MCM cosplay: Dressed to impress

The Alien might be getting on a bit, but that's no excuse for letting its standards slip.

Back when it first came to the world's attention in 1979, the slithery HR Giger creature was a master of stalking, squeezing into air ducts and scuttling amongst ceiling pipes before spitting its tongue through someone's head.

Nowadays, it's just walking around. In broad daylight. In an exhibition centre in Royal Docks. It's even letting teenagers take snaps of it on their mobile phones. No wonder the marines look relaxed.

Of course, had it decided to suddenly rear up and cause trouble, there were a fair few giant swords out there to chop it down. One of them was wielded by Lawrence Crane, a 15-year-old from Hawley in Surrey, who was spending the day as Dante from the Devil May Cry video game saga.

Lawrence's trusty sword featured a wooden spine, padded out with papier mache, with a skull on the hilt for good measure.

He said: "It took me about a month to build.

"I drew a picture first so I could work out how to make it. I do art at school.

"This is the second time I've been to the Expo. I play the game a lot and I thought it would be nice to dress up for the event."

Lawrence is one of a growing number of "cosplay" characters who descend on the Excel for the two annual MCM Expos. And he's not alone.

The entire exhibition centre is stuffed with colourful costumes, some familiar to fans of classic games such as Sonic The Hedgehog and Super Mario, others obscure to all but the most dedicated followers of Japanese Manga animation.

Cosplay is essentially the practice of dressing up as a video game character. But it's not just a question of popping down to the local costume shop on the high street.

Some of these outfits require work, creativity, and quite a bit of papier mache.

Lawrence's older sister Rosalind, 20, was dressed as Lord Sesshomaru from Manga series InuYasha - always a popular dress-up subject.

She said: "I bought the kimono and trousers, but I made the armour myself. It took me about a month

"This is my third expo. I like meeting lots of new people. I try to come in a different costume every year. It wasn't last minute. I completed the costume pretty far in advance.

"We took three trains and two buses to get here. When we were walking through the hotel we got a few funny looks, but we don't care."

Georgia Burns, 27, drew on her family's love of classic film by dressing as a 1940s screen star.

She said: "I love the '40s, especially the fashion. I love all the glamour.

"My auntie's best friend was Sophia Loren. They were in film school together for four years."

While Georgia was experiencing her first expo, many were treading familiar ground.

Gary Thake, 23, from Epping Forest was attending his eighth show as Black Star from Soul Eater.

He said: "I commissioned my costume from eBay. I couldn't get the right colour fabric. I decided to wear this costume back in January. But I'm one of those people that puts things off until the last minute.

"I've been coming here since 2005. It's more or less the same every year, but the people change, and I come for the people."

He was flanked by Jenn Kenna, 17, from Manchester, who had arrived as the heroine of Cardcaptor Sakura.

She said: "I've lost count of how many times I've been here. Probably about eight.

"I take quite a while to get started with my costume. It probably takes me a couple of weeks.

"I love the people here. It's great fun and you can do whatever you want. I usually come as a different character each time, and I make new friends every year."

Lucy Calder, 16, was attending her seventh expo as Simon from Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, a show that was presumably designed to send shorthand-writing journalists into convulsions of confusion.

She said: "I've been cosplaying for three years now. I heard about the expo and I really love Anime and Manga. I didn't know you didn't have to dress up to attend so I made a costume, and really enjoyed it.

"I make a different costume every year. It can get really expensive but I try to do it as cheaply as I can by making all of them myself.

"This took me about three days. I work at speed.

"This is the biggest gathering of cosplay in the UK. It's all about dressing as your favourite character, and bringing that character to life.

"Everyone feels so much more comfortable in costume, so it's easier to make friends."

Lost in a sea of elves and demons, photographer Ben and I amused ourselves with a game. The aim was to point out a character, and identify which show or game they hailed from. Our scores were pitifully low, and our ages suddenly felt oppressively high.

So we gravitated to a beacon of light, a group of characters that twenty-somethings could easily recognise. And when you feel like the oldest kids in the room, and you're starting to suspect toddlers could swing Tarzan-like from your nasal hairs, who ya gonna call?

Dr Lawrence Juniper, 21, from Essex was wearing a familiar beige jumpsuit, and had a fully-armed nuclear accelerator on his back. One of his colleagues was sitting, and drinking a beaker of beer.

This was a group we could relate to.

Lawrence is one of the Ghostbusters Elite, a trained group of "scientists" dedicated to seeking out spooks and expos all around the UK.

His colleagues - Andrew Gray, Nicholas Hey and James Mann - were also lugging around proton packs, which certainly didn't look like those plastic rucksacks a few of us carried as children.

He said: "It took a couple of weeks to make. How much it costs depends on whether you know what you're doing.

"The majority is MDF and the pipes are just plumbing surplus pipes. The lights are custom-made.

"This cost about £50 in parts, but I've known some people to have spent thousands. Me, I like to make mine."

Considering the fact that the most I could be bothered to make in my early twenties was a bacon sandwich, that's probably the most inspiring thing I've heard in weeks.