Asia Cosplay Meet

As the name suggests, this event was not catered for its artist alley. As disappointing as it was, I hope this experience is enough to teach me not to table at mall events anymore.

Asia Cosplay Meet, organised by Cosfest had its artist alley split into levels 3 and 4. As the tables were out in the corridor, we were warned to not leave our belongings overnight. As requested, I was right next to wheeskars, my long time booth partner. As our catalogue grew, we decided to split into our own individual tables. This was the first event where we registered separately.

I arrived early morning so that I would be able to set up before the appointed 10 am, which was the starting time of the event. At that time, the mall lights were still dimmed. Soon, Aki (helper 1) and wheeskars arrived. We greeted each other and cheerily began to set up. As my table clamps were not able to hold onto the table well, I devised a plan to prop up my items using the boxes i had on hand. Set up was completed before 10 am and we proceeded to stare into space for the entire day.

The footfall was sad. Most of my friends who dropped by just happened to be at the mall for lunch. They passed by and were shocked to see me tabling there. Apparently, no one even knew that the event existed. At least, that is what I kept hearing from every surprised acquaintance who happened to pass by.

Time flew by slowly as there was nothing to do. We frequented level 4 to chat with Soggy who was assigned there. Level 4 was way more crowded and lively with fans of the cosplayer booths. They were respectfully queueing up for cosplayer interactions.

As the day slowly went by, I was able to interact with fellow artists. Everyone was concerned about not being able to cover the table fee. We solemnly swore that we would not table at mall events anymore.

Finally, it was time to close shop. As it turns out, I was the only timid cat who packed up and brought home all my belongings. Everyone just left their set up as is, even though the mall was open 24/7. Despite only leaving 2 bottles of 1.5 litres mineral water under the table cloth, I returned on day 2 to discover someone had stolen one of my bottles… (how dare you… I was so thirsty on day 2)

To be honest, nothing else happened on day 2. The event was not memorable in the least. All I remembered was having Chirashi Don for dinner on both days. We had one at Vivo City on Saturday, and on Sunday we had one on the first floor of Harbourfront Center. It happened to be Mother’s Day and there was a promotion. (Highly recommended by wheeskars who had it for lunch)

Other than that, there was a fashionable uncle who passed by my booth in the wee hours while I was setting up. He had his hairdo permed in an inverted triangle. He swaggered to my shop and bargained $8 off for a phone clip lanyard combo. (He bought it at $8 off) I thought it was very interesting that he is wearing Love and Deepspace goods without knowing…