Cosfest

Last booth before hiatus!

Hello! It has been a continuous grind and booth for the past 7 months and I am so happy that I will be going on booth hiatus for a few months. It’s finally time for a change of pace! Before that, let’s recap Cosfest.

Cosfest is a long-standing event that holds a place in every ACG veterans’ hearts. This year, it was held at Marina Sands Expo instead of the usual D’ Marquee at Downtown East. The event does not allow for set up on Friday, the day before, so I had to set up in the morning, on the day of the event. Luckily for me, I was able to grab one of my favorite helper-san 1, Aki to help me carry my things to the event. Thank you so much Aki! For coming down to my place on National Day and camping overnight just to help me set up on day 1. I really wouldn’t be able to manage without you 😭

Before this event, I decided to last minute open pre-orders for acrylic items for collection at the event. Judging by the timeframe, it was really a huge gamble. I remember waiting and checking the status for days leading up to the event. I requested customer service to put an urgent note on my items and was assured that I would receive my items latest by Friday. Unfortunately, my items were handed over to SingPost. Due to National Day on Friday, Singpost will not work. If my items were assigned to other local courier services there might have been a chance. I checked that SingPost also works for half day on Saturday and I was praying desperately for it to arrive before we had to leave the house. (This did not happen)

Arriving at the venue, I quickly collected the exhibitor passes and entered the hall. To my horror, 5 tables in a row were placed side by side, with no gaps at the side. This is my biggest gripe with the event. The hall was so spacious and huge. I did not understand why the tables had to be cramped together. As there was so much unutilized real estate outside of the booth areas, the crowd looked sparse and lacking. Cosfest used to have individual tables in the past, before moving on to 2 tables side by side. I understand that planning the floor plan is a huge struggle for organizers, but seeing 5 tables cramped together while there is so much space available in the hall just makes me speechless. Due to the unexpected table layout, I had to quickly change my plans for the set up and reduce the amount of things I can display.

Booth sales were mid for me. To every artist/booth friends asking me, I just kept repeating the words ‘mid’. Some friends were complaining about being sandwiched by cosplayer booths as a non-cosplay booth. Or they happened to be near a cosplay booth and had their booth space taken up by random selfie and light tripod stands. Once again, I question the way they decided the floor plan. A few friends shared to me about their mediocre sales and were worried because they hadn’t covered the table costs even in the middle of day 2.

Despite the past events’ feedback, exhibitors haven’t really seen any significant improvements or acknowledgement that resulted from the given feedback. In fact, I would argue that things got worse for exhibitors. With the increase in tabling costs and the decrease in space provided. As a regular exhibitor, I think that this will be my last Cosfest.

In general, I find Cosfest an event where old-timers gather and reunite. It’s a great event for cosplayers to lobby-con and hang out. It’s just not that great for exhibitors. Most people come to Cosfest to socialize and not to browse the artist alley. The bulk of people remained outside the halls, lobby-conning. Most of the crowd in the halls were flocking to the performance stage or the cosplayer booths.

Speaking of reuniting and chit-chatting with friends, Cosfest was absolutely crazy. As someone who got thanos-snapped from FB, I lost touch with most of my coscom friends. I was able to meet some old friends and chat with them at the event. It has been awhile since I was able to have so much fun just chilling and hanging out. Since I didn’t really had to tend to the booth anyway, it really felt like attending an event like the old days. I’m thankful for everyone who approached me for photos and chats. Even my non-cosplay friends asked me for selfies, unbelievable. My insta was so active the hours after the event ended. Thank you Cosfest for making me feel like just a normal cosplayer again!

Thank you for reading my rambles. Peace out :D