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Singapore comic convention SGCC 2022

The Singapore Comic Convention 2022 (SGCC) is upon us again this year, after a three year break. It is one of the annual highlight events of Singapore pop-culture. As with each year, lets take an explore and check out the sights and sounds at the heart of Singapore downtown Marina Bay.

Cosplayers with attendees posing for photos at the Singapore Comic Con 2022
Cosplayers with attendees posing for photos at the Singapore Comic Con 2022.

Moreover, the Singapore Comic Convention was previously known as the Singapore Toy and Comic Convention or STGCC for short. But fret not as the convention is still pretty much a toy convention at heart despite dropping the “Toy” part. Also, the event for this year is held here at the Marina Bay Sands (MBS) Expo & Convention Centre, along with Christmas festivals. This is pretty odd as past conventions were held typically on the August months.

Welcome to Singapore comic con 2022 at Marina Bay Sands for the weekend
Welcome to Singapore comic con 2022 at Marina Bay Sands for the weekend.

SGCC 2022, a return after 3 years

Furthermore, this year’s event is the 13th edition of the pop-culture event. We had covered the event since the humble beginnings as a small booth convention, to the behemoth today. Today, we see over 350 booths spread across 200 thousand square feet over 2 hall floors here at MBS.

SGCC 2022 Gaming area is a hit with crowds, courtesy of the large spacious area on the lower basement hall
SGCC 2022 Gaming area is a hit with crowds, courtesy of the large spacious area on the lower basement hall.
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Gaming area
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Card games
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Food stands

There are more community-based and table-top gaming events located on the SGCC 2022 lower basement floor. Besides table top gaming with Warhammer 40k, there are also figurine painting workshops on-site where you can have a hand at painting the intricate figures. Also, the lower pop culture themed snacks and drinks at the food zone themed to comic con spirit.

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Warhammer 40k
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Jenga Games
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Figure painting

Moreover, Transformers has a pop-up truck where you can have a go at paper crafts making your very own little Transformer paper trinket. Also, this lower floor is where you can catch E-sports gaming where live-matches are being played.

E-sports gaming stage with live mobile gaming matches on a big screen
E-sports gaming stage with live mobile gaming matches on a big screen.
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Transformers truck
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Bumblebee
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Transformers paperwork

Moving on, the top floor is dedicated to toys exhibitors and exhibitions, as well as the dealer’s artist alley and VIP areas. Let’s see what toys are installed this year.

Toys and toys!

Toys are a staple mainstay here at SGCC 2022, with a sizable offering by Queen Studios Collectibles
Toys are a staple mainstay here at SGCC 2022, with a sizable offering by Queen Studios Collectibles.

Furthermore, the top ground floor would be your point of interests if Toys, collectables, merchandises and art galleries are to your liking.

An impressive offering by Tamashii nations toy booth, the brand is a staple in Singapore pop culture toy shops
An impressive offering by Tamashii nations toy booth, the brand is a staple in Singapore pop culture toy shops.
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Spider gang
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Beast kingdom
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Osim booth

Notably, we see the return of incumbents, Taiwan-based Beast kingdom, Toy 52, Genshin impact, Taskishi nation, and Simone Legno’s Tokidoki. Notably,  Tokidoki’s Simon, the co-founder and Artist behind the Japanese inspired products is here too.

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Queen figure
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Realistic hair
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Bruce Lee
Stores and general sales booth areas on the ground floor hall, an example with Hexenskye store with cosplay goods
Stores and general sales booth areas on the ground floor hall, an example with Hexenskye store with cosplay goods.

Also, taking center stage on the top floor halls is the Lego sales booth. It is operated by Singapore’s main Lego distributor The Brick Shop. Nothing too special here, except for mainstay current sets, with discounts on off-season sets and children activities to earn points for prizes.

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Lego shop
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Tokidoki
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52 Toys

Also, Madame Tussauds has an appearance this year too, with their unveiling of a new Loki statue at the convention itself. The display will eventually be a mainstay at their museum in Sentosa.

Madame Tussauds new Marvel-inspired showcases. Not our Ghostbusters cosplayers can oblighe. Who you gonna call?
Madame Tussauds new Marvel-inspired showcases. Not our Ghostbusters cosplayers can oblighe. Who you gonna call?

Moreover, notably Mighty Jaxx has a huge booth in-show. It is dedicated to their current season of toys, known for their instantly recognisable half cut through anatomy pieces.

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Jaxx figs
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JaxxNFT
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Fairy items
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Marvel store
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Catch them all!
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Mandalorian mercs

Starwars fans rejoice

Light sabers showcase fights on-stage at the convention main hall
Light sabers showcase fights on-stage at the convention main hall.

The force is strong here at SGCC too, there re is also a large starwars fans turnout. Also, the Starwars 501st Legion’s and Mandalorian group has a huge presence up here too, with their collection of props and booth on display. They were also raising money for charities via a photo booth and challenge counter.

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The empire!
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Troopers
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Storm

Topping up the Star wars offerings are Lightsabers at the SaberMach store. They are a convention favourite here with lightsaber demonstration battles on the stage.

Light sabers at the SaberMach store, where you can have a hands-on
Light sabers at the SaberMach store, where you can have a hands-on.

However, we don’t see Royal Selangor or Singapore-founded XMstudios here this year. Their booths used to be show highlight with their sprawling set of models littered about their booth like prized museum artefacts. Also notably absent are the quirky MMA fighting ring and matches we last saw at SGTCC 2019.

