The art of dressing up

Cosplay is rather big here in the Philippines. Every year, there are more than 5 events that include or feature cosplay activities. This particular fandom to dress up as one's favorite anime, game or movie character has brought about a vibrant community that has been around since 2000.

Just yesterday, some of my friends who happen to be the staunchest pillars of the local cosplay community, successful staged the first ever cosplay-centric event. Dubbed as CosplayMania 2008, the event was flooded with TONS of cosplay enthusiasts and other fandom otakus. And because it's a cosplay event, you can never get around the place without seeing people flashing their cameras like the persistent paparazzi.

What I like about cosplaying and the community in general is that people tend to come out of their shy corners to personify the characters they're cosplaying. They're also quite game to have their photos taken with anyone who asks.

I didn't take the liberty to go inside the event hall (mainly because I'm scrimping on cash for next week's dreaded D-Day), so I just hung around outside, taking pictures of some of the cosplayers who were game enough to indulge the rabid crowd of photographers. Kinda felt intimidating with all the DSLR cameras flashing around.

Lemme just say that the costumes were as diverse as the people's fandoms. Among the characters I got photos of were...

[A bit of warning from hereon...massive photos up ahead!]

Evangelion's Asuka Sohryu Langley


Avatar: The Last Airbender characters


...and a few crossdressers >_<

colorful little elves (the green one looks a lot like Link, yes?)

a somber looking .hack// character

furious-looking Hiei from YuYu Hakusho

don't anybody mess with a suicidal Joker XD

Quistis Trepe in her SeeD uniform

Sora's awesome-looking keyblades

While going around the area, I wouldn't have thought to see these cosplayers...

Wizard in a maid uniform (or could also pass as Helena XD)

and

Ahoy thar, Pirate Adelina Esperanza!

I also learned that these two ladies are denizens of Pachelbel server, mostly new blood who have just started exploring the GE world. Looks like I'll be seeing more of them in Rembrandt then. ^^

I'm beat. The event was a blast, and I heard the tickets were sold out! Gratz to the Cosplay.ph peepz and here's to seeing more GE cosplays!

[Living GE] More impressive cosplays, & a loco greeting

Warning: Massive picspam up ahead

While taking some time off in leveling Vicente Rio (read: crap Net connections and uber crowded Bahia), I discovered another surprise, this time from renowned game website, MMOsite.com.

And lookee what I found...GE cosplay!

Pretty detailed Gabriella cosplay

Le Blanc Scout brandishing a dagger

Cath in Sugarplum Tutu costume, Karjalainen, Adelina, Viki (in both default and Hurdy-Gurdy attires)

It's Hrin's ex-BFF, Leticia

Holy smokes, it's Gracielo and his man bewbs!

Le Blanc Elementalist does a Naruto pose, complete with Rasengan!

Pretty Lisa Lynway

Idge the Battlesmith likes big ass swords

I won't be boring you to enumerate all the characters seen here since you're bound to recognize a few familiar faces. ^_~

Source:
ChinaJoy Cosplay Championship 2008: Granado Espada

...and on another note...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, EL LOCO BLACKSWORD!

May you fulfill your promise to treat us out to a buffet of Buena Bonita Burgers. LOL.

the idge project (part 1)

W00t! I just got home fresh from the Colony Wars event a while ago. I just went and made my life more difficult by covering not just one, but two CW happenings in Cervantes and Caravaggio servers, specifically for CARNAGE and PasawayProphecy factions respectively. But since I'm already digressing, I'll talk about that in tomorrow's post.

Anyway, I've been feeling quite giddy over the prospect of an Idge Imbrulia cosplay. Not too many people appreciate this particular RNPC, so I've decided to immortalize my fandom of the Illier blacksmith by cosplaying as her on the upcoming GE PH Commercial Launch Party on September 15.

This is the Idge version I'll be wearing, complete with the huge ass Castor sword.

And here are just but a few developments of the costume:

Idge's breastplate and..uhh..a wrench XD.

We all know Idge looks kinda boyish in her getup, but her armor does flatter her nice figure. The breastplate for one, hugs her top frame. I'm particularly happy with the actual turnout of this, considering that the paint applied on the rubber foam made it look like an old piece of metal. The engravings on the armor are actually strips of rubber foam and glue gun painted in silver.

The tools of the trade.

