EEEEEEEEEoooohhhhwwwwhy?
So I went, dragging zq along with me. Only because ray
demanded begged that I come see her band perform. And I was pretty glad I did, since returning back to the scene which I used to be familar with was a very nostalgic feeling. It actually made me miss the whole deal. Though sadly I didn't recognize a lot of faces this time round. The game's the same, but the players have change. The old hands have retired and the ones that stayed behind all look so dated.
Peeps I bumped into: Hentai Queen, Leo, DarkMirage, Shane, KonoeKonaha, Umehiko, Bjorn and his cheese knights, think I saw Forceflow but he didn't recognize me. Vanda came after I left sadly.
I went there without a camera and I felt so naked. I wished my 10d was still working. Sigh.
The switch of location, from the Expo to the National Library was a good call, since it's a lot more accessible. But the drama centre = bad idea. Sure I get it when they want it solely because they wanted a good stage and system for the performance but come on, EOY is a cosplay event and space should be a priority over everything else.
Some opinions:
- Place was too small, and the crowd was insane. Everyone was overflowing everywhere, and the library security people were so adamant about containing everyone to level 3. There was practically no space for the photogs to take pictures and cosplayers to move around.
- Security at the auditorium was fucking anal about the no-standing rule, which honestly is retarded because why the hell are they reducing the number of people who can actually watch the performances? Thank god I manage to catch ray when her band performed the 2nd time. Which was epic, and I will talk about that later. I nearly missed it thanks to them. Thankfully I am a ninja and I appeared on the 2nd floor and slipped past the guards, but zq bumbled and alerted them.
- Sound equipment not that fantastic, so much for wanting a proper stage setup. Only good thing is the acoustics of the room that helped. The old EOYs had a shitty stage, lousier sound, but plenty of room for everyone to have FUN. We could actually MINGLE around, unlike the forced get-a-seat-or-you're-out-bitch sitting area.
- Booths are a little disappointing? IDK. There were quite a lot of art circles, but where are the dolfie booths (that i used to secretly enjoy?) Not really a big deal, though I must say the quality of the artworks produced are getting better.
- Entrance to the drama center, dumb. Exit and Re-entry is at the same door, making it insanely difficult to go in and out. The other door was reserved for presale ticket holders and it was barely used at all. A little reorganization on the ground wouldn't kill.
- I'm hearing from the old timers that the level of cosplays have declined and the better ones like the legendary Lenneth and all went over to Japan to cosplay instead. But I didn't think it was so bad, in fact I quite enjoyed most of the cosplay. Probably because I haven seen them in a while, so they felt okay to me. Notable mentions- The FF13 group was insanely
awesome.
- Ray's 2nd performance was EPIC. Because her band was doing a soundcheck onstage, she had to fill the silence with a little bantering, and she surprisingly turned out to be a very very good MC. Immediately she won the crowd over, and her most legendary performance before her actual performance was when she had to throw a prize (Fisherman's Friend sweet) for a winner and she threw it and it fell flat on the stage. HAHAHAHA. For a moment everyone was stunned and then all started laughing like mad. I swear I heard the silent screams of "MOOOOOOOOOEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!". I now hoped someone youtube her. This could possibly be a new interweb meme. The Fisherman FAIL.
- KKNM was notably missing.
- Oh and it was pretty fun to see ordinary library goers suddenly get a major culture shock when they see a hoard of cosplayers fill the library.
Sadly I had to leave early at around 3.30ish. Metup with hy who was working at Bugis for lunch, then headed home to prepare to book in. Gah, sunday DOS duty spoilt it all. =(