If you’ve been reading my posts (which I doubt it *laughs coldly*), then you probably would’ve realized by now that I’m a HUGE Comic Fiesta fan. And if you’ve been keeping up with the local ACG scene, you probably would know too that the epic event just happened over the weekend!!!
Credits to the Comic Fiesta team for this beautiful poster!
Going to CF this year is a little different for me. Instead of going there to take pictures of cosplayers or buying stuff from artbooths, I’ve decided to make my cosplay début at CF’2014.
But planning it was no easy task. Coming from a Chinese family with traditional-minded parents, the family wasn’t exactly ready to welcome the art of cosplay with open arms. I wanted to go through with my cosplay plans though (dubbed the “cosplan”). It’s like one of those things that you feel strongly about, like ‘if you don’t do it now, you’ll never get to do it again’.
Okay, that might be a little exaggerated, since ACG events are held in Malaysia a few times throughout the year and I could make my début whenever I wanted, but I didn’t want my plans to just be thrown out of the window just because I had some obstacles to face and to have my cosplans turn into something that ‘I could’ve done but didn’t do’.
And so the plan was set into motion~!
I had no idea where to start though. I’ve never done it, and I didn’t have any friends who were actively involved in the local cosplay community either. Even so, I wanted to do it nicely. I didn’t expect myself to immediately become good at cosplay at my first try, but if there was a limit to how good début cosplayers can get, I’d hoped that I would at least be able to see that line. (I know I’m quite the overachiever…)
Well first and foremost, I gotta know who I wanted to cosplay as. Since I’ve been hooked on the app game Ayakashi: Ghost Guild for months now, I decided to cosplay as the daemon Musk.
Musk from AGG
I was actually down to a choice between Musk and Dojigiri, but when I showed their cards to my AGG friends, they immediately picket Dojigiri because “she had more stars”.
Dojigiri boasting 5 stars
In the end, Musk won somehow (lol I can’t remember why). So I went about planning for Musk: the Cosplan.
I can’t sew for God’s sake. I’ve never taken care of wigs nor made props. Heck, I’ve never even done my own makeup before! (I felt like such a failure at that last one since I’ve been seeing a lot of 14-year-olds on Instagram putting on makeup as frequently as how I brush my teeth each morning)
I figured that I had to learn someday, so I brushed off my fears and went ahead with YouTube tutorials.
Then I realized: I can’t possibly learn to sew an entire cosplay outfit in a few months with college and A-levels and keeping it a secret from the rest of the world!! Much less learning it myself from YouTube!
And with my need to have it done nicely, I had (no choice?) but to look for a tailor.
"But tailors are expensive..."
"Do you wanna do it nicely, or do you just want to wear rags and pass it off as your début cosplay???"
So as you can see, I’ve been having lots of internal conflicts over the whole cosplay thing.
Having zero knowledge on where to locate good tailors, Google was my best friend.
I did a search online and found one with very good reviews. The tailor Susan was based in Masjid Jamek and thankfully all her contact details were in those reviews as well. I contacted Susan and the rest was history.
Next up was the wig. And the shoes. And the socks (was Musk wearing 2 socks??).
I got them off Taobao, “China’s eBay” which was famous for it’s ridiculously cheap stuff. After doing some research, I managed to locate the items that I wanted, and bought it with an agent I found on the CF Forum who charged me with low rates. (Not to mention her fast responses, which are horrifyingly fast)
Next was the part I feared the most…
…the makeup.
No matter how good my outfit looked, if my makeup was off, it could very well ruin the entire cosplay.
There were no cheats for the makeup though, and having spent shitloads of money on the other stuff, I had no choice but to learn every last thing from YouTube makeup tutorials. (Some are pretty helpful, if you know where to look)
Next, for the prop, I was lucky enough to have my two friends help me with it. I used a PVC pipe and cardboard for Musk’s key, and bought fake flowers for the ring of the handle. I didn’t know fake flowers were so expensive though. (I bought them at Old Town for RM34!! But I couldn’t afford to look for a cheaper shop since I only bought it the night before CF Day 1…)
Honestly I remembered being a lot more stressed out over my cosplans than what this post lets out, but oh well let’s just keep it like that.
And so…the Fated Day has arrived…
I knew what to expect from Comic Fiesta (namely, the freakishly long queue) since I’ve been attending for the past few years, so I bought Early Bird tickets the day it was available at Kinokuniya. (I don’t regret doing so one bit, since I saw lots of “WTB CF Early Bird tickets” posts online the night before CF started.)
My Early Bird tickets
I woke up excited for my very first cosplay and went about preparing for it because all my plans and all my efforts were FINALLY going to be put into progress.
Aaaaaand one of my fake eyelashes just had to be looser than the other one. I expected as much from makeup accidents.
My makeup stuff. I bought most of them from Carousell and the falsies from Daiso.
(I didn’t take pictures of the whole preparation process because I was already kinda late and everything was really hectic…)
ANYWAYS…
It’s pretty difficult to move around in a full cosplay, especially with the massive crowd and Malaysia’s morning weather. (Was sweating so much I thought doing my makeup was such a waste)
Because of that, I was really sad I didn’t get to take as many pictures of other cosplayers as I did last year, and now that I think about it I should’ve taken pictures with them, not just of them.
