Za (Comic) Warudo!

ymir233

United States8275 Posts

July 21 2012 18:32 GMT

NOTE BEFORE READING: My post may come across as overly nitpicky. That's partly because I tried to include in a lot of the more mundane details. However, everyone should give conventions (esp. large ones such as Comic World) a try. I had a blast and you would, too. Be warned, though, that there are some things that you should not expect coming in.

7.21.2012. 110th Comic World Seoul. SETEC, Hagyeoul (학여울) Station. 10:30 AM to 5:30 PM. Animus. Everywhere.

Oh fubishit, I'm late again.

I wake up at 8 AM instead of the usual 10. Actually, my daily schedule is to wake up once at 6 and then crash back into sleep b/c I'm lazy. Sue me. Anyways, I eat a few dumplings and ready a bag and myself at Bulgwang station at 9:30, not realizing what I'm about to get hit with.

And boy, did I get hit with this hard.

Btw, future Comic World Seouls will also be at SETEC until further notice, so I'm gonna include a lot of shitty details that will hopefully help people if they so choose to visit later (and also so you guys don't have to imagine what a convention looks like other than random cosplayers walking around). I will sound like a naive kid in Candyland, but this is my first anime/manga convention, so w/e. Also, will not resize my pics. BBCode doesn't allow for it, and I don't want to use imgur over Photobucket. Sorry.

Hagyeoul Station is on Line 3 on the subway (for which the end stations are Daehwa and Ogeum), towards the Ogeum part more than not. If my memory serves me correctly, it should be past pretty much all of the transfer stations (it's about 4 stations past Gyodae, the Seoul Natl. University's Education College). The reason why I'm telling you this is mainly for me to bitch about how it takes 24 stations/stops and about 40-45 minutes to get from Bulgwang to there, even though Bulgwang is also on Line 3 and therefore it's just a mindless wait. Fuck that shit. I hate long rides. I also hate having to eyeball a) whether old people are old enough and b) if they're getting off at a later station instead of just the next one in order to give them my seat without embarrassing myself.

Anyhoos, I get off at Hagyeoul Station. It's in the morning and everybody is probably creeping in slowly, so I get to sit down for most of the ride. Some random middle/high school-underclassmen girls ride in the same car. They're noisy. When we get off, there's just one route to the exit - and there are already people overflowing. Again, pressing my luck, I had arrived at the event 10-20 minutes early instead of the apparently 1 hour time space I should have given it...but this time, it wasn't going to end up as well as the OSL.

+ Show Spoiler +

Oh.

The crowds, mang...the crowds.

+ Show Spoiler +

Please for the love of God...

There are two ticket booths, one to each side of the entrance. Apparently the lines for the booth of the left were so long that they had to open up the right one...which had become just as long. The usher/helper at the end of the line told us to dick around near Hagyeoul Station and try later when the line was shorter. Learning from the Yeosu World Expo (may post about that later if ppl are interested), I promptly put my ass at the end of the right booth's line as fast as possible. The lines were not gonna grow shorter in a decent amount of time. If anything, they were gonna grow LARGER. So I waited. From the end of the line. Where you couldn't even see the ticket booth.

Question! Isn't there a way to get the ticket before this event?
Yes, yes there is. On the site, there's a calendar, and the red bolded dates are the event dates, the blue bolded dates are the times where you can get a ticket, and I believe the black bolded times are deadlines as to when you can apply/cancel/change your reservations and stuff if you're participating in an event (e.g.: Karaoke, Cosplay, selling fanart with a stand, etc.) In fact, the people who got tickets early walked straight in (although even for them, there was a relatively slow line at first). Furthermore, early tickets are 10% discounted (although 10% discount from 4000 won into 3600 won is hardly worth the train fare for me).

Then why didn't you get it early?
Because even if I knew that this sort of waiting hell was, well, waiting for me, I wouldn't waste ~3000 won in train fees and 2 hours just to get an early ticket all the way from Bulgwang. Derp herp everything's so far away for an urban city like Bulgwang (except not really, the times should be relatively short by car but I can't drive in Korea yet and taxis are too expensive. Buses could be shorter, but you gotta know how to route them all the way to Hagyeoul...)
EDIT: Nvm it turns out that I was just dumb and didn't know how close the place was that sold advance tickets. But for people that have to end up buying tickets at the gate, this is what I experienced during the summer.

Anyways...

The waiting began. And oh how it was long and painful.

+ Show Spoiler +

The left booth, with a stupidly long line.
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The right booth, with a stupidly long line.
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The entrance, where I'm not at.
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So mang peoples

The lines...were winded. Do NOT try to gauge the length/time with your eyes. These fuckers are tricky. It curved around a few times nicely, then went around to the back of the convention center near the exit, came back around, curved inside a few more times, then connected to the booths. What I thought would be a 30 min-1 hr wait...turned into a 1 hr 40 min one.

