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!

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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!

Oooo, an invite

I’d never been invited to any premieres before because I’m not really important enough, so I was thrilled to be noticed, ahaha.

So it was [...]]]> Last week I was quite surprised to receive an email from HBO Asia. It was an invitation to a special preview screening of Game of Thrones.

Oooo, an invite

I’d never been invited to any premieres before because I’m not really important enough, so I was thrilled to be noticed, ahaha.

So it was on Thursday night that I was at ION Orchard with Joelyn, in an elevator racing up to ION Sky on the 55th/56th storey.

ION Sky covers two levels, 55 and 56. There’s a restaurant up there, but we were headed to the viewing gallery section where the reception and screening were.

The view outside the windows was fantastic. You’re so high up, higher than any of the other buildings, and you can see clear into the distance. I’m fairly sure I could just see the ocean. I admit my camera doesn’t do the sight any justice.

A stunning view

There were tasty canapes for all, and the centerpiece of the reception was the Iron Throne that the good folks at HBO had brought in.

The Iron Throne ripe for the taking!

We got to sit on the Iron Throne, and the photographer would take a photo. I was pleasantly surprised when I was given a paperweight later, with my photo pressed in the middle. It’s a really nifty keepsake.

I have zero idea how to photograph it properly, so here’s the digital photo courtesy of HBO!

For about twenty seconds, I ruled Westeros

Afterwards we met up with Sarah, Mintea and the other folks who had gone to buka (break fast) with the HBO people elsewhere. By then it was about time for the screening, so we took our seats for the first episode of Game of Thrones.

‘Winter is Coming’, the first episode, was really good. There are a lot of characters and the most of them are introduced in the first episode, which can be confusing but the show does a really good job of keeping them distinctive and separate.

The episode hangs on a cliffhanger and the audience were “WHAT IS THIS, I NEED MORE” so yes, it’s really good.

Also, the editing is very clean. I watched some featurettes on the Internet before so I’ve seen some of the footage before, and I know they had to cut some of the nudity and violence out because of censorship concerns – not, I was told, necessarily for Singapore but for other more conservative markets. But the good news is that the editing is really clean, so you can’t tell it’s been cut unless you know where to look. Which is good! Because bad cutting is an insult to the viewer.

There was a swag bag too, so many thanks to HBO Asia for the really cool gifts.

Bookmarks, the shiny wristband, a House Targaeyen card, and a sword letter-opener

We got leather bookmarks, a booklet (not in the photo) of the various Houses in the show, a backpack (also not in picture) and — probably niftiest thing ever — a letter-opener in the shape of a sword, debossed with ‘HBO’ and ‘Game of Thrones’ on the blade. Very, very cool.

Unfortunately mine has a minor defect in the base so I can’t assemble and display it, but it comes in a lovely box so I can use that. Again, many thanks to HBO Asia for the invitation – I had a wonderful time. EDIT: Massive props to HBO Asia and Atiqah for sending me a replacement base!

So yes. Game of Thrones premieres with two episodes on HBO Asia on Sunday, 28 August at 10pm. For more info, head to @HBOAsia_GOT on Twitter, check out their Facebook page, or hit up the HBO Asia website.

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!

LGBT rights are a cause that is near and dear to [...]]]>
Tally-Ho is a semi-regular column of my adventures with the Adventure Crew (and sometimes other people). We figured that Singapore can’t be all that boring, and are determined to show other folks how fun Singapore can be… if you know where to look.

LGBT rights are a cause that is near and dear to my heart, so it was with great enthusiasm that I joined the thousands of others at the annual Pink Dot gathering in Hong Lim Park.

Pink Dot is a local grassroots movement that supports the freedom to love, whoever you may love. I particularly like its take on pride and LGBT issues, because I understand that the usual style of pride parades can come off as a bit “in your face”.

Here’s a trailer explaining the event:

The first Pink Dot happened in 2009 but this was my first year participating. It’s held at Hong Lim Park aka Speaker’s Corner, so there are permits and everything to make sure it’s all legal.

I understand there’s usually a picnic before the dot is former, but we only arrived at the end of the concert and there was no space – just look at how many people there were!

So many people, all in pink!

I wasn’t alone, of course: I had tons of friends, but it was so crowded we couldn’t find any of them! I managed to stay close to Avariel, Jolantru, Joelyn and Sarah.

Don't be sad, Pink Dot!

The whole idea is to address fear and ignorance, and to show support for diversity.

Avarielle, Joyce, Joelyn, Sarah and Octavius the octopus

We also bumped into a lot of people, which was great. I saw famous people just standing there in the crowd, which is always a bit of a thrill (even if they’re not famous outside of Singapore).

And then, it was time to form the dot. Even though there were thousands and thousands of people — I’m told somewhere in the region of 10,000 to 11,000 people — I didn’t feel at all unsafe or that there was a risk of an accident.

Standing there in the crowd, then singing “I Wanna Hold Your Hand” – it made me feel patriotic and proud, even more so than at other events. There’s something magical about all that people united in one cause and one belief: the freedom to love.

I have no doubt that the road for rights is going to be hard and long, and we may never achieve the ideal – but I think that Pink Dot proves perfectly that we’ve started down that road, and that’s something.

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