One of year end events that I look forward to every year.
Ever since I got into the anime fandom, I've been looking forward to Comic Fiesta 2019. That makes it about 4 years now since I got into anime. A tad late, but oh well =P
This year's one felt a bit more special, because it was at the end of a grueling fight with assignments and coursework, and I was very very excited for CF 2019.
Before this, I always chose to attend just one day of any anime related events like Animangaki and CF. However, this year, I decided I'd be going for both days.
Because I can. 8)
I went with a friend, and am quite thankful for him to have attended the event with me. But he and I had different priorities...
You see, there was a reason for me going for both days. From my previous experiences, it always felt like I didn't have enough time to fully enjoy the convention... and I wasn't about to let things be the same. Alongside looking through the art and crafts and some shirts along the way, I wanted to have some time to meet the cosplayers!! AHHHHHHHH!!!!!
Previously, I only had time to look for one or two, then I'd be walking through the halls. This time, I wanted to meet not 2, but had planned for 5 of themmmmmm... But each of them, would normally take up to at least 2 hours to even reach them from their booth queue. If I wanted to meet all of them, there has to be a strategy in place. Which in the end, my strats was rather flawed lol.
DAY 1
Didn't waste much time to get prepared. Got up, had breakfast, and immediately took the train to the venue. My tickets were with my friend, and even though I got there like way earlier like 9am, there were already TONS of people there already. Remember that to even get a chance to meet the cosplayers, one had to buy early bird tickets, and go there AS EARLY AS POSSIBLE AND START LINING UP AT THE ENTRANCE, even if it meant waiting as early as 6am! So yeah. I got there, the queue to the venue was already so long, and my friend was still nowhere to be seen! AUGHHH!
Long story short, he also had to wade through the swarm, and by the time he reached me and we entered the hall, it was already 10am =(. By then, all the queues were already considerably long... And, sigh, sometimes being Malaysian, we have the tendency to be late. Like LATE. So according to my strat, I was supposed to be heading to one of the lines, but what I had missed out in planning was how HOT the merch those cosplayers had were. So one of them had a really beautiful Neir Automata set, and I really wanted it. I was already playing the game and I extremely love it. But I decided not to line for her first... (BIG MISTAKE!!)
So anyway, first on the list was Rikka!
I had been following her for a long while now, but just didn't have the chance to meet her before CF 2019. But now, since I had made a piano cover JUST FOR HER, I thought "Hey, why not try to meet her now =D!" (Just for her you know! I deliberately went out of my way to do a piano cover for her just because I felt like it XD) So yeah... I pre-ordered her photobook, and lined up just to meet and greet her =). And remember I mentioned Malaysians were late? Yep. She was late XD
I can't quite remember by what time the line for her actually started moving, but I vaguely remember it was about 11.50am by the time I got to her, obtained her photobook plus some freebies (some posters and a cute chick badge that was drawn for me and after me!!) , and took a pic with her. I forgot about the Instax polaroid that she had on sale too, and time constrained me totally missed the chance to have a polaroid shot with her. Aww...
Well, there goes about 1 hour and half (or more!) just waiting for her... And second on the list is Alicia <3
Alicia didn't have a booth this time for CF, but she had some really beautiful merch too (posters that were so awesomely printed) which I also pre-ordered during the period I was drowning in submissions. After I had my stuff collected from Rikka, I was checking my phone for her annoucement where Alicia would be, since she was only arriving at about 12pm. I lost count how many times I checked my phone within those 10 mins, and not to mention that I was having some connectivity issues with my internet data and the hall wifi. Finally she made a post that she would be waiting at the Traders Hotel (The event was held at KLCC). So at that point, it felt like a lot of things were going pretty well: I was in Rikka's line for quite a while until 1150am, then Alicia's post came at about 1158am, and my friend and I were planning to head out to have lunch by then. Things were coming pretty smoothly and I felt positive about getting the Nier set. So since things came along pretty much "along the way", it was a very pleasant opportunity to have met AliciaSama again after first meeting her in Animangaki 2019 ^^. And among all of the merch I got during CF, I think her's is the brightest one. Not because her print is of premium quality, but her smile is the brightest of any cosplayers I've met ^^
POST LUNCH, I headed to the next one: MON!
