COMEC the 3rd - Middle East College Comic Con & Me.

Last Thursday, the 28th of March, 2019, I attended an event that I have been longing to attend, unfortunately I could not make the past editions of the events, which in turn only increased my excitement when I was able to attend this year's edition.
I went in not knowing what to expect, maybe I was a bit skeptic of what would be available going into the venue, by the time I left, I felt emotional and proud of everything this college had to offer & passionate students within the community that I belong to.




First, a little introduction to the event, the college and the people involved in making it happen (the student organizers):

Middle East College (MEC), founded back in 2002, in Knowledge Oasis Muscat - KOM, Rusayl, neighboring SQU, currently affiliated with Coventry University, UK, which is known as the 13th best university in the United Kingdom, amongst other highly prestigious universities around the world, MEC offers several interactive festivities and activities that are made by students for students, such as QUEST that was known back in it's early years, open days, Korean Cultural days (which is a part of the Korean exchange activity), inter-college football tournaments..etc

One of the many events that MEC offers for student and alike's entertainment is COMEC, MEC Comic Con, which had its first run back in 2017, catering to individuals who enjoy the pop culture of gaming, anime&manga, cosplay and all that is geeky (which is pure fun and music to my ears <3 )
As an alumni of MEC and someone who is highly invested in the pop-culture, I was extremely excited! and spoiler alert! This year did not disappoint :3
Yes, you might wonder "X, you never attended any of past COMECs before hand, how can you think that way?" and I shall say it as simple as possible, the feelings it enticed within me are ones that I thought I would not feel, you could say, hidden gems :)

All credits due to the following talents for their hard work:
  1. Qais Al Moosa. 
  2. Haleem Gamal.
  3. Duaa Zafar Hussain.
  4. Basma Al Abri.
  5. Riyam Al Sa'di.
  6. Qais Al Balushi.
  7. Laith Al Moosa
  8. Manasa Rajeev
  9. Taneem Al Azad
  10. Ahmad Wasfi
  11. Syed Mahi
I have inserted some of their social links, please feel free to go support them and show them some love, they are truly talented individuals and also pretty fun to talk to :)

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Here is a snippet from the first ever COMEC, back in 2017, video courtesy of Middle East College's youtube channel. 

We should not forget those who helped make it happen, from sponsors and vendors, deepest thanks would go to the following:
And many more 

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Before I express my little journey, here is a snippet from my eyes on some of what I experienced, and yes, it is the full video that I teased on my page not to long ago :) I hope you enjoy 


To begin the fun, Press Start took to the stage and started interactive games like just dance and trivia competitions, people were a bit shy at first but soon joined in and you can feel the college spirit finally showing up.
Leading some of the dances was Ahmad Wasfi in his unicorn onesie, which -to me anyway- made a lot of people jump right into the fun vibe of things, lift up the tension and just go with the flow, I think it was genius that some people came in onesies, not only it's a comfortable wear for you but it can set a mood within your surroundings too.




Around this time I had gone to try out the VR gaming system that was set up, let us just say that I am a noob that gets jumpy with any and I mean any sudden movements , Nizar Shawa and his brother were the ones in charge of it and were very kind and supportive of my noobness, it was an interesting time and 10/10 would do it again.



The space was split into 3 main sections, a stage where announcements and main attraction was held at, mid section where the crowd would chill at and PlayStation tournaments were held at & another platform where some merch were being sold at.
After I crossed the sea of people and checked out the tournaments going on from Fifa, Tekken and what not, I found myself curious to what was on the platform .....
And then I squealed like a little girl getting her favourite thing in the world !
Low and behold my dream shops just waiting to be checked and shopped at ...
Geek planet had the most iconic of items and merch and I couldn't stop staring at what I would want to get, I ended up moving onto kawai shop, which sold everything unicorn related and Studio Ghibli merch too (I got a Pokemon trainer's cap and I felt like a real pokemon trainer ....waiting to take photos with all the cosplayers that have attended #GottaCatchEmAll .......I failed though xD ...still I got a lot more than expected xD and that is good for me)




3PM rolled by and you know what that meant, right?


