Having not been to many cons ever since touching the shores of Britannia, it was a pleasant feeling to once again attend a local Asian con after the drama that erupted over some blog posts of mine regarding London Expo.
It was a nice change to once again be able to attend a con outside of Malaysia in nearby Singapore. Granted, only a couple of miles of sea separate both countries but the experience couldn’t be more different. Singapore, a first world nation boasting first-world infrastructure (with really tough criminal laws) would have a society that’s well developed, intellectually advanced, refined and reasonable.
I would beg to differ however, for a small number of attendees which soured somewhat the experience I would consider very wonderful at Cosfest IX. Yes, the people I’m talking about are none other than those who are in a similar hobby as I am, though obviously it being Singapore, have better equipment and gear and certainly larger attitudes.
It’s a given that in any crowded convention, Malaysian or Singaporean or otherwise, it would be inevitable to somehow bump and nudge into other participants of the event one is attending. Naturally, a certain degree of humbleness and respect for personal space is needed and an apology would be issued if a mishap occurred whereby you hit or were hit by someone else. I’ve had to experience this on many occasions, so have others. On more than a just a couple of occasions I’ve had to stammer or issue a quick apology when I’ve inadvertently bumped or hit into someone else.
But where is this leading to? And what does it have to do with Singapore? The reason as to why I’m voicing out my dissatisfaction is due to a small percentage of event-goers and photographers in Singapore who are DOWNRIGHT absolutely, filthily, disgustingly rude. I’ve never gone to ANY event/convention with the exception of Cosfest where getting bumped or hit means feigning ignorance or pleading quiet innocence from the initiating party.
To be more to the point, I was slammed into by a large backpack whose owner took no notice of what was going on or decided to ignore the fact he had hit something. I was in the crouched position taking a shot of a cosplayer inside the hall when this happened. He walked off without saying a single word of apology. The second incident occurred whilst taking a photo of a cosplayer. Some photographer (and I call him so purely on the basis he had a DSLR with a flash attached) FIRED, and I mean he GODDAMNED FIRED his flash right next to my face on the right hand side. If you’ve never had a flash fired next to your face before, I highly recommend you do. It’s an experience you should try to live at least once in a convention. The sudden heat and blinding flash are enough to make you lash out and have a go at the perpetrator.
Incident number three took place outside the hall. There I was, trying to get a good angle on a cosplayer when this photographer (again, based on the fact that he had a DSLR and was using a telephoto lens rather than a flash) who had attached a telephoto (which makes me wonder why the FUCK you’d need a telephoto if you know there’s plenty of people around and you’re outside the venue’s hall) telling me rudely, “Hey excuse me… I’m trying to get a shot”. Unfortunately, text does not convey the tone in which the sentence was said but needless to say, it was rude and unbecoming. The very least that he could’ve done was use a softer, nicer tone to convey the message that he was trying to frame a shot and I would’ve gladly moved out of his way, as one photog to another.
The above three scenarios were only part of my Cosfest experience that left a bad taste. Undoubtedly, there were more but these three were the ones I found most memorable (if you could call it that!). No doubt, I’d be hearing to no end of it once this gets posted but what the heck, I don’t care.
There was also a scenario on Day Two when the lights were turned off and a bunch of kids (I call them kids) started swinging around these lightsabers without a care in the world as to where they were swinging said lightsabers. What would happen if they hit someone and broke an arm? A leg? Or hit some expensive camera equipment a person was carrying and damaged it? Would they then pay for repairs? I doubt so!
It doesn’t take much to sour one’s expectations and impression of an event. Make no mistake, I enjoyed Cosfest. But it would’ve been much sweeter of an experience if people learnt to take into consideration their surroundings and not pretend to ignore when they invade the personal space (not that there was much to begin with, especially in a crowd) of other convention-goers. Especially when it involves accidents such as bumping into and hitting others with objects of a personal nature(bags, cameras, props etc) and not giving a hoot.
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