Some tips:
- Bring a good fucking bag, both for comfort and so you can stash relatively delicate papers/stuff in it. After hours of lugging that shit around (both in and out of the convention center), my shoulders started to ache like hell. And if you leave shit around...rare/sold-out things tend to...escape your bag. rageragerageragerage
- Bring 2-4 drinks, especially in the summer. Buy them before you go, or hit the vending machines at the subway station and buy like 4 water bottles for 3200 won. Being dehydrated in the blazing sun with too many other nerds is suffering. Yes, there are vending machines there, but a) they're OUTSIDE the lines, meaning that you cannot buy a drink while waiting unless you have a friend or two, and b) they have their own lines and get restocked quite often.
- Following that, be safe and bring shit that will protect you from the weather. Yes, you may be a manly man. But not after 2 hours of withering in the sun. If it's not a parasol in the summer or jacket in the winter, bring something to last it out. Whether you arrive an hour beforehand and end up having to wait an hour or whether you arrive 10 minutes beforehand and end up having to wait nearly two hours, the wait will be long.
- Bring a book or two, or maybe even a smartphone/Kindle. The line will not amuse and entertain you, unless you're of the masochistic type or you like to chuckle at other peoples' Index pairings...(anybody else other than Last Order is not a worthy candidate for Accelerator, kthxbai)
- Camera derpderp. Not only for the convention, but whilst you're waiting, cosplayers will be passing by both to enter the convention center or to exit briefly for w/e purposes. You do not wanna be caught with your pants down when someone awesome passes by. As per usual, you can ask passing cosplayers for a pic (thank them afterwards!) But be quick, the line doesn't wait for you.
- Money. By money I mean CASH, NOT CREDIT. Nobody is gonna swipe your card for you. Prices will be listed later for comparison.

So waitingwaitingwaitingwaiting.... while listening to this:

+ Show Spoiler +

Loading, please wait

Oh wait, cosplayers? Camera out!

Actually, I didn't take THAT many photos of cosplayers (there was a really pretty Reimu, but I couldn't get a photo of her). Tbh Asian ppl are not any better than white ppl at cosplaying, except perhaps they're just more socially sensitive about being pretty before cosplaying. But there are plenty of bad cosplayers...they just don't make it onto the messageboards. Here are some weird/cool ones. I don't know what characters half of them are, so I'm only gonna caption some of these.

+ Show Spoiler [Warning, image-heavy] +

Kagura and the other guy that's rivals with Gintoki or w/e, I think
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herpderp Vocaloid

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Well played.

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lol wat

walking Ginseng essence

I hope that's not some sort of Moyashimon fad/parody...

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Well, screw you too lady.

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Very nicely done cosplay of the rear entrance exit sign

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Some military cosplayers

Of course, the people waiting in line are also quite interesting. There are kids reading Sankarea, people with Index and Black Rock Shooter accessory bags (probably from previous Comic Worlds), and grown-up adultly adults with Key Studio t-shirts from 2010.

+ Show Spoiler +

o____O

But the waiting is done. Finally, FINALLY, FINALLY, I get a ticket and head immediately for the entrance. There's a fast-moving line to enter the convention center, but I'm a maverick. Screw lines.

+ Show Spoiler +

I can see the ending!

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Those two hours...worth the wait?

==================

And so, I head inside the convention center (shortening it to SETEC for the time being).

+ Show Spoiler +

I'm in! Let's-ooh, more cosplayers.

SETEC, like COEX, has multiple convention center areas, but it seems like Comic World reserved the main one. It has three Exhibition hallways, handily named halls 1, 2 (has two indoor entrances), and 3.

+ Show Spoiler [Also conveniently color-coded] +

For me (it could be different later on), the order from left-most (Hall 1) to right-most (Hall 3) was:
- Hall 1,
- THE ONLY ALLOWED exit to the outside (don't worry, you can come back the same way) and a small convenience store (don't...just get drinks from the vending machines...the lines are too long),
- Hall 2,
- a place where ppl can rest, go to the restroom, and register/do shits related to the accessory stands/cosplay events, and
- Hall 3.

Halls 1 & 3 had stands selling stuff and Hall 2 had the cosplay/audience karaoke/etc events. Oh, and there are free mini-posters/previews to the right of Hall 2 that advertise various manga artists. They're free. Yay.

Did I mention that they were free?

Anyways, I was being dumb and did not realize the order of the halls at the time, so I visited Hall 3 first.

+ Show Spoiler +

Whoah. (The first two pics are actually of Hall 2 while the cosplayers were prepping, though.)