I didn’t get to visit the artbooths as much as I did last year too because I had to worry about my cosplay (which I really didn’t need to), so when I did have time to do that on Day 2, most of the good stuff were sold out already….*sobs*
Even though my cosplay didn’t exactly turn out as nicely as I’d hoped it would be, I was glad I took the chance to do it anyway, since I learnt so many things I wouldn’t have even dreamed of knowing if I hadn’t.
So now enough of me rambling. Let the photospam begin.
- The lovely kidchan’s artwork!
True to its name, this green tea is the most delicious drink ever. RM2 per bottle is pretty reasonably priced considering its taste. (I bought 3 bottles over 2 days)
Culture Japan smartdolls. A big hit.
REX REGRETS: THE CUTEST THING EVER.
I would be one of the first to buy his book when it get published.
Next for the cosplayers! I honestly think my terrible photography skills do not do their amazing cosplays any justice, and with an iPhone 4S camera at that. Sorry for the terrible pictures, and if (somehow) you spot yourself in one of these pictures, please do tell me~ ^^
The girls were all over them, and we can see why.
The One Piece trio + Perona!
These guys couldn’t stop posing because once a photographer leaves, another five come in to take their picture.
I wonder if this cosplayer can see me…
Edward Elric!
I ship them! Kanie x Sento
Not-so-surprisingly the new “in-anime” of 2014
Powerpuff!
Team Seven from Naruto
Ginka Bishounen~
from the anime Star Driver
the Zankyou no Terror duo~
One of the best anime of 2014
Super cool Hibari from Katekyo Hitman Reborn!
This guy freaked the hell out of us…but he was in character, which is amazing.
lol I have no idea who that guy in the middle is but oh well he fits in pretty nicely
Kumoh brothers
I love this camcorder guy! He even asked for my hat for the picture and gave us a dramatic 90 degree bow after we thanked him for it. There was another PC-head guy but unfortunately I didn’t get to ask for a picture.
After Comic Fiesta ended I saw lots of people post on the official CF page complaining about the traffic control, and about rude volunteers. Although I do agree that the crowd does get to people sometimes, especially when you can’t move an inch at all under the hot weather and you have no idea how much longer you’re gonna need to wait, I don’t think the CF committee deserves the hate.
Some posts are just darn mean. You cannot expect tens of thousands of ACG fans to obediently follow the volunteers’ orders, or to not have any form of chaos to occur. And to accuse them of “overselling” tickets just to gain more profit when the KLCC halls cannot fit such an enormous crowd is just ridiculous. Special guests like Square Enix do not come here for free you know. Also, they cannot predict how long an attendee will stay in the halls. Some go for a few hours, while some others may stay for the entire day.
While I have experienced a few slightly rude volunteers asking people not to block the paths, I do believe that the committee is generally polite and again, should not be blamed for other misbehaving adults (or teens, if you prefer).
I can’t be sure if this cosplayer is an official committee, since I can’t see his tag, but he is really, really polite.
I think the guidebooks are only given to the first hundred (?) attendees so not everyone gets it. It’s really hard to navigate around without it, and I really wanted to collect the CF guidebooks, so I went to the Information Counter to ask for one, expecting myself to be turned away and told that they do not give away the books.
As you can see, I was wrong. The staff at the counter immediately closed the handbook in front of her and handed it to me upon hearing my request. My friend asked for another one for herself after that and the staff looked around and snatched another open book which seemed to belong to an unsuspecting staff and gave it to us.
We were really impressed at that.
The Comic Fiesta staff weren’t the only ones who were friendly. As an attendee who cosplayed in those two days (I don’t think I’m qualified to be called a “cosplayer” just yet), I have witnessed the friendly social circle of the cosplay community.
Everyone was so nice!
They would smile and talk to you even though you’re complete strangers.
When I was getting down from my car on Day 1 in my cosplay outfit at the Avenue K parking lot (flat rate of RM5, which is a lot better than the KLCC parking), another cosplayer got down from her car, smiled and waved to me when she passed by.
And I had no idea who she was.
Later on, when I was sitting with my friend at a corner of the cosplayers’ area fixing my makeup, a Hatsune Miku cosplayer approached me and asked for a picture.
That was also when I knew of the existence of coscards.
Apparently they’re namecards for cosplayers, and is how cosplayers do networking within the community.
Never knew they existed
It’s amazing! After cosplayers take pictures with one another, everyone immediately whip up a stack of coscards and exchange them.
It was something that I learnt from cosplaying, and even though I didn’t have a coscard, the other cosplayers were just as friendly to me.
Comic Fiesta 2014 was indeed a new experience for me, and marked another personal achievement for myself. Now I feel like joining cosplay groups, meeting other cosplayers, volunteering for CF2015 and helping my friend set up an artbooth next year.
I don’t think I can do all those things at once though.
And I don’t think I can ever be grateful enough towards the Comic Fiesta staff for their hard work each year.
Great job once again, and we look forward to CF2015~~~!
P.S. I don’t know why the official CF Instagram page followed me when I’m just a nobody, but I was elated beyond belief.
And on a side note:
I love waking up to kudos!
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~Living in my Fantasy Bubble~ 