Post APCC: Celebrating Geek Culture in a Global Scale

As I was sitting in attendance at this year's Asiapop Comicon's (APCC) Hall N (Netflix) there was something that "Castlevania" showrunner Adi Shankar said that resounded in me. 

Dressed in what was almost 'casual cosplay' with the infamous 'power glove' on his arm, he talks with such passion about a beloved video game resurrected into a medium for a new generation.  

He says: "-this (Castlevania) was the stuff that I got made fun of as a kid. You know what I mean? I couldn't walk around with a power glove when I was 16. I couldn't talk about anime and video games, that wasn't cool and now all of a sudden we live in a world where this is part of the collective culture, this is part of the consciousness and we're talking about a global mythology here, a shared understanding."   

and I know what he means, growing up, I too was made fun of for being a fan of anime, my group of friends ostracized because we weren't like "the cool kids". 

During our school fair we had a booth and sold Anime merchandise (we did for fun and not profit, we hardly made any money) and even held film screenings, (screening rights weren't that strict then). We even cosplayed as some of our favorite characters and this was back when cosplay wasn't even "cool" or acceptable. 

There were no conventions then and the internet was just in its infancy. 

Flash forward to a couple of decades later and we now have one of the biggest pop culture events in Asia, bringing renowned actors, artists and cosplayers, whom we've only admired from a far. And as if these years of consecutive success wasn't enough, APCC ups their game this year by providing exclusive, never before seen content from industry giants like Marvel, Disney and Netflix (Netflix really brought their A game though). With exclusive world trailers for Season 2 of Castlevania as well as the world trailer of Godzilla: City on the Edge of Battle.  

Adi Shankar during the Netflix panel.
(c) PCheng Photography 

As if that wasn't enough, the first episode of the second season of Iron Fist was also premiered to the lucky fans in attendance. 

Adi Shankar says of these exclusive previews: 

"Trailers would drop, new stories would drop - but it would never happen in this part of the world. Alien invasion always happen in New York" he says, proving his point. 

With these worldwide premieres debuting in an event such as Asia Popcomicon, it just goes to show how celebrating Geek Culture is now on a Global Scale. That even our humble city of Manila can experience these exclusive sneak peeks. Going through comments on social media, I even came across one that said the Netflix panel in APCC was a lot better than the world renowned SDCC (San Diego Comicon).  

I think I will never get over how 'being a geek' can now be celebrated in prestigious events such as Asiapop Comicon. You get to meet and/or hang out with friends who share the same passion as you do. May it be through cosplay or through panels, or meeting your favorite comic artists or scoring those coveted merchandise. There is something for everybody and if the evolution of these events in the following years is any indication, I can say that we are in for bigger and better surprises in the years to come. 




***Apologies this write up is a bit delayed, the week after APCC is actually our Little Jedi's first birthday party and we were busy handling last minute preparations. I just hope that next year APCC and Luke's birthday won't be too close.***