The Malolos Toys and Hobbies Convention (MALCON) is set to return to its home origin, Malolos City onJuly 15-17 , three months after bringing back its pop culture stage in Bulacan.
MALCON has partnered for the first time with Vista Mall Malolos, which brings to the region a world-class mall experience and its homegrown brands AllHome, AllDay and Coffee Project.
MALCON is one of the Philippines’ largest toys and hobbies event that aims to gather once again toyenthusiasts, entertainment and gaming aficionados, cosplayers, collectors and hobbyists.
Over 2,000 toys from various anime and Japanese shows, movies, games, and art pieces will go ondisplay during the event dubbed as MALCON x VISTA MALL.
Popular life-size toy maker and designer Jerry Santos will exhibit his six-foot masterpieces that includes Marvel and DC statues like Captain America, Incredible Hulk, Ironman, and Thor — in time for the releaseof the 2022 movie “Thor: Love and Thunder.”
Santos’ Star Wars life-size collection of R2D2, Darth Vader and other surprise statues will also be part of the display.
On the third day of the Malcon exhibit, Santos will discuss his monumental works and his collaboration with Netflix Philippines and Mobile Legends.
Maloleño talent
To trumpet Bulacans impeccable talent, MALCON invited anew its very own Christian Rodil, the creatorof MALCON mascot and the costume designer of ABS-CBN’s upcoming drama; “Mars Ravelos Darna: The TV Series”.
MALCON will also highlight Maloleños ingenuity through scratch toy builder Kris Morato, who made countless figures from rubber matting.
Kiddie cosplay competition
Aside from the exhibit, event partner Anime Cosplay Empire (A.C.E.) has organized a one-day kiddie cosplay competition.
The MALCON Cosplay Competition is open for ages 12 and below where cosplay participants can wear costumes from anime, movies, comics and games genre.
The free registration is on-site at 10:00am to 1:00 pm on July 16, 2022.
Rodil, a MALCON representative, and an A.C.E. representative, will act judges of the kiddie cosplay competition.
Anime music experience
Several local bands and music artists will also perform various anime songs at the event such as Shumi, Pitch Down, FXN, Ikari No Umi, Marga, A Way to Stellar, Sinta, Pen and Scissors, Leona, Running Out of Ink, Pax Machine, VOMS, and Carlo Cortes.
These Bulacan-based music artists will perform anime theme songs such as: “Daimos,” “Flame of Recca,” “Bleach,” “Knock Out,” “Hunter X Hunter,” “Yamato Nadeshiko,” “Digimon,” “Magic Knight Rayearth,” “Naruto,” among others.
Toy Exhibit
Various Bulacan-based collectors will also display toys from: Gundam, Sailormoon, Trese, One Piece, Demon Slayer, Godzilla, Sword Art Online, Evangelion, My Hero Academia, among others.
Malolos City Mayor Christian Natividad, who is among the organizers, will also showcase his iconic collection.
Seventeen merchants will also showcase their wide-ranging to products and collectibles during the three-day event, wherein enthusiasts can buy their favorite toys.
Card tournaments
Another highlight of MALCON’s homecoming event is the marathon card tournaments of Magic the Gathering and Yu-Gi-Oh. Event partner Beatdown Toys and Hobby Shop will host the card game competitions.
Aside from these, MALCON is hosting a Tekken tournament licensed by Japan-based Bandai Namco.
The tournament’s grand winner will be the regional representative to the Tekken grand national tournament in SMX, Pasay City this year.
‘New Normal’ event
Marlo Magtibay, vlogger of Anime Kabayan YouTube Channel and Laguna-based Eureka Cosplay Club, will host the event, which is free for all ages.
Health protocols such as face mask, proper hygiene and physical distancing shall be observed on the event grounds.
The MALCON tradition started in 2018 and it has been a crowd drawer, breaching people count year-by- year from 6,000 to over 15,000 in attendance.