Well, it's BAKUC season again. This is the time when most Asian countries hold Gundam model competitions as sponsored by Bandai and their local distributors. In Singapore, that would be Sheng Tai Toys. This year, it is once again held at Ngee Ann City. I obviously, can't join again because I'm no longer in Singapore. I'm in Indonesia.

Now Indonesia does have its own BAKUC. Except, no one really knows where or when it's being held. The common consensus is that it's to be held on November 28th at Grand Indonesia, one of the newest malls in Jakarta. Problem is, no one has heard or know any more details besides that bit of information.

Modeling competitions are pretty much very low profile events here. That's because scale modeling is a nice existing in a niche market. Hobbies are by nature, only afforded by people with means. The majority of folks here don't really have the disposable income to have this sort of luxury. Hobbies come a far second to putting food on the table after all. Scale modeling is a hobby. It's not a cheap hobby. It's also not exactly the most accessible type of hobby. Let's face it, it's a very anti-social hobby. Much more than video games. It's also not cheap since you can't really find 'pirated' anything when it comes to model kits. You can't pick it up and try it, especially not in Jakarta. While there are model shops here, the communities I find are quite fractured. It's very disorganized.

In Singapore, there are healthy online communities where members share modeling event information with one another. No such thing here. I find the online community here positively stone-age compared to Singapore. If I hadn't brought up why there's no BAKUC information anywhere, I wouldn't have known that it will be held on the 28th. After my post, everyone started chiming in that there wasn't any info anywhere. This got me thinking: why wasn't even that basic info known by the community?

It's really weird. It's also no wonder I find the competence level in Indonesia's gunpla community severely mediocre. And to be honest, if even modeling competitions can be that swept under the carpet, I doubt the level will go up anytime soon... Sad. Really.