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NexCon Manila: The future of Pinoy scifi and fantasy


Most first events are meant to show “proof of concept.” In other words, can it be pulled off? This was the case with last weekend’s first ever NexCon Manila, an event devoted to the celebration of genre fandom.

The two-day affair, which was held at the Bayanihan Center in Mandaluyong, featured booths from both retailers and sponsoring organizations, panels on genre fiction, comics, and film, a cosplay competition, and a closing rock music show. 
 
 
More than just cosplay 
 
This was of course a time for those who are fans of things that other Manila gatherings of that sort do not primarily tackle.

Aside from the usual throng of characters from Japanese anime—who were, in any case, very well represented thanks to the event's co-sponsor, Cosplay.ph—the dominant costumes came from comic books, video games, and TV series from the rest of the world. 
 
There was also a nod to Budjette Tan's and Kajo Baldisimo’s Trese, with one person dressed as the titular detective Alexandra, with stuffed Kambal toys attached to her costume. I also met a couple of people who were fans of the cult supernatural/dark comedy podcast Welcome to Night Vale. Of course, there was a life-size remote controlled R2-D2 droid which which proved to be a crowd favorite.
 
 
A celebration of genres
 
The convention was in part the brainchild of TV and film director Adrian Arcega, who told GMA News Online about why NexCon came about. “We thought there was a need for an actual celebration of genres, not just the usual cosplay or merchandising events,” he said, “and we wanted to celebrate other aspects of science fiction, fantasy, or horror, especially Western or Filipino ones.” 
 
The celebration of this particular fandom was also why the Geek Fight Trivia Night series chose this event to mark its fifth anniversary.

Dante Gagelonia, spokesperson for the Geek Fight Committee, said, “Being part of NexCon is a big deal for us, because we believe in what NexCon stands for. NexCon is about celebrating scifi and fantasy geekdom and that constitutes a lot of what Geek Fight is about.”

 


Local games and 3D printing
 
The event also featured a few technological developments, including a preview of an upcoming and locally developed casual game named Face Mountain, and a display by special effects house Mothership that showed off a technology that has been gaining popularity in the geek community: a 3-D printer. 
 
The device, which has yet to be commercially available, costs around PHP 65,000 and uses object scans as the basis of plastic “printouts.” While most of the samples were connected to the event, such as an Iron Man helmet, there was a creature from a 2012 film called Tiktik: The Aswang Chronicles (produced by GMA Films, an affiliate of this site). 

 
Locally-made scifi
 
Tiktik itself also got a prominent mention in the Saturday film panel, which featured filmmakers engaged in genres such as fantasy, science fiction, and horror. Its director, Erik Matti, took the occasion to show off concept drawings from the film’s sequel, which is due for a late 2014 release.

The film will begin literally where the last one ended, and will now involve more street scenes than the first. Providing a historical perspective was film historian and archivist Teddy Co. 
 
He pointed out that genre filmmaking  could be dated to even before the war, with the first known scifi film being a now-lost 1938 picture named Kamay na Bakal, a revenge story involving an invisible man with an iron hand. There was also an almost-parallel panel gathering local genre authors moderated by writer Carljoe Javier. He also led the comics panel on Sunday afternoon. The panels put a strong emphasis on local content, which is what Arcega noted was what needed a spotlight this first time around.
 
 
Forward and onward
 
I did feel that there were things that could be learned from this first staging. For instance, the way event tickets were priced could be revisited in order to attract a bigger audience in the future. Apart from this, there is also potential in engaging other artistic fields—visual artists like Rodel Tapaya have explored Philippine mythology in their work, and such a component might add to an interesting mix.
 
What I did find very refreshing was the kind of enthusiasm that was on display, a genuine one, for whatever was being celebrated. It is the sort of place where people in the room know the response to the question “Is there a doctor in the house?” with lively cheers.

I could comment that a person in a Night Vale intern t-shirt was not actually there, and another person could get what I meant. Whether it was dressing up like Stormtroopers or various regenerations of the Doctor, or a passion for board games or new modelling technology, Nexcon offered both enthusiasts and relative newcomers a chance to let these enthusiasms sink in. 
 
Next year, NexCon’s celebration could well become bigger, we hope.

And if the turnout from this year's event is any indication, it definitely will be. — TJD, GMA News
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