Performances
No STGCC is complete without their trademark center stage performances, including FightSaber SG trademark Light saber fight choreography. Rie Yunohara from Miyazaki, a member of the All Japan Idol National Team Japan was on stage too. You Yanase brought her harmonious “Wa” style of music in her maiden STGCC appearance right here. Tam (Tamusic) rocked the tunes on his solo violin performance which really took the crowd there by storm. Good thing the event has plenty of open spaces for participants to sit around and chill to the music without feeling too cramped for comfort.
Taking center stage too in the back areas is a life-sized 7m by 8.5m display of a battle between the Hulk vs Hulkbuster, offering pretty good photo opportunities. The sculpture is a behemoth re-enactment of the action fight scene from the last Avengers movie, it took half a day to set up for display and build from three months of labour by over 30 people. Through collaborations with Medicom Toy, Action City Singapore also released their Jiang Shi (Glow in the Dark Version) line-up of BE@RBRICK. The Jiang Shi is reminiscent of the classic Hong Kong Chinese vampire films of nineties featuring the likes of Mr Vampire (僵尸先生) and Encounters of the Spooky Kind (鬼打鬼). They are available in standard 1x scale size, 4x scale and the exclusive limited edition of 10x the standard RBRICK size.
Magic the gathering have a significant appearance at STGCC this year, the card game played by 20 million players and fans worldwide now spots a much larger booth and play area at STGCC now despite having a much smaller local market, offering face-to-face play events and social gatherings to promote the card game in its traditionally played form, complemented by its Magic Duels and Magic Online digital games.
Artist Alley
I particularly like the artist alley this year, with more emphasis and support for smaller artists. The alley spans over 4 spacious aisles this time with the inclusion of several new faces and goods of the trade. The works of artists displayed is of better quality as compared to the past STGCC, I got the opportunity to meet several new budding artists from around the region with rather unique art styles to boot of the liking over both digital and conventional traditional media. As usual, we have a number of Caricature artists doing live art on the spot, which always brings a certain nice flair to the artist alley.
Event highlights this year includes the inaugural STGCC Championships of Cosplay, Women in Comics panel featuring renowned My Little Pony artist, Agnes Garbowska and Tanpopo artist, Camilla d’Errico, and a silent auction of specially-designed SG50 collectibles by local artists for charity.
- Toy Creator: The Tool Kit, Featuring Huck Gee, Simone Legno and Jason Freeny
- Spotlight on Shigeto Koyama, Learn more about Shigeto Koyama and his route to becoming one of the most well-known designers in Japan today
- Cosplay @ STGCC: East meets West, Featuring Stella Chuu and Jacky (Tadaaki “Jacky” Dosai)
- Talking Comics, Featuring Adam Hughes, Adi Granov, Jim Cheung, C.B. Cebulski
- Spotlight on Mori Toshimichi, Learn more about Mori Toshimichi, game producer of GUILTY GEAR and BLAZBLUE
- Creators Talk Show with Sugita & Mori, Both creators, Tomokazu Sugita and Mori Toshimichi will share more about their recent collaborations
- Spotlight on Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, Learn more about the man behind character designs for hit manga and anime movies like Evangelion and The Girl Who Leapt Through Time
- Women in Comics in the 21st Century, Featuring Camilla d’Errico and Agnes Garbowska
Entry to the convention cost $19 for a one day pass and $28 for a two day pass, with free admission for children under five. It is a great for an afternoon day out if you are around the town area this weekend.
Rock on!
