Toyconstruct Goes to NYCC 2014!

Hey Everyone

It's been awhile since we last updated as things have gotten busy...on the nerdy side :) JQ and I (along with some friends from home) were finally able to make our way to the New York Comic Con 2014, and boy did we have a blast! I think we still have the NYCC vibes going strong in us...

For the NYCC, JQ and I will be writing up 2 separate posts to show the best of our photos together on this blog. Be sure to look around for JQ's post that'll come later!

And your esteemed authors did dress up for NYCC: JQ as Finn from Adventure Time and I pulled out my Anovos BSG Raptor jacket. JQ and I geeked out with fellow nerds, stood amazed by fantastic cosplayers, oogled over miniatures, rubbed shoulders with a Hollywood actor (some $$$ involved - I'll leave that to JQ to spin a tale about it), and even lightened our wallets at the Artists's Gallery. If you're a nerd, you owe it to yourself to make it to the NYCC (or SDCC) at least once in your life!

*Nerdgasm*

We only spent Saturday and Sunday at NYCC and one thing for sure...it was always packed when we were there. When we first entered, we were nearly flattened by how many people crowded into the Jarvits Center, and NYCC must be making a killing with the admission fees! Even though our entrance was the first moment of our NYCC experience, we already spied some really cool cosplaying going on...especially the MarioKart one.

This is awesome cosplay. I love the spirit!

The passion is strong in this group...

Lots of time and effort must have gone into these costumes.

"Make way for the Dark Lord Sauron!" - actual words from an escort.

First, we grabbed a quick bite and proceeded first to the main floor to check out the assorted booths of dealers and merchandise. Lots of comic books (even some renowned classics), miniatures, collectibles, statues, and clothing were all up for sale. Interestingly, the main floor even had a booth that allowed you to draw and clip it up to showcase your artistic talents, and some of them were really good.

Sometimes you wonder if the comic con is an arena for comic book stores...

The world-famous Action Comics #1: rated a 6-ish but still commands a hefty fee I wager.

J Scott Campbell's Gwen Stacy - a lovely piece.

Sideshow's Chewbacca Premium Format Figure - easily out of my range...for a long time.

Over 9000!!!

A showcase of artistic talent among the visitors - some are pretty impressive!

Although we only had our minds set on spending in the Artists's Gallery, we did see some awesome collectibles. We saw a good variety of models/prototypes, such as Machinen Krieger, Megaman, TMNT (by James Jean which looks way cooler than Bay's), and Attack on Titan (I'm told that this is a kick-ass Anime line). We saw more comic book shops than manufacturers displaying their wares, I wonder if SDCC would have more toylines...or it's entirely possible that we missed displays too.

TruForce's Megaman: a project that may end up on Kickstarter.

Sentinel's Ma.K Fliege - the baddies's first response to the Firefly suit of the good guys.

Sentinel's Ma.K Kauz in White - the later version that replaced the Fliege.

Good Smile Company's TMNT: Uber Cool!

Good Smile Company's Titan: Repulsive yet strangely alluring...

Somehow by accident, we managed to catch the end of the Street Fighter: Assasin's Fist panel. If you haven't known yet, it's a new live-action web-series based on Street Fighter that have received great reviews. It's about Ryu and Ken uncovering their master's (Gouken) past and learning more about the dark art of ansatsuken ("assassination fist"). We managed to chit-chat with some of the actors, and managed to get a photo with Akira Koieyama aka Gouken.

Scoring a massive nerd-doken by chilling with Akira Koieyama!

Weta Workshop had a tremendous presence at NYCC. It goes without saying that they set the standard for props and miniatures, and best known for their excellent work with Peter Jackson's LOTR/Hobbit movies. They went to town with their displays,with a huge statue of Azog from the Hobbit, and the humongous dragon head even served as a landmark for us! It was incredible to look through their workmanship and wonder at the great amount of talent involved.

The Infamous Azog - hot damn.

Three Words: Parenting Done Right.

It's easy to hear Cumberbatch's voice in my head now...

Bard - definitely a big role in the coming (and thankfully last) Hobbit movie.

The Gate to Erebor - a forlorn reminder of the past glory of the dwarves.

