I recently went to the annual Philippine toys, hobbies and collectibles convention (TOYCON). Apparently, it was in it's 15th year of existence and is growing stronger every year (http://www.toyconph.com/ ). Just a disclaimer, I'm not a serious toy collector or a hobbyist I just love to look at toys and admire how some are intricately made. It was my first time to that such a convention existed in the Philippines. I've heard of cosplay gatherings and stuff but an annual toy convention is new to my ear. I got really excited to go because I wanted to check out some of the newest and rarest toys that are locally available. Like I mentioned earlier, I'm not really a “ legit “ toy collector so I just wanted to see if I can buy some toys to add to my tiny collection. I have a few Funko Pop Toys( http://funko.com/collections/pop) kept somewhere at home. I know what your thinking... what the heck are Funko pop toys? Or if you're a true pure blooded toy collector you'd probably say that it's not a true toy collection. My answer to this is... I don't care I just like them and let's face it they're cute.
Ok, going back, My friend and I only went on the last day of the convention. I was able to persuade her to go because of kristian nairn (http://www.kristiannairn.com/) who plays hodor in game of thrones (http://www.gameofthrones.com/). When we got there, there's so many people coming in and out of the venue and I must say they looked really happy. Outside the venue, there were already some toys on display. Enterbay NBA toys were in full effect. I'm an NBA enthusiast and that just got my attention. I specifically liked the array of Michael Jordan figures trying to dunk the ball. That right there must have cost a fortune.
Inside the venue, I got overwhelmed by the amount of toys that were on display and the people who got out of their way to be in costumes. They were really dedicated to their character. The whole venue where divided to different sections. One area is dedicated to Stan lee's excelsior collection. Upon entering the area you would see a huge stan lee vinyl toy. It's actually his personal collection and memorabilia from some of the marvel movies. As I understand this collection has been around the world for everybody to see and im so glad that it was brought here. I particularly liked the deadpool collection. There was also a zombie and alien zone wherein sammie bartko was putting some face and body make up on people to make them look like zombies.
There was an NBA corner wherein you can have your pictures taken with large scale vinly NBA players created by cool rain lee (www.behance.net/COOLRAINLEE) . I wasn't able to get his autograph at that time because I didn't know who he was and when I got home I kinda researched about him and his work and I must say they are pretty impressive. Besides, he only had a lebron james toy for signing and I'm not very keen on buying those ( not a lebron hater though). There were a lot of pop toys scattered around the whole venue from the starwars's BB8 to the frozen gang of queen elza , anna and olaf.
A lot of artists were also there to perform and have a meet and greet like dean cain who of course played superman and hefron drive among others but we only had a chance to see the performance of kristian nairn. Most people just know him as hodor in game of thrones but aside from that he is also a DJ and he can really drop a beat! Imagine we were all raving as he played his set. Although his performance just lasted 20 or so minutes it was so worth it. It was a eureka moment when he started talking in full sentences given that he only spoke one word in game of thrones. Plus he looks cuddly and you just want to bear hug him. The crowd was really into him at that very moment everyone was trying to push their way towards the stage.
It was indeed a day well spent I got to see some enthusiasts that were very passionate in what they do. The atmosphere was just so upbeat and everyone was really having a good time especially the kids that were around. I will definitely come back next year and hopefully they get to invite more inspiring artist to grace the event.
By the way, I somewhat resisted the temptation of buying every single pop toy that I can get my hands on, but I couldn't pass up the stephen curry pop toy that was available and was on sale at that. So lucky me! Not bad for a first-time toy convention goer like me.
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