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.)

By 4pm most of my crew were too tired to even attempt to reenter the convention hall and left just me and Marielle, my wife’s niece, to brave the crowds. I said I had to go back because I wanted to see the cosplay competitions, and Marielle wanted to go back because she was high on sugar, and she wanted to meet with her friends.

But I really wanted to go back because being in costume at a cosplay convention was… addictive.

Sese as Yowane Haku!

When we got back it was worse than when we left. A huge crowd had gathered around the stage in anticipation of the cosplay competition. I wanted to watch my friend Sese’s group perform but they seemed to be having trouble with their soundtrack for their skit — apparently they’d been told to submit their soundtrack on the day itself, but when they did they were then told that the deadline for submission was the day before, so they were in a bit of a fix.

We decided to escape the crowds by entering the Cosplay Museum, but before we did we had a short chat with Rotch at the entrance to the Mech Cafe.

Like a starship captain, Magnetic Rose commanded the entire operation with clockwork efficiency.

Rotch told us that they were still recovering from the previous shift, since apparently some rowdy customers ignored the queues, took a bunch of photos, and then left without paying. Although clearly harassed, everyone was still in high spirits by the time the last shift started and the crowds started milling in.

I checked out the costumes, adorning some rather plain-looking mannequins. Each costume was accompanied by a placard explaining who wore the costume, when it was worn, and why it was so significant to the history of Philippine Cosplay. The legendary Saito costume by JM Chua, the teeny Voltron outfit worn by Belldandy, all of the costumes served as a reminder that the organizers valued everything that had come before.

And yet… With the costumes on mannequins, I was struck by how plain the costumes seemed without the cosplayers who once wore them. Particularly the Saito costume, which seemed like a simple uniform without the razor-sharp portrayal of the man who for all intents and purposes WAS Hajime Saito, as long as he was in costume.

Gundam Girl without the Girl

Marielle and I lined up for our free studio photos that came with the Cosplay Museum tickets. Other cosplayers came in for their own photos: War Machine, the girl who cosplayed as Maka Albarn from Soul Eater, and Bumblebee. Marielle wasted no time in arranging a photo op with her and Bumblebee.

This Bumblebee probably transforms into an extremely tiny Camaro.

While waiting for our photos to develop, we watched the young mecha-headgeared maids and butlers of the Mech Cafe go about their business, to the sound of Initial D Europop playing over the sound system. Even though they were all tired, they all seemed to be having fun despite it all. They played games with their patrons, they cheered, they greeted new arrivals, they skillfully weaved around each other while serving tea and snacks. It occurred to me that these kids loved what they were doing. I doubted any of them really wanted to be waiters and waitresses, and yet here they were, giving up a Sunday to serve other people in costume.

Meanwhile, the mannequins and the once-famous costumes they wore stood silently, impassive witnesses to everything.

The silent Alucard mannequin in the foreground, the animated Mech Cafe in the back.

We stayed in the cool conference room for a little while longer, reluctant to subject ourselves to more push-and-shove. But eventually we returned to the convention center, just in time to witness a truly epic Valkyrie Profile skit. The technical excellence of the skit amazed me. The costumes were spot-on. The choreography (especially with the kurokos performing all the attack special effects) was breathtaking. If this was the benchmark for what could be accomplished locally then the mark was set pretty damned high. It didn’t surprise me one bit when they won. Their prize… a printer. Good luck divvying the loot, guys.

After this, we wandered around, checking out the cosplayers who didn’t participate in the competition.

You just don't mess with a guy who has a massive pyramid for a head and scratches all over his bare torso.

I spotted the Joker (Heath Ledger edition) posing for photos. I asked him if I could get a photo with him, and he agreed. I suggested a pose. “Kill Lelouch,” I told him.

“Gladly,” he replied as he put his knife up to my neck.

Look at how happy he is... and how distressed I am.

The facts of what happened next are in dispute. As far as I can tell, a girl and her mother went up to me and the girl asked if she could take a photo with me. Marielle swears that the girl said, “I’m a big fan of yours, I think you’re really cute,” and that I blushed beet red when she said this.

I have no recollection of these events, I’m telling you! (Plus I think she meant she was a big fan of Lelouch, not me, per se.)

At any rate, her mom took a photo of us, and then she took a photo of me and her mom. As she walked away, I gasped as I realized something.

She popped my cosplay photo op cherry.

The photo op requests kept coming after that, and I got more and more comfortable posing for them. I guess it’s only really hard the first time.

Why so serious? It's only a happy meal!

Something clicked inside me. When you’re in costume at a cosplay convention, it is everyone else who is out of place, not you. I felt completely at home, even though I was running on fumes at this point. I could strut around in costume without feeling the least bit self-conscious. It was, as I’ve asserted, but never actually experienced at this scale, as if I was someone else, as if I was freed from my everyday identity by pretending to be a fictional, two-dimensional character. If people gawked at me, pointed, took pictures, laughed, it only made them stick out more, as if they were tourists and I was in my home country, surrounded by wildly-different looking countrymen, but countrymen nonetheless.

