Pre-Comic Fiesta
While my friends had their semester break, I had to juggle between doing my Concept Art 1 final project and my props. Every week, Cheryl, Misaki, Laura, Mel and I would meet up at college during weekdays to work on our props for our Samurai Warriors 3 (Sengoku Musou 3) cosplay group. This is my first time doing such a big cosplay plan because my previous ones were easy to pull off. I was gonna cosplay Takenaka Hanbei and I have a huge bladed sundial to make.
Not every day would all of us meet up. Sometimes Misaki can't make it, sometimes Laura can't make it, and sometimes I can't make it. Cheryl was always there when any of us are gonna work on our props at college because she was silently elected as our group leader. I started off slow because of the final project but then work continuously after it was done. I spent roughly RM70 over on the specific types of paper and board I needed and also paint which I bought around the week before CF.
Unfortunately I didn't take any progress photos of my sundial. When CF got closer, we had gathered at Cheryl's house to do our props and watched Kung Fu Panda 2 and later on, two days before CF, Cheryl and I went to Misaki's house to work on our props. I was still less than 50% done! Thankfully I went to Misaki's house to do my prop if not I would have no finished it in time. I stayed over at Cheryl's house after working at Misaki's and continued to work on it until Saturday. At Misaki's house I learned the magic of hot glue gun and craft foam.
Friday was the day when everyone would meet up at Cheryl's house and practice our poses with our props. The whole group came together but Antho was running late because thing were not going well on his side. I felt a little bad for it because he was helping me make my tengu-geta and in the end his armor could not fit together. When Antho finally made it, Jean had to go home, so we replaced Jean with a chair. Cheryl mentioned that the same thing happened last year when they had to practice for the Kuroshitsuji group pose. I wasn't in the Kuroshitsuji group last year. The geta Antho made was not stable enough and it fell apart when I was walking in it. I felt really, really bad but he kept saying that the condition of my feet was most important, I had to make sure I don't break my ankle. Antho said he will fix my geta and the plan was to turn it into a normal two-teeth geta.
That night we all had dinner at Pitstop, a restaurant that allows you to borrow and play boardgames there. I had known of this restaurant before but I didn't know it was in Section 17, I had thought it was in SS2.
Kai and Mal also came on Friday along with everyone else but they were not part of our cosplay gorup. They were there to stay over at Cheryl's so they pretty much had nothing to do. Cheryl let them play with her PS3 and Kai put up a show for us in YooStar 2. We discovered that you earn the highest points by speaking gibberish but with the same consonants as the dialogues. After dinner, we continued to work on our props and I took a break from my sundial and played Sport Champions. Antho and Laura also had a try with the game. At this time, I was amazed at how much I was able to finish my sundial, some things were working and some things didn't. When we were practicing our poses, pretty much everything on my sundial fell apart. I was so worried but I managed somehow.
Before I went to sleep (at 3a.m.) the only things I have left to do is to paint in the details of my sundial and stick everything together. I had 95% done. At least I knew I was gonna feel at ease instead of panicking at CF.
Comic Fiesta Day 1
I woke up at 7a.m. Cheryl and Laura had just woken up at around the same time as me and were already starting to get into their costumes. They were gonna cosplay Kuroshitsuji and I wasn't gonna cosplay on day 1. Initially I wanted to cosplay as Kumagawa Misogi, I had the screw 75% done but I had to focus on Hanbei so I dropped it.
I woke Kai and Mal after I had cleaned up and changed into my clothes. After everybody was ready, we all headed out. Cheryl and Laura hopped into Cheryl's dad's car while Mal and I got into Kai's. When we got to KLCC, things didn't go according to how I pictured it.
First of, I had stomachache on the way to KLCC so I had to get to the toilet, all the toilets at the convention center was packed with cosplayers, if I were to make volcano chocolate surprise in there it wouldn't be nice for the cosplayers who are putting on make up, styling their hair or wig and changing into their costumes so I had to find a way to anther toilet. The problem is, the KLCC management were making a big fuss over the number of people and lifts were locked down, people were pushed around to 'control' the human traffic. I somehow manage to make my way into the mall and relieved myself after getting my pre-ordered tickets and goody bags. Amanda hasn't got there yet so I had to claim all her stuff for her: 8 tickets and 4 goody bags. 2 tickets and a goody bag for me and the others were for the people she helped to order.
