• by Bleau & Ryder Aquino •


It was that time of the year again. Where all collectible, anime, and comic enthusiasts gather to celebrate their passion. Whether you're a hardcore geek or a casual fan, there's always something wonderful in store for you at the 7th Annual Philippine Toy Convention. With rare toys, gorgeous statues, fun games, and quirky cosplayers abound, ToyCon delivers an experience unlike any other. The beauty of this event is that so much of the spectacle is provided for by the participants... from the countless hours a cosplayer spends in crafting their outfit, to the sleepless nights a hobbyist endures in sculpting his custom action figure - the passion of creating something that will touch so many others is a wonderful feeling.

My brother and I wanted to be a part of that... to share our passion for toys in the most kick ass fashion our talents can provide. Cosplay? Let's leave that to the young-uns. Custom Action Figure/Diorama? Let's leave that to the sculptors. The contest that we think we are most capable of joining could be the ToyClicks Photography competition. Being a part of it always leads to me and my bro getting closer by working for a common goal. Learning from last year's mistakes, we strived hard to make our entries for this year's contest be the best they possibly could.

From the selection of figures, the creation of props, the search for perfect locations, and the overall concept of the shots, we poured our hearts into this labor of love. Now, the only thing missing? A serviceable DSLR camera! Thank goodness for friends because my brother's office-mates were kind enough to lend their lovely Canon EOS 450Ds to us. The other problem? We had no idea how to use it! After a hands-on crash course in apertures, shutterspeeds, ISOs and countless trials and errors with test shots, we finally got the groove and quality output we were happy with.



For our entry "The Last Stand", we tried to replicate the feel of X-Men 3 by situating a Real Action Heroes 1:6 Scale figure of Wolverine in an Alcatrax-looking environment, and posing him to look as if he's ready to take on all comers. Unlike the Batman entry, we shot Wolvie in the controlled confines of our dining room. This shot required a heavy amount of props to pull-off- we used a meshed magazine rack as a scaled prison fence, self-made hand-twisted chicken wires to make scaled barbed wire (ouch!), a bunch of metal pans (which we stole from our mom's kitchen) to simulate crates, soil from our garden pots, and various Marvel Legends accessories for junk metal.




Click on the video below for a behind the scenes featurette for "The Last Stand":




For our Takara Batman entry, "Why So Serious?", we tried to capture the Dark Knight in his pursuit of the Joker in Gotham City. Using a 1:6 Scale GenX Core Batman Begins figure by Takara, we built a scaled gothic building diorama using wood trimmings, galvanized iron sheets, paper maché, and Spider-Man 1 gargoyle accessories  and shot it at the roofdeck of the Oriental Garden Condominium in Makati to capture that Gotham-esque skyline. Further accents include a scaled miniature joker card and a bat-signal made from a headlamp. Being an on-location shoot, Batman was extremely tough to capture because of environmental conditions like wind and rainfall-danger that a rooftop shot entails. Nevertheless, we persisted and strived to find the perfect shot.



Click on the video below for a behind the scenes featurette for "Why So Serious?":




For CosplayClicks, my brother  submitted an entry entitled "The Killing Joke", wherein he used one of the lomography shots of his friend at their company Christmas party from last year when he dressed up as the Joker.  I was pleasantly surprised that he submitted the shot since I knew he was initially hesitant to enter a candid photo.  But the multiple exposure on color splash lomo spectacularly captred the essence of Joker and  I'm really happy that a lot of people appreciated it as well.



Going into the event, we were excited to share the results of our collaboration to the world. Just seeing a fan come up to the gallery and appreciate the photos we shot was deeply rewarding  for us, but it was a wonderful feeling when they announced that our entires got awarded in their respective categories.  Wolverine (The Last Stand)  and the Batman (Why So Serious?) entries finished 1st and 3rd respectively at ToyClicks , while my brother's Joker (The Killing Joke) lomo photo by Francis Inton bagged 2nd place at CosplayClicks.  We were truly blessed and thankful that all our hard work had paid off. We'll cherish this memory and swing for the fences next year as well.

None of these would be possible without the support of the following people:
Ryder Aquino, it is with great pride that I share this entire experience with you.  
Aste Gutierrez and Kulas Abrenilla for lending their EOS, shooting location, and DSLR expertise.
Francis Inton for his awesomeness at lomography.
Edsel Adoremos for helping out with props and lights.
Valerie Aquino, Moppet Aquino, Junnis Martinez, Ogie Ramos, Leo Sinio, Raldeen Padrigon, and Franc Pineda for their support.
Azrael Coladilla for always organizing a successful convention (it won't be the same without you man)

'Til next ToyCon. Godspeed!


Click on the photo below to view our photos of the event: