TOYSREVIL @ #BigBigCon 2019 & #StreetSuperior
The annual Street Superior Festival happened the weekend of November 2nd to 3rd, 2019. I had gotten late into the hype-game, via an invite from Jeffrey Koh of FLABSLAB, who had organized and curated the inaugural BIGBIGCON - which had been apart of said event, and had been my primary focus of coverage on TOYSREVIL. As such I was pretty clueless of what else transpired at the hype-beast event, besides seeing Insta-snaps, and getting ahold of the event guide on-site, as I registered in.
This would be the 2nd year of "Street Superior Festival" (borne from "Sole Superior: Singapore's Premier Sneaker & Streetwear convention"), and it looks like I've missed tons of activities at the fest!
Having missed Preview Night (on Friday night, November 1st ..."night-time" and me do not always agree, alas), I was quite antsy to get to BigBigCon, as I knew I might be missing out on collectibles that might get sold out, hence missing s slice of my coverage - which indeed happened for a few booths, alas. Nevertheless, shared here today were snaps from my visit on the Saturday November 2nd, the public visit day for the weekend.
Finding *SCAPE was a little adventure by itself, for me personally, as I have never visited the venue before, and had no inclination of its location besides folks' insistence it was "next to Cineleisure". Having not been to Cineleisure for well over a decade, did not help, although having a late lunch in its basement subsequently really helped let the floodgates of the past memories flood my brainpan LOL
In the end, finding and reaching the venue was not a insurmountable problem, as compared to needing to cab it in to F1 Pit Building (*cough*)... Leaving the venue, at the end of the day, proved to be another whole other challenge, but I digress ...
Street Superior essentially took over multiple venues in *SCAPE, turning the mall-space into one big event space, filled with peoplemountainpeoplesea hanging around the ground level, amidst restaurant pods, baskers, and I even spotted the crew from DPLMT doing a live-mural-painting at the entrance (*the result of which is currently up for pre-order as a print here, by @ebao_art FTW)!
My focus was BigBigCon 2019 itself - predominantly the zone on the 5th floor dubbed "CON-MEN'S UNIVERSE", unfortunately passing by the Star Wars-themed + vintage market place known as JAR JARS BIZZARE BAZAAR (images here courtesy of @thedanielyu & @mikeozzo) and FU CHEE KEONG'S TRADING POST.
The BigBigCon venue itself was snuggled in a carpeted hexagonal "*SCAPE Gallery" (with retractable audience seating). And housed in it's 2,153 square feet was a wonderful collection of all-toy themed goodness I'd always imagined a "toy-con" would be! Featuring a dedicated and specific offering of "artslashdesigner collectibles" - both independent and production - seen here are the individual booths - of which all can currently be viewed via slideshows on my Insta (hash-tagged toysrevilbbc2019), and eventually as well on this blog.
Meeting Joshua Artono and Eric Christian at the entrance to BigBigCon, was such a delight, and set the mood for the day! I constantly miss getting wefies with Josh though...!
It was not until much later in the day, when I realised that there were "two entrances" to enter the venue - both to the left and right of the "main door" (which was actually closed), with each entrance "deciding" the directional-path of where my toy-journey would take me ... and I turned right (as is my habit).
The first booth that greeted me, was Good Guys Never Win Toys from Jakarta, who debuted their Hypenan Chicken figure, and a surprise "VR MAN" release which Sold Out right in front of my eyes! Learning about the different toys and their genesis, was rewarding for me, and I cannot wait to share them on the blog! My thanks to @jimmy_yu for the health-concern and toy-stories, and @julianaaronwidjaja for the hospitality.
Look out for @ggnwtoys at Singapore Comic Con 2019 and Culture Cartel 2019 - both happening on the weekend of December 7th and 8th, where they will be bringing folks more of the same and some new surprises! You want to snag VR MAN? RUN to the booth, people!
Kurobokan had been their booth neighbour, and I managed to catch up to MrKumKum (Insta @mrkumkum / whom I last met in 2014) who had tried-out using a new colorway palette for his Murdog The Bulldog-customs, and as well @eric_noah, whom I had a substantial catch up with, ending with me egging him to take a snap with the giant GWEN THE CORGI!
Taiwan artist Robin Tang (Insta @robintangantics) flew into Singapore and helmed his own booth. I had a chance to meet him for the first time in person, and watched as his fellow exhibitor snatch his cookies as I had a exceedingly brief chat with the visiting artist, alas.
