STGCC 2014 - Recap

The Singapore Toy Games & Comic Convention (STGCC) was held over the weekend. It's been an exhausting but fun two days. 

I'm going to do things a little differently this year. The recap will be up first. It may take awhile if I were to follow my previous format of posting up the toy segments. There's over two thousand shots to sort through... Yeah I'm a little shocked myself. There were just so many toys this year!

It all started early Saturday morning. The VIP ticket holders were allowed in an hour early before the actual start. This I felt was a good move by the organisers. Previously VIPs would enter first with the rest of the attendees immediately after. The VIP package hasn't been that attractive in recent years and this at least was something.  

The VIPs were greeted by the members of the 501st Singapore Garrison and the Cathar Oupost Rebel Legion. The Star Wars presence was huge this year as Hot Toys had decorated their booth with a Star Wars theme in celebration of them acquiring the merchandising rights to produce high-end collectible figures. Also Fightsaber had performances on stage.

The Hot Toys booth has always been popular at STGCC. Attendees would cram the booth checking out the figures and taking photos. There was plenty of new and upcoming figures on display this year. Such as the Guardians of the Galaxy, The Amazing Spider-man 2 series and Back to the Future.

I love that DeLorean! 

If you were looking for Star Wars characters to take a photo with, all you had to do was head for the booth right beside Hot Toys' one. Catch Darth Vader, the Stormtroopers, Jawas, Obi Wan Kenobi etc. The 501st Singapore Garrison had a very well decorated booth, featuring a carbonite Han Solo, mouse droids, Star Wars Rebels backdrops and standees, and two lovely dioramas displays.

 

The group were raising funds for the KK Women's and Children's Hospital Health Endowment Fund. Make a donation and you could Shoot-the-Trooper with a Nerf Gun and take photos. You could choose Darth Vader or any of the other characters who were available at the time. 

More toys next. Er... I mean statues. XM Studios had a sizeable space this year. They showcased their Marvel statues and unveiled their first female character in Black Widow.

Making their debut at STGCC was Tamashii Nations. They had various S.H.Figuarts series on display, as well as Tamashii Buddies, Robot Spirits and Saint Seiya.

Yet even more toys! The Falcon's Hangar had a lot, and I do mean a lot of toys on display and for sale. Under their care were DAMTOYS, ZC World, Kids Logic, Beast Kingdom, SEN-TI-NEL etc. They had prototypes like the MMC Spartan and Titanika on display. First to be revealed here I believe. We also had a look at the TakaraTomy Masterpiece Bumblebee! Simply awesome!    

And you know what. That's still not all yet! I haven't even mentioned Enterbay, Good Smile Company, Banpresto, Simply Toys, Imaginarium Art, Soldier Story and a host of other toy booths! Now you have an idea why there are so many pics to sort through.

Cherry Credits was just about the only representative of the "Game" segment of STGCC. They launched their new "Coin Hunter" mobile game at the event. Perform simple tasks, play the darts game, and you could walk away with prizes such as plush toys, postcards and badges.

GnB Comics kept things lively and exciting with freebies giveaways! Foam Spider-man hands, Spider-man notebooks and posters. Download the GnB Comics App you could even get Sin City 2 movie tickets! Comic characters were ever present at the booth. Plus they had several artists such as Alan Quah, Ario Anindito, Rey Villegas, Gary Choo, Sheldon Goh, Noval N. Hernawan and Lefty Julian who dropped by. They also had a Guardians of the Galaxy Rocket and Groot statue which you could take a photo with.

The Artist Alley at STGCC was definitely one of the highlights of the event. A wide range of unique items could be found there. Ranging from toys to prints to badges and so on. You had to be prepared to squeeze if you wanted anything from there though.

Fans of designer toys would have been happy this year. Frank Kozik, Scott Tolleson, Angry Woebots and Matt Fabris (Sekure D) were guests at the event.

If you like things big you would have loved this Chunky Knight figure released by Mighty Jaxx based on the design of Alex Solis who was also a guest at the event. The figure was wonderfully sculpted and it had good weight to it. It definitely lives up to its name.

  

Humberto Ramos, David Mack and Cameron Stewart headed the artists line-up. 

From left: the moderator, Humberto Ramos, Kelly Bender, David Mack, Cameron Stewart

In addition there was Andy Price, Olivier Coipel, Harvey Tolibao, Aaron E. Kim Jacinto, Philip Tan, Nao Shirahane (aka Dymo) and Evacomics.

From left: Elliot Danker, Harvey Tolibao, Philip Tan, Andy Price, Olivier Coipel

I love that there was the guest artist section this year. It made things easier to meet and interact with them all in one area. Fans could check out their works and commission sketches. And with this fans need not worry too much about whether there was enough time for their turn at the Walk-of Fame. I feel this should be a mainstay at future editions.

I was happy to be able to meet Humberto Ramos so soon after getting a back into comics. Not fully back but just a bit. I only read Superior Spider-man at the start of the year and loved it. Been a fan since and I've been collecting Amazing Spider-man. I got a couple of comics signed. Unfortunately I didn't have budget for a sketch.

I attended some stage segments. The first was the Spotlight on Tomokazu Sugita. He's a voice actor who's voiced characters in animes such as Gintama, Jojo's Bizarre Adventure and The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. Of the three mentioned I've only watched Haruhi. A big crowd turned up to catch him. Photography, videography and recording were not allowed for his segment unfortunately. He appeared on stage to great cheers and applause. There was some technical difficulty. What was being said could hardly be heard or was very muffled. Tomokazu Sugita read lines from two scenes of Gintama. He also read some lines from the anime he had done chosen by fans. 

I next caught Fightsaber in action. I actually took a video but it turned out blur... I think the camera was complaining it was working too hard.  Their performance I felt was more artistic this time. The Jedi were doing some training before being interrupted by the Sith. They had a skill set showoff showdown before confronting each other. Cue action sequence. Trademarks of their acts like Force Push and rolls were performed. The Sith got the better of the Jedi in the end.   

Stage activities on Day 1 ended with the DJ Night. I just caught the first part. The place was really rockin'! Fans were cheering, jumping and waving glow sticks in the air. By chance, I recognised the songs played when I was there. There were songs from K-on, Lucky Star and Kill la Kill. So awesome!

On Day 2 I was the Comic Artists Panel and the Making It Happen: Independent Toy Designs segment. The sound system fortunately was much improved and I could clearly hear what was being said. You never know what can happen at these panels. The best part was Alex Solis doing some break -dancing for us! 

Moving on to cosplay now. Lenneth XVII is a local cosplayer and she was one of the featured guests along with Aliga. Lenneth XVII cosplayed as Zero from Drakengard 3 and Makoto from Free! Her costumes were amazing! Lenneth XVII also conducted a make-up tutorial on stage. I didn't catch Aliga until the Cosplay Runway. 

Just a quick look of some of the cosplayers around the hall. I didn't have too much time to take photos of them. Of the various events that I've attended, STGCC is the one where you'll find the most western characters cosplay.

Day 2 ended with the Cosplay Runway. I think there were over 50 participants. There were some outstanding costumes this year. Unfortunately I don't have too many photos as once again I was not in a good position... 

Right that's about it. This year's event was great for toys. We got to see many new and upcoming figures. Even some never before seen prototypes. Thoroughly enjoyed seeing the displays. And also checking out what the various booths and artist alley had to offer.


You can check out some images through the following links:

Artist Alley

Booth (various)

Cosplay

General



Toy pics in the posts that follow. Thanks for viewing!