5 Reasons why you should know Goldy more

Not many people know Goldy, known in Japan as one of the best cosplay craftsmen and cosplayer around.  But then again, not many people are really into mecha, armor and hands-on crafting in general. 

But to tell you the truth, if you don't know Goldy, you're missing a lot about knowing one of the legends of cosplay.

In a nutshell, Goldy has been inspiring a small community of cosplay/mecha enthusiasts into building their own seemingly impossible mecha or armor costumes, and back then around early 2000's.  If you've been around that time and you see pictures of this awesome "Gundam Guy" floating around forum sites, and even 4CHAN (admit it, some of you have been there often), he would be THAT "Gundam Guy".  Some cosplayers look up to him as inspiration that they themselves created works equal to his. One of them notably is Clive Lee of Singapore (yes, the other "Gundam Guy").  Honestly back then I tend to mistake them both as the same guy, before I got the chance to meet Clive online and in person.  So if this bit of info doesn't convince you, perhaps these 5 other reasons will:

1) He's been cosplaying mecha for about 10 years.  And its not just 10 years, with certain year or two in haitus, but 10 years of continued mecha and armor making.  That makes him a guru on anything mecha costume related (Why guru? More on that later).

Screenshot from Cosplaygen's article: http://www.cosplaygen.com/goldy-marg-a-wizard-of-cosplay-crafting/

2) In those years, he made 11 very well made mechas and armor.  Not including the numerous quality props he made for himself and other people.

From his Cosplay.com account: http://www.cosplay.com/member/146645/costumes/

3) He teaches other people how to build them.  He conducts workshops in Akihabara, with plenty of satisfied attendees. Plus he uploads them at his Youtube account.  Of course there is always the problem of the language barrier but fortunately there are videos that had interpreters or english-speaking assistants to help him out.  Check out his website Gadget Tool for more info regarding workshops.

 

No, that guy is not Goldy but one of his assistants/students helping him out in

demonstrating one of his techniques in making a body part mold.  This clip is

amusing because it does show Goldy in action, but his face is off-camera. XD

4) He's been featured in several well known websites and publication, like Cosplaygen, Anibee.TV, London's Costumerism,  Cosplay in America's Tumblr, website and book, and All-Nippon Airlines (ANA) Cool Japan website.  And I'm sure you've seen his cosplays in 4Chan as well.

https://www.ana-cooljapan.com/cosplay/#/

5) He's been around a lot.  His work had made him a representative for Japan's World Cosplay Summit in 2006, in which he won a special award for his craftsmanship.  He also became an invited guest, judge or speaker for numerous events not just in Japan, but in Korea's World Cosplay Festival 2008, Thailand's Animation & Multimedia (TAM2007), Singapore's Cosplay Challenge 2009 and Asia Cosplay Meet 2012, London's MCM Comic Con and as far as USA's Anime Expo.

Now he is now visiting the Philippines for the first time as a guest at the premier cosplay-centric event, Cosplay Mania.  Even other famous cosplayers like Reika is excited to see him that she even announced his visit at her own Facebook Page.

I'm pretty excited myself.  If these reasons aren't enough to make you want to meet him, I don't know what will.

For more information regarding his visit, head on to http://www.cosplaymania.com/.

You may follow them for updates at
FB: /CosplayMania
Twitter: @CosplayManiaPH
Google+ http://gplus.to/CosplayMania

Park Square Memoirs

With all the hoopla about this being the last week of our lives thanks to the Mayans and their incomplete calendar,  I decided to pass by a shop in Park Square One, the multi-level parking lot in front of Dusit Hotel, to hang out and relax.  After a quick conversation with the shopkeeper I was shocked to find out that Park Square One (one of the last original buildings that used to be part of Ayala Quad Shopping Mall) is scheduled to be demolished January 2013.  If some of you guys are still too young to remember, this is what Glorietta today used to be then:

Quad Cinema back in the late 1980's.

I admit, Im old enough to remember what being a mall rat was during the late 80's, where the only legit comic shop Filbars used to be, or that Glico's was the pre-cursor of Timezone, and having a set of cinemas that had Surround Sound instead of Dolby.

The side facing Dusit Hotel

I decided to document this last bastion of Ayala Art Deco architecture as a sort of morbid memoirs to its last few days (or months if there are delays) and give some thoughts on the history of some of the establishments that frankly and surprisingly, lasted for years until today.
 

Tiangge since the early 90's.

