Heroes Comic Con (Made in Asia) 2022
Convention season is in top gear again, and we were lucky enough to take a look at one of the biggest events of the year. Made in Asia was held the weekend of the 24th and the 25th of September, but this time it was a joint convention with Heroes Comic Con. We were curious to see what this meant, as we imagined walking from one venue to another, in order to wander through two different conventions. In reality, however, it was just a bigger version of Made in Asia with a Comic-Con moniker slapped on one part of the convention. We assume this was done so celebrity guests would be interested in headlining the event. Even though this small report may start off with a negative undertone, we did still very much enjoy this edition of Made in Asia.
The combined event of Heroes Comic Con and Made in Asia spanned over nine different halls. Credit should be given where credit is due, the event was absolutely massive. Compared to some other smaller events, this was nearly a full-day activity if you’re there to browse merchandise, visit special guests and perhaps join a workshop or two. There was more than enough to see and certainly enough to do. We loved taking a look at all the different booths, and in most halls the booths had enough spacing in-between, making sure the place didn’t get too cramped. We did notice that some halls did feel a bit empty and perhaps spreading a few of the dealers over these empty spaces would have done a lot. Or perhaps even just having a complete arts and crafts hall and spreading the dealers over two halls would have helped even more.
Hall 5, the main dealer hall was way too cramped and the variation here was disappointing. The hall almost felt like the background in a cartoon, where you’d encounter the same four booths every few meters. We’ve seen our fair share of swords, French mangas, bodypillows, and cat plushies when walking through hall 5. It’s clear that most of these vendors simply buy their merchandise at the exact same wholesale and mark up the prices. We also encountered loads of bootleg merchandise. Don’t get us wrong, we saw many nice items, but also loads of bootleg stuff and we were unsuccessful at finding just a single English manga copy.
The food halls were quite impressive to behold. There was a fairly varied offer of food stalls and the food halls were very spacious. The space wasn’t fully utilized, however, as there was still a need for more tables and benches, even though there was still a lot of empty room that could have been used. Nonetheless, it didn’t take us too long to find somewhere to sit, and the food was also of okay(ish) quality. The toilets at the venue were, for the most part, also clean, except for the toilets in the smaller halls, which were not taken care of and some of the facilities were not even open in these smaller halls. Luckily, there were still ample facilities available and the queues weren’t too long.
The celebrity guests for this edition were quite impressive. The event was headlined by Matt Smith, Andy Serkis, Alyssa Milano, and several other big names in the industry. The guests were to be visited in a separate hall, and for most activities here you’d need an additional ticket. We felt that the guests were a bit on the opposite end of the event, almost in an enclosed area, making it a tad less ‘personal’. Nonetheless, those wanting to meet their celebrity idol (or crush) were absolutely in for a treat.
As mentioned above, we assume the whole concept of Heroes Comic Con was brought to life simply to attack celebrity guests. We doubt that many celebrity icons would find an event called ‘Made in Asia‘ relevant for their profession and they would be more inclined to headline at a Comic Con event. Heroes Comic Con did also have a hall that featured several gaming stands, but this hall felt quite deserted and a lot of space was unutilized. We would love to see a bit more evolution here for the coming edition(s).
Conclusion
Heroes Comic Con was in essence just a tiny extension of Made in Asia, but it was certainly worth the price of entry. There was a lot of merchandise to go through, there were ample arts and crafts stands that might arouse a certain drive to try new things, and we had a pleasant day out. We also appreciated the very big food halls, as well as the overall roomy feeling of most halls. We would have loved it had the dealer hall also received the same treatment, and perhaps a few more benches and tables in the food halls would have also been appreciated. This year’s iteration of Made in Asia/Heroes Comic Con was certainly a successful one, but the venue needs a lot more Dutch/English vendors, as the event was still very much directed towards the French-speaking part of Belgium.
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