Walking around Manchester city centre today I saw a large number of costumes and cosplayers. Manchester is no different from most large UK cities where teenagers (and older) prefer to spend at least one day of the week dressed as their favourite fantasy character. The various sub-cultures also give over Saturday to promenade - Harajuku girls in Piccadilly Gardens and metalheads around Afflecks for example.
I didn’t too much about this - despite seeing someone wielding a Minecraft sword outside Afflecks. It was the Blockhead walking down Market St that pointed to something being up and this was only at about 6pm. I started snapping characters as quickly as I could but they were fast. Sailor Moon and her friends moved on very quickly after I caught this picture of them and in the meantime I managed to miss a pink pirate, a couple of Naruto characters and what was potentially a cat. But I did get Pikachu and her pet boy.
It does turn out that today was Manchester’s Comic Con… Last year’s video give a taste of things.
But the reality is that this is not really a special event. This YouTube video from earlier this year really suggests that the sentiment is ongoing.
