Hundreds of Filipinos attended the second installment of the largest community meet-up of Pop culture enthusiasts in Dubai called Sandbox SwapMeet Volume 2. Organised by the Sandbox Swapmeet team and powered by Comicave, the event was attended by 50 groups of various comic icons, anime lovers, NBA basketball fans, Pokemon groups and card collectors, designer toy enthusiasts, as well as cosplay and game play hero aficionados.
“Ang participants natin in terms of numbers of tables is more than 50. And it’s more than twice than the last event that we had. Excluded pa doon ‘yung local artists natin on the second floor. At the same time, we have very huge community of Pokemon and Magic the Gathering players,” said Ian Eleria, Senior Operations Manager of Comicave and one of the event organizers.
Apart from the individual showcases and booths, the event also hosted various panel discussions highlighting the different collector groups, and simultaneously offered relevant activities to pop-culture fans.
“Nag focus kasi tayo noon sa Filipino community but we have now expanded and included other nationalities. We have also expanded from action figures by inviting more groups,” said Jumel Chua, one of the event organizers. The SwapMeet approximately had 2.5k attendees mixed with mall goers of various nationalities on the single day event.
In one of the programs, cosplayers from Rub’ Al-Khali Spire and Cosplay AE did an indoor parade in the mall to the delight of the fans who took photos, while lucky attendees simultaneously received raffle prizes through electronic draws held live during the program.
According to Jumel and Ian, the success of the event was all thanks to the support of the passionate Filipino collecting community and the different pop culture groups. They said that they owe and dedicate the event to the incredible Pinoy fans who flocked to the Dubai Outlet Mall last weekend.
After a successful Vol 2 event, the Sandbox SwapMeet team has announced that they are now gearing up for a bigger event this December. “As early as now, we are already talking about Volume 3 because of the huge positive response from all those who participated,” said Ian Eleria.
The SwapMeet organizers mentioned that they plan on having the third Meetup this December – just in time for the holidays or before the end of the year, and will be announced officially in their social channels.
