The first day was to be honest an unexpected uncontrollable headache. The university apparently decided to have an open day on the very same time and the actual venue for GACC was pushed to the nearby classrooms which was hot, small, cramped and ridiculously hot. Did I mention hot? Cause it was like HOT! The air-conditioning was futile with the large amounts of visitors packed into the small makeshift venue. The MC’s both veterans of the ACG community were however there to lighten up the mood and try to create a fun atmosphere.

Then came the usual mix of activities that one would have expect from a large ACG event such as stage performances, competition and tournaments. The second day was a relief as the GACC committee was finally allowed to use the Examhall and to the relief of the visitors as well as it was fully air-conditioned. Cosplayers and the number of visitors were well below the amount seen in previous years. I guess maybe it was just at the wrong timing and the long distance from Kuala Lumpur. In any case, it was still a memorable event with friends meeting up and enjoying themselves with the ongoing activities in and out of the hall.

Yes, I know this isn’t much of a review but I was busy manning the the Anime Depot and the Emina booth. Besides I was too damn tired anyways. My head was spinning the entire weekend I was there. Too bad for me I guess. Be cause of that I really wasn’t able to take much pictures that I would like too. Now that was dissappointing to say the least.

In other news, I’ve finally made a proper watermark for all my future picture uploads. Looks way better than the previous one. As I’ve mentioned previously, I did not have much of a chance to take pictures of cosplayers and the like during my time at GACC but take a look at some of those that I did. Did some experimental photoshop. Kinda like how it turned out. As usual, comments and constructive criticism is very much appreciated.

[View with PicLens]

Sony A350 with kit lens. I so need to get myself a flash unit for the camera…sigh.

Tsubasa Resevoir Chronicle Photoshoot.

Location: Taman Tasik Perdana(Lake Gardens)
Date: 27th November 2009
Time: Late morning/early afternoon
Cosplayers/models: Arisa, WednesdayRaven
Photographers: Clow, KCLee
Random help: Ping, Chris(the other one), Linkinstreet
Costume: Arisa

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Mini Kuroshitsuji Photoshoot.

Location: Fullhouse, Synway Pyramid branch
Date: 20th December 2009 (end of CF’09 Day 2)

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Vocaloid Photoshoot.

Location: Multimedia University, Cyberjaya.
Date: 25th October 2009.

Cosplayers
Rayray as Nigaito
Cutiepie305 as Ainone Kana
Mint as Ainone Kai
Angie00 as Hatsune Miku(Project Diva ver.)
Kazuikori as Yowane Haku
akiko wolf as Hatsune Miku(Black Rock Shooter ver.)
Chikoness as Toeto Luka
DeidaraGS as MechaKaito

Helper:
Beatbox
Zend
Exo

[View with PicLens]

Full review after the jump.

A(sa)-side

I took the liberty to sneak in at the end of the day event since I had no intention to pay for another ACG event not to mentioned it wasn’t worth going in after reaching at 4.30 in the bloody hot afternoon. From what I can tell and also from listening to opinions of quite a number of con goers all I can say is that it was done better than last year but not to the extend of it being completely different. It had a problem what one con goer said as ‘the Daicon syndrome’ in which the seating in front of the stage was hardly occupied when the competition was going on.

For me, I feel the arrangement of the booths and such can be arranged much better. Even though the day event was somewhat over I had to maneuver myself from one point to another between masses of tables and chairs. As usual, The Figure Mall who was present had the largest booth at the event displaying their numerous figurines. Other than the standard ACG stuff like Doujin Booths and Figurines they also had a section for cosplay photography which I greatly approve of and also a Cosplay Cafe. Although I have to admit that the cosplay photography corner was a great idea the theme, props and backdrop for certain cosplayers is just out of place. No comments for the cosplay cafe since it was already closed by the time I was there. From what I’ve heard it was so-so.

