A little delayed, but here’s the recap of day 2! Also very picture-heavy, so you have been warned.

I met up with Sarah, Joelyn and Avariel in the afternoon before heading to the hall, where we had a bit of time to wander before heading to the Walk of Fame for Andrew Bell.

Avariel [...]]]>

A little delayed, but here’s the recap of day 2! Also very picture-heavy, so you have been warned.

I met up with Sarah, Joelyn and Avariel in the afternoon before heading to the hall, where we had a bit of time to wander before heading to the Walk of Fame for Andrew Bell.

Avariel is a big Google Android figurine fan, and Andrew Bell is the artist who designed them, so of course she had to get his autograph. We waited at the side for her photo op.

Avariel in line with her special blank Android

Bell was really awesome though, he drew on everything that you’d ask him to sign. While awesome, this naturally made the line quite long – we waited about an hour and a half for about 10-15 people? But it was totally worth the wait, cos he was so nice to be drawing in the first place.

I was pleasantly surprised when I found out he’d drawn on my book, which I’d asked Avariel to help me get signed.

I think it's adorable, don't you?

Kids under 12 enter free on Sunday, so there were a lot more kids around than on Saturday. We saw quite a few around the Walk of Fame area!

The littlest Stormtrooper and Cap

I’m told that the little Stormtrooper made the armor with his dad, who I assume is part of the 501st Legion. And firmly on the other end of the adorableness, someone came to the con as Pedobear.

Pedobear?!

He was pretty popular among the adults, for obvious reasons. I didn’t even know you could get a Pedobear head, and coming to the con on the day when kids get in free is both brilliant and downright ballsy. Congratulations, Pedobear!person, yours are made of steel.

I don't recognise the character, but this was one of the most impressive costumes there that day

And as we were walking about, we bumped into Ezio – the same person you might remember from last year. We recognise each other now, and every time I bump into him I always seem to be in a Mario costume – this year it was Dr Mario. Our photo is becoming almost like a tradition, haha.

Ezio and Dr Mario

And of course the Artists Alley and grafiiti walls were impressive!

[Show as slideshow]

And because Nintendo was back, I got my obligatory Mario-Dr Mario-Luigi photo!

Nintendo's back at the con, yay!

Afterwards, I was thrilled to get Paul Levitz’s autograph. I get the most amusing messages in my book sometimes, and he was so nice!

Paul Levitz!

I also got pictures in front of the DC and Marvel booth walls, which were really impressive. I love that the Big Two actually came down this year, bringing with them some great guests, and I would love to see more at next year’s STGCC.

Marvel wall

The DC wall, featuring post-relaunch versions of the characters!

We were doing our shopping when our little group was separated, but when I found them – in a corner of the hall, with some other friends they’d randomly found – I was in for a pleasant surprise.

The Doctor and Amy Pond were there! I’m a huge Doctor Who fan, as many of you can attest, so I was delighted. More’s the pity they hadn’t come on Saturday when I was the TARDIS, otherwise we would’ve been unstoppable!

Doctor and Dr!

When we saw each other, the Doctor and I pointed our props (sonic screwdriver for her, pill for me) at each other and went “DOCTOR!”. It was a bit surreal, but I was delighted. This Doctor had a companion, in this case only Amy. No Nose or Mrs Robinson, alas.

Amy and Octavius make an Ood

We were just there chatting when Lady Mechnika, of which I have no photos, approached us and asked if the Doctor and Amy would like to participate in a mobile photo shoot outside. We sort of tagged along.

The Doctor and Amy in the spotlight

Later I found out the mobile studio was by The Neo Tokyo Project; you can see the full gallery here. Check out their website for a lot more STGCC photos!

We even got a group shot!

While outside the con hall, we bumped into more friends. They just so happened to be all cosplaying DC characters, so it wasn’t planned or anything, and the photographers had a field day with the funniest impromptu photoshoot I’ve ever been to. There were shenanigans. Many of them, all very funny.

