Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Hobby Complex 02 coverage

Hobby Complex is a new garage kit & flea market event organized by Art Storm/Fewture with the first event took place in Kobe and second event held on Sunday at Tokyo Big Sight, latter of which I attended. This pic was taken about 20 minutes before the 10am opening and the lines of people waiting outside of West Hall 2 wasn't as long as compared to the thousands that attended the Dengeki 15th anniversary event on Saturday.

Similar to World Hobby Festival (next one coming up on December 23rd at Tokyo Big Sight), Hobby Complex had dealers and garage kit circles, except for special guest appearances like Yuuko Miyamura (Asuka Langley's voice actress) and my favorite Kamen Rider creature designer and sculptor Yasushi Nirsawa, both attended the second Hobby Complex event for autograph sessions. I didn't know both were at the event until I got in. I was lining up to buy the Man Chrysalis and wondered why the line took so long to move until I saw Nirsawa-san signing items at front of the line! He was unbelievably friendly and down-to-earth for a person who drew and sculpted nightmarish creatures for a living. He was willing to sign any number of items brought to him at no charge, and even drew sketches for one of his fans that asked for sketches of four main Imagins from Kamen Rider Den-O! Not only did he sign my Man Chrysalis and Worm Works Gitai book, I got a photo with him, too!

I got Yuuko Miyamura's signature after I was informed by a friend at the event that she was there. I didn't notice her table there because I was in the garage kit area taking photos and her table was in the dealer area. Once I got the ticket for the noon autograph session, I frantically searched for a suitable Asuka figure for Miyamura-san to sign and finally found the perfect piece at one of the dealer tables. A Bandai Voice I-doll Superior Asuka Langley figure with a sculpt that I don't particularly like, but the fact that it comes with the original character voice and Miyamura-san's name on the packaging makes it a perfect candidate to get her signature on. Unlike Nirsawa-san's autograph session, I had to pay 3,000 yen for one signature.

Not a lot of the figures presented at the garage kit area that I liked except for a few that stood out in my mind like the Yotsuba & Fuka pair, Cerberus Project's Rider & Ignis, and this lovely lady here. I'd definitely love to see those turned into PVC figures someday! Check out pics of my Hobby Complex coverage in the following link.

Hobby Complex 02 coverage gallery

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