Out-of-this-World Event Services by Fans for Fans from Outpost Productions

With the  proliferation of geek pop culture in media and merchandising, indulging our geeky passions can certainly be an expensive endeavour. For Malaysian geeks collecting life-size statues and replicas, or venturing half-a-world away to attend San Diego Comic-Con, these indulgences easily amount to five-digit figures in MYR. Besides, geeks still need basic life necessities that equate to bringing food to the table and bills to be paid lest we go extinct like dinosaurs; at least until replicator technology as seen on Star Trek becomes real, or Jurassic Park opens in Isla Nublar.

To fund such livelihood with geeky garnishes, we could readily accept mundane employment working 9-to-5 and live only for the brief respite of public holidays. But instead we prefer to tap into our professed geekiness to bring forth events for geek pop culture to the Malaysian audience. Outpost Management Sdn Bhd was established in 2006 for such purpose, launching as a hobby centre in Cineleisure Damansara (now known as eCurve) for geeky endeavours like cosplay, fan gatherings, toy collectors, scale modelling workshops, and more. Concurrently Outpost began participating in events from requests to engage fan communities for engagements associated with movies, carnivals, and charity as well as projects for marketing brands.

Outpost Productions was subsequently formed as our dedicated team to create thematic engagements and support our clients' events. Now with over a decade of events experience, our Principal Services today encompass:

1. Thematic Events

As geeks ourselves, we understand what fans want and enable us to create thematic events appealing to their fandoms. This allows us to craft experiential elements of geek pop culture into events that fans can appreciate whilst also presenting the opportunity for non-fans to be more deeply assimilated into the fandom.

Captain America Civil War Roadshow; client GSC Cinemas.

Marvel movies have certainly been a BIG hit bringing geeky comic books to mainstream audiences. Outpost had the opportunity to bring this Marvel geekiness to GSC Cinemas with a thematic Captain America Civil War roadshow leading up this movie release in April 2016. Cinema patrons were challenged on a series of activities inspired by superheroes like Iron Man and Ant-Man for the chance to win movie premiums.

The inaugural live-action movie for popular video game franchise Assassin's Creed was released in December 2016. That month in Comic Fiesta, Malaysia's largest Anime, Comics & Games (ACG) convention, we deployed a team of “Templars” versus an “Assassin” to perform sword fights in the event halls.

Assassin's Creed combat performance; client 20th Century Fox. 

For sci-fi horror movie Alien Covenant in May 2017, we served cinema-goers a slice of “terror” from the movie with a Xenomorph Facehugger attacking a crewmember. Some of their reactions were captured on video for social media.

#FacehuggerAttack in Malaysia!
Posted by 20th Century Fox on Friday, 5 May 2017

2. Fan Engagements

Over the last decade, popular entertainment franchises have been and continue to be adapted for movies and television, such as HBO's Game of Thrones based on fantasy novels by G.R.R. Martin. In cinemas, successful movies are often lined-up for sequels so much that often the Hollywood summer blockbuster season is padded with them such as Avengers Infinity War (19th movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe), Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom (5th in the Jurassic Park saga), and Mission Impossible Fallout (6th in the series since 1996). Geeky franchises often have an avid fan-base and therefore every sequel movie or new season on television are occasions for fans to come together.

Heroes Homecoming Fan Gathering; client TGV Cinemas.

TGV Cinemas have come to recognise these fandom and recently collaboration with Outpost to invite cosplayers to their Heroes Homecoming Fan Gatherings for Justice League, Avengers Infinity War, and Ant-Man & The Wasp. This year, Outpost also managed the Cosplay Competitions for their most recent event in Sunway Putra Mall and the Deadpool 2 Party at Sunway Pyramid.

Deadpool 2 Fan Party; client 20th Century Fox

Recognising that fans are often passionate to discuss their fandom, we have arranged Fan Panels sessions for Assassin's Creed at Comic Fiesta 2016 and Ghost in the Shell in March 2017.

3. Mascot Management

Outpost has over 10 years of handling official mascots as an agency for corporate clients. These mascots for franchise movies and toy brands are often deployed for meet & greet appearance on roadshows at cinemas and stores. Mascots we have managed include Transformers, The Smurfs, Spider-man, Angry Birds, Hotel Transylvania, Madagascar, The Minions, Despicable Me, Monster Hunt, LINE Friends, Bananas in Pajamas, etc.

Angry Birds; client Sony Pictures.

Despicable Me 3; client United International Pictures.

Hotel Transylvania 3 Monster Vacation; client Sony Pictures.

Mascots are usually associated with new movie release or licensed merchandise and collaborative events. We may assist to facilitate brand partnerships with the respective licensors.

