with at both.
Prizegiving issues aside.

Not a big fan of MCM it's very much a cookie cutter of a convention. They have a formula that works and can drop it anywhere there looks to be money. They don't really treat the Comic side of the show well from what I've seen with Comic pros being put into what they call a Comic Village.

The only reason its here is because DCC showed there was a potential market.

DCC has a bit interactive fun to it and if you got tired of the main hall at previous events you could go outside to the grass for some Zombie nerf hunting, or some archery tag.
Not sure how that will be done in the Convention center. But I've heard The Zombie lads are cooking up something special this year.


If you had to chose one I'd say support Local and go with DCC.
And if you are. Prebooking the tickets is a smart move. They sold out on the door both days last year.


Neither have a Patch on Thought Bubble. Which is in Leeds and the best Comic convention in Europe.

MrWalsh wrote: »

There didnt seem to be a personal opinion though, it was 2 posts in a row without any personal experience offered.

I still cant say from those posts if it is worth going to, which is what the OP actually asked.

In fairness I did link to someone's actual experience. I've never been to mcm myself because of its reputation so I have no first hand experience to speak of.

Also the two posts were because I realised after the first one that I had bad mouthed mcm without giving any real information so I felt I should back it up a bit.

MrWalsh wrote: »

Fair enough, but linking to someones actual experience isnt your experience! Plus that person was working at it and it wasnt the Dublin one.

It just seemed weird that you jumped in with 2 posts slating the mcm con and nothing to relate in terms of experience yourself.

Tbh I never even heard of either comic con til the DCC one last year cos a friend posted on FB and I only heard of the MCM one from this thread. Id still like to hear peoples experiences who attended both.

I don't see what's weird about it. I'm trying to give an impression of the kind of people who run mcm. Some may find that the type of people running an event and how they run it are factors in wether they choose to spend their time and money there.

Also, linking to someone else's experience is still linking to an actual experience. I didn't link to a short story about what mcm might be like!

MrWalsh wrote: »

It seemed weird to me.

For all I know it is a short story. Its a tumbler blog!

With a link to a podcast, or is that a radio play?
Anyway by that logic anyone's story of their experience could be fictional.

MrWalsh wrote: »

Sorry Kev if you can't see why linking to the tale told by an exhibitor at a London exhibition is not the same thing as a first hand experience by a poster here of a Dublin show then I can't make it any clearer for you.

Its perfectly clear. I never said it was the same thing. What's not clear is why you have an issue with my linking to a relevant story.

Hi Mr.Walsh,

Went to MCM last year and both worked and attended DCC last year. Both are well worth attending if you can manage it. I know many people compare the two, and while they are both similar, they offer a different experience in my opinion. MCM is all about trade and merch. Especially given that the majority of the exhibitors are from England, it is a great place to find some cool nerd merch if that's what you are looking for. DCC has less variety in traders (highly skewed toward Stars Wars last year) but offers a more friendly, intimate, and interactive day/weekend out, and has some unique hits that you will not see anywhere else this side of the pond. All of the gear they show off is home made too. Well worth seeing.

Regarding guests, guests are a sell, but I don't think either case should be gone just for the guests. MCMs charge a little less, but both are still fairly expensive (there is a particular reason for this BTW that I won't get into as it doesn't effect your potential experience). I think in both cases the well of talent is equally thin and could expand, but at any convention in the world over interest in guests is always going to be to each their own. Don't let that swing it for you I would advise.

At the end of the day if you have to choose, if you want the full on heavy expo, then go MCM. If you want a more lighter and interactive affair for the sights, go DCC. That's the best way I can put it? But if you can, absolutely go both.

MrWalsh wrote: »

Cheers Godless, great post.

Exactly the kind of thing I was wondering about as someone who has never been to either.

Have to say the DCC one comes across pretty amateur with the website being so poor, no updated detail and less than 2 weeks to go. Was wondering if it was gonna turn out to be a bit Father Ted carnival like on the day.

Whereas I never even heard of the MCM one but the site is a lot more polished, noticed the difference in price for pics and autographs alright. Plus the RDS is a very "legitimate" venue if you know what I mean.

Thanks again for the info.

Now who sounds like they have an agenda?

MrWalsh wrote: »

Cheers Godless, great post.

Exactly the kind of thing I was wondering about as someone who has never been to either.

Have to say the DCC one comes across pretty amateur with the website being so poor, no updated detail and less than 2 weeks to go. Was wondering if it was gonna turn out to be a bit Father Ted carnival like on the day.

Whereas I never even heard of the MCM one but the site is a lot more polished, noticed the difference in price for pics and autographs alright. Plus the RDS is a very "legitimate" venue if you know what I mean.

Thanks again for the info.

Well do realise that nearly all cons here are technically amateur. The guys that run DCC pour a lot of heart and soul into running it and do so from their own backs. It is only their third year too but they are making huge strides each year. Running a con without financial backing or a business behind you isn't easy. That doesn't take away from the experience of the con though I can assure you.

Still, only you can really tell what you want, and if MCM appears better to you on appearance, then go for it.