Sunday, November 13, 2011

AFA 2011 - Overview/Summary



Anime Festival Asia 2011 was held this weekend, 11-13 Nov at Suntec City Convention Hall in Singapore.

A weekend filled with fun pertaining to anything anime~ Lotsa toys and goodies, cosplayers, Hatsune Miku concert, Anisong performances by Kalafina, May'n, Milky Holmes, Flow, Sea*A and more. An event where fans of all things anime could gather and share their love.

However, I admit I went to AFA 2011 mostly to look at One Piece stuff and see One Piece cosplayers...And Fairy Tail and Hakuouki, but sadly I didn't spot any :( To be honest, I don't really care much for other anime^^ And I wouldn't stop to glance at cosplayers cosplaying characters from series I have no clue of...sorry!


Group cosplaying as Shinsekai/New World versions of Zoro and Luffy. And a Mr 3.
Detailed post on (One Piece) cosplayers I saw here!
I saw people decked out in most of the Mugiwara crew, as well as most of the Shichibukai and other characters like Shanks, Jewelry Bonney, Perona and Mr 3.


Kaname as Sanji and Usagi as Nami.

Even Japanese cosplayers Usagi and Kaname, who were gracing the event, were cosplaying characters from One Piece! Usagi as Shinsekai/ New World Nami and Kaname as Shinsekai/ New World Sanji. This totally put a smile on my face as they're cosplaying characters from one of my favorite series, instead of some random series I don't follow or know of ^^ These two were also judges for the Regional Cosplay Competition 2011 which was held on Sunday 13 Nov.

For comparison, here're Shinsekai Nami and Sanji figures :D



Moe Moe Kyun maid cafe and Atelier Royale butler cafe.
Didn't bother going as the queues were long and prices were exorbitant for the little amount of food and the (lack of) service! The menu didn't have variety either.


One Piece figures being sold at the Bandai booth.

As usual, Bandai has a huuuuge booth,
and it's no wonder as so as most anime figures are produced by Bandai.

Gundam figures? Made by Bandai.
Capsule toys? Most are made by Bandai.
Anime goods you find in UFO catchers?
Made by Banpresto, a wholly owned subsidiary of Bandai.
The Tamagotchi you used to play as a kid? Made by Bandai.
Candy toys? Made by Bandai.


Large Chopper!
(Made by Bandai hahaha.)


There was actually a huuuge One Piece display area this year, as Bandai was launching a new One Piece ARcarddass card game...it's for iphones or ipads, but I don't/won't use Apple products so didn't focus too much attention to that. AR stands for augmented reality...if I remember correctly. You get a card, download an iphone app, scan the card with the app and a semi-3D version of the character appears...or something along those lines!


Chozoukei Damashii figures.
Mugiwara pirates on the left and Whitebeard pirates on the right.
Love the greens in the display backgrounds!


Banpresto Grandline Children.
There was also a display of the Grandline Men and Grandline Ladies.


Figuarts Zero!
They weren't displaying all available figures though.
They didn't have the 3 admirals, Boa Hancock, regular Shanks, Whitebeard, Blackbeard, Strong World Ace...to name a few.
I confess that I own around half of all the released Figuarts Zero figures ^^


Old version Chopper!
I think this pose is super cute with the mushroom!

Will do a more detailed post on One Piece figures I saw being displayed later!


Lots of One Piece Gashapon (capsule toys).
You insert coins and a random capsule comes out, containing a toy.


Halloween Chopper!
For some reason I can't get the purple one :(
I have gotten 2 extras of the yellow and one extra of the pumpkin head.


Half-age Characters, these are too cute!
They're not released yet, but after seeing the actual figures I feel like getting them!
Vol. 1 contains Luffy, Nico Robin, Ace and Usopp. Out 16 Nov 2011.
Vol. 2 contains Chopper, Brook, Zoro and Boa Hancock. Out Dec 2011.
Vol. 3 contains Keimi, Sanji, Franky and Nami. Out Jan 2012.


Half-age Zoro and Boa Hancock!
Cuuuuute!
I *must* get this box when it comes out...


Some World Collectible Figures (WCF) on display.
Mostly from the Skypiea Arc and characters from Luffy/Ace's hometown.


Free bags!
Chopper one from Bandai, if you spend over $50 on One Piece products.
The large One Piece and Fairy Tail ones were from Muse.
Free shopping bags if you spent over $35. I went twice ^^

I actually reeeeally wanted the One Piece bag; saw a lot of people walking around carrying it, and they said they got it from the Muse booth. So, the only reason I went to visit that booth was cos I wanted the bag^^ To my dismay, when I paid for my items, they said that they had run out of One Piece bags and were giving out Fairy Tail ones instead.

I was quite depressed, (I reaaalllly wanted that paper bag!) then went around hunting for people to trade bags with. I'm proud to say that with my discerning eye for spotting One Piece fans and non-One Piece fans, I succeeded on my first try :D Although that first try took around half an hour of roaming, and analyzing whether every individual I saw with the bag would be willing to trade^^


So, thank you very much kind girl who was willing to trade with me! You made my day a whole lot better! I returned to the store again later to buy more stuff, and got another Fairy Tail bag hahaha.


Wanted posted badges!
Now I regret not getting more/all.


The rest on display at one of the windows in front of the booth.


The queue to get into Muse was reallly long.


Chopper card sticker and Chopper badge!


Bought a Chopper mug!!!


Dollfies of Suenaga Mirai.


Danny Choo and a girl dressed as/cosplaying as Suenaga Mirai.
The car behind is plastered with Suenaga Mirai and other decals in orange.


Lots of Gundam figures.
They were screening Mobile Suite Gundam Unicorn Episode 4 during the festival.


Human-sized Gundam figure.
I have no idea who the guy is, I just took this photo to illustrate the size of the figure^^

So, AFA 2011 was awesome, albeit extremely crowded @_@ I couldn't drag myself down over both days, but luckily ニコニコ動画 (Niconico Douga) was streaming the events live, so I could still catch Sunday's highlights :D The main reason I went was to ogle at One Piece stuff and get One Piece goodies hehehe, And to see One Piece cosplayers. Sadly I didn't see any Fairy Tail or Hakuouki cosplayers! Will be doing more in-depth posts on the cosplayers, One Piece awesomeness and etc.



Figures I got at AFA 2011.


The Figuarts Zero figures I had at home...
before I had cut up the boxes into pieces and threw the plastic inserts away.
Takes up too much space! I have no idea how guys can keep everything in boxes and just leave them like that...are you buying the figure or the box? :/


Happy camwhoring in the toilet^^

1 comment:

  1. Looks like tons of fun =] Wish I had gone! The OP exhibits look great and seems like there were tons of fun OP goodies too! Not to mention the performances...Miku concert =[

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