(Headphone users: volume volume warning)

Probably one of the best and fun part of the event, felt like we were in a real rock concert listening to our favourite jams being riffed up by the talented Qais/Ace fireballs (who was also cosplaying Jotaro, turning this whole time into a Jojo reference #jojoislife #mudumudumudumudumdu #oraoraoraoraora)
(Personal request: Has anyone recorded the whole segment ?? Please DM me if you did @xueedits on Twitter/Instagram)
It was phenomenon, you can see pure joy in Ace's eyes as he plays and even better the crowd went wild, also making a mosh pit at the center, gotta say:
This was the most fun and influential moment in the day ...


It was time, to bust down Thotiana!!!


To be honest I was a bit shocked that the song popped up but wasn't shocked that no one busted down xD
As the song went on the cosplayers were called back to join in the cosplay competition, and let me just say, my heart just dropped, the talents and beauty presented is something to feast your eyes on, showing their skills discreatingly were Riyam aka R.effects and Wijdan Saleem aka Fishbowlart, I deeply and appreciating salute these two women for their hard work and believe me when I say they are gifted !

We were also blessed with a full on and well planned performance by an award winning (2 times 968gameZ cosplay winner) Ale Al Zedjali, who came in a genie cosplay (Will Smith who?!)
(Press F in the chat to pay respect.)
I live to see people embodying characters that resonate with them , hopefully I too would fully bring characters to life one day and in not a lazy way #LazySquad
And to any cosplayer that may be reading this now, I support each one of you and I will always do, to infinity and beyond creativity!!





Have you ever been to a rave party?
I know I haven't, but if the neon hour is what it would seem like, then I can now say that I have been to one haha
A time where people truly didn't feel any more stress and enjoyed the atmosphere that was created through out the day, lights were off and the party lights were on and every where, guess who made an appearance too?



yep, that's DJ Marshmallow on stage, talk about an over achiever, first he has his own concert on Fortnite, then he comes over to COMEC! sup DJ?!

At this point people were in A circle of talent, Ariana , a teen that has been in the art of dancing from quite a while had put on a show and hyping people up to join in on the fun, seriously ....she served everyone a juicy glass of awesome dances , if I had her skills I would be dancing my way to Hollywood by now
---------- BREAK TIME ----------

Here is me failing to use a camera, while in the presence on the minions 

#Papoy #Banana 



Before I conclude one of the funnest articles I've written to date, again I wanted to thank the organisers for their hard work, so I contacted some of them to get a few words and their own opinion(s) about what touched their hearts, here is what they had to say:

Seeing everybody happy and enjoying the event was the best part, in addition to the amazing feedback I got from parents saying how they enjoyed seeing their kids having fun, also the stage performances and the cosplay. Everything  was incredible for short <3 
Riyam AlSa'di

My favourite moments were many things...firstly the cosplay catwalk.. it showed the amazing creativity that people had and how hard people worked to get their cosplay together...with the great vibe that was already created there, it was a beautiful 30 minutes.
The dance performances were crazy...the audience was even crazier.
This event was for the youth, with everyone leading busy lives cause of work and studies, people do need to have to let some steam off by having a great time and I believe that many had an amazing time...Many happy faces at the end explained a lot. Happines is what life is all about.
Syed Mahi.

When we played Just Dance and made everyone line up behind us like it was a Zumba class
Ahmad Wasfi.
(Let us start a petition to get him to be a Zumba instructor :p )

Uhhhh at Neon hour when we made a circle and there were individuals dancing (in the center)
Also when Ace started playing on his guitar 
Layth Al Moosa. 