4. Marketing Roadshows

Outpost Productions also extends event agency services for on-ground marketing by brands. We have conducted in-store brand marketing for toys like NERF, Transformers, My Little Pony and Monopoly for Hasbro. This year we undertook roadshow for 7-Eleven promoting their Minions Da Da Da! redemption programme at Klang Valley shopping malls.

Minions Da Da Da!; client 7-Eleven.

For movie marketing, we recently setup thematic activities at Comic Fiesta 2017 for Jumanji Welcome to the Jungle and Maze Runner The Death Cure. 

Jumanji Welcome to the Jungle; client Sony Pictures.

Maze Runner The Death Cure; client 20th Century Fox.

5. Geek Pop Culture Consulting

Our resident “Vulcan” on assignment to study human Geek Pop Culture is a valuable resource that may be tapped to provide valuable insight on how to engage various fandoms. By knowing what fans want, Outpost is able to offering consulting services to corporate clients, event organisers and NGOs on how to effectively engage the growing fan audience and leverage on potential opportunities.

Late 2017 in conjunction with Publika's Comic-Play, we organised a mini-conference titled “The Growing Influence of Geek Pop Culture and How to Profit from It” with panels featuring geeks sharing what they want, and industry reps from film entertainment.

Other ancillary services:

• Blaster sports activities & tournaments (using NERF or other equivalent); see here.
• Costumes & props sourcing / rental.
• Talent & promoter outsourcing for on-ground events or video shoots.

To stay tuned on local geek pop culture happenings as well as the latest geeky news, follow us by social media as OutpostMY on Facebook / Instagram / Twitter as well as subscribe to this blog (submit your email on the lower right panel).

Live Long and Prosper #LLAP

May the Force Be With You #MTFBWY

2013 Flashback, 2014 Engage

It's already 2014! Belated Happy New Year to all our friends, fans, associates and clients. 2013 flew by so fast that we still feel left behind in that year due to time dilation from FTL travel! We thought to post our New Year message earlier on 1 January with a few photo highlights of 2013 but scouring through thousands of photos took longer than expected with so much more to show and tell than we thought. 2013 was really a breakthrough year for Outpost with numerous projects keeping our small crew intensely busy. Here's our brief pictorial flashback of 2013 starting with cosplaying and costuming:

Dressing wizards and witches from Oz.

Equipping G.I. Joes for the official launch of TGV IMAX 1 Utama.

Supporting the launch of GSC CityOne Mall, Kuching.

Plus another trip to Kuching for retailer launch in Boulevard Mall with sci-fi performances.

Taking comic book inspired heroes on roadshow nationwide.

Drenching a school girl in blood.

Bringing more wizards and witches to HITB Security Conference.

Gathering adventurers from Middle-Earth and Asgard at Comic Fiesta.

2013 was also busy year taking movie mascots on meet & greet sessions nationwide:

The Smurfs returned, now dressed for Raya.

We turned zookeepers for a lion and 3 penguins from Madagascar.

Showcased dancing Bananas in Pyjamas from Down Under.

Walked a "live" dinosaur in Klang Valley malls.

For fan engagements, fans of both Star Trek and Star Wars were given exciting missions:

Trekkies beamed aboard the Enterprise at Star Trek  The Exhibition.

Gathering Starfleet officers for Star Trek Into Darkness.

Jedi, Rebels & Imperials launching the Death Star at LEGOLAND Malaysia.

Superheroes bringing smiles to children at KL Hospital.

Cosplay volunteers at charity fair in Taman Megah.

While we weren't involved in many official NERF events for 2013, it was a big year for kids birthday parties hosting NERF games:

NERF face-off between Cobra and G.I. Joe.

NERF promo and community activities at Tropicana City Mall.

Kids NERF parties were in-trend for 2013.

For services, our production team scratch-built a handful of costumes and props:

Custom-made mascot for Irwan robot (right) of Bola Kampung The Movie.

Wearable sci-fi exoskeleton props.

Movie-inspired hammer prop launcher.

Medieval cosplay prop fabrication.

Iron Man memorabilia display at 1st Avenue Mall, Penang.

Finally we took to the leap to be officially part of Comic Fiesta as a premium artbooth exhibitor and also took opportunity to rebrand as Outpost Productions:

Leading up to Comic Fiesta, we unveiled a series of online videos titled Cosplay Fight Club matching cosplay characters from popular culture and soliciting viewers to vote for their chosen winners. The results were unveiled at Comic Fiesta weekend and uploaded online:

Whew, we barely had time to take a leak!

Now into 2014, Outpost Productions looks forward to a greater year of out-of-this-world engagements delighting movie fans and cosplay enthusiasts plus managed "busy-ness" delivering projects for our valued clients. Wishing everyone a Happy New Year indeed!

