STGCC Updates: It’s going to be amazing!

Singapore Toys Games & Comic Convention had their huge press conference on Thursday (on top of a hush hush thing later that we hope we’ll be able to talk about soon), and as news slowly filtered out via twitter, well, it looks like this year’s convention promises to be not only amazing – but perhaps the biggest meeting of mass media and entertainment in the region. We weren’t able to make it for the press conference itself (possibly because we aren’t actually press), but we do have our hands on the press release – colour me amused that their fact sheet is all of 8 pages long. In the press conference they announced a few new major guests, such as their guest of honour, and the G&B Comics sponsored guest, together with a few more surprises, such as the Hollywood types they hinted at (no, not Stan Lee.) STGCC is trying it’s hardest to be the biggest yet – are we excited? All arrows point to AFFIRMATIVE.

It’s going to be hard to summarise EVERYTHING into a single blog post, so we’ll feature what we feel is either really exciting, or just plain interesting. Or both. Not neither. A note: Most of the major guests will only be here for Day 1 or 2 from what I can gather.

1. C. B. Cebulski
A little sad that he doesn’t have a picture on the guest page yet (so it’s easy to miss him), but this is huge news for the local industry. I’m willing to bet that those people hoping to be spotted at the Artist’s Alley are buzzing just that much more now, and for good reason. Cebulski is Marvel’s talent scout, and he’s been flying all over the world looking for artists to feature in Marvel’s roster. Think you’re wield a mighty pen (or sharpie, or stylus)? This is as good a chance as any to be there and to show off your chops. Cebulski’s been very willing to share what he looks out for in a portfolio, and he’s been really approachable on Twitter, so make sure you bring down your prime work!

2. Gail Simone
To quote Bleedingcool: “RESPECTFULLY, WE INFORMED YOU OF THIS AT AN EARLIER JUNCTURE!”
I don’t think Gail Simone needs any introduction, having been here before for the Singapore Writer’s Festival in 2007, but she’s back again for more chilli crab! We’ve been a huge fan of Gail Simone’s work on Agent X way back in 2002/2003, and while it’s sad that she had to leave the title due to creative differences, I’ll have to say the move to DC has been nothing short of awesome. The main crew at Herebegeeks might have more of a Marvel slant, but we appreciate good work when it comes from DC, and this is it.

3. David Lloyd
David Lloyd is probably best remembered for his art from V for Vendetta, but as a 31 year veteran in the business, there’s just too much to list from his amazing body of work. Perhaps most exciting will be the STGCC numbered limited edition of V for Vendetta just for this year’s STGCC alone – I wonder how much stops G&B had to pull just to get it done. If you want to talk about rare convention exclusives – this is going to be one of them. And he’s also a writer – so we’ve come from wondering why we only had 1 writer (Ivan Brandon) to, well, quite a few of them. Also: last year – Brian Bolland. This year – David Lloyd. Are we getting closer to Alan Moore himself?

4. Toys toys toys.
We’re not really toys people here (until someone buys us a huge house to display them), but I’m guessing if you’re interested then these names mean something to you – Alice Chan, Jason Siu, Koto Nishimaya, Mori Chack, Shinichiro Kitai, Simone Legano and Tim Tsui (amongst others). But more interesting would be the con exclusives – launches of BE@RBRICKS x Uglydolls, Trexis and Unicorno’s.

5. Hollywood Stunt Team
Wait what?! Jennifer Phillips and her stunt team has worked one quite a few major movies, such as Salt, The Twilight Saga, Kung Fu Panda (yes, the animated Dreamworks movie) and Pirates of the Caribbean. But what we really want to know is – what went on on the set of Thor, and if one of the scenes they’ll replay would include a sneak peek for Thor.

And let’s not forget other things like sneaks of new animations like Nurarihyon no Mago and Generator Rex, gaming tournaments, the launch of The Resitdent Tourist vol 4 by Troy Chin, Victorian inspired wear from Merveilleux Boutique, Japanese girl idol group AKB48 (I can hear some drooling already) and of course the other amazing guests we’ve already announced previously. There’s also the cosplay competition, a flash mob on the 6th of Nov, academic portions of the convention, and… well I’m just breathless from listing it all. There’s also a short article in today’s Life! about the convention if you’re interested, so take a look at that!

Now that all’s been revealed – what are you most excited about?