Anime Festival Asia (AFA) 2014

Anime Festival Asia (AFA) 2014 concluded over the weekend and what an event it was! This year's edition was the biggest yet with a mega star-studded guest line-up and the exhibition taking up the entire level four of the Suntec Singapore Convention & Exhibition Centre. 

(Click images to enlarge)

It all started Friday morning. The queue that formed took up part of the fourth floor and more than half of the concourse level. Even if you were at the back of the queue, you could enter within half an hour.

The toys first as always here. Volks Inc. were exhibiting for the first time in Singapore and they had a selection of their Dolfie Dream for sale. These dolls stand around 24" in height and feature a great amount of articulation. Asusna of Sword Art Online was the most popular, selling out within the first hour of opening.

Other lines from Volks Inc. include CharaGumin, The Five Star Stories and Vlocker's Mecha-Action Blocktoy.

On to Good Smile Company (GSC). The exclusives available from them include the Nendoroid Levi (cleaning version) and Aircraft Carrier Wo-Class. They also had the Nendoroid Hatsune Miku (Halloween version) which sold out very quickly. I was hoping they had the exclusive figma Goro Inogashira: Extra Helping version but unfortunately they did not.

They had a number of new and upcoming figures on display. They include the figma Solid Snake (Metal Gear Solid 2) and Guyver.

For Nendoroid, there was Mario. He'll be released next year. Considering Luigi was released back in July, it's about time 

And here's the upcoming Lady Venera 1/7 scale figure from World Conquest Zvezda Plot.

Attendees could also try drawing their very own Nendoroid expressions.

Here's the Gundam booth. Figures from Gundam Reconguista in G and Gundam Build Fighters Try were showcased. 

For Gundam's 30th Anniversary they had an awesome tribute display.

Tamashii Nations showcased S.H.Figuarts, The Robot Spirits, Chogokin, Tamashii Buddies and the relatively new line in NXEdgeStyle. The S.H.Figuarts Luigi was released just in time and was available for sale at the Bandai booth as well as other toy booths.

The following are the first four figures for NXEdgeStyle series. They stand below 4" in height and feature great detail and articulation. So far only the Strike Freedom Gundam (below pic, back right) has been released. A new figure will be released each month and the next one will be Mazinkaiser.

Upcoming in March next year for Tamashii Buddies is the Sailor Moon series. Only Sailor Moon and Sailor Venus were on display. I'm pretty sure that other Sailor Moon characters could have been displayed.

It's the 40th Anniversary of Chogokin. The Renewal Colours versions of the GX-08 Aphrodite A, GX-01R Mazinger Z and GX-31v Voltes V were on display. They should be released this month or the next.

The Megahouse booth. If you like statues based on Gintama, One Piece and Naruto. This was the place to check out. 

The Ochatomo series caught the eye. This was my first time seeing them in person. The tiny figures balance on the edge of a glass. They are so cute! There are various series, they include One Piece and Free!.

There were still more toy booths. You can see all the pics in the gallery.

Niconico Kunikaigi had a large presence at AFA. They had various experience zones set up and many of their artists were at the event. They include Arsmagna, Root 5, Kashitaro Ito, Amatsuki to name a few. 

The Special Stage Segments were the most popular. The artists thrilled with their various song and dance performances. There was also a DJ segement,  a karaoke segment and cosplay showcase. 

Attendees could experience what it was like to be in Sword Art Online with OcculusRift.

Fancy taking on a Titan? Then you'll need some vertical maneuver training.

Attendees could also try out Fighting Climax. It's a 2d fighting game where you can use various anime characters. It was recently released for Playstation. 

In addition to the above there was the MMD Planetarium where Vocaloids were projected on screen of the dome. And there was the Danced It area where you were taught dance moves and attendees would perform together. That's so much awesomeness at the Niconico Kunikaigi area!

There were several guest cosplayers at the event. There were ample opportunities to catch them. Be it at the AFA Future Entertainment Stage, various booths such as the AFA Shop, Aniplex and Starchild, and the Canon photo booths. They always look so wonderful in their costumes.

I caught the Asia Regional Cosplay Championship (ARCC) at the Main Stage. The performances were all superb. Indonesia were the winners for their entertaining act of Dragon Ball GT. Philippines were second and Singapore third. 

I like to mention Myanmar for their Kill la Kill performance. I'm no expert but I thought they deserved something. They got the tone right from the get go. Their portrayals of Ryuko Matoi and Satsuki Kiryuin were excellent. Ryuko's scissors blade broke mid-way which may have been what cost them a prize. Despite that they continued to perform. Good stuff.

This is where I'll stop. There's still lots of things I didn't touch on. Instead here's a few more pics.

   

Follow the links to the various galleries:

Toys Part 1 
- Good Smile Company, MegaHouse, Volks Inc.

Toys Part 2
- Banpresto, Gundam, Tamashii Nations

General

ARCC

Guest Cosplayers & Niconico

Day 1 Cosplay

Day 2 Cosplay

Day 3 Cosplay



AFA 2014 was awesome! Looking forward to it again next year!

Thanks for viewing!