This Saturday, October 22, the world of cosplay crosses over with Pinoy indie comic book characters as GTMACCON holds its first big gathering at the SM San Lazaro Event Center in Manila.
In this Q&A, Gametime talks with GTMACCON founder and group administrator Kit Perez about this unique and momentous event.
Gametime: What is the GTMACCON and what is it about?
Kit Perez: GTMACCON actually stands for Gaming, Toy, Manga/Anime, Cosplay Convention. It started as a Facebook group to give fans a forum where they can share their ideas, plug their events/projects and meet other like-minded individuals.
This group eventually was fortunate enough to have renowned comic book artists, cosplayers, musicians, cartoon dubbers, hobbyists, television personalities and gamers in its fold and from there the idea of holding a grand “get together” of members started.
GTMACCON 2011 gives cosplay competition a unique twist; instead of the usual anime/manga or western comic book characters original Filipino indie comic book characters will be given the main focus. Most of the characters will be seen by the general public for the first time so the participating indie comic book artists are very excited. They have even teamed up with cosplayers that they felt could best portray their comic book creations on stage.
GT: What is the relevance of holding such an event?
Perez: With the theme “Basta Likhang Pinoy—Astig!” GTMACCON aims to further promote the brilliance of Filipino comic book artistry. By having the currently very vibrant cosplay crowd also heavily involved in this event, the local comic book industry can gain new fans by having their works portrayed and supported by cosplayers.
The school of thought that governs the very essence of GTMACCON 2011 is that the kids of today will most likely follow or patronize characters that they can see in living color or “in the flesh” so to speak. We see a lot of cosplayers following with much fervor the character they are most familiar with so given the exposure of foreign pop culture characters in all forms of media, our event wants to give our local comic book artists their much deserved spotlight. Our event also wants to remind the Filipino public why the rest of the world craves for Filipino comic book works.
GT: What makes it different from other comic conventions?
Perez: Like I said, it will be the first time an indie comic book artist and a cosplayer would team up for a competition. GTMACCON 2011 intends to bridge these two genres. We do hope GTMACCON 2011 will usher a renewed interest of the general public with regards to support the local comic book industry and artform.
GT: Who will be the judges for the competitions and what can the attendees expect?
Perez: The judges for the cosplay competition include Cosplay.ph president Pablo Bairan, stand-up, comic Stanley Chi, and TV5 host IC Mendoza. The people from KOMIKON will also be on hand during the event and so will most of the big names of both the local comic book industry and cosplay communities. Since GTMACCON 2011 will be covered live also by HERO TV, expect their fans as well to join in on the fun.
There will be 10 awesome entries for the indie comic book character cosplay competition and there will also be 10 five-minute stage cosplay presentations that will showcase to the audiences present that day at SM San Lazaro how awesome local comic book characters can really be.
GTMACCON 2011 tickets are priced at P70 and are available at Comic Odyssey’s Robinsons Galleria and Robinsons Place Manila branches. Since tickets won’t be available during the event itself though. People can call 914-0040 or 5368070 or e-mail [email protected] to order tickets online.
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‘RAN’ turns 5
RAN Online, the no. 1 campus-based MMORPG (massively multiplayer online roleplaying game) and flagship title of e-Games, culminated its fifth year anniversary celebration with RAN D’ Reunion and RAN Power Hour, a grand in-game reunion for its players and one of the biggest in-game raffle promos for local online games to date respectively.
These events were held as a way to thank the dedicated RAN Online community for their continued support of the game.
RAN D’ Reunion aimed to bring together all the players of RAN Online, past and present, for one day and have them meet new and old players. To complete the ensemble, the RAN Online team also brought in most of the Game Masters (GM) from RAN’s early days such as GM Amethy, GM Boom, GM Raven and more. The GMs came out en-masse, appearing in different locations in-game and interacting with RAN Online players.
The RAN Power Hour, held on September 24, provided RAN Online players an unprecedented EXP (experience) boost to help increase players’ in-game characters levels which is crucial to mastering in-game skills, defeating monsters and using more powerful weapons. Players were also able to “stack” this EXP bonus with other EXP multipliers like in-game EXP rosaries (also provided free during the day) and Netopia Internet Cafes’ EXP promo for RAN Online players (RANatics).
Aside from the EXP bonus, anyone who logged-in to RAN Online’s servers during Power Hour also got a chance to win rare in-game items and gaming merchandise. In-game items include over-upgraded accessories, weapons and armors that are worth hundreds of thousands of pesos. An android phone, laptop, and gaming PC were also given away as prizes, along with thousands of pesos worth of e-Points.
Heidi Mendita-Garayblas, vice president fo IP e-Games MMO Group said “RAN Power Hour is an in-game give-away and raffle for our players, and the first of its kind for a local online game. This is the biggest in-game MMORPG EB and reunion where gamers get to meet in-game their favorite RAN Online GMs. Holding the event is our way of thanking the community for their continued dedication and support of the game.”