Geeks, fans, and pop culture enthusiasts celebrate their love for geekdom here at the AsiaPOP Comicon Manila 2018. Folks head over to the SMX Convention Center here in Pasay, Metro Manila, Philippines to experience remarkable festivities for the second day of APCC Manila 2018.

Exhibitors, guest stars, and creative icons showcase their respective passions and hobbies with various highlights. And our team here at What’s A Geek! witnessed just how crazy fun fans can get with their fandoms. Here are a few highlights.

APCC Manila 2018: Day 2 With A Dash Of Sparkles!

APCC Manila 2018 entered its second day of festivities with just as much fun as the first day. Hype intensifies when more guest stars and creative figure have begun to show fans their love for their craft right in front of their eyes! APCC 2018 brings the hype and jacks it up to maximum, and for good reason. Celebrity guests such as Finn Jones and Tye Sheridan become just some of the reasons why conventions like APCC unite fans all over the country.

Finn Jones, Tye Sheridan, Mike Colter: Continuously Inspiring Fans

Today we met two more of APCC’s celebrity guests – and with a third surprising fans with his appearance. First up, is Ready Player One‘s Tye Sheridan. A self-confessed superfan of Batman, Tye also plays X-Men‘s Cyclops. He looks up to James Marsden’s portrayal of Cyclops in X-Men‘s first cinematic iteration. Tye’s Cyclops is, however, much different.

“[Cyclops] is just discovering his powers and growing into them, he’s not as mature as the previous X-Men. I’m really excited in the direction we have for him,” he teases. Tye will be reprising his role as Cyclops in the upcoming X-Men: Dark Phoenix movie coming soon.” A little known fact is that Tye is also running his own start up on interactive media, and hopes that he could share their projects soon.

Finn Jones proves the Immortal Iron Fist can become just as charming as his lovable demeanor emanated throughout conversations with fans. Jones is best known for his roles as Danny Rand in Netflix’s Iron Fist. He also made appearances in Game of Thrones, and releases such as Life in Squares and Luke Cage. Thanos better stay out of his way, though, as Jones wholeheartedly believes Iron Fist survived the infamous #Snappening.

Mike Colter also surprised fans in a Meet and Greet at the Netflix booth. The actor, best known for Luke Cage in, well, Luke Cage, shared some parts of his personal life to fans. In particular, he surprised a lot of geeks that music also plays an integral part of his life.

Whilce Portacio: Jump On Every Opportunity

Whilce Portacio took fans down memory lane in his workshop, emphasizing the need for everyone to take risks while pursuing their dreams. Portacio reminisced about his experience 30 years in the past, back when he was still a young artist working with figures such as Jim Lee.

Portacio, who also co-created X-Man Bishop and became known for the Stone comics series, said anyone should try their best to pursue their dreams.

“If there’s an opportunity, jump on it,” he said. “It doesn’t matter if you fail. You should always try, and there will be many adventures along the way.”

Portacio compared making decisions to deciding to use in art. “If you keep second-guessing yourself, you might miss out on a lot,” he said. “Trust your instincts. Do it, even if you fail. Try to be the person you think you’re destined to be.”

Phil Noto: Tapping Into Business, Art

Phil Noto conducted a workshop for aspiring artists and creatives detailing his process of working on comic books and comic book covers. The artist is Noto-rious for his work with Marvel and some of his Noto-ble covers are the retro-inspired covers he’s made for various Marvel titles.  He answered questions from his fans ranging from how he chooses his color palette to where his inspirations come from. He did that all the while showing his process by example drawing a cover featuring X-23. If there’s anything important to be gained from Noto’s workshop is that when it comes to getting better at your craft, Phil Noto endorses the simple wisdom of practice, practice, practice.

He said art school isn’t totally necessary for someone to make it in art in today’s day and age, but it’s certainly a good start. “It’s a good boot camp for art principles,” he said. “But there are a lot of ways to learn art online, so you should also look into those.”

The comic book artist also expressed his admiration for modern methods of drawing art. However, his reception over new media has a blend of both balancing and appreciating new styles. “There are times when I want to try something new and experiment, but there’s a business side to the industry,” he said.

Cosplay, Voices of Our Childhood: Looking Back At Our Idols

Apollo Abraham (Master Pogi), Benjie Dorango (Dao Ming Si), Bernie Malejana (Doraemon), and Jeff Utanes (Goku) head the voice actors panel in the convention. Voices of Our Childhood had some of the most iconic voice actors of the country spend time with both con-goers and media members in their seminar-workshop. Though unlike other celebrities and creators who held their talks in conventions, this one hit a bit close to home. This is especially since the actors themselves shared some of the most memorable moments attached to their respective characters’ “personification.”

