AFA was back again this year, featuring new and old guests cosplayers, artistes and even merchandises on sale. Held at Suntec City once more, the event saw a turnout of more than 4,000 cosplayers alone over the course of 3 days. We took a look around the halls, and bring to you – the sides you probably didn’t see.
As compared to the previous years, the layout for this year was considerably much better, with more room for those passing through. Queue lines were comparably neater as well – at least no one shouts at you for accidentally walking into the queue line when you are trying to get to the other side, and neither do you end up getting shoved about rudely because of a jam. There’s also a section carved out for a food street, which was great for those who were hungry for a quick bite or wanting to hav a meal.
With 3D printing all in the rage these days, it was therefore not a surprise when we found this at the event. A printer for ball-jointed dollfies, you could watch the process of the parts being made right before your eyes. If dolls and 3D printing aren’t your cup of tea and you prefer real-life humans, idols and autograph sessions were also part of the event this year. Featured on the mini stage as well as the festival stage, you could get the chance to meet voice actresses and even the producers for the various anime.
The only exception missing from this year’s edition of AFA was that of the Maid/Butler cafe, to which we spent 1hour walking in circles before realising they didn’t exist! Nevertheless, moving away from all the usual stuff, we found a couple of interesting tidbits while covering the event:
Porch?
A relatively popular booth selling official merchandises and CDs, we were surprised when we saw the word “Porch” selling for $20. Sounds like a deal if you ask us, because, wow, you get a porch for $20!
Plasters
Concert merchandises are common, but they are normally sold at the beginning/end of concerts and are limited edition in that way. For AFA this year, they brought in merchandises from UVERworld, a band which if you do watch anime, would be a familiar name to you. Interestingly, besides the normal T-shirts, wristbands etc, we found plasters for sale – and one set was sold out on the first day?!
Fans of the latest hit anime One Punch Man would be no stranger to what’s hanging on the wall. This caused a small jam as those who noticed the reference stopped to giggle and point.
We didn’t quite see what’s wrong with this poster on first glance, but the conversation of a guy behind us made us stopped to shake our head on hindsight as well. We’ll leave this with you readers to think whatever you might like, as we end our report on AFA 2015 and look forward to AFA 2016.