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Watchu lookin at

Lots of people. Lots of people wandering around. Lots of people resting. Lots of mothers resting forlornly. There's actually quite a bit of checking of stands going around by the Comic World helpers to make sure everything's in line.

There are about 7-10 alleyways (I'll call them rows from here on) of stands that you can walk through, counting the edge ones. Presumably, the spaces right in front of the hall entrance (rows 2, 3 for Hall 3, row 1 for Hall 1) are the most prized ones. People sell their shit from the stands - again, cash only please. There are originals, parodies, crossovers, standard stuff, you name it. Of course there are a lot of Korean manga/webtoon stands selling stuff as well. Unfortunately, as for Japanese series, only the most ~~popular~~ mainstream ones are really seen in the fan arts - Katekyo Hitman Reborn, Index, DRRR!, Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai are the ones that come to mind (Q_______Q no The World God Only Knows? One Elsie sticker?)

As for the items, there are quite a lot - there are stands that sell CDs, decorated snail mail letters, t-shirts, and much more. But a lot center around these categories of items:

Item General List + Standard Prices
- Very small stuff, such as badges and small 2-3 in. wide picture cards: 300-600 won; usually badges are 500
- Small trinkets that involve plastic and non-paper material, such as key chains, individual Go-Stop/tarot cards, stickers, etc.: 1000 won (sets of cards/card decks are usually 10000-20000 won)
- Same as above, but with accessories such as mirrors and lip balm: 1200-1500 won
- Picture cards/bookmarks (AKA what I went crazy collecting; you'll see later): 600-1000 won; the mode seems to be 700-800 won, but the ones that are shiny/bigger/have better graphics tend to be stuck at 1000 won (those fuckers...). Sets are usually 2000-5000 won.
- Small-to-medium posters/bromide print/larger papers: 1000-1500 won
- Eyeglasses cleaners: 1500 won
- Mouse pads: 3000 won
- Fanart collections/books: Depends on the # of pages, usually around 3000-5000 won, but if better/more pages, can be up to 10000 won (but nobody buys that shit)
- Relatively larger items, such as mugs, handbags, etc.: 2000-6000 won
- Large scrolls/bath towels/posters: 10000-20000 won

+ Show Spoiler [Close-up and standard pricing] +

But to be sure, there are plenty of people that draw badly and still sell shit for 700/800 a pop. I tried to remember the rows where there were cool stuffs and came back later, but that was sometimes a drawback because a) the place was confusing as fuck and my memory was getting swamped by the number of stands, and b) popular stuff (e.g.: cards of Touhou chars in school uniforms instead of the usual shit) gets sold out quickly, so waiting for/pushing through busy stands instead of wandering around a bit more was sometimes not a bad idea, especially if the stand had a good artist. This was probably also another perk of buying a ticket early - to get in and get the good stuff first.

I was actually pretty tense b/c I was afraid that I would end up buying a card with subpar graphics compared with another stand that I might visit later, but with my excellent evaluation skills, I was able to end up mostly all right. Also, I went for breadth, not depth, so I had a hard time keeping track of what characters I hadn't gotten (which proved to be fatal later).

Anyways, more pics.

+ Show Spoiler +

This is Korean Sign Language for "don't bump into me and bend my Sena bromide print or I beat your ass"

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Anyone know anything about this game? I got a free card out of it...

It was kind of sad to some extent, though. It was pretty obvious that most of the people (myself included) were just going through looking to fill up with merchandise from popular series. Due to that fact, many stands that had more obscure manga/did not sell popular series alongside their manga art/had originals were ignored, although a lot of the original art stands were of much higher quality than most of the stands there. Ah well, better luck next time? (It was a similar situation for the people who had drawn Western comics, esp. stuff along the lines of The Avengers. Yay for white people doing stuff at Comic World, but yea it didn't really work out well)

Oh, and some other things:
1) There are plenty of stands that discreetly have free bookmarks/cards for you to pick up, and
2) There are stands that have huge pics of something and then half their stand is about something else (which may be a series that you like).
This means: take your time browsing. It won't take long as you think it will.

==================

So now refreshed and wanting more, I went to Hall 2 - just in time for the cosplay/karaoke events!

Except not really.

Both the cosplay/karaoke spots are reserved beforehand. It looks like it, but they don't just fucken randomly call people. It's all part of a conspiracy. A pretty bad conspiracy, though, because (whether it was due to the mic or just the people being bad) most of them were bad singers. Well, don't blame them. Can't really tell how badly you sing until you record yourself doing it. But still...

I don't have videos. I don't want the singing to be scarred into your souls.

Oh, and cosplay was cosplay. A lot of the same shit, too much Vocaloid, etc etc.

+ Show Spoiler +

The stage + the announcer girl. Thankfully, she was an otaku herself, but also snarky as hell.