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Was I pleased? Oh, yes. This con was a good one, but there is still a lot of room for improvement. I did like that the Artist Alley was bigger this year and lots of great local artists were there – my favorite is probably Wendy Chew aka Mashi, who does the most adorable characters ever.

Of course there’re a few things I would like to see changed or improved for next year, which include the timing (August is no good), better cosplay competition rules and more focus on gaming (digital or analog) and Western comics because the anime/manga fans already have AFA.

The absence of major organisations in the industry, namely GnB Comics and Movie Mania, was very much felt – something that I think they need to take into account. Also, where were my Gachapon? It took me a year to save enough $1 coins for my gachapon and there were none! I was scandalised!

But overall, STGCC was pretty solid. Here’s to more in 2012!

I know it’s been a long time coming, dear readers, but my STGCC recap is finally here! It took me longer than expected to go through all the photos, hah, but that’s ’cause I had a great time at the convention. This is a quick, image-heavy recap of Day 1, so lots of pictures [...]]]>

I know it’s been a long time coming, dear readers, but my STGCC recap is finally here! It took me longer than expected to go through all the photos, hah, but that’s ’cause I had a great time at the convention. This is a quick, image-heavy recap of Day 1, so lots of pictures lie ahead.

We arrived in the early afternoon because we didn’t want to rush to get in, and after a quick change into our cosplay outfits we were out and about on the show floor. One of our first stops was Artists Alley, where there were a great number of mostly-indie artists set up selling their art and doing commissions.

Cosplaying the TARDIS with the most adorable TARDIS badge ever

Avariel got me some adorable Doctor Who badges from (I believe) S Y S, an illustrator from Indonesia. She’s most famous for a manga called Sang Sayur, which is about vegetables. I didn’t get it but I’m told that it is great fun to read.

We caught the tail end of one of the panels, featuring the awesome guests from Marvel and DC

It wasn’t super crowded on Saturday because there were other events going on that day, like a Japanese summer festival celebration, so a lot of anime/manga cosplayers weren’t at the con. But that was good, in a way, cos it let us get a feel of the show floor.

TARDIS, femme!Tenth Doctor, Emilia, tiger lady Joyce, Carmen, Avariel, and Reno

It took a while for everyone to get there, but eventually we were all present and correct! I was the TARDIS (Doctor Who), Mintea was a femme version of the Tenth Doctor, Joelyn was Emilia from Dance Central, Jolantru got herself a tiger hat and an awesome sword. Then we had Sarah who was Carmen Sandiego, much to the delight of all the gamers old enough to remember the tv shows or games, while our more serious friend Mint was Reno from Final Fantasy.

We also bumped into a friend, who was Black Cat from Spiderman! She told us that everyone kept mistaking her for Catwoman though >:( At a comic convention! For shame.

Rawr.

There were quite a few new stores who were exhibiting for the first time, including an art gallery from Indonesia that had some really cool mixed-media art pieces for sale.

Large pieces of art, for exhibition and sale

And then it was off to my first proper panel of the day, the Spotlight on Kieron Gillen! Mr Gillen (@kierongillen) is probably best known for his work on indie series Phonogram, which is one of my favorite series ever. He’s since taken over writing Thor, some of the X-Men titles and quite a few other Marvel series.

Kieron with some of the Here Be Geeks guys

He talked about his creative process and whether there would be a third Phonogram series (maybe, but only if he and the artist Jamie McKelvie can find the time and money).

Panel "Spotlight on Kieron Gillen"

You can check out a video of the entire panel, moderated by Alvin of Here Be Geeks and recorded by Sarah! In it you can hear him talk about how McKelvie is the Silent Girl to his Seth Bingo and all sorts of Marvel talk.

After the panel, he was going to have a autograph session so I was hanging around the Walk of Fame area until it was time. That was when this English lady asked for a photo, and asked me if I liked her tattoo.

