OtaGonzo: The First Philippine Cosplay Mini-Summit

by otaking on Aug.16, 2009, under Otagonzo

The Boot of Truth speaks!

The Boot of Truth speaks!

I scratched my head as I listened to the ABS-CBN representative, Zyd Abila, attempt to answer the pointed and obviously-entrapping questions posed to him by Robert Wong of Cosplay.Ph, while the representatives from the different sectors of government listened idly at issues they didn’t understand. The less-than-unified cosplay community, big business, and government face-to-face for the first time, and already this was degenerating into the otaku equivalent of the Middle East peace talks.

The First Philippine Cosplay Mini-Summit, held on August 15, 2009 at the UP Diliman Information Technology Training Center, was organized by Holy Ground Productions and USP Events Specialists. It was ostensibly organized to give cosplay the chance to voice their concerns to the government in the same way the game development and animation industries have done. But that’s not how the event was unfolding from where I was sitting.

My line of work has made me very skeptical about anything that has to do with the government. Considering the government’s persistent failure to address things like education, health care, and housing, it was a longshot to bet on the idea that somehow the government would actually help a subculture within a subculture that was already under attack from hardline moralists eying a spot in next year’s elections.

Cyberservices Commissioner Mon Ibrahim from the Commission of Information and Communication Technology highlighted how unaware of cosplay the government actually is, especially considering his own son is a cosplayer and this fact managed to escape his notice until a week ago.

James Ramana, Division Head for Creative Industries, at the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions, spoke about promoting the arts because of its contribution to the national economy, but seemed unwilling to actually take on cosplay because it’s not an industry.

Eric Tamayo, Special Assistant to the Undersecretary for International and Economic Relations, Department of Foreign Affairs, lit up when he heard the words Japan and Korea, as if from a deeply-uninterested slumber. He stressed the economic importance of the Creative Services, stating that we were undergoing a shift from the production of goods to providing services. So cosplay is a service industry now?

Ranulf Goss, Vice President of the Game Developers Association of the Philippines, proudly stated that cosplay was a reflection of their work and the work of the local animation industry. When I asked him why local cosplay seemed to be largely a reflection of foreign animation and characters, he gave the answer that even though games like Final Fantasy and anime like Code Geass were foreign, Filipinos worked on them behind the scenes and therefore cosplay was a reflection of the work of these unsung heroes. I leave it to the reader to decide whether this answer was an acceptable one.

Finally, GM Zyd from Amped briefly stated that he was an anime fan, thought that cosplayers could naturally transition into a career in the gaming industry because they were being nurtured ‘like vegetables in a farm’, and then launched into a fifteen-minute-long audio-visual commercial for all of Amped’s games.

What the heck was going on?

The opening salvo of the forum was fired by Robert Wong of Cosplay.ph, at GM Zyd, along a clearly-drawn line – cosplay as an industry, or cosplay as a hobby. On one side stood the money, on the other, the actual cosplayers. Robert took great offense at Zyd’s insinuation that the cosplay community was a ‘farm’ for the gaming and animation industries, and he made his displeasure plain with a withering (some have said excessive) series of accusations that took the ABS-CBN representative aback.

But the point he was making was plain: If you cosplay for its own sake, it’s cosplay. If you cosplay for money, it’s modelling.

The government representatives had a comically consistent stance: We can’t promise anything now, we’ll look into it, but you’d better ask the other guy. The CyberServices commissioner said that since cosplay is largely done at conventions, perhaps CITEM could handle it. The Creative Industries Division head of CITEM said that since cosplay wasn’t an industry, maybe they should try the DFA for help with Japan. The DFA representative said that since the cons and gatherings were held in the country, maybe the cosplayers could ask the local government heads instead. And all of them pointed the finger at the beleaguered National Commission for Culture and Arts, infamous for the Carlo J. Caparas National Artist debacle, which exposed the level of corruption in that government agency.

In response to what specific help the government could provide, there was a phrase repeated, almost like a mantra: “We’ll look into it.” As a lawyer, let me translate. This is government doublespeak for “We don’t want to promise anything. But we don’t want to refuse you outright because it would look bad.”

They did say, however, that if there was a unified association of cosplaying industry heads, then it would be easier to ‘initiate talks’. Unified association of cosplayers? Seriously? The cosplay community, like anything else in this country, is a microcosm of the country – a fragmented, bickering lot of factions, each group rising and falling in prominence as time passes.

Dunbar’s Number is a theoretical limit, approximately set at 150, of how many people a single individual can maintain stable social relationships with. After this limit is crossed, social cohesion disintegrates, and a given social unit will split up into smaller pieces.

Cosplay is a victim of its own growing success. There are now so many cosplayers that there is no way all of them, all fairly opinionated and outgoing people, will unite into a single cohesive social unit. There simply is no incentive to, at this point. There is no singular ideal that unites the community. Words like ‘costripper’ and ‘models’ and ‘cosplay mafia’ are being used to cut away whole sections of the community that are not aligned with the speaker.

Yes, the government is being evasive and vague and non-committal. But faced with the current state of the cosplay community, can you blame it at all?

