5 August 2010

ACGHK 2010 Part 1


At last, the first bunch of photos from the very recent ACGHK convention. I took a bit too many this year, so the general coverage (excluding the Dengeki Model Tournament part which will definitely have its own post) will be split to 2 posts. Without further delay, here they come!


Cosplayers have their own entrance to the convention.


Shin-chan on stage. A pity that the manga author died this year, but at least the legacy shall remain.


A long row of gashapon machines from Bandai


Disposal bin for empty capsules - they can be reused again and again for future gashapons, since the toys inside are imported by themselves separate from the capsules.


Doujin and 'flea market' area

A stall that sells garage kits for mecha musumes (mecha girls)


The huge Doraemon balloon seems to have made its appearance every year. At least this has been true for last year and the year before.


A yellow Doraemon with ears (that's how it looks like originally according to the lore)


There appears to be a new Doraemon movie every year (some are remakes), and there's trailer to promote the latest one to be shown this year.




The main Doraemon cast.


AKB 48 merchandise store.


Kadokawa store - guaranteed to have long, long queues at any time ^^;


A manwha (Chinese comic) store


Wooden versions of blades and katanas from various anime series are getting more and more popular these days. There are also katana umbrellas which are getting more popular in Hong Kong too (though this has appeared in Japan some time ago already, but not cheap).


Lego has an exhibition and store area in the convention every year near the middle of the venue.





ALTER, Good Smile Company, and Max Factory have a row of figures on display. All are already released afaik.


The recently released Miku VN02 figure, sold in convention for 880HKD.








In addition to Miku VN02 being sold for 880HKD in convention, apparently one can also pre-order Saber Lily ~Golden Sword of Victory Caliburn~ there as well, which is a Good Smile Company online exclusive item.


Fans posing with the life scale Saint Seiya statue


The 'flea market' area sometimes has rather interesting self-made stuff being sold.


Wall scrolls are a popular item being sold in stalls. This year we get to see more of Touhou stuff as well as Black Rock Shooter stuff.






I encountered a kid who is really into Beyblade. His mother kindly showed me his collection and how he participated in the tournament that was held in ACGHK convention. While I am not into this at all, I do get interested at how people are into things they really like, and it's definitely not just a "3-minute" thing as he has been collecting them and playing them for years. The passion behind the hobby that will last for sometime, perhaps at least for the childhood I think.


And he managed to get a gold colour limited Beyblade which is usually only limited to Japan. Luckily the official store in ACGHK convention sold these as well here, and he seems to be one happy person even though he did not get qualified to the elimination rounds that day.


Rin's purchase by lunch time. Don't ask me how much stuff he's bought there, and the amount has at least doubled at the end of the day.


A special area designated for cheap purchase of random toys (mainly gashapons). Gashapons are being sold as low as 1HKD per pop.


Original character design / creative art exhibition. This sackboy lookalike later ended up in a shop in Mong Kok that focuses on making monsters (blog here) o_O





More original work from various Hongkongers on display


Mighty Media has a large store for anime merchandise of Shana, Summer Wars, Naruto, Wolf & Spice, and a few more stuff.


Random stores sell merchandise from character fans, hats, to Miku leek plushies


Cloud Strife's sword from Advent Children movie can be found as well. Not sure whether it can dissemble down to 6 different pieces though.


Dakimakuras. Not sure what you think of them, but most of my friends find them rather disgusting to own.


Cosplay outfits can be bought in some stalls too, so you can even cosplay on the spot if you really want to ^^;


Yu-gi-oh! area with matches taken place inside, as well as a shop area on one side for people to purchase booster packs or card covers etc.


Yu-gi-oh! players playing inside. I guess there are tournaments held in certain time of the day as well because I see the elimination chart at the back.


As usual, wherever a girl in cosplay shows up there will be crowds of people with big cameras forming an arc around her.


Anime suitcases found inside Mighty Media store for 480 HKD each. Each suitcases are apparently limited item and are being sold 1 per day only.


Someone playing a racing game on XBOX 360


XBOX 360 Kinect in motion - someone playing a dancing game there.


A Hong Kong manhua author signing autographs for fans. Some Hong Kong comics, especially those catered for younger audience and/or children, follow the style of Japanese manga more than the traditional manhuas which are usually in full colour and characters with serious look and realistic details.


More XBOX 360 consoles and games for people to try out. No Sony PS3s or PSPs are spotted here since they usually appear in the Asia Game Show in December instead.


Hong Kong's Hot Toys store with their own exhibit of the latest realistic looking action figures.



A display of Toys Story 'crane machine'


Hot Toys Bruce Lee action figure





Hot Toys action figures from movie Predator


There is also a shop section in the area too, with many stuff already sold out when we were there, for example an Ironman bust



Haven't watched Ironman 2, but the War Machine sure looks mean and cool~


Action figures for Inglourious Basterds, Prince of Persia, Clash of the Titans, as well as The Pacific


Action figures for games - Assasin Creeds 2 and Resident Evil 5


Closer look of Ezio from Assassin's Creed 2.


