Review of the Russian pop culture festival Fan Fest 2023

In addition to the Igroprom held at VDNKh, another major Russian festival took place in October – Fan Fest (not to be confused with the Fan Fest convention for Final Fantasy fans). And it was much larger – it occupied the entire area of ​​​​the huge hall in the Live Arena complex and lasted three whole days.

From the station to the complex – 10 minutes walk. But it was possible to get there on a free minibus (they were allowed from 9-00)

However, the larger scale is not surprising, because the festival was dedicated not only to the gaming industry, but also to animation, cinema, comics, cosplay (and it was not limited to the cosplayers themselves), virtual YouTubers and in general everything that makes up modern pop culture.

Theater begins with a hanger. And the festival is from a badge printout. At least this is the case for the press and VIP visitors.

The format of the event was quite close to Bubble Comics Con. One large hall where various stands were placed, one stage with presenters, where presentations, quizzes, cosplay fashion shows, speaker performances and even a broadcast of a Mobile Legends match (final of the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Fan Fest Cup tournament) were held.

During breaks, the following jokes were shown on the screen:

The “Authors Alley” also reminded us of Comic Con. It was a row of stands to the right of the stage where you could buy or read comics, buy or admire posters, pillows and other souvenirs, buy or appreciate photographs of cosplayers in the role of famous characters. As the name suggests, it was the authors who sold the products. So you could ask comic book writers about the plot, sources of inspiration and other interesting things. Artists could draw you a sketch upon request. And cosplayers periodically left their stands for the hall.

Cosplayers greeted visitors already in the lobby 😀

And right at the exhibition

There was also a cosplay fashion show. All three days.

Rhinoceros – "mascot" of the festival

Among the comics I noticed familiar covers. This is the publishing house Molot Hardcorp, whose comics are aimed at an 18+ audience. And no, this is not porn (although there is nudity too), but generally shocking, hard and bloody content, in the spirit of “The Boys”, as well as horror and sharp satire. Although I would argue about the sharpness – elements of the story about snickering officials and business tycoons with specific tastes are no longer news.

Plus, the comic itself (at https://orca88casino.co.uk/ least those fragments that I read) is laid out in such a way that you have to re-read it to understand who said what and what these or those remarks refer to. Time jumps between pages that make it difficult to understand (just like in the first season of Netflix’s The Witcher) are included. Even if deeper themes and questions are raised later in the story, I believe that a good author should try to make it easier to understand, and not vice versa.

However, one way or another Molot Harcorp found their audience. Moreover, most of their comics are combined into one universe. But at the same time they offer different genres – “Hunger” is more about epic fights, “Pasha Technik” is more about black humor, “Panelka” is something existential.

In contrast to the author’s, to the left of the central stage there was a row of stands with products based on the mainstream. Figurines of popular anime characters, pillows and postcards with them, T-shirts with all sorts of meme inscriptions, false ears… There was even a candy store and a stand where you could order a steam cocktail, which would be made right on the spot by the bartender from the Fox Hole tavern (cosplaying Toma from Genshin Impact, so as not to stand out).

In the center of the hall, the main area was occupied by several stands from Synergy University, the organizers of the festival. Each was dedicated to a separate department – animation, comics, e-sports. You could come up, find out about the training program, try yourself in drawing and other activities, become a participant in the lottery (prizes included sketchbooks and free courses). And most importantly, there were free sweets at every stand.

And if you were tormented not by hunger, but by thirst and fatigue, at the World of Tanks stand they gave out free Tornado energy drinks. Well, almost free – you had to register on the site. There was also a quiz at the stand using the MyQuiz application – for it you had to have Internet access. And of course, the game itself was on the stand, although I don’t know if they gave anything for participation or victory.

There were also several booths from fan communities. You could use them to buy souvenirs from the respective universes, take pictures with the characters, and also take part in various activities. The girls from Fate Inc offered to go through a small quest in their tent, including assembling a puzzle and deciphering a message. At the stand of the “College of Plague Doctors” they played “sheep and wolves” (though I didn’t understand whether it was for a prize or just for fun). “In a galaxy far, far away” you could assemble your own lightsaber (albeit from a simple plastic tube, handle and colored tape, but there were several colors to choose from and the device you assembled remained with you).

Looks like some people took Paimon’s nickname "Canned Food" too literally.