Daniel Yu co-exhibited with Fanny Kao's toy-art (Insta @fufufanny.kao / who did not attend the event) and sold out BOOF! blind-boxes, and it had been a rewarding time catching up, and seeing his toy-score! Daniel will be exhibiting at Singapore Comic Con as well, so keep a look out and stay connected via his Insta @thedanielyu!
Ozzo Collection had by the weekend sold out of their SINCITY NANO TEQ, and Nutbuster editions from Quiccs x Devil Toys - so much so I never did even had a whiff of seeing the pieces in person! Congrats! That EVA-themed MECHA SHARK LORD from Momoco Studio tho...!
The WHALERABBIT booth housed a collective of local makers, including @ah_vin, @mitoys_, @onibi_art and @nebbyart, and as well Ben Teo at Nebby Art who shared the story of their upcoming KING SAMEGO kaiju, which I cannot wait to share with you folks!
Holding center-court was the Oh Boys! Custom Show pieces featuring Kong Andri's "Owangeboy" (made with FLABSLAB) as the custom-base of choice for a select group of 20 international artists! Congratulations to the folks with red dots!
Pobber Toys showcased a splendid selection of their produced vinyl collectibles, including pieces from @abell_octovan, @jcrivera, @bananavirus, @hello_abiebi, @tanavit23, @nathancleary, and more - which we will take a closer look at soon - as well a duo of very interesting prototypes... *once I figure out whom they are from! Updates via Insta @pobbertoys.
Creon and Wetworks' booth saw a showcase of upcoming prototypes of resin pieces from @chknhead x FLABSLAB (above), and as well Wetworks' line-up of goodness! Alas by the time I reached the booth, "BARTOLOME", Creon's exclusive releases, @iamwetworks' customs has since been SOLD OUT!
ZiQi's booth was filled with DINOS Little and Giant, in a fantastic variety of editions and colorways! Stay connected to his Insta @ziqi_wu for updates!
Imagine if I had entered the venue by turning left, I would have greeted the FLABSLAB booth first, when instead theirs was my last booth of the day, when my vision had gone quite blurred - thankfully the auto-focus on my iPhone saved me!
Showcasing a fantastic selection of collectibles - from overseas artists @grindhousetoy & @kaiju_one (top row), local+oversea artists collabs (center row) featuring works with @martinhsudesign, @tanavit23, @erikartoon, @lukechueh, @richpage and @ibreaktoys and more!
The bottom-row display showcased upcoming collectibles to come from FLABSLAB x @zcxz, and more - whom you need to stay connected to their Insta @flabslab for updates and more reveals!
Looking at all of this from an outsider perspective and a toy-enthusiast, having ALL the similar genre toy-vendors+exhibitors+artists housed in a singular space, is a literal wetdream come true and a playground of immaculate happenstance. As much as one might argue this being a small scaled "Taipei Toy Festival" (housed in a singular space), I personally truly appreciate the opportunity to be engulfed in the genre, as opposed to standard comic convention spreading out booths amidst other genre vendors - very much like a shopping center/mall tenant-mix, which I am not a fan of, but accept because that's what we have.
The word I am looking for was "intimate", and I personally appreciate not being "overwhelmed" - as I do every convention - and having the chance to chat and have decent conversations with artists and folks, which I found/find as rewarding and enriching at BigBigCon! Alas I was not able to make Day 2 as I totally knocked out on Sunday at home, after a memorable challenge going home after Day 1 OMG hahahaha
I am personally exceedingly grateful for the friendships.
My apologies for the folks whom I've not had a chance to chat with or say "hi" - due to my lack of personal time-management skills and less than stellar eye-sight .... may we cross paths again at the next event!
The closest "fit" this event would be to "Thailand Toy Expo", if only it was housed in a public mall, as *SCAPE had been, which alas I never had a chance to experience and enjoy, my lacklustre physicality notwithstanding, of course.
As a "lapsed toy collector", in a weird-twisted way, I am "grateful" I had not been able to financially sate my toy-wants thus far this year, otherwise I would definitely have blown my budget at BigBigCon! ... So I comfort myself ... there's still Singapore Comic Con and Culture Cartel to look forward to too!
Cheers
Andy TOYSREVIL