Ok, so I had already planned out to spend the first day going around waiting in line for the cosplayers I've been wanting to meet. So its no surprise that I'd be willing to go such lengths to wait and wait. But this is where things got really de-railed. remember the Nier Automata set I wanted? Yep she was the one with it... and yup, IT WAS GONE! SOLD OUT!
Noooooo =( I had really wanted that one... So right now, I could decide to continue to stay in line, try maybe to get some other stuff from Mon, and still get a pic with her (she was in her MASHU Cosplay!!!! Too cute!!), and head off to at least One more artist. It was really tough to decide, and I don't think my response to the situation was correct either. In the end, I decided to leave the queue and head to YingTze's line. Sigh... thinking back, I could have stayed in Mon's line and still try to get some postcards that would still warrant me to have a pic with her =( but that would mean I'd probably have to miss out on YingTze's stuffs... It was either one or the other... And I chose to go to YingTze's line. Won't know how things would have worked out if I had chosen to stay on huh...
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| I missed out on her cute Mashu cosplay =( |
So in YingTze's line, things weren't exactly fast too. She's really famous, and people have been said to wait over 4 hours to see her! The length of the queue was really really intense too, and by the time I got to her queue, one of the assistants said to stop the queue after 3 people lined up after me!
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| Not sure if you can see it, but her booth is P-B-01 and 02... while I'm at P-E booth... |
Ah this fanboi is happy~ By then, it was already 6pm ++ and she was clearly tired already, but she was still all smiles.. All the way to the last supporter in line. That takes character, and obviously she's experienced already, so she knows that it was really important to show at least she's happy, even though she might be feeling crappy inside. Well, at least that's what I've observed the cosplayers do... They've got a legion of fans waiting eagerly to meet them, the last thing that one can do to a fan after having to wait for HOURS is to show them displeasure... I hate to imagine what that would feel like for a fan... But at the end of day 1, I was rather pleased with the turnout, and thought maybe tomorrow I could still chance for a picture with Mon...
Day 2
EARLY START AGAIN! This time I was already holding on to my tix, and boy was the line long at 830am. It was still very much ahead from Day 1, but still not good enough to rush to the cosplayer's line. Mind you that Day 2, I had planned to scout for some stuffs for my piano and perhaps some shirts too.
So I had plans to head for Angie, but given that she's also another highly in demand cosplayer, I decided not to, and decided to join with my friend to scout for some figurines!
So post lunch again, this time we wanted to head to the session for Kana Ueda, the voice of Rin Tohsaka from Fate series, and a
So as we pondered where to head next, my group of 3 (we met with another friend during lunch) decided to split for awhile, as I wanted to get some Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts shirt, and also to browse some other figurines too. So off we went. I got some waifu shirts (02 from Darling in the FranXX, and 2B from Nier Automata), a Final Fantasy shirt, Kingdom Hearts shirt, and after a much heated internal debate, got myself a Rem figurine for my piano!! YAY!! You'll start seeing it in my future videos!
By the time we regrouped, my 2 other friends had gotten an Ishtar plushie each, and it was really cute. By then it was already evening, and 2 of us (myself and the first friend) decided to stay on for the evening band performances.
So along the way to lunch and dinner, I took a pic with some amateur cosplayers outside the hall, and was not disappointed at all =)
POST Dinner, we made our way to the band stage area, and dayum, it turned out to be a night of awesomeness! Needless to say, it was rather important that I made time for this, because of what I've been doing, on and off YouTube, that it was really really a good experience to see what made a particular band stand out from the others, and how important a set of repertoire is. So in the end, it was truly truly a blessed opportunity to be able to enjoy Comic Fiesta 2019 as a student. Because the next time I return, it'd be as a member of society already...
All in all, it was really really enjoyable, and that a few sour factors didn't make the experience perfect, but I didn't let that affect me too much to enjoy the rest of the event. It was really and enjoyable experience, and somewhere deep inside me, I really wish for 2 things: To be able to perform in Comic Fiesta, and to be part of Alicia's rising success... well, at least that's what I'd be wishing very loosely XD I mean, cmon, who in the right mind would take in strangers to be part of their cosplay team assistants? XD But if I do end up being granted one of those wishes, it'd be a step closer to realizing my own dreams and goals as well.
SO TAKE NOTE: TO IMPROVE THE EXPERIENCE BEING AT CF: BE EARLY, and please, to you volunteers, you gotta step up your game!
Hope you enjoyed the reading!
The corresponding video for this post would be Jay Chou's I Truly Believe =)
