convention

I had attended Otaku Taiki, last August 23, 2009, Sunday.  While I am still in the process of typing up my review of the event, I will leave you some pictures I have taken of the event. 

Alodia and Ashley Gosiengfiao

LOL.  Okay, I'm not a big fan of Alodia to be honest, I just couldn't think of who to put on the teaser and considering I may be talking about her in my review, might as well put them up here.

And here is something we picked up at the convention.  Couldn't help ourselves.  XD

No explanation necessary.  >:D

Metro Comic Con was held last August 8 and 9 in Megamall Megatrade Hall 1 & 2.   The event was organized by HobbyLink Productions, Inc. and was to be the biggest gathering of comics, comic book enthusiasts, artists, and publishers in the country.  I was able to attend the first day of the convention.

Entrance to the event was PhP100.00 though it wasn't abundantly clear when I was trying to find the price on their website.  There wasn't much of a line to the ticket booth and the entrance which was rather a welcoming site.  The event space was rather huge and quite spacious.  I did like the floor plan for the event. It was clear and unobtrusive.  They placed the stage area on the far right of the event hall, the major sponsors and exhibitors were placed in the middle with enough walking space to walk in between them, and the comics and independent titles on the far left of the event space.  I love the fact that there was so much space. 

There were a lot of booths and merchandise being sold at the events, typical of what you would see in a convention of this size.  There were times from toys, collectibles to anime and fashion merchandise.  However, it became quite clear that there was a severe lack of comics at this convention.  This is sad considering this is a comics convention.  Observers have said that this was more like a toy fair than a comics convention.

Going to an international event is both an amazing and daunting task.  If you are an avid fan, it's really worth it to try going to one of the many events that are available in Asia.   When we first planned our trip, we really didn't know what we were doing.  It took months of planning and inquiry making sure that we knew how much we would be spending, reserving accommodations and planning the itinerary. 

So if you are itching to go to an event outside the Philippines and you are not sure where to begin, magnetic-rose.net gives us some tips on the things we should do when planning for a trip to an international event.  You can read her article on Tips in Surviving an International Con here.

I wrote this a few years ago on my LJ when I got really pissed off at a convention I attended.  This started me off in the rocky path of being a convention reviewer.  I wanted change and I knew that unless people discuss it then it would not happen.  It stirred up a hornet's nest and it prompted 80 comments on my LJ.  I hope the following comes up as a good read. 


Last Sunday, I went to the GX-Con, the first console gaming convention in the country.  The event was organized by GamEX Magazine, from what I gathered is a console gaming magazine.  They were to have game demos for the next generation consoles like Nintendo Wii, Microsoft XBOX 360, and Sony Playstation3.  They also advertised a gaming tournament and cosplay only from their approved list of games.  I was rather excited to go because I was expecting something different.

Anyway, I was there early at around 10 am.  I was alone as everyone I knew who were coming were late.  Good thing I met a friend of mine on the way in.  When we got in, someone gave us this small piece of paper with instructions on how to play the games.  I didn't quite understand the instructions at first as there wasn't any signs to point you in the right direction.

The convention space was small.  In fact, my friend and I circled the place three times in like 30 minutes looking at everything that was available. I cannot begin to emphasize at how small the place was and how little there was too see.  That alone was disappointing. What we found rather odd was that we weren't actually able to identify where the gaming demos were.  I mean if you were just wondering around, you won't notice it unless you were actually looking for them.  Like I said, NO SIGNS.

The 8th Philippine Toys, Hobbies and Collectibles Convention (TOYCON) was held at Megamall Megatrade Hall 2 & 3 last June 13 and 14, 2009.  There has been a lot of buzz for this convention even back in early May.  I personally was looking forward to the event because of the exhibits and the collectibles that would be available for me to see. 

As early as 10 AM, Saturday, a line was already amassing in front of Megatrade.  In fact, the line got so long that it reached the bridge area and then back to the other side of the atrium.  With the recent marketing strategy of Toycon and the infamous irenecullen multiply blog (which by the way I still suspect is connected with an organizer of Toycon), it wasn't much of a surprise at the amount of attendees.  The cosplayers haven't even arrived yet and the crowd was swelling.  Entrance to the event was PhP 100.00 per day.  I did hear that they sold out on the tickets that they had to sell day 2 tickets for day 1.  Though one way the could have avoided this is by preselling the tickets, which I understand was not done (correct me if I'm wrong).

 
Waiting in line to get tickets