Well the first day of the Toys & Comics Con is over...and it sucked. I am going to be totally blunt and honest here - it sucked. Seriously. Did I say it sucked? Well, if I did not, then it sucked. Yes. It was that bad. Photo-intensive post. You have been forewarned. Click on them to enlarge. First of all the bunch of met up at the prearranged spot and the small group of us moved towards the con. When we arrived, there was, as expected, a hell of a long queue. We had to squeeze all the way in front of the zigzag queue (which stretched the whole length of the floor 1.5 times, I think it was at least 100-150 meters in length, the floor, probably more) just to ask where the queue for the pre-registered participants were. Then we were forced to follow the queue all the way to the back, and then move back up almost halfway before we found the end of the queue. Something like 30-40 minutes passed while in the queue, and ironically enough, the non-registered participants' queue moved faster than preregistered. Whatever happened to "just give your email and name and go"? In the end, some dude came out and said "No need to register! All just go!" Well done. So, Suntec management, did you get your balls screwed on right? Oh wait, you had none. Or was it the event organizers that failed big time? Seriously. Get your minds made up, and get some planning done before the event, not during. We surged into the con, though we were missing a few folks. The missing folks then joined up with us a short time later after getting their passports, which really were unnecessary by that time. The bunch of us then were Squee, Fariz and his brother Infestor51, Biggu Gai and his friend Kenny, and Dead Snake. The remainder of us who had not gotten our passports then went to get it for the heck of it. We then headed back to the con. Obviously the first (and quite possibly the second best) thing I spotted was this cute girl at the Nintendo Wii booth, and quite obviously, I asked for a picture of her. I suck at photography, so, sorry for the blur picture. Certainly, I did her injustice with this ultra fail shot. She still remained the only girl that was worthy of any attention there after I went through the entire con by the way. Strangely though, the lighting was good at the con, but I only got like, 30 workable pictures and some of them were forced issues. The pictures used in this post come from both my camera and Dead Snake's TCC set, thank him for the better pictures, he was using a Nikon dSLR. A shot from Dead Snake's set. I somehow missed this little nekomimi. She looks familiar, can anyone identify her? I did take two with the girl, but Gai was taking for me and my camera came out with blurred pictures, so I scrapped them. Also I took one with a Stormtrooper that walked by, it might have been Danny in disguise...but actually he was from the 501st Garrison (more below). The shot above is from Dead Snake. No idea why but mine was blur too. Whoever took the shots of me and the girl, and with the Stormtrooper, will be knee-struck. So after that we started walking around taking a few random shots. In order not to bore everyone here are a few of what I took. You can view the full album here if you like. Another trooper. No idea what it is called in the series. Gundam form of Guan Yu. This was at Ban Dai's booth. Some American toys. I think this was at Rapid Culture's booth. What it said. To Infinity and Beyond! While a few of us lined to go into the Star Wars booth, which had a walkthrough, I decided to wander around the entire con and snap pictures of what I thought was interesting and to see whether the con had anything else to offer aside from major fail. I was not disappointed. Toy-selling at 3 Kings...whatever that is. Lego! Domo-kun and friends. Predator prop for movie. Obviously fake, but still good. More pictures of other props at my album. I did meet up with the guys at Collateral Damage Studios, here are two pictures that were "saved". Great guys with great artwork, though I only saw one or two to my fancy that I wanted...and neither was on sale. The guys at CDS. Sorry I never got your names. Their table at their booth, with the catalogue in view. At the start I mentioned that the Wii girl was nearly the best thing at the con. What I deem to be the best thing, and I have no idea why I failed to ask if it could be bought, was this picture. Yes, this is also the first picture used at the start of this post, I took two slightly different shots. Dammit, now that I think back, why did I not ask if it could be bought? This image was just, wow. Lovely girl. Some more pictures from mine and DS' set. Also some of them are from the 501st Garrison, which did Star Wars cosplay at the event itself of the Stormtroopers (one was shown above), and a Darth Vader (whom I missed). Darth Vader. 501st Garrison booth. Stuff at the 501st Garrison booth. Not sure if they were being sold though. This was in their display case. Ultraman cosplay. No idea what the guy beside him is doing. Walked about an hour or less and ended back up at the Wii booth, no prizes as to guessing why. 2 girls that were asked, maybe even hired, by the Wii booth's boss (not shown, check my last picture in my album) to play. He did not just allow anyone to play at this particular one either, it was in the center surrounded by other Wii machines, one of which also had a GH3 game for sample play. Actually I stopped at the bigger Wii booth, they had like, two to three with different kinds of games. And of course, having played Guitar Heroes 2 (X360), I was naturally interested in what GH3 had to offer, and Wii does have that game. So I was there all the way, watching people play and waiting for CI and his friend, who both arrived around 1+. Gordon was also in the con around this time, but we never met up. When CI said he had no intention of leaving I then left with DS to Kallang Leisure Park to have lunch and collect my Yoko from La Tendo (finally). Slightly closer shot of the 2 girls playing GH3. I then headed to Bugis while DS went home. Unfortunately I did not manage to get snapshot of Zer0kage from DC.com, whom I met but did not manage to play with. Farp did a vinyl sticker for him of Blanc Neige hotness, for his X360 joystick, I so want one now. Never judge a book by its cover. This guy completed a bonus song (read: difficult) on Medium, which by itself was considered a feat compared to almost everyone who tried GH3. I did play many games in SC but I left with Zero and gang around 8. It was fun chatting with the folks again and playing, but it is time to stop going there for good for some time...since I am expecting to be spending a lot on figures this year. A young photographer in the making who bumped into me. Damn, but he was cute. I will be headed back to the con tomorrow but I still expect major fail. If anyone still is going, I am headed there with more members of Team Blue, but the meeting time has been pushed back to 1:30 PM since going early has no benefits anyway. Well if the image I mentioned above still exists, then I will get it...if possible. I do not give high hopes for any convention held locally though. Because management sucks. That is all...and local cons usually suck. I say usually, because there may still be gems of hope...who am I kidding? Guitar Hero (not), Panther
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