CosFest 08

6th July 2008 ~ Cosfest is here again! Was in eager anticipation & excited for a whole week before the event. It was held at the same location as last year - DownTown East. So to the East of the island I went.

CosFest


This time, I went with a long time buddy & his foreigner colleagues, all whom have never seen cos-playing before. They don't know much about cos-playing & are keen to experience what's it's about. It's quite an eyes opening occurrence for them on that day.

Me with my friends


With these tall guys, I look so short! xD
From left to right: Jun Zheng from China, James my buddy, me, Ivan from Spain & his Vietnamese wife. They are all IT programmers working in Singapore. A bit geeky, but very nice people. =P

We arrived at the venue at about 3pm. This year, the event was held inside just one hall instead of two as of last year. As expected, it was people mountain, people sea.

The inside crowd

Items for sale


Outside, it's less crowded. However, it was no better as the weather was freaking hot! Pity those cos-players with heavy, thick costumes!

The outside crowd


And the main attraction of the event are cos-players of course! Drawing the attention of visitors with their amazing costumes & actions. They are getting better & better at their hobby with each pasting year.

Attractive Cos-players

Posing for cameras

Cos-playing teams


And of course we went posing with cos-players, not that we wanna snatch the limelight away from them, but rather wanting a pic for memories. In most cases, people tend to choose the good ones to have a pic with. In fact, it's sort like paying compliments to cos-players when people want to pose with them.

A warm heartfelt thank you to those who posed with us & congrats on the awesome progress you people had achieved in your hobby.
My blog/album have a standard regarding pics. No lousy pics! If I put up any pic of cos-players, they can be proud of themselves! xD

A cos-play team & us

Excited by cool Jedis

Beside me, Ivan is most enthusiast for pics


As always, I went one on one with some cos-players. xD

Gundam, Guitar Robot, Captain from Last Exile & a Musketeer

A pair of Gundam characters & a wannabe Rambo

Brave & protective SWAT team


I think the cutest cos-player of all is a adorable little girl & the most spectacular is the guy in the flamboyant Ironman suit.

Tiny cute cos-player & the towering Ironman


Also captured some casual pics...

Bored Dolls

Byplay

Goliath meet David... eh Davidian?


And now for some shameless self-posing.

On a killing spree with a cat for bait


To clear the air, the gun wasn't stolen. It was lend to me by that soldier boy from the above pic. I didn't even ask for it. When I approached him for a pic, he voluntarily handed me his AK-47. In fact, contrary to gossip, all the props that I posed with were lend to me by cos-players, with their full permission. Some of those props belong to cos-players whom are my friends. Please get the facts right before flaming me regarding this issue!

In any hostile situation, some zombies sure gonna pay & lose their heads if they didn't duck fast enough. With my wild merciless shooting, bound to have collateral damage. LOL! =P

Victim of friendly fire


I really enjoyed myself tremendously at CosFest 08, especially with such nice friends accompanying me. They enjoyed the experience as much as I did & hopefully, I will have more friends with me next time.
Take care, be nice & cya at the next cos-play event!

My name is Nikita, the assassin

Singapore Toy & Comic Convention 2008

29th June, Sunday ~ For the first time, Toy & Comic Convention come to Singapore. Event was held at SunTec City on 28th & 29th of June. Was too busy on Saturday to attend, so I went on Sunday.

Big event for otaku? =P


Was told by a friend outside the hall that it's very crowded. Oh well... it's expected anyway. So I went crowd busting. xD

Very very crowded outside the event hall!

Inside crowd


Most of the crowd were consisted of adults rather than kids. Toys/comics are for kids, right? In the world of today, that's no longer true. Many adults, mostly guys, are toy or comic collector. Toy companies & comic publishers are all targeting adults & making big bucks out of this craze. Branded, collector items, limited editions, special issues are words used to entice collectors. Fanatic collectors will never give a second thought of queuing overnight for days just to get those or they will forever live in remorse & regret! Just look at the excitement generated by those hardcore collectors upon seeing items on display. They literally drooled! Seem to be better than sex. It's the era of otaku & at the convention, it's otaku's heaven! xD

I do admire certain toys as arts. Some of them are really very well done artistically. I also collect some toys & I love my collection. However I don't go crazy or attach much emotions over them. Geez... some of those toys are so freaking expensive for such a small amount of plastic! Will only buy if I strike TOTO 1st prize. LOL!

Ok... back to those heavenly booths offering toys, games & comics. Display cases all heavily marked with fingerprints & saliva. =P

Otaku's Heaven

Otaku's Dream

Eh?


Took some pics of toys on display while shoving through the crowd. Some of the displays are permanently surrounded by drooling fans & it's a pain trying to get a pic. Don't ask me what toys those are as I can't identify many of them or tell me I missed that super doper limited edition of whatever. I'm not an otaku. I just shoot what I like. =P

I can only ID Jack Sparrow & Mickey Mouse

Ball-jointed dolls, Spiderman, Doramon & Ape Elvis?

Barbie dolls, big-eyes dolls, big head dolls, whatever...

These I know... Mostly Gundams & some EVA robots


Despite the crowd, I also managed to pose with some of those cool toys.

