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Singapore Toy, Game & Comic Convention (STGCC) 2016 at Marina Bay Sands

The Singapore Toy, Game & Comic Convention (STGCC) was on this weekend from the 10th to 11th September at Halls E and F in the Sands Expo & Convention Center at Marina Bay Sands Singapore. The two-day event, organized by Reed Exhibitions is in their 9th running year of the event, with highlights of bringing to Singapore the best of comic-con pop-culture from East and West to Asia, uniting the worlds of comics, anime, toys, cosplay, collectibles and games.

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STGCC 2016
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Event main stage
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POP DJ Dances

STGCC prides itself as the only regular Singapore event where these Japanese DJs can perform in front of convention audiences. Such Japanese entertainment segments were claimed to be big in Japan, such as AKIBA POP STAGE and EDPx DJ Night had the crowd on their feet with their thumping beats and tunes. There is greater emphasis on gaming matches this time round, with on-going matches of Magic the gathering and LAN tournaments synonymous with the convention eSports gaming scene from Comic Fiesta (Kuala Lumpur).

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Magic the gathering
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Mountain Dew Overwatch eSports
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Mobile Dew dispensers

New for this year is the Overwatch STGCC eSports Mountain Dew Cup sponsored by Secretlab, Razer, MyRepublic and Mountain Dew themselves. There is even free flow of Mountain Dew brought to you by mobile drink dispensers served by the cup. 16 teams participated in the eSports event, with Team Elvellon clinching top cash prize of $1500 SGD.

Artist alley
The artist alley this year is packed, with all aisles packed with artists hawking their wares. On my rounds, however, there are noticeably a number of empty booths, but that didn’t keep the crowd and spirits up, as well as setting a new record number of registered booths for the event. There were various artists selling their artwork, figurines and wares, as well as the return of the live caricatures booths.

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Caricatures
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Rex Regrets
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Stoopz

STGCC’s main stage housed various open panel discussions and live illustrations, this included discussions with established artists like Jacob Chabot and Brooke Allen, who educated visitors on the art of creating comics for kids. The stage spotlight sessions gave a comprehensive look into the professional careers of Haruhiko Mikimoto and Nick Spencer, invited guests of this year’s STGCC.

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Suicide Squad
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Winning Lich Cosplay
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Angela Ziegler Mercy

Cosplayers and Toys
The top cosplayer this year was Erika, dressed as Lich from Final Fantasy IX bagging a $1000 cash prize and a ticket to represent in C2E2 2017 this coming end-April. However, there was noticeably lesser cosplayers at STGCC this year, especially quality ones, partly fueled by the lack of AAA movie releases recently in the fandom- The last major movies in the super hero fandom being Civil War (which also encompasses Spiderman, Antman) and of course, not forgetting the Suicide Squad. This explains the large number of Jokers and Hilary Queens this year.

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Wonder flash
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Gotham at your doorstep

Exclusive toys this year includes the Mystery BE@RBRICK, Iron Man Disco, Knight mare Batman and life­sized Cosbaby installations, with staple exhibitors Hot toys and XM studios showcasing their premium figurines. Interesting new toys for mainstream consumers this show includes the introduction of the new POP Asia Merlion vinyl figures exclusive to Simply Toys. Commendably, charitable initiatives this year includes the a silent auction for Make-A-Wish Foundation Singapore. STGCC also surpassed expectations by not only hosting the most number of exhibitors over two days, it also saw the largest convention turnout too in STGCC history.

Check out photos of the event here.

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