And this one shows Idge's essential tools for enhancing items: the hammer, chisel, and a nifty wrench. Again, this stuff's made of just rubber, but the effect's as good as metal. I've assembled them to look like the ones in the picture.

The striped pants of doom.

I hope I don't look stupid wearing these pants.

I'll be updating this blog with more info on the Idge Project™ as it progresses. Meanwhile, I really ought to hit the sack.

fun with squads & cosplay plans

Aside from my (very) obvious fandom for GE, I'm also a cosplay fanatic and have been a lot more active in the cosplay community since 2001. Most of my cosplayer friends are into games as well, and there's quite a handful of us playing GE.

Last Saturday, I invited some of my friends for an in-game meet up. The plan was to either engage in a mission as a team, or to just help each other out by squad level grinding. There were about 5 of us who met up in Cite de Reboldoeux Ch. 1, all excited for what lay ahead. Initially we were to have the Crowe family with us, who is also a cosplayer friend and perhaps the only high level player from among the lot. Unfortunately, she wasn't able to join us because of work concerns.

Find the DeSanggrias in the squad.

Inevitably, 5 families took on the Mission: Highway 1. The result? Disastrous.

Hahahaha.

Honestly though, I should've researched more on the kind of monsters in each mission to inform everyone on what kind of trouble to expect. Little did I know that this quest involved defending 2 towers, which happened to be on top of some platform of some sort. It was futile defending the bases if you had to contend with ground and airborne monsters, plus lag. Bad, bad combination.

Squadding in Porto Bello: The Cabin

In the end, we settled for squad mode and beat up a handful of mobs in Porto Bello: The Cabin. The girls leveled up 2 notches and earned quite a lot of loot which I sold to NPC merchants for a nifty price. Great stuff. Plus, it was great chatting with familiar friends in the cosplay community.

Speaking of which, I have to get started on the Idge cosplay project. This is going to be an exciting task. Time, money and effort consuming, but exciting nonetheless.

Many thanks to Lucido, SiegeVelentine, βeoulve, and Majeure family for last weekend's fun. Let's do this again another time. ^_~

le pimpage

I haven't considered myself a serious gamer. True, I've played my share of console games, although I'm not that skilled compared to my brothers. I also do not spend countless hours finishing a boss stage, nor do I spend money in buying gaming titles. But that was before Granado Espada. In fact, I've become more like a chronic gamer everyday because of this. I look back on the person I was before and compare myself to who I am today, and I find a stark contrast between the two.

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GE changed so many things in my life, among which is my blogging and cosplaying hobbies. I find myself blogging more about the game (and even creating this separate blog account for pure GEek talk XD) and posting a lot of GE stuff in forums. I like meeting fellow GEeks and learning useful stuff about the game. The NineMoons Family in particular share a lot of tips and useful insights about the game, now that it in the Pre-OBT stage. The game is so rich in stories that I enjoy taking screencaps of my family's exploit to write my own story amidst the GE backdrop. I haven't seen myself dedicated in such a task for a long time.


Cosplay-wise, I'm collecting loads of reference pictures for reference. I scour the Internet for all images I can get of a particular character. And I'm quite thankful that the game allows various camera angles as well as the diversity of the characters' attires. I did not have a difficult time looking for pictures of my first GE cosplay, the Fire Elementalist. I was able to get a hold of various pictures in many angles of the said character. It helped me conceptualize and explain to the seamstress how it's supposed to be done. The result was a fantastic real-life rendition of Verdandi's current costume.


While wearing the costume in the e-Games event, I was able to meet GE's Regional Community Manager, Hrin, in the

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flesh! If it were not for my introverted streak kicking in that time, I'd have loved to talk to her in a better circumstance. She even said she loved my costume! W00t! That meant a lot to me, coming from the game's RCM no less.

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I'm currently planning to cosplay Idge Imbrulia, who also happens to be my favorite NPC. I was able to do a bit of research about her & found out that contrary to her tomboyish look, she was actually a maid in Illier before moving to Granado Espada. I like her profession as well—she shows a lot of strength, skill and wisdom for someone who's in a job deemed to be a "man's world". The costume's going to be a lot of work though. The details itself look very challenging. I hope I can work on this as soon as I finish another priority cosplay sometime in July.


GE has totally made a significant influence in my life. And I've never been excited about a game like this!