The bands who performed like Zeolite were a great addition to liven up the mood and is definitely a plus point. The air-conditioning to me was good but I can’t say the same for the sound system though. Didn’t take any pictures from the inside. Was too tired and lazy to.

B(an)-side

The night event. Oh, the night event. This was my only intention of initially showing up for TAF. With the TAF PR guy promising a spectacular event I just had to give it the benefit of the doubt. It was actually quite fun. The whole mini bon odori dance around the stage, band performances, and a stall with authentic Japanese food for sale was top points for me. Sadly, the lack of omatsuri games, stalls, and bad sound system was a minus.

HOWEVER, (yes, its in caps on purpose) for visitors to buy a RM20 coupon to purchase food and stuff from the stalls is just too much and I mean in both a figurative and literal way. Not to mentioned that not informing visitors about the coupon price earlier really pissed me off as I did not bring enough for it. Its just too pricey.

The kimono wearing slot was interesting and the mini Bon Odori was really fun. Too bad there wasn’t enough people to complete the circle around the stage though.

Small goldfishes are small...

Conclusion

I do not know the name of this band. OTL

Pros: Band performance, mini bon odori, good air conditioning, some Japanese food albeit limited, good sound system at night.

Cons: walking 3 floors up to the hall, messy hall arrangement, lack of stalls and games at night, wtf expensive coupons, NO MORE DANGOS!!!, not really good sound system in the hall, lack of signage to toilet.

Overall, other than the usual ACG convention problems it was done rather well with both ups and downs although with major improvements from last year. Hopefully, next year would be much much better.

Me and ma girls yo!!! XD

Location: Presint 1, Putrajaya
Cosplayers:
L: Dreamer
N: Aki
Kira: Lucifre
Misa Misa: Arisa

Photographers:
Aoshi88
Clow

Additional help:
Chris(not this writer but another Chris)
Sean Eu

Type of shoot: Outdoors
Weather condition: Rainy, cloudy, fucked up

[View with PicLens]

A cute bunny welcomes visitors to GACC

Review after the jump.

This year’s Games, Anime, and Comics Circle was honestly smaller than usual. The crowd was smaller partly due to the H1N1 scare but then there were various reasons as well in which you will see later. The setup was a mess due to the last minute screw up of MMU’s mismanagement forcing the committees to only prepare the hall on the day itself because of an exam from 8am-10am. The doors were finally opened at 12pm. For the first time in 2 years there was NO seiyu appearence. Shocking, Isn’t it? Well, for me it felt much calmer and relaxed compared to when there was seiyu’s appearing though. This brings back the core purpose of what GACC was first meant to be when I was involved in 2006 which was to have fun and fun it was with Zend and Krauser literally gave a killing performance as MC for the event. The crowd was entertained and that was another plus point.

Honestly, I will have to admit that the highlight of this years GACC wasn’t the event itself but in the cosplayers that attended the event. Cosplayers were an abundance at this years GACC and the quality of their costumes really showed what the local cosplayers could do when they put their mind and energy at it. The Code Geass anime cosplay group was hueg huge literally dominating the entire day 1. I heard that the group was supposed to be bigger but due to various epidemic reasons that prevented the entire cast from forming. (Writer goes into OTL mode right here…)

The cosplay competition was well done with a spice of craziness. The first day’s group cosplay competition was started off with one of the best cosplay sketch I’ve seen to date. Kudos to the Code Geass group for a job well done. The second day of competition was ramped up a notch with the MC’s personally handling the competition with random sketches, trials and laughter to test the cosplayer’s ability to improvise and creativeness.

Photography taken within the exam hall was a breeze. Literally. With good lighting there wasn’t a need for this writer to use his non-affortable non-existant imaginary flash unit to take picutres. The air-conditioning was trying its best to accommodate the visitors but there are times where it just wasn’t powerful enough. This particular problem has nothing got to do with the committees. MMU should just really get their systems upgraded. There were complains about a lack of dustbins a.k.a rubbish disposal facilities which were again part of a normal mysterious unsolvable problem for almost all ACG events that I have been to. Its a conspiracy by the mysterious underground secret organization the Global Trash United I tell you.

