SG Event: Singapore Toy, Game & Comic Convention ( STGCC 2014 )

August 16, 2014August 16, 2014Candace

As the title says, coming up on the 6th and 7th of September is the long anticipated Singapore Toy, Game, Comic Convention a.k.a STGCC 2014 happening in Sands Expo and Convention Center, Marina Bay Sands! Brought to you by Reed Exhibitions– the world’s largest event organizer and in collaboration with the creators of New York Comic Con (NYCC), STGCC is another epic event with six top-notch pop culture personalities from the East and West.

—- From the media release —-

Cosplayers at the 2013 Singapore Toy, Game and Comic Convention

Kuala Lumpur, 16 June 2014 – Fans of anime and cosplay can expect to see stars at this year’s annual Singapore Toy, Game and Comic Convention (STGCC) as the event announces the first wave of six top-notch pop culture personalities from the East and West. Making their way to STGCC from the East are three renowned DJs from Japan, each highly-regarded for their work in the different realms of Japanese music – Anisong, Touhou and Vocaloid. Inu, D.watt and sasakure.UK will take to the stage on the first night of the two-day convention with a music showcase. Spinning the latest hits from popular Japanese games and anime, the STGCC DJ Night will teleport fans of anime and games to Japan. From the West are three multi-talented artists – Humberto Ramos,who is well acquainted with Spiderman, Alex Solis,the father of “The Famous Chunkies” featuring oversized superheroes, and Simone Legno,the creator of the popular tokidoki brand.

The Iron Man 3 showcase at the 2013 Singapore Toy, Game and Comic Convention

Bringing together the best of pop culture from the East and West, STGCC 2014 takes place on the 6th and 7th of September at the Sands Expo and Convention Center in Marina Bay Sands. “The show has matured over the past six years, and we have amassed a very loyal following of fans from Singapore and the region by bringing together vibrant international content from the East and West for a regional audience,” said Ms. Rita Magnus, Senior Manager, Pop Culture Cluster for SGTCC. Taking over the helm of Southeast Asia’s leading pop culture show for the first time, Ms. Magnus, who has been the show’s Western content programmer for the past three years, has fresh aspirations for the show. “With a strong list of pop culture personalities and attractive offerings for our fans, we aim to put together a stellar content of substantial mass appeal and pave way for the show to be elevated to the next level,” said Ms. Magnus. SGTCC – the leading pop culture show in Southeast Asia – in 2013 concluded with a record-breaking attendance of 40,000 local and regional visitors.

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STGCC DJ Night profiles

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Popular artists from the West

Works from the first wave of Western pop culture personalities can be seen on the most popular everyday platforms – from TV to watches and bags. Come and meet these three amazing artists at STGCC and get their autographs on your favourite merchandise!

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Artist Valley

MALAYSIAN ARTISTS

D’creativeaholic - D’creativeaholic is an indie brand created by Artist Shenly Yee in 2010. It is derived from 3 words “The Creative Workaholic” which carry the mission to support a “Never-Give-Up” spirit on dreams no matter the difficulties and obstacles faced. Dcreativeaholic creates various interesting and wacky monster characters, product designs as well as illustrations, toy figure, merchandise etc.

1000Tentacles - Founders of 1000tentacles® and award winning artist, Leong Wan Kok and Khor Pheik Hoy have been involved in the art industry for over 20 years, with numerous art projects ranging from commercial illustration, art print, comic, character design and toy sculpture. 1000Tentacles is based in Malaysia.

FUSE is a visual art duo hailing from Malaysia, composed of concept artists Jing and Arm. Influenced by their love for mechs, comics, games and all things cool, they dabble primarily in illustrations and various visual development. Although they usually work digitally, live commissions are provided upon request, with limited slots.

Running Snail Studio + Bram Lee - Fei Giap, a Malaysian illustrator, part-time art teacher and co-founder of Running Snail Studio published his first illustration art print series “Color of Scenery” in 2012. 2 years later, he published a new series - “Fantascene”and had it printed as a postcard collection. Bram Lee, a professional freelance 2D/3D artist based in Malaysia was awarded with CG Choice Award (2007) and CG Challenge Master Award (2011). Bram founded Big Bunker Studio with partner programmers in 2012 and has developed 5 games for mobile platforms.

Booth of Lost Things by Sonny Liew + Gary Choo + Mighty Jaxx - A joint collaboration by Sonny Liew, an Eisner-nominated (the comics industry’s equivalent of the Oscar Awards) comic artist who now resides in Singapore, local sculptor Gary Choo, and Singapore-based toy producer Mighty Jaxx, Booth of Lost Things present “100,000 Horsepower”, a resin bust that resembles an emo version of the pop icon Astro Boy (a robot superhero from a classic Japanese manga series).

