Toy Con 2019 has come and gone and we have a few things to say about one of the premier geek conventions in the calendar.
It was…a fair-weathered experience. We loved the fact that the lines were easy to go through but, similar to 2017, the experience was lackluster. The PopLife side had a ton of empty space as usual. The second floor experience could have easily been moved to the first floor so everyone could see the toys and video games being displayed.
Speaking of the first floor, here’s what we thought of the layout:
One half of the first floor was filled to the brim with a toy sellers’ galore. The middle featured visiting toy sellers from abroad. The closer you get to the Pop Life side, the more artists you will see such as Kenichi Haryu aka Hariken and Anna Johnstone.
Hariken is from Japan and has designed some very unique toys. If you follow him on social media, you can tell he’s a big fan of puroresu. He has even worked with Japanese Wrestling promotion “Big Japan Pro Wrestling” or BJW. You can find his website here:
Next up, we talked to Anna Johnstone about her experience drawing the art for Regular Show 25 Years Later. We even got the chance to record the interview. You can find the interview on our Spotify Page.
We wanted to interview the likes of Steven Ogg however, there was no clear schedule for media interviews. Sadly, all we could get was a glimpse of them during their fan signings. While it was meat to have media access for the whole event, a proper schedule would have made the experience that much sweeter. One of the few events we got to see was a lightsaber exhibition by Fight Saber Philippines, which was pretty fun and exciting.
When it came to the toy sellers present in the convention, there was no shortage of quality toys being sold. There were even some nice old-school toys and even some second hand ones that might be pretty hard to find outside of the convention.
One of the things we bought at the convention was the Gundam Universe RX-78 figure, which was a new release by Bandai, and was prominently shown at the Great Toys Online booth. Overall, the sellers had enough space for their wares, which was flocked by a good number of people.
While the second floor was somewhat lacking on one side, the second floor was perhaps the more organized among the two. The Toy Galleries made by some of the country’s largest toy groups were exhibited very well, allowing them to show off some rare and awesome toys. From Gundam, Star Wars, Metal Gear Solid, Voltes V, Final Fantasy, and even JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, the galleries were filled to the brim with toys.
The rest of the floor was dedicated to gaming, which was weird, but was well organized to present them very well.
From the ground floor to the second floor, you could tell the event had a lot of activities ready to entertain the crowds.
However, we can’t get over the fact that the event felt like it was trying to do too much without having a clear direction. Is it a Toy Fair where sellers from all across Asia could showcase their wares? Is it a general geek convention to meet celebrities? Is it a toy exhibit? The answer can only be answered by the organizers.
Overall, Toy Con 2019 was still an enjoyable event. Like any geek convention, the event had its flaws. All Toy Con needs is a clear direction on what it wants to be and it will be a fine tuned convention already.
The Geeky Juans 