The main hall was in Hall5 and Hall4 was for ticketing and cosplayers to put their stuff. When I got back to the halls, things had taken for the worse. Hall4 was overcrowded and things seemed like it was going out of hand. The KLCC management had locked some doors to prevent people from coming in from all directions and had only one door open to let people into Hall4. I made my way into Hall5 and looked around with Kai and Mal after trying to find them. We went around, saw a lot of thing we wanted but I ultimately fell for my favor of pins and spent most of my money on them. At the doujin booths, I discovered our lecturer's booth. Charmaine wasn't there so I guessed she must be cosplaying somewhere. While looking around, I found Wee. He had a booth with his friends selling his artwork (and some assignments, hahaha).
While I was out of control, buying pins here and there, Amanda called me while I was buying the L4D t-shit I wanted to buy at Animangaki. Her call made me snap out of my shopping adrenaline because I had to look for someone. I made my way out of Hall5 and called the unknown person to pass her her tickers and goody bag. After I found her, I met up with Kai and Mal again only to learn that the KLCC management had locked down Hall5, preventing anyone from entering. If you come out, you can't go back in until they open the doors again. While we were wandering around outside the hall, we could see the huge sea of people trying to get into the building, thousands of people were still not allowed to enter the convention center and the KLCC management was shouting insults at the hyped up participants.
While all this was happening, chaos was happening on the inside too, especially Kuui who was shouting over his handphone, trying to find his friends who were outside. He kept pacing here and there restlessly. Kai and Mal were getting hungry so I followed them to the cafe outside Hall4. On the way we met up with JuEun and we all sat down together. I spent almost all my money so all I could eat was the bar of dark chocolate in the goody bag. We sat for a while before the management opened Hall5 again to let a batch of people lining up in Hall4 in. People were drove into Hall4 and had to queue up after purchasing tickets to go into Hall5. A lot, a lot, A LOT of people were complaining.
Finally, we gave up waiting and went into Hall4. Inside, we searched for Cheryl and the others and out search did not last long. I got Kin Yen and Ang Yu to sit with us and we chatted while chaos happened outside. We then decided to leave since the chaos with the KLCC management had brought down our mood and went for dinner.
I always seem to not mention the friends I met in the crowds. I met up with Yati and Kuui some time before lunch and Teoh and Yue. Teoh was cosplaying as Detective Conan while Yue cosplayed the same Kuroshitsuji character she cosplayed at Animangaki that I don't know of. I also caught Emma, Jian Leng, Yumi and BlackCatz. Jian Leng was cosplaying Sebastian from Kuroshitsuji, Emma and Yumi were Subaru and Kamui from Tsubasa Chronicles and BlackCatz was cosplaying Eva-Beatrice from Umineko no Naku Koro ni.
We went down to the small food court at the exhibition center, outside Aquaria and had our meal. With my remaining money, I bought a plate of spaghetti. I was really upset over my uncontrolled shopping spree and wasn't able to cheer up. Cheryl needed to pass some stuff back to Yumi and BlackCatz and also get some stuff from them so it took a long time before we could head back because Hall5 was so crowded Yumi and BlackCatz couldn't come out and their car was parked very far from KLCC.
Back at Cheryl's house, we continued to work on our props. Feeling a lot better after some rest and some positive thinking, I continued to work. When my costume came in three days before CF, the paint job on the details were pretty bad so I had to paint over. everything else was pretty much okay. I spent the next 2 hours painting my costume. Taking breaks in between, I played Sport Champions again, resulting a huge pain in my right arm, from shoulder to wrist. Proves that I need more exercise, being a digital art student sure effects my health. Antho came over and passed me my geta which he fixed and luckily he manage to keep it as a tengu-geta. He cut down on the height and added more screws and nails to secure the wood together. He went back to finish up on his armor.
I finished painting my stuff at around 2a.m. and decided to help Cheryl out. She has some problems with her headpiece and fur coat because the coat keeps falling backward and it tore one of the headpiece's "horn" off. Another big problem, we ran out of hot glue sticks. I felt bad because I spammed my sundial with hot glue. Cheryl thought she still had a lot and had previously told me to use as much as I want. I regretted it. Using the last amount of hot glue, Laura, Cheryl and I glued the "horn" back on and secured it with masking tape. After that I helped Cheryl with some of her armor as Laura went to sleep since it was late already. I went to sleep at around 4a.m. while Cheryl said she slept at 5a.m.
