(Very Late) Phil. TOYCON 2012 Report

I've been out of the loop in terms of attending the Philippine Toys and Hobbies Convention, more affectionately known as TOYCON. I think it's been 5 years since I last attended.

I was actually overwhelmed by the most recent one. TOYCON 2012 was HUGE. It ran for 3 days beginning June 15 up until June 17 2012 and was held on not one but three (!!!) convention halls inside SM Megamall. In its earlier incarnations, TOYCON was just a one day affair but time has it evolved into a monster geek event it deserves to be.

One of the major differences that I noticed during this year's event is that the selling area and display area are now separated. Sort of. I mean there were displays from the vendor's booths but they were sparse. The bulk of the exhibits were placed at the third hall which was guarded by a man-sized maquette of  Voltes V. The gallery is filled with eye-popping goodies from private collectors and various clubs/organizations like Mechapinoy and the IPMS. I'll just let the pictures speak for themsleves:

  

  
Th selling area was full to the brim with toys at rock-bottom prices. The meat of it all are at the bargain bins. It's always nice to look below the displays for the bargain bins filled with unexpected treasure. I myself picked up some Gundam stuff (minis and such), a couple of  figures: Ranka (Macross F) and May (Guilty Gear), and a display chain base for almost half below their retail prices. Freebies abound too, so walking around the selling area is rewarding in itself.

As expected the event was jam-packed. At around 3 in the afternoon, the whole place was so packed with people that I decided to just stay inside the gallery to rest. Given that volume of people, I think that the organizers should consider a better venue in the coming years.

Of course there's the usual panel discussions, band performances, cosplay contests and other events that are worth the admission by themselves. At the end of the day, I just found my self exhausted from all that walking, buying and oggling about toys and other stuff. But the effort is well worth it. Kudos to TOYCON!

 
More pics of the event featured at Gunjap's. Enjoy!