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The stage, audience, and places to the left where the cosplayers line up for something and where they get dressed/checked in.

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There was room to sit. Fittingly, we were all sandwiched against the wall.

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This man sang Taiyou Iwaku Moeyo Chaos (Haiyore! Nyaruko-san OP) with the skill of a brain-damaged badger. I wanted to kill myself. Oh and people left too during the performance - ________ -;;;

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Some other people sang stuff...didn't know a lot of them b/c I don't watch as many 'classics'/oldies as much as I should. This group sang the Gintama OP, as evidenced by their cosplay. There were two girls that sang The Everlasting Guilty Crown, too. Interesting.

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Btw that's a man

After about 30 minutes of tolerating mildly mediocre to horrific cosplay/karaoke (I think they just finished it up and then watched a movie or had an AMV contest or something; although nothing like an AMV contest was on the website...), I went outside via the exit. Ooh! Was there candy outside?

+ Show Spoiler +

The light at the end of the tunnel

No, just a burning hell.

+ Show Spoiler +

I'm meltinguu

I quickly ran back inside like a pussy. And then legged it to Hall 1, where more stands were waiting for me.

+ Show Spoiler [Pics, lovely pics] +

Round 2.

Hall 1 in general was slightly more expensive (or so I felt) than Hall 3 - a lot of more shiny cards and 1000 won-per-pop pieces (1000 won is generally rip-off unless the art is really good, IMO). However, during the convention, I was on a rampage and collecting cards like there was no tomorrow...so...fuck it. I collected cards b/c they're more portable than fanart books; besides, there were too many fanart books and I could probably ogle better quality pics on Danbooru anyday. Why did I collect cards then? Because they're shiny. And I feel a tingly warmth inside my heart when I satisfy my need to collect something that fits every anime character I know.

I was thinking about getting a tarot card deck because they were really cool (e.g.: High Priestess was Index, Magician was Louise, etc.), but they don't really suit me and I wouldn't blow 20000 won on them.

Q_______Q should have gotten the cute LoL cards though, that Ahri looked quite good. Sold out by the time I returned to it though. I got some other charas at another stand though, so that sorta makes up for it.

+ Show Spoiler +

Q__________________Q

There were plenty of Korean manhwa (oh shit, I've been replacing manhwa with manga haven't I) stands too, as well as more fan-servicey stuff. Boku wa Tomodachi drawings were pretty up there, again for obvious reasons.

+ Show Spoiler +

Well.

As time went on (esp. starting from ~4 PM onwards), the stands started to empty out and close down. The shops with popular series/good graphics/good location shut down first, and the others hung out for a while before they closed shop too. The only Saki fanart stand sold out everything damn quickly, but I don't see why...it wasn't that good.

+ Show Spoiler +

The end draws nigh

I spent a few more rounds admiring the stands here and there and took a glance inside Hall 2 again to see what was going on. The cosplay awards were being announced. Whatever. I checked the time. I had spent approximately 4 hours from entry walking around leisurely and enjoying a bit of the cosplay/karaoke (which means that if I had done a bit more watching, I would have been at the convention 'till the end; but then the stands wouldn't have anything worthwhile, so what would have been the point of that?) I headed towards the exit...again. Back to Bulgwang.

+ Show Spoiler +

The place is laughably empty now. Anyways, see ya, SETEC.

A note: don't leave your bag. Some bastard stole my Yui poster (came with the Mio poster as a set - you'll see when I post the pics) while I was trying to run around to find that LoL stand. It was sold out and my bag was lying there, quite easy to make the connection and run for it. Fuckers. And keep track of what characters you might want to buy for - you will be a very sad person when you come back and realize that due to being whirled around in the stands, you didn't buy what you wanted to buy.

Anyhoos, I ended up at a nearby Kim's Club (basement shopping mall/grocery store complex) buying coconut-flavored gelatin ice cream. Except it wasn't any different from regular ice cream. Screw you, misleading advertising.

+ Show Spoiler +

smh

Another day, another adventure. Well, this one was done, at least.

My stuffs:

+ Show Spoiler +

Also got a Lucky Star mug, but the handle broke and we have no adhesives right now, so it's not included in the picture

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These last two are just the freebie posters/information booklet/ticket stub for Comic World

Other than the Yui poster incident, I am currently fuming because I forgot to get way more stuff for two popular series that I really wanted (AND I KNEW THE STANDS WHERE THEY HAD REALLY GOOD STUFF TOO ASDFJKL;). Guess what they were, given the pics?

