Cosplay and How it is Affected by Zamboanga’s Infamous Power Outages

  Cosplay, a combination of the words costume and play, is a hobby of portraying fictional characters in an event such as a photo shoot or competition. Despite its almost decade existence in Zamboanga City, the hobby is still a budding art that needs to be cultivated to be appreciated by a greater number of people. Some situations such as a slow support to modern hobbies and a recurring crisis hold the bloom of the strange yet interesting activity.

Ambox ZamPen - cosplay event organising team headed by yours truly during the World Cosplay Summit Philippines Zamboanga Peninsula Qualifiers last 2018. This event is the most-awaited cosplay culture happening in the city.

  One of the predicaments that hinder the rising popularity of cosplay in the city is the unpredictable power outages. Undesirable situations are common throughout all hobbies, and these unwanted occurrences strike the hobby in a negative way. Firstly, due to electricity’s importance in powering certain contraptions needed in the making of cosplay items, electrical failures handicap the primary steps in creating costumes and props – the very core essentials in the hobby because most tools, if not all, utilized by people doing the activity is powered by electricity. To illustrate, a cosplayer (a person doing a cosplay) tries to look for tips in an online information source on how to start getting into the hobby however, due to power interruptions, one is not able to start up the modem to connect to the World Wide Web and turn on the computer set to be able to access said information.

Cee as Gogo Yubari during the MCTV Movie Mania 2012, one of the first cosplay events in the city.

  Secondly, electrical failures affect functions relating to cosplay. Because the presentation of the art is usually done in a contest-like manner, requirements powered by electricity such as a stage with lights and sounds, LED projectors and the likes are vital.  Blackouts ruin not only the ongoing affair that uses these items but also the total experience enthusiasts want to gain by attending them. For example, a competing cosplayer who is in the game during one’s performance gets interfered by a failure of power thus leads to a stop in the momentum of performing on stage and in turn wrecks one’s opportunity to fully represent the chosen character.

Cosplay parade during the World Cosplay Summit ZamPen Qualifiers last 2017. The event was held in KCC Mall de Zamboanga, the largest shopping centre in the city which is also one of the establishments that experience frequent power failures.

  Who are responsible for this condition that the citizens of Zamboanga had no choice to be in? What could be done to lessen, if not eradicate, the aggravating situation that not only affect a particular group of people but the entire population? More of these on the next few posts to be published here.

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post however this did not influence on how it is written. All thoughts are of the author's.

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