A Journey to the Temple of Idols

There was a Toys & Comics Fair at Jakarta at 15 & 16 March, so I went there. Mostly because I've never been to one before, and not because I wanted to see if I could find a cheap discounted original PVC figures because I knew I 'd still won't be able to buy one on the spot anyway. That's why I came with no intention to buy anything at all

It was really crowded, although is nowhere as cramped as some other annual event that I know of. However the main attraction (the toys) were all over the place, and it was a beautiful sight to behold. I'm not going to put up the whole album of pictures I have taken in this post because, aside from not being appropriate, I don't want to break the hearts of people who wanted to come but couldn't by showing them the best parts.

There's more where that came from by the way

Aside from the toys aisles, there were also open for public games, new comics presentations, cosplay attractions, and many others that are mostly exciting to see. I even took part in one Need for Speed: Rivals tournament (as part of the promotion for the new Need for Speed movie) because it's free, and I get a chance to finally try a PS4 for the first time in my life, not to mention the winning prizes were good for souvenirs.

Although my inevitable defeat was nowhere as bad as the movie

With all the fun aside and the inevitable leg cramps after I get back home, there are some interesting thoughts that I would like to share. The first thing is that despite the name "Toys & Comics", almost all of the people I see there were around 19-35 years old. There were some kids and the older adults that comes with them, who mostly lurk around the '80% discount' isle where the toys for kids were, but they were the minority.

It's only a matter of time before these things are rated M for 'Mature'

Even after all these years, the concept of "only kids play toys" or "it's embarassing for adults to still play toys" is still the "common sense" for most people, especially the elderlies. But all turns of events show that toys and comics are something for everyone, so much that quite a lot of them are produced exclusively for adults and not for kids.

Did you think I meant something else? Too bad! I was talking about these idols of worshipping

And there's the community as well, all of the toy enthusiasts I saw there were very friendly with one another, even though their tastes were completely different. Seeing Transformers fans sharing their thoughts with Gundam fans accompanied by moe nendoroid fans is quite an amazing thing, although maybe I've seen too many joke posts about how western and eastern factions don't get along with each other.

The point is that no matter what their taste was, they are still toy enthusiasts, and that's a good enough reason for them to believe that they share the 'same interest' and be friendly with each other despite being strangers before that day. This could be something that future leaders of the upcoming election could learn about instead of trying to gain sympathies from the people for each of themselves by any means necessary.