Finding Community Beyond Fandom: My Unexpected Experience at Sylus’s Birthday Event

Some people think I only helped out for one day at Sylus’s Birthday, but I was actually there for two days in a row. On the second day, I went to Hana Flim to give out freebies for the kittens. The main celebration was on his actual birthday, so the crowd was much smaller the following day.

I was surprised by how many new friends I made. At this otome game event, I noticed that a lot of people already knew each other, not just as attendees and organizers. Since I’m not a Sylus fan, most of their conversations went over my head, except when they shared memes, which I always enjoyed.

Since my first otome game was LADS, it was refreshing to see how the girls could talk about stories from so many different games, both old and new. Even when they mentioned characters, I was usually lost because I only knew Xavier, Zayne, Rafayel, Sylus, and Caleb. What amazed me even more was how well they knew the cosplayers and how they supported them by collecting their polaroids as fan service. It felt like their love for a character turned into admiration for the person who brought it to life. It was a bit adrift because I didn’t have many common topics with the others. My limited otome game experience meant I often had no idea which characters they were discussing. Even when it came to the LADS voice actors, I only listened to the Taiwanese version, so I couldn’t really join in those conversations either.

After a while, I walked around Hana Flim and looked at the decorations. It was obvious that everyone adored Sylus. There was a cardboard cutout of him, and people lined up to take photos in the booth. Some girls even left their freebies for others to collect, turning it into a quiet gift exchange. What I loved most about the second day was meeting new people outside of the event organizers and seeing everyone put their merchandise together to make a huge Sylus shrine in the café. It felt like spending quality time with friends, where every conversation brought out new details about our favorite guys that we might have missed before.

Unfortunately, as I write this, SG Hunter Association has closed its doors as of May 5th. Still, I’m grateful I got to be part of your event and help out for Sylus’s Birthday. Meeting all of you introduced me to a great community of girls who share my love for LADS.