TOYCON PH – Where Asia Comes to Play!

Toycon goes international this year and for years to come as it aims to further increase international guests for a grander and better line up of activities. They also aim to promote the Philippines as the leading pop culture playground in Asia, that showcases Filipino creativity, innovativeness and talent through toys, games, entertainment and digital content.

What to Expect for this year?

• TOYCON’s Exclusive Toys and merchandise

One of the things to anticipate this year are the exclusive toys, collectibles and merchandise that will come out of the event. So if you are an avid toy collector, you might find something worth of value to your collection over here.

I'm eyeing that Jollibee Funkopop in a Barong costume to be honest, I wasn't able to get one when they launched last month. And here's the full list of toys:

• Zeta Manila Killa PH Colorway designed and created by Quiccs Maiquez, who was awarded Toy Designer of the Year and Toy of the Year in the recently held Designer Toy Awards in New York City.

• The much-anticipated Jollibee Flocked variant Funko Pop will also exclusively be distributed by the Funko Funatics Philippines during the event this year.  
• Filipino-inspired toy exclusives of Tiny Ghost by Bim Toy, Dino by Ziqi Toys and the first release of the Batman Imperial Palace warrior vinyl toy by Mindstyle.

• TOYCON Puts Pinoy Comics on Spotlight

TOYCON is also our country’s undisputed Comic Con with top-caliber comic book artists like:

• Berlin Manalaysay: Creator of the well-loved cyborg, ‘Combatron’, one of the most well received characters in Funny Komics in 1992.

• Ed Tadeo: A prolific Filipino comic book artist, colorist and inker for Marvel, DC, and Image Comics. Titles of his works in coloring and inking include: Wolverine, Silver Surfer, High Roads and District X.

• Heubert Khan Michael: Former guidance councilor turned legendary comic book artist. Judged by Neil Gaiman himself, Hubert won 3rd place in the Philippine Graphic Fiction Awards back in 2010 and has been inking since then! Some of his awesome works include: Vampirella, Unstoppable, and The Owl.

• Miguel Mercado: Miguel is a Cosplayer and Illustrator. Miguel has is known within the Comic Book community for his epic cover art for Back to the Future (2015), Buffy The Vampire Slayer (2019) and Over The Garden Wall (2017).

• Harvey Tolibao: Harvey first got involved in the comics industry in late 2006 when he penciled and inked the twelfth issue of Dark Horse Comics' Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. He also did the art for Iron Man: Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., Psylocke, the Avengers and has also done some work for Top Cow and for DC. 

• Pol Medina Jr: Pol is a Filipino cartoonist best known for creating Pugad Baboy, a comic strip about a community of fatsos and a dog named Polgas, highlighting domestic life and the characters’ commentary on relevant societal issues and pop culture. Pol is the 2018 recipient of the TOYCON Pinoy Pop Culture Icon Award.

• Raymund Bermudez: Filipino Comic Book Artist, Penciler and Cover Artist for DC Comics. Some of his notable works include: Justice League, Pathfinders and Lex Luthor.

• Raymund Lee: Professional Digital Comic Book Colorist who is known for his painterly style and classic renditions of superheroes.

• And finally, Steve Gan: One of the most accomplished Chinese-Filipino Comic Book Artists to date. Best known for co-creating the legendary comic book “Ang Panday” as well as Marvel’s “Star-Lord” and “Skull the Slayer”.

• TOYCON’s Toy Designer Line-up Gets Bigger

When there are exclusive toys, not far behind are the big toy brands and toy designers. There will be more local and international brands and toy designers that will grace this year’s event.

• Lego
• Funko
• Bandai
• Good Smile
• Hot Toys
• XM Studios

Internationally renowned toy designers:

• Ron English (the legendary godfather of street art), 
• Quiccs
• Wetworks
• Anatoy
• Yoii
• Hariken

And more! These designers from all over the globe certainly get the art toy enthusiasts excited in all the international toy shows and certainly, art toy aficionados will get spoiled in this year’s event!

• Celebrity Guests from The Walking Dead

This year two guests confirmed to arrive are from the hit AMC series The Walking Dead. These are actors Michael Cudlitz, who played Sergeant Abraham Ford, and Steven Ogg, who played Simon and also plays Trevor in the hit video game Grand Theft Auto V.

• Battle Dance Champions featured in the Pop Life produced movie, No Dance, No Life

 World-class dance will take over the FanXperience stage featuring talents such as Former Bboy of the Year: Bboy Morris, World of Dance 2019 Champions: The Kings, World of Dance Team of the Year: Academy of Villains, and The Creator of the dance style, Krumping, Tight Eyez.

Other TOYCON 2019 Highlights
Exhibits from epic movies coming soon will make the TOYCON scene more engaging. Headlined by movies from Sony Pictures, Spider-Man: Far from Home, and Warner Brothers’ line-up of movie icons from the horror genre, the Annabelle doll from Warner Brothers upcoming Anabelle Comes Home, Pennywise the Clown from IT: Chapter 2 and Chucky from Reality Pictures’ 2019 adaptation of Child’s Play.

The Game Developers Association of the Philippines (GDAP) will host TOYCON’s Gaming Conference, while the Animation Council of the Philippines will showcase more than 50 short films in the Theater Room.

here

TOYCON POPLIFE FANXPERIENCE will also be the stage for the unveiling of the biggest Batman statue in Asia, the 22-foot tall Imperial Palace Batman which is a likeness of the Dark Knight never seen before until now. Celebrating the 80th Anniversary of Batman, DC Collectibles has announced a collaboration with Pop Life Global and China’s Imperial Palace for a special series of figures featuring DC Comics characters in costumes themed after ancient Chinese warriors and soldier armors. This Batman statue is going to be one for the history books!

This year’s World Cosplay Summit Philippines (WCSPH) National Finals will also be held at TOYCON 2019, with Japanese Cosplayer Reika and WCSPH Alumni Ming Miho and 2018 Philippine Representative Team Sekai (Sergio Sta. Ana and Kai Raito) headlining this activity. Five cosplay pairs selected from parts of the country will compete for the right to represent the Philippines at the 2019 World Cosplay Summit in Japan.

TOYCON POPLIFE FANXPERIENCE happens on June 28-30, 2019 at the SMX Convention Center, Pasay City.

[The event is made possible by PLDT Home Fibr, MaxiCollector, Big Boys Toy Store, Filbars, Great Toys Online, Ano Toys, Arigatoys, Hobbiestock Collectibles, De La Salle College of St. Benilde, Kramer Toy Warden and main media partner, ABS-CBN. With thanks to our official residence partner, Tryp by Wyndham Mall of Asia Manila.]  
So cheers for TOYCON’s 18th year and we hope you join us in this ground-breaking international event. Always check out the TOYCON website, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts for more updates: