Prologue: 0600 Awakening

Hospitality industry people are often the most disregarded by the general public, which makes them highly respectable when they’re still on patrol during their nightmarish work shifts of god knows what.

As the transport dropped off near the entrance of Sunway Clio Hotel for this Sunday’s operations, there was a sense that an all too familiar mistake being repeated.

…the one about arriving too early at an event.

Definitely too early.

Ah well…at least there were some mamaks running around this part of Sunway.

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Because of how the Sunway area is set up, the nearby commercial buildings usually house a place to grab breakfast at.

And in a dump like Malaysia, there’s only one mutually agreed upon restaurant that works for anyone who’s ever set foot in this god-forsaken hole.

…and choose to stick around.

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In the field, Mamaks are staple budget restaurants of survival food for piss poor students and working class individuals alike, which makes them vital in the public interest of not fainting from skipping breakfast.

Although…ordering spicy Maggi Goreng in the morning can lead to several hours of wanting to hurl chunks for lunch in the public transport station toilets.

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Well that was a pretty decent Bistro for the morning, that accepts payment in QR codes too.

Man technology has progressed more than companies allowing Work From Home protocols.

Back at the entrance of Sunway Clio Exhibition Centre, several individuals within were already standing by discussing something.

Huh, the staff are already here? That’s a pretty energetic bunch, but expected probably. Volunteer gigs aren’t funny to slack off on.

As the automatic glass doors slid open, the march forward was met with a brick wall of an announcement, from a gentleman wearing some blue colored suit.

“Hi there, are you here for the event?”

Yes? There is an event right?

“Apologies but Day 2 is canceled.”

Oh.

…oooooooh.

The time is now 7:15 am.

After arriving at Sunway Clio at…6:00 am.

Huh…this seems oddly familiar… (Too familiar…)

At first glance, there’s definitely something off here, for one…this looks like the head of the event who looks kind of upset for some reason.

As the man headed outside to conduct his work, there was only one option.

The Journalist Option.

So, Mr…person-in-charge, you wanna talk about what happened or…?

“Sure but, who are you?”

Let’s just call ourselves…the narrator. (o゜▽゜)o☆

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Phase 1: Operation Cos-Mic

Transmission Interrupted.

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Report 062622-A: Notes from Event Director, Mr H

(From MYDBS Asia, a domestic Malaysian marketing company, Organizing Group of Cos-Mic)

The following report has been modified to prevent outside interference. Full disclosure of parties involved will be done in an unspecified amount of time.

• June 22: Cos-Mic announces event bans on Ahegao Hoodies & Indecent Cosplays
• June 24: Cos-Mic guests give an informal announcement about the event enforcing more rules in regards to dressing appropriately for the event.
• June 25: Cos-Mic Day 1 takes place.
• June 25, 9 – 11 AM: Eyewitness attendees claim police officers were present outside the venue.
• June 25, 2 PM: Officers representing <Redacted> patrolled the event. Overall verdict was, event is appropriate to operate.
• June 25, 6 PM: ‘Officers’ representing <Redacted> return to the event, orders to shut down the event were made on the argument of “Menganggu Masyarakat.”
• June 26, 3 AM: Following hours of inquiries, involving Sunway Group & the Mayor of Sunway, no official response was confirmed by <Redacted>.
• June 26, 7 am: Decision to call off Day 2 was made for safety reasons.
• June 26, 7:45 am: Interview with Mr H takes place.
• June 26, 10 am: <Redacted> officers return to declare event safe to operate, hours after the Day 2 cancellation was made.
• June 26, 13:37 pm: A strangely coincidental post. (Edited from this one)
  • Thank you Edit History (～￣▽￣)～

Hint: Bold Capital Letters = <Redacted>

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“This is Ivan, he’ll tag along with your tour of the venue.”

Accompanied by a yellow shirt volunteer, what remained of the Cos-Mic crew assembling for their morning briefing tagged along for this quiet tour around this soon to be shut down event.

Which thankfully, allowed one last batch of photos from what the event offers.

But first…how does one get in this college looking event hall?

