A day out at Comic Fiesta 2014

Fighting a losing battle against what I would term as a 'continuing holiday inertia' just sadly means that my miniature painting projects remain neglected on the work table. Most of my free-time has seen me catching up on my reading as well as making the last few weeks of my son's school holidays as fun-filled as possible. With regard to the latter, this meant a family visit to the annual Comic Fiesta at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre. Targeted at the region's ACG (Anime, Comic and Games) community, the event mainly had anime, manga, art work as well as lots of cosplay of that genre.   

A day out for the family at Comic Fiesta 2014

As always I was on the lookout for any cool looking anime figures/miniatures. Majority of the high quality stuff on display (at least from what I could make out from the super packed crowd) were from Culture Japan, Good Smile Company and Max Factory with a few other brands found scattered here and there. Figures on show ranged from Smart Dolls to chibi miniatures to regular anime figures.

A huge booth showcasing Culture Japan's stuff

A row of the (very expensive) Culture Japan Smart Dolls

What is a Smart Doll?

Impressed by how good the Smart Dolls looked, I couldn't resist snapping some shots of those that were on display. One costs about 60,000 yen or RM1,750 so they don't come cheap. At first glance, I was blown away by the many poses in which the dolls could adopt as well as the quality of the fabric they wore. But to truly appreciate what goes into the making of a Smart Doll, you would have to check out the official site. Dolls (or actions figures if you are a guy) never looked this good!  

All the Smart Dolls were fashionably attired in simple yet nice colour schemes

Amidst all the dolls, I did stumble upon a space marine ... well, sort of ... it was a kawaii miniature of Mirai Suenaga (the Smart Doll's name) in battle armour (see below).   

Is that a warrior of the Adepta Sororitas I spy in the left corner?

... nah, it's just Mirai Suenaga in battle armour

Other than the Smart Dolls, I managed to find chibi-style miniatures on display too. These have the quality I aspire to in my own paint work on such miniatures i.e. the Super Dungeon Explore project.

Awww ... aren't they cute?

More chibi-style miniatures

Fifty Shades of Grey ... anime style

Love the dynamic poses which is putting all sorts of ideas in my attempts at figure drawing

More cute figurines ... the middle one has a cool miniature within a miniature concept

Unfortunately I couldn't afford any of the figures on display nor find any scale model figures for miniature painting enthusiasts. While I did spot a great deal for a Intuos Pro Pen Tablet, it was still way out of my budget so I could only stare wistfully at the tablet. Other than painting miniatures, I also absolutely love drawing and had been contemplating a move to drawing in the digital medium. But it's pencils and papers for now which reminds me drawing is yet another hobby I have not indulged in for a long time. Sigh, so many things to do and so little time ... story of our lives.