STGCC 2013: Our wishlist

One month on from the Singapore Toy, Game And Comic Convention, and I suppose by now the dust has fully settled. By now the highs of our very on pop-culture con would have been subdued, with some of us looking forward to other cons, or just planning other geeky things (I’ll touch on this soon), but let’s just take a look back at 2012’s edition of STGCC, and then look forward at 2013. For that we have Sarah, Melvin and I to lend some thought to this. Tell us what you think in the comments, since, well, STGCC’s fan survey is over …

Sarah:

Wishes:
1) More voice over artists from games or cartoons. Not anime. The western ones!
2) Celebrities! From our favourite tv shows! Like Supernatural, people from Harry Potter (ok that’s not a TV show), Buffy or any fantasy/sci-fi/fun series.
3) WEB celebrities work too! We watch their stuff on youtube.
4) More comic artists and writers!
5) Games. Board games. Card games. Games we can try out and play at the location itself.
6) Microsoft and Nintendo need to make an appearance. The wii and Xbox games are always fun to demo or buy.

Gripes:
1) The ticketing issue. It needs to be sorted out for people who bought it online wanted to have a no fuss queue to get in. Also, it’s so easy to lose the stub and I bought a two day ticket! It was sad that I couldn’t keep ANY stub at the end of the two days as a memento. This can be done like AFA, Comic Fiesta or the other various cons by having those wrist bands delivered to those who bought online or via pickup. Either way, it’s obvious to see who can get in and out on each day AND keep a memento of it! Less stress for the staff to stamp your arm/hand or have to look out for it.
2) Sound system. It’s the first time at MBS so okay but the sound system can be done better. If you were too close, the sound was peaked while too far and it echos. I found the best position to listen was weirdly outside the seated area, just beyond the fence to stand there.
3) Goodie bag pick up was confusing. Those who bought tickets at Action City etc could just go in straight into the halls but to pick their goodie bags up was confusing. Inside or outside? Where to get it? Also, it’s just a bag. I don’t expect a LOT of goodies in there but perhaps a special toy or commemorative mini comic or something? SINCE the ticket stubs couldn’t be saved too.

YAY bits:
1) Hall C. Whoever approved of it, was great cause people got to pose and take pictures of their cosplay since the light was bright and it was an EMPTY hall. Bonus points could be had if Canon/Nikon/various camera brands could be a sponsor there in one of the corners to have a photo set up booth. Or purikura machines (they’re the neoprint ones).
2) The layout in the main halls were quite okay. Spacious and easy to walk through the artist alley too!
3) Ok, I had fun seeing/meeting everyone there. Maybe pre-con games could be had online. More of it besides your usual lucky draws.

Melvin

This year’s STGCC was great and although I don’t want to see less of anything, there are a couple things on my wish list that I would like to see more of.
Spotlight on other kinds geeky games besides video and consoles. Maybe hooking up with Hasbro for Wizards of the Coast games like Dungeons and Dragons or Magic the Gathering. I would die for my boardgame love as well and I’m not talking about Monopoly or Risk here. 7 Wonders, Catan and Dominion may not be your traditional dice-rolling games but it’s definitely part of a rising trend. Check out Boardgamegeek.com to see more of what’s hot in the world of boardgames.
I remember there was a year when Takashimaya department store had a booth there and Hasbro had the San Diego Comic Con exclusive Marvel figures for sale too. As a Marvel action figure collector, my selfish wish is to see more new Marvel action figures on sale at retail price at the convention.
I understand time and budget constraints but of course I wanna see more comic pros from the West, maybe even one or two TV or movie celebrities or even sci-fi/fantasy authors.

Direcow

I think the new location at MBS was surprisingly good – I’d have thought it was hard to get there, but honestly there wasn’t much trouble even while I was lugging my huge bag around. I think the guests liked it too. If not for the food problem (alleviated by having food in the hall itself) I’d have to say location wise this might be even better than Suntec.
It was also nice to see a larger artist alley (I think) than before, I spent lots of time there just walking up and down and admiring the art. I think it was a nice variety of guests, especially when it came down to the Asian side (with respect to my interests), Chris Lie was a great new addition, as was Andie Tong and the entire Epigram group.
Would still wish for more western stars (as usual), and also a greater game section, whether board games (maybe together with PI?) or digital games (especially since it was pretty close to year end / blockbuster season, and we have a few big companies with branches here in Singapore). Maybe a movie screening – or basically expanding that pop-culture repertoire. After all, SDCC isn’t just a comic-con anymore …
And yes, someone should be in the hall to make sure the sound is working ok for the panels, Day 2 was a huge improvement over Day 1, but the milling around area still threatened to crowd the sound over the speakers out.

So what do you think? Was STGCC 2012 better or worse for you?