The Dragonball group’s presence was clearly felt on Day 2 while Vocaloid turnout was especially high for both days. Now with that done I’m gonna start the “lets be totally frank” part of the review. The chibi omatsuri promised was so small it was an utter disappointment. People left immediately just after arriving.  There was no food vendors for which starving visitors were clearly irritated about. The middle eastern food place near the exit was a killer since it killed many wallets with its exorbitant pricing. There was only some ice drink thingy at the entrance of the hall together with EMiNA Cyber selling some awesome delicious Edo and Dai approved food for cosplay champions uber puddings which I help sell for both days. The lack of basic plain drinking water was solved by the latter on Day 2.

Some administration matters such as registration and stuff were clearly a mess. There were no announcement of the cancellation of the Taiko Drum arcade machine and the tags for the competitions were apparently missing for some unknown reason. Certain rules such as ‘no taking pictures in front of the doujin booth’ were not enforced by the security team. The extension hall was empty and under utilised. The figurine displays were in a lack of a better word ’sad’. With only a small amount of figurines on display(although of very good quality) and the terrible lighting of the extension hall it would be better if it was placed in the main hall instead. At least it wouldn’t look so empty.

Overall, with the amount of last minute changes and problems it was done quite well looking at the circumstances. The cohesiveness of the working committees working together and having fun a the same time was truly something that I had envisioned long ago and thus very jealous at. There is still room for improvement seeing how most of the original members of GACC have already graduated *glares at a certain Edo*. I’m truly glad that I was able to attend this years GACC. It was more cheerful and relaxed for me. Although there were certain crap along the way it was certainly worth my time. I’m looking forward to next year’s GACC. but I do hope they would work harder in having it in March again.

As usual, I always get some spoils of war from GACC and this GACC is no exception. So here’s the complementary pic of what I call as a technology demonstrator. My metamo Haruhi. The bunny costume changes colour according to room temperature. Too bad we do not get below 16 degrees celcius though. I had to put it in the fridge to see it change to black then imagine your mom start asking questions when she opens the freezer to find a figurine in it. Hilarity follows. XD

Warning: Heavy image loading after the jump.

I like this shot a lot. Just need to put in the Daft Punk logo on the ladder and you’ll have a perfect album insert picture.

Both Aoshi and I accidentally found out about the reflection on the curved mirror and about time too cause after looking back at a few shots taken before that we could clearly see ourselves in it. Lols. But we took the advantage of this and made some reflection shots.

Cropped version so you can see the detail in the reflection closer or you can click on the image to view it in higher resolution.

This is another shot that just screams of ‘album insert’ and photoshop. Too bad i’m still a photoshop noob.

As you can see its mostly about messing with the boke(h) effect and the depth of feel. Thanks to DeidaraGS and Sean Eu for their awesome cosplay getup, Silencers for his lens and flash unit(hardly used it since it was so freaking bright) and Aoshi for inviting me for this. I had fun taking pictures and hanging out with these guys. Maybe if I wasn’t so sleepy I would have talked more. Oh well, till next time!!!

Hint: Take a look at our sponsors and ask yourself why do we need certain ’sponsors’ for?

Hint 2: Well, its not really a hint but its not really announced yet so I guess it can be a hint. Anyways, it has been confirm that there will be an open application for doujin booths and its gonna be on a first come first serve basis. Actual details will be release later.

‘Something BIG is coming but are you ready for it?’