“Oh, the entry’s this way.”

Ivan held open an emergency fire escape door.

…huh…well, the event closing is an emergency…ok too soon dammit. ( ´･･)ﾉ(._.`)

Gray striped carpets laid across the narrow corridors like hotel walkways, giving off a strange sense of prestige and standards to its atmosphere. For those who had the chance to attend college, the colorful Hall numbers by the side of doors bring back nostalgic terrors from near overdue assignments.

College was a wild time.

But memorable moments from a forgotten past aside, comes the first stop of this memorial tour before closing down.

With colored cloths literally taking over this silent art booth section, one would be forgiven for thinking this was some kind of graveyard for artists.

…well, funding for Day 2’s sales in a way.

(Off Topic: Go check out the artists here. They are all good stuff.)

Depressing it may be to see empty art booths having to deal with the bastard reality that awaits them, it’s easy to see the wide spacing being an excellent benefit for attendees to make their way around this part of the venue.

Although, what else lies within this art section?

Oh…OH….

A CLASSIC.

Games Workshop painting course for mini-tabletop figures.

AND A GIANT ASS BOLTER. (っ °Д °;)っ

Dear god…it’s unfortunate the booth people aren’t here to allow folks to hold it.

Man F da-<Redacted>.

Also aw…that’s nice.

Now that’s a fluffy mascot reminiscent of a Bugcat that eats practically everything.

Teaching Magical card games about Gathering, where it actually pays its players in money to keep going.

…instead of worthless products and/or promos the company has problems with giving out.

…man, 2018 was a wild WGP job.

Meanwhile, in the cosplay haven, where familiar guest booths hang around in an overly spacious zone of fanboys to patiently wait around in.

Huh, wonder which booth got the most number of folks for them?

“That would be <Insert Name Here>, their line was insanely long.”

Wow…guess that makes sense.

Granted, cosplayers weren’t the only things hidden within this specific hall.

But also some surprisingly attractive backdrops for potential photos.

Strange place to put things like this given the crowds already lining up for the guest cosplayers but…wait, hang on

What is it that made this event so packed in the first place? 🤔

Wait…is that…?

Oh Fak it’s HAKKEN. (＃°Д°)

Evacuate! EVACUATE!

Calm down, it’s Hakken, the toy store.

Okay, crisis averted…oh right…there’s no crowd.

Anime Fest getting to you again?

Let’s not go there. ( ´･･)ﾉ(._.`)

Well, that’s about it for the tour for now. There’s always more to explore if there was a day 2.

On the way back up the escalator, some familiar part-timer contacts from the old days told their stories.

Of how cops were on patrol the day earlier, adding that the event was under control by the event staff.

Which sounds about right, given past events with cops running around on patrols.

“Wait, why are you still here?”, one of the contacts asked.

Well, it’s waiting for a friend in a way.

That’s a nice cover story.

As dawn breaks once again, there’s no time to sit around and mourn this event’s sabotaged death.

There will be time to avenge this later.

But for now, the next operation on an LRT train ride awaits.

Although…this is still Sunway…

Heh…maybe this colored entrance could convince AMG’s mascot to come back home. 🍊w🍊

(Off Topic: Find more on Cos-Mic over here. It is a VERY nice venue/setup.)

<To Be Continued>

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Phase 2: Operation Starlight Fantasy

One morning LRT > MRT ride to Berjaya Times Square later, the surface level entrance into this familiar mall that hasn’t perished from the pandemic, welcomes the morning swarm of people into its event weekend.

Starlight Fantasy they called it…but why though?

Maybe it’s the fantasy the mall wants to live through. You know, the one where people visit it?

Which is funny since the morning turnout brings back memories from an event at a nearby mall in the same area…called Pavilion.

Only, with less high class pompousness.

…are you seriously suggesting Times Square is like the Sungai Wang of fancy malls?

Yes. Only…well…at least they still have a theme park.

Right?

Questions for later.

Stepping on the red carpeted lower ground floor where the stage is at, the early Emcee announcements reminds photographers and camera crews to grab their places before the show starts at 12 pm.