It was truly Play, in Costume, like a festival. It was a Technicolor Mardi Gras. It was a rush. It was liberating. And as I found out too late, it was addicting. Because I want to cosplay again.

So when’s the next event?

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

I was afraid.

Sure I’d dressed up as a few anime characters back during my college days, like Gendo Ikari and Trowa Barton. And I’d spoken in public a lot of times: speeches, oratorical contests, debates, and the occasional stage play or four. But I was afraid. I’d never done both at the same time. I mostly cosplayed at private gatherings. And it’s one thing to act out a role on stage, and another to come out and say, “I enjoy dressing up as fictional characters.” My employers would soon find something more than a little interesting if they Googled my name.

Costume was shaping up to be a problem child, too. The kindly old lady who had stitched it up was apparently a better dressmaker than a tailor. The collar didn’t close right, and the Velcro patches chafed my neck like crazy. The sleeves were too loose. The gold corners in front weren’t level. I had it sent back for repairs once, and then sent it to another place for more alterations. Rotch wasn’t kidding when she said commissioned costumes sometimes had major mistakes.

Wearing contacts was an entirely new and somewhat unpleasant experience, since I’d never needed to wear contacts or glasses. And wearing a wig was like wearing a hairy and unruly hat.

Also, considering the resistance my opinions have sometimes encountered, I was bracing myself for a battle. People had gone so far as to warn me of possible physical violence.

But that didn’t happen.

And a stranger thing happened: The moment I stepped into Megamall, I stopped being afraid.

Maybe it was because all around me were people in the same boat. There was a sea of humanity, some people in costume, some people there to support them, and some people to gawk and snicker. Or maybe the spirit of Lelouch descended upon me. Who knows?

I managed to obtain my Guest VIP pass without pain or hassle, although it did require me to stand behind a middle-aged couple complaining to Information about the long lines for a couple of minutes, while patient staff members listened to their suggestions. I decided to be as pleasant as possible. Little point in adding to their worries.

I was greeted at the Megatrade Conference Room by Mark Poa, who appeared to be as professional and efficient as the impression he gives off in his emails. In fact the entire operation struck me as professional and efficient. We arranged a few last minute preparations for my presentation (just my webpage and the logo of my webcomic The Vigilant) and then I shook hands with Marcelle Fabie aka Kel, whom my readers may remember as the host I had heckled back at Cosplay Fusion. He was passing the time playing Dissidia on his PSP.

After exchanging some friendly chatter, I said, “I wonder if we should expect any trouble. Especially from You-Know-Who.”

“Well, this is just a panel about blogging,” he replied. “Nothing controversial about that.”

What is it about me and controversy, anyway?

At this point the people started to file in, a lot of them avid readers of the blog. To those people: Hi guys! Thanks for turning out in droves to support me! I really appreciate it.

Rotch arrived after transacting business with my wife outside (business involving the exchange of cash and pinky:st dolls) and we all prepared for the panel.

Hmm, I wonder if I should've used less hair wax...

We were all told to give short speeches about our blogs. Which I didn’t realize was part of the panel format (having made assumptions in my mind about panel discussions), but since I was perfectly prepared to wing it it was no problem. Meann Ortiz from the New Worlds Alliance introduced us one by one before our talks.

New Worlds Alliance represent!

First up was Rotch aka Magnetic Rose, who had several orphaned mangas with her as an incentive for people to ask questions. Considering how rowdy the audience had gotten, she probably didn’t need to do it, but it was a nice bonus. As expected she was quite the firebrand. She talked about her experiences with UP Tomo Kai and studying in Japan. She clarified that anyone from the Philippines who wanted to join the Regional Cosplay Championships could do so, just that only one team would have their travel and accomodations paid for. (Which team would that be, though?) She talked about blogging for MTV. She defended blogging product endorsements, which I thought wasn’t really an issue since I firmly believe in getting paid for writing anyway, although I could see how some people would criticize such a stance. She took charge. She didn’t even need a microphone.

This is a woman who is used to being in charge. I totally respect that.

Next up was me. I pretty much rambled my way though my talk. I explained what an Otaking was, in the context of Otaku no Video. (Someone who has decided to play the role of otaku to the hilt despite societal pressure to conform.) I talked about Tags, not Categories. (Tags include, categories exclude.) I talked about Cosplayers vs. Cosplay Fans vs. Models (to some good-natured catcalling from the audience). And I talked about dealing with trolls. (Troll them back, and treat it as a game.) And I plugged my webcomic. (Read The Vigilant!)

All hail Britannia!

