Sugoi Stuff

Due to unforeseen circumstances, I arrived half a day late for the convention proper. And as much as I would have liked to give you real-time highlight updates via micro-blogging, there was no wifi available. So forgive me for my very limited point of observation in my post-event report.

Highlights

• The layout of the booths surrounding the stage area was well thought out. One can easily walk around and not bump on anyone, unless of course one or two booths are crowded due to whatever is happening in the booth (ike photo-ops and promos). And I can easily see the stage from where I was standing without standing on a chair.
• The variation of booths are the usual: toys, independent comics, exhibits, and videos. Added participants this time around are the Fully Booked stall displaying their stocks of graphic novels and manga, the Fotoloco booth, and a couple of independent game developers. (I may have missed some though)
• Turn-out was remarkable! Despite that SMX is very very far for most of us, Hall 4 was brimming with people, and spilled over to outside. Mostly the people outside are the cosplayers and spectators having their photoshoots, SMX being a refreshing piece of architecture. But despite of the huge crowd, it still wasn’t claustrophobic, which is always a good thing.
• Cosplayers, again, are the highlight of the event. I was not able to see the start of the catwalk, but I have been informed there was quite a number of registered cosplayers that they had to have intermissions between several catwalks.

I personally had a blast as I was in the company of friends and met new people. I’ve always believed events liked this are best experienced in groups.

For those interested and looking for the contest winners during the event, go to Mangaholix’s DeviantArt journal.