Usually it’s only during Halloween season when you see a handful of people in costume, scattered about in the malls. Recently, regardless of the scare-fest season, people have been dressing up – and not to scare people, but for just pure fun. Collectively, they are known as “cosplayers” who love to “cosplay”. The term “cosplay” is actually a portmanteau of words, “costume” and “roleplay”, originally from a Japanese subculture centered on dressing as characters from anime, science fiction movies, and video games.
According to key propagator of Philippine cosplay and moderator for the official Philippine Cosplay website Robert Wong, cosplay is different and unique in the Philippines. Kicking off in 2000, cosplay is still a budding subculture that has been redefined as “the art of making and wearing a costume of your favorite character as a higher form of tribute,” and no longer restricted to Japanese characters.
Wong, dressed in a camouflage jumpsuit during the interview, looked no more special than the other cosplayers prancing about in the area with neon wigs and wacky outfits. In fact, he didn’t even seem like he had a real job. But he has one, and he’s a Brand Marketing Supervisor for Teriyaki Boy Group Inc. Cosplay is just a favored hobby since 2000 when he started primarily to gain friends and hang around people interested in costumes. As popularity of cosplay grew, more and more people wanted to learn more about cosplay and how to make costumes, and at that time Wong was somewhat known in the small community as the go-to for robotic characters. People were highly interested in his costume-making strategies so he started his own tutorial website called mechacosplaytips.tk where people can learn how to make basic robot costumes.
“Then I decided to become more involved in making cosplay more accessible to everyone by joining my friends and colleagues in helping companies create cosplay events, with the exclusive insight of being cosplayers ourselves, in order to make the cosplay event as both cosplayer and audience as friendly as possible,” he says.
Cosplay.ph was created in 2006 and is a one-stop place where any one can find information on cosplaying. detailed events, conventions, competitions, cosplaying tips. It is also a community of cosplayers where there are forums, news, polls and archives of various photographs free for public use. “Everything is on the website actually – how to reach us, frequently asked questions, articles written about us, everything,” claims Wong.
The community is remarkably growing so fast in such a short span of time because it is open to anyone of any age, of any physique. Whether one is fat or thin; bisexual or homosexual; young or old, there will always be a character for every one to cosplay. It is a healthy hobby many may not understand. For this, Wong has only has two wishes. First one being that people see cosplay in general as an enjoyable hobby and not label them as the freaks of society. Second, that Philippine cosplay continues to provide joy and camaraderie to Filipino and foreign enthusiasts, and become one of the few activities that bond people together even after cosplay fades away from the media mainstream.
Despite its national growth, cosplay has actually long been popular and officially recognized all over the world, except the Philippines – therefore during global cosplay events, the Philippines are not invited. But Wong isn’t bothered about this exclusion.
“Philippine cosplay caters to Filipino enthusiasts, thus centered in promoting and archiving cosplay activities in the Philippines. I believe in starting at what is important: at home. Once you have made a community in the Philippines, then the world will notice you, and becoming internationally known would come as a natural step,” Wong says.
Monday, October 8, 2007
Otaku Fiesta
“Otaku” is a matter of fact, a negative Japanese term pertaining to people with obsessive geek-like interests in anime and manga, Japanese comics. But here in the Philippines, Otaku is seen in a positive light, followers have decided to celebrate the growing number of otakus in a Fiesta held in Bagumbuhay Covered Court and Wildlife Center, Quezon City.
“The Otaku Fiesta intends to unite the Japanese and Filipino culture by combining Japan’s lively festival with the Filipino fiesta into one big event,” says event organizer and founder of Dream2reality Productions company Rhea Ayunan in an interview. True enough, the event was indeed a fiesta, a celebration of Japanese culture appreciated by the young Filipino crowd.
Artists, anime fans and gamers collected in the covered court and participated in a colorful parade of J-Pop and J-Rock themed costumes and jumped to the cool tunes of local J-Rock bands. On the side of the courts, tables were lined showcasing artwork by the talented locals, beautiful photography of cosplayers, and rare collectibles of Japanese dolls. In between, mini food booths stood selling Japanese cuisine concocted for the Filipino tongues.
