The following post originally appeared on attractmo.de, on May 22, 2014.
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It’s been two weeks since Comics vs Games 3D had its grand unveiling (followed by the spring 2k14 edition of Bit Bazaar, plus this year’s installment of the Toronto Comics Arts Festival). So time to finally file a report for those who couldn’t join us up north. For starters, the general response seemed to be “I can’t believe how well the 3D works!”
Silly as it may sound, every show is always preceded with a tad bit of anxiousness; you can’t help but wonder if it’ll get the response that it deserves. But especially so this time; despite the spotlight from our friends at Polygon and Kotaku, along with some local press, I personally was hoping for slightly more excitement online.
Though it was also hardly surprising either; without the proper viewing apparatus, none of the artwork would have as much impact. But before all that: landed in Toronto the Tuesday before the opening and went directly to Bento Miso, where packages that arrived a few days prior were waiting to be inspected. First thing I did was check out the glasses…
Waited for Adam, who showed up just a few hours after, to check out the prints. Here he is with Jennie Faber, one half of the dynamic duo runs Bento, which is currently one of the epicenters of Toronto’s red-hot indie game dev community…
The artwork never failed to get a “holy crap” reaction whenever the 3D glasses came on, which was gratifying to say the least. Here we are during the initial phase of set up for the gallery space, in which Marie Foulston from Wild Rumpus, swung by for a sneak peak…
Took a ton of photos of Kris Piotrowski and Dan Vader, of CAPY fame, thrusting their faces to and fro Adam’s MacBook screen (plus sideways). Wish I knew how to make animated gifs. I also love how Kris’ cat Jimmy simply could not give a rat’s ass…
This was the night before the opening, in which Adam and I added the final personalized touches to the glasses at Kris’ place, who was busy recording Super Time Force footage for the upcoming launch trailer (and who also treated Adam and I with some fine local spirits)…
Got up bright and early (for me at least) to put everything in their place…
A few short hours later, the doors were open at last…
… That’s Kris Mukai, one of the gallery’s artists, and whose piece got the second most common response of the weekend: “Wait a minute… is that Chip’s Challenge?!?!”
Though it wasn’t just about the 3D artwork. We also had 3D games, via the Oculus Rift, that Bento oversaw the creation of…
The house was simply jam-packed, and all night long…
An absolutely incredible evening for Attract Mode and all of our artists. Not only were we delighted by everyone’s reactions, it was just fun watching everyone sporting 3D glasses with our logo on them. Plus we didn’t look too shabby ourselves either…
Yet things were just getting started; the following weekend was Toronto Comic Arts Festival 2014 proper, and it was nice seeing Comics vs Games, which started off as this weird little thing develop into a fairly major focus of the whole shebang…
The following Saturday was also the third edition of Bento Miso’s Bit Bazaar, which made its debut for least year’s TCAF (some might recall the second installment last winter). This time, the Attract Mode table had a little something special: Venus Patrol shirts…
A selected assortment of offerings from the Attract Mode shop could also be found, albeit in limited quantities. Due mostly to a combination of the overall trickiness when it comes to bringing stuff across the border to sell, plus limited stock on our end to being with…
Though we did have another extra special goodie, in the form of Life Meter #3, which we’ve yet to offer online. Mostly because, as soon as we get our hands on copies for whatever show, there’s never anything left over! Which was the case again here…
Sitting immediately next to us was the Wild Rumpus table, in which Marie was selling what was unquestionably the deal of the entire show…
And next to Marie was Mr. VP himself, Brandon Boyer. Here he is setting up Tenya Wanya Teens…
Once the clock struck 11am, it was time once again to open those doors (this was the sign out on the street, to guide first time visitors to Bento)…
… Which already had a sizable line around the 10:30 mark. Meaning it didn’t take long before the gallery was filled up (and stayed that way the entire day)…
A glimpse at the mad house that was the main room…
There were cool stuff to play, literally every five inches, plus cool stuff to buy all over as well. Like these ultra limited edition N++ card sets…
There was also plenty of delicacies…
Back in the gallery, here we have Emily Flynn-Jones and Mathew Kumar going head to head in Tenya Wanya…
… Oh, so I did a panel with Mathew that afternoon, about video game zines, which was best summed up in this single tweet (was the Mountain Graphics’s shump crazy tee, FYI)
One of the very best parts about Bit Bazaar are all the legit super cool people who swung by the table, like those who wear PocketStations as fashion accessories…
You also had this gentleman, who goes by “Blizzard Jesus”; he came up with the brilliant idea of taking 3D pics of the 3D prints by attaching 3D glasses to his 3DS…
It was an idea that quickly caught on. Here we have Marie doing the necessary “mod” to her system…
Soon, everyone was joining in…
When all was said and done, Bento Miso received about 3000 visitors, almost doubling last year’s numbers! Overall, Comics vs Games 3D, and Comics vs Games 3 as a whole, was a massive success.
Adam and I can’t thank everyone who was able to swing by enough, along with all those who lent their support leading up. Though especially to our insanely awesome line-up of artists, without whom the show would have never happened…
Yet we do need to single a few folks out. At the very top of the list is both Henry and Jennie Faber, whose unwavering support every single step of the way allowed us to produce, what I firmly believe, to be one of Attract Mode’s finest hours.
Miguel Sternberg also deserves a shout out, specifically for giving Attract Mode so much love at TCAF proper, as part of this year’s Comics vs Games Showcase. And of course, there’s also Chris Butcher and everyone else behind the scenes at TCAF for being advocates of the whole Comics vs Games initiative in the first place.
So, what’s next? Well, we’ve already been asked by those who weren’t able to make the trip to Canada if there are any prints remaining, and the answer is yes. I’m also happy to report that they just arrived safe and sound on US soil (thank goodness), which means we hope to have everyone available for sale via the Attract Mode shop hopefully soon!
Along with everything from last year’s Comics vs Games 2. We haven’t forgotten! One last thing: special thanks to Jennie Faber, Kyu-bum Lee, and N. Maxwell Lander for the additional pics!