My favourite hands down was Ace's performance no doubt it the best thing about the event.
The people who came got dressed and started dancing together no one judging or anything it was just people who understood cosplay events and loved the idea just being together and having fun.
The Tekken Tournament was *Fire emoji x2* the crowd and everyone who participated had fun and loved it.
The thing that I didn't like was that I was sick and couldn't perform with Ace.
Other than that I loved every part of it.
Qais Al Balushi.
(How about we go give him some support as a way to show our appreciation to his hard work, Like and sub to his youtube please:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXvvJ136-10&feature=youtu.be be apart of the #Empire , seriously this song is *Fire emoji x5*) 



 Well, my favourite part was when one of the friends Qais, performed and put the guitar on the back of his shoulders and the crowd went crazy.
Two, I think it was when the lights were down and the music had everyone dancig and enjoying, it was good to watch that we put that up for them.
Duaa Zafar.

Oh my favourite part has to be just dance and marshmellow in oman. It was crazy!!! To have that kind of an atmosphere in college was something amazing ❤
Manasa Rajeev.
  One of my favourite moments of COMEC the 3rd would be Neon hour, that moment when the light just went off and then returned and the music started playing, it was the best feeling ever, felt like I was in a party and didn't really care who was around me, the DJ was lit, the crowd was lit, the lights..EVERYTHING. It was amazing, one of the best hour of the entire thing
Basma Al Abri.
(I got to hear this out, and i heard the colours in her voice from her beautiful expression XD so much life in her voice)
Well, as a performer, the crowd actually inspires me to work harder and deliver better performances everytime and they're very supportive which inspires me to make the most of it, but as an organiser the best part was the preparation day when everyone was working hard till late so that the event goes smoothly
Qais Al Moosa.
(Talk about passion from the organisers' side, I've seen snaps of how late into the night they remained to make sure that needs to be GETS DONE! I hope everyone gets much needed rest after it)


Also I had managed to get some details from the ones running the page Comec.mec (follow them to see more and learn more about the event and also get first news of what they maybe working on for next year!!)
Thank you for giving me some of your time to answer these for me :)


X: Have you had any set backs? or plans you needed to cancel & couldn't feature in the event?
Comec: I'll be very honest with you, one of the biggest setback e had was the emcee, they cancelled at the last moment which effected our stage management and stage activities, but then again we tried our level best to overcome that and improvise!

X: Compared to the years before, how far have you improved? for example: Venue management, volunteers, attendee count, sponsors?

Comec: We've come along way and every years we all work very hard to make it bigger and better. I believe there's always room for improvement and it's all about getting better every year. We had some really amazing sponsors this time who supported us and I don't want to get into the number game but the attendance was excellent, much better than the first 2 editions. (I don't believe in quantity and the crowd we had was quality)
(At this point I felt like I was talking to Don Juan DeMarco and was blushing so hard, it was beautifully said)

X: What's one thing that you would've done differently?

Comec: I think what ever we did was the best we could've done and I would like to thank each and every volunteer and organiser who worked super hard for this event.

X: For future plans, have you considered doing the event on a weekend, like a Saturday? or have you found it at it's best on a Thursday?

Comec: That's a very good question! I'd love to try that, it'll be something new but won't deny, Thursday has always worked for us!


X: Speaking of organising and according to some Instagram stories I've seen from friends. you guys had finished last preparations in the late hours of the night, how did that make you and your team feel?
Comec: Oh yeah people left the venue around 3AM, our team is the best when it comes down to improvising *Smart Engineers* Especially after this event, I've got so much respect for each and everyone of them. I feel so proud of them, I can't say anything else!

What can I say, MEC should be proud of their students, creativity and leadership, plus the skills to manage and improvise, I am truly impressed and all I can say is that I am excited for future events and I wish each of them and up-coming students who take up the responsibility all the best in the world, Life is your Oyster!

Thank you for reading this simple article I wrote & have a lovely day!

(Please show support to the above mentioned and linked up pages and people, you won't be disappointed, thank you!!! #SupportYourLocals )

Readers Note: I Haven't got the chance to go to the other side of venue to check out the local talents, sadly, otherwise I would included a full review of what I would have seen, please do go and follow them and show your support to them too, they are pretty cool and amazing :D

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