MALAYSIAN EXHIBITORS

IMA Collectibles SDN BHD: Imaginarium Art is a producer for 1:4, 1:2 and 1:1 scale replicas which currently holding licences of Marvel and MGM (ROBOCOP) to produce and distribute to Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines and Hong Kong.

T & M SDN BHD: Happy Costumes was created with kids and their parents in mind. We deliver costumes of high quality from the best manufacturers.

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Since you’re reading this blog where I share my interests and somewhat exciting ~~(to myself)~~ lifestyle, I believe we’d share similar interests and likes. As a fellow cosplay/ anime / manga (japanese comics) enthusiast, here are a few more guests that may interest you as much as it interests me to attend the event!

Aliga is well known for her kawaii cosplays and natural cuteness. She has been the VIP guest cosplayer and judge for many cosplay events across Asia.

There will always be a powerful moe moe aura surrounding Aliga whenever she’s in her cosplay costumes.

I’ve met Stay during her first two visits to Malaysia as guests for two cosplay events couple months back and as I’ve previously mentioned before, I’ve been a fan of her projects ever since I’ve indulged myself in anime. Stayxxxx squeezes in time to be a cosplayer amidst her fanatic schedule of Anime, Manga and Gaming. She appreciates cosplay with a sense of realness, and hand makes all her costumes. Cosplaying at her own pace, Stayxxxx hopes to live life to the fullest with her 5 cats.

Nao Shirahane sensei (AKA Dmyo) is an illustrator from Korea who is currently residing in Japan.

She is known for her drawing for the online game Trickster, and illustrations for the game DJMAX. Nao Shirahane is famous for her character designs and contributions to various works, namely –

- Nintendo 3DS game “Onna no ko no misshitsu ni itara maru maru shicau kamo shirenai” by D3PUBLISHER INC - PSP Game “Sucre” by GIGA - Mascot illustrator for Culture:Japan - Insert illustration in light novels and magazines also serialized manga published by Kadokawa and Koudansha

Nao is active in her Doujin Circle “Snow Ring” and “Sleepless child”, her project as an illustrator with Taiwanese cosplayer “Stayxxxx”.

Another cosplayer that I’ve looked up to for quite some time, Lenneth XVII is a self-paced cosplayer whose only drive is her passion for the characters she cosplays. She’s not picky about who she cosplays, but rather why she cosplays them. The learning process in cosplay is endless so despite being in the circle for close to 14years now, meeting new people and handling new projects always teaches her new things every time!

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ABOUT REED EXHIBITIONS

Reed Exhibitions is the world’s leading events organizer, with a growing portfolio of over 500 events in 40 countries, and a staff of 3500 exhibition specialists. Our events serve 43 key industry sectors, and in 2013 we brought together over 6 million active event participants to drive sales, network and learn. We have over 50 years unrivalled experience in developing, marketing, selling and organising exhibitions and events. We excel in creating brand leading, highly targeted events where people from around the world can come together to do business, network and learn. Our vision is to deliver contacts, content and communities with the power to transform your business. We are the world’s premier exhibition organiser, with a network of 34 offices worldwide, and a rapidly growing portfolio of events and partners in the economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China and the Middle East. This global perspective enables us to share local knowledge and world-leading expertise and resources for the benefit of our customers worldwide.

ABOUT SINGAPORE TOY, GAME & COMIC CONVENTION

The Singapore Toy, Game & Comic Convention combines the best of pop culture from East and West to Asia, uniting the worlds of comics, anime, toys, collectibles and games. It is the pre-eminent event in the Asian market that fits with other shows in the Reed pop culture portfolio, including New York Comic Con (NYCC), the Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo (C2E2), Star Wars Celebration, PAX, NYC - Special Edition and OZ Comic Con. STGCC will reach out to a whole new world of fans in Asia and opens a vast market with exciting opportunities for companies to break into the Asian market and/or reinforce a growing presence. Fans will experience a showcase of pop culture’s coolest and latest products, and be thrilled by personalities and characters from the worlds of superheroes, villains and realms of fantasy. STGCC’s vision is to deliver quality content and spread the currency of cool in Asia and aims to be the leading catalyst for the pop culture industry.

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So what’re you waiting for?

STGCC tickets are up for grabs now! Priced at S$19 for a one-day pass and S$25 for a two-day pass, tickets are available for sale at selected authorised retail outlets and at the event itself. Visit www.singaporetgcc.com/tickets-queues for more ticketing details.