From an outsiders’ perspective, everyone in the covered court belonged to the same group, if not, the same community in love with the Japanese pop culture. A blind dating game grabbed every one’s attention as various boys contended for who was described as a beautiful, attractive woman, and in the end revealed as a fairly large homosexual dying for a kiss from her prince charming. Mobile marriage booths declared engagements of their favourite Japanese characters causing loud screams especially when engaged characters are actually in a relationship.
“Not only does this event aim to bring together subgroups of the Japanese sub-culture, but this event aims to raise funds to help our beneficiaries in their upcoming ventures,” says Ayunan.
“The Otaku Fiesta intends to unite the Japanese and Filipino culture by combining Japan’s lively festival with the Filipino fiesta into one big event,” says event organizer and founder of Dream2reality Productions company Rhea Ayunan in an interview. True enough, the event was indeed a fiesta, a celebration of Japanese culture appreciated by the young Filipino crowd.
Artists, anime fans and gamers collected in the covered court and participated in a colorful parade of J-Pop and J-Rock themed costumes and jumped to the cool tunes of local J-Rock bands. On the side of the courts, tables were lined showcasing artwork by the talented locals, beautiful photography of cosplayers, and rare collectibles of Japanese dolls. In between, mini food booths stood selling Japanese cuisine concocted for the Filipino tongues.
From an outsiders’ perspective, everyone in the covered court belonged to the same group, if not, the same community in love with the Japanese pop culture. A blind dating game grabbed every one’s attention as various boys contended for who was described as a beautiful, attractive woman, and in the end revealed as a fairly large homosexual dying for a kiss from her prince charming. Mobile marriage booths declared engagements of their favourite Japanese characters causing loud screams especially when engaged characters are actually in a relationship.
“Not only does this event aim to bring together subgroups of the Japanese sub-culture, but this event aims to raise funds to help our beneficiaries in their upcoming ventures,” says Ayunan.
Stepping Out: A Literary Competition
Philippine cosplay is a much broader form of costume and role-playing as it allows any cosplayer to emulate any character from any location and source. Because of this expansive concept, companies and organizations have no trouble incorporating cosplayers in their events.
Read or Die organization head and event organizer Rochelle Dumlao says in an interview, “This is part of Ang Bagong Libro which holds a series of events held by Read or Die, a non-profit organization and were doing this hand in hand with the Manila Book Club so it’s a number of different activities and this is one of them, the Literary Competition, wherein we get cosplayers to play different characters from books, then we judge them and the winner gets a great prize from the sponsors.”
Cosplayers as young as 3 years of aged were scattered all over the World Trade Center turning heads of many customers and foreigners who happened to be there. Many requested to take photos of them using their mobile phones, which pleased the cosplayers as they creatively pose as their character.
Majority of the cosplayers in the area did not join the competition and were there only to get dressed and see other cosplayers. The cosplayers who did join the competition were pre-judged immediately after registering.
For this event, characters that have originally come from anime, animated cartoons, video games, table-top games, television shows, and movies -- even those that have book adaptations or novelizations, are officially disqualified. Participants were judged accordingly:
- Accuracy: 30% (How closely the costume follows the original design of the character portrayed.)
- Craftsmanship: 30% (How well the costume has been made, the level of difficulty involved in creating the costume, and the creativity employed in materials and construction techniques.)
- Characterization: 30% (How well the contestant portrays the personality of the character they are cosplaying.)
- Over-all Impact: 10%
Read or Die organization head and event organizer Rochelle Dumlao says in an interview, “This is part of Ang Bagong Libro which holds a series of events held by Read or Die, a non-profit organization and were doing this hand in hand with the Manila Book Club so it’s a number of different activities and this is one of them, the Literary Competition, wherein we get cosplayers to play different characters from books, then we judge them and the winner gets a great prize from the sponsors.”
Cosplayers as young as 3 years of aged were scattered all over the World Trade Center turning heads of many customers and foreigners who happened to be there. Many requested to take photos of them using their mobile phones, which pleased the cosplayers as they creatively pose as their character.
