C3 AFA Singapore 2019

Due to work commitment, I had been going for AFA on Sundays for the past few years. It was my first time going on a Saturday and next time I should consider Sunday mornings instead. Previous years I thought AFA was slowly losing popularity since I felt it was getting less and less crowded. After today, I think it is not the case. I queued for the ticket at around 1215pm and it took around 10 minutes. About an hour later, the queue was just getting longer.

With that size of crowd, inside the exhibition hall was super crowded. Except for the entrance area where Gundam RX-78-2 is, all the other sections were jam packed. I feel that this is the most disappointing AFA in the past few years since I only took two photos. In previous years, at least there were more interesting displays or toys that I took pictures of. Perhaps it is because I do not really follow any anime or manga lately that none of the featured stuff is familiar to me.

Indirectly, shopping is not interesting too as there are not many things from the series I am familiar with. I was tempted with 'up to 35% off' at Bandai / Tamashi Nations but after comparing with the prices online, it is still cheaper or comparable to buy online. With that, now I am reminded with the existence of Gundam Universe line (so far there are Wing Gundam and Deathscythe from Gundam Wing) and I know that there are Detective Conan figures from S.H. Figuarts. I was tempted to get a haori if I could find one for $20 and luckily I did not find any. I just dug my stuff and realised that I actually bought 2 from last year AFA hahaha... I forgot about them altogether -_-" I bought them for $15 each haha.. Yep, going on Sunday is definitely better.

The experience zones this year are quite disappointing too. Bandai Namco gaming space looks spacious and amazing but even if I own PS4 or Nintendo Switch, I usually will not queue just to try playing some games in public. There are at least 3 areas to just look at manga sketches and illustrations: one requires downloading of an app that they are promoting to enter so I did not enter, one does not allow phototaking, and one is Yoshitaka Amano's Gibiate Project which features original characters. There is no VR experience zone as well as Canon booth for free photos with mascots this year.

The only experience zone I went to was Manga de Japan booth and my luck is as bad as ever today since I did not win any lucky draw. Well, actually I got a paper fan which is as good as nothing. Last year, the possible prizes were live sketch, MangaMe! sketch, or nothing. This year, there are additional Naruto/Boruto t-shirt and the paper fan. I want t-shirt or sketch but not the fan. Boo hooo...

This is the fan I got from my unlucky draw

The only two pictures I took today are:

Gundam RX-78-2

So paiseh to take photo with Doraemon.. but perhaps if it is figures, isntead of cardboards, I would still be thick skin

The day ended with me succumbing to bubble tea temptation again. My friend wanted to get Milksha and since it is a brand I never tried before, my pathetic self would definitely succumb with the excuse of trying out something new.