Check out www.singaporetgcc.com for the latest STGCC news!

images (c) Singapore Toy, Game & Comic Convention 2014

Penang Day 1

March 22, 2014March 29, 2014Candace

Warning: heavy image content & photo quality might be bad as I’m blogging via mobile on data! I apologize beforehand, I couldn’t estimate the accurate size when blogging on an iphone4!

Sleeping at 1AM the night before then getting up at 5 the next day is very tiring! We started driving at around 6.20AM and arrived at Penang Island approximate 10 in the morning.

In the car!

Yay, checked into the hotel and makeup is done! Ready to start the day with Penang’s ranked no.1 most expensive char kuey teow located at Lorong Selamat.

I’m not sure bout you guys but I’m guessing the cost went into the huge prawns?
There were 3 sizes available. Ranging from RM8.50 to RM9.00 then to RM11.00.

Later on we went around Lorong Armenian to check out Penang’s famous murals. And soon later we stopped for drinks at Film Cafe.

Similar to most theme cafés, the too have props!

The cafe serves fresh juices with no added sugar and I’m glad that the lady actually told me that their honeydews today aren’t sweet haha. Something I was glad as tasteless honeydew juice always makes me feel cheated heheh. So in the end I got myself carrot juice. I can’t remember the exact cost but if I’m not mistaken it’s around RM9.50-RM11-ish?

So I had some extra time and I caught news that there’s an event at Penang. Since I’m here and two friends of mine are attending it, I thought I should go experience a cosplay event outstation too. Plus, Stay was invited and you could say I was pretty happy that she remembered me haha.

The stage area where games were held.

Me, star star and Lin hung around for an hour or so before we started queuing for Stay’s autograph session. The amount of fans she has in Penang was crazy, probably not as much as CF but still, there were quite a number there. (since I couldn’t see the end of the queue haha) we didn’t wait for long though since we started queuing as soon as we heard the announcement.

As I’ve guessed, DYMO cosplayed as ELR Miku ///

Really happy to see her again www this time as Mikuo!

With Star star.

With Lin!

Til now I feel so stupid running out 4 entrances and still couldn’t find the entrance I came in from. Feeling so paiseh that you two had to follow me and my so call ‘intuition’ hahaha. Was so glad to spend more time with you two this time Q w Q This time no interviews to catch, no CODs to rush hahaha! Feels good being a typical con-goer again in smaller scale events.
Overall I’d say I have a love hate relationship with Cosplay Invasion 3 haha. I saw many new faces today, awesome cosplayers. Didn’t meet anyone new but I got to spend time with two of my tomodachis. I didn’t exactly liked the activities going on but then I got to meet Stay again so pretty much worth it.

Staying at GLOW hotel. Review will be up after I get back home.
After leaving, I went back to chill at the hotel before heading to New Lane opposite of Sunway Hotel for dinner.

Penang har mee (prawn noodles) - RM3.50
The serving wasn’t large but I guess it’s good for the price and foodies that love trying different types of food. The taste was pretty good, and it isn’t very spicy either.

“Chee Cheong chook” - RM5.50 was pretty yummy. For someone that doesn’t exactly fancy pork’s spare parts or porridge in general to consider this good, then it’s good.

Penang style “Lo bak” - RM5.00. This is just plain win. The sauce tasted good and so was the food.

Since I tried Penang’s most expensive char kuey teow this morning, I told myself that I had to try a cheaper one la. Well I guess it wasn’t as cheap as I’ve expected but still reasonable. This plate of char kuey teow costs RM6 and in my opinion it tasted better compared to the RM9 one I had hahaha. It had less salt and oil so it didn’t make me feel super full even after eating so much.

Japanese cucumber with apple juice tastes great. It was recommended by the lady that took our order and it was a good choice in deed as it was very refreshing to relief ourselves from the oil.

Ending the post with a pic of the grilled chicken wing stall we bought from back to the hotel.

Definitely needing my beauty sleep now as tomorrow will be yet another hectic day where we’ll be boarding a cruise! Bye

Cosplayers in Comic Fiesta 2013

January 11, 2014January 11, 2014Candace

School school school, forever my excuse for procrastinating haha.