+ Show Spoiler +

Bakemonogatari: Hanekawa, Senjougahara, Tsukihi, Sengoku. There were no good stands for Karen/Kanbaru/Hachikuji
K-On!: Yui, Azusa. asdfjkl; I can't believe that as a die-hard Azusa fan I didn't get a single good card of Azusa OTL (although actually, there weren't a lot, if any, artists that could draw a good Index/Last Order/Accelerator/Asuza...

Finally, as a side note, do NOT come to Comic World if:
a) You want to see ridiculously high-quality stuff that's near-equal to/similar to/better made than the official art (e.g.: absurdres)
b) You want all diff kinds of merchandise on the series you like, not just bookmarks
c) You expect a supremely high standard of cosplay/graphics (something like Spiral Cats).

All in all, though, I still had a blast, and there were a lot of great original fanart doujins. If I had started to buy them, I wouldn't be able to stop. But don't take my word for it - check it out for yourself.

Anyways, I think that's all I wanted to say. Enjoy the pics.

nttea

Sweden4353 Posts

July 22 2012 02:08 GMT

are you ok? you sound very stressed out by something and I'm not even sure you had a good time :p

NeverGG

United Kingdom5399 Posts

July 22 2012 08:54 GMT

I loved going to Comic World. I went to every one over the course of a couple of years. However, if you don't want to queue then why don't you just go to Hongdae and buy tickets in advance from the Comic World shop? You can just walk right in then without queuing (in my experience.)

'Finally, as a side note, do NOT come to Comic World if:
a) You want cheap stuff
b) You want to see ridiculously high-quality stuff that's near-equal to/similar to/better made than the official art (e.g.: absurdres)
c) You want all diff kinds of merchandise, not just bookmarks
d) You expect a high standard of cosplay/graphics'

I could not disagree with these points more. IMO everything at CW (with the exception of some of the hugging pillow covers and fanmade otome games) was exceptionally cheap. The quality varied depending upon your art style preferences, but considering it was all fanmade the quality levels versus price kept me buying things. For example at a normal CW I'd drop between 500,000won and 700,000 (having kept aside part of my wages to do so.) If you're on the budget of a high-schooler then maybe CW seems pricey, but considering 1000won is the price of say a roll of kimbap then I'd hardly call it expensive. You're also paying to get something unique, which in many cases you cannot get elsewhere. The bottom line is that even for only 20,000won you can get lots of cute items, and you have *plenty* of warning regarding the dates of the next CW, so it's not difficult to just save your money in advance.

You could buy tonnes of different types of merchandise for a wide range of shows/games. I cannot believe someone who has been to CW would say otherwise O.o That's pretty odd considering how incredibly varied I found the stalls to be. To give you example of how varied it is here is a list of the types of items I have picked up since I began going to CW;

Wallscrolls, doujinshi, posters, rulers, stationary, stickers, book marks, card sets, air freshners, fabric scrolls, art books, keychains, phone straps, bus pass cases, erasers, pencils, pens, gold seals, bags, purses, stick posters, calendars, clear files, tape holders, rubix cubes, pin badges, game CDs, figure pegs, second hand anthologies, mugs, glasses cleaners, paper dolls. Not to mention all the vintage doujinshis I managed to get from the stalls by the station entrance.

How is that not varied?

Also, slagging off the cosplay quality? REALLY? I saw some excellent cosplays during my time at CW. Also, why does it matter if the cosplays don't always meet *your* standards? Cosplay is about creativity and having fun, not living up to the so-called standards set by people you don't even know. The same goes for karaoke. Shouldn't you just be pleased to see other fans enjoying themselves, contributing to the event, and expressing their love for their personal fandoms?

It makes me sad to see you bitching and whining about what was an event that consistently made me (and those whom I took with me) and many of the lovely stall owners, fans, and others whom I met there very happy. If you get so stressed/angry/sad about what is an event which is *meant* to be fun then maybe you shouldn't go.

I am so tempted to make my own write up defending this event now just to counter how entitled and negative yours sounds.

ymir233

United States8275 Posts

July 22 2012 10:32 GMT

It was fun, don't get me wrong: I do bitch a lot, but that's just me saying stuff I guess. I thought the Comic World shop was way further away, but apparently I was wrong. I wish I could come back again anytime, but I'm simply writing about what Comic World is in general.

The issue with price is a personal deal. Personally, having browsed through Danbooru and having seen what awesome stuff people can draw, I wouldn't pay 1000 won to see a disproportioned Touma/Accelerator staring back at my face. It doesn't matter how 'unique' or 'the artist's style' it is, it just didn't fit what I would have liked. It's not about saving my money at all ><;;; sorry if I sounded like a miser.

