Last weekend we saw fans across Malaysia trek to the Sunway Clio exhibition center in Petaling Jaya to enjoy ‘Cos-Mic’, one of many new conventions to spring up in the post-MCO era, only for it to be abruptly canceled on the second day, Sunday the 26th.
While no exact reason was really given beyond “unforeseen technical difficulties” many netizens that attended the event say that the early cancelation was likely due to one clear reason: large crowds and not enough space. Many users on forums like the r/Malaysia Subreddit noted that they had to wait two hours to get in and that some people even fainted.
This is the not only Anime convention to have problems with the crowds. Anime Fest at Paradigm Mall while not being canceled, also was not the best received. This for mainly for the same reason as Cos-Mic: the high amount of people in the tiny amount of space was suffocating.
I can say from personal experience that the space was too narrow for the high volume of people with colorfully costumed weebs packed shoulder to shoulder shuffling around stalls and booths. It was incredibly hot and within half an hour of getting there, both me and my friend had headaches. We made one lap around the different stalls in the center of the con and then went off to find some water. If you’d like to know more about the space problems of conventions in Malaysia subscribe to our newsletter. You can read it for free by putting your email address in the box below:
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