A Kid For A Day At The 9th Toycon

By: William Flores

We have all probably gone through this one. When you reach the age of twelve or thirteen, sometimes even younger, mom and dad will eventually talk (or sometimes force) you to put down all your toys and say goodbye to all those cartoons on TV because you’re, well, too old fir them already.

But it seems that the success of the yearly Philippine Toys, Hobbies, and Collectibles Convention has already put this ancient belief into obsolescence. Now on its ninth year, the Toycon (as the event have been affectionately called by fans) started out as simply a small exhibit way back in 2002 to showcase various toy and toy collections. Since then, it has grown into a huge event that practically anyone can join.

I must admit that, that though I already knew about Toycon back in those days, this year was actually my first one to attend the event. So, upon the invitation of a friend, I headed out to SM Megamall last June 19 to see it for myself. I had my younger sister, who was really not into toys, anime, and all those things, tag along as company.

We got there at around 11 in the morning and by that time, the line at the entrance of the Megatrade Hall was expectedly long already. After a few minutes deciding whether we both get in or not (she initially wanted to just wait outside) we ended buying tickets anyway.

Since this is Toycon, what we first see are all those toys on sale. The event has practically everything to catch your fancy, from action figures to model kits, there are even toys of the many girls around. Both young and old people swarm around to see what’s on display. Sadly, for ordinary employees like me, all we can do here is ogle and hope that the next paycheck has something extra to get that action figure.

But enough of that, there is actually still a lot more to see in the event. For those not into toys, there are also a lot of other merchandises available. Comic books were probably the second most common items, with titles coming out for both manga and western comic fans. I checked out the indie both and got lucky to get Pasig (a popular title in the local indie circle) with an autograph from creator Taga-ilog included.

Onstage, there were also a lot of different activities going on. Several bands played a medley of anime songs (thank goodness, I know most of the songs). Then there are also the several short games, I of which I won a calendar (lucky I still know all those old computer games). But what really got the crowd all pumped up was the arrival of the popular cosplayers Alodia and Ashley Gosiengfiao. Almost all of the people standing at the back of the stage area swarmed up front to get a closer look and better pics of the two cosplay beauties. And the crowd definitely showed their love for the girls when they actually followed them all the way to the Animax booth where they had a picture taking session.

And since we’re talking about folks wearing costumes here, then any event of this kind wouldn’t be complete without mentioning the ever present and ever popular cosplay event. That one they held during that day was the individual cosplay competition (the group event was to be held the next day). And with the number of participants, I can say that there are more people who have the guts to strut down the catwalk wearing those costumes. In fact, there were more than 130 people lined up for that day.

And as expected for such an event, the costumes were top notch, with some looking as if they were done by professionals (Ace Mcloud of the Centurions looked kick ass). All the cosplayers were also in character that day, which added to the excitement of the event. A slight mishap on the part of the emcee turned into a hilarious moment, as he mistakenly announced contestant number two as from Naruto Shippuden (which was actually contestant number four) only for Jason Vorhees, of Friday the 13th fame, to come onstage. Jason was so infuriated that he threatened to dice up the announcer for the misdeed.

This year also saw a large number of kiddie cosplayers in the roster. It was actually a nice move by the organizers to mingle the young ones with the older participants, as the kids were only a side show in previous events. And the kids definitely showed that they can duke it out with their older counterparts onstage. Young detective Conan Edogawa instantly became a crowd favorite, as he smartly walked on the ramp. Little Sailormoon literally silenced the crowd, as she was actually asleep and had to be carried by mommy onstage. The crowd did, however, show their appreciation with soft claps and laughter.

Overall, the event was as expected, with lots of toys and fun filled activities all day long. I definitely enjoyed being a kid once again just for that day. And my sister, who was initially skeptical, actually had a great time that she now plans to save up money to attend the Tenth Toycon.

My only qualms about the whole thing? I literally swam the sea of people and still didn’t get a picture with Alodia and Ashley. Oh well, there’s always the next year.