Hot Toys Resident Evil 5 figures


Hot Toys action figures from Terminator 2, and Michael Jackon (the Thriller ones appeared in last year's exhibit as well).


A World of Warcraft stall. All I remember seeing was some card games being played there.



Chinese version of Dengeki Hobby September issue will come with the MS White Base Hangar kit just like the Japanese one, and will be sold on 20th September.


A screen showing one of the Yu-gi-oh! matches being played live in the Yu-gi-oh! area.


Muse (木棉花), a Taiwanese animation distribution company, had its own large store set up too for selling various anime merchandise for series such as Sacred Blacksmith, Kuroshitsuji, and Fairy Tale etc.


World of Warcraft trading card game. Didn't know it existed until that day so I wouldn't have a clue how it is played.


Disappearance of Suzumiya Haruhi to be aired in Hong Kong cinemas this Autumn!


Cospa has its own shop in ACGHK 2010. They have t-shirts sold there as pre-releases, which means they are sold in advance of the supposed released dates :o


Phew, there goes the first part of the ACGHK 2010 coverage! Hope I have managed to cover the captions for most if not all of the photos above! But I have another half to do very soon -_- Oh well as long as you enjoy what's going on there I don't mind it ^^;

Lots of big stores like Kadokawa and Lego made their comeback and took their usual spots like where they have been for the past few years. Not surprisingly they have very long queues just like previous years, though I have a funny feeling that they are even longer this year. o_o Anyway, do look forward to the next part of the coverage to come this weekend!

Album link:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/quentinlau/sets/72157624653555516/

14 comments:

  1. Wow, Asuka's favourite Card game is there ^_^ lol hahaha... more variety to look at compared to last time I checked ^_^ Will there be a second post on cosplayers? Graciously excited to see the different cosplayers not available from figure.fm

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  2. that ironman Mk2 statue was great.. this exhibition is as big as the pc fair we having here..

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  3. @ Robostrike:
    Haha one of my old school friends is a fan of it as well, and he spends money on making decks!

    I didn't take many photos of cosplayers, but I may get to post one as a bonus one if I have time. We shall see :o

    @ seven6398:
    I like the War Machine more than the Ironman (which I haven't posted here yet), but both still look pretty cool. The venue is indeed pretty big, but I have no idea how big it is compared to the ones outside Asia.

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  4. Oh wow, Ricky had a signing session? It's too bad I couldn't go on those days.

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  5. O.o huge Shin-chan, haha suddenly not a shorty lol and yes his legacy lives one =)

    This exhibition looks fun!

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  6. @ K:
    Oh you know Ricky the Hong Kong comic author? My sister got a Kusanagi Kyo sketch along with the autograph from him many years ago. Too bad I didn't get to do it back then or else I'd have asked him to do Iori for me. I wonder whether he still accepts sketches for his older works.

    @ Fabrice Requin:
    Shin-chan has literally become larger than life ^^;

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  7. @Q: Yeah, I used to live in Hong Kong, so I knew a little bit during when he drew the KOF comic and first started Exorcist.

    Oh, that's lucky of your sister! Man, I hope he still does sketches of the older stuff. But either way, I don't have anyway of asking now, haha.

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  8. @ K:
    Oh that's impressive. Didn't know anyone else out there who did read Co Co! as well as the comics it published!

    Maybe I should ask Ricky next year and see whether he still draws KOF characters for autograph. It would be great if he still does!

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  9. @Q: I was surprised myself to see Co Co! still running when I was visiting, to be honest. Not that it's a bad thing.

    Haha, good luck with that. Post it if you do get it!

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  10. @ K:
    Just like the Japanese comics magazines, Co Co! will always have new generations of readers to fill in. As far as I know they still have a good mixture of manga and Hong KOng manwa, and with Ricky still doing autographs this year that means he should still be very active at the moment! :o

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  11. @Q:
    That's good to know. I just didn't think of it that way, I guess. But you're right now that I think about it. It's nice to hear that Ricky is still active, too. (Did Exorcist end, by the way? I couldn't buy the whole set because it got cut off at the covention)

    And sadly, I have no way of reading it once I'm outside of Hong Kong...so I guess I just have to go visit again sometime.
    ( /_\)

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  12. @ K:
    Tbh I have no idea whether Exorcist has ended or not because I've stopped reading Co Co! for quite some time already (before Exorcist got published).

    I know there are shops that sell comic books from the same publisher that publishes Co Co! (people used to play MOZ cards there too), but I can't remember what they are called or their locations. At least I know that the conventions are not the only places to buy them when you are in Hong Kong :o

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  13. I've should've asked u to get something for me if u didn't mind. lol

    I'm impressed the kids mom allowed u to take pictures of his Beyblade collection. I guess she wants the whole world to see. xD

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  14. @ Optic:
    Ah I usually don't mind. Just tell me in advance next year so I'll try and look for it for you :o

    The mother is very kind to allow me to take pictures of the kid's Beyblade collection. She doesn't seem to mind at all, and is very open to share her son's hobby :o

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