On Feb 5th, the first onlineComic-Con in China named “Comicup Online” successfully attracted over 20,000
fans to enter its virtual halls created in pixel art. Being the most popular and largest anime doujin convention in China, “Comicup” had to postpone their last event due to the emergent Covid-19 outburst in Shanghai last December.
Doujin Con is a free market where creators and fans exchange self-published fanworks, the themes of which involve not only anime, comics and games but also novels and idols.
The postponement announcement was disappointing news for hundreds of Doujin fans who had been looking forward to it for almost half a year. The organizer decided to create a brand-new online “Comicup” to make up for the missing event.
When attending “Comicup Online”, each tourist could choose their own pixel avatars and nicknames, ranging from Isabelle (Animal Crossing) to Reimu Hakurei (The Touhou Project Series). The event also provided tourists and booth owners with one common chatroom and independent chatrooms, so they could communicate and exchange thoughts (and memes) with each other. The booth owners could sell their Doujin products in both virtual and physical forms.
Twenty pixel halls were allocated with different themed streets, including Nintendo, Ubisoft, and Arknights,
containing nearly 1,000 booths. Above all things, “Comicup Online” was free to all tourists.
nikka G. paduganao
2022-05-19