Bouquets
1) Largest STGCC ever. 3 days compared to the previous years' two days.
2) More than 10 comic book Walk of Famers, compared to just one each the previous two years.
3) Better crowd control + less crowded. Could be due to the paid admission, or lack of interest from toy or games exhibitors (see Brickbats below).
4) Other than the David Lloyd line, most visitors had ample time to meet and greet their comic book creators in the Walk of Fame. Schedules were adhered to closely compared to previous years' when they appeared at Walk of Fame seemingly on an adhoc basis.
5) Open concept Artist Alley. Less claustrophobic.
6) Kudos to Reed for the great organisation. While Play Imaginative started it all, they simply did not have the clout to bring in such an extensive guest list like this year. They were also open and responded very quickly to feedback. New media was utilised effectively with Facebook and Twitter updates, unlike the Singapore Writers' Festival in 2009.
7) Good to see some local comix being launched - notably Gone Case Vol.1 and Resident Tourist Vol.4. Oh, Stickgal makes an appearance too!
8) G&B exclusives. Nice tie-in to special guest David Lloyd. They must have moved lots of copies of Kickback and Absolute V for Vendetta.
9) Lovely chance to make new friends and catch up with old. The people waiting in line were a lot nicer compared to previous years' conventions. There's hope for fanboys and fangirls yet.
10) Return of Kalkitos! After a hiatus of more than 20 years?
11) Ample freebies at the door. G&B gets to clear their warehouse while I end up with some cool comics. Accummulated quite a few Gachapon capsule toys too!
12) Comics for sale... though not really for bargain-hunters.
Brickbats
1) Great event for comics fanboys but where's the love by the games and toy exhibitors? Only Asiasoft and Play Imaginative had any sort of major presence at this year's event. No Hasbro and no Lego. Perhaps, it shall simply be renamed as the Singapore Comic-Con in due time if it fails to bring in the big boys.
Some of the more significant toys
2) There were lots of opportunities to preview upcoming movies. Nada this year.
3) Suffered a little from too many events happening at the same time. I couldn't attend any of the panels I wanted to because they all clashed with the Walk of Fame appearances.
4) There didn't seem to be any benefits to early bird bookings, whereas those who pre-booked their tickets later received free action figures or better group discounts.
Let's just leave you with some parting shots of the cosplayers. I'm not really into the whole movement but they make the convention a lot more interesting.
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