Park Square One used to be like Virra Mall back in the day, and in those days you wont see any tiangge around.  The ambiance is comparable as walking through Glorietta 2, all the glitz and flash of a brand new mall showcasing the best a mall can offer.  Nowadays small tiangge's litter the place, making it look like an indoor flea market, probably to cater to those who want to sell their wares at a much cheaper price than what Glorietta usually offers to their tenants.

  

Golf Depot was one of the oldest specialty sports stores, even older than Toby's.  This used to be the premier sports shop, if you cant afford to go to its nearest competitor in Makati Cinema Square.  It used to sell not just golf equipment, but gym weights, bicycles, fishing gear and even camping gear.  Now they're slowly going back to just plain golf, and selling them at discounted prices.

 

Lyric Music Workshop used to be where Yamaha School of Music was, and it still offers music tutoring all year round (back then, my Mom would always try to convince me to enroll there for piano lessons, which never really came to light).  But I had friends who started their music there, mostly guitar lessons.

Kawloon House at the corner facing Pasay Road has been my favorite place to buy good quality yet very affordable siopao.  In fact, it was the only store that sells siopao by the pair that guarantees a full stomach despite being a "snack" food.  It still does, although a bit expensive these days at P60 a pair (it used to be P40 back in the 90's).  One of the most memorable thing about this place is that this is where I first learned the rumor about cats being part of the menu, with Kawloon being the top-of-mind store to be used as an example. But that still didnt stop me from eating them, if anything, it convinced me that cats are really good to eat.

 Back then, Magoos used to be one thing: 24 hours pizza! Before the advent of convenience stores like 7-11 and Ministop, Magoo's Pizza was the ONLY store that was open 24 hours.  And at the height of popularity of a certain mutant superhero turtles, this was the place to be to hang out after the movies, or after the malls closes and you still want to burn the night away with your barkada.

This particular store was most memorable because we hanged out here after Prom Night at Intercontinental Hotel back in day.  The pizza was way better than the crappy hotel food they served us then.

 

Another establishment that been there, like forever, Odyssey was my place to keep myself updated with music.  With no internet and mp3, cassette tapes were hot items in the store, and this is where you can ask the store keeper to open a cassette tape and play to check on quality.  Of course there were times we were acting like cheap douchbags and simply let them play until we got tired of it and leave without buying anything. XD  But its still surprising to see this still in business despite the internet and the mp3's.  But its not without saying that its already part of a dying breed.  

My friends used to record their songs here.  And they come home holding out cassettes with their band name written on it and pretend they bought it from Odyssey next door.  There were rumors that famous bands used to hang out here to do private sessions.  Even nastier were the supposed orgies.  Ah, High School and testosterone, best mix ever.

 

5th Avenue was the Octagon or CDR-King of its day, one of the first stores in Ayala to sell all sorts of electronics from portable radios, to pagers, 250mb ram desktops and the ridiculously priced Nokia 3210's.  Now they're pretty up-to-date but obviously could not compete with the more prolific branches of other popular electronic stores.

If there was a geek mecca I used to hang out before there was any Great Toys or Toy Conventions, there was this store.  Lil's was and until now the best place to buy original Tamiya stuff.  There are also tons of other things that you may find interesting that not within mainstream, like realistic flying paper plane models, ships, unusual kites, diorama parts and even weird chibi plane models kids.  There's very few selection of Gundam kits though because they are more of the plane, ship and tank types.  And they have the best selection of paint kits anywhere.

Im relieved to find out that they will be moving to Glorietta 2 real soon, so huge loss there.

Another shop that withstood the test of time, Island Photo was my choice of store because the crew there tend to be more helpful and friendlier than their rival, but that was back in the day where I used to take photos using film.  The also offered back then, the most affordable and best quality blow up pictures as well (and no, it has nothing to do with explosions, just making your 3R photos into posters.  Lets be honest, you're googling what a 3R is, arent you? XD)

Every time I look at this store, I keep asking myself why the hell did they remove the pile-as-high-and-all-you-can salads?   Nothing spells like A-M-E-R-I-C-A than Wendy's. Yes, this store beats that clown when it comes to feeling American when you come inside, with their American accents before Call Centers invaded the country.  Now they let their cashier ladies say their english with their accents.  But you have to admit, I always come back for the Frostee.

I decided to check out the parking lot area next.  Plenty of things changed since then, particularly when half of the space was allotted to having a jeepney terminal, which is all good since the area does need one after the supposed bombing of Park Square Two back in 2007 eliminated the bus terminal stationed there.

This used to be the spot where a bridge used to connect Park Square One to the old Glorietta 2.  Now I can only get a glimpse from this point.  The connecting bridge is now located at the 4th floor which leads to SM Department store.

