Events: At 5'8 "Game of Thrones'" Joe Dempsie is considered tall in the Philippines -and he loves it!

"The amazing thing is - in the Philippines I'm considered tall?" Joe Dempsie said in an intimate meet and greet session with fans during the last day of AsiaPOP Comicon. Ending the sentence as a question, rather than as a statement. This was met with laughter from the crowd. 

"That has never happened before!" He continues on saying. The "Game of Thrones" actor, stands at about 5 feet and 8 inches tall. 

There are many characters in the hit HBO series "Game of Thrones" whose fate or demise has been an object of heated discussion and contention but it is the fate of Gendry, played by Joe Dempsie which is surrounded by the most mystery. The now-only surviving Baratheon was last seen rowing away three seasons ago and no one knows what became of him. 

Once news that he would be hitting Manila for AsiaPOP Comicon spread the interwebs, the joke was that he rowed all the way to Manila. There is even a variety of memes on the internet on Gendry's rowing and when  you're a meme then you know that you have made it. 

The question "How long will you think Gendry will be rowing?" was tossed a lot during Joe's time at APCC. "He'll be rowing until Dave and Dan (Benioff & Weiss, the show runners) decide to have him back. When we last see Gendry, we see he's rowing away, rather terribly. He'll have to get a lot better at it if he's going to survive." Dempsie jokes. 

"I'd love to have him back. I'd love to be back. Fingers crossed." he adds. 

In his scheduled "In Conversation" session during APCC, Dempsie was interviewed by radio personality Chico Garcia, who asked him. 

What do you think about that whole internet theory shipping you with Arya Stark? The whole crowd goes wild at this. Is it going to a thing? People would love to see Gendry and Arya together. 

"I mean, it's one of those things that um - fans are going to pick up on in the show and I think that maybe there's a hint of that in the books but again I don't have any idea if Gendry is returning and let alone if he will cross paths with Arya again. I'd say that I'd like to because I like working with Maisie (Williams, who plays Arya Stark) She's an incredible young actress. It's weird because I thought I'd be doing this (acting) for a few years now but I was learning from her (Williams is 19 years old). She's incredibly talented. 

Chico then asks. Have you seen the meme, where she (Arya) tells you, (that) you'll be her family and you tell her, you won't be my family, you'll be my lady. This elicits cheers from the crowd. 

"I remember when that episode aired and there's this avalanche of memes on Twitter. For me the way I interpret it is - you wouldn't be my family, you would still be my superior. You are a highborn and I am a lowborn, essentially a nobody. People can read those lines however they want, I think that's one of the interesting aspects of being part of "Game of Thrones" the fans are so committed and they will analyze and pick apart every scene and line and I think it's just great. 

In a cast as large as "Game of Thrones" Chico asks Joe, if there's any friction on the set. 

"Yeah-there's bound to be d*ck in there?" Dempsie jokes but then goes on to say. 

"I auditioned for three parts before I was cast. I initially auditioned, wouldn't get the part. I thought, they think I'm terrible, I'm rubbish but that wasn't the case and they keep getting me back in for other roles and I think in my mind what that was all about is that they identified people they wanted to work with, that they (Benioff and Weiss) felt would fit in this kind of family that they created. Which piece of the jigsaw are you? Which character are you? I think they deliberately assembled a team of people that would kind of get on and it worked. 

Joe confessed to being a big fan of Kanye West but said that he couldn't rap. 

Click HERE for more photos of Joe during APCC. 

Click HERE for more posts on AsiaPOP Comicon on the blog. 

Events: Nicholas Hoult Is A Big Fan of Stranger Things' Millie Bobby Brown

Nicholas Hoult and Millie Bobby Brown during AsiaPOP Comicon. 

Manila - August 2016. During the recently concluded AsisPOP Comicon British actor Nicholas Hoult gushed about being a fan of the twelve year old actress who took the world by storm in the Netflix series "Stranger Things" since its release last July.

"I haven't met her (Millie Bobby Brown) yet-" the twenty six year old actor said, blue eyes sparkling as he met with the local press for APCC. "She gave a wonderful performance (in "Stranger Things") "and I'm kind of  fanboy-ing over meeting her. I'm looking forward to that and I think I'll be line for her autograph as well 'coz she's fantastic in that show and I loved watching her so-yeah that's what I've been geeking out over recently. 

And Nicholas Hoult would know a thing or two about child actors, as he himself was one. He started acting at the age of seven and played the role of Marcus Brewer in the 2002 romantic comedy "About A Boy" alongside Hugh Grant.

