No Anime Conventions Until the Outbreak is Over.
After a year, since the spiking number of cases are still rising in thousand numbers, most Anime fans are missing to go out to attend local Anime conventions. The people, meanwhile, who make conventions possible, aren’t able to organize so because of many reasonable things, such as community quarantine restrictions, and the occasional localized lockdowns and curfews.
In this post, I am going to tell you about the seven (7) things that most Anime Con-goers will miss. Please do read below!
1. Team Labas and Team Loob
In Filipino term, the word labas and loob mean outside and inside, respectively. You are called and classified under Team Labas if you try to go to a mall to attend a local Anime convention, but don’t have enough money to buy tickets to go inside. Otherwise, you are under Team Loob if you got money to go inside.
I can somehow see some of my friends going in and out of the convention hall. Of course, I buy for the entrance fee, because I have a purpose. And one of my purposes before is that I am looking for a certain Nendoroid figure in which I wanted to have and buy it!
2. Figures and Merch Galore!
Of course, most Anime-con-goers really missed in hunting down Anime figures in which they can’t find them in most of the known figures and toy shops that they go. This shall include Nendoroids, scale figures, Nesoberi Plushes, and other items like wallscrolls (tapestry)! Definitely one of the things that I really missed. Just remember to spare your money for some other purposes, such as some other Events, like DLV screenings, if there are any!
3. Battle Royale of Controversies
Most Anime conventions are enjoyable, and at the same time, ending up with many problems and controversies. Such as, some people are making some mess — doing dirty things like Waifu Wars while punching at each other, overpriced fan-art tarpaulin incident, and some sort of ‘hashtag Team Labas’ and ‘hashtag Team Loob’ schemes (from #1).
4. Cosplay and Community Harassment
Even if I don’t notice it, some people can do some controversial interactions while in an Anime convention. Harassment in Cosplay and Communities are one of the things that a con-goer ever miss.
After I attended every single Anime convention, I can hear news from my groups, as well as some Facebook posts, telling that there are some incidents happened a while ago. Some incidents show that a certain individual, who’s a Cosplayer, is being harassed, and he or she is expressing his or her thoughts about that harassment incident. This has been posted so that many are aware. The last one that I had seen via a photo is a certain man touches a girl’s (Cosplayer) butt.
The issue is not just in Cosplay, but in other communities as well. There are other issues or incidents, where an individual borrows money from an another individual due to his or her personal reasons. And finally, the borrowed money was never returned back.
5. Busou Livers
Majority of those people who do that are fans of the LoveLive! Series. Not only LoveLive!, but it can be done on other Anime franchise which feature idols or bands (i.e. The Idolm@ster, BanG Dream!, etc.).
From big flags up to armors filled with keychains and swings, these are the people whom you can expect to encounter on almost every Anime conventions. But then, this was somehow regulated a long time ago, since there are issues where people may carry sharp objects. And they are considered as deadly weapons in which they were deemed illegal by authorities.
6. Live Stages and Contests!
Well, the Anime convention won’t be complete without any contests present in their Event! Some contests, like eating contest, karaoke, and ‘Guess the Anime Character’ are examples!
Also, there are live stages in which some of your favorite J-Pop or J-Idols, or even indie idols, are performing on the stage live!
Well, definitely, one of those things that you will ever miss.
7. “Mam Ser Bawal Po Dito”
It is a Filipino phrase which means, “Ma’am, sir, not allowed in here!” Somehow relative to #1 above (Team Labas and Team Loob). This one shall be applied on Team Labas (sometimes on Team Loob)! A security officer will just go near to you saying, “Mam ser, bawal po diyan”, if you are sitting in a wrong place. If you sit somewhere that can block the pathway where people go in and out, a security officer will just go near to you and say that phrase. Later on, this has become a meme on every single Anime conventions afterward!
The End
So far, these are the only known 7 things that an Anime Con-goer will ever miss. But then, I know that there are still more to mention. If you have more to mention than those 7 things above, you can comment!
I hope that this COVID-19 outbreak crisis should be over, so that we can do these things again. Thanks for reading and see you next time!