There's not actually a varied amount of series/games. No, let me correct that: there are a lot of Korean manhwa stands (obviously), but the number of Japanese series merch people sell is relatively limited. As I went through the stands, it was hard to find people selling anything else other than maybe Index, Gintama, Boku wa Tomodachi, Katekyo Hitman, DRRR!, LoL, Bakemonogatari, K-On!, Touhou, Fate/Zero (not even Type/Moon), Conan, and Vocaloid, in addition to a small sprinkling of Squid Girl, Nichijou, Lucky Star, iM@S, and some other random shoujo stuff. Did I expect there to be a huge number of stuff? No; I had no idea of what to expect. Was I disappointed? Not necessarily, but I wished there were more series I could buy stuff for, because I'm a greedy bastard. And again, it does seem like a lot of series, but compared to the number of stands and the number of relatively popular series out there...

And there are a lot of different items, but not for different series. For instance, Touhou with its fanbase has one of everything in existence (with good artists drawing the stuff on the merch), but Nichijou might just have one meh artist that made a badge or eyeglasses cleaner for the series. Again, it's not for people that expect to be able to ogle every stand because they have superior artwork that will blow their minds. I'm cool with it, but there are people that aren't.

I know there's some excellent cosplay out there. I saw them. I don't deny that during any part of my post. But as someone who was watching the cosplay, I simply said "meh they don't fit the image I had". Sure, it was pretty cool to see people cosplaying. Sure, it was fun being with the karaoke with the others (I started clapping and singing Fuwa Fuwa Time before the people around me did). But that being said, the cosplay was meh and I moved on. As an onlooker, beyond the fact that people were cosplaying in the first place (again, which is cool), I wanted to see good cosplay. And I did - just not all of the time. Same with karaoke.

I had a great time walking around and seeing everything (and buying every other series I saw except for Bakemono Q___Q); I just wrote about the details as I saw them, which may seem much more monotonous and negative. Sorry I didn't include a sentence ending with "...and this was awesome!" at the end of every paragraph.

supernovamaniac

United States3046 Posts

July 22 2012 10:49 GMT

On July 22 2012 19:32 ymir233 wrote:

And there are a lot of different items, but not for different series. For instance, Touhou with its fanbase has one of everything in existence (with good artists drawing the stuff on the merch), but Nichijou might just have one meh artist that made a badge or eyeglasses cleaner for the series. Again, it's not for people that expect to be able to ogle every stand because they have superior artwork that will blow their minds. I'm cool with it, but there are people that aren't.

Mai trolled the whole con.

Also, I went to animation festival at COEX instead of this. Less otaku-ish (better for my social image), but picked up 1/8 Nagato Yuki figure for 19,000 won, originally sells for 84,481 won (on the box)

STEAL

ymir233

United States8275 Posts

July 22 2012 12:41 GMT

Time, space, reality, and a slight Korean-Japanese language barrier? Easily over-trolled.

But trust me, if they had something that had good graphics or even something cute I would have bought it. Hell, there could have been a stand that sold nothing but pairs of small, plain, wooden cubes and I would have bought like 10 pairs.

And you bastard.

NeverGG

United Kingdom5399 Posts

July 22 2012 13:03 GMT

On July 22 2012 19:32 ymir233 wrote:
It was fun, don't get me wrong: I do bitch a lot, but that's just me saying stuff I guess. I thought the Comic World shop was way further away, but apparently I was wrong. I wish I could come back again anytime, but I'm simply writing about what Comic World is in general.

The issue with price is a personal deal. Personally, having browsed through Danbooru and having seen what awesome stuff people can draw, I wouldn't pay 1000 won to see a disproportioned Touma/Accelerator staring back at my face. It doesn't matter how 'unique' or 'the artist's style' it is, it just didn't fit what I would have liked. It's not about saving my money at all ><;;; sorry if I sounded like a miser.

There's not actually a varied amount of series/games. No, let me correct that: there are a lot of Korean manhwa stands (obviously), but the number of Japanese series merch people sell is relatively limited. As I went through the stands, it was hard to find people selling anything else other than maybe Index, Gintama, Boku wa Tomodachi, Katekyo Hitman, DRRR!, LoL, Bakemonogatari, K-On!, Touhou, Fate/Zero (not even Type/Moon), Conan, and Vocaloid, in addition to a small sprinkling of Squid Girl, Nichijou, Lucky Star, iM@S, and some other random shoujo stuff. Did I expect there to be a huge number of stuff? No; I had no idea of what to expect. Was I disappointed? Not necessarily, but I wished there were more series I could buy stuff for, because I'm a greedy bastard. And again, it does seem like a lot of series, but compared to the number of stands and the number of relatively popular series out there...

And there are a lot of different items, but not for different series. For instance, Touhou with its fanbase has one of everything in existence (with good artists drawing the stuff on the merch), but Nichijou might just have one meh artist that made a badge or eyeglasses cleaner for the series. Again, it's not for people that expect to be able to ogle every stand because they have superior artwork that will blow their minds. I'm cool with it, but there are people that aren't.