Well that aside, let’s go back to 2013 and recap albeit of Comic Fiesta 2013 that I’ve missed blogging about. Cosplayers. In Malaysia’s largest ACG event how could one possibly miss out cosplayers? Don’t get me wrong, I saw many, in fact even ones that I’ve always been admiring but I couldn’t find time to stop to grab a shot /alalalalalaexcuses101 Ok la, I admit, I paiseh and I’m afraid to approach people face to face. So, thank you very much to these three photographers that has kindly given me permission to share their beautiful masterpiece over here on my blog! After this I’ll probably go back to being a con-goer / amateur cos-photographer during the next event! The no shy shy type! ~~or maybe a cosplayer i don’t know.~~

and then we have our very own cf mascot Coffee!

Photos above are from Blurmage Photography ! ^^

My childhood ; w ;

The above shots are from Hexlord @ Black Rabbit Photography !

Inori /// w ///

Photos above are from Haziq Photography ! :3

There were tons of cosplayers in Comic Fiesta 2013 but sadly I’m unable to put all the photos I’ve came across onto this blog. So to any of you that missed the event or is looking forward to checking out more cosplayer photos from Comic Fiesta 2013, check out the following photographer’s pages! <3

Blurmage Photography

Black Rabbit Photography

Haziq Photography

Comic Fiesta 2013 - Day 2 - Guren no Tsubasa live

January 5, 2014January 9, 2014Candace

So my boring December 2013 turned epic thanks to Comic Fiesta 2013. My day 2 started with me freaking out. I reached the venue at approximately 9.30AM? and it shocked ~~and scared~~ me to find no queue outside KLCC! The day before I reached at 7.30 and the queue was already super long so what happened? Apparently CF did a great job and improved the queuing system yay!

Before day 2’s energetic con-goers fills up the halls, I took the time I have to browse through the creative market again. This time, making sure I at least splurge on something. Yes, there is a part of me that thinks I /cannot/ leave Comic Fiesta or simply an anime convention without getting anything. Dear wallet, I am /not/ sorry. ~~I mean, I came home with the amount of cash exactly the same I went with on both days. CODs for the win.~~

There were booths of all sorts! I’ve expected booths selling badges, prints, doujinshis, handmade jewelry, fanarts, official merch, figurines, anime, manga etc but I wasn’t expecting any wigs or full costumes to be on sale haha. I guess people need to stop complaining how hard it is to experience cosplay now because look how easy it is to obtain wigs and costumes now. You don’t even need taobao! ._. Of course, start saving.

Look at the amazing art, I admit, I was browsing so fast that I had to backtrack just to snap a photo of the booth. I regret not buying any prints from this booth T_T But the booth’s artworks looked really familiar, I’m not sure where I’ve came across it but I hope to see these amazing artworks again in 2014!

Here’s another booth I had stopped for. Too much Free, can’t resist.

See, just look at all the cute keychains wwww

In the end I couldn’t leave without getting the Makoto and Haruka badges haha. Leaving the guest cosplayers goods + Inori prints aside, these two badges were the only things I’ve bought in CF2013. Crazy, I know.

This my dear, is my utmost favorite figurine. I guess in the end, no matter how over-rated Hatsune Miku is, I still love her |D

Love is war was one of the first few songs I’ve heard from Hatsune Miku and til today, it’s still one of my favorites.

You see Namae no Nai Kaibutsu’s cover illustration on the banner? You know, the one above Redjuice’s name? Yeah, that. Apparently, so far of all of Redjuice’s amazing illustrations, that’s his favorite. ~~and till today,I’m still hunting for that CD of EGOIST.~~

That aside, isn’t it amazing for Comic Fiesta to gather all these talented people to an KLCC? We have talened illustrators like Redjuice, VOFAN, Ikkyu, DMYO, game developer PPY, Kz from Livetune, as well as cosplayers Stayxxxx, Yuegene Fay, Onnies and Xrystal!

Had some time left before the opening live so I thought perhaps I should go check out the energetic and excited faces of Day 2’s con-goers. A part of me wanted to join them since they were having a fun time counting down as well as catching posters.

I suppose 12 more seconds? No idea. I only started hearing the count down from 3 onwards haha.

As I’ve mentioned, Comic Fiesta is an ACG event. Besides of Anime and cosplay, they bring you games as well! Waiting right in front of the early bird ticket hall, located at hall 4 is LoL’s Summer Season 2013 Grand Finals! One of the screens (or was it all the screens? I can’t remember) were showing clips from Wahbanana as well, I had a good time laughing. I guess it was a great idea for them to show those clips as the ticket holders are entertained while waiting patiently.

kawaaaaaiiiiiiiiii

look look Tony Stark in the house and I’m sure everyone also knows that we have a Thor in KLCC as well. I saw the Thor, missed a shot. Exposure too gao.