Comic Fiesta Day 2
Before I slept I told Cheryl to wake me up latest at 7.45a.m. no matter what and thankfully Laura did. If not I would have continued to sleep sitting upright after waking up to switch off my alarm and after Laura's first wake up call. After a bath, I got changed into my costume. While at it, Cheryl and I woke Kai and Mal up so that they can get ready to leave the house as soon as possible. We had to get there early. Misaki was already waiting outside so we packed up our stuff, double-checked and left in a huff. First stop was Misaki's house because Misaki's mom had to change cars. Next stop, KLCC.
Early wasn't early enough. A long line was waiting for us. Baddy, Za, Mei and Mel were in line waiting for us already. We quickly got into the line and Cheryl started styling our wigs (and my hair). While that was happening, the line started moving. Yay! The CF committee divided the long queue into 'Have ticket' and 'Don't have ticket'. After some time (with some struggling attempt to keep all my things with me, especially my large sundial and heavy geta) we got into Hall4 and conquered a spot. Jean later joined us but alas, Antho couldn't make it. He fainted at home while rushing his armor and his parents didn't let him come. They took him to a hospital instead and he forced to stay at home.
I got fully changed and since I don't want (and didn't really need) any make up, Cheryl quickly helped me put on concealer and a little face power and I was ready to rumble! But I waited for everyone else. While I waiting, I tried on the geta Antho fixed. If Antho was there, I would have hugged him because I can walk in them but I still can't keep myself balanced. Throughout the time waiting, I wore my geta and practiced walking around several times. Yati, Kar Loke, Kuui and Melvin came. I helped Yati with his Yamamoto (Katekyou Hitman Reborn!) cosplay and after that practiced geta some more. Abby was with her group in a spot near ours.
The place soon got packed with cosplayers making up their own spots to prepare their costumes. Photographers also started swarming the place and cameras started flashing. Soon our group was ready and the moment we strike our poses, a large swarm of photographers and cosplayers ran over with their cameras and took pictures. Wow. So this is what it's like to be in a group, cameras keep coming and you stay still in that pose for some time. It was awesome but tiring at the same time. The rest of the day continued at a slow pace because some of our group members still needed to fix up on their makeup.
While waiting, I walked around in my geta and found Teoh. He was cosplaying as Sora from Kingdom Hearts. Eugene was also there and he cosplayed a character from Valkyria Chronicles. Abby was a character from Tiger and Bunny, I'm not sure if she was Tiger or Bunny because I didn't watch the anime but I know it's either one of them.
Later in the evening, Chia and (Chia came! That's surprising!) JuEun found us took some personal pictures of us. Now almost all of us are using her pictures as our Facebook profile image. Hahaha. Later, Laura, Cheryl, Mel and I went to Hall5 to look around. It wasn't as crowded as day 1 and everything was under control. Cosplayers were mostly outside at the gardens of KLCC. A huge improvement compared to day 1. After a look around, we headed back to Hall4 ready to call it a day. We went back to Hall4 and I walked around to find friends I know through cosplaying and chatted with them before changing out of my costume.
Lost
While we were packing up, Hall4 started to close down. Kuui's luggage bag was left alone after we had packed all our stuff so I stayed behind and called Kuui to come and grab his stuff. After Kuui got his things, I couldn't find the others so I called Cheryl but I got cut off halfway. Turned out I ran out of credit. Using my last remaining credit, I smsed Cheryl and she replied that they were at the food court. The first thing that came to my mind was the food court in Suria KLCC. I saw cosplayers and participants making their way to the mall so I followed suit. At the food court, I could not find any of them anywhere. I started to panic. I went around 4 times with all my things which caught the attention of people around me. Doing the right thing, I sat down and thought for awhile. Then I remembered the food court at the convention center. What a fool I was! I made my way back.
End of the Day
After Za paid me back for the wood for her geta, I got enough money to buy a soup in bread meal. After the meal I fell asleep from exhaustion. On the way back I fell asleep in Kai's car. Honestly, while looking for Kai's car, I was feeling woozy from exhaustion and was seeing a little white. When we got back to Cheryl's house, Kai described it as, "You were like unconscious the whole time you carried your things into the house." I remember falling asleep in a sitting position on the couch the moment I set my things down.
Comic Fiesta 2011 overall I can say is a little disappointing in terms of organisation but my experience was never as good as this. Of course it's thanks to the Samurai Warriors 3 cosplay group I'm in. I'm looking forward to a better Comic Fiesta next year!
After note: I took my camera to Cheryl's house, charged it and forgot to bring it to Comic Fiesta. Dammit.