I know there's some excellent cosplay out there. I saw them. I don't deny that during any part of my post. But as someone who was watching the cosplay, I simply said "meh they don't fit the image I had". Sure, it was pretty cool to see people cosplaying. Sure, it was fun being with the karaoke with the others (I started clapping and singing Fuwa Fuwa Time before the people around me did). But that being said, the cosplay was meh and I moved on. As an onlooker, beyond the fact that people were cosplaying in the first place (again, which is cool), I wanted to see good cosplay. And I did - just not all of the time. Same with karaoke.

I had a great time walking around and seeing everything (and buying every other series I saw except for Bakemono Q___Q); I just wrote about the details as I saw them, which may seem much more monotonous and negative. Sorry I didn't include a sentence ending with "...and this was awesome!" at the end of every paragraph.

I still totally disagree with you regarding the amount of 'manhwa' stalls you seem to have seen. In my two years of experience of CW the amount of original manhwa stalls has vastly been out-numbered by those catering to Japanese fandoms. Whilst I can agree that there are trends (as a woman I'm focused more upon the fujoshi-oriented series related stalls, but I used to go for 5 hour stints scouring every single stand for items related to my more obscure fandoms.) such as the level of popularity for certain series depending upon the time/condition of fandom (aka. things like the large amounts of Inazuma Eleven stalls.) However, your 'report' implies that people who visit CW are mostly going to find inferior quality products for manhwa/OC titles which is just not true.

Obviously, you're not going to buy items which do not suit your taste, but one of the massive plus points of CW is that there is *so much* variety in terms of styles/items etc. If you're only shopping for specific fandoms then it can be disappointing at times (I myself have gone expecting loads of doujinshi for series like Ao no Exorcist only to come out with less than 10 books.) In contrast, I was able to pick up over 100 2nd hand doujinshis dating back to 2001 for the series Prince of Tennis from a stall by the station. Obscure fandoms are there if you truly look for them, and since the stalls change each time there's a new CW you never know what to expect. However, you really haven't communicated to readers that CW is like a wonderful flea market where you can find things you might never have expected. Your blog just comes off as frustrated and angry that it didn't cater to exactly what you wanted . It's a shame because more people need to experience events like CW imo.

As for the cosplay - who gives a stuff what other people said about the cosplays? Again, cosplay isn't the be all and end all of an event. It's there to be admired if you want to and ignored if you don't. However, it's mostly there to give fans something creative to do, talk about, socialize with and enjoy wearing.

'Sorry I didn't include a sentence ending with "...and this was awesome!" at the end of every paragraph. '

Also, there's no need to be sarcastic. Your whole slant on CW was negative. I'm just telling you that it's a shame imo that you'd be so negative about something which fans are meant to at least try to enjoy. Next time it might be good to at least include some positives.

If you're looking for events which solely cater to one fandom and thus will have (admittedly a much smaller amount) but a more concentrated dose of those specific fandoms then check out the shelves by the counter at Book Saetong in Hongdae. They often carry fliers for up coming fandom markets. I've been to several of them (2 for X-men: First Class, one for Naruto, one for PoT and a general video games themed one.) Maybe they might be a better fit for you.

ymir233

United States8275 Posts

July 22 2012 15:20 GMT

There are definitely a lot of stands with Japanese series. However, they don't cater to a lot of different series. I wholeheartedly agree with finding stuff like Ao no Exorcist and Inazuma Eleven in a couple of stands, but unfortunately I can't fib and say that it's going to be very high-quality artwork, unless you're lucky.

No offense, but I don't like how I'm being pidgeonholed into a situation where it looks like I'm looking for some randomly obscure fandom thing that nobody in their right mind would mass-publish next to a popular series. Again, I didn't know what to expect - but I kept seeing the same series over and over again (and yes, I know that those series are the ones that sell..) What about Zero no Tsukaima (BESIDES Louise)? What about Sankarea, which people were reading in the lines? Hell, what about popular Korean webtoons, such as Tower of God or Orange Marmalade? I don't think I'm asking for too much when I see 19171758016 posters of Boku wa Tomodachi and one Sora no Otoshimono-related bromide print (which I got, huehuehue).

I also agree that there will be stuff that people will not expect, and I'll put up a header/recommendation while cutting out the 'cheap stuff' part. But it doesn't change what people should not expect at a convention - again, they wouldn't see something that was posted in, say, Pixiv or Danbooru. Except for maybe originals - a lot of the original stands were really good.

NeverGG

United Kingdom5399 Posts

July 22 2012 15:49 GMT

I think your expectations of CW were definitely a bit too high. Also, your definition of 'high quality' might not be the same as someone else's. It's certainly not the same as mine. Remember, the majority of Pixiv's content is generated in Japan, but for all the highly popular/professional level work there are also thousands of semi-pro or beginner level images.