How awesome is that?!

I didn’t know what she was talking about then I looked down and went :O :D, basically. Whovians ftw! It’s nice to find someone who loves your fandom as much as you do, especially in Singapore where Doctor Who isn’t very popular.

And because Kieron is British, he got my costume too, which led to the most amusing dedication when he signed my book!

That's his trademark photo!face. Photo courtesy SeriouslySarah.com

The awesome message makes up for my name being spelled wrong

In the main hall, there was a Tamiya area where there was a racetrack for a competition and a veritable Tamiya rainbow!

The Tamiya competition track, which is the longest and most complicated I've ever seen

It's a rainbow of Tamiya!

We found a random custom photo stamp machine thingy, too!

Happy accidental find!

And, of course, there is always the graffiti wall, which never fails to impress.

Artists at the wall

The semi-anonymous contributions range from the insane to the incredibly talented

I had a great time at Day 1, because the panels were pretty good. Look out for a recap of Day 2, coming later this week!

The annual Singapore Toy, Games and Comic Convention is this weekend, so guess where I’ll be. :D

I’m cosplaying for both days, so come say hello if you see the TARDIS on Day 1 and Dr Mario on Day 2!

For news of the upcoming convention, take a look at Red Dot Diva (one [...]]]>

The annual Singapore Toy, Games and Comic Convention is this weekend, so guess where I’ll be. :D

I’m cosplaying for both days, so come say hello if you see the TARDIS on Day 1 and Dr Mario on Day 2!

For news of the upcoming convention, take a look at Red Dot Diva (one of STGCC’s supporting blogs this year) and Here Be Geeks for some great pre-con coverage. EDIT: I was just informed that HBG is also a supporting blog. Sorry for the mistake!

So! I spent a weekend at the Singapore Toy, Games and Comic Convention aka STGCC for short. You may recall that I was there in 2008 and 2009 too. It was again at Suntec, taking up two halls.

This year I was able to make it for both Saturday and Sunday (it ran Friday [...]]]>

So! I spent a weekend at the Singapore Toy, Games and Comic Convention aka STGCC for short. You may recall that I was there in 2008 and 2009 too. It was again at Suntec, taking up two halls.

This year I was able to make it for both Saturday and Sunday (it ran Friday to Sunday). This year it was a new organiser and so there was a big ticketing booboo, but by convention weekend things were looking nice an’ peachy. The US arm of the new organiser Reed Exhibitions organise the wildly successful New York Comic Con, and their lobang really showed. This year’s guests blew the previous years’ out of the water: Gail Simone, whom I met in 2007 at the Singapore Writers Festival; Leinil Yu; Matt Fraction; Harvey Tolibao; the Tokidoki designers; Esad Ribic; Ivan Brandon; Giuseppe Camuncoli and so many more. So much awesome.

I cosplayed both days with various members of the Adventure Crew and Miss Hallelujah. I got so many autographs and spent so much money on gachapon it’s not funny (I do not have a gachagacha problem!). Basically I had a ridiculous amount of fun, even though I missed most of the panels ):

This is just day 1, Saturday. Many, many photos under the jump!

Mario's back! Now with Wario, which was a neat find

I don’t know Wario personally, but I had seen him before – on Halloween. I was on a bus outside Plaza Singapura, and I saw a Wario buying ice cream from a pushcart. That was all kinds of surreal after I confirmed it was the same person. You have to admit, that ‘stasche is amazing.

She needed 500 surveys to get out of the box!

I met up with Joelyn Alexandra first, and we walked around the hall a bit. Apologies to everyone who was with me as Mario, because I kept getting stopped for photos. But I got free stuff :D We met up with Sarah and Avariel, then wandered the hall a bit before making our way to the Walk of Fame.

This year’s Walk of Fame was really good, because there was a lot of space for fans to queue up in. It was also tucked away in an area where the queues wouldn’t block the flow of human traffic or the shopping area, unlike last year where there just wasn’t enough space to line up.