So to kill time, the screen decided to…uh…

Is that even legal?

It’s probably more creative than most stage segments nowadays.

Maybe they should do a 10-pull, that oughta get the crowd roaring.

Speaking of, where is the other section of this event?

“Oh hey, you’re here.” 👋

An old contact who attends regular concert events appeared.

So where is the uh, you know, booths people sim- I mean line up politely for.

“Oh those? They’re up on the 2nd floor.” 😀

2nd floor it is. 🏃‍♂️

Overlooking the ant sized attendees below, the bird’s eye view of the stage from above supports the practice of ‘looking down’ at events.

Only this one has a great view.

Others are just pompous normies with too much free time on their hands.

Not sure if they’re unemployed, self-employed or employed at being an annoyance.

Digression aside.

The white corridors tucked away behind the 2nd floor, showcased a spacious hallway where tables set themselves up for the last event day’s sales of toys and merch.

This is the place alright.

The same spot some camera crew buddies setup shop to start shooting.

…cosplayers, mind you.

What else do people mean when they say ‘shooting’ at events?

Oh it’s almost 12, how did it take so long to get up he-…

Wait, doesn’t the event start at 12?

Oh it’s one of those attendee things.

At least it’s not on CCP Spyware social media.

As the stage Emcees are welcomed on stage, a familiar Mr R takes up the reign.

Despite his admission of not being good at English, he will do the best job possible to Malaysia it up for the audience.

That’s respectable.

But then comes the obvious question.

Why are people here at today’s event? The Emcee asked.

Like Captain Obvious from the crowd points out, it’s because of-

“Now, no, we don’t talk about that here.” 🖐

Almost like the people in charge of Starlight respectfully know how to not diss track their competitors that met the devil that weekend.

Inviting some…uh…who do they call this guy?

Apparently it’s some Genshin character.

…let’s just call him Genshin Elvis.

Because not everyone is impacted by that franchise.

But they’re about to, as the emcee and Genshin Elvis invite guest Raiden cosplayer at her booth on stage to…celebrate the character’s birthday?

That’s convenient.

So the hall breaks into singing Happy Birthday for about 10 minutes, as some smart ass with a shitty shitpost about Genshin sucks runs around the event.

Maybe someone should make better material (Like the dumbasses who write this shit story), speaking as people who don’t care for that series.

Like this one.

There’s someone with some hope for this god forsaken country.

As the birthday wishes subside, the stage continues its performance play, with singers on stage.

Hmm…this first lady has Ichigo in her name…doesn’t that mean first?

Yes! Wait…that must mean…

They planned this intentionally?

That she’s also a Kamen Rider!

Bonk. ( ´･･)🥖(._.`)

That term also means strawberries! And the main character of a series named after washing detergent! (Guess the series here. Also Bleach: Thousand Year Blood War Arc coming to you soon, this 20XX. F Crunchyroll too by the way.)

Anyways, back to the show as…wait, isn’t this guy the host from behind the technical table playing Genshin earlier.

…also, why does he look familiar and what’s with the phone setup right here?

Oh, Discord?

Wait, DISCORD?

He’s streaming the thing on Discord? But where could he possibly be sending this to? (っ °Д °;)っ

Oh…it’s for the stage backdrop…

Whose framerates stutter but remain in focus despite the mall’s best internet connection efforts.

That apparently kept causing technical issues for the first performer lady.

“Damn you Technical Difficulties, why do you always visit my events?” (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻

Whoa now organizer man, who echoed his frustrations on the seat next door, let’s calm down.

And calm down he did.

Granted, being pissed off at technical problems is normal.

Thankfully, the performer lady had some backup entourage singing/cheering along when the music went dark. ヽ(ﾟ∇ﾟ(ﾟ∇ﾟ(ﾟ∇ﾟo(ﾟ∇ﾟ)oﾟ∇ﾟ)ﾟ∇ﾟ)ﾟ∇ﾟ)ﾉ

…and a moron who tried to hijack the stage before staff helped yeet them off. (Literally)

Hey, isn’t that the same trolley breaking schmuck from that other event? Bah. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Anyways.

