Once upon a time comic conventions were a sad place for male geeks. Now no more. Here some images that I (almost all) took around the fair. People bring their photocameras and there is a run to take more beautiful photos possible about these wonderful and creative costumes.

The queue for the cosplay stage. A contest and an opportunity to show himself.

Look at the geta! I saw a lot of geta.

There is a man inside.

Modelling world is not all about mecha. There are other things. These that I show you are a view on a fine model art that you could find in the fair.

Last photo on which kind of prices you can find for these little pieces of art.

It is Gundam, do you know? The giant white robot that fights against Zion…

A view on a wall of model kits, almost all from the Gundam world.

The Gundam world support earthquake victims in Japan.

Zaku II is the definitive mecha. Enough said.

More photos took in the New Kit Generation Community Lucca Contest 2011.

A space port.

A huge quantity of Gundam models were in the fair. There was even a special stand where you could see a lot of model in showcases. A paradise for a Gundam fan like me.

At the end, if you want there is even a real size Shia Aznable’s helmet. In Japan there are plans to build a real size Zaku II, so this helmet could be useful…

Another post on modelling. This time we are going to see some mecha.

Patlabor was a great anime (and comic) on mecha. They are showed as normal vehicles for everyday life. So the police utilise them for crimes perpetrated by mecha. You can read stories about police officers with special vehicles, with fun and clever moments. These models are among my favourites. Recently I bought some Patlabor gashapon to set a scenario for the upcoming game about giant robots from Ganesha Games… Samurai Robots Battle Royale!!!

Some models in the Groog competition showcase.

A view on some resin models by a very little Italian company, 3Evan.

I have almost bought this resin mecha for 45 euros at the end of the fair.

A model in the making. Some people were sculpting models and statuettes at this stand.

Another mecha maker, Luca Zampriolo. He is very influenced by the Kow Yokoyama’s Ma.K world, so he published an illustrated book with his works as they are part of a world. I bought the book, it is very intense. But his resin models are too much expensive for me.

A design inspired by Mechwarrior and similar kinds of mecha.

Here you can find the best of his design abilities. He reminds me of Kazuhisa Kondo and his work on Gundam world. Under this mecha there is a Zaku II, it’s clear. And a Zion sign is on the chest! It’s called Garbaldy and it is not the Galbaldy of Gundam world. 175 resin parts, 50 made.

One of his works in the NKGC competition in the Japan Palace. It is called Schnabelgun, and it seems as another Zion’s mecha gone bad, a MSN-04 Sazabi precisely! 80 resin parts and 30 copies only.
More on Gundam world on the following post!

Someone think that Lucca Games is a fair for gadgets, boardgames or videogames, but there is a large attention to miniatures and modelling, you have to look better to realise it.

Here we have a heir of Blood Bowl: another ruleset, different miniatures, but the same result. I like this playing field, it has a a refined taste, with the square subdivision only suggested on the ground.

I like original ideas. These ones are skeletons on a tracker, but with a baywatch theme! Great!

Huh, the Doctor is in the fair. Old Black Tree miniatures brought to life in the painters section of the fair. They passed all the time painting. The next time I have to bring a miniature with me for them, just to have something well painted to remind the fair. This year there was a Sandokan miniature as miniature of the event, but I didn’t buy it, maybe because I don’t have plans for a pirate set. I’m stupid, I could buy it and have it painted just at the desk in front of Ganesha Games stand…

Cosimo Auricchio is the sculptor of TB Line miniatures. He is a free lance, a real artist, which sometimes sculpt even in 28mm format. Here you can see this skeleton pirate. Great miniature and great painter who highlighted the piece.

Cosimo sold dummies for sculptors, but there were others. I have not expectation on my skills as sculptor so I didn’t buy them. Narciso instead wants to try.

Inside Lucca Games there is Grogg, a coontest about modelling and painting. Here some examples of the historical type.