Benjie Dorango, in particular, stressed the importance of the shows they dubbed into introducing foreign culture in the Philippines. Dorango, who voiced Dao Ming Si in Meteor Garden, said the aforementioned series helped Filipinos get introduced to Chinovelas (Chinese telenovelas). This slowly paved the way to the popularity of Koreanovelas.

Canvas Cosplay headed the cosplay workshop and panel for fans and enthusiasts, which can be a good way to be introduced to the craft. The cosplay workshop helped fans get acquainted with the cosplay scene – from discovering your inner cosplayer to marketing yourself as a potential keyplayer in the scene. The workshop took fans to discover their own personal journey down the path of cosplay. However, there are also sewing machines!

Hall N: More Surprises Incoming

Fans stumbled upon Hall N as a room full of surprises. During the Netflix Anime panel, showrunners Takashi Yoshizawa (Godzilla) and Adi Shankar (Castlevania) got to interact with fans of their works. In fact, fans got themselves a treat when they got the world premiere for the much-awaited Castlevania Season 2 with a fresh trailer.

Yoshizawa and Shankar also praised the advancement of technology, especially in terms of making anime. “I was eight years old when I first encountered Godzilla, and that was over 30 years ago,” Yoshizawa said. “Now, thanks to the progress we’ve made with technology, I’m able to recreate the story of Godzilla through CG (computer-generated imaging).”

Shankar laments about how he couldn’t be an out and out geek when he was younger. “I couldn’t walk around with a Power Glove when I was 16. I couldn’t even talk about anime and video games without being judged. Now, we live in a world where [anime and video games] are part of the world collective conscience. So thank you. Thank you for supporting us.”

The anime panel was followed by a very exciting Luke Cage and Iron Fist panel. After being treated to exclusive season two trailers for both series, the biggest surprise came courtesy of Iron Fist showrunner Raven Metzner. If you haven’t heard yet, fans saw a first in the world screening of the first episode of Iron Fist Season 2! That’s right, we didn’t get trailers, we saw the first episode. And if our crew who saw were to be trusted, it’s shaping up to be much better than the first season in leaps and bounds.

The Spirit of Community: My Hero Academia Fan Meeting

A My Hero Academia cosplay meet was organized today. This cosplay meet organized by Cholo Tolentino. Their intent was to gather as much of the characters together, heroes and villains, in one place. They dispersed their information on their social media and somehow word got to the renowned cosplayer, Leon Chiro. Tolentino said that he initially planned that the participants of the meet were to parade down to Leon but after meeting with him in Day 1 of APCC, Leon said that he’d go to the gathering himself, dressed as All Might.

Leon and everyone who came as their HeroAca character of choice, got together in one massive group photo. And to put the icing on top of the cake, a short video was taken where the group shouted “PLUS ULTRA!”, the iconic mantra of the show, along with the chanting of “Funimation,” the company responsible for distributing the show to Western audiences. This short video will be sent to Funimation, to show how “PLUS ULTRA!” Philippine HeroAca fans are.

What To Expect? Final Day Means Climactic Excitement!

With Hall N out of the way, it’s up to Hall D and the much-awaited Hall M to get fans excited for their upcoming shows, games, films, and other media. In fact, much is the case for the latter. After all, with a non-disclosure agreement looming over the horizon, just what awaits fans for tomorrow’s big event? If you’ve gotten your Hall M pass, everything’s pretty much a hush-hush deal. If you haven’t gotten one, you can ask your friends tomorrow after the event – if they’ll share, that is.

The country’s most awesome, aspiring, and ambitious cosplayers also gather to celebrate the love for cosplay in this year’s CAGE cosplay competition. Who will rise as this year’s champion? What sort of destiny awaits them as they compete against folks with equally-awesome costumes?

More meets and greets, photograph and autograph sessions, and workshops await for fans of various celebrity guests, creators, and talents that APCC got to the country.

The Takeaway: One More Day Awaits!

APCC Manila 2018 has one more day to spread the love of geekdom to fans, enthusiasts and hobbyists alike. And amazingly enough, it’s not showing any signs of stopping. Momentum is high for all convention attendees and special guests, and all will culminate in tomorrow’s exciting finale. What awaits us in SMX tomorrow?

AsiaPOP Comicon Manila 2018 will be held on July 27 to 29 at the SMX Convention Center in Pasay, Metro Manila, Philippines. Folks can still go grab their tickets in the convention hall and celebrate geekdom with fellow fans!