Continued from Culture Crash Comics, Ten Years Later: Culture Crash as a Comic Anthology
Ten years ago, hobbyist conventions were few and far between, so the Culture Crash crew decided to rectify that situation by holding the very first Culture Crash Convention. Held in December 2002 and 2003, C3 was one of the first really huge cons on the local scene, and was the site for many firsts in Philippine con history.
C3 was the template by which many local cons now operate. They were the first to entice Philippine game publishers like Level Up to support the local anime community (never mind that most of their games were developed in Korea) knowing full well that this was their target market.
C3 was the first con to offer booth rentals to hobbyist groups and independent shops, mainly because the big retailers were reluctant to participate in an anime convention. C3 was also one of the first cons to offer Early Bird Discounts, Two-day Passes, and Freebies.
Last but not least, Culture Crash Convention was one of the first events to adopt a standardized method for holding Cosplay competitions. The C3 cosplay team was a well-oiled machine composed of a registrations staff, a judging assistance staff, and a ramp marshall staff with a no-nonsense attitude (if you still remember a petite girl with a booming voice who took no shit from anyone, unruly cosplayers and overly aggressive photogs alike — that was probably me).
C3’s cosplay ramp was also one of the most star-studded, featuring the first major wins by mecha specialist Robert Wong and cosplay femme fatales Alodia and Ashley Gosiengfiao. Today, Robert helps run the largest cosplay community in the Philippines COSPLAY.PH, while the Gosiengfiao sisters are spokespersons for SEA anime channel Animax. C3 was said to be the con that thrust cosplay into the spotlight, and afterward Philippine cosplay was never the same again.
A convention for the fans instead of the sponsors, Culture Crash Convention was a true labor of love. The con took a very large amount of money, long hours of backbreaking work, and many sleep-less nights to put up — but all that effort was worth it so see the local scene come together for an event just for them. The comic, the con, and the four crazy artists behind one of best things to ever come out of the Philippine otaku scene — thanks guys! It was one helluva ride!
JPOP Manila 
Not to mention that C3Con also introduced the pre-judging system and the group cosplay category.
C3Con was a place of many firsts and also one of our source of inspirations. ^__^
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I think C3 Con na ang isa sa mga pinaka-matinong Con na napuntahan ko. It’s one of those rare conventions na hindi ako na-bore sa program. And I think it was the Con that did launch the Gosiengfiao Sisters’ Careers. Hay, pinag-kaka-guluhan talaga sila ng mga photogs back then. As for me, I was just happy I got my Copy of Culture Crash Signed. 🙂
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ah yes — group cosplay, how could i forget!
and yes, bomalabs — C3’s onstage events may have needed some polish, but at least there was something going on all the time! i really dislike dead air — it makes events organizers look scatterbrained and unprofessional.
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Our komiks’ inception will not be possible if not for Culture Crash. Their comic creation contest launched at C3Con inspired us to come up with our own indie komiks. Some of the indies still out there were launched at C3Con. So I owe a lot to these guys who dreamed to ignite the komiks scene (which they did).
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I wonder if CCCom already has compiled back issues…
I haven’t gone into the bookstore in years and thus… I no longer know what happened in ODID and Pasig and Cat’s trail…
In addition to that… My very responsible cousin lost my copies of CCCom issues… I am never going to let anyone touch my comic books ever again…
Please help me out guys…
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Isa ako sa mga naka-attend ng C3 Con, I was amazed by the plethora of cosplay contestants, nagandahan me dun kina ALodia, pero na-distract me ng lumabas ung Champion na Matriz robot. Had a great time there! It was my first and only anime convention that I went to. Madaming mga booths, mura ang ang english-translated comics, madaming choices, meron pa ngang mga indie comic books na binibenta ng mga illustrators mismo with matching authograph signing dahil andun sila. Pati Funny Comics illustrators andun. Fantastic convention, sadly it was the last one. I sincerely miss Culture Crash. Wish I could have taken a camera with me.
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kahit hindi ako nakapunta ng mga cons ng C3.. I still find it awesome because of the positive feedbacks I’ve read… kalungkot nga lang isipin, kung kailan ko pa malapit na makumpleto mga CCcomics ko, dun pa sila nagstop. huhu.
oh well, kudos to the team. =)
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It was a long long time ago. Proud to have the complete set. This brings tears on my eyes. sniff… sniff…
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