Dealers and artists alley

The Buzzing artist alley, a crowd favorite and home to more affordable show offerings too with independent makers
The Buzzing artist alley, a crowd favorite and home to more affordable show offerings too with independent makers.

Besides big-name toy boutique brands, a particular area I like about SGCC over the years is support for smaller artists and makers. You can find them here in the buzzing artist alley.

Get your Caricature drawn here at the artist alley
Get your Caricature drawn here at the artist alley.

Here, we find staples artists hawking their prints, trinkets and even usual caricature booths. You can get your drawing done on-site, as well as a number of independent sellers hawking their brands of homeware.

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Alley way
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NLB corner
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Feedback board

Also, the artist alleys is easy to navigate with wide aisle. Still the walkways here are still one of the more packed areas of the convention. Wider walkways for next year’s convention be good.

Toast comics, one of the few independent Singapore sellers here at the convention
Toast comics, one of the few independent Singapore sellers here at the convention.

Other notable booths here includes Thailand-based Chapter one, known for their cutesy graphic tees, as well as local satirical artists such as Toast comics, to name afew.

Cosplayers galore

Fancy some Peanut butter
Fancy some Peanut butter?
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The Witcher
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Princesses
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Swanky!

Of course, no comic convention is complete without the dress-up participants themselves, which I would associate as the soul of the event. There is not particular theme for this year, especially with the lack of recent triple ‘A’ movie releases in both the Marvel and DC comic franchises.

Meet the Ghost busters! Cross franchise style
Meet the Ghost busters! Cross franchise style!
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Aperture testing
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Batman
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Outdoors

SGCC 2022 Cosplayers Gallery

Disney Princesses, in the flesh
Disney Princesses, in the flesh.
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Gru
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Phantom
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On a diet
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Carmen Sandiego
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WW-era soldiers
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Got guns?
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Plague gang
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Gipsy Danger
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Ant and Wasp
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Ladies of the show!
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Ah yes!
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Witcher?
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Group shot
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Toroto
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I see you

Also, unlike Anime Festival Asia (AFA) or EoY events with a more Japanese Anime focus, SGCC pretty much has no boundaries to what you can dress up as. The influence of Asian-based mobile gaming, Japanese pop-culture and American influences do see a diverse range of cosplayers, professional and hobbyists duking it out in intricate costumes from the Marvel, DC franchises, Genshin impact and Final Fantasy to name afew.

Anime inspired gang here in Singapore Comic Con
Japanese Anime inspired gang here in Singapore Comic Con.
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Anime
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Mr Panda
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Spy family
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Sword moves!
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Anubite
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Fancy

There is the usual crew of Spidermen, and few wolverines roaming around. Military and SWAT gang, ranging from contemporary SWAT gear to World-war era-accurate military gear.

Oh snake
Oh snake!
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Swat
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Cross platform
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Spider kids
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Logan
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Wolverine
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Crossover

Official event mascots also includes appearances by Bluey, the beloved blue puppy created by a collaboration by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) and the British BBC Studios.

Meet Bluey in person at the convention in her walk arounds
Meet Bluey in person at the convention in her walk arounds.

A tale of two halls

Furthermore, notably this year, the event spans two vertical halls in MBS above each other. Each hall has their own separate entrances both floors and their own security screening. Notably, security screen forms the bulk of the wait of the queues for the event. Once you are in, the crowds are pretty well-managed.

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Con entrance
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Security queue
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Stores and wares

Also, there is quite an Elevator convention this year, with a cargo elevator in-operation serving guests between these two convention floors. This is useful if you wish to stay in the convention grounds and not having to exit and queue through security again to enter. Notably, one of the cosplayers too were lamenting on inconsistent security screening standards between floors, with one floor allowing their weapon props into the halls while the other confiscating them.

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Squid game
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Bullet time
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Guest Signing

SGCC 2022 Guest personalities

As with each SGCC comes the opportunity to your favourite comic artists and toy personalities. In addition, complimentary to the Notable guest personalities includes 40 special guests, with notable persons in the flesh being James Mulligan and InHyuk Lee.

The Art of Mulligan with his artwork for the convention
The Art of Mulligan with his artwork for the convention.

Additional headliners include Eisner Award-winning writer James Tynion IV, best known for his stint on DC Comics’ Batman series, and writer-artist Lee Bermejo, also known as co-creator of the Lex Luthor: Man Of Steel series and the Joker graphic novel.

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Mulligan
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Inhyuk Lee
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Sonny Liew

Wrapping up on displays is a an art gallery on the first floor showcasing the art of Tony Wong, a Hong Kong Comic Book (manhua) Artist. You might know him as artist behind Batman: Hong Kong, as well as adaptations of Louis Cha’s novels, such as The Return of the Condor Heroes. His art are on sale at the convention too.

Tong Wong art gallery
Tong Wong art gallery.

Also, fans of martial arts comics will want to check out the exhibition of nearly 60 original works by the godfather of Hong Kong comics, Huang Yu Lang. Yu Lang will be present for meet-and-greet and autograph sessions daily from 3 to 4pm. There are also plenty of family-friendly activities that will entertain the younger set.

That's all folks, from the T-rexes
That’s all folks, from the T-rexes.

All in all, that concludes up our explorations of SGCC 2022 this year. It was sure a jammed packed event. Already looking forward to next year’s event!

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