Trying not to geek out as CB Cebulski signs my poster

We missed the panels because our timing was all over the place, but that’s okay. We had fun! More friends (namely Mintea and Miss Hallelujah) came later and then Sarah went to change into her awesome costume.

This is Sarah. Seriously. Who knew Starro celebrate Christmas too?

Easily one of the most awesome (and bizarre) photos I've ever taken

Joelyn as a deconstructed Mia Fey objecting to an incomplete Miles Edgeworth (thanks for letting us borrow your sign even though you weren't done dressing, Miles!)

As we came back from lunch, on the 3rd floor foyer area, we stopped for photos – mostly of other people taking us. The photography area was mostly centered on the 3rd floor this year because you have to pay to go into STGCC now. I’ve heard people complaining it’s expensive compared to AFA at $15 a day or $25 for 3 days, but it went a long way to helping with the overcrowding of the previous years.

As I was being mobbed photographed, suddenly my friends were saying “RAVEN RAVEN ASSASSIN” and I was like “WHAT WHERE I CAN’T SEE” and eventually I managed to meet him.

HELLO EZIO :D As a huge Assassin’s Creed fan, it was insanely cool to meet Ezio. It took him 6 months to do the incredible detail on everything, so if you’re reading this, Ezio – PROPS TO YOU!

EZIO OMG

And we met up with Miss Hallelujah as Quorra from Tron: Legacy, who was very sparkly

And as usual, the 501st Legion was there to raise money for charity! You could donate a certain amount to get a photo with the Stormtroopers, and if you donated a bit more you could get the photo printed out. I got the photo on my camera cos I’m cool like that :D

Saving Princess Peach would have gone a lot faster with that blaster

Also, remember I mentioned that this was the first time Marvel was exhibiting in Asia? That was really cool because their folks were also doing signings at their booth, but the booth was really small actually. And on Sunday, when the major US stars weren’t at the con, it was basically deserted. Good try, Marvel, but you could do so much better.

I love that all the stars came down though. I met Gail Simone and geeked out, got to meet so many famous people in person and/or from a distance, so it was pretty incredible.

Marvel's booth

We met up with various friends and all, making for a lovely girl power photo…

Starro, Quorra, steampunk captain, deconstructed Mia Fey, Mario, steampunky wench, Dare from Halo: ODST

And as I was leaving after a long, tiring but incredible day at the con, I stopped briefly at the 3rd floor to take photos of these two ladies.

Models to promote Tron: Legacy, possibly being Jem and Quorra (but not really?) - note how glowy they are in camera flash

They were definitely models because their costumes were too professional, in a way. It’s hard to explain, but their entire demeanour was definitely of someone who’d been hired to be there. Also, I saw people holding official Tron: Legacy postcards, presumably given away a bit earlier. They were also at ZoukOut later that night, so definitely actresses. Their costumes weren’t that accurate if they were trying to be Jem and Quorra, but wow they were glowy if you took photos with a flash.

I’d intended to be there only for a while before heading for a dinner appointment, but it took a while because of the way cosplay photography works.

Basically, someone will ask you to stop for a photo. Which is fine, because that’s part of the territory. But suddenly, instead of the friend who’s helping the person take a photo, ten other people will suddenly appear in front of you. Which is kind of hilarious on hindsight, but it’s a bit disorienting (from the flash) and intimidating (because woah, where did all of you come from?).

It’s really fun, though. :D And it gave me the chance to bump into Ezio again, and get this great photo.

Assassino!

I was told the next day that he had a hidden blade, but I didn’t know so argh, argh. I missed the chance to see it ;_;

But yes. This year’s STGCC was way better than before; though we had to pay to get in, that $20+ was so worth it. The con this year was better organised, better laid out, with great guests and no crowd control problems that the past two years had suffered from.

