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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Matsuri Fever! 2017 WCS PH Zampen Qualifiers Pair Interview

Get to know the pairs who competed during the WCS PH ZamPen Qualifiers at the Matsuri Fever! 2017

First Pair (Winners)

Lara Florentes and John Pioquinto

Second Pair

Michael Billiones and Leo Yuayan

For the complete list of winners, click this,

Don't forget to share the video to spread cosplay around Zamboanga!

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CEE playing Dota2 with Skywrath Mage

UPCOMING EVENT: Kgath V: Hallyu Invasion

Are you ready for the fifth installment of Zamboanga's KPop Gathering? Yes you heard it right! It's the fifth year for KMONERX KGathering and I have never missed one!

#KGATH5
April 9, 2017
Sapphire Ballroom
Grand Astoria Hotel
Zamboanga City

I will still be one of the judges for this year's KCosplayer contest, and it will be a pair competition for the first time!

Of course, like last year, I brainstormed on what to wear/who to cosplay this year. I wore my hanbok for the first KGath and dressed up as Chae Kyung of Goon for the second KGath. I did a Minzy-from-falling-in-love-inspired coord for the third one (which I still haven't written a report yet. Sorry >..<) and did Queen CL from Crush for last year.

Now I have decided to do SNSD's Seohyun from their Mr. Mr. dance video:

photo from pinterest

I totally love SNSD's songs and I can't wait to do Seohyun (she's a great KDrama actress as well).

I posted a teaser shot on my twitter and it already gained a response! LOL

Check out my coord for this Sunday's event: SNSD Mr. Mr. pic.twitter.com/HLTObpbuxI

— The Empress Cee 👑🐺 (@yourstrulyCee) April 3, 2017

I can't wait to meet everyone. They already released the list of KCosplayers for that day as well! Hope to see your all of wonderful performances this Sunday! For the Facebook RSVP, click here. Like the event's official fan page for details!
See you there~ Previous Post:

EVENT: Matsuri Fever! 2017 WINNERS

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EVENT: Matsuri Fever! 2017 WINNERS

Hey guys! Have you been to the recently concluded Matsuri Fever! 2017 last March 24, 2017?

The event was hosted mainly to choose Zamboanga Peninsula's representatives for the national qualifiers of the World Cosplay Summit Philippines.

Read all about WCS here.

The event had three main competitions. Here's a list of the winners for each of it:

Art Contest:

The art contest started from 10:00 AM and ended at 4:00PM.

The mechanics and criteria for this contest is as follows. Click on the image to enlarge it:

GRAND WINNER: Ionee Bel C. Garcia

Awarding of the Art Contest Winner
Photo Credits to AMBOX Events - Zampen

Winner of the Art Contest during the Matsuri Fever! 2017
Theme: The Art of Geisha
Photo Credits to AMBOX Events - Zampen

2nd Place: Zjhay Taupn

3rd Place: Gladys Enriquez

Solo/Walk In Cosplay Category:

The solo was merged with the walk-in category. This contest was limited only to the first 30 registered participants. Registration started from 10:00 AM. Despite having allotted 30 slots to participate on stage, some were able to manage to join beyond the cut off, reaching the final number of cosplayers to 36 participants.

The criteria for judging is as follows:

Costume Accuracy: 25pts

Character Portrayal: 40pts

Performance: 30pts

Audience: 5pts

TOTAL: 100pts

GRAND WINNER:

Dana Taladro as Windranger in Featherswing Set from DotA2

Winner of the Solo/Walk In Cosplay contest
Photo Credits to AMBOX Events - Zampen

1st Runner Up: Said Noor Ali as Kureto Hiragi of Owari no Seraph

2nd Runner Up: Reegine Malik - Artillery from Dragon Nest

Pair Cosplay Category (Main Event):

For the highlight of the event, a pair was chosen to represent Zamboanga Peninsula during the World Cosplay Summit Philippines Qualifiers. Winners of this event will be sent to Nagoya, Japan as the Philippine Representatives for the WCS. Two pairs competed with their skills in costume and props making as well as their ability to portray their character on stage.

These pairs followed the general guidelines throughout the whole competition.

The first part of the competition was the craftsmanship judging. The pairs were asked questions on how they came up with the idea on who to portray, how they made their costumes and props and why they chose these characters to compete with;

The first pair is TEAM SOS who portrayed characters from the game Dynasty Warriors:

The second pair is ANIMAL XING who portrayed characters from another game Monster Hunter:

The winners and will advance to the WCS PH final round is TEAM SOS!
Lara Florentes and John Pioquinto

Winner of the Solo/Walk In Cosplay contest

Photo Credits to AMBOX Events - Zampen

Here's a video of their entire performance and on-stage Q&A:

Congratulations to all of the winners and as well as the participants! I will write my own report on the event soon. Watch out for that!

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UPCOMING EVENT: 'Matsuri Fever! 2017: WCS PH ZamPen Qualifiers'

#CosCom2015 - Nihon Fure Ai Kai (Cosplay Judge gig)

And this is it! I was once again part of the judging group for the WMSU College of Nursing Nihon Fure Ai Kai (A Touch of Japan Club) Cosplay Competition last Sept 9, 2015 during the WMSU Palaro!

Nihon Fure Ai Kai is a school-based Japanese club that sponsors Japanese language classes to interested nursing students who want to practice their career in Japan. To promote the club they host Japanese culture events like the maid cafe and the popular cosplay event.

