The flagship geek convention of the Philippines is experiencing some growing pains. Asiapop Comicon is considered the top geek convention of the annual geeky calendar but, it’s not living up to its potential.
Let me be honest. Asiapop 2018 was not what I was expecting. I still had fun with the presentations but, there was an aura that was lacking this year. My first cosplay happened this year and it was more fun than the rest of the convention. The search for fellow Star Vs The Forces of Evil Cosplayers was more interesting than much of the convention. Here’s why I loved and didn’t love the event.
Getting In
Before entering the building, people who already had advanced tickets still had to line up along with people who had not bought their tickets yet. Tick off a negative right away. What’s the point of buying in advance when we don’t have an early bird line?
Anyway, enough of the ranting. Let’s get to the good stuff. The convention floor.
Netflix
This year’s convention floor was laid out nicely. Netflix on one side. The Meet and Greet Area behind it. What made the Netflix booth good this year was the fact that the whole booth was an open experience. One of the biggest negatives from the 2017 edition was the fact that the Netflix experience was a closed space. That prevented many attendees from entering the booth. Having the entire booth open with lines for each attraction really helped.
Although, there is a negative as certain shows were not appreciated as well as the others. Matt Groening’s Disenchantment did not get much love. I think more people were getting their faces painted like Aggretsuko.
The Iron Fist smashing platform was fun. You hit a small platform for special effects. The Luke Cage experience was less obvious. All you do was hit a marker on the wall. I didn’t see too many people use this. Sadly.
Moving on from the sort of disappointing Netflix booth, we have the celebrity guests nearby. From comic artists like Alex Sinclair, Phil Noto among many others. We also had professional cosplayers such as Canvas Cosplay, Leon Chiro, Ugani Senshi Uon and Vera Chimera. With Leon Chiro having the most insane line ever. In 2017, people were shocked that Gaku Space and Shoji Kawamori had so many fans. This year, Leon Chiro was the biggest surprise.
You just don’t know who would be the biggest guest each year.
An interesting thing that happened this year was the fact that the convention happened one week after San Diego Comic Con. I believe that did not help with the potential of finding guests. They really should move it back to August. However, that did not stop the guests from enjoying the event. Finn Jones, Iron Fist, went down to the first floor for a better view of the event.
The fact that the guests are not as big as those from last year kind of helped with them not having as many restrictions. They could explore the convention floor with less intervention.
Creative Circle
The lifeblood of any convention is the creative circle. You just don’t know what you will find and that’s what makes this the best section of any convention. Events such as this can have as many gimmicks that you want but, at its core, it’s all about the artists. What makes this area so good is the hidden potential in every artist.
From well-known artists to those on the rise all the way to that unknown artist who just needs a small push. The Creative Circle keeps events like APCC alive. There is so much talent that they can’t be contained online. One really must visit events like Asiapop, Komikon, Komiket and many others to truly grasp how many amazing artists we have in the Philippines. Hindi lang talaga halata.
Cosplay
Not much has to be said. Asiapop is the place to be when it comes to the variety of cosplay that appears in the country. Other conventions would be focused on one style. Cosmania, more on anime. Toy Con would be the closest to equivalent when it comes to the various styles of cosplay.
Hall D & Hall M
Admittedly, I had a gut feeling that Hall M-The Marvel Screening would not have anything. Wow. I was glad to be right. The Disney event was much more fun. Okay, it was 70% Corporate Presentation until we reached Mark Henn and his work. Wow. The animation process was so interesting. Much more interesting than anything discussed before it. Seriously. Watching how animation is made will always be magical.
We also got a glimpse into Wreck It Ralph 2. And of all the things to show…WE GOT THE ENTIRE PRINCESS SCENE. The trailer showed Vanellope entering the Disney Princess Green Room and we got some of the most hilarious conversations between characters. You have to see the movie when it comes out in November.
That was pretty much the cap for the weekend. The rest of the day was spent taking pictures with all the amazing cosplayers.
Flaws
The only major complaint I have for the convention is definitely the lack of chairs on the ground floor. During the 2016, I saw grandpas having to sit on the floor. That was such as sad scene. I still don’t understand how, after two years, I still see people on the ground when there should be benches in those empty areas. That way, people won’t be forced to sit on the ground. Cosplayers worked hard and have to sacrifice some parts of their cosplay just to rest. They really need to fix that.
The lack in a big time guest was definitely a negative. This was more on schedule as the event being held literally one week after San Diego. You can’t really expect guests to do a minor convention in Asia when the biggest convention of the year happened a week before. My biggest wish is that the event moves back to August next year. It would help with the clogged July Convention Schedule in the country. That one small change can ease things for a lot of cosplayers and event attendees. We even had Indieket a week after APCC. Artists would definitely be exhausted.
Final Thoughts
Overall, I still enjoyed APCC 2018, despite its flaws. The Jollibee Funko release helped with attracting larger crowds in Day 1. Heck, I feel like they were able to get their money back from thee attendees who went there just for Jollibee.
This year was probably the most fun I had in any iteration of APCC that I have been to. Because I made a ton of new friends in this event. That made the whole thing sweeter.
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