That’s a god tier performer who works even without the music. (☞ﾟヮﾟ)☞

As the dust settled over the first performance, the time to hit the last stop was now.

Quay To Japan in…god forsaken Shah Alam.

What’s the ride cost to get there?

50 bucks.

…well….fa-

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Phase 3: Operation Quay To Japan

Meanwhile, at the mall for men called Da Men Mall.

Dear god, back to this dump to call in a Grab, since transport to this Quay Side Mall requires all travelers to either reach there by car or paradrop off a plane.

Obviously, the cheaper option is the only one.

What’s the discount offer for the event called again?

JOMQUAYSIDE.

Oh wow, it’s just a regular 5 buck coupon for an otherwise 50 buck trip.

Onto the mall!

Upon arriving at the outskirts of this Quay Side Mall that neither has a Quay or a Side, the isolated structure in the middle of literally nowhere stands out as the only beacon of human interest.

As in, if people were zombies, they’d very likely flock towards this towering building looking for human activity.

Only, without mercilessly eating humans.

That said, the initial site does appear quite nice for an isolated mall. One could rate it 6.9/7 if you will, to emphasize how nice it is.

Now where’s that ACG event hall at…according to earlier reports, the event’s upstairs was it?

Okay then, off to the upper floor-…AH!

WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!

A foot?

Looks Up.

FLAMINGO THE FOOT?

A giant flamingo statue stood in the middle of the central concourse, towering over those who looked upon it.

Must be the mascot of this mall or something but…why a pink flamingo?

Nevermind.

As the towering animal side quest subsided temporarily, the nearby escalators ferrying attendees downstairs confirmed all there is to know about where the event venue is at.

High up on the 3rd floor of Quayside Mall, was a sprawling open space of freedom that’s reminiscent of previous events from a time before the Pandemic.

An event that wasn’t crowded.

On inspection, the first thing to catch one’s attention is this strange TV screen playing some flickering animations about this…thing.

Is this TV alright?

It’s probably just a TV screen, not like there’s something gonna-…

Oh FAK RUN!

One tactical retreat away from fictional horror movie monsters later, a familiar booth was found.

Ah yes, the obligatory AniManGaki outpost that people will mistake as the main organizers of this event again.

…which, speaking of.

Time to do the Journalist thing again.

[Check Section Before Epilogue]

[Check Back Later]

<Incoming Transmission From AniManGaki Organizers, Pending Approval>

[(☞ﾟヮﾟ)☞]

Following the interview with the boss lady, there was one last site of this Quayside Mall to explore.

An outdoor setting on the literal outskirts of this mall, surrounding a giant lake with flamingo shaped boats to paddle around in.

Jeezus, how did they even cultivate this place? o.o

Coincidentally, a nearby train carrying passengers swooped by slowly, likely a part of the outdoor mall’s services in a way.

Now that’s a man of many talents.

Sightseeing aside, sounds of a microphone’s amplified voice could be heard from a distance, the best sign to indicate that something is going on.

Upon approaching the grassy picnic site with an outdoor stage setup, the disfigured voice of an unseen emcee echoed across this mini cultural festival looking event.

“Why do you cosplay?”, the yukata wearing emcee asked some unsuspecting interviewee nobody could see.

“For creativity,” they answered.

That’s a pretty neat response, thinking about it.

Cosplaying characters for reasons that are well…reasons long forgotten to time.

As the conversation shifted towards the Emcee lady plugging her interviewee’s costume store.

Wait a second…why does it look like she’s approaching this table?

DID SHE NOTICE?!

EVACUATE, GET THE F OUT NOW!

Oh wait wait…no, she’s not here for that.

She’s here to interview the other person by the table about their dress.

Oh thank god…back to the patrol.

While the emcee was busy with her new unsuspecting interviewee, a familiar band of folks from previous events brought along some interesting friends.

…cats apparently.

Cats hiding in their carry bags, seemingly unwilling to leave the comfort of their piped sized carriers.

