The back story! Sorta.

Hurray! Singapore Toys, Games, Comics Convention is happening on the 10th December till 12th December this year. Before I do my flashback of 2009’s STGCC, I’m gonna do a series of posts for this. Well, just three or four before the day hits!

Did you know I was part of the semi-secret focus group for 2010’s STGCC? WELL NOW YOU KNOW. I said semi-secret cause they told us we shouldn’t blog about it until they confirmed things etc but we could just that they wouldn’t confirm it etc. Mind you, this was since MARCH so I’m like, “YES, YES. I CAN FINALLY SAY IT HAH!!!”.

This is gonna be a me-centric post in which I am wondering if I am an enabler or the fault of some of the events there… D:

Well, it started in March. A group of us were contacted then since we registered at last year’s entry and as for me, well I had been interviewed by the press about STGCC etc before. (Nifty note: If it’s got geekery or books in an press article and you notice a Sarah in the article, the chances are it’s 70% me.)

The meeting took place… At a large karaoke room in Marina Square. Around twenty of us or so including the organizing staff were in the room and they asked us, “What do you want to see at STGCC?”.

FYI, they introduced themselves as Reed because the previous organizers aka Play Imaginative wanted to focus on their goods and stuff more so they got Reed to do the event this time since it’s getting bigger.

Nonetheless, we told them what we wanted. It was a mixed group, there was an SGCafe-ian in which he spoke more of manga and cosplayers, there were other dudes who talked about toys and comics, girls who wanted dolls of Pullips etc sort. My agenda though was to think of my artists friends too. BWUAHAHA.

So thus, my suggestions were that since other conventions in the US had portfolio reviews, why not have it here? From the current scheduling of the events right now, I see they took my suggestion into consideration! And panels! Could we have panels? Cause panels are good and since guests were being brought, why couldn’t they give a talk? TADA. Oh man, I see panels are in, for this year’s convention, huraaaaay.

Plus ok, while others were talking about toy designers, exclusives etc, I asked them, “If it would be possible, could you bring in some actors or actresses from TV series like Supernatural or TBBT and stuff? I mean, Australia brings them in for their cons”. Well, it looks like none of them were able to come (I figured this was more to the scheduling of actors/actresses too anyway) but oooh looks like STGCC brought in Hollywood stunt types so that’s still a plus! I didn’t really expect that they could bring it in THIS year anyway since STGCC is still quite young in comparison to other cons.

Sipping on my Pepsi and crunching on the salted peanuts and crackers, I listened to the rest. Games. People liked games and autograph sessions. There was a whole discussion about the name “STGCC” because it was a mouthful. No one seemed to solve that because Singapore Toys, Games, Comics Convention sort of stuck. It felt long but eh, there was no alternative that would be fitting for it.

Since there were going to be guests etc, the organizers brought up the topic of price. I went ahead and said I’d totally pay at the very LEAST thirty to get in for both days (usually it’s just two days instead of this year’s three). They had in mind something cheaper than thirty. There was the issue of random uncles and aunties who had nothing to do with comics, games etc who just went in because it was free last year and took free goodies cause they were free which pretty much miffed the actual fans.

I totally approved of paying to get in because you pay for what you get and if it meant LESS “extra” people, then woot.  The rest agreed too, some saying that they expected a higher price from twenty or thirty.

Besides price, there was a matter of dates. We informed them that they totally need to NOT clash with the Anime Festival Asia, nor any of the other geekish events and hopefully to hold it on a holiday season. Unfortunately, I think this year’s STGCC is gonna clash with EOY, a yearly cosplay event but oh well to that!

And then it got to the topic of who we wanted to see there too… The staff were taking notes all the while. I smirked to my half finished glass of Pepsi.

“Uh, um. They brought her in for Singapore Writer’s Fest a few years ago… Could you try invite… Gail Simone in?” I asked.

And they noted it down.

LET US FLASHBACK A BIT MORE TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENED FOR THE WRITER’S FEST.

Flashback

Before December 2007

Sarah looks at the listings on the Singapore Writers’ Fest webpage. “Huh, they have comic writers on this… OH MY!” she exclaimed.

On a trip to Atomix Comix (now defunct) to pick up her Witchblade, Buffy, Liberty Meadows and other comics, leaning at the cashier.

“Hey Colin, um. You know, I’m part of SWF and I keep checking the listing, did you know they’re bringing Gail Simone in?” I asked.

And then the shop keeper got curious.

~~ TIME PASSES, LIKE A WEEK OR SO BEFORE THE FEST IN DECEMBER~~

“Hey Sarah! I just wanted to call you that we’ll be bringing Gail around!” said Colin.

And then Sarah’s phone died because it was a crappy piece of phone with a dying battery. She promptly dialed the shop’s number back and said, “WHAT, WHAT? SQUEE”. Or in some sort of variation like that.

END OF FLASHBACK.

Ok. So yeah. I definitely know I was an enabler for in 2007. So haaaaaaaa. Alright.

So anyway the meeting went on till late night for the semi-secret focus group. It was an interesting experience and that I definitely needed to go to the loo after drinking tons of Pepsi then. What was more interesting is that they sent us a survey form with a list of names of which we would rate to see at the event a week or so after.

I’m not gonna screencap that list. HAHAHAHAH.

This year’s STGCC must have taken tons of planning from the organizers. We’ll see how it goes in December!

Ps. I think my Nanowrimo-ness for this month is showing for this post.