Finally Kel spoke. He talked about being a deejay and a magician. (He’s a mentalist by specialization, something that totally fascinates me.) I especially enjoyed the part where he talked about separating his personal blog from his magic blog. Also, he was apparently cosplaying as Ryan Evans from High School Musical.

Yep, I totally see it.

Finally the actual panel discussion started. We talked about blogging as self-publishing. I asserted that it blew the doors wide open for anyone with something to say to speak their minds, and that it was up to the Internet at large to vote whether your opinion resonated or not, by reading your blog instead of someone else’s. Kel made the interesting point that blogging allowed him to redefine his identity as a magician. And Rotch enlightened us on the perks of being a blogger for international media. There was a brief exchange between Rotch and Kel about wannabe political bloggers and blog event dilettantes that flew right over my head, since I don’t actually attend political blog events. And we all had a good laugh at a certain Boy’s expense.

The microphone was at Kel and my feet because we were the only ones who needed it.

This wasn’t so bad at all, I thought to myself! The discussion was lively and not at all hostile, like it seemed to be at the Mini-Summit. Or at the very least it was civil. That’s really the most you can ask for sometimes, and this was much more than that.

In fact the discussion was so lively that we went overtime, with the participants of the next panel (The Society of Young Voice Actors) milling into the conference room before we were done.

So after the panel ended, and after a nice lady whose name completely escapes me took my cell phone number in case she wanted to contact me for ‘voice acting’, Rotch hurried to the Mech Cafe which she was in charge of, Kel stayed for the Voice Acting panel, and I swallowed hard and stepped out of the conference room, in costume, and into the main convention hall.

And into utter chaos.

(to be continued)

Anime Festival Asia '09 in Singapore! November 21-22!

In case you missed the news yesterday, Magnetic Rose is the official Philippine blog affiliate of the Anime Festival Asia ’09 in Singapore! Featuring uber-cosplayers KANAME and SHOKOTAN, the King of Anisong ICHIROU MIZUKI, Galaxy Fairy MAY’N, and Japanese pop culture authority Danny Choo, AFA ’09 once against proves its status as South East Asia’s biggest convention!

AFA ’09 will also be host to the Regional Cosplay Championships, with Kaname as one of the judges! From the website:

Cosplay this year will have a bigger stage where AFA09 will host the first ever Regional Cosplay Championship in Asia. The top cosplay team from each South East Asian country will be sponsored by AFA09 to compete in the Regional Cosplay Championship during the two-day anime festival where they will perform and be judged by a panel of distinguished guests from Japan including internationally renowned cosplayer Kaname.

Magnetic Rose has certainly been on a hot streak lately, and she’s proved her point so far with actions instead of words, a point that Project Otaking has wholeheartedly agreed with this entire time: Instead of quarreling over who gets the largest slice of the tiny Philippine otaku scene, or developing a ‘unique and independent culture’ (which so far appears to be code for isolationism) maybe we should instead be focusing on our place in the international scene. Maybe instead of playing our little feudal games on our little island, with our intrigues and backstabbing, we should be showing the world just how awesome we can be.

But that isn’t going to happen, is it? Instead we’re going to have our little factions try to maneuver to be the ‘Exclusive Philippine Representatives’ to the Regional Cosplay Championships. We’re going to slander, lie, and cheat our way into the top spot, and then scoff at all our perceived lessers, once we prove that we’re ‘Important People’, or at least more important than our rivals. That’s how our politicians do it. That’s what our community heads do, whether it’s a church community or school council or office Christmas party comittee. And that’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to tar and feather anyone who gets in our way, and the winners are going to go to Singapore, bloody and soaked in mud.

Proudly Pinoy.

Meanwhile, people like Magnetic Rose continue to work behind the scenes, doing their best to keep their heads above all the strife. Let’s try something different. Instead of factional warfare, instead of sniping from the shadows, instead of holding our own selfish agendas above the good of the community as a whole… Let’s make this count. Let’s show them what we can do.

What do you say?

You are Shokotan, you are.

Finally providing her expert opinion on this flaming-hot debate on what cosplay is or isn’t, Magnetic Rose has posted an article on her blog on the Top Five Jobs Where You Can Get Paid To Cosplay.

By far, I think the most complicated example is Shoko Nakagawa aka Shokotan, cosplayer, idol, and tarento. She clearly endorses products in costume, but she only endorses products she actually uses. Considering she cites Sephiroth as her first love, there’s clearly no questioning her actual devotion to being an otaku.

So does her status as idol or tarento exclude her from being a cosplayer too?

Go check out the rest of Magnetic Rose’s article. And the rest of her blog too. Now.

Hi there! Short post today, I thought I’d take the opportunity to direct my readers to a very informative and helpful article by a friend of Project Otaking and veteran of the otaku scene, Magnetic Rose! She covers topics like arranging transportation and accomodation, as well as managing money and personal safety! Please have a look!

Tips on Surviving and International Con Part 1

Tips on Surviving and International Con Part 2