Now here’s an event that should be talked about. Recently, The Magic Rain team was able to attend Avenue K’s Collectors Festival. Held from 25 April to 10 May 2017, the event was hosted by Avenue K and held at the Ground Floor of Avenue K. We were there on the 7th of May, and I enjoyed every part of it. Even if I was just a spectator, watching the activities was fun in itself!
The event’s biggest highlights were its showcases of ¼ sized statues designed and made by Prime 1 Studio, the official exhibitor for the AK Collectors Festival. Guest stars present included renowned toys sculptor, Blackz GBC and cosplay prop maker, Jonathan “Dei” Goon of Helios-E. They also had collectables and Superheroes T-shirts on sale for any passer-by in the mall.
Highlights
Super-Agent Challenge
The first of the few festivities was the Super-Agent Challenge where shoppers who had spent a total of RM50 in one receipt from any stores in Avenue K, had the chance to go through a few challenges to win prizes.
The first of these challenges was an accuracy test at the Nerf Blaster Corner among shoppers. Their goal was to get the highest score for prizes such as gift vouchers provided by Superheroes United and Avenue K. The second challenge was to beat each other at the Injustice video game. It definitely was a creative use of the facilities that they had on hand, and just watching the participants was entertaining. The emcee of the event also had some interesting quips here and there.
Sculpture Talks
Before the winners of the Cosplay Competition were announced, we had a panel talk with Blackz GBC. They talked about various topics covering statues and figurines sculpting. He also shared his first exposure to the figurine community, how to get into collecting figurines and statues, the current state of the community, and other interesting topics on toys sculpting. The talk itself was very interesting in my opinion. I never really held figurines or statues in any high regard before this, but after seeing the prices of these statues and finding out about the details behind some of these statues and figurines, I think it’s safe for me to finally clarify the value of this community.
Cosplay Competition
The cosplay competition was the one of the most awaited events for me on that day. Just like the Super-Agent Challenge, the Cosplay Competition was something I enjoyed watching as a spectator. The competition itself was split into two categories, the junior and the adult category. This aspect alone was already something different, at least from my experiences. You rarely see very young cosplayers nowadays so to see them add a junior division was really a breath of fresh air.
The characters were also a nice change as well. Being mostly exposed to the anime side of the ACG community, I rarely see superheroes and villains being cosplayed. The cosplayers themselves were really energetic and creative with their performances. Even the emcee was rather energetic as he cooperated with the participants.
A lot of the costumes for the junior division were also handmade, the most interesting of these homemade costumes was a Squirtle costume that was made entirely out of scratch for a participant in the junior category. All the performances were also really entertaining to watch; from Captain America teaching the audience some CQC to Mario dancing. Not to mention, the prizes were attractive and as high as RM2,500!
Overall
All in all, I definitely enjoyed the event. You have an energetic Cosplay Competition, an activity which shoppers can participate in, a panel talk with some of the most enthusiastic collectors in Malaysia, plus an amazing venue in my opinion – definitely an event I would like to see happen again.
