Aching body, headache, sleepy and dazed. That’s what I felt when I woke up that morning. I was supposed to join Silencers and a few others to queue up at the Suntec Convention Center to get the tickets but I decided to take it easy a bit and just take my time. After a light breakfast of ‘Wan Tan Noodles’ at the Albert Center Food Court next to Bugis MRT we took a bus to Suntec after meeting up with Silencers and gang. On the way he mention that the event is held at Hall 404 Error. I was afraid that we would not be able to find it but it was easy enough to find. But as we came up the escalator we saw this…
Oh…
my…
GAWD!!!!!!
There’s even a queue on the OTHER side.
When we finally got our 2 day tickets and went in the fitst thing that greeted us was…
a 1/10 scale Exia!!!
There were variuos displays the Gunpla Bakuc competition corner, the exhibitors showcase row, and even works by various local mangakas. There were so many booths selling stuff from card holders to PVC models at such great prices I had to stop myself short of using all my cash on it. Even Chuang Yi Comics, a local manga distrubutor also had a booth there too bad they had nothing that I wanted though when I was there. I heard that they had a bigger selection but it was mostly in chinese unfortunately.
The gunpla works submitted for the competition was good. So good in fact I had an itch to suddenly go assemble one. I wanted to get a VF-25F Ozma Lee Custom but due to a lack of funds I had to resist the temptation of getting one. Damn…
I did not attend the Goda Gundam designer Kunio Okawara’s talk but I heard it was interesting and that he had some brilliant powerpoint presentation slides. If only I knew what my friend meant by that. Darn it, I knew I should have made my shopping till much later.
The various product displays by figurine companies like Alter, McFarlane, Figma, Goodsmile, Revoltech and even SquareEnix just to name a few was a real crowd puller. Visitors were snapping pictures faster than you can say “Kyah~~”.
I like the lighting reflection on the Ironman.
The details on the figures are simply in lack of a better word “mind-blasting!”.
Amazingly but not surprising Odex had open up shop there and looking at how it was going it seem that the locals do support Odex in one way or another(in buying anime related merchandises). I had assume that the booth would be ignored by anime fans due to the controversies involved with them but to my surprise it was pretty packed with people. They were selling Domo-kun related items, anime t-shirts and erm… bad subtitled font anime vcd/dvds. It would also seem that they had also licensed Toradora, Casshern Sins and Code Geass to be distributed in Singapore. I just hope the Japanese companies know what their doing.
Most of the cosplayers I’ve seen are some of the best that I’ve ever seen so far. High quality costume, a fine attention to detail plus a suitable personality to fit into the character really pulls it off. I’m pretty sure they are some Malaysians there cosplaying too but it goes to show that ACG has no boundaries.
When I first saw these guys I immediately went *clickety click*. I *heart* Macross.
A friend of mine has that very same banana.
Thats more or less day 1 for me. I skipped the Mizuki(Aniki) concert that evening because I was too tired. Day 1 was okay in my professional opinion but they could have done better in getting the crowd more excited by having more of a energetic MC’s and on the spot games instead. Until day 2 of the event, I now leave you with the best cosplayer of the day…Bakucman!!! (Isn’t he just awesome?)
This article was supposed to be on auto publish as I was away in Singapore for the event but however due to oversleeping I was not able to complete it on time and now had to resort to changing the damn thing entirely since I’m now back and what was written before is now irrelevant.
Anyways, the trip started out in a bad way. So bad it was predicted it might happen as a worst case scenario and it did happen. I overslept. My bus was leaving at 9.30am and I was suppose to wake up at 5am to pack my stuff, then pick Nikki who was going off with me at 7am and then get my sis to drop us off at the Bangsar where the bus was leaving from. Instead, I woke up at 8.15am had 15mins to bath, pack up, call Nikki to apologize profusely and ask her to grab a taxi there instead and then had 1 hour to get to the bus before it leaves by riding on my dad’s motorcycle due to the insane traffic condition. Suffice to say, I made it in time meeting Nikki at the bus who arrived 10 minutes before me. It was nerve breaking to the start of a tiring day.
We stayed at Fragrance Hostel. For SG$22 per night it was pretty good. Located near the city center it was quite convenient to move around.
After a 5-6 hour journey, grabbing a bite at MOS Burger, solving the puzzle on the Singapore’s EZLink card, getting lost on foot finding the hostel and waiting for the others to arrive we decided to visit the Cosplay Cafe located in Chjimes (on Akiko’s suggestion).
We only had drinks as it was quite pricey on our budget. Overall the place had a really relaxing atmosphere but unfortunately the cosplay theme was overrated as it was just a regular restaurant cum pub joint with waitresses wearing semi-maid-waitress type uniforms.
Chjimes on the other hand was simply superb. Being converted from church It was beautiful. With an al fresco dining style in the open serving many western and mediteranian cuisine it would be awesome if I could afford anything there but unfortunately I could only afford to take pictures. Next time I’ll definitely visit this place again to try the food out if I’m ever in Singapore again.