In a separate event during APCC, which was open to the public, Hoult sat across radio personality Chico Garcia went to the topic of child actors by asking Nicholas. "(Nicholas) You started very early in your career. From "About A Boy" How has it been? A lot of child actors, they struggle a little with the transition but in your case it was relatively painless. How did you do it? For others, they really struggled a lot." 

Nicholas Hoult in "About A Boy" 

"Yeah, teenage years, are a pain for most people-"  Hoult responded. "I was lucky, whereby I stayed in school until I was 17 , so normal school, normal friends. I had a pretty normal life outside of work. And I got very lucky being cast in "Skins" the TV show. The crowd goes wild at this.

"A lot of 'Skins' fans-" Chico acknowledges, which is met by more screaming.

"Wasn't it a shock for a lot of people? Because you were this adorable kid in "About a Boy" and "Skins"" was a little edgier-a little scary. 

"Yeah-that's what I liked about it. You know, whenever reading a script or looking at some potential work., I like to do something that people don't really expect, or to do something different. I haven't done before." 

This was also tackled in the press junket when Hoult was asked: "Is it a conscious decision to take on unusual roles?" to which Hoult responded.

"Outside of working with great people and telling a good story, the aim for me is to play as much varied characters and styles of film, the stories that I tell - that's what my aim is. I would get bored if I played the same characters again and again. As much as you can transform physically and emotionally for whatever it is then  that makes a big difference." 

Nicholas Hoult in various roles. From L to R. The zombie "R" in "Warm Bodies". Beast/ Hank McCoy. The War Boy "Nux" in Mad Max: Fury Road.: 

Hoult talks about his upcoming work in "The Rebel in the Rye" when he was asked- 

"(So) You're playing J.D. Salinger for "A Rebel in the Rye" Why is entitled that-and what processes did you go through to prepare for the role since J.D. Salinger is described to be very reclusive." 

It's called "The Rebel in the Rye" (since) it's a play off his most famous novel, "Catcher in the Rye" but also he was a very rebellious character. He got kicked out of quiet a lot of schools-his writing was very much against the phoniness of the world he saw around him and that's what lit the fire within him for him to go out and write about what he felt would prove his depictions of the world and the characters he saw around him. That's why its called "Rebel in the Rye"  in terms of preparation it's difficult because there;s no video or audio of him that exist that we could find. 

Nicholas Hoult and Kevin Space on the set of "Rebel in the Rye" 

So it was a lot of reading biographies about him, reading his novels alongside those biographies. A lot of his work is quiet autobiographical, his writing even though they are fictional, they kind of stem back to his life and then basing the decision (on how) to play him around that. Luckily, Danny (Strong) -the writer wrote a brilliant script that was very tight and I have wonderful actors to work with, so that obviously makes it a lot easier, aside from that in an emotional level I would like to sit at home on a typewriter writing stories, just to try and understand what that felt like as well. 

During the convention, Hoult met with his fans in autograph, photograph and meet and greet sessions. He even ended his "In Conversation" session with an epic Mexian wave. He will be staying in the country after APCC to check out the beaches in Palawan with his "Skins"co-star and friend Joe Dempsie, who is also a guest for AsiaPop Comicon. 

Click here for more photos of Nicholas Hoult during APCC. 

Click here for more posts on AsiaPOP Comicon on the blog. 

Events: APCC Concludes + Day 3 Post + Photos

"Game of Thrones" Joe Dempsie with a fan during his "Meet and Greet Session". 

Unlike my first two posts for APCC which was uploaded right after Day 1 and Day 2, the post and photos for the last day came in late. For specifically four days later. It seems that the fatigue of the three day event finally caught up with us. As I am writing this, the luggage we used for our Microtel stay for APCC is still on the floor and has not been put away yet. I guess our daily routine post APCC hasn't come back yet. We spent the entire Monday following APCC sleeping as we were transitioning back to the night shift, unlike most people, we had work on Monday evening and needless to say I had to battle a nasty bout of a headache. :( Tuesday, we took care of some personal matters, I went to an Advanced screening and needless to say that means deducting about four hours of sleep, which I could have spent writing this. It's now Thursday morning and it's a good thing that the movie I saw last night Morgan will still come out next week, so I don't have to write my review yet and I can finally work on these. 