Also, I think, the stand of Mobile Legends: Bang Bang deserves mention – a game that is the equivalent of League of Legends and Dota 2 on mobile platforms. At the stand you could take pictures and chat with a variety of people related to the project – YouTubers, cosplayers, a professional commentator. On Sunday, when the final of the aforementioned MLBB Fan Fest Cup took place on stage, even members of the winning team were at the stand.

Of course, I took a photo with the cosplayers, but as someone who had launched MLBB only a couple of times shortly before the festival, this was not very interesting. But as a person who collects all sorts of loot, I liked the shopping bag, which is convenient to carry both in your hand and on your shoulder and put everything there. Bags were distributed free of charge at the beginning of the day by the sponsor of the stand and the MLBB tournament itself, TECNO. You haven’t forgotten that MLBB is a mobile game? So, the players fought in the tournament on TECNO smartphones.

Returning to the main scene. Quite a large part of the program was occupied by speeches by “speakers”. These were people from various areas of the entertainment industry who spoke about the state of the market in general, but also about the projects they are leading. For example, director of the online store mir-kubikov.ru told how the range of toys and souvenirs he sold changed as the tastes of movie, animation and game lovers changed. And the head of the gaming department at Synergy University dedicated his “lecture” to the gaming industry in general and the most in-demand skills in it in particular. This is understandable – after all, he needs to attract people to study.

Entire eras have passed in 30 years.

LEGO Astro Boy set for fans of classic anime.

The Little Prince for lovers of literary classics.

There were also “speakers” with a smaller caliber. Or more, if you count by the audience they have on YouTube. Yes, YouTubers, animators, and experienced cosplayer Mrs. Oladushka talked about her development in the profession and some secrets for those who want to try themselves in this business. They even invited several V-tubers, although not live – the owners of virtual avatars talked about their profession from the screen, so to speak, without leaving their character.

After the performance, some guests went to a small stand to the right of the stage, where you could get their autograph or take a photo with them.

All communication (even with directors) was lively; at the end there was an opportunity to ask questions from the audience. Therefore, everything took place in a friendly and relaxed atmosphere. For example, on the first day I personally took part in a master class on inventing plots, and in the second half of the same day I asked several questions to the participants of the panel “No games – no life”. It is curious that it was attended by representatives of three development teams of completely different classes – Lesta Games (supports popular games like World of Tanks), Morteska (indie studio from Perm) and ANO-Gramma (develops games with government grants).

Perhaps the only presentation that disappointed me was a lecture on research into ways of interacting with the phenomenon of computer games – as a component of modern culture. Her speaker read from a piece of paper, in my opinion not even always understanding what was being said. And the lecture itself was mostly dedicated to some kind of museum, where they collected all kinds of abstract art with interactivity, which is understandable only to “connoisseurs of high art”. Although perhaps I have a prejudice about “high art” in general.

Well, since we’re talking about the negative. The quizzes on stage were quite monotonous. Those conducted by the Fan Fest presenter even contained the same questions. So in the future, organizers should diversify their repertoire. It is even possible to include in the program not only quizzes, but also some other competitions, as was done at Igromir and Bubble Comics Con.

The questions in the quiz from the organizers were mostly easy. And if we also take into account the possibility of enumerating options.

Community quizzes included community-favorite characters appearing on stage. And the questions there were more interesting.

It was very disappointing that the game “Buki” from the ANO-Gram studio did not work at all on the first day, and then the build uploaded at the stand was clearly unfinished and buggy. Although it is worth noting that this is not the fault of the festival organizers or the studio itself. The programmer was responsible for everything, who turned out to be unavailable in the last weeks before the release.

And Wi-Fi didn’t always work properly, even though I had access to a press router. For an exhibition where there are quite a lot of activities that require Internet access, this is a drawback. Still, not everyone now has unlimited Internet access via a cellular network.

In general, despite the flaws, I liked Fan Fest in Live Arena. There was entertainment, freebies, quest competitions, and the opportunity to ask questions to industry representatives (or independent content makers). In other words, activity for every taste.

Of course, it would not make sense for the average gamer or comic book fan to travel to the exhibition for all three days. But going to a specific “speaker” and then having fun at some stand is definitely a good leisure activity for someone who is interested in pop culture, whether it’s games, comics, or animation.