P/s: “this year” = year 2008 and not 2009. Remember, I cannot read the future nor take pictures of things that may come. XD

Comic Fiesta this year was held at the Sunway Pyramid Convention Center which was a massive venue if you compared it to the last one held at Time Square in 2007. This year I volunteered as one of Comic Fiesta’s photographer and damn it was fun. The Comic Fiesta committee this time around manage to get all 3 halls of the convention center which in all sense cost a bomb and it includes multiple arms, legs, and first born too i guess.The ticket price however was higher than last year with a 50% increase from RM10 to RM15 but I understand it is to cover up the cost lah.

There was about 80 doujin booths opened this time, 20 more than last year. The sponsor booth were many but some smaller sponsors were hidden away in the sides making it difficult to spot them. However it can be seen that the biggest sponsor was HP which obviously had the biggest booth there.

The quality of cosplayers this time was superb. Influence by Singaporean cosplayers? Well, it doesn’t really matter as this time there were many Singaporeans who came up to participate in this event. That goes to show how big this event had become after so many years. I was not there for most of day 2 of the event so I couldn’t see how the cosplay competition proceeded but I heard that the ‘cosplay battle chess’ method was removed entirely to the relieve of both cosplayers and visitors alike.

Due to legality I cannot post most of my event pictures up yet so you’ll have to be satisfy with some cosplay pictures instead. Look out for the last picture in the end. Its my best picture of the year and my favorite in more ways than one.

Pon Pon Patapon!!!

Miyavihoney and her lil’ sis. I do hope that she is not scared for life now…

My boss. Mintos-chan.

This is what you call an ‘opportunist’ in business.

This girls are from Singapore. Welcome to Malaysia!

Sieg HEIL!!!

Akiko = Seras

Miyavihoney is fast despite of her size.

Anna please don’t shoot me!!!

ElderG is ZETSUBOU DESHITA!!!!!

One thing that I’m really proud of is these pictures I took on day 1. The cloudy sky made some pretty good effects for me and Aoshi88. It might not be as good as a professionals but hey if its good for me then its good enough. Special thanks to Akiko for modeling for us.

It really was unfortunate that I could not stay for the entire day for day 2 at Comic Fiesta. It was and could be an even awesome time too if not for work. See you next year(in 2009 lah).

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?)

Just kidding.

The cosplay contest on day 2 is a joke. Really, it is. 8 cosplayers. Eight. I have more fingers than that. Even the recent Animax cosplay competition had 10 at least. I know. I was one of the judges. There was purely a lack of promotion and advertisement cause even I did not know about it until last minute when Akiko reminded me. Still to be more accurate in what was wrong:

1. Lack of promotion.
2. Stupid stage location (it was place in a corner…very stupid thing to do) and it was too small.
3. Too focused on online games.
4. Making use of cosplayers to pull in the crowd (I know…).
5. No proper security (an incident happened to one of the cosplayer and I got screwed because of it. Fuck you ACGC committee for not having a brain to have security at one of the most highest traffic locations in the hall! Dumbass!).
6. Small venue (for a corporate sponsored event you might think that they could afford a bigger venue).

I might be a tad little too cruel on my judgement but then again I hate sucky corporate sponsored events. A small consolation though is that the cosplayer who cosplayed for both days were really good in making their costumes. I have seen many throughout the years and I’m really impressed. I’m looking forward to what cosplayers will bring to Comic Fiesta 2008 later this year.

Here is some pics I took. I’m still new in using an SLR (thanks to Man of Honour for the camera) and I did not have a flash unit and the venue’s lighting was not that good. I’ll upload some of the better pics to my photobucket account later when I have more time.

Mintos-dono!!! Please do not overwork me during CF2008!!! >_<”

Akiko-chan~~~!!!!! Kya~~~!!!!!

I’ll upload my other pics into my photobucket account. Its not easy resizing 200+ pics so it’ll take me some time. In the meantime, you can enjoy a picture of me doing the ‘KIRA~~’ pose compliments of Aoshi88.

Kira~~!!!

And yes, I’ll most probably be doing the Kira pose again during CF this year…if Aoshi reminds me lah. hehe.

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