Monday, June 30, 2008

1st Singapore Toy & Comic Convention

Last weekend was a real busy one for me.

It was the first every Singapore Toy & Comic Convention (STCC) and I was quite excited that Singapore was actually going to have one. The other reason why I was busy was coz I was helping a friend to launch his new comic book! More on that later...

Below are some pics from the STCC. Actually, there were quite a few other things to see, but I was kept busy helping my friend so I didn't have much time to go round taking pics. You can catch more pics from some other sites (click here and here for pics from other sites - Warning! Plenty of pics so they might take some time to load).

While I'm really glad that we have our own Toy & Comic Con, I as initially a little disappointed at the whole thing at the beginning. I was there on the set-up day and I felt that the booths and exhibits were a little low-key and boring. Some thots:

- The Star Wars exhibit was quite cool, but the booth was so small and there really wasn't much to see unless you are a super die-hard fan who must scrutinize every single little figurine.

- The Lego booth was a super let-down. THey only showed some entries on some Singapore-themed Lego structures. Come on.. there have been so many other awesome lego structures which I've seen in Singapore, where were they?!! And there wasn't even any lego sales!

- There was a decent representation of Singapore Artists, but I couldn't help but wonder where was the promotion? Much hoopla was made over the foriegn guests, but there didn't seem to be more effort promoting the efforts of local artists, some of whom are really good.

- In my bid to support local artists, I bought this comic novel from kenfoo, who was in the booth just next to mine. To be frank, it was the drawing which first attracted me to the comic. But when I read it... sigh.. it was so depressing!!! Don't let the happy smily drawing below fool you. It's one of those sad stories...


- There was plenty of cosplay/costume competitions going on. Not bad really. Saw this really cool guy in a Cylon costume which actual moving red eye! Sound effects included! Kinda nice to see more Singapore youths picking up on cosplay. I think it helps our youths to be more open in expressing themselves.

I was really surprised with the huge turn-out on the two days open to the public! It seems that there really is a pretty huge fan-base for all things comic and toys. But personally, I hope that the STCC can really look into improving next year. I felt that this year, maybe coz it's the first year, they can't really decide what they want to be. Do they want to be really serious and attract the fans with very niche stuff or do they want to attract the general singaporean with plenty of sales and offers. I felt it was neither. I guess it's unfair coz I'm comparing STCC to other Comic Conventions I've been to in Japan and USA. Those are really awesome. You can spend hours browsing the booths and there are sales, artists, talks, movies, etc, etc, etc going on around the clock! Very exciting! Hopefully we'll see more support next year and we can see more booths and more exciting displays and competition.

On the whole, a good start! Hope to see it continue. Here are some pics I took:







Oh yeah, as I was saying earlier, I was helping a friend who launched his new book (below) at the STCC. We had a good time at the fair and it was really amazing that we were able to sell out all 300 copies which we had brought to the fair! The book should be out in bookstores soon. So do take a look at it if you see it and buy it if you think it's good!


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