RemainUnknown522: Star #SupaComic 2018 Day One, 29 December 2018 (Edited: 31/12, 1037 Hrs)

Entrance to the event.

Year 2018 is about to wrap up, making way for year 2019. After last week's Comic Fiesta, this blog post will also be my final for 2018. It's #SupaComic 2018, hosted by Malaysia's English language newspaper company, The Star. While this is also a two-day event similar to Comic Fiesta, I went there on Day One only.

ARRIVAL AT MID VALLEY

The entrance, showing images of cosplayers. The one in the middle (All Might) is Leon Chiro, from Italy.

I arrived at Mid Valley Exhibition Centre at 10:19 a.m. Unlike Comic Fiesta, the event is not as overcrowded and I feel much more comfortable here. As seen in the photo above, there is virtually no long queue at the entrance to the exhibition centre.

INSIDE THE HALLS

Once I got inside, I purchased a ticket and gave my particulars on a small piece of paper. According to a staff there, I am required to give my particulars so that it is easier for them to contact me should if I, for example, win a lucky draw or something. But honestly, I hate lucky draws and I don't believe in luck; so I can easily expect that they will not contact me anyhow!

Ticket counter.

Alright, enough of my endless misfortunes. Inside the halls, I am starting to experience some kind of déjà vu here. The location of the stage and booth arrangements looked almost similar to TAGCC 2018 last April, except that this event has its own differences. Firstly is the entrance itself; There are barriers separating queues for on-site ticket buyers, Early Bird ticket holders and re-entry. Secondly, the event hall feels much more spacious than during TAGCC 2018, as there is an open space called 'Cosplayers Hang Out Zone', where cosplayers can hang out and pose for photographers.

Other than the ticket counter, there is the stage, a photography area, and a statue of a Transformers character Bumblebee from the film Bumblebee.

More photos can be viewed here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/HsPJCVij8ZTpQa7K7

The exhibition booths are placed at two halls. Hall 1 is named Harajuku, while Hall 2 is named Shinjuku. At Hall 1, there are booths selling cosplay items, Anime merchandise and takoyaki, a kimono rental and Tea Ceremony booth and a booth by 'DimSum', an online video streaming service. I also noticed a trading card game tournament area, and guest cosplayers' booth where visitors can meet them and get an autograph.

At Hall 2 are booths selling electronics (courtesy of Harvey Norman Mid Valley), commission artworks and merchandise such as keychains and tote bags, E-Sports area, and figurine and even balloon exhibits. Hall 2 also has an exit, which heads straight to the food court, and a photography area displaying a prop from Lord of the Rings, and Star #SupaComic itself.

This is Colossal Titan balloon model, at Supa Dupa booth.

At Hall 2, I tested cameras at Canon and Sony booth. As I have been using the EOS 450D for some time now, I decided to try the available cameras there. At Canon booth, I tested the company's newest full-frame mirrorless camera, the Canon EOS R. The kind staff also showed me one of the camera's features: touch and drag focus. The EOS R, while being comfortable in my hand, it is also heavy, due to the lens it used. I also tried the EOS 200D and 800D again, and I found that both are actually comfortable in my hands. Unfortunately, I find the EOS 800D's plastic body feels oddly rough and cheap.

This is the Canon EOS R. That 24-105mm lens is both huge and heavy!

At Sony booth, I tried the a6000, a6300, a7 Mark II and the RX100 Mark III. While I am okay with the a6000's grip comfort, the display unit 16-50mm power zoom lens feels oddly flimsy, probably due to it being used repeatedly. The a6300 displayed there uses a prime lens instead of a zoom lens, and I was confused at first when I tried to zoom, but only found out how wrong I was (prime lenses doesn't zoom!). The a7 Mark II feels comfortable in my hand while its 28-70mm zoom lens is smaller than the Canon, but it is expensive. Finally, the RX100 Mark III, which I liked its pop-up viewfinder (using it, however, consumes more battery power than the screen!).

AT THE STAGE

At the stage, I first watched the two emcees giving away merchandise to visitors who either answered their questions correctly or being the first to get there (example: when they say "the first visitor with a DSLR", the first person with DSLR will get the merchandise).

Next was a violin performance by Luna Lorrain. Unlike during TAGCC 2018, where I recorded one video, I decided to take photos instead. It was during this period that I finally got the correct camera settings to take the best photo possible.

This is one of the best possible photos of Luna Lorrain during her stage performance I managed to capture.

Another photo of Luna Lorrain's stage performance.

Speaking of emcees, before Luna Lorrain's performance, the two emcees announced that Harvey Norman is doing a promotion for Yoobao M5 power bank. Originally priced at RM69, the price was reduced to RM9, but limited to first 10 people to get to the booth selling it. Once the emcees have finished, the first 10 people, me included, got to the booth. I only walked to the booth, when several others rushed quickly! Still, I got mine and paid for it, but the best thing is, one of the Harvey Norman staffs took a photo of the receipt for warranty reasons. Nice job, guys!

This is the Yoobao M5 power bank that I bought there. I was already home when I took this photo.

COSPLAYERS

Finally, the cosplayers. On this event, there are guest cosplayers present, one of them is Leon Chiro, a cosplayer from Italy, and there is even an image of him cosplaying as All Might from Boku no Hero Academia displayed at the entrance to SupaComic 2018. I also noticed that there are slightly lesser cosplayers than during TAGCC 2018, and I took even less photos of cosplayers on that day.

This is Leon Chiro, cosplaying as Jotaro Kujo, along with a visitor taking a selfie with him.

Second photo of Leon Chiro, doing the Jotaro pose. As I choose to take his photo while I was standing up as opposed to kneeling, his eyes here are blocked by his cap.