While waiting for the opening live to start, the crowd is already hyped up over grabbing the CF official merch thrown by the emcees!

I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned this previously but I was actually rather disappointed at myself for skipping Comic Fiesta 2013’s day 1 extra live so I was really happy to have my day 2 officially starting with 5 minute Heroes performing songs like Butterfly (yes, Digimon ftw!) in which later on Harmonia ACG rocked the stage together with 5 Minute Heroes giving us an amazing 5 Minute Harmonia live with Guren no Tsubasa! The crowd, despite being so early in the morning, was still crazily high, with me including. Because I’m a shorty, I couldn’t really get any good shots so I joined the party and enjoyed the live performances after getting a few shots.

Look at the amount of people!

All the goodies I’ve received and purchased during CF2013 ; w ; Thank you, especially to Non for the two KHR projectors! Although I didn’t get to meet you in person this CF, you still got your friend to pass me these, thank you ; w ; I’m sorry that I didn’t get you anything D: And I hope to meet you 2014, either in SG or MY. Thank you Comic Fiesta for selecting me as one of your official bloggers, I’m sorry for doing such a poor event coverage (at least, that’s what I think so), I’m really glad that my first event coverage is an event that I’ve enjoyed attending for so many years. Thank you for giving me the experience of improving my PR skills overnight haha as well as making one of my dreams (as well as many others dreams) come true! Met many new friends this Comic Fiesta, thank you! Ok, enough thanks, this can go on forever for how grateful I feel. Hopefully I’ll be able to do better event coverage this year!

For me because I had to leave early, I didn’t get to stay for Livetune’s epic live, but I’m sure those who did managed to have a great time! Especially you Vocaloid fans \m/

last but not least, thank you Kuso-chan for the pineapple master wwww I’ve placed him in Paris and he would be celebrating christmas all year round.

After 11 epic years of acting as a place for ACG lovers to gather, after 39,855 attendees, Comic Fiesta will continue bringing you a fun-filled ACG convention experience in the upcoming years! Also, if you have not, remember to ‘like’ Comic Fiesta’s facebook page now to be up-to-date with what to be expected for CF2014!

To all the CF committee members, crew, volunteers, everyone involved, thank you for making this event happen and thank you for letting me be a part of it!

Can’t wait to see everyone again, especially those newly met friends and I hope to be able to see more of my old friends in future events.

Comic Fiesta 2013 - Xrystal’s media interview session

December 30, 2013April 25, 2014Candace

Hi blog, everyone reading, I think my grandma’s words are amazing. It’s like magic. Every single time she says I’ll fall sick, I do.

Down with the flu now which I am not surprised seeing that I had been getting very very little sleep for the pass few days.

Anyways, I was given the opportunity to interview one of Singapore’s veteran cosplayers, the very cute and friendly Xrystal the other day at Comic Fiesta 2013 and here are some of the Q&As!

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As a former CG artist, do you apply the 2D drawing method to your 3D cosplays?

Yes, because the face is like a canvas, so basically it’s like applying your drawing style to the face. You’ll still need to decide where to draw the lines, to add shading & gradients to, and even the colour scheme. For example when talking about pink blush or when talking about the lipstick colour, all of these needs to be coordinated. This is similar to doing illustrations.

Have you ever given up on a costume halfway sewing the costume or making the prop?

A whole lot of times? Haha. Sometimes there are difficult ones where after gathering all the materials it will drag after facing miscalculations with it and you’ll need to end up re-doing it. Small parts as well as parts that you just can’t get it right after redoing for many times will at times get on your nerves. By the time you know it, you’ll realize that you’re rushing for an event and you can’t make it on time. That’s when you’ll be like ‘ah, whatever. Next round.’ And put the costume aside while you start working on your next costume. In the end it gets forgotten but after some time when you stumble across it, you’ll just continue working on it.

What happens if you have a character that you really love and would like to cosplay him/her but you are aware that couldn’t do so in appearance wise, will you still go for it?

There are such characters. I’ll keep them at the back of my head and think how I can work to look like the character. If the character is thin then I’ll try to lose some weight, if the character has a prettier face with rounder eyes, I’ll try to pick up the makeup skills to look like it.

What is your current favorite anime & manga that you would like to recommend to all your friends and fans?

It would be a Japanese light novel series called Kara no Kyoukai.

What are the important cosmetics that you will need for majority of your cosplays?

Eyebrow brush, eyeliner, and false lashes.

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Media Interview with Onnies

Media Interview with Stayxxxx

Media Interview with Vofan

Media Interview with Xrystal

Redjuice Panel

Comic Fiesta Day 2