Cosplay Mania 2008

My sisters and I got a booth at the Cosplay Mania 2008, which was held in Megamall last October 12. It wasn't a Talecraft booth. This time, we were promoting Baby Moon Lifestyle, selling gothic and lolita products. Maita's heading the project this time. Talecraft was piggybacking, though. And I asked the assistance of one of my friends, Martin, to help document the event. But he ended up helping promote the booth, too. He even went as far as wearing our cat ear headbands and claw rings to show the products to passers-by. And his call-center training of being polite came in handy, too.

It was a great event, especially for Maita. We sold about 75 hats out of the 100 that we brought. They also loved the ears. They were sold out quite quickly! Both kitty and bunny ears. The bonnets were sold out, too. Black gloves all gone. Black arms warmers all gone. Sold a lot of chokers. And though we didn't sell too many fluff balls, they were great to have around the booth. People can't help but touch them. :)

Aside from all the selling, it was fun to watch the cosplayers. I don't cosplay, but I do like looking. You could see people's creativity and resourcefulness in the costumes they make. I saw at least three renditions of the Joker's hair. I saw a Hiei whose hair was made of foam and had a dragon made of trash bag. I saw Saitou again. :D He kind of disappeared for a while. And suddenly yesterday, he was there (or I just haven't been to these events in a long time). I know what these cosplayers were feeling. And I miss that feeling. I used to make costumes for my sister, Jade, too, when we were younger. I know how you could be "into" something to a point bordering obsession (bordering lang. I don't cross over). And, the truth is, I miss that feeling. I haven't felt that in a long time. And it's boring. The last thing I was really into was the Takarazuka Review. But that was when I was still in Japan. And after a while, it kind of became repetitive, and the feeling went away.

My love of anime kind of toned down after I went to Japan. Ironic, isn't it? I'm finally there, then it goes away. Probably because anime was all over the place and not quite rare there. Anyway, I may not be getting the high the cosplayers were getting, but it's fun to watch them and remember.

At around 2pm, after we had lunch (we could hardly leave the booth. There were so much people), Martin and I went around and took photos and videos, and did interviews. The cosplayers were not all just students. Many were already working. They said it was a way to unwind. All this pop culture hype of being oneself... but I want to be someone else for a change, just for a while. During cosplays, they said, you can be who you want and no one will ridicule you for that. And people are more open in cosplays, says one who was dressed up as one of the Gundam Seed characters. You can approach people, talk to them and make new friends, and they won't mind.

Yup, I miss the feeling.

Around 3:30, Martin left for home. My sisters and I stayed on, but it wasn't too overwhelming anymore because after 4, which was the cosplay proper, people started going home. We met some interesting people ourselves. I met A. R. from Vitas Game Development, who told me about their MMORPG (first Filipino MMORPG, apparently). And Maita met a woman from GMA Networks, who was looking for Gothic shops to include in her upcoming segment.

So when we arrived home at around 11pm, we were quite happy despite our aching feet.

8:30am the next day, I get a call from Martin. He said something 'interesting' happened after he left. When he went down from Megatrade, he noticed people were smiling at him. Not quite sure why, he just smiled back and went on his way. He got to the bus stop, and still people looked at him, smiling. He was beginning to really wonder when, on the bus, a child points to him and goes, "Mommy, I want that!" And then he remembered that he was still wearing the kitty ears headband. Imagine, a serious-looking burly man in a green polo... wearing kitty ears. Slowly, he pulled off the ears and stuffed them in his backpack. But he was already almost home.