Tuesday, May 27th 2025: CFXX Day 2 Diary

After lots of sleep I think I'm finally well-rested enough to be back on my feet again! Let's pick off where we left off and talk about my Day 2 experience at Comifuro!

We start off later in the day than yesterday -we depart at 8 am to get there by 8.30. Most of the booths were already set up, so the vibe was more chill than the first day. I had breakfast in the car and took my meds. My boothmates were already there making adjustments to the display. I picked up some orders for my brother's friend who asked for help, and bought an Elliott standee from a booth I didn't get to visit on the first day. I was wearing a Leah pin and one of them pointed it out, to which I gave them a free Leah print for noticing it, and we promptly exchanged goodies with eachother! I got some Elly and Leah stickers out of it! It was so fun.

My friend, Ling, wanted to go to CF to help me out. She was at the front gate by 9.20 and I helped her find the ticketing booth since the gates weren't open yet and I had time to kill. It's her first ever con! When she got to the table she tried to "help" by plastering two signs on my side of the display asking for anyone who understands kanji and calligraphy to talk to her through writing (apparently "brush talk" is a way to take mutually intelligible characters between chinese and japanese and use them between those who can write in either language).

Since she had a lot of energy I thought it would be a good idea to walk her around the convention center and hunt for cosplays and interesting booths, all while carrying my wallet of freebies and trades. My energy levels were so much better than before. Ling also packed us a lunch, which was great in terms of saving money. One of my boothmates also brought a bag of trail mix for us that I munched on throughout the day.

We did our rounds and grabbed freebies while trading my OC photocard at booths that advertised art trades (yipee!). I got so much cool art from talented artists it was such a lovely experience!

Because Ling's social energy is contagious, I started complimenting people more on their outfits and cosplays. Cute dress? compliment. Creative cosplay? compliment. Nice ita bag? compliment. One person I complimented noticed my pin, asked "Is that Leah from Stardew?" and when I replied yes she promptly replied back "I know what you are" and giggled away. Very fun interaction.

At this point I need to tell you that I was wearing a batik dress and Ling was in full sarung-and-blangkon-garb (in her words she was my 'Javanese Servant' for the day). One of my neighbors, after I complimented her dress, turned to Ling and asked "I've been wondering all day what you're supposed to be -is it a cosplay? an OC?" and we both laughed -she's just Javanese for the day! We went around the convention center looking for similarly Javanese garb and found 4 or 5 dudes sporting a blangkon, one of which asked to take a pic with Ling!

When we were manning the booth, Ling was doing what we call guerilla marketing. She was very enthusiastic about offering my trinkets and jewelry (sometimes to my detriment, lol). A lot of people who went to our table were picking up orders from my boothmates; while she was at it, Ling offered them my namecard (I still have a shit ton of them to burn through!). She did other marketing tricks that I'm too timid to do, including picking up an item and saying, to the visitor, "this would look great with your outfit." Which I had to bury my face in shame and weakness whenever she did that. It made me laugh, though

After doing some more rounds around the convention, my wallet was full of freebies, namecards, and stickers. I bought a keycap (because I lost mine) and a ring (it was cheap!) while touring the building. I managed to stave off impulse buys for things I didn't need or want strongly, e.g. standees (I've run out of space), keychains (I have limited bags), photocards (I already have loads of them!), and sticker books (I'm fine with my way of storing stickers). I think this is the least I've ever spent on a con haul! Not long after, I got tired and wanted to wait for any remaining mutuals or friends to visit my booth.

The guerilla marketing strategy... works... people (who're not my friends) were more tempted to buy my items, one lovely person bought TWO fishy keychains and asked us (me and ling) to pick out the colors for her! My friend's boyfriend bought my zine (only copy sold that weekend, lol) and I had fun interacting with people!

When there were fewer passers-by I talked to my neighboring tables by complimenting their outfits or makeup, and from there the convo flowed really well. One person finished med school but wanted to pivot to the arts (props to you if you're reading this!), another was happy to trade OC photocards with me. One Trigun cosplayer noticed my Leah pin and since I had a handful of prints I gave them one! Since I wasn't selling the prints anyway :P By the end of the day I had some candy lying around that I didn't get to give to people as freebies, so I gave them to my neighbors!

It was so fun talking to people, chatting with them, even chatting between crafters and admiring their work! One crafter I talked to made rings, so we chatted a bit about wires and she brought up how she doesn't make two of the same designs, which I totally get! So we talk a bit about our creative processes and how we're both hobbyists boothing, it was very pleasant!

By 5-ish we started to pack our bags and get ready to call it a day. My mom said I should carry bags instead of rawdogging (not her words boxes since my arms were sore after day 1. So I put all my boxes in 2 bags, which were surprisingly easier to carry than two boxes stacked on top eachother! Who woulda known.

Since I didn't set up any grids, my cleanup was relatively simple. Put hanging display in box. Put stock in bos. Put box in plastic. My boothmates, who owned the majority of the grids, took much longer to disassemble everything. Since I wasn't in a rush I helped whenever I can. By the end of the day Ling and I chatted about her first con experience and the ambiance of a closing con venue.

It reminded me of back when I went to a weird school. We had a lot of events to attend as vendors or exhibitors and as a result we were at a lot of after-hours cleanup late at night. The vibes were similar to a closing comifuro. Vendors who were much more prepared than me had trolleys and huge luggages to carry around their stock and display fixtures. The air was back to being cold and sterile as the visitors dwindled by the hour.

By 7.30 ish I say goodbye to my boothmates as my parents were there to pick me up. We had AW for dinner and I spent the rest of the night restless as I was sorting through trades, namecards, and stickers while on the phone with my friend.

After all of that? I broke even, if you count only the sales. If you count the favors I did for my brother's friend then I'm comfortably in the green. But then again that doesn't factor in all the money I've spent on tools, beads, the transportation, gas fees, my parents paying for the toll, and display Items I bought for the con. For my lack of budgeting, I spent way too much on food as I wasn't prepared for the outrageous pricing on the ridebowls and coffee. And that's with Ling's subsidy of lunch on day 2! But considering all the artists I've met and did trades with, the interactions I've had throughout the two days, the mutuals I finally got to meet after years of being friends- it was all worth it in the end. Much more than monetary benefits, I treasure social interactions that are harder to come by outside of an anime convention.

Tomorrow, for the final installment of this series I'll do a quick post-mortem of the event and everything I've learned from tabling for the first time ever!