Gunpla Expo and Gunpla Builders World Cup 2015, Seoul: Part I

Today was the first day of the fall semester, which means my summer has tragically come to an end. I made the most of my time off from teaching by traveling across the Korean peninsula to several major cities and even hopping over the ocean to a nearby Japanese island for a bit of sushi and sake. I'll write up proper posts for those adventures in the future, but first I'd like to write about a more time-sensitive matter: the 2015 S. Korean Gunpla Expo, which is of as this writing currently taking place at the Coex shopping mall in the southern half of Seoul. The Gunpla Expo is scheduled to last from August 20th to the 26th and is also host to the Korean entrants in the 2015 Gunpla Builders World Cup, so for Gundam and Gunpla fans living in Korea it's obviously a must-attend event.

For the last six months or so I've been working on my submission for this year's GBWC, and in the past few weeks I've dedicated almost every minute of my free time to completing it. I was adding finishing details to my Gunpla up until the last possible moment, and it was already after 7pm on the 19th when I jogged into convention hall D1 on the 3rd floor of the Coex to drop off my Gunpla, two hours before the 9pm deadline for all entries. Sitting outside the hall in a small queue were four or five Gundam fans, patiently waiting for the Expo to open to the public on the following day. Some were reclining on mats and tapping on their phones, others slurped noodles out of Styrofoam cups. I admired their resolve. In my case, because I was a contestant in the GBWC I was given a large sticker stating as much which allowed me inside. I had to follow a roped-off walkway to the sign-in tables, but all around me I saw staff scurrying about, setting up kiosks and booths and preparing for the Expo. I apparently wasn't the only one racing to finish.

Fortunately for me, the staff working the sign-in tables spoke enough English for me to register without a hitch. After going through the necessary paperwork I was given a commemorative pin and coupon for Gunpla then directed to a nearby cluster of tables where builders could assemble their models before taking them to the exhibition area. I found a seat and pulled my Gunpla out of its box so I could adjust and pose it. Just in case I had brought some tools along to do any detailing or cleaning I might have missed, but interestingly I saw builders who were sitting at tables with incomplete out-of-box models, still snapping them together and painting them with Gundam Markers. On the opposite end of the builder spectrum I saw hobbyists lugging in massive dioramas that must have taken months, possibly a whole year to complete. I wasn't intimidated: I had known there would be such contestants, but I was satisfied enough in my own work to be able to proudly put it on display.

I had spent so much time working on my Gunpla that it was a little difficult to part with. Eventually I was ready to let go, and it currently rests on a shelf in a display case for all convention-goers to see. It was after stepping away from my work I realized I was in an enviable position for anyone who enjoys photographing Gunpla. Typically at these contests the Gundam models are behind thick reflective glass for their protection, which has the drawback of making it difficult to photograph them. However there I was in the relatively uncrowded Gunpla Expo, countless custom Gunpla surrounding me, and all of the glass removed from the display cases so builders could easily install their projects. As a Gunpla photographer enthusiast, I can't adequately express how exciting this opportunity was for me.

So, without further ado, allow me to present the amazing works submitted by the very talented builders of South Korea to this year's GBWC. I'll be making a future post about the expo later on now that it's open, and once I retrieve my model I'll do a proper photo shoot with it and share those photos here. In the meantime, please enjoy!