The NYCC also featured a display of various Batman costumes used in the various movies. It was kinda hard to take photos of them since the crowd was considerable and the glass panels (though necessary) reflected lots of light/images back. It was really cool to stand close to the costumes we only saw on the screen, not to forget the "nipple Batman!"

The Sonar Suit - Batman Forever.

It should be noted that nipples didn't destroy Clooney's career.

I'm still wondering how his back was fixed.

It goes without saying that the cosplayers are "heartbeat" of NYCC. These guys and gals have our utmost admiration, for their passion and time-investment in making costumes that are awesome to behold, and their patience and enthusiasm in welcoming us taking photos of them. We saw some really awesome ones, and some of them even talked in character! We had an awesome moment with a guy dressed as the Black Knight - but I'll leave that to JQ to regale the tale to you all since he was in the middle of it!

Khal Drogo graced us with his biceps.

Black Cat: Mrrrreeeeeooow!

JQ and Cammy looking good!

Samwell Tarly! A true hero.

I think it's awesome when a whole family dresses up!

The tactical Robocop!

Kitty Pryde: I feel sorry she had to leave her lunch on the floor.

I can tell that this group is awesome.

The Arrow and Black Canary from the awesome series.

That's a power DC couple!

Jessica Rabbit and She-trooper - Girl Power!

Flame Con is planned to be the first LGBTQ Con - going on Kickstarter until Dec 4th
(https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/geeksout/flame-con-nycs-first-lgbtq-comic-con)

A comic con also needs to have art, lots of art. JQ and I made our way to Artists's Gallery, and we had a sensory overload. Rows upon rows of artists had displays up, and on our first trip we sampled and marked out artists we would like to buy from. We gave ourselves a day to deliberate over the art that caught our eye, and bought our art on the 2nd day. Needless to say, this was where most of our spending went to! (the day of waiting did not make us spend less unfortunately)

You just gotta love art - I try to avoid not to take in Artist's Gallery but some are just too good.

A fight that has certainly been a topic of many discussions.

The Product of an Inefficient Healthcare System - A Stellar Series.

If days were 48hrs long, I might have time to play this game!

One of the most memorable characters in video game history - The Illusive Man.

TURTLE POWER!

JQ and I certainly had an memorable time at NYCC, and as all good things go...they always have an end. However, getting a taste of the awesomeness of a "real" comic con, we foresee ourselves going to another in the future, even perhaps the fabled SDCC! For the future comic con, we plan to dress up once again (maybe a little more hardcore), maybe plan and catch a panel, and post about our exploits once again on this humble blog :)

The Teen Titans - and the end of our NYCC experience :(

Thanks for your support and continued readership. Geek on!

PS: Our Facebook page has more pictures - do check it out!

STGCC 2014

Hi there people!

It has been quite a whirlwind of a period for me dealing with work. Somehow, I manage to catch STGCC 2014 this year. Sadly, I am rather disappointed with this year's event. It almost seems like as the years go by, STGCC appears to be getting less awesome. Through my own observation over the years that STGCC had been held, Guest appearances have been dwindling, some mainstays that made STGCC iconic are not even around anymore and the event highlights seem less impressive.

It does put to question on whether the "Comic/Nerd/Geek" following has dissipated in our sunny island or has ReedPop fail to alleviate STGCC in being the hub for Comic Conventions in Asia?

This year's STGCC saw the absence of the Marvel Space and Panel and Imaginary Friends. There wasn't even a major feature in this year's event that compelled my soul to go. Despite my disappointment in the event as a whole, I manage to find a few stuff that impressed me.

Thanos by XM Studios

For starters,  Imust say that I am thoroughly impressed with XM Studios recent sculpts. Their Magneto and Thanos sculpts were absolutely bad ass. They have come a long way as Singapore's very own producer of limited edition premium statue collectibles. When I first saw them in the first STGCC event, I was not really particularly impress with the sculpts. The details were lacking and the colour rather primary and basic compared to what HOT TOYS and Sideshow had to offer. However, this year, they were one of the main event with the Magneto and Thanos Sculpts.

XM Studio nailed it so well that their Magneto Collectible Sold Out before I had a chance to contemplate the amount for these awesome statue collectible.

"Why are you so beautiful, Groot, Why??"

