The Cosplay and Animé Café: arkadymac.com

Welcome to Collecticon!

Collecticon 2012 poster

(Note:  This is re-posted since it’s only now I got to upload the pics. Sorry.)

Though not technically a cosplay event, I decided to cover Collecticon 2012 anyway since it still promised to be an interesting event showcasing hobbyists and collectors and toys and nostalgia and all these seemingly bizarre aspects of  pop culture coming together into one crazy mash-up at Robinsons Place Manila.  Well over 3,000 people attended the event.

What is it with toys and big boys (and girls)? For some it’s the admiration of cultural icons like movie and comic book heroes.  For some it’s nostalgia, while for some they just find them cute.  Toys appeal to our inner child and whatever our age, we continue to have a fondness for them.

Collecticon Stage

Collecticon 2012 Event Coverage

Already on its 5th year, Collecticon was an event organized by Hobbiworx Inc. and Pinoytoykolektors.com held at Robinsons Place Manila last Oct. 6 & 7, 2011.  It was a two-day event conceptualized to be a collectors’ ultimate experience, bringing together hobbyists, enthusiasts, collectors, and merchants towards better understanding and exposure of these kinds of activities to the public.

Collecticon area at Robinsons Place Manila

Placed throughout the entire 1500 sq.m. of open activity space at the Midtown Atrium, more than 60 booths with a bewildering number and variety of merchandise were on display.  Items on sale include toys, figures, model kits, cosplay props, comic books, CDs, Gundam, and lots of anime/cartoon-themed goods.

Full-size Dark Knight

To get the mall-goers interested about Collecticon, activities were held throughout the afternoon, such as the Collectors Display and Exhibit, Toy Auctions, Customizers Clinic & Workshop, Trivia Contests, Life Size Displays, Photo Contests and the Superhero Costripper of the Day.

Lots of toys to be had.

I get the impression that the afternoon program was not as organized as it should be.  The few staff that were running the show were often seen to be left to their own devices on how to go about the program.  Well, they managed to generate some interest anyway through the auctions and the mini-contests like the bring-me and impromptu dance contests.  Many mall-goers did become curious and participated in the more casual activities and more importantly bought some merchandise from the stalls.   Hooray for capitalism.

Looks like some Gundam to me.

So all in all, I would say that despite a modest and cautious effort from the the organizers of Collecticon,  the event was still as success in that it managed to generate public interest in their hobbies and giving them a peek at how fascinating these hobbies can be.  All in all, a fun and  festive  event for everyone involved.

More robots.

The sign says it all.

Collecticon 2012 Cosplay Coverage

For some strange reason I had the feeling I shouldn’t expect much from this particular event.  When I got there around 10am, the place was busy enough with people, but I got the feeling that it was more focused on the stalls and the sales.  The program that came later in the afternoon for the event otherwise went well but was not too exciting.

Die-hard Naruto cosplayers

There was an event called the Superhero Costripper of the Day that just degenerated into a free-for-all, whatever-happens-happens cosplay show-off where a still sizable number of cosplayers participating.  Not a lot of heavyweight veteran cosplayers at this event though.  I would suppose they were already tired from Cosplay Mania ’12 the week before, or they were unaware of the event, or were aware of the event but ignored it altogether thinking the cosplay won’t be that much of a factor in this event.  Well, with these prospects, I thought that it would be a great opportunity for me to grab some cosplay time and earn myself some experience.

Taking pics with fellow cosplayers.

Pink mode Miku, I think.

So I, Xtian Mack, made my second cosplay attendance and even made my competitive debut by joining the Superhero Costripper of the Day Contest, which strangely didn’t involve superheroes or stripping.  Go figure.  Anyway, I had a great time.  I even met my first cosplay friends there. I was pretty sure a hundred people asked to take pictures of me and pictures with me.  I was overjoyed.  Moms and kids and even the elderly took pictures with me with everything from old phones, digicams, tablets and what have you.  For just  my second cosplay appearance, I really had a great time being crazy.  Not a hobby most of my friends would agree of or be supportive of, but a rewarding hobby for me nonetheless.

A fighting pair.

Oh great. More of them.

Naruto Meets One Piece

Many thanks to my new cosplay friends, Christian and Justin