Overcrowded fan convention

Finally, time to introduce Taiwan's fan conventions. I guess all of you--if you've never been to Taiwan--have known what it's like in Japan, or imagine it should be some kind of comic-con-like events. I'd say they are all quite different though.
終於要來介紹台灣的同人誌活動啦！看得懂中文的各位應該會覺得沒什麼好稀奇，這篇主要是針對沒參加過台灣同人活動的朋友所準備。我猜可能會有不少人以為同人誌活動要嘛就要像日本的Comiket，要嘛就要像美國的Comic-con。但實際說來還是差挺多的(雖然前述那兩場我都沒參加過...)。

I attended to CWT52 in Taipei city this August, and before it here was a typhoon passing by just a day ago. So it's expected that there wouldn't be as many people as usual.
今年八月我參加了半在台北的CWT52，活動前一天還有颱風經過北台灣，好在活動當天出大太陽彷彿啥都沒發生過一般。但多少還是影響了參加活動的人潮，排隊人龍並不如以往地多。


Here is the waiting line of customers. The convention is inside the stadium of National Taiwan University. Usually CWT started at about 10:30 AM, but the line always goes on even to the afternoon.
排隊人龍照片，活動會場在台大體育館內舉行。活動照常是十點半開始，通常第一天的排隊人潮直到下午都可能消化不完，對一直靠社團優先入場的我來說，願意頂著大太陽好幾小時排隊買可以直接網購的同人誌，不但值得敬佩，也很難理解(揍)


These photos were taken on 1st, B1 floor, and one of the entrances. Everywhere you went, there were just full of people! Most cosplayers stayed outside of the building, so the inside won't be overcrowded.
這些是在會場內一樓、地下一樓、以及其中一個出入口速速拍的照片。不管走到哪都塞滿了人，而角色扮演者通常都待在外頭被太陽曬，因為進場隨之跟來的攝影人潮很容易造成阻塞。


...Or is it? This is the main space for most circles, on 3rd(and 4th) floor of the stadium.
不過就算角色扮演的都乖乖留在外面，場內還是擠得要命啦。照片是活動會場最主要的部份(三樓+四樓)，四樓看台區沒被塞爆代表這場活動人數不如以往地多，正常來說會看到所有椅子和地面都被占滿。

CWT(Comic World Taiwan) is similar to Japan's Comiket, just smaller. By smaller I mean there were still 1000+ circles in the building. Both of them are not-for-profit, volunteer-run events. Most people come to buy doujins from their favorite artists. The spotlight is never about big corporation advertising their products or a runway of trending stars. It for those 1000+ indie/hobby artists selling their doujins or accessories.
硬要比的話CWT舉行模式比較近似於日本的Comiket，但規模當然是小地多。規模雖較小，但場內也有超過一千個社團攤位！CWT和Comiket近似處在於兩者皆屬於少數人自願性舉辦的非營利活動，場內主要展售的重點不像Comic-con充滿大公司砸重金搞宣傳，而是以許多小型私人社團販售個人作品為主。

There are also many other fan conventions in Taiwan founded by different groups or companies. Like Fancy Frontier(FF) and In Comic Energy(ICE). If you're curious you can look up all recent events and even purchase doujins on doujin.com.tw, though it's all written in Traditional Chinese. 😅
除了CWT，台灣還有其他許多不同單位舉辦的同人誌展售會，比方說開拓動漫季(FF)與動漫之力(ICE)等等。在台灣同人誌網站上可以查詢最近所有舉辦的活動。


And uh, here is my humble booth. Every booth has a 90x90 cm tablespace (which is bigger than Comiket) and you have to manage to hide all the boxes/luggage behind it. Luckily I'm just a small circle who only sells little *ahem* so it's not a problem.
最後呃來秀一下我清冷的攤位。每個單位的擺攤面積為90x90公分大，聽來好像不大，但至少比日本的Comiket還大，可以坐兩個人聊天喝茶，擺攤沒生意也不會太無聊。


This is the lovely gift from Shark Cat! I'm too lucky to get this super adorable Credo plushy! 😍😍 She actually twitted me about it before CWT, so I prepared a seat just for him haha. Shark Cat wasn't able to come so it was given by a lovely fan, who also made pixel Credo art as a desktop pet, however I haven't figured out how to install it.😭 The Dante figure was brought by my friend moten since she was also a hardcore 4D fan, it's not a gift though, just for companying the Credo plushy during the event 😇
然後！這個非常有愛的禮物來自於繪者鮫貓！！舉世無雙的天使Credo布偶嗚嗚噫噫我竟然能擁有他！在活動前鮫貓就超極有禮地透過推特通知我，所以我也提早準備了特等席留給他！禮物是託另外一名粉絲轉交，粉絲也親自製作了Credo天使的windows桌面寵物，可惜我到現在還是搞不懂怎麼安裝。後面躺著辦公的老蛋模型是顧攤小精靈毛天太太的收藏，單純就是帶來給我摸兩下所以順便擺上去當天使兄的大腿沙發這樣。

P.S. You might notice that all faces on photos are blurred. Yes, there is actually a rule that taking photos in the building is forbidden. Which is why I decided to only share those photos to my patrons. It's a bit risky to take those photos and I actually got stopped by the staff, which is a good thing though, means they were doing their job.
附註：各位可能注意到照片中的人臉都有模糊處理過，是的其實在場內拍照是違反活動規定的。希望不會有人看了這篇跑去舉報我嗚嗚噫噫，這也是為何我把這篇文設為patron only而非直接公開。當時我想說就速速拍完但在B1拍照時還是被活動人員制止了，也算好事啦，至少代表活動人員很盡責。

Since most ppl only acknowledge anime cultures and conventions in Japan, I really want to show that here in Taiwan we also have a very thrived and matured doujinshi/indie publishment community and we treasure the freedom very much including political and explicit art creations. A lot of ppl in Taiwan don't even realize how lucky we are, to have such a big community, freedom, and the quality of printing we make! (And yet I'm still a starved artist among it *cough*)
海外朋友可能對同人誌活動的印象多辦都來自日本，所以我很想讓海外朋友知道其實台灣的同人誌創作圈也已經發展得很成熟了。如果對海外自由創作限制略有知悉，各位會發現台灣的同人創作環境之友善與自由程度幾乎領先全球，尤其是R18相關創作或是政治類創作，在這邊真心是想畫什麼就能畫什麼，還能自由販賣，台灣閱讀群眾比例雖不及日本，但與歐美國家比較下還是相對高的，意即成熟的客群也真心不難找，印刷品質與價格也超級親切。有這麼棒的創作環境是很難能可貴的，拜託大家好好守護它😭(又話說在這麼親切的環境下還是會有快餓死的無能繪者啦比方說我)

I've applied for CWT booth since CWT2, every year there were 3 CWTs held in this same building in Feb, August, and Demcember. I've attended almost every CWT and now it's already CWT52! Jeez, I'm not young anymore😫
話說我從CWT2就開始在活動擺攤，現在活動編號已經跑到CWT52了，我也幾乎每場都有參加。照每年在台大辦三場算下來...我真的是老了呃啊。