Sunday, July 8, 2012

ToyCon2012 - Cosplay Competition










First of all, let me clear things up.  I am no expert in cosplaying.  I haven't actually tried being into one myself.  But I do appreciate a good and artistically crafted one... From the internet, here are just some of the information I gathered on this rather interesting form of art.

Sources: cosplay@wiki and Cosplay@howto 

Cosplay (コスプレ kosupure), short for "costume play",is a type of performance art in which participants wear costumes and accessories to represent a specific character or idea. Cosplayers often interact to create a subculture centred around role play. A broader use of the term "cosplay" applies to any costumed role play in venues apart from the stage, regardless of the cultural context.
Favorite sources include manga and anime, comic books, video games and films. Any entity from the real or virtual world that lends itself to dramatic interpretation may be taken up as a subject. Inanimate objects are given antrhopomorphic anthropomorphic forms and it is not unusual to see genders switched, with women playing male roles and vice versa. There is also a subset of cosplay culture centered around sex appeal, with cosplayers specifically choosing characters that are known for their attractiveness and/or revealing (even explicit) costumes.

Notable cosplayers

This is Alodia (right) and her sister Ashley
Want to try cosplaying?  Here are some pointers:

First, firmly decide who you want to cosplay. Do you just want a costume to wear around town, for fun, or do you want to wear it to an Anime Convention or other big event?  

Decide how you want to go about getting your costume. Consider your budget and time allowance. If you're short on time, making your costume from scratch may not be the best idea. 

If you have decided a character/person to cosplay and choose to make the costume yourself; it's a good start to make a list of what you have to make, how you shall make it and what you need to buy in order to make it. For example, if your character is wearing a jacket and pants; what color are they? Which kind of fabric should you use? Are the clothes baggy or tight?

No matter if you buy the costume, you probably have hair, make up and maybe even lenses to buy and fix. Study your characters hair, eye color, and shape of face. Shall you use a wig or not? How should you style your hair? What kind of make up would be fitting and make your face look more like the character?

It helps to sketch up your character from different angles.                                                      It gives you a good view on how the character really looks.

Decide how much time (and money) you should spend on making the costume. The more difficult and detailed the costume is, the more time you'll need to make it. Give yourself more time than you think you need and be really realistic.


Practice on the make up, taking and out the lenses and fixing your hair (or the wig). It will take time to make it good, so be patient and try different methods and products.

When everything is done, put everything on and look in the mirror. Do you look like the character/person? If no, try to figure out why and consider making some changes. It's a good idea to ask a friend or someone else you trust if you look like the character and what you could change. Tell them to be honest, that's why you're asking.

Be confident cosplaying. If you want, you could practice poses the character does a lot. You could also study the way the character walk and/or move, and try to imitate it. It's completely optional.

Make your grand debut! Whether your walking around town, or a party, or a convention, make sure you're having fun with it!

Have fun with it! If you don't have fun, you're not cosplaying the right way!
In the recently held 11th Philippine Toy Convention held last June in SM Mega Mall Trade Hall, My eyes feasted on lots of Cosplayers who joined the individual Cosplay competition.  Here are some of the pictures I took with them.  ALERT though, you will see a lot of me too... hahaha

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
This one WON the competition, Master Pogi!!!


20 comments:

  1. Great and believable cosplayers. It's admirable how cosplayers can be so passionate with what they do and they can be successful at other fields too like Alodia.

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  2. cosplay! I love looking at them wearing those costumes. And I love Martyle, she's the first celebrity cosplayer that I know of. ;)

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  3. I really admire people who are into cosplaying -- really... Sigh, I've never tried to participate an event like this.

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  4. Interesting! It is like a costume party. Kids really love to do this Cosplay for they like to do the role of their fave superheroes.

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    1. now that you mentioned it, hmm.. you are right. It is the modern way of roleplaying

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  5. So who are they cosplaying as???

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    1. there are quite many but if follow the anime/manga culture, you should be familiar with the likes of the Storm Troopers (starwars), V for Vendetta, Tobi, Ayumi from Rayearth, Shadowmoon, sailormoon, chibi, zoids, Akatsuki, etc...

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  6. Expensive pa mahal kaya ng costumes naalala ko tuloy yun pamangkin ko when he was a child hilig nya mag suot costume kaya sakanya kami humihiram pag kelangan ng anak ko sa school haha..:)

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  7. everyone really prepared well for the cosplay... and these cost a lot as well... congrats to the winner... Yahweh bless.

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  8. Replies
    1. Hi natsu, if this was for ur earlier post, finally dropped some answers...i don't check out quick often.. do u follow the culture? Bet u already know the answers to ur questions if you do; otherwise even if i drop the name, u wont be familiar

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  9. i was wondering what cosplay is, thanks for this post ,now I know.

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  10. Cosplaying is a great and nice hobby. But, the price of it, might be huge and expensive.

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  11. i really cannot imagine how much it costs to build and create these costumes... these cosplayers really have passion to be so dedicated in their craft...

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