Covering Day 1 of ToyCon 2009

Late post is late, but I only opened this blog recently, didn't I? Still, I thought I'd show off some of the pictures that I had taken from Day 1 of ToyCon 2009.

Despite the scary rumors of Influenza A (H1N1) floating in the Ortigas air, hundreds of fans of toys, hobbies, and collectibles converged en masse upon SM Megamall to be part of the 8th Philippine Toys, Hobbies, and Collectibles Convention, held during Independence Day weekend (13-14 June 2009).

While waiting in line on Day 1 of the con (Saturday), I observed to a buddy of mine that I was wondering how the local muggles were feeling: imagine, there was a Tekken tournament on the ground floor, and a con on the fifth - the geeks are out in force, the geeks are swarming the mall! And all they wanted to do was shop and do the groceries for the back-to-school crowd....



The top row shows photos from inside a special cordoned-off area inside the venue. That cordoned-off place was devoted to massive collections of memorabilia: vintage GI Joe figures, artwork, Barbie dolls, and others. In the pictures are a guy looking over collections of toy soldiers and pro wrestling figures, as well as someone's lovingly built and custom-painted RX-78 Gundam kit.

The second row shows two members of the Philippine Outpost of the 501st Legion of Stormtroopers (Vader's Fist), trooping as part of the festivities.

In the third row are a few cosplayers: the little movie-style Bumblebee is actually a rather cute little girl, who was apparently lovingly outfitted by both proud parents; and a group from Axis Powers Hetalia, with flags and matching little emoticons.

With the flu scare just at its height during the con, a lot of people came wearing face masks, and some were even smart enough to either wear costumes that incorporated masks, or covered their mouths and noses some other way (like with scarves or bandannas).

There was an amazing amount of merchandise on sale, and many at startlingly low prices; no wonder the con was packed all day Saturday! I myself nabbed one the fellow experiments of the little blue alien Stitch (from Disney's Lilo and Stitch), for only PHP100!

I've been going to local cons for years now, ever since the trend got started, and am happy to report that every year the cons get more and more ambitious, attracting more and more geeks and fellow otaku. Some cons are for games and gamers only, while others are for cosplayers only; the majority, however, are catch-all events, such as ToyCon. I can only hope the otaku scene gets just as varied here as it does in other countries! :)

Posting to dannychoo.com GET.

One of the sites I have bookmarked over in the left-hand sidebar belongs to IT man, geek, and dancing stormtrooper extraordinaire Danny Choo. He's made quite a mark for himself in not only the Japanese tech scene but also the global otaku one.

I signed up for his site a few months ago after seeing him do a guest-blogging stint over at the majorly kickass news archive Boing Boing, and I've been an avid follower since. I quite enjoy his bannering of the average otaku person. As I myself like to think that the geek shall rule the earth, it's been a pleasure mingling with like-minded comrades there.

Today I finally posted my own first Member News article there. Have a screenshot of the site; my article is in the red rounded box. :)



If you want to read the article text, I shall shamelessly point you over to that particular page: June2009GamePH.

[If my comrades should decide to drop in: welcome! :)]

Takarazuka Kagekidan.

(Image found via Google Image Search, using search string "Takarazuka Kagekidan".)

From Wikipedia, a definition:

The Takarazuka Revue (宝塚歌劇団 Takarazuka Kagekidan) is a Japanese all-female musical theater in the city of Takarazuka, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. Women play both male and female roles in lavish, Broadway-style productions — most of their plays are Western-style musicals, and sometimes they are stories adapted from shōjo manga and folktales of China and Japan. Their fans are mostly female. Legally, this theatrical company is a division of Hankyu Railway Co. and actresses are employees of the company.

The leading actresses of the Takarazuka Kagekidan in 2006, from left to right: Sena Jun, current Top Star of Moon Troupe; Haruno Sumire, past top star of Flower Troupe; Wao Youka, past top star of Cosmos Troupe; Todoroki Yuu, current top star of Superior Members; Kozuki Wataru, past top star of Star Troupe; and Asami Hikaru, past top star of Snow Troupe.

Introducing Zuka (a nickname for the theater company) to non-fans is kind of tricky, but the definition above already covers many of the important bits. What it *doesn't* mention is that the Kagekidan - or the Revue - is primarily centered on an elite all-girls school for the performing arts, with the motto Kiyoku, Tadashiku, Utsukushiku (Pure, Proper, Beautiful). Students in this school eventually elect to become either an otokoyaku, a male-role actress, or a musumeyaku, a female-role actress.

The otokoyaku and musumeyaku are then assigned to any one of five troupes, and go on to perform onstage at the Revue's theaters. The troupes are Hana (Flower), Tsuki (Moon), Yuki (Snow), Hoshi (Star), and Cosmos (Sora). A special sixth troupe, Senka (Superior Members), is reserved for those actresses who are over 40, but do not wish to retire yet.

At the apex of each troupe is the position of Top Star, reserved for (primarily) the leading otokoyaku, although there is usually a musumeyaku Top Star as well. Such a pairing of Top Stars is referred to as a Golden Combination.

The Takarazuka Kagekidan has been around since 1913 (and will be celebrating its centennial in four years). It has produced a lot of talented actresses, and I hope will continue to do so beyond 2013. It's one of my fandoms, and I hope to talk about it some more in this blog.

I hope this post serves as a proper introduction for them, and I'll be happy to welcome comments on the Revue and on this introduction too.

Introduction Post.

Hi. After an absence of about half a year from blogging, here I am again, ready to jump back in.

My name is PJ Punla. I used to go by the online handle "NineMoons" when I was blogging for the Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game Granado Espada.

Now I think I'll go ahead and blog under my real name, for a change.

This blog is as its blurb goes: me, a girl from the Philippines, talking about local and foreign pop culture for the most part. There may be lapses into sarcasm and attempts at photography. There will be quite a bit of fangirling. And there will be analysis and research. I may be here to be a fan but I'm also here to learn.

So, welcome to the blog; I hope to post something more substantial shortly. Hope you'll visit and stick around some. :)