Hong Kong’s Animation-Comic-Games Convention 2016: Mostly a frenzy of shopping with a shrinking presence of local creators

It was business as usual at this year’s ACG (Animation-Comic-Game) Con in Hong Kong. Big international videogame and toy brands dominated, and attendees diligently lined up to shop for Japanese manga merch, to play test games in VR, or to marvel at finely-crafted toy figurines from Japan or the US. This 90% off gacha booth was, for example, swamped with people:

Meanwhile, local and independent creators flanked the sides, but were largely ignored by the crowd. Not only did the local-comics competition booth shrink to half its size, but local, comic-publisher heavyweight Jade Dynasty’s booth was virtually ignored by attendees:

One exception to this decline in local creators was the YYY Industry booth, which was hard at work promoting a VR shooter set in an alternate-reality zombie aftermath of Occupy Hong Kong:

Two booths from Mainland China made a presence as well, though neither managed to quite fit in. First, there was the China Animation Characters Company booth, which continued to show off its Hatsune Miku clone (it’s purple not turquoise!) – much to the consternation of the dozens of actual Hatsune Miku cosplayers at the convention. Then there was the oddly artistic and historical Zhan Zhongxiao exhibition, which felt out of place in such a commercial venue – a shame, because some of its illustrations are superb:

Lastly, I want to give a shout-out to the many cosplayers at the convention – it was heartening to see so many people dressed up in all sorts of guises:

ACG Hong Kong ends today – brave the winds and check it out this afternoon before it’s too late!