Star Trek, rubber breads, Astro Boy & many more

Horny robot & Threatening Yoda


There's a booth by Hasbro that exhibited their renowned Star Wars figures. The queue for entry was a long dragon. Since I'm not a hardcore fan of Star Wars, bypass that & took some pics from outside.

Star Wars exhibit

Star Wars toys on display


Coscon was also held at the convention. Didn't manage to see much & didn't meet much cos-players cos of the stifling crowd.

Cos-players on stage


However, I captured two...

Hatsune Miku(初音ミク) & StormTrooper


Then again, I've more fun posing with dress-up characters from booths. Joined the jolly pirates, seduced by Trekkie, protected by Rios, Army of Two & partner with a predator. xD

Colorful Characters


And playing with cardboard people...

Tough chick, Cutie boy, Growl bear & Awesome mask


Black & white characters from the comic, 'Lao Fu Zi' tries to pick me up in their broken down car. I choose a retro dude instead. xD

Black & White Guys, Colorful Me


Earlier, upon entering the event hall, very first thing I encountered is a guy asking whether am I a cos-player, what character I'm portraying & from which comic or anime? Nonono... I'm not cos-playing. I'm just in my normal going out clothes. Came across the same guy again later. He still have this puzzled look on his face when he saw me. Still trying to figure which character I'm playing?!? Happened every time I went to cos-play events. Even in doubt, they will still ask me to pose for or with them. For whatever reason, if anyone ask decently, I will pose for/with them. By now, after attending so many cos-play events, I'm used to it. =P

I became a display item... xD


All in all, I had a great time at the Singapore Toy & Comic convention. By the look of it, seem the convention was pretty successful too, attested by the gesture of this uncle manning a booth at the show...

Thumbs Up!


On a side note:
I realized some participants at cos-play events felt offended, complained about me posing for the cameras & claimed I stole the limelight away from cos-players. Hey! I don't have that kinda intention. Can't help it if people mistook me as cos-playing! It's not my fault if unintentionally, I outshine certain cos-play participants. Take a look at my album. I did not purposely dress to outshine anyone at cos-play events. What I wore is my normal going out style, event or no event. I'm just being myself, that's all.
Lets be frank about this. Participants of cos-play events are there to show off themselves, their costumes or styles, all trying to catch the public's attention & be admired. No? If not, why participate in cos-play events? Might as well stay at home & pose privately in front of your mirror. At events, if anyone who is not participating outshine you, better start questioning yourself, your styles or outfits instead of blaming them. You should change instead of demanding others to adhere to your standards. If you are unable to change or refuse to, don't complain or flame those who outshine you. If you lose out to those whom are not in this hobby, you sux & that's the simple truth.
If you feel inferior, then you should consider dropping this hobby as you're unfit for it. It's just a hobby. Get a life or just give your best to your hobby & be happy with whatever results you achieve. Quit being a sour grape.
If you had read my blog, you'll notice that I sorta of promoted cos-play events. Even put up events' pics in many forums & defended cos-players whenever people flamed them. I know many cos-players are not worry of me stealing their limelight. Why? Coz they are good & I really admire them! Love taking pics with them coz it show I'm there, in awe of them. Can never outshine those.
So, am I required to change my fashion style to suit narrow/shallow minded people or put on a placard stating I'm not a cos-player when I attend future cos-play events? Hahaha... =P

Addition add-ons:
First off, I like give my heartfelt thanks to those who put in kind comments in this entry.
Secondly, I also like to clarify certain matters.
At cos-play events, predominantly there're 2 categories of participants, the cos-players & fashion dressers. Some are into both.
Cos-players are people who portray or play characters from anime or movies. Many of these hobbyists sew or tailored-made their costumes or props. I can admire the skills & devotion they put into their hobby. Personally, I prefer to think of cos-playing as a form of art, handicraft of costumes/props & performing art when they play their favorite characters in public. Am quite impressed by many cos-players.
Then there are the fashion dressers who mostly purchase their costumes/props from speciality shops. They follow a little known, off-the-main-stream fashion from Japan called Lolita fashion. It was popularized by a Jpop group & inspired by Victorian era's children clothes. I dunno why 'Lolita' was chose as a name for this fashion. It's such a notorious name, link to that famous book which is about pedophile. Perhaps some Japanese warped minds thought it's a cute idea to implement Victorian children fashion to pedophile.

The Lolita fashion dressers are the ones whom dislike me the most. They criticized/flamed my fashion styles, my posing with cos-players for pics & in general, me appearing at cos-play events. From my dressing styles, they labeled me as a freak. Huh? Who are more freaky? Me who bought all my clothes from main stream fashion stores or them who bought only from speciality shops & dress up like children of a few hundred years ago, a dead bygone period?
So, who's dressings are more weird? In conclusion, all their nasty comments are more like based on pure envyness!

I'm a non-conformist & dislike to follow many current fashion. Just love to buy off the shelves to mix & match. I have a policy regarding fashion, something to bear in mind when choosing a fashion. Dress what suits you, not follow blindly. If you do not have the look, size/shape or carriage, you will awfully disgrace the fashion instead of complimenting it.