The organizers of the event had the best intentions in mind, and should be commended for what they tried to accomplish that day. Perhaps the event was simply the start of a grand sequence of events that will someday unite the entire cosplay scene into a under a massive government-subsidized industry association. It’s good to dream. But as I sat there listening to the open forum, I could only look toward my friends John and Neph and shake my head.

There were many young cosplayers in the audience, but they seemed lost and unwilling to engage in the discourse. Not that I blamed them. All the older people in the audience all seemed to have their own agendas, none of which seemed to have anything to do with actual cosplay.

I spotted Mica in the crowd again, this time without her usual Taiga costume. She sat there, looking confused and a little bored at all the commotion. I briefly wondered if somewhere in the audience, a certain someone who claimed to despise cosplayers was eying her with a combination of desire and self-loathing for finding a cosplayer attractive.

The thought quickly passed.

I remembered my wife’s niece and her friends at the Metro Comic Con, happily cosplaying in a hodge-podge of hastily thrown-together clothes, without a care for cosplay factions or government support or service industries or international competitions.

And once again, I envied them.

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43 Comments for this entry

  • Sese
    August 16th, 2009 on 11:04 pm

    You did it again Otaking, you did again and I am so glad you made it. Thank you so much.

    I was a bit disheartened when I hear that cosplay needed to be an industry before it could be recognized. To lobby it as an industry is already hard since our community itself is divided into factions, groups etc.

    There are a lot of negativity emitting from what happened in the summit and some just wants the government to stay away from cosplay.

    However, there are times you just need to deal with the things you hate just to get to your desired goals.

    Reply
  • seedsop
    August 16th, 2009 on 11:27 pm

    I understand where you are coming from. I can’t say that I am pro government. Far from it. But I see this as baby steps. For people to have a better understanding what cosplay is in the Philippines, open forums like these with the government, and if possible other NGOs, will definitely help.

    Maybe I am dreaming, but does government support automatically mean that we’re commercializing cosplay? Does that mean that the government cannot get a better understanding of our subculture so that in turn they do not create laws that alienate us? Does that also mean we cannot go to the government to help us promote perhaps a cultural festival of sorts related to cosplay? Or does that also mean that the government cannot see the value of other burgeoning industries that are a byproduct of government such as fashion or other creatives market?

    Ah well, I’m too optimistic for my own good, I suppose. :-D

    Reply
  • Romeo
    August 16th, 2009 on 11:39 pm

    What’s sad about that is as you’ve mentioned, that people who make up the cosplay hobby aren’t acknowledging each other rather well, not that they don’t want to. Another thing is what the government is to that hobby, which should I say? Naive?

    However, all is not lost. The people would now be more aware what cosplay serves as to the youth. Hopefully, this would catch the attention of most cosplayers.

    Reply
  • Arogo
    August 16th, 2009 on 11:39 pm

    Wow. The mere attempt to get all of those “important” people under one roof to discuss what’s supposed to be a hobby is amazing all by itself. Kudos to the organizers.

    I sincerely hope something good will come out of this, for the sake of the cosplayer community.

    Reply
  • darkseed
    August 16th, 2009 on 11:50 pm

    philippine online gaming is a better topic than cosplaying. cosplaying is a niche thing, what part of fun dont these guys understand?

    this cosplay thing is just too overblown. cosplay.ph was originally so that cosplayers can have ideas and techniques to improve costumes

    geez, now everything is overblown to weird proportions. as a first generation cosplayer im appalled! it never was a big thing anywhere except on conventions. we are fortunate that this still havent boiled over to the supposed conservative idiots that meddle with the supposed evils of japanese animation and some of the self righteous religious zealots that will start to proclaim moral decay or what not.

    Reply
    • otaking
      August 17th, 2009 on 12:15 am

      Um… so why are you here?

      Reply
    • scriviner
      August 17th, 2009 on 12:28 am

      Wait, correct me if I’m wrong, but this was a cosplay related article being posted on a blog where cosplayers visit, and your post boils down to dissing every one of them, disrespecting the article and the hard work the organizers put into the thing and wandering off on a vaguely related tangent on the strength of being a “first generation cosplayer”? What does that even mean? Are you trying to troll intentionally or are you just this conversationally insensitive and insulting normally?

      Reply
      • darkseed
        August 17th, 2009 on 9:24 am

        its not dissing them, im obviously saying leave cosplayers alone, government meddling will only make it worse and mainstreaming it will only cause more problems in the long run.

        my first generation cosplayer rant was all about the hobby degenerating to the point where it is what it is right now

        if anything needs more government support, its the online gaming which has more stable platforms.

        Reply
        • seedsop
          August 17th, 2009 on 8:43 pm

          Sir, regardless of government “meddling”, the cosplay community is growing and becoming mainstream. That’s something we cannot stop. I would rather have the government work for us, then against us.

          Reply
  • scriviner
    August 16th, 2009 on 11:52 pm

    I feel like one of the confused cosplayers in the audience. I may be revealing a staggering amount of ignorance here, or I’m simply just too far from the problem, but I don’t understand why government even needs to be brought into cosplay. I just… don’t understand why they would even have an interest in it? Was that what the organizers trying to establish? Get it on governmental radar? I’m just really confused by this.

