Gunpla Expo 2016
Saturday, June 11, 2016
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To All,
My Saturday morning started with FAM. This is my second time heading down to FAM, with the first being on early Monday noon, and I was attempting to see if the weekends would make it livelier. It certainly did, as the crowds made the atmosphere seem more of an anime convention than it had been on Monday. Is this what people call a weekend miracle?
This time at FAM, I decided to focus on the doujin booths at Level 5 instead of the shops on the lower floors. Here's some images of what some stores have to offer!
Of course, no anime matsuri can be complete without the animal hats and soft, cute plushies! But more than that, no matsuri can be complete without sweet stuff, and so here I bring a shoutout to Bon Japan and their large selection of Japanese sweets to calm your sweet tooth!
I didn't stay long at FAM, and about an hour after arriving at FAM, I proceeded onto Takashimaya in hopes of spending time at its basement and having my fill of delicious Japanese food! Unexpectedly, I came across Gunpla Expo which was held there as well!
Do note that I am not a Gundam fan and have not actively went to any Gunpla Expo before this. Thus my view on this activity may be amateurish as I have no other Expo to compare this to. I have friends telling me that the Expo this year is pretty underwhelming with most being mere displays, but being a figure collector with my own displays, I do like looking at displays, which might be why this event seemed more fun for me than FAM.
From a bird's eye view, I noticed there were several display spots and a ton of gunpla on sale. The display spaces were filled with people brandishing their large high-tech cameras and I honestly wouldn't be surprised if there was someone setting up their tripods there!
Coming in from the entrance, you will be welcomed by a large display of Bear III. He seems to be shrouded in a nice Chinese wedding theme.
This next image is self-explanatory: Telling readers the process of which Gunpla is made.
My Saturday morning started with FAM. This is my second time heading down to FAM, with the first being on early Monday noon, and I was attempting to see if the weekends would make it livelier. It certainly did, as the crowds made the atmosphere seem more of an anime convention than it had been on Monday. Is this what people call a weekend miracle?
This time at FAM, I decided to focus on the doujin booths at Level 5 instead of the shops on the lower floors. Here's some images of what some stores have to offer!
From a bird's eye view, I noticed there were several display spots and a ton of gunpla on sale. The display spaces were filled with people brandishing their large high-tech cameras and I honestly wouldn't be surprised if there was someone setting up their tripods there!
Coming in from the entrance, you will be welcomed by a large display of Bear III. He seems to be shrouded in a nice Chinese wedding theme.
In the exhibition space itself, there are more information of Bear 3, such as the display of the true mini-er Bear III, his price, some other bears and some activity of finding Mr. Bear III in Gardens by the Bay. There are bears in the mall itself as well!
Right from the entrance, you will also notice a large miniature scale of Gardens By The Bay. It's amazing how the scale works, where they have tiny humans of the right scale to the small trees then have overwhelmingly huge gunpla models looming over everything. It adds to the mood that these models are really small in comparison to how large they can, and most likely, would be.
Here's some close-up shots of this display!
I wonder how they manage to make the lake and all the trees appear so realistic and life-like! Even the humans, though very tiny in comparison and having no facial features, still look like real, like how humans ought to in this scale. In fact, I'm a little too impressed for words. Do all of you who go to numerous Gunpla Expo still feel impressed by these?
Following up, I have some images of the gunpla in this display, which is the moment all of you have been waiting for!
Is this supposed to be a tribute to Singapore? He looks cool but at the same time, slightly ridiculous with the three heads. How long has this been made though... Is it on sale anywhere?
Now to take a look at the other displays they have at this Gunpla Expo.
Near the entrance, they have several small gunpla on display. Most of them have nice details and I took the picture of one of them, front and back.
With the assumption that larger displays meant cooler gunpla models, I moved on to the next shelf, which I felt was the most impressive one of them all.
There was another separate display section with a timeline-like thing showing a New Generation style action figure. I didn't take individual pictures of them but just from the image below alone, you can see how amazing each of them are and how beautifully displayed they are!
Large Gunpla displays are of course an essential at such events. I've noticed two, excluding the bears and here are them!
There was also some clothes fashion thing, which came as a shock to me because I never expected to come across these at a Gunpla Expo.
Last but not the least, there was also some information counter.
The first image here tells about the differences in the sprue. It mentions how they are usually of a single color and those which comes with a maximum of 4 colors are a Bandai speciality. So this is a know your Sprue section.
Enjoyment level... As a non-Gundam fan, this event was an eye-opener and it allowed me to take my very first step into this world. However, I would steer clear of all the Gunpla sales because I don't intend to start collecting Gunpla along with my figures. That is to say, collecting both would be very expensive and I'm not going to give up my figure collecting anytime soon.
As far as this event goes, I think it's worth your time if you are into looking at displays, or dropping by to purchase some Gunpla. There is nothing much other than these two, in my opinion. But as I'm one for staring at displays, this Gunpla Expo was actually a really fun time for me and I indulged in taking numerous photos that I'll definitely remember as the start of my Gunpla journey.
Let's all hope I don't take another step into Gunpla hell...
From Your Fellow Japan Fan,
