After a week of digestion, it’s time to unpack Asia Comic Con (ACC) 2018! Held on 13-15 July at the Sunway Pyramid Convention Centre, this geek convention was pretty hyped up in the past few weeks. If you had read our previous ACC write-up, you probably had a good guess regarding what’s on the menu for this convention.

The Good #1: Eye Candy Galore

As mentioned in our previous article regarding ACC, this event’s main draws were the “figurine and toy display area”, “the Dragon Quest Museum” and the “esports section”. Special mention deservingly goes to the life-sized statues and Batman’s cool vehicles (the Tumbler and Batpod), which were 100% selfie and photography material.

Speaking of Instagram-worthy beauties, XM Studios’ gorgeous and premium statues were hands down great in both the aesthetic and price tag departments.

The Good #2: Triple Treat

Topics of the visual variety aside, I also wanted to call attention to the board games/tabletop section of ACC, which was an unsung highlight. One can immerse oneself into the Warhammer painting sessions and of course the Dungeons & Dragons and Magic: The Gathering demos.

For curious folks and enthusiasts of these fine titles, ACC genuinely provided them with opportunities to learn and play these hit games. Come to the geek side, we have multiple fictional universes and adventures for you to explore and have fun!

The Bad #1: Bare Bones

ACC had a stage for performances, a large dedicated area for cool statues, cosplayer signing schedules, VIP meet-and-greets and multiple sections for different kind of booths. Despite all this, the entire event itself felt bare and lacking. With the word “Asia” boasted in its title, it wouldn’t be wrong for one to possess a certain level of expectations, especially when the entry ticket was a steep RM30/SG$10.08 per day.

On top of that, ACC was held on the same weekend as other ACG fests such as World Cosplay Summit Malaysia 2018, Animuzic Night 2018 Vol. 2 and Anime Saiko 2018. The competition was undeniably stiff and it’s evident in ACC’s Saturday’s small crowd size.

The Bad #2: You Can Speedrun Through The Event

Frankly, for attendees who had no interest in the performers (that catered more towards anime and idol fans) and guest cosplayers, there wasn’t anything much to do and see besides some photo-taking. After all, there were zero special talks/panels and the actual artist booths were small in number.

It’s in the realm of possibility that one could actually finish walking around the event hall in less than an hour. Hashtag underwhelming.

The Bad #3: “Comic Con”?

In Malaysia, it has become a norm to insert the phrase, “Comic Con” in almost all geek conventions’ names, even if said events weren’t comic-centric at all. So, it’s not surprising that you can count the number of actual comic-related booths in ACC with only one hand. Honestly, you probably need only three fingers or lesser.

Overall, judging from some reviews on the event’s Facebook page, the disappointment was real. *sigh*

Ironically, ACC actually had most of the elements that could make it a comprehensive geek convention; games, special guests, comics, artists (both the drawing and singing kind), cosplays, art booths, performances, statues, merchandises etc. While it wasn’t all bad, it did fell short of expectations.

Believe it or not, I also attended the FV x SEA Major Malaysia 2018 event on the same weekend as Asia Comic Con 2018. You can read about the event in this article!

Speaking of geeky cons, you can read our write-up on the recently-concluded CAFKL too.

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