Seeing how it was such a nice nite and within walking distance of our hostel we then decided to walk back instead and drop by Burger King for a quick dinner. Looks like the roads are being readied for the Christmas with simply stunning decorations and lights along the roads.
I’ve never felt that walking was so much fun as in anywhere else. There was so many things to see and explore I just wished I could stay there for a few more days just to walk some more and coming from me its really shocking indeed cause if this is in KL I’ll be complaining already.
Interestingly, we saw the above image being projected on to the walls of their art gallery in conjunction with a Japan arts week or something. A gundam was also projected as well but due to rushing I was not able to get a good shot of it. Looks like anime-fever is already hitting town. Now its rest for the big day tomorrow.
With this post it is official that I am now 23 years old. I would like to thank those who had wished me well on this day and to those who had given me a present I would like to say that I love what you guys had given me and that I will make it to good use.
Once again….THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!!! XD
On another note, looks like I night not be doing the Kira~~pose with May’N during the upcoming AFA thanks to the Singaporean organizers planning to charge money for her autograph and for some weird concert ticket all rolled up in one VIP type ticket thingy. Its not surprising though since it IS organized by money grubbing Singaporeans she might get mobbed by the crowd. But at SG$118 a pop for the Diamond VIP Pass (limited to 80 people) and SG$68 for a normal VIP pass (limited to 300 people) it really stings my pocket.
The Diamond VIP pass will have a guarantee that you will get her autograph and shake hands with her during the meet and greet session, a 2 day pass to AFA, and also a front stage view of the concert. The latter is inclusive of a 2 day entrance to AFA, a better view of the concert and a chance to participate in a lucky draw where 20 lucky winners will get a chance to participate in the meet and greet session (like the Diamond VIP’s).
Although i somewhat understand the reason for this but I still cannot agree with what they had done. In fact if they wanna charge so much they should actually have more benefits to make it more worthwhile cause hey not all of use are Singaporeans.
Oh and any donations can be forwarded directly to me. Thx. m(TT_TT)m
Update:
I know its pretty late for an update on this but heck anything is possible nowadays.
Earlier this week I had dinner with a bunch of friends of mine to celebrate my (somewhat) recent birthday together with the birthdays of Khai Ling and Yin Yee. Happy Birthday girls!!! XD The dinner and cake was great guys and not to mention dangerously fun too. I’ll now know not to mix Wang Ying and cake together otherwise she’ll go hyper like that day. Hehehe. Not only was the dinner good they also bought me a slingbag! Yeah!!! Now I could finally scratch it off my wishlist. So…erm….how about the other stuff too guys?
I would like to give a special thank you to Anna Sagara, Ducirous, Pandon, my little bro(for the Shin Chan!), Winston, Wang Ying, May Yeng, Phui Yein, Yin Yee, Kirthi and Khai Ling for the presents. I love you guys!!! *sob sob sob*
Macross Plus has everything you’ll ever need in an anime. Love, suspense, action, drama, music plus maybe including a little bit of comedy (if you call exploding eyes funny that is). I won’t go into details on what it is about because since I do not like spoilers I’m sure most of you don’t too but it does however maintain the standard ‘Macross Requirements Points’ which consist mainly of:
1. Transformable mecha (preferably planes)
2. A love triangle
3. Epic final battle
4. A death of a main/supporting character
With each attributing to 25% each by the way. XD But other than having an interesting plot line, it has (maybe for me at least) something else that just makes it even more better which is an entire soundtrack by Yoko Kanno. Speaking of which not that I think about it, Macross Plus was one of the first fansubbed works that I’ve watch and also the first time I’ve heard anything Yoko Kanno too. The funky futuristic trance-like style really sets the stage for the plot. Not the mention that the mecha designs by Shoji Kawamori are simply amazing.
Anyway, this is really a great title to recommend to anyone if they’re looking for something to watch. In the meantime, this is some candy musical inspiration to wet your Macross appetites. Enjoy!
No no no. I’m not talking about ‘that’ sort of love. ‘Do You Remember Love?’ or ‘Ai Oboitemasuka’ is the theme song for the super-uber-infamous space opera Macross: Do You Remember Love? movie. Recently, thanks to Macross Frontier the song has been remade by my favorite composer Yoko Kanno and sung this time by the talented Nakajima Megumi.
When it was first sung by Iijima Mari I considered it to be one of my favorite songs ever. Its simple, straightforward, has a beautiful melody and it ended an interstellar war too. How epic can it get? Still, the current reworked version by Yoko Kanno still maintains its ‘epicness’ even though its about 20 years old giving it a more modern sound at the same time. Yes, I’m such a romantic person aren’t I? XD
Iijima Mari:
Nakajima Megumi:
So what’s your favorite version?
Due to the recent conclusion of Macross Frontier and the fact that May’N will be coming to AFA this month I hereby proclaim this month to me Macross Awareness Month. *works on special Macross project* >_<