Majority of the cosplayers in the area did not join the competition and were there only to get dressed and see other cosplayers. The cosplayers who did join the competition were pre-judged immediately after registering.
For this event, characters that have originally come from anime, animated cartoons, video games, table-top games, television shows, and movies -- even those that have book adaptations or novelizations, are officially disqualified. Participants were judged accordingly:
- Accuracy: 30% (How closely the costume follows the original design of the character portrayed.)
- Craftsmanship: 30% (How well the costume has been made, the level of difficulty involved in creating the costume, and the creativity employed in materials and construction techniques.)
- Characterization: 30% (How well the contestant portrays the personality of the character they are cosplaying.)
- Over-all Impact: 10%
Love in costume
“Love is all around,” sings John Lennon and true enough, love did eventually come around for Tanya Obedoza and Pablo Bairan, two of Philippine cosplay’s key pioneers, as they stitched the night away five years ago.
It all started when Pablo approached Tanya because he needed help stitching his costume together. Because Tanya at the time, started working in her first job, she was busy and consequently had to work on her own costume as well. Nevertheless, Tanya helped in him and in return, Pablo helped her in any way he could. “We took turns helping each other. When I was at work, he’d work on my costume and it turned out good,” Tanya says.
Pablo smiles as he recalls painstakingly cutting and smoothing out the sharp black feathers he had to singularly attach to a 6-foot wing, which was a part of Tanya’s costume. “We’d work together on different costumes together since then, and it was fun, we both learn different skills, and learn to adjust to each other,” says Pablo.
Like any other relationships, Pablo and Tanya argue a lot, “and it’s mostly about costumes,” Pablo claims, “I feel it’s because we’re both so passionate about it, a lot of times we wont agree on a certain approach. There are certain things she’s O.C. about, certain things I’m O.C. about, so we fight but at the same time its still a good experience because you get to discuss things; plus you both have a common passion and it helps bring you together.”
Jokingly, Tanya looks at Pablo blankly, as though she disagrees about Pablo’s take on fights actually bringing them closer. For cosplayers, they are actually highly expressionless and have straight, deadpan faces even when it comes to talking about their personal love life, making me feel a little uncomfortable at their awkwardness. Even during cosplay events, they have that same, sort of glum facial expression making them look like a pair of models in extravagant costume; but once the camera lens are focused on them, or once they set foot on the stage, their real identities disappear and the character they are cosplaying sets in. It’s quite entertaining, most especially when a little girl runs in and joins them.
This little girl, is Tanya’s 7-year old daughter Akira who has grown up in the once obscure world of Philippine cosplay. As a child, Tanya has already been exposing Akira to this fantasy world because Akira herself, enjoys Japanese anime and dressing up as her favorite characters. “I’d like that she be familiar with the character she dresses up as. As much as possible, I don’t want her to wear a costume only because she or I think she looks pretty in it; I want her to really know her character,” says Tanya. Pablo also believes that Akira’s involvement in cosplay is good for her, “It allows her to be more extroverted rather than introverted because cosplay also teachers her how to interact with other people – both kids and adults – and it teaches them on how to exercise their judgment when it comes to talking to different people,” he says.
They’re a family of cosplayers; although not exactly, but in spirit they are. At cosplay events, they look out for each other particularly when one of them is wearing a highly complicated piece. At home, they are united by the common passion of cosplay, strengthening their bond as they extract their creative juices, and intricately reproduce the seemingly impossible costumes.
It all started when Pablo approached Tanya because he needed help stitching his costume together. Because Tanya at the time, started working in her first job, she was busy and consequently had to work on her own costume as well. Nevertheless, Tanya helped in him and in return, Pablo helped her in any way he could. “We took turns helping each other. When I was at work, he’d work on my costume and it turned out good,” Tanya says.
Pablo smiles as he recalls painstakingly cutting and smoothing out the sharp black feathers he had to singularly attach to a 6-foot wing, which was a part of Tanya’s costume. “We’d work together on different costumes together since then, and it was fun, we both learn different skills, and learn to adjust to each other,” says Pablo.
