The third installment of the Howlers Manila Cosplay & Music Festival just concluded last Saturday, December 7, and all things considered, I’m kind of curious about how the first two even came into fruition or how it grew to what it is now.
Before all that, let’s talk about myself a bit and where all of these thoughts are going to come from.
I’ve been going to conventions for more than a decade, particularly anime, cosplay, and gaming. I’ve also been to the previous trainwrecks that were the Esports and Gaming Summit and Conquest last 2023. I’m more of a con-goer than a cosplayer, but I do make the most out of the events I join, especially with the ticket prices they go for.
With that out of the way, let’s talk about Howlers Manila 3.0.
The Good
The event area was spacious, and that I can guarantee. I kid you not, we were walking for hours on end, and even though there were little to no seats available, the usual issues of being in a cramped environment were non-existent, even in the music areas. The area was somewhat convenient from a logistics standpoint, but I’ll get to why it’s just “somewhat” and not “entirely” later on.
For people like me who don’t really have much planned for events other than attending them, there was also a quest map where you’re guided to go around the event, moving from booth to booth, meeting some of the sponsors, and seeing what else the event had to offer. It’s not really something for everyone, but having the option there was a welcome addition for sure.
I personally enjoyed getting to meet some new artists, seeing new booths, and meeting up with friends I never would’ve thought I’d meet in person or expect to see there — but there I was, meeting them in the weirdest of places.
The music festival portion of the event was great too, with one of the headliners, Rico Blanco (pictured by MG Scenes on Facebook), and other acts keeping the crowd on their feet with the air being electric all around.
There was a little something for everyone — with the booths, the music, the community, and even the random happenings in each corner of the event. While it may seem daunting, just finding a niche to fill your fair share of time is enough to enjoy it. But just because it seems alright from one end of the spectrum doesn’t actually guarantee that it’d check every box.
The Bad
Remember I mentioned earlier that the location was somewhat convenient, and I couldn’t really specify why? This is why.
From what I’ve read, the CCP open grounds were set to take the place of the Mall of Asia Concert Grounds, and whether that’s true or not is up for debate. But as somebody who actually attended a festival there before, the difference in venue was night and day. The entrance was all the way at the back near the Manila Film Center side, while the exit was towards the World Trade Center.
Apparently, once you exit as a Silver or Gold ticket holder, you can’t re-enter. But all things considered, ticket owners already came into the venue knowing about this, with most staying in their respective areas during the musical performances, checking out the booths, or eating somewhere in the venue.
On the topic of food and stall placement, all things considered, the placement was baffling, to say the least. It’s sponsored by gambling platforms like Bingo Plus, with cigarettes and tech. It’s understandable to have them all together, but literally all in one line? There was an Andok’s booth right beside Tanduay, and near it was a David’s Salon booth. Make this make sense.
There were even issues with the maintenance of the locations — not in terms of their functionality, but their cleanliness. I kid you not, I would’ve loved to eat in the food con, but there was a literal mountain of trash in the middle of it all, and even the porta-potties were scary to go into. The randomness is part of the outdoor festival aesthetic, I guess, but there still has to be that semblance of sense on where things and attractions should belong.
You’d think the food booths would be in the food con and the tech within the esports arena, but no, they literally crammed everything into a central area with no visible plan. There was apparently an exhibitor or booth that wasn’t even there, which was needed for the quest map but was nowhere to be found. An alternative could’ve been communicated instead.
Speaking of which, there were loads of miscommunication issues — from allowing water bottles to the event’s actual entrance time. Why does this matter, you may ask? It’s because, apart from there being a major event that should’ve happened (the Guinness World Record attempt), the entire communication vibe could be summarized with “beshy.”
Don’t get me wrong, I understand that from a marketing perspective, what led to Howlers being the event that it is is its target demographic. But the entire “beshy” speak was more burdensome than cute. Imagine trying to communicate with not just normies, but also people you’d want to participate in your own clout-filled attempt at a world record — but you couldn’t even give proper instructions on what they needed to do. Like, if you’re doing a cosplay event about video game characters, you’d think to at least do some research on the list that Guinness would provide — even if you’re not gamers — and not just copy-paste everything. Looking at you, list of Nikke characters that don’t make sense.
What even was the world record Howlers Manila was trying to beat? It was the “Largest Gathering of People Dressed as Video Game Characters.”
Don’t get me wrong, I find it cool that the Howlers Team was being ambitious in this regard. A community united is a community strong, and tapping into the cosplay community was a great idea! The problem, though, lies in the organization of it all, and I’ll get into more detail later.
Another peeve was there even being kids at the venue. Kind of weird too, considering that they had an FAQ post on their Facebook profile distinctly mentioning that kids AREN’T allowed. But not only were they joining their groups in an 18+ event, there were even some kids exposed to negative vices all around — between the alcohol, tobacco, and inappropriate clothing. That’s normally fine for festivals, but not for kids.
The Ugly
For an event that literally put cosplay at its forefront — with it being the first thing mentioned in the title — Howlers didn’t really pay much attention to the cosplay side of things and made the cosplayers more like mascots than actual people.
Imagine dehumanizing the community that made your festival special. While a normie myself, reading all about these horror stories from the cosplay community on what happened really goes to show how they were more of an afterthought rather than one of the main events. Sure, there was an “air-conditioned tent” promised, but there was no communication on where it was, no guarantee the aircon would actually work, and no division between men and women.
An outdoor event is fine, but an outdoor event in cosplay is just asking for trouble. Imagine wearing armor or something bulky for your cosplay, being stuck outside, and being concentrated in a certain camp under blistering heat and rain showers. There were even schedules shared, but those weren’t followed.
Somebody even got stretchered out because of the elements while waiting for the Guinness attempt. If it weren’t for the community there, things could’ve turned out much worse for that cosplayer.
Looking at the current record holder, which was the Polaris Convention in the United Kingdom with 492 people on October 15, 2023, you can clearly see that while the cosplayers were just on standby, they were at least given a comfortable area and were even allowed to sit down while waiting in an indoor environment. Delving deeper into it, the timing was perfect, too, considering non-cosplayers could join in on the fun since that record attempt was close to Halloween, a time when normies would dress up as well.
Trouble wasn’t limited to the community either, with even the cosplay guests getting doxxed. There’s a stage name for a reason, and it’s within their right to maintain it for their own safety and privacy. But apparently, the organizers were lazily copy-pasting information again, with bigger names being safe while foreigners and even local cosplayers faced the risk of having their real names plastered on a tarpaulin. What’s even more disheartening is that these weren’t just festival-goers — they were guests.
One last tidbit I’m sure other cosplayers might’ve experienced was harassment from the general crowd.
While being part of the community or joining events, one golden rule that must be followed is that cosplay is not consent. Cosplayers were exposed to the general public and paraded around as mascots. While there are respectful individuals for sure, that wasn’t the case with the general public. Since this is a recurring issue, I genuinely hope that nothing too serious happened.
The Future?
As negative as I may have sounded towards Howlers, judging by their recent social media posts, it looks like the event was still a success from the financial side. While I did enjoy it for what it is, the cosplay side definitely suffered heavily.
There have been a lot of disappointments when it comes to bigger events here in the Philippines, like Conquest and ESGS. Howlers gets added to that list for me. Unlike the other two, though, I have a feeling that it will still continue. But if it does, I truly hope it cares for its cosplayers again. Or if they’re going to force the world record again, I hope they keep it indoors.
Is Howlers a great event? No. Was it fun? Yes. Could it have been handled better? Definitely.