I am an alumna of this club and this is my second time judging the event. I went as Esdeath with my fellow alumna Shermina as Mine from Akame Ga Kill. We've been spazzing all about this anime that we synced our costumes that day. :D

Ignore the bag. LOL
Esdeath and Mine from Akame ga Kill

It was fun to see the blooming cosplay community in my alma mater. When I was a student here, cosplaying is still unpopular and we got these all kinds of looks from people whenever we parade in costumes. I am glad that more and more people got interested in the hobby. The number of contestants and spectators are a proof of this!

Meet the rest of the judges:

Me and my derpy face. kekeke

After everybody has performed their skits (twas awesome, I don't think I can do those moves), one emerged as champion.

She cosplayed Korra from Avatar Legend of Korra. Congratulations on winning the second NFAK #CosCom2015!

Winners of the #CosCom2015
Korra - Legend of Korra, Cleric of Dragon Nest and Yuno Gasai of Mirai Nikki

I saw some new faces among the contestants. I got to meet some new peeps and make new cosplay friends!

Thank you so so much WMSU for the warm reception and your enthusiasm on cosplay.
See you soon!


More photos below. Click on to enlarge the smaller ones. ^_^

PS:

I gotta practice being more in-character than smiling on every photo op. Can't stop feeling happy when I see familiar faces. Teehee!

TOYCON 2015 - Preparation for the event

Hey guys! So I am currently in Mandaluyong for a job training and coincidentally, one of the biggest hobby event will happen while I am here.

You've guessed it, it's

TOYCON 2015!

And so, together with my corporate attires for my training, I packed one of my newly made cosplays - Super Sonico!

 In preparation for the event, I've read the mall and con rules that will be implemented on those days. You can also read them by clicking the links below:

COSPLAY EVENT GUIDELINES FROM SM MEGAMALL

DRESSING AREA FOR COSPLAYERS AT TOYCON PH 2015

According to one article about the event, it is recommended that you get your tickets earlier than the event proper to avoid the long lines. Last week, I passed by SM Megamall and bought a couple for Day 2 and 3. Talk about being prepared. ^_^

I hope I can see you guys at the event! I brought a few coscards for exchange so please do approach me when you see me. Again, I will be Super Sonico in blue and pink dress:

PS: I hope I can attend the Cosplay Circle Grand Meetup hosted by Alodia. I am a member of that group and I'm excited to meet and get to know other members as well. 

Thank you for reading and see you there!!

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The Geisha Project - More Photos

Cee as Soah of the Bride of the Water God

Because I am feeling hyped up from the last cosplay event I covered, I think it's time to post those decent photos of my Soah cosplay taken last December during the ADZU Cosplay fiesta.

(I don't wanna talk about the most recent cosplay event here in Zamboanga without writing about Adzu Cosplay Fest, right?)

Let me share these wonderful shots by different photographers who attended the event. 

Character:

Soah

Fandom:
The Bride of the Water God Manhwa

Cosplayer:
Cee

The manhwa is a historical fantasy story about a girl sacrificed to the Water God so that rain will fall down on her village. After she was cast away on a boat in a nearby river, a whirlpool suddenly transported Soah from the human world to the realm of the gods. Bracing herself to see an ugly, ruthless celestial being (as what her villagers thought the Water God to look like)... Soah was presented to a person opposite to her expectations.

Bride of the Water God (Manhwa - Korean Comic Book)

by Yun Mi-kyung

It was very difficult to look for reference photo for Soah; She had different outfits throughout the series, and most of the chapters don't have a full body drawing of Soah herself. Good thing some of the following aspects were constant during her appearances: her long hair down, intricate headdresses and traditional Chinese dresses.

So after choosing what 'version' to cosplay (I chose her Wedding Day/Sacrifice Day outfit), I browsed the web for Traditional Chinese Wedding dresses, style and makeup for inspiration.

Photos from MangaReader.net

The dresses I found were elegantly made and looks close to what Soah usually wears throughout the chapters (Traditional Chinese costumes from the Tang Dynasty), so I printed out some reference photos and took them to my seamstress.

Photo from the Ateneo de Zamboanga University Facebook Page

Because I used mainly Chinese brocade (embroidered fabric sold per meter), the entire gown costed me a lot more than I expected (Brocade costs about 300php per yard here). Well it was all worth it in the end. The entire cosplay turned out to be wonderful and I got very nice comments not only from my friends but even from people I am not familiar with.

Photos by Wang Guo Min Photography

I had the crown made online more than a year ago! (Yes this cosplay took me two years to complete.)

I bought the wig from a friend and it's more than 100cm long.

The accessories were made by yours truly and I modified a pair of earrings to match the ones on the reference photo.

I need to improve my Soah makeup. Maybe I will be using some Kabuki-style makeup photos as inspiration and maybe put on red lipstick rather than nude for more impact.

Photo from the Ateneo Fiesta Facebook Page

Photo from the official ADZU website

Photo by Gil A Rio

These shots and the support that I received during the event were enough reward for my sacrifices and hard work to complete this cosplay.

Photo by Jann Chiong

Photo by Mikael Ancheta

Thank you so much to the photographers for capturing my cosplay nicely! Hope to work with you guys again in the future!

We're currently planning to organize a formal photo shoot for this cosplay and the target shoot area is a river! I hope it will push though soon!~

To all those who praised my cosplay and cheered for me during the event, thank you so much for the support! See you on the next event!

PS: Watch out for my EVENT Report on ADZU Cosplay Fest 2014 soon!


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Cee's 2015 Birthday Giveaway - WINNER

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