A reflection on what TOYCON 2009 has become

The 8th Philippine Toys, Hobbies and Collectibles Convention (TOYCON) was held at Megamall Megatrade Hall 2 & 3 last June 13 and 14, 2009.  There has been a lot of buzz for this convention even back in early May.  I personally was looking forward to the event because of the exhibits and the collectibles that would be available for me to see. 

As early as 10 AM, Saturday, a line was already amassing in front of Megatrade.  In fact, the line got so long that it reached the bridge area and then back to the other side of the atrium.  With the recent marketing strategy of Toycon and the infamous irenecullen multiply blog (which by the way I still suspect is connected with an organizer of Toycon), it wasn't much of a surprise at the amount of attendees.  The cosplayers haven't even arrived yet and the crowd was swelling.  Entrance to the event was PhP 100.00 per day.  I did hear that they sold out on the tickets that they had to sell day 2 tickets for day 1.  Though one way the could have avoided this is by preselling the tickets, which I understand was not done (correct me if I'm wrong).

 
Waiting in line to get tickets

Once we were ushered in, you would automatically notice the cosplay registration area on the immediate left side of the entrance.  In front of the entrance was a setup of Globe and what looked like War Rock (didn't pay much attention to it to be honest).  On the other side was Hero Channel, Maxi Collector booth and the e-Games booth.   The vendors were on the left side (the Megatrade Hall 2 area) while the main stage area was on the right side.  The nice thing about this setup is that you keep the buyers and vendors separate from the cosplayers and the spectators.   But you know, they could have given us a map.  I didn't even see one at the entrance. 

Sadly, I feel like the layout of the whole convention could be improved and overhauled.  In my past reviews, I have always stressed the need for space.  With the ever increasing population of congoers it becomes a necessity that the organizers to setup a layout to manage crowds and keep the steady movement of people.  I hate the fact that people are forced to move and push through tight spaces just because they wanted to put in another booth to maximize their income.  You create a conflict of interest between people stopping in front of booths and people wanting to move through the aisles.   What's worse is that the main alley in the event have booths (gaming booths, Alodia's booth) which we know for a fact draws a huge crowd.  This causes problems with keeping the flow of traffic smooth.  And where were the marshalls you ask?  Well if they were not manning the entrance and exits, they were near the stage.  I didn't see any marshall helping in keeping the smooth flow of people.  Something the organizers should probably think about.

  
Crowd Shot inside of Megatrade Hall

  
Some of the booths at the front near the entrance and exits

This year featured a lot more vendors and exhibitors.  Transformers seemed to be a hot item this year, along with G.I. Joe.  If I had the cash I would splurge already, but that would have screwed up my budget.  There was also a lot of anime merchandise from stuffed toys and plushies to figures.  There were items that was purely for exhibit purposes as well.  Not everything on display is for sale and some are just really to show off some of the more popular (or even relatively unknown) collections. 

The highlight for me was the function room that was rented out as a toy exhibit.  In the center of the room was a war time diorama (perhaps depicting Iraq).   It was a different diorama for each day of Toycon, which is pretty impressive if you think about it.  A lot of effort was placed into recreating those scenes and to do it in just a few hours is amazing for me.   There were also other displays including a full size Superman, Batman, Spiderman, and Thor the Thunder God.  There was even a display of vintage old G.I. Joe's that somehow just made me geek over it.  Conventions should really have more of this type of exhibits instead of heavily relying on merchandise for sale.

  
Collections in the toy exhibit
 

Some of the other activities during the event included an auction of toys and other collectibles.  Some of the items up for grabs were a Transformer Grimlock die cast model and YuYu Hakusho (Ghostfighter) figures.  There was a photo contest as well but you wouldn't know it because the photographs were put in the corner of the trade hall.  In fact there were other contests that I did not know happened because of the complete lack of coverage.
 

Grimlock and Yuyu being auctioned with other collectibles

The main event of the whole convention was the cosplay.  Cosplay has become a staple for Toycon and is one of the most awaited events of the year.  Day 1 featured Individual Cosplayers.  I did get a lot of shots from random cosplayers ^_^;;.  The whole 5th floor of Megatrade was completely packed with cosplayers, spectators and friends.  Actually when the crowd swelled inside, my friends and I decided to stay outside and catch pictures of cosplayers.  Some of the best I've seen were Chii from Chobits, Cinderella (which was pretty amazing imho), Bumblebee from Transformers movie, and Cobra Commander from G.I. Joe.
 

 
Cinderella and Cobra Commander

In the recent years, I have noticed that the focus of Toycon has increasingly been moving away from toys and focusing more and more cosplay.  People who know me, know that I have nothing against cosplay.  I myself have cosplayed before (though not necessarily on ramp).  But when the convention has become all about cosplay and has completely forgotten what the convention is about then that's where I draw the line.   "It was more a media event rather than a showcase for toys this year," says Project Otaking and I agree.  If you check the website of Toycon, the activities listed included diorama contests, customized figure contests, photography contests, scale models contests and die cast car model contests.  These contests were either out of site or were in a small corner while the Cosplay Contests took center stage.   There was so much focus on cosplay and not enough on the toys and collectibles that it was really disappointing.  I guess when you are trying to maximize profits, you'll put what sells right up there and push everything else into the background.
 

  
Some of the entries for the photography contests
 

  
Individual and Group Cosplayers

But despite my objections, Toycon was still a success and is in fact one of the better organized conventions out there.  Toycon does offer a bit of something for everyone.  I even hear that they plan to rent out all three Megatrade halls next year and that's definitely a welcome news.

I guess that's it for now.  Feel free to leave your thoughts and comments.  I'll leave with more pictures of the convention.
 

More pictures are available on my Multiply photo album.