Last year the country’s biggest three-day pop-culture event, AsiaPOP Comicon (APCC) Manila, brought over 40,000 movie, comic, television, game, toy and cosplay lovers under one roof with guest stars like Stranger Things’ Millie Bobby Brown and Skin’s Nicholas Hoult. And they totally killed it. Back again this year from August 25 to 27 at SMX Convention Center, they’ve jazzed things up, so that there’s a little more something for everyone.
Unexpected guests
Aside from the expected all-star cosplayers Alodia Gosiengfiao, Myrtle Sarrosa, Pion Kim, Jinbehindinfinite, Canvas Cospay and Haiden Hazard, who will be manning the annual CAGE cosplay competition, DC’s Cyborg Ray Fisher, Supergirl’s Superman Tyler Hoechin, and Overwatch’s Gaku Space are also coming to town. While these are the kind of guests you might expect at APCC, you might be surprised to hear that this year, they’re bringing in more local guests like Scout’s current covergirl Julia Barretto and her loveteam Joshua Garcia as well as Daniel Padilla and Kathryn Bernardo.
Expanded Netflix’s booth
When Stranger Things’ Eleven a.k.a. Millie Bobby Brown showed up at APCC last year, the crowd (including us) went wild. Well, it seems like they’ve heard our screams loud and clear because this year, Netflix’s own booth Hall N, is the biggest one in the convention. They’ve also invited four of the casts members: Noah Schnapp, Joe Keery, Darce Montgomery, and Sadie Sink to hold down the Netflix panel, as well as announced that they’ll be screening their American live action adaptation of popular Japanese anime Death Note.
More variety
They’re going all out this year, adding more panels and different kinds of workshops like those with illustrator Artgerm, comic book artist Carl Potts, makeup studio NYX, and Macross saga creator Shoji Kawamori. Peeps the schedules below.