    Reply
    • otaking
      August 17th, 2009 on 12:21 am

      Apparently, Japan and Singapore have healthy government support for cosplay, paying for stuff like airfare and facilitating tavel visas and so on.

      Reply
    • Sese
      August 17th, 2009 on 12:49 am

      I think the organizers wants to establish that for cosplay to step into the next level, we need support from some agencies in the government.

      Lets say we wanted to send delegates to compete in a cosplay event in an another country. It would be really nice if the government would be able to support us

      Reply
  • Mike Abundo
    August 17th, 2009 on 1:49 am

    “If you cosplay for its own sake, it’s cosplay. If you cosplay for money, it’s modelling.”

    That’s like saying probloggers don’t really blog. :roll:

    Reply
    • otaking
      August 17th, 2009 on 1:58 am

      People enjoy making distinctions between ‘us’ and ‘them’. I guess it’s human nature.

      Reply
      • Mike Abundo
        August 17th, 2009 on 2:13 am

        There’s a historical parallel in athletics: the ideal of amateurism. In the 19th century, amateur sports were held far above professional sports.

        Amateurism all but died out in the 20th century. Robert and Co. need to catch up. ;)

        Reply
        • eva_guy01
          August 17th, 2009 on 6:27 am

          Perhaps you mean “Robert needs to catch up. ;) ” Even though I was associated with Cosplay.ph, those were my own personal opinions based on how I see and experienced cosplay. You may quote me on that if you like.

          Isnt making the act of cosplay as being “professional” with pay loses its appeal as being fun, or it loses its spirit because the reason for cosplaying is simply because it pays well? Linking to the wiki of Amateur sports doesn’t explain the need for its 20th century application to pay good sports players to continue playing for a team. Besides, there were no terms available for a paid sports player then, but to a person paid to wear a costume by a company for its own self interest and promotion is usually called a model? That term has been around longer than cosplay.

          Reply
          • Mike Abundo
            August 17th, 2009 on 6:34 am

            “Isnt making the act of cosplay as being “professional” with pay loses its appeal as being fun, or it loses its spirit because the reason for cosplaying is simply because it pays well?”

            If every human endeavor that was ever professionalized automatically lost its fun and spirit, then nobody on this planet would love his job. ;)

            Reply
  • Laureen
    August 17th, 2009 on 11:27 pm

    Well here’s my two cents about it.

    http://theoptimistic.multiply.com/journal/item/139/Removing_the_Sub_in_Sub-Culture

    One thing is for sure, the questions have been raised, what is the community’s answer?

    And what we must all understand is that the answer won’t becoming from a select few but from all of us.

    Reply
  • Polence
    August 18th, 2009 on 3:40 pm

    Crap… I didn’t know about this meeting, not even that it’s an open invite for cosplayer heads or whatnot. If I were there I probably would have had an agenda more interesting to bring to the table. It was a good opportunity to bring out how the government can help unite talented cosplayers to join one of the most coveted international cosplay competitions in the world, WCS — an event that will further establish this hobby in the country and elevate the country’s pride in the world. It was such a waste, wish I was there.

    Sayang!!! T-T

    Reply
    • seedsop
      August 19th, 2009 on 4:40 am

      Admittedly, it was last minute and it was a scramble to even find people who could attend. It was actually an open invite but for limited slots (being that the space was small).

      Hopefully, there’s a next time and you could bring your ideas to the table as well.

      Reply
  • Mike Abundo
    August 18th, 2009 on 6:57 pm

    Perhaps there are yet-undiscovered opportunities for collaboration here. The DFA could support cosplay shows in aid of diplomacy; after all, Azrael and RG organized a cosplay show for foreign diplomats back in 2005. CITEM could include cosplay in trade shows; after all, Alodia served as a booth babe at the 10th Graphic Expo. The CICT and ITTC could facilitate training for cosplayer self-publishing; after all, as Cliff likes to point out, the Internet enables niche media.

    I hope such opportunities surface in future meetings.

    Reply
  • Carlo Ople
    August 19th, 2009 on 12:57 am

    Interesting event. Sana I was there! :(

    Reply
  • seedsop
    August 19th, 2009 on 4:30 am

    Here’s my take on the cosplay summit last Saturday, http://seedsop.yuki-hime.com/2009/08/First_Philippine_Cosplay_Mini_Summit_and_Open_Forum

    My view is slightly (or maybe completely) different than the ones I have read online and I hope you can take time to read it.

    Otaking, I linked back to this article as well.

    Reply
  • darkseed
    August 24th, 2009 on 10:33 am

    okay lemme get myself clear here, i support anything regards to cosplay, EXCEPT, getting the government involved.

    Reply
  • wut
    August 25th, 2009 on 7:15 am

    who’s idea was this anyway?

    did the government call the cosplayers for a meeting or did the cosplayers call the government for a meeting? who called who in the first place?

    Reply

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