Singapore Toy and Comic Convention Day 1

I was too balonglong this morning.

As a result, I missed the official opening of the convention and the Star Wars Imperial March by 501st Legion. When I reached the entrance at level 6, it was already teeming with people. The crowd inside was bigger than I expected.

I came to the convention hoping to see my line of toys, but sixth scale toys were not well represented. In fact, none of the manufacturers like Hot Toys, Dragon, Blue Box etc. are taking part in the convention. Only female dolls like Blythe, Pullip, J-Dolls and BJDs are represented. No Barbies, no Jenny, no Momoko!

I was surprised to see a BJD booth by Domuya. I gave the Doll Affair a miss last year, so this is my first time seeing BJDs up close.

The booth is small and packed. You have to make your way into the interior to get a shot, but it is not that hard to get in. A few of the BJDs:



Dolls with glasses are cool. The background doll in the first picture:



Chio! My heart is itching .. to own a doll like her.

Turns out that's not the only bespectacled doll in the booth:



Err, why does she have to dress up like a maid?

Domuya has this scantily-clad doll on display, but in a class cabinet:



They are probably afraid the doll might catch a cold. Or that somebody might molest her because she, her whole body, is too realistic.

The Domuya booth was unexpected but not Magma Heritage. I actually came to know this toy convention through their website. Knowing they are going to represent Pullip and J-Dolls, I awaited the convention with anticipation.

The Magma booth is small but more packed than the Domuya one. I can probably understand this. Ball-Joined Dolls (BJDs) are big, freaky and uncommon locally. Each doll costs hundreds of dollars and collectors typically import their stuffs overseas. In other words, the barrier to ownership is higher. In contrast, the dolls in the Magma booth are of the sixth scale variety, smaller, cutier and prettier. Ok, BJD fans are gonna whack me for this, but what I mean is a BJD is all about realism. If one day you suddenly find a 1/1 ultra-realistic doll on your bed, bet you freaked out first, right? So there is a price to pay for being too big and too realistic.

If you look at the Magma dolls (Pullip, Dal, Taeyang), they may be freaky to some with the huge eyes, but they also look cute and more approachable with their disproportionate head and cheerful expression.

So inside the Magma booth, there are people snapping pictures and girls buying/inquiring about the dolls, reasons why the booth is packed.


Left to right: Jade Taeyang, Sol Taeyang, Seiran Taeyang, Youtsuzu Pullip, Hanaayame Dal


Left: Youtsuzu Pullip. Right: Celsiy Pullip


Left: Suigintou Pullip and Souseiseki Pullip. Right: Shinku Pullip and Kanaria Dal

This convention is not about toys and comics only. Visitors get to see the Singapore garrison of the 501st Legion up close:



In Star Wars Ep. IV (A New Hope), Luke complained of limited vision after donning the suit. I suppose these guys aren't having any better. I guess it is hot inside the suit and helmet; visual and audial are limited.

The crowd are all jostling in front for their photo-shoot. I told myself a shot from behind or side is just as good, at least different:



The Dark Lord is here! But the lady in front is not afraid of him and she looks blissfully excited. This won't happen in the movie.



This is the 501st Legion Booth. Those are helmets, not war trophies by the good guys. The Red Guard at the corner .. is he real or fake?? He wasn't moving while I was at the booth. The Clone Trooper in stylo-posture is the 1/7 scale vinyl from Kotobukiya.



LEGO was also at the convention, highlight being the top 10 finalist models for the LEGO Build-A-Brick Competition, based on the theme of "Icons of Singapore".



Hasbro had a big booth with Star Wars figurines on display, but there was a queue and entry is controlled. So I just took pictures of their wall outside:



Nintendo goes all out to promote their latest Wii platform. You don't see any Xbox or Playstation this time. Look at how the kid is enjoying himself with his grandpa. Wii has the ability to bind whole families together, even across two generations.



For the handheld market, Nintendo has DS Lite. The familiar Mario mascot greets visitors. But why is their helper playing also? Shouldn't she be working, erm, I mean helping the visitors with their machine? Their Tee is cool though.



This concludes my Day 1 at the convention. It was enjoyable shooting the dolls and the 501st Legion. Place was crowded, but not too bad. At least I could still get close to the dolls for shots.

This convention, I decided to make my first foray into big-headed dolls. So I scored a Audrey Hepburn "Breakfast at Tiffany" doll. I had wanted to get a Pullip for some time. At the Magma booth, I didn't know which to get and the Holly Pullip on the top shelf grabbed my attention. The doll wasn't on display and I have not seen it before, but I thought it would be a good choice as my first Pullip doll.

So let me present, my Pullip No. 1 - Holly Golightly Pullip!



Cheers!

Spotlight on Culture: Wa Nationality

I started this blog intending to write about some of my hobbies and interests. However it seems that I have been showcasing other people's work and praising them. How about my own? Do I have things to show?

Turns out that I do. I own a moderate doll collection. I collect dolls and I enjoy putting them under the spotlight.

I will start with my China Minority Dolls Collection. Each doll represents a particular nationality in China.

Today, we have a lady from the Wa nationality:

On their costume:

佤族妇女多留长发，饰以银质发箍，有些地区用藤蔑或麻线编织发箍。披肩的长发上常用马尾制作的发网网住，发网上饰有银珠。女子着黑衣、筒裙（一般用红、黑、蓝篮、紫等多种颜色线手工织成布后缝制，其色泽艳丽，图案丰富，手工精美，及富民族特色）。佤族上衣十分短小， 盖胸露腹，无领，对襟，短袖。裙子过膝，常以红色为底，间有黑白绿黄条纹。耳悬银质大耳环，银环一至三个不等，项带二、三个银质项圈和若干彩色珠料，再佩上两 三串鸟骨或贝壳制成的项链，五光十色，十分耀眼。裸露的腰腹部缠绕若干竹圈藤圈，染成红或黑色，有的还雕饰有许多花纹。手臂戴两三个竹圈银圈，手腕佩银镯二只， 小腿缠竹藤圈数围。

The women usually wear short black collarless coats that just reach the upper part of the belly, and skirts with red, blue and black stripes. They wear long hair, silver hoops on their heads, big earrings, thick necklaces and colorful strings of beads on their chests. The naked parts of their bellies and legs are decorated with rattan hoops.

Their famous hair-swinging dance:


What's the next doll to come under the spotlight? Stay tuned!

ZC Girl Kelly Cyber Killer

First saw this at the OSW forum and boy, it's chio. ^^

Truth be told, I am not particular fond of the ZC Girl line of action dolls. In my view, they are just another copycat like VeryHot. Except they are worse. Look at their Catwoman. Then look at the Catwoman they are trying to emulate. The face sculpt and clothing from the ZC version look cheapo to me.

But this Kelly is different. She looks great, the outfit, the boobs, the weapons, the weapon casing and even the face sculpt, though it is not very killer-like. The face looks like the Obitsu 1/6  variety.

Not sure whether these are production photos, as I can't find them on the ZC Girl website.

One bonus is the new Eve Body on Kelly. I may blog about this next time, but now my hands are getting itchy. I want to add her to my growing collection of dolls. Hope the retailers stock it here.