AsiaPOP Comicon, Manila

17 09 2015

According to their brochure or web description – AsiaPOP Comicon (APCC) is an international pop culture convention themed around comics, film, toys and collectibles, animation, games, cosplay, superheroes and everything pop culture. The event will attract several internationally renowned artists, celebrities and pop icons to various pockets of Asia, starting with Manila (to be followed in Abu Dhabi, Korea and USA) and draw the attention of ardent fans. APCC will feature exhibitors from genres of pop culture and top studios from across the globe, to bring popular brands and exclusive content for the show. Focusing on delivering the ultimate fan experience, APCC aspires to bring geek culture mainstream and stand tall as a perfect launch pad to unveil new products and first look of movies for the Asia Pacific region providing a galore of potential opportunities for SMEs (small to medium size enterprises) in the entertainment business to reach out to big brands and the vibrant creative talent pool from APAC. While the event will serve as a mega licensing avenue for studios to establish direct access to potential clients through B2B networking, the larger purpose of the event will remain the outreach and communication for celebrities and brands with their fans and engage with them on a one-on-one basis.

The APCC is handled by Universal Events & Entertainment (UEE), a subsidiary of Al Ahli Holding Group is a premier and dynamic international events management company, headquartered in Singapore committed to be the forefront of pop culture/ comic con events globally. The passionate and dedicated team combined has over 4 decades of events management experience in the area of pop culture.

When I called Grace for other matters 2 days ago, she told me about the APCC. Although I heard about it early this year and was aware that it would be held this September, I was not aware that it would be held this week. So Grace emailed me the website of the event. The event would be held from September 17 to the 20th, but the 17th is only open to industry professionals for free. On the 18th to the 20th it will be open to the public with various ticket prices (child, one, two or three day passes). Since the event is for free on the 17th from 12 pm to 6 pm, I decided to take a look at it as it can open some connections and broaden my outlook for the pop culture industry. Grace, Alstaire and some other people from Top Peg Animation will also go on the 17th.

I arrived at the World Trade Centre Manila along Gil Puyat Avenue, extension corner Diosdado Macapagal Boulevard before 12:40 pm. There were not many people at the place as there were no celebrities, shows, contests, raffles and other activities for this day. There were some comic artists doing some sketches but other booths or exhibits were still empty and some were still fixing their displays. I can easily imagine the large area to be full of people in the succeeding 3 days, especially on weekends. This is the first time that an international comic convention is held in the country and lots of fans, collectors, enthusiasts, hobbyists and cosplayers will be there to be in this event. There was not much to do except take photos of the many exhibits and did some small talk to some exhibitors. I was also not able to interview the organiser of the event, as the public relations officials were not present. Grace and company arrived much later around 3:50 pm as the TESDA assessment personnel arrived late at Top Peg. I waited for them since I need to get some papers and see the the progress of the mobile game programming and after that I took a few photos of them also. I left around 4:30 pm as I need to take the taxi and MRT to avoid the heavy traffic after office hours.

None of the Top Peg people nor I will be present in the succeeding days, as we expect the event to be full of people. Alstaire’s brother will be present on Saturday, so I will just ask for some of his pictures for this blog.

September 17, 2015

Whilce Portacio – International Comic Artist & Writer

Whilce Portacio Inside the 4 Meter Tall Hulkbuster

The following are some pictures and a short essay from Alstaire last September 17, 2015 at AsiaPOP Comicon.

I saw Whilce Portacio talking with some people. Luis and I are comic collectors and I collected his title ‘Wetworks’ way back in college, so we really wanted to get his autograph. We went to one of the booths where they were selling Whilce’s old titles…Luis bought ‘X-factor’ comic while I bought ‘Stone’ number 1 comic for P200. We went back and waited for Whilce to finish talking to a guy who was marketing bags. Another guy (a 3D artist) cut in between us and he asked Whilce if was interested in having his characters sculpted in 3D. Whilce told him that he was interested in turning his characters into toys, and if he can add articulation to the 3D designs, then he should leave his number to his assistant. This gave me the idea to talk to him first before having his autograph.

When my turn came, I told him that we were animators and if he was interested in having his works turn into animation. I also told him of the animated trailer we did for a graphic novel. He said he was interested but he wanted to know the capabilities of the Filipino animators. He asked if we could do a Hayao Miyasaki like backgrounds for animation. He said he has a partnership that they would announce next day, and this partnership is with Erik Matti, a Filipino director whose specialty were horror films. Because Whilce has stories about Philippine monsters that he wanted to do in film and that it may translate well also into animation. He really wants to promote Filipino talent but he first wants to see what we are capable of. I told him I can show what projects we have already done and I also said we are into games too. He was really interested but he said he didn’t have the time to visit our studio because he was leaving on the 2th but he might drop by when he comes back in November. After our talk, I asked him for his autograph and I said we will be looking forward to his visit.

Alstaire with Whilce Portacio

September 19,2015

The following are some pictures of celebrities and some events on September 19 by the brother of Alstaire – Alvin Sarthou. He was there from 9 am to 8 pm as he waited to take pictures of some of the celebrities. I’m very grateful that Alvin allowed his pictures to be used in this blog.