Anime Festival Asia 2011 (AFA11)

Anime Festival Asia 2011 (AFA11) was held from 11.11.11 (nice number!) to 13.11.11. Yup that was just the last weekend. I realised how dumb I am: I always thought last year's AFAX stands for Anime Festival Asia, actually it means Anime Festival Asia `10. Lol.. Anyway, this year it was bigger. And I had high expectations to be able to take more photos and buy more things.

This year I only bought the pass for the exhibition. There was AKB48 event but only 2 of the girls came and I am never a fan of cosplay competition. Watching once last year is enough for me to know what cosplay competition is all about. So there was no need to see the main stage events this time.

This year's ticket. It is still the same mascot!!

Upon entering, I honestly was quite disappointed to see so many One Piece stuff because I am not a fan of One Piece :(

Isn't this the same Chopper from last year's AFAX? Lol. He is out of his plastic prison this year.

However, next to the huge One Piece area was huge Bandai area. Yay for Gundams!! Although seeing the complete range of Master Grade Gundam Wing robots only made me emo. I want but I have no space to display already. Haha.. Too bad this year there were not many Saint Seiya stuff. There was a corner where people can 'pose' the Gundam models and took picture. There were Gundam Wing Zero Custom and Tallgeese III but when I realised this station, it was too late and crowded. So I gave it a miss.

Human-size Gundam (I believe from Unicorn) model.

My biggest disappointment was the lack of Final Fantasy Action Figures being sold. There were lots of FF XIII Play Arts last year. Grrr.. I was expecting them to come back with cheaper price, as well as Zack+Aerith from Crisis Core, and the latest Dissidia Duodecim Playarts. I only managed to get Aerith. I was unsure whether to buy or not because there was no Zack :(

$45

But surprise surprise: I found a rare Laguna 1/6 figurine! At first I only saw 1 box which quite a terrible dent at one corner. But then I saw another 1 box (still very nice box) at the other side of the display table as I was digging for Aerith-in-a-nice-box. So sad there was only Laguna T_T I want Quistis from this series. I did not want to buy Laguna as the face is rather longish. But hey, this item was first released in 1999. To be able to find something released 12 years ago still in this relatively mint condition is really good. And in eBay, this item is selling for USD60 and above, excluding shipping fee. So heck just buy! It is quite expensive nowadays because it seems to be some limited edition or something. Mine bears the serial number 3244. Maybe I should by 4D.

Taken with my camera because I can't find big picture on the net

From this AFA, I learn that next year I should come after 5pm because some shops will start to slash price. The shop where I bought Aerith and Laguna offered 10-20% off. Laguna was supposed to be $60. I bought it partly because of the sale too. Aah, I could have saved $4.50 for Aerith :( At this time, I saw Hope (FF 13) too. He was $40 i.e $36 after discount. And seriously it is damn bloody cheap! I have no idea what is wrong with FF13. The action figures are only about 1 year old and it seems that for this year only Hope and Sazh left. And they were sold much cheaper than the older Final Fantasy 7 Crisis Core set.

I actually wanted to buy a step display case ($22). But since I already spent about $100, I decided to buy it another time. Anyway the stall selling that was Latendo and I think it has a shop somewhere at Funan IT Mall so I can get anytime. I also did not manage to find Sebastian Michelis (Black Butler) Nendoroid. But no worry, I found a seller on website selling quite cheaply so I shall settle that when I am back at home this year end. I also missed out Mickey Mouse Nendoroid for $35. There was one shop which was quite funny. It had 3 sets of this Mickey Mouse Nendoroid. On 2 sets, the price tag said $40 and on 1 said $35. The $35 was already sold.

If there is something I regret not doing at this AFA is that I did not pay to be drawn/sketch in anime style.. $10 only leh! Grrah.. I only saw the stall after lunch time and the queue was already long there. So next year, I have to go since early morning to be drawn and then stay there until 5+ to get discounts. Haha.. And for next year, I will be waiting for the price of Lelouch figurine to drop to $50 (this time around was $90-$120).

Bounty from AFA11