Sure there was a bit snafu in the lead-up to the con, but I’m willing to forgive because this is Reed Singapore’s first time organising STGCC. All things considered, I think they did a great job, and I hope they go from strength to strength.

Mario approves.

This is where I’ll be this weekend!

If you’re going, say hello to Mario (on Saturday) and a random Pokemon Scientist on Sunday! :D :D

For ticketing and guest info, go to the Singapore Toy, Games and Comic Con website. I’ll see you there! :D

This year they doubled the space, with wider aisles and [...]]]> I was there last year at STGCC, but last year it was known as STCC (Singapore Toy & Comic Con). It was a bit of a nightmare and I thought this year was going to be the same thing, but the organisers learnt their lesson!

This year they doubled the space, with wider aisles and better positioning of high-traffic areas so that the snaking queues wouldn’t jam up the whole hall.

It was special for me too, because I cosplayed for the first time!

I arrived early because I thought it was going to be crazy crowded, but it wasn’t! The crowd at 9.35am was positively microscopic compared to last year’s, where it stretched across two floors.

Of course, this was probably because the doors opened at 11am – it was only about an hour before that, that the place really started to fill up.

Entry was free, so there were two lines: one for buying the event guide, and one for entry. The first 100 people to buy the event guide for SGD 4 got some freebies, which is always nice. There wasn’t any pre-registration, which was the main cause of last year’s issues.

I was in the first 15 people or so, but I was kinda peeved that people were buying five (!) guides at a time to get the freebies. Hello, people! What about the poor schlubs waiting at the back?

Anyway. I got my guide (I only bought one, so don’t yell at me!) just before 11am, so I headed to the back of the second queue. My semi-famous friend Seriously Sarah had just arrived, so I joined her in line. Then the doors opened, and hello gorgeous!

Nintendo retain their prime spot at the very front of the hall, so the first thing we saw was Wii demos! They hadn’t really started yet though, but that was fine.

Sarah and I went about; she’d been there the day before so she was a lot more familiar with the place than I was. Neither of us had suited up yet, being supahsikrit and all, and we managed to get some freebies (:

We got to see the 501st Legion opening up the day on stage!

501st Legion, Singapore Garrison - can you see Vader?

There was the Imperial March as they did a short loop of the hall, and then they had a short talk about what the 501st Legion does and why you should join Lord Vader and the dark side the Legion. They’re basically a community service organisation with a heavy Star Wars theme, and some of the awesomest cosplayers I’ve ever seen.

And then I met my friend Hafiz, who popped by for a bit before an event of his own, and then we made the poor boy wait while we suited up XD

The result:

Sarah as Harlequin (DC) and me as Mario (Nintendo)!

That was awesome fun. That’s a 1-Up mushroom I’m carrying, btw – it gives Mario an extra life in the games.

Quick mushroom primer!

Red (Super Mario) – makes little Mario grow into big Mario aka Super Mario!

Green (1-Up) – gives you an extra life!

Yellow (Mega Mushroom) – makes Mario into a giant Mega Mario who can crush everything – blocks, pipes, enemies, platforms, anything – for a limited time. Only in New Super Mario Bros, I think.

/quick mushroom primer

And we walked around a bit before splitting up – Sarah to join the folks at Movie Mania, and me with Hafiz to try out the Wiis! He didn’t really get the hang of it, but that’s normal for when you first try the Wii.

Hafiz tries out Virtua Tennis 2009 on the Wii

I got to try archery Wii Sports Resort, and I must say that MotionPlus is pretty cool. Looking forward to seeing more games that make use of MotionPlus.

Wii Sports Resort demo booth - there are other Wii and DS titles to try too

And then we camwhored a bit, because it was too fun not to.

A rare camwhore moment

And then the real Mario & Luigi mascots showed up! That was pretty awesome – whenever they came out, everybody wanted to take photos of them.

Mario, Luigi and Mario

They were demoing Guitar Hero on stage, so that was pretty cool to watch – especially since one of them was a classmate.