As I said the fatigue of the past two days finally caught up with Paul and me, you see when we would go back to our hotel room after each day we would not dive under the covers and sleep but immediately work on photos and write ups, hence the immediate posting of Days 1 and 2. I guess by the time Day 3 came, we were just tired. I don't know how the other cosplayers do it, maybe next year an energy drink can sponsor. It would really do good for those like ourselves who work on covering the event.

Unfortunately, Paul and I were not able (yet again) to join the special Marvel panel APCC was offering. I missed the line of the instructions which said that you should check in at F5 by 12:00 noon, maybe third time is the charm next year eh?

I guess this is what pissed Paul off, not being able to part of "Hall M" but having to lug the cameras up and down, since we decided to leave our recording devices in the car for Hall M only to get them again, since we were not attending said Hall M. So going up and down SMX with cameras and a laptop in tow kind of put Paul off and I don't blame him. Mental note to read all instructions carefully next year. Sigh.

On the third day, we also sort of became on-call photographers for the organizers, which explains why we have photos from Joe Dempsie's "Meet and Greet Session" which is the upside, the downside of which was not being able where we wanted to go. Paul was just itching to take photos of cosplayers but was not able to fully do so. I also kind of feel bad not being able to cover CAGE, especially since our acquaintance Fred Viñas won. I also wanted to take photos of the "Fight Saber Philippines" show.

I'm just glad that we ended the day and in retrospect the event on a high note and that was spending time with our FlipGeeks team. We needed the laughs and the jokes to lighten up our moods. So I guess at the end of it all, despite the tiring APCC coverage it's a good thing that we have a tight knit support group who knows what we go through. The physical and mental struggles we go through just to pursue our passion.

I got to see Millie Bobby Brown, I was able to ask Nicholas Hoult and Joe Dempsie a question, saw friends and witnessed pop culture come alive. This is definitely one for the books!

I can't wait for next year! Will make sure to pack Enervon, energy drinks and if we could afford it go on a leave the day after the event as well.

Click HERE for MORE Photos! 

Events: Things Heat Up for "Asia Pop Comicon" + Day 1 + Photos

Join the dark side. A cute little trooper gets a special invite. 

It's 3:00 in the morning. I got out of bed after being awake from more than 24 hours. I only need about 5 hours of sleep and I'm good to go but aside from feeling the body ache, which is still there, I'm just bursting with excitement. Day 1 of the biggest  pop culture event in Asia ended a few hours ago and while there were so many things to see and do I am overwhelmed with anticipation with what is to take place a few hours from now.

But before I get carried away (yet again) let's take a look at what we saw during Day 1 + Photos!

We could not get over this cute little storm trooper when he saw the his heroes from the Philippine Garrison. The Philippine Garrison is a unit of the 501st Legion, which is an international organization of Star Wars fans, dedicated to wearing the costumes of characters from the Star Wars franchise. The 501st is devoted to raising funds for children's charities all over the world.

The little guy needed some coaching to join "the dark side" as he posed with the different villains from Star Wars. He was shy at first but eventually overcame his fear to join guys in, bigger versions of his costume. Perks of being one of the few kid cosplayers on the first day.

American comic book illustrator Mike Zeck, meets Filipino fans. His work includes Marvel Super-Heroes Secret Wars in 1984 and his design for a black and white Spider-Man costume eventually led to the creation of the villain Venom.

Zeck has been coming to the Philippines since 1991, he said that he loves the beaches and the people. Just remove some cars on the road though, he added, during the Asia Pop Comicon press conference, which was held at the Conrad Hotel last Wednesday, August 24. Click here for photos and blog post on the Press Conference!

Fans have been anticipating to join the highly coveted "Hall M" which will feature never-before-seen footage outside of San Diego Comic Con of Marvel's upcoming "Doctor Strange" film. They will also showcase content from Marvel's television and web series. Hall M is limited to 1,000 attendees, which makes the tags highly valuable.

The first batch of fans, get their hands on the highly coveted "Hall M" passes. 

We were really impressed with this White Walker cosplayer who got his make up done at the The Australian College of Hair and Design Manila, which is one of the exhibitors at APCC.

Paul also got to skate for a while, which was a treat since he used to skate back in the day.

There is definitely a lot of activities already going on for Day 1 of AsiaPop Comic con, Day 2 will definitely have more happening! Follow the page and our social media accounts for more updates! 

Click HERE for MORE Photos! 

TV + Events: Stranger Things' Millie Bobby Brown Heads to Manila for APCC 2016!

The boys from "Stranger Things". 

