Going to my first Comic Convention in Rome

I was at the Romics Comic Convention last weekends with Cart and his friends.

After visiting the Toy convention in Singapore last year, I was keen on going again and I felt very left out when the event was held again this year in August. Thus the first thing that came in my head when I saw the pamphlet was, “I demand to be there!”

When we reached Fiera Di Roma (which is something like Suntec City where expos and events are held) there were already a large amount of people there. But we were still wondering if we were at the right place. It was only when we found out that there were a number of people in costumes streaming in was when we felt more assured.

I noticed that while queuing in, the cosplayers were lining up in a separate line. We found out later that people who were in costumes got to enter in for a cheaper fee. If I knew that, I would have dressed up … or maybe not :P

For sure, my avid cosplaying cousin would quite like this place.

After queuing up for the tickets, we entered inside the event hall, and at first sight ,I already knew that the experience will be something similar to the one in Singapore.

Like swimming salmons! There were so many people! I took a deep breath and started to do dance the shuffle. To look at every individual booth.

The Comics

Obviously being a comic convention, there were a number of publication houses on display. One of the biggest names that I could spot out was Panini Comics.

Panini Comics is probably best known for their character, Ratman. Ratman is interesting because the character was conceived as a parody to all the comic superheroes – with his Mickey Mouse’s ears and his cape. He was wierd but yet, amusing. Kind of like how 2gether was a satire for the overflow of all Boybands.

I also had the chance to seeing a couple of artists doing works in progress, drawing and singing autographs. And I admired a few artwork and wished that I had half the artistic talents that they had. I should learn to be more familiar with these artists!

This particular guy was so diligently doing watercolour on the first page of his comic book. I was a little too shy to approach him. Also, my lack of Italian is of another hindrance, but oh well

Looking closely, I see a name tag and saw that his name was Luca Russo – Of course, I had to google it out, and I saw a couple of his artwork. Its so lush.

What a pity that I couldn’t communicate better. I would have liked to know his inspiration and process for drawing! Well, maybe next year, when my Italian is probably slightly better

Naturally, Cart being crazy about reading comics and collecting them, bought for himself a nice pile of comics to add to his shelf dedicated to all his comic books

I looked around and I saw a number of Japanese comics that I recognized like Love Hina, Battle Royale, Evangelion.

And I was pausing for the longest time pondering if I should get a Domokun Comic. I love Domokun! Its a charming singing brick. But its in Italian! So its probably no point to get it. But yet, I keep wondering if I should.

The Toys

There was not as much toys here as compared to the convention in Singapore, and the World Cybergame section seems to be very subdued. There was hardly any console games like Nintendo Wii or X-Box consoles, Playstation and such but there were still a couple of interesting collection of old-school toys to be seen.

Like these figurines of characters from the movies. I think that it was really well done. The joker really looked like Heath Ledger.

I quite like the top row with the “Movie Set” smurfs.

Did you know that in Italy, smurfs are known as Puffi? There are even Puffi flavoured ice cream in Italy, but that is another story altogether :-)

Stewie, from Family guy, probably the most evil baby in the world. And also one of my favourite cartoons that I watch here.

A couple of stuff from the Lord of the rings. I snapped this picture because it reminded me of the crown that Yanni crafted not too long ago. The lady behind the counter offered to let me try it on, but I think that once I try it on, the longing feeling would start to feel stronger :P

And this was a nice figurine of King Arthur and the knights of the round table. Coming up in the future, we will have a nice figurine of Hang Tuah.

Oh and this is a very interesting figurine.

Which reminds me, I even saw a booth dedicated to Hentai, with a tv display for all to see. I was momentarily stunned. But the interesting thing is that I didn’t see any horrified faces around me. Europeans are really liberal about this, I suppose. The person manning the booth was amused to see my flabbergasted face.

The Costumes

For me, I think that the highlight of the convention was probably the cosplayers. There were so many! I think that there were probably about an equal ratio (or perhaps even more) regular outfits to the cosplayers. Regardless, they were all pretty nice. And if you asked for a photograph, they would always oblige

There were characters that I could recognize like :

Flippy from Happy Tree Friends. Hohoho! I lurve happytreefriends, I think that they are the most adorable critters. The irony is that I dont have the heart to watch an episode since they always die violently.

Bender and Doctor Zoidberg from Futurama. Another one of my favourite cartoons! But where is Leela?

Luigi and the Princess … Which is a little bit scandalous because Mario was supposed to be the Princess’s boyfriend. Maybe they broke up

And at one booth, I spotted out something interesting. A storm trooper playing a Clone wars game! A very dedicated and loyal staff

This is one piece – It seems to be very popular judging from the amount of people dressing up as Luffy. I like the middle cosplayer’s boots! Quite well done! But the actual anime annoys me though.

But as much as there were many that I could recognize, there were many more that I could not. Anyone could help spot them out for me? Like this character below.

Could it be Cardcaptor Sakura? Also, she never gave me my free hugs (Abbraci Gratis means free hugs in Italian) :P

Oh! So there where Mario was! Hanging out with the Milk and the Mushroom

Seriously, I wouldn’t have the patience to sew this and they both coordinated their outfits well!

And this is another fantastic costume. With the black face and the red eyes and all. Too bad that the flash of my camera flashed out his teeth.

But after spending some time spotting out costumes, the following would be in my top 3 :

I think that this guy here did a very good job in his zombie outfit that I had to peer closely at his make up.

Scary! And it wasn’t just his neck, but his entire limb had wounds and such.

This guy probably took at least 3 days to make his costume.

Also, he’s the first person to have the initiative to really pose when you ask for a picture. Seems like a professional cosplayer. Regular people would be frustrated after the 5th person I think.

And lastly, I’m not too sure what character this is, but I think that this costume was one of the most well made and the most intricate one that I’ve ever seen.

If he really did that, I think that, that was such an amazing job. Also looking like Heath Ledger isn’t bad either

Anyway, interestingly enough, while I was there looking at the different costumes, a little boy came up to me and peered at me as if I was wearing a costume myself. That was so amusing. Maybe it was because I was one of the few Asians there so its like wearing a costume!

Alright, alright, maybe the hat that I was wearing could have played a part in that. So next year, I could probably go as a catosaurus!

12challenge: What’s your favorite dinosaur? on 12seconds.tv

We are almost at the end of this blog post. But before I end, I just have something funny I had to share. Cart and I were looking at a comics display when suddenly the crowd parted into two.

There was this ferocious looking golem walking through. And everyone was transfixed at the sheer awesomeness of the golem. Everyone was afraid!

Except for this little girl who seems to make it her duty to smack the Golem’s butt.

LOL!

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