To stay updated with our activities and fan pop culture news, become a Follower of this blog and Like our Facebook Page OutpostMY. Plus follow us on Twitter OutpostHolonet and subscribe to our YouTube Channel MySciFiFanOutpost.

Time to Retaliate, G.I. Joe style!

YO JOE!

G.I. Joe : Retaliation is the sequel to G.I. Joe Rise of the Cobra from 2009, the first live-action film of Hasbro's G.I. Joe franchise which enamored many boys from the 80's with cartoons, comics and toys. G.I. Joe is an elite military unit tasked to safeguard the world against terrorist organisations like Cobra.

At the end of the Rise of Cobra, Cobra Commander was captured by the G.I. Joes and locked away in a secret prison. However, Cobra's master of disguise, Zartan, had infiltrated the white house and successfully impersonated the President of United States. Now in Retaliation, Zartan frames the Joes and orders their termination. Only a handful of Joes survive, led by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as Roadblock and determined to strike back. Together with Flint and Lady Jaye, Roadblock reunites with Snake Eyes and recruits other unlikely allies such as Jinx, cousin to the assassin Storm Shadow, and General (retired) Joe Colton, the "original" Joe himself played by veteran action hero, Bruce Willis.

Meet the Joes:

Roadblock

Duke

Snake Eyes

Flint

Lady Jaye / Brenda

Jinx

Joe Colton

Meanwhile, Cobra has their deadly saboteur, Firefly, hot on the heels of the Joes whilst completing new weapons to take over the world. Way to go Year of the Snake!

Cobra Commander

Storm Shadow

Firefly

How will the Joes retaliate against such overwhelming odds? Find out in G.I. Joe Retaliation, now screening at cinemas nationwide.

The Outpost Movie Recon Team (MRT) has identified a few avenues for G.I. Joe fans to get into the action with the following contests and promos for the movie: 

 AXN is never out of the action and what spells action more than the Joes. Subscribers to AXN can enter this online contest by 30 March to win G.I. Joe merchandise.

Fret not if you don't subscribe to AXN, GSC is also giving out goodies in their GI Joe website contest. 

Or if you rather use Facebook, enter through Cathay Cineplexes contest app.

Want to bring home the action? Pick-up some G.I. Joe action figures and vehicles from Toys R Us.

Hungry after all the explosions and slogan writing? Head on over to Burger King for their special G I Joe Ranger & Commando meals. Purchase 2 meals to get a TGV movie voucher (while stocks last).

Order for Snake Eyes home delivery!

The Outpost Command Crew was privileged to have caught an early preview of G.I. Joe Retaliation in IMAX 3D and gives the movie a high-5. Retaliation by Jon M Chu is distinctly different from Stephen Sommers Rise of Cobra, which could have been felt much like a live-action cartoon with enough non-stop explosions to rattle loose fillings from your teeth. So much so that most of the preceding movie cast had been dropped with only Snake Eyes and Duke returning in favour of Dwayve Johnson's Roadblock to lead the new cast. Retaliation also injects more real world feel into the action by departing from the tech-OD of sonic weapons, accelerator suits, and particle cannons.

Land, Sea, Air Featurette

It's back to guns with bullets and tanks which hiss fumes (pun intended!), which perhaps adds to the high-action sequences by making them more rooted in reality and therefore believable... well, if parrying bullets with a sword comes as believable! Oh, and Cobra Commander never looked more cool; we fairly sure director Jon M Chu must be a Cobra fan at heart (and if you want to join Cobra Special Forces, head over here). After a 9-month delay for 3D conversion, G.I. Joe Retaliation provides a great action movie experience in IMAX 3D, and probably other 3D and 2D (though we can't really say for sure until we've seen it again on these formats).

Oh, and we had some childish moments screaming "COBRA!" while cosplaying; sorry no "YO JOE!" since Snake Eyes just doesn't say anything...

Catch some G.I. Joe live-action this Sunday 31 March 2013, 1300 hours at Tropicana City Mall. Plus take the change to take part in Hasbro's NERF Challenge at the Toys R Us Toy Fair on the main concourse for the chance to take up the latest NERF N-Strike Elite blasters and other cool giveaways.

G.I. Joe Retaliation is directed by Jon M Chu and starring Dwayve Johnson as Roadblock, Ray Park as Snake Eyes, Byung-hun Lee as Storm Shadow, and Ray Stevenson as Firefly with Channing Tatum returning as Duke and Bruce Willis as Joe Colton. Catch the explosive action in 3D and especially IMAX 3D!

HOO-AH!

Standby for Outpost MRT's next feature...

Disclaimer: G.I. Joe and its associated characters are copyright to Hasbro Inc. referenced here for fan service announcements without intent to infringe.