TAGCOM 2016 Post Event Report: 10 years of Copy-Paste?

Written by Chad

April 22, 2016

tagcom 2016 (17 of 25)

TAGCOM has celebrated its 10 years of its existence, however their event celebration does not show any sign of a milestone or even a celebration.

Hobbiworx (now called Hobby at Worx) held yet another toy and hobbies convention for this year, but this time it is for their major TAGCOM event. Now on its 10th year, it is a milestone where it should showcased a bigger venue, more booths, a bigger stage with more activities and programs focusing on the toy enthusiasts and other hobbies, and some special appearance from the pioneers of the event. Unfortunately these never happened, however these are what we saw at the event.

Entrance and Registration

The event had two ticket booth windows, however only one was used since the event was rather small. And since TAGCOM only used one event hall, it only has one access point for both entry and exit area. It supposed to have an information table beside the ticket booth for inquiries about the event for its activities, unfortunately the information booth just disappeared around the afternoon and was nonexistent on the second day.

Event site and booths

Unfortunately the event has somewhat the same setup from its recent January event called Manila Hobbies & Collectibles Convention (which we also made a post event report). Despite being its major event, it only used the smallest event hall at the Megatrade Hall (Hall 3). As for the lineup of booths, all were just the same from its January event, though there were some newcomers, they were poorly placed, such examples were from the Migme booth that was meant as attraction booth for cosplayers, it was poorly placed at the far corner of the venue away from the stage, same happened with Force Studios; a group with life-sized statues with a somewhat mini exhibit setup that was also placed in a far corner. The Mazda booth was also poorly placed, as it could have been adjusted to the corner near the entrance and not right in front of the entrance/exit area so there would be a bigger space for attendees to get inside the venue. Toy displays were fewer this time, as the setup felt it was just rushed, the organizers could have given the participating toys group a certain theme to make the displays more appealing. Indie illustrators were located beside the stage area, but where seemed to be ignored as there were no proper signage to promote them. Food stalls were almost impossible to reach as the crowd is blocking the pathway and dining area as it was placed right beside the audience area at the stage.

tagcom 2016 (17 of 25)

Event Stage

The layout is just the same with the one from the Manila Hobbies & Collectibles Convention. The only difference is that they are using a TAGCOM backdrop.

 

tagcom 2016 (22 of 25)

Event Activities

Still almost the same format from the previous event. For Day 1 it was heavily focused on KPop performances and on Day 2 it was a mixed of other performances and cosplay competition, there was even a special appearance of two international cosplayers, unfortunately it was poorly highlighted and they were just featured with a shorter stage time. Sadly there were no stage activities that were highlighting more on toys and collectibles, with the exception of the toy auction though it was also been overshadowed by the audience due to the different target audience of earlier stage performances, as the activities were purely focused more towards otakus and Kpop. TAGCOM could have added some panel talks with their toy collectors that were with them for a long time or maybe a workshop from their sponsors that teaches about plastic model building or customizing toys. The activities somewhat focused on a different audience and it was alienating the usual regulars.

tagcom 2016 (14 of 25)

Overall

The TAGCOM’s 10th year event lacks passion and focus; it was nothing but another copy pasted event from their recent events. It has no significant impact that could have made the event more memorable, and instead on focusing to achieve that, the organizers are somewhat lazy and just decided to redo the same format for the event. They would have done something special at least just once to give tribute to the pioneers of the communities that were always with the event since year one, yet they missed that opportunity and only forced more mess into the event in a desperate effort to attract more foot traffic, something to give back to their loyal community. Some people are considering this event as just a lite version or budget meal of the other popular toys and hobbies convention, and they will be remembered for that. The 10th year event was the best opportunity for them to showcase an evolution, a big change from its previous free event years, to give their community a big thank you for their support, but they blew it, and they will be remembered as a mediocre event.

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