The nearby opened cans of cat food gives the impression that it’s dinner time for the cats too.

But, why are animals here actually?

Oh, the outdoor park’s also an animal park. :0

Now that’s an interesting turn of events, a venue that’s also an animal park.

Least they’re more civilized than the army of psychos crowding events all 2022 long.

Soon enough, the emcee lady from earlier disappeared again, only to have her voice announce the coming drum performance as a 4-person team took to the stage.

Taiko drum performance, they called it?

Only without the arcade game high score and hit pop music to smack that beat to.

Least they’re putting on a great rhythmic show. (～￣▽￣)～

Almost as though Bon Odori’s starting early this year.

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Side Quest: The Journalist Thing

Report 062622-B: Interview with AniManGaki <Insert Role Here>, Ms J

The following interview has been approved for publication by all parties involved. (Behave yourselves) 

So what was the story behind AniManGaki working with Quayside Mall to create this event? Did the mall approach the organizers or was it the other way around?

It was the mall that approached us to collaborate for this event, and at the time we were also planning to do our AMG roadshows for the event. It was originally a cultural event planned for March 2022, and having us around was meant to represent the ACG scene as a whole.

Because the mall is a community/resident mall, our presence at the event would help educate the residents in the area about ACG content in general. Since most attendees aren’t from the regular ACG scene, you’d see more families than solo attendees in this event.

In a way, AMG is playing 2nd fiddle to the mall, essentially?

Not 2nd fiddle, but rather, it’s more of a partnership instead. Quayside Mall’s in charge of the whole event, we’re tasked with the ACG content as they’re not familiar with it.

Essentially, the whole event was meant to be a cultural event, meant to celebrate things from Japan, and ACG content happens to be a part of it.

But why Quayside? 

Too many events in town, this was also made to be as chilled as possible in contrast to normal events.

An important aspect was to avoid congestion, given the turnout from recent events, we were okay with Shah Alam being relatively isolated.

The relaxing aspect is also for my crew to have a more chillax time than the usual intense pressure from events such as Jom Cosplay.

Speaking of Jom Cosplay, between that event and this, which one was more challenging to set up, and how would you rate the scale between them?

Definitely Jom Cosplay, since we were the main organizers and had to deal with every possible detail.

For Quayside, there was also the mall assisting us with various things, giving us lesser components to handle overall.

In terms of scale, it’s definitely a smaller venue, but I’d call it bigger overall so far.

Final question, what lies ahead for AMG 2022? 2 months before all hell breaks loose since well…it’s still at the Mines.

Personally I’m optimistic about the event, since there are still pickles with many other venues we’ve assessed and, currently The Mines seems like the best option to accommodate our audience.

Huh…that’s neat. Also um, off the record but, is it okay to disclose some info about AMG 2022 in advance to the audience? Just a small tidbit.

Sure.

Are there plans to use all of The Mines Exhibition Center compared to 2019? Like say, the second floor this year?

Yes, of course. It’s fine to disclose this early.

Disclaimer: Using the 2nd floor might not include all of it.

Add-on: Apparently The Mines has upgraded cellular network service around the convention center area. (No more CF 2015 PTSD (o゜▽゜)o☆)

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Epilogue: 2019 Again

As the dust settles across this last site to visit…huh.

Why does it feel like 2019 again? Only…there’s some more danger involved?

Like some bastard who started all this back then is still running around.
…maybe getting involved with this was a bad idea.

…granted, for the 3 events that took place on June 26th, 2022, the following conclusions can be said.

Cos-Mic has some explaining to do, and the truth may not come to be despite what the public wants from it.

Starlight Fantasy was an interesting return to form for some old organizer buddies, hopefully there’s time to visit their other ventures later this July.

Quay To Japan is not an AniManGaki ACG event, but rather a cultural event organized by Quayside Mall, in partnership with AMG.

Last of all…the terror of what remains of 2022 awaits all who choose to attend events from this point on.

Because it’s not just the massive band of bastard attendees that’s a threat anymore.

End Transmission

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