Another Impressive batch of figures that caught my eye were from DAM Toys. DAM Toys created this series of figures under the name Gangster Kingdom. Gangster Kingdom features Mexicano and British Gangster/Holligan Persona in an animated style that we are familiar with. While it is your standard 1/6 Scale figure, the head sculpts were done to look animated. This particular style was intriguing and cool as usually most 1/6 scale figures are done to look as realistically human as possible.

This UK Thug and its sculpt reminds me very much of Vinnie Jones

A few of the Gangsters from Gangster Kingdom

This particular figure reminds me of Jason Statham. For all intentions and purpose, I am quite sure the sculpt of his head was done to look pretty much like him.

Another Bad Ass

DAM Toys also had a few other gangster, one looking very much like Danny Trejo from his famous action film, Machete as shown below.

Last but not least, Soldier Story attracted me this year with the Zero Dark Thirty DEVGRU Team Leader. This bad ass Seal Team Six Operative had all the equipment to boot as featured in the movie. I for one particularly like the exact details that they have put into sculpting the head likeness to Joel Edgerton who acted as the Seal Team Six Leader. Furthermore, the helmet with those super cool looking 4 lens NVGs are on another level of bad assery not seen even in Call of Duty.

That is one mean looking Seal with the weaponry and equipment one can only dream of

It's Joel Edgerton!

Voltron, Defender of the Universe and his handicap sidekick, Me

I have been looking at what is in store for New York Comic Con and it sounds like it is going to be one mucho supremo magnifico event with the featured guests, exhibitors and panels. While it pales in comparison to San Diego Comic Con, ReedPop has made NYCC look as good as ever. My only hope is that they would do the same for STGCC. Hopefully, STGCC 2015 will be more kick ass. I can only have my fingers crossed for it!

WFB DE: the Humble Warrior Regiment

Hey Everyone

Congratulations to our giveaway winner Bill Jenkins, and JQ & I would like to thank you all for your readership. Keep a heads up as more giveaways would come along in the future :)

Today we will be taking a look at the bread and butter core unit of the Dark Elves: the warrior regiment. I'll refer to them as "warriors" in spite of 8th edition terms. "Dreadspears" is too corny for me, and I am pissed about how new editions change everything =  $$$ for GW. This unit was another ebay find for me, painted at a reasonable price.

DE and a nice grassy landscape - can only be bad news...

The warrior regiments are derived from the DE citizenry, and all members are expected to serve in their local militias. DE warriors are the typical basic infantry unit: mundane stats and dependence on numbers. Magic banners and shields are added to ensure a degree of durability of the unit.

DE gender equality: males and females fight alongside each other.

I've only played my DE army twice. Once against a High Elf army, and another against Chaos. The HE army was brought down by my hydra (they're awesome), while the Chaos fight was more even...unfortunately the battle was invalidated by the incorrect use of rules. My fully beefed up DE warrior regiment surprisingly (or luckily) held the line against a Chaos warrior regiment.

All citizens form the rank and file of this unit.

Assassins are one reason why playing DE is maliciously fun. They can hide in regiments and then be unleashed at the right moment on an unsuspecting character. Your enemy will always be on their toes if they know you have an assassin around. They have ridiculous WS, and with an added hand weapon, they can spell the end of most characters.

Blades so tarnished they could give you tetanus just by looking at it.

I picked DE as my "evil" army and wanted to explore if the writers could construct a feasible society that was evil, and yet had an eye on realm longevity. In short, a "lawful evil" society that still had some statutes in place, and question whether GW could move evil societies beyond caricature.

DE: Slavers 'r Us of WFB.

Boy was I in for disappointment! The DE turned out to be just plain evil, exploiting their slaves to death (using their corpses as fertilizer), holding countless blood orgies, backstabbing each other on a regular basis, and always seething with hatred every single day. Going to maximum evil/exploitative on the majority of actions is a sure way of destroying your own empire.

LET'S FIGHT FOR EVIL!!!!!

So far, I am still skeptical if such a completely evil society could truly exist in a fantasy world. I could also be missing the point, as fantasy could be the creating of caricatures without a nod to realism. On the flip-side, realism in fantasy worlds may have an "equalizing" effect, where all sides appear to be all morally imperfect. Should fantasy be another world by itself, or should it reflect the real world we live in?

I think that depends on what you like in the end...Tolkien or GRRM?

Close-up for the shield.