This year, Red Dot Diva and her friends went to two places - the Kinokuniya main store and local favourite, GnB Comics.
Kinokuniya opens at 10 AM, but the FCBD waiting line started more than 2 hours earlier! Out from the geek gang, Sarahcoldheart and Maxsterism were the earliest, with Jas joining them about half an hour later.
Red Dot Diva missed her bus and was nearly caught in a heavy downpour, and arrived at the store at about 8:40 AM. By then, there were already about 25-30 people in line.
On Kinokuniya's website, it was stated that at 9 AM, staff members will be handing out queue numbers. And just after 9 AM, the Kino folk arrived and promptly handed out free bottles of fresh water as well as the line numbers! So nice. :D
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| Pic by Max: Spot the geek gang!! |
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| Pic by Jas: Our shawarma scene |
By the time breakfast was done, it was slightly past 10 AM, and everyone trooped back up to Kino to get into the collection line. It was quite long but moved very quickly. There was another separate line for those without queue numbers. Red Dot Diva supposed that these people would be able to get whatever bags of free comics that were left.
Goodies for sale.
Red Dot Diva did a quick peek at the FCBD pack given by Kino this year, she was surprised to see a fantastic selection of about 20 books! This was definitely more than what was given out last year.
Look at the glee at our faces! (Pic courtesy of Yahoo! Singapore)
Best of all, within the bag was the comic Red Dot Diva was hoping to score - Dark Horse's "Fight Club 2" prologue, with The Goon/ The Strain. The cover was drawn by Super-Biceptuous David Mack with "Fight Club 2" story by Chuck Palahniuk and artwork of Cameron Stewart! YAYYYY!
There wasn't anything really happening at Kino during that time, so everyone decided to head straight down to the party set to go down at GnB Comics.
Upon arrival time at about 10:45 AM, there was already medium-sized lines forming at both ends of the shop! Squint at the photo below to see the people waiting on the 2nd floor of the Rochor Centre.
There were two lines - one for the public, and one for the private party which will take place inside the air-conditioned comfort of the shop.
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| The early public party line |
And wow... Red Dot Diva's David Goei was hardcore. He was comfortably seated on a sofa, being the first in line for the private party. So Pimp. :P
Then, there were the familiar faces of these bicepstuous geeky creatures waiting in the private party line:
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| For l to r: Gene Whitlock, Paul Hendricks, Wayne Rée, Jedd Jong |
There was also a cute little mini The Flash, but he moved so fast that Red Dot Diva was unable to snap a photo of him. :(
UPDATE!! Thanks to David Goei - who is as speedy as he's so fly - managed to grab a photo of the little speedster. Here's the little cutie, in the Flash (flesh? :D )!
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| Pic by David Goei |
Opening hour for the FCBD party was supposed to be 11 AM but there was a delay and everyone was sweating buckets in the muggy, almost unbearable humidity for another 40 minutes, while both lines got longer and longer. Passers-by walking along Rochor Road were looking up to the second floor with utmost curiosity, wondering what on earth is happening there!
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| Goodies all ready, just outside the store |
Red Dot Diva had to meet the online contest winner, Pia, for the prize-giving ceremony, so while the people at the head of the private party line was beginning to enter the shop, she skipped the line and got GnB Bernard's permission to settle inside so that she could try to get hold of Pia.
Fortunately, Pia and her family were already waiting in line and it didn't take long to find her and usher her into the shop to hand her the prizes. The Joker had to join in with the congratulatory photo moment too!
With that done, it was time to nab those free comics! Those in the private party line were allowed to get 20 comics, and there were a few that were not available in the Kino pack that Red Dot Diva already collected, like The Tick and Gronk.
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| Gene's daughter grabbin' those free comics! |
There was also foooooooddddd..... with sandwiches provided by Subway and other yummies catered by GnB.
Food food food
Posted by GnB Comics on Saturday, May 2, 2015
Red Dot Diva thinks many would agree those samosas were evil. She couldn't stop munching on them! Mostly though, she was quenching her thirst from the heat with a cool pack of Peach Tea.
Within the store, video interviews were going on with Howard happily grabbing hold of unsuspecting geeks and placing them in the spotlight. Fortunately, Red Dot Diva managed to escape from that. :P She likes to keep a bit of mystery. Strange (and perhaps WTH in the day and age of social media), but there you go.
She did, however, finally finally Finally managed to get the Bicepstuous Trio photo that should have happened more than a year ago! :P (Professional Photobombers, not included. Hahaha.)
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| The Tantalizing Trio |
By then, it was time for Red Dot Diva to vamoosh to another event - Celebrate the Force for Star Wars Day at Suntec. (Do look out for a separate article about this other wonderful fan event!) In fact, Jas and Melvin were already waiting for her at the coffee shop downstairs for the last 45 minutes.
So, as she went around hauling two large bags full of comics and goodies, and saying quick goodbyes to geek pals at GnB, it was a wrap-up for this year's FCBD.
And what a tiring and fun day it really was!
Here's the obligatory photo of the loot Red Dot Diva gathered at FCBD:
Thank you Kinokuniya and GnB Comics for your generosity and love for the local geekdom!
** Diva MWAHS **
For those who missed out on this year's FCBD activities, go LIKE the Free Comic Book Day Singapore (Official) Facebook Page, and mark your 2016 calendar to join us next year!
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