Saturday, September 1, 2012

Pre-STGCC 2012 - A Packed and Lively Media Preview

Friday 31 August. The day before STGCC 2012, and a day that Red Dot Diva has been looking forward to - STGCC Media Preview Day!

But, oh the wet weather and the fact that school was out early (Red Dot Diva had forgotten about that!) made public transport a nightmare.

And oh, dear Marina Bay Sands -- you are so tricky to get to when someone is in a hurry!

So, Red Dot Diva was about 15 minutes late for the exclusive Media Preview. :(

When she arrived into the allocated media room, she found that it was PACKED! Standing room only by then. And there were so many photographers eager to take pictures of almost everything.

It was good to see people getting excited about STGCC again this year and creating more buzz about the show. Being able to re-connect with the many geek friends at the media preview got Red Dot Diva even more stoked for the weekend.

The best surprise that morning was finally meeting Geekmatic's Mark Cerbo and RG, who came to the media preview immediately after touching down in Red Dot Island from the Philippines.


The same female host from last year was engaging the three Western pop-culture special guests - Andy Diggle, Leinil Yu and Tristan Eaton - with some introductory conversation. Leinil announced that he will have his own booth, offering comics, artbooks, art prints and he will also be doing some commissions this year. Tristan mentioned that he was excited to meet fellow toy designers like DevilRobots and Simone Legno. "I have never had a booth at a convention like this, so I'm bringing lots of artwork and my prints and some sculptures and some toys."

Andy said he was eager to enjoy the show, but he had an important mission to fulfil - and that was to get a Zentraedi battle for his son, if not he will be in deep trouble when he returns home. Later on, fellow blogger @cavalock kindly donated his toy for Andy's son, Jake. Red Dot Diva bets there will be a very happy boy somewhere in the UK next week.
 
After all that prologue, a live drawing demonstration by the artists Tristan Eaton and Leinil Yu was held. Each of them drew on easels placed on either side of the room.

 
Due to time constraint, Tristan's drawing was only half-finished, but the finished work of art will be featured at Tristan's booth, and will be given away at the end of STGCC through a raffle.

For Leinil's Singapore-inspired drawing, Andy Diggle added his text to it. Check it out!


Next up for interviews were the two cosplayer guests Touya Hibiki and Kousaka Yun, who are good friends and usually cosplay together as a character couple. As usual, cosplayers always get most of the camera action, and the two were literally swamped with photographers and cosplayer bloggers during their session.


While the cosplay interview was going on, Red Dot Diva went around to admire the displays of limited edition items which would be available at the convention. There was of course, the hot Hot Toys, and the various other exclusives from exhibitors and artists - like those by Wendy Chew, Noval Hernawan, Mico Suayan, Toys REvil and Doodoo Dolls.

Still, the most eye-catching item in the room, Red Dot Diva thought, was the bizarre Micky Mouse sculpture based on Tristan Eaton's painting, and is only limited to 20 pieces.

Red Dot Diva had a casual chat with Reed Exhibition's Project Director Yeow Hui Leng, and commented on the palpable excitement that was in the media room. Based on that, STGCC 2012 seemed set to be a very good show. Ms Yeow stressed that for a pop-culture show like this to work successfully, everyone involved has to come together as as a cohesive group - the brand names, the retailers, the media, the organizers, the fans and the guests.

The strong positive vibes and show of pop-culture love were later proven to be very evident in a crowded STGCC Day 1 that wrapped up about 4 hours ago. But more on that later!

If you are curious as to what kind of bicepstuous mischief she has been up to on Day 1, head to Red Dot Diva's Facebook page for some of the STGCC pics from her tweets!

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UPDATE:
Check out the nice video re-cap of the STGCC 2012 Media Preview by Red Dot Diva's friends at Geekmatic!



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No one has been successful in Spot The Diva yet, so the password still remains for Day 2. If you see the Red Dot Diva, approach her with the password, which would be the correct answer to the question:

"What Marvel character did Mark Brooks sketch for her one of his signing sessions this week?"

And you could win some random swag!

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Thanks so much for Geekmatic Mark Cerbo for the group pic and cosplayer pic above.

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