A weekend of fun (comicfest) maraval 2013
The weekend is over and now it’s time to get back to work, but what a weekend it was. After missing the last two comicfest it was my duty and pleasure as a gamer, anime fan and friend to attend this one.
The event started at 9am but I arrived at the event fashionably late at maybe 12pm. Word of advice to anyone attending a Con, don’t follow my example. when you reach late some of the best stuff get sold long before you get to notice them (like shoppe anything‘s Trafalgar Law table ornament) . This however doesn’t mean I didn’t get some great stuff at the event in fact I got 2 great original artwork from local comic artist and friend Shaun Riaz.
The Name of the event has comic in it (Comicfest) so some may expect it to only about the books, but like the well-known Comic Con the word “comic” is just a title. The event had comics and a whole lot more to offer the fan boy/girl in all of us, from Naruto figurines & plushies to poster and video games, the event had it all.
One corner had a DDR (Dance Dance Revolution) stage where patrons got to put their dancing skills to the test, while the opposite end of the floor had a cosplay competition with some of the best and most interesting cosplay I have ever seen. If one dared to venture a bit further down a flight of stairs there lay the base for a huge Naruto storm 3 and injustice tournament with a 1st prize of $1000tt each. This section of the Con was packed so much so that it was somewhat hard to move about at times, but what do gamers care about moving about, we are like the roadies of our realm nothing phases us, nothing. The skill displayed by the guys that played in the tourney were among the best I’ve seen and played against. Some of the combos had the crowd of on lookers shouting in unisom as they battled for that sweet first prize.
Also situated in the same location there was a maid café with some nice young ladies and a few blokes dressed up in cosplay. Now a little side note I was present before the event and was able to speak to the owner of the café and from her previous description of the maid cosplay skirts I thought I was going to see some nuns with frills and serving trays, boy was I wrong. The maid skirts were the perfect length to get the imagination tinkling, but not at length that would dishonor the young ladies. I personally did not get to buy anything at the café myself but it had rice balls, ramen, some form of wrapped food with chopped sticks, drinks and more.
On the other end of the lower quarters of the Con was a boot for my favorite dynamic duo, Natalia and Nigel of Akcess Power (oh and Cece was there). Their boot consisted of a chance game that allowed patrons to spend the small amount of $5tt (about 78¢ USD) for a chance to take a nurf gun with 6 darts and shoot a board with heroes and villains. Each character on the board had a specific amounts of plus or minus points allocated to them. The heroes had the minus points and the villains give you points. Some villains like Aizen from bleach had small squares worth +200 while heroes like master chief had huge rectangles worth -100. I played the game 3 times and managed to score no more than 202 (sadface) but I did leave with 3 prizes of a yu-gi-oh card, a pack of yu yu hakusho trading cards and an ironman comic book. All in all I think I did pretty well.
As a whole I think comicfest at the Royal palms hotel was a huge success for attendees and those in charge alike. I didn’t get to participate in all that the event had to offer due to my arrival time and some more random factors, but I look forward to the next event which may not be to far off from what i have heard. So if you are a resident of Trinidad and Tobago or are planning to visit our shores keep following our site for updates on up coming events and more. We will try our best to keep you informed.
Splendid article bro !!! Glad you had a great time