Do you want a bust of Thor? Every house must own its Thor bust. It is only 800 euros, limited production I suppose. Not so discreet.

WOG is the new incarnation of WOW. From the sense of wonder to an insult. Now Ares Games produce these aircraft for the popular game that was Wings of War, because Nexus Games went bankrupt. New production, some new fighters and bombers, a lot of bombers.

Preproduction models from China, that bomb us with cheap plastic toys.

Yamato in space. Huge ship, more than a simple model, it is big as a small torpedo…

Pikachu in a human form, as Japanese puppets imitate human forms. A play of mirrors…

Saint Seiya are puffs. I like only the temple in this scene, but a lot of people like these gold puppets more.

What can you do when you have to eat and other 155000 want to eat too? You remain hungry. Dinners, the moment of main meal for a fair vendor, are a desperate search for a restaurant with empty seats. Years ago a pizzeria in Lucca told to Andrea:”we have ended wheat”!!! This year we eat always but the quality was not the best.

One thing that resolved our lives was ramen. I didn’t believe in this type of meal for Japan fashion victims but now I converted myself to ramen! The meal is very cheap but the price is cheap too. The great thing is that if you have hot water you can cook ramen in 2 minutes and so eat something cold. Moreover you have got a hot broth to drink, a great thing if you are dehydrated because the queue for water is so long. Volunteers sold ramen at industrial rates. At the end of the fair hungry people bought even ruined packs of ramen because it was running out!

A pause with ramen. After the first cup I remembered as use chopsticks, an art that now I can master.

We tried Barilla pasta to cook with microwaves. More than 2 minutes to heat it (5 at least), no broth, higher price, overcooked pasta, blobed sugo, a long queue. No more pasta for us, we are devoted to ramen now.

In the Japan Palace there was a Japan restaurant. This photo was taken at 9 in the morning, at lunch hour there was a total mess. Prices as the food was really brought from Japan that morning with a special delivery.

Lucca is a wonderful city, it deserves a visit for sure. In autumn it is coloured with yellow, brown and green tones that it seems unreal. This moment of the year it’s ideal for a visit, even if there are other 155000 people that think the same.

Another part of the fair is the Japan Palace, far from the game pavilion, at north of the city inside an ancient palace with a tower, but you can reach it in 15/20 minutes. Here you can see it without people, 10 minutes before the opening. This is the part of the fair dedicated to Japan. Cultural penetration through anime and manga affected Italy very deep, and the strange thing is that Japan love Italy too. Well, we made a war together 60 years ago…

A handmade and illegal stand about helmets. Its name (“elmettaro” it is not an Italian word) denoted a Roman origin…

This is the illegal market outside the game pavilion. It is a good tradition of Lucca, that permits to people to sell their things on the grass, while police close its eyes. But last year there was a persecution, even for legal vendors that didn’t release bills. The beautiful thing of the photo is the sign:”It is prohibited to sell here!”.

I wanted to visit the fair and the historical island could be as a prison if you couldn’t move. So I divided myself with the duty to demonstrate games to people and the chance to visit the fair. I visited it in the first hours of the day, when people in the game area were scarce. An effort, even because after an hour from the morning start the streets were overcrowded, as you can see.

Lucca Games is videogames too. Here is where the real money is on game market, not in boardgames or wargames. They had the biggest stands. And beautiful hostesses. Nintendo is always the best, with 10 girls 10.

A sexy videogame well pumped to the audience. Something to trill hormones of young players, with fast action and big breast.

Free games with computers from another planet. Thermaltake is specialised in refrigeration of computers. So you can mount monsters for playing games.

This is not for humans. I think that with the energy necessary to run this computer you can feed of energy a bakery shop.

Have you got a video card integrated on your motherboard? This one is triple card and refrigerated by liquid. And you have to be mad if you own it.

Extreme modding. Put your computer inside a tire. And play with it a videogame on car races.