Guitar Hero: Legends of Rock

We went to the stage to watch the noon-time show put on by the folks of Movie Mania – Snake Eyes vs Storm Shadow from GI Joe! But we did get some pictures of the Movie Mania folks, whose costumes always amaze.

Storm Shadow, Darth Maul unmasked, Snake Eyes, Qui-Gon Jin (I think)

Storm Shadow, random army man, Reno of Movie Mania, random army man #2, Snake Eyes

And, perhaps my favorite picture that I took:

Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow

And then we met up with Nerwen but Hafiz had to go for a talk of his own. We wandered around a bit before going to stage at 12pm to watch a little show by the MM folks.

That was pretty damn cool. It started out with Storm Shadow chasing a poor lady, and Snake Eyes coming to her rescue. After a pretty awesome stunt fight, Storm Shadow won – but the lady called in reinforcements: Chicken Little Jedi!

Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow duke it out

That was really kind of weird, and after that I couldn’t see anything because (like Mario) I was too short. I do know that Chicken Little Jedi won in the end, probably through sheer weirdness.

We went to the G&B Comics booth to get the giveaways and buy some comics, but we got split up. We eventually found each other at the queue for Brian Bolland’s autograph. We joined it quite early, but I do know it eventually stretched so far that I couldn’t see the end of it.

And because Mr Bolland is famous for illustrating the Batman classic The Killing Joke, it was only fitting that a certain someone show up in-character…

The Joker, comics version

I didn’t get to see him after that, but I was told that the same cosplayer eventually changed into the version seen in The Dark Knight. (EDIT: It was a different person as The Dark Knight‘s version.) I did see a flash of purple coat and green hair though.

It was a pretty long wait, so when he came everyone was quite eager for autographs.

Mr Bolland prepares to sign a gazillion autographs

Poison Ivy and Harlequin walked past, so Mr Bolland took a picture of Mario, Ivy and Harlequin – that was pretty awesome, and probably one of my personal highlights of the day.

Poison Ivy and Harlequin

And after the signing, we were just in time to watch the Coscon on the competition! STGCC hosts the Coscon cosplay competition, so the announcer had the unenviable task of saying “Could the Coscon cosplay competition competitiors please gather” several times. Nerwen and I managed to get seats in front of the stage, so we watched the entire show.

Today’s theme was movies, which is basically all Western-based entertainment – the anime/Japanese category is tomorrow, which probably explains why it wasn’t so crowded today. The judges were Reno and another guy from Movie Mania (he had a camera), and there was a guest judge all the way from Gotham City  – Batman!

Batman sweeps onto the stage

The individual contestants were quite awesome, and the group ones were quite funny. There were three groups: a Star Trek contingent of Data, Neelix and a possibly Spock (I can’t remember) attempting to fight off a Borg called Seven of Eleven. They were assimilated in the end, though; resistance is futile, after all.

Another group was the two Jedi we’d seen above, except one was Darth Mual ‘unmasked’ aka without makeup. A lot of people weren’t impressed by that, but the resulting stunt fight was what won them the competition – that was a really serious fight, with falling off the stage and all that. Seriously cool, and everyone was pretty impressed after that.

But my favorite – and, arguably, the favorite of a lot of the guys – was Harlequin and Poison Ivy, because Ivy was hot and she flirted with Batman. That was pretty funny; she sat on the table and went “So, Batman, I think we can cancel the competition, hm?” and he was like “I’m not affected by your charms!”. And then she got miffed and threw her rose at him. Harlequin had her awesome rubber chicken that was really funny whenever it squawked.

Later, when the groups came back on-stage for the final judging, Batman offered her the rose but she very deliberately snubbed him. That was hilarious.

We didn’t stay to vote for the invidividual contestants, because by then it was past 4pm and we hadn’t had lunch yet. I was starving; I’d scarfed down something at 9am, so I was pretty much running on empty.

