My ticket to Comicland

Stuck in traffic.

For some reason, the 2009 Komikon, at Megatrade Hall 1 in SM Megamall, was held on the same day as the 3 Day Mega Sale. That meant traffic jams. That meant parking wars.

I stayed upbeat about it, turned up the music, plurked on my phone. It’s tradition to curse in traffic, blame the traffic aids, blame reckless drivers, blame the government, blame the weather, but I guess I’m not much of a traditionalist. Even the empty parking lot next to Podium, my go-to place whenever I suspect that parking is going to be scarce, was full.

I hoped a lot of the people in line with me liked comics.

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Marielle performs the only physical attack attempted on my person during the entire convention

(Read the rest of my Cosplay Mania 2009 report! Part I is here. Part II is here.)

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This is a shot taken while I was holding the camera over the heads of the crowd. Because there were that many people.

(Read Part I of my Cosplay Mania 2009 report here!)

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Hi. We're cosplaying. Got a problem with that?

I was afraid.

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Let me tell you a story.

I apologize for the whole L thing, which is overdone, I know. But I think this time it adds a certain level of poignancy to what has by now revealed itself to be a sordid tragicomedy. Please indulge me. I have artistic pretentions, and a sudden bolt of inspiration.

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The White Hat Strawberry Yogurt

I was finishing off my cup, watching the crowds at the Shangri-La Mall line up for photos and frozen yogurt, when I realized that this particular cosplay event wasn’t anything like a convention at all. It was a carefully choreographed, well-organized media event that appeared to be a cosplay competition. It was pure publicity for a charity tie-in with a consumer product.

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Vigilant artist Shuu's wares! Visit her deviantart page!

I admit it: I didn’t have high hopes for Otaku Taiki.

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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.

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Yoo-hoo! I'm over here! Cobra t-shirt and lightsaber, just like I said! My neck's ready for punching nao!

(Again, like the previous Otagonzo, this isn’t a comprehensive two-day report. This is just what it was like for me to attend Metro Comic Con 2009, nothing more.)

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(Welcome to my first installment of OtaGonzo. What is Gonzo? Check out the following links: Gonzo Journalism, Hunter S. Thompson, Spider Jerusalem, Anthony Bourdain, Neil Strauss, and P.J. O’Rourke.)

The LEGEND

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