'No offense, but I don't like how I'm being pidgeonholed into a situation where it looks like I'm looking for some randomly obscure fandom thing that nobody in their right mind would mass-publish next to a popular series.' Did I happen to say this at any point? I don't recall mentioning anything of the sort. I, myself bought several items from very obscure fandoms (obscure for the Korean fanbase, not the international or Japanese ones) such as No.6, Prince of Tennis, and Utapuri. This is balanced out by my purchases from big fandoms (again, big for the Korean fanbase in particular) such as Tiger & Bunny, Kuroshitsuji, and Vocaloid.

As for the actual distribution of series upon the various stalls - it's just all about what is currently popular with the various circles. Sometimes it's more of a matter of what *they* believe will make a profit (aka. SS Family whose content is massively varied, and who do big trade at both Seoul and Busan CW) but sometimes it's just a case of the personal preferences of the artist. They're not catering to you, but to the other fans who *might* come, and to their own creative impulses. The only thing you as a non-circle member/fan can do is hope that you find items which fit your idea of quality at CW. If not, then there's no reason to be frustrated/whine because there are plenty of other sources for fan-made goods (or why not just buy the official goods if you want 'high quality' items.)

You're not being 'pigeon-holed' by anyone. It just annoys me to see such a negative/biased account which implies certain things which are just not true (basically the little negative list you included at the end.)

Anyway, in the end we're probably going to have to agree to disagree - I adored all of my visits to CW and came away with literally hundreds of items which I consider to be both aesthetically pleasing, creative and bargains. Maybe, you'll have better luck next time, but please don't post things which demean the quality of the work on offer, and the effort the cosplayers went to to join in with the spirit of CW and fandom in general.

ymir233

United States8275 Posts

July 22 2012 16:12 GMT

#10

Regardless of what my standards should or should not be, I'm simply stating what people should NOT expect. Again, that's 'very high-quality image works'. The bromide prints were good. A lot of the bookmarks were good. But there were plenty of pieces that weren't. I don't think just saying 'you're negative/biased' really cuts it at this point just because I said 'there are a lot of places that don't have very high-quality images', which is correct.

If they're not catering to me, a random stranger, what other random strangers are they catering to? ><;;; Again, I don't feel particularly frustrated - I just wish that I could have seen more stuff instead of Index onto Index.

I liked my visit, and I'm glad you did too (and I would also be glad if others enjoyed it in the future). However, as 'demeaning' as it may be given your perspective, I believe I am putting up a viewpoint that is just as valid as any other truthful report on a convention. The effort is great, but there's also something to be said about the end result. Thanks for telling me your thoughts though

oboeotaku

United States4 Posts

July 23 2012 03:41 GMT

#11

Why do I see no KnJ sir? I am disappoint. And no Type-Moon aside from Fate/Zero? (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻
Arcueid...Aoko...Ren... *sniffle*

@the complainer
to quote you...

"Again, cosplay isn't the be all and end all of an event. It's there to be admired if you want to and ignored if you don't."

The same could be said of a post like this. Why don't you just ignore this post then? I'm sure there are many posts which do write glowing, positive reviews of CW. If there aren't, make one like you said you were so tempted to do. In the meantime, realize that some people enjoy being cynical, and also that some people have higher standards than others.

Something tells me you will ignore this. Which is also fine. These kinds of arguments are somewhat amusing to watch anyways.

NeverGG

United Kingdom5399 Posts

July 23 2012 08:11 GMT

#12

On July 23 2012 12:41 oboeotaku wrote:
Why do I see no KnJ sir? I am disappoint. And no Type-Moon aside from Fate/Zero? (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻
Arcueid...Aoko...Ren... *sniffle*

@the complainer
to quote you...

"Again, cosplay isn't the be all and end all of an event. It's there to be admired if you want to and ignored if you don't."

The same could be said of a post like this. Why don't you just ignore this post then? I'm sure there are many posts which do write glowing, positive reviews of CW. If there aren't, make one like you said you were so tempted to do. In the meantime, realize that some people enjoy being cynical, and also that some people have higher standards than others.

Something tells me you will ignore this. Which is also fine. These kinds of arguments are somewhat amusing to watch anyways.

I have username, please use it. Actually, this is the only post about CW hence I felt compelled to make sure that people do see that it's not all doom and gloom. Also that the event is well worth going to regardless of your 'standards' or what level they happen to be at. I am expressing my opinion and asked the reviewer to possibly at least state some of the positives so potential CW-goers aren't put off from attending. That's all. It's not an argument - it was a debate, and in the end we agreed to disagree on several points about CW.

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