We ended up at McDonald’s, after much delay because everyone wanted photos with me/Mario ): I’m sorry, Nerwen!

As we left the con, we saw this:

Two Rorsachs chatting

I believe the wooden sign was the ‘The End is Nigh’ one, too.

When we got back to the con, it was 5.15pm and Hafiz was back, between appointments again. We did some shopping, and then Nerwen went home while I went to meet my parents for dinner. (I ate two meals in less than an hour. Guh.)

My parents wanted to see how the con was compared to last year’s, so I brought them back. I wanted to watch the scheduled Nintendo Showcase at 8pm, so before that I wandered around a bit to do a bit of shopping.

While I was at the capsule stations, wasting money contemplating the Mario-themed ones, I was approached by my Guitar Hero-playing classmate! L asked if she could do a short video interview with me for Nintendo HQ in Japan, since I was dressed up as Mario and all. She asked me a few questions and her videographer filmed it. Mostly it was about whether I thought MotionPlus was a good addition.

Then I went back to join my parents, but it turned out that the showcase was cancelled. I was disappointed, but things happen, I guess.

When we were leaving, Mario and Luigi were outside, so I managed to grab another picture with them – that was pretty cool.

So that was it! I won’t be going for tomorrow, but do check out the STGCC at Suntec Ciy, halls 401 and 402. It’s awesome fun and there’s lots of stuff to be had!

And there's always the swag.

EDIT: Now with video! This is the Snake Eyes vs Storm Shadow vs Chicken Little fight at noon, courtesy of Team SEJA.

FCBD is an annual event, held the first Saturday in May – today, in other words. G&B gave out free comic books, specially printed for this event, at [...]]]> It was Free Comic Book Day today! G&B Comics was one of the hundreds, if not thousands, of comics retailers who take part in the annual event.

FCBD is an annual event, held the first Saturday in May – today, in other words. G&B gave out free comic books, specially printed for this event, at their new shop at Rochor Centre! They’re not open at the new location yet, but they’ll be moving in June, so it was a way to introduce the new shop to their costumers.

So anyway, off it was to the new place to see the shop and to get free comics! Click through after the picture for more!

The new place is at Rochor Centre, which I’d never been to before – so it took some searching. I thought I was lost until I looked up…

And I knew I’d found it. It took a bit more searching to find stairs or a lift, since it’s on the second floor, but I found it. Their signboard isn’t ready yet, so in place of that they had a giant banner and lots of signs.

The new shop is fabulous. It’s much bigger than the old one, and they even have a little climate-controlled room for statues, busts and figurines. The picture only shows about 3/4 of the mini-room, because it was quite crowded so I couldn’t really get a wider view without walking into someone.

On the other side of the shop are the shelves for the trade paperbacks. They were having a sale, so it was quite popular!

Unfortunately, it was all Marvel, which isn’t my thing. But I did manage to get a book. There’s a half-wall separating the two halves of the shop; on one side is the rack for presumably the new release, while the other has pictures of the staff at various events and a big picture signed by the members who attended their Christmas party.

Then at the back was the little counter they’d set up for FCBD. They’re not totally set up, since they’re moving, so there was plenty of empty wall space.

Near the front of the shop is this really cool Marvel figurine tower. All sorts of Marvel characters were stacked up on a tiered stand, and you could literally spend an hour identifying each one (that’s Spiderman at the top):

Further inside the shop was the unfinished DC one:

There are quite a few other display cases. This one was in a corner, and held all sorts of DC action figures. Can you spot the Soviet Superman?

At the back of the store are some unhung posters, but they already had a GL one:

I also spotted a Zatanna one rolled-up in the corner. Members got an extra gift if they wore their member tee, which turned out to be the FCBD mini-mate!

All in all, it was a great introduction to the new shop. The various conversations I overheard were fascinating; in one corner, random strangers are talking about the demise of scans_daily, while in the other someone is explaining Final Crisis to another person.

Looking forward to the next FCBD!