The annual Toys and Hobbies Convention, also known as TAGCOM, was held last March 21 and 22 at SM Megamall’s Megatrade Hall 3 where toy collectors and hobbyists alike gathered to sell, buy, showcase, and even celebrate their passion for their well loved collections and hobbies. Now on their ninth year, TAGCOM ’15 has widened the range of its audience by including anime fans and cosplayers as well as gaming enthusiasts. There were even segments that catered to the K-Pop fan community.
The main attraction in TAGCOM ’15, and has been for the previous events, are the toys. Booths formed this labyrinth full of toys that kids and even the kids-at-heart do enjoy. There were glass cabinets full of toys proudly displayed by their owners and their toy groups for everyone to see. There were also shirts, hats, and accessories that were sold, mostly with stuff printed on them aligned with the different fandoms that are currently being patronized by their avid fans. Comic artists were also in the event where they gave their autographs for their works and took on commissions for their fans who wanted to get some sketches. There was even a Gunpla kit building contest wherein builders get to show off this kit building skills on a Gundam model.
One area was allocated for the MMORPG Dragon Nest to showcase the newest class, the assassin, that the DN fans could play as. Players could get to try out the said class through the demo. Sadly, this was the only game to have its own booth and feature their content to the people during TAGCOM ’15. We honestly expected that there would be more; at least three games featured. (At least it was there and we get to write about it because it is gaming stuff after all.)
Cosplayers roamed around the events place and even outside the hall, ranging from game characters to anime characters. Day one had the dance and karaoke events while day two was mainly for cosplayers. We were just able to go on the first day and judging from the amount of cosplayer pics, we missed a lot of the cosplay action the second day brought. Nevertheless, there were still a lot of cosplayers on the first day and all of them were eager to get their pictures taken with their friends and fellow fans. (One of our main agendas was to spot a “kanmusu” or a shipgirl from the game/anime series KanColle and we just found one, but a shipgirl is a shipgirl and we all happily got our pictures taken with her. That adorable remote controlled rensho, though; made us squeal like little girls.)
Next year will be TAGCOM’s tenth year and fans are expecting that it will be a special one since it will be a milestone year for the event. We, too, are excited for next year’s spectacular event. For more information and updates about TAGCOM, visit and follow Hobbiworx Tagcom at Facebook.