Like any other relationships, Pablo and Tanya argue a lot, “and it’s mostly about costumes,” Pablo claims, “I feel it’s because we’re both so passionate about it, a lot of times we wont agree on a certain approach. There are certain things she’s O.C. about, certain things I’m O.C. about, so we fight but at the same time its still a good experience because you get to discuss things; plus you both have a common passion and it helps bring you together.”
Jokingly, Tanya looks at Pablo blankly, as though she disagrees about Pablo’s take on fights actually bringing them closer. For cosplayers, they are actually highly expressionless and have straight, deadpan faces even when it comes to talking about their personal love life, making me feel a little uncomfortable at their awkwardness. Even during cosplay events, they have that same, sort of glum facial expression making them look like a pair of models in extravagant costume; but once the camera lens are focused on them, or once they set foot on the stage, their real identities disappear and the character they are cosplaying sets in. It’s quite entertaining, most especially when a little girl runs in and joins them.
This little girl, is Tanya’s 7-year old daughter Akira who has grown up in the once obscure world of Philippine cosplay. As a child, Tanya has already been exposing Akira to this fantasy world because Akira herself, enjoys Japanese anime and dressing up as her favorite characters. “I’d like that she be familiar with the character she dresses up as. As much as possible, I don’t want her to wear a costume only because she or I think she looks pretty in it; I want her to really know her character,” says Tanya. Pablo also believes that Akira’s involvement in cosplay is good for her, “It allows her to be more extroverted rather than introverted because cosplay also teachers her how to interact with other people – both kids and adults – and it teaches them on how to exercise their judgment when it comes to talking to different people,” he says.
They’re a family of cosplayers; although not exactly, but in spirit they are. At cosplay events, they look out for each other particularly when one of them is wearing a highly complicated piece. At home, they are united by the common passion of cosplay, strengthening their bond as they extract their creative juices, and intricately reproduce the seemingly impossible costumes.
Imee Marcos supports UGG X3M XPO and Cosplay
Imee Marcos graces Market! Market! at Fort Bonifacio for the UGG X3M XPO event, supporting cosplayers and pushing for government funds to be allotted to game development and all of interactive creative media.
Marcos expresses she is a fan of cosplay as she has also witnessed cosplayers internationally. She claims it blends well with the promotion of game development and creative media, and highly supports it.
She also believes in this gaming industry and Filipino talent as she says in an interview, “Naniniwala tayo that there’s a lot of future here and may talent talaga yung mga Filipino kaya lang hindi na-didiscover. We have many who are willing to do more, but theres is no capital to actually develop the game so we want to support these game developers,”
U Got Game X3M XPO is considered an exposition for students and non professional game developers, game modders, and digital artists to showcase their talents. Organizers of the event incorporated cosplay to bring the game characters into life, that way the games don’t seem too distant or geeky.
According to 1st runner up Pablo Bairan, “Including cosplay was was effective because a lot of people ask for pictures, get interested in the characters and then get interested in the game. If it’s just an event for programming, it’s intimidating for those who are not techy; but if there are people in costume, it’s interactive and more interesting.”
Marcos expresses she is a fan of cosplay as she has also witnessed cosplayers internationally. She claims it blends well with the promotion of game development and creative media, and highly supports it.
She also believes in this gaming industry and Filipino talent as she says in an interview, “Naniniwala tayo that there’s a lot of future here and may talent talaga yung mga Filipino kaya lang hindi na-didiscover. We have many who are willing to do more, but theres is no capital to actually develop the game so we want to support these game developers,”
U Got Game X3M XPO is considered an exposition for students and non professional game developers, game modders, and digital artists to showcase their talents. Organizers of the event incorporated cosplay to bring the game characters into life, that way the games don’t seem too distant or geeky.
According to 1st runner up Pablo Bairan, “Including cosplay was was effective because a lot of people ask for pictures, get interested in the characters and then get interested in the game. If it’s just an event for programming, it’s intimidating for those who are not techy; but if there are people in costume, it’s interactive and more interesting.”
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