I haven't written about a TV Series in some time, surprisingly movies can be very demanding. There is more than one new movie release in a week and that means one advanced screening in a week (at least) and with work, catching up on sleep and keeping sane that can eat up a lot of your time. I don't how my other colleagues do it. 

So even if I may be the first to get to see movies (ever so grateful) that may not be the case for TV series, especially the ones you need to download or stream in order to see. You see, we have a very unreliable ISP which is funny considering all we do online. So whenever a TV series is out that needs downloading I would have to seek out my suppliers (people in the office, or even my cousin) to get my dose...err..supply. So while the whole world was already going crazy over Netflix's "Stranger Things" I had to patiently bid my time to get my hands on it. 

So, in one rainy August weekend I was finally (all snuggled up in the bed, dressed in sweat pants) ready to binge watch the series, everyone has been raving about.

"Stranger Things" is the good kind of science fiction, borrowing elements from Stephen King's "Dreamcatcher", Steven Spielberg's "E.T." and "Stand By Me". 

The series brings you to a small town in Indiana when a boy disappears (after playing Dungeons and Dragons - for ten hours!) under mysterious circumstances. The series hits all the elements that make a great story right on the head! You will come to care for the well written characters, and the narrative will reel you wright in after just a few minutes of the first episode.

The series definitely brings in the 1980's nostalgia, from the music, the fonts and all the tiny details that you will surely appreciate once you spot them on. There are also many references that will make your geek heart flutter.

Millie Bobby Brown as 'Eleven' in the Netflix hit "Stranger Things". 

The series has been the surprise obsession of 2016 with critics and fans praising the eight episode science fiction, thriller. Aside from the King-Spielberg-Guillermo nods the series has also become well loved due to its fresh cast of children. One of them, the scene stealing, badass Eleven, played by Millie Bobby Brown. 

Ever since her break out role as Eleven there have been numerous fan art, tattoos, painted murals of the shaven ,Eggo-loving, psychokinetic.

The Spanish-born, British actress has since then been the object of affection for fans all over the world, being invited to conventions left and right. She will soon make her way to Manila as part of Asia Pop Comicon and fans are excited!

Aside from being the darling of the internet and of science fiction fans, Millie also boxes and sings! She recently released the video of when she shaved her long brown locks for the role of Eleven and I must say that she's a real trooper! I've watched models twice her age cry like a baby on America's / Asia's Next Top Model but Millie took it all in stride! 

It gas also been reported that Millie has been getting a number of roles and offers, in what role would you like to see her in next?

Do you have any questions for Millie? Send them over and maybe we can ask her!

Millie Bobby Brown.

Events: Nicholas Hoult No Longer About A Boy But A Man of His Own

(L) Nicholas Hoult in "About A Boy" in 2002. 

When the news broke that Nicholas Hoult would be headlining this year's Asia Pop Comic Con, articles online began recalling his past roles, mostly in his recent works as Hank McCoy/ Beast in the X-Men movies, the War Boy in the critically acclaimed "Mad Max: Fury Road", and as the zombie "R" in the young adult book to movie adaptation "Warm Bodies" to which he received three Teen Choice Award Nominations and won the Teen Choice Award for Choice Breakout Performance.. He also received acclaim for his performance as Tony Stonem is "Skins".

What most people may have forgotten is that Nicholas Hoult started acting at the age of seven and played the cute Marcus Brewer in "About a Boy" in 2002 and starred across Hugh Grant in the comedy drama. Hoult was nominated as Critic's Choice Movie Award for Best Young Performer. 

I honestly feel "old" since I remember the movie and I think I watched it a couple of times back then. This was when Hugh Grant was starring in romantic comedies and well, Hoult was just a kid and now look at him!

Aside from starring in pop culture hits, Hoult has done voice work in video games. He voiced "Elliot" in the video game, "Fable III". Hoult has 'model' on his list of work, as he was the face of Tom Ford eyewear Spring Collection in 2010.

Nicholas Hoult for Tom Ford Eyewear in 2010. 

Aside form his multi media performances, Hoult is currently working with Christian Aid, which is the official relief and development agency of 41 British and Irish churches. 

Hoult also works closely with the Teenage Cancer Trust. He has also been known to support the "Enough Food IF campaign", which aims to end global hunger. 

There is much buzz that this Hollywood headliner is on his way to our shores for Asia Pop Comicon. It just goes to show how much of the convention circuit has grown in the Philippines. 

We're excited to see Nicholas Hoult this weekend! Do you have any questions for him? Send them over and we just might get the chance to ask them for you! 

#apccph2016