ToyCon has come and gone this year; and for those of you who were lucky to attend one day or more, it was truly an evolution of one of the biggest pop culture events in the Philippines. Since I am still on a geek high, here are five experiences I loved about ToyCon 2024, and two things I hope to see in future iterations of this event.
Firstly let’s get this out of the way, what’s a toycon without toys, right? Whether you’re windowshopping for toys, buying them, taking pictures, or simply enjoy basking in the sea of toys that converges with the mass of humanity attending toycon, there is always this to expect: toys are at the center of ToyCon. And ToyCon 2024 lived up to the hype. Your experiences will be full with the toys that populated the event grounds at the SMX Mall of Asia.
Next, you have the cosplayers at ToyCon. You know your event has exploded on the pop culture scene when the cosplay community comes in troves. Not only was the community ever present for three days with various fandoms represented, there was even a cosplay competition held on the last day for aspiring cosplayers to compete. So everywhere you go, you’d better be ready with your camera to take shots at these fans who express their love for pop culture in cosplay.
Here’s something that I thought I’d never say at Toycon: I enjoyed the performances. That’s a first for me. This part of ToyCon showed me that it is truly evolving. The highlight of the performances for me was when Krage performed on stage songs from two recent anime: Raven of the Inner Palace, and Solo Leveling. The surprise performance for me was the one made by Chicken Blow the Idol. They went down to the crowd on the second day, and performed an acoustic version of one of their songs. Talk about meet, and greet. This made me an instant fan, and follower. I know that ToyCon has had musical performances in the past, but I’ve always set those aside for the toys. This year is my first year inhaling the performances onstage.
If the musical performances surprised me, here’s one aspect of ToyCon that didn’t: guest interactions onstage. There were a slew of panel discussions at ToyCon, but one in particular stood out for me. That happened on the third day when we got to see the director and cast of FRIENDLY FIRE, a new Filipino movie coming out on October 23, 2024. Not only did we get to see the return of Alodia Gosiengfiao to ToyCon (who revealed that she is expecting a child soon, congratulations!), but we also got to see Director Mikhail Red along with the rest of the cast talk about the film. Also, the first trailer reveal was shown to visiting patrons on the third day. It’s always nice to see these juicy bits of info on upcoming shows at ToyCon. ToyCon 2024 was no exception.
This might be redundant since I mentioned it in the beginning, but I’m going back to it because I am a toy collector. Part of the joy of ToyCon (some might even argue that this is the first thing they do at the event) is hunting for that one toy (or several?) that will complete their collection. Collectors, am I right? Sometimes there’s never enough room for the toys you love. And I think toy collecting has no true age limit. As such, the hunt for these toys that will add or complete your collection forms part of why you visit ToyCon in the first place. Did I find anything for myself? Most definitely. I’m sure I’m not alone in agreeing that hunting for toys is ingrained in the culture of ToyCon…whethere this be voluntary or not.
ToyCon 2024 was a blast, but there were a couple of things that I missed from this year. Yes, there were toy discussions. But, I think ToyCon missed a golden opportunity to invite personalites related to toys considering that some of these toylines are celebrating milestone years this year. For example, the Transformers franchise is celbrating its 40th year. They could have invited, let’s say maybe Peter Cullen, the voice of Optimus Prime to the event. I mean, we got comicbook legend Neal Adams a few years back, so why not a celebrity related to these milestone year toylines?
Also, missing from ToyCon are roleplaying tabletop games. There was a Yu-gi-oh! table at SMX. There was Magic: The Gathering, and Warhammer. and even video games at the Mall of Asia Music Hall. BUT…no tabletop. No Dungeons and Dragons. As a long time tabletop player and game master, I was so looking forward to sitting down, and maybe interacting with some like-minded individuals. I was able to spot a stall selling dice in the merchant area, but that was it. Hopefully, I’ll get to see tabletop games represented in future ToyCons.
Overall, ToyCon 2024 was truly an evolution where we see the event expand far beyond just being a marketplace for toys. It has become a celebration of pop culture fandom in the Philippines as it continues to grow. In 2025, ToyCon is slated to be from June 13 to 15. What are we to expect? More of the same, and still much more. See you again then.
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