I used to ply these walkways, and at one time in costume, when a cosplay convention was held at Glorietta One cinema.  The ceilings were so low, I can actually hit my head when I came in walking in my Robotech Cyclone suit.

On the 5th level you'd find the CityKart Racing circuit.  I never tried this place before but one day I might, before they demolish this.  This area used to be the TAMIYA RC Racing Circuit before CityKart took over.

So those were my thoughts on Park Square One.  People there tell me that the building will be replaced by one of those condo buildings that's so popular nowadays, perhaps to directly compete with Dusit Hotel across the street. Its a nostalgic trip for sure, but as we all know, the only thing that's constant is change.  Its pretty depressing to lose another icon of my childhood and high school years, but these things need to move on, and perhaps for the better.  Glorietta isnt so bad nowadays, and for sure, years from now, younger generations will also ponder on the days long past as they will bear witness to another set of building demolished to make way for new ones.

So I leave this article with another set of photos of Park Square One.  Its been a nostalgic journey, PS1, im going to miss you for sure.

Cosplay Mania: Five and still Fighting

Let me start with an excerpt from a wikipedia entry of the song "Superman" by the singer "Five for Fighting":

The narrator portrays himself as misunderstood and unsure rather than the god-like figure others see; he does not feel as powerful and perfect as people see him, and at the same time believes he is more than simply that heroic, unreal figure. Instead, he describes himself experiencing an ordinary man's struggles to understand himself, to live up to expectations, and fulfill his responsibilities, even while he is aware of how much greater his responsibilities are.

For the last 5 years I've been with these extraordinary group of people who had nothing on their minds but service for others, even when the subject in question is cosplay, a subject people can easily take for granted.

After all this time, I can easily say that Cosplay Mania, the event, can be compared to Superman of this particular song.  It started out small, delicate yet firm in its belief that it could do much good to cosplay enthusiasts.  It came out of the blue, out of the sky, falling in a capsule of ideas that could have exploded on impact or never made it to its destination due to a wayward thought or dismissal of pessimism.  It was unreal, alien, a hobby which came from a different culture (Japan) yet we adopted it and molded it as our own.  The whole Cosplay Mania team, the people behind it, the organizers, marshals and volunteers, were like the Jonathan and Martha Kent of Superman's world - people who believed in old-school values while embracing the new with parental understanding.

But like the song, Cosplay Mania has its own share of insecurities and weaknesses.  But despite all that, the driving force behind it still believed that it was worth all the wisdom it can gather and learn from, and from there, fly off to become an inspiration to others.

I've observed that some people see Cosplay Mania and the people behind it as supermen/women themselves: untouchable, invulnerable, and laden with enough superpowers to decimate any imagined opposition.  They were either admired (and sometimes *shudder* worshipped) like saints or demi-gods, or despised because of it, making their own assumptions to justify their dislike towards the event and the people behind them.  Sometimes decisions are made that aren't very popular, and would endure the storm fed by fear, ignorance or malice.  Thus is the tragedy of being in the spotlight, but like always, we make it a point to simply hold our heads high and aim for something much higher, because we know our actions, and the result of that, will speak for itself.

On a personal level, it has been a struggle to define myself as either the Clark Kent or Kal-El when it comes to helping out Cosplay Mania.  Its a double life I live in, juggling personal and professional obligations while helping out my own responsibilities for the event.  I never intentionally kept my other life secret, its just that I never really talk about it.  Its easier for me to deal with it without the annoying questions that came with the discovery.  But its already general knowledge here in the office when it comes with my hobby, except when you're newly hired.  But apparently I had reached my limits when what I dreaded finally happened: when your job and personal obligations intersect with the event itself.

I've seen it coming actually, three years ago in fact, and that I have been grooming my friend Zaerone to lead the Costume Building Contest, an activity close to my heart.  This was his very first year without me, and I'm glad he was capable of leading on his own, but I really wished he should start finding an assistant soon before all of his hairs turn grey with stress.

Since February I've been helping out Cosplay Mania through graphics productions, although the poster designs for Cosplay Mania and TORCH, I give all the credits to artists Wilson Tortosa and Ruben Devela for the designs.  I simply did the layouts and everything else (well except the huge tarps and souvenirs, where Elben helped me with).  The only thing I wasn't sure of was who made the giant tarp of the TORCH finalists draped over the second floor near the escalators.  But even the demands of the event can make a man weary, especially if I have to satisfy equally the demands of other things like work and home.  These are the times I'm very grateful to friends who are more than willing to lend a helping hand in those times of weakness.

With all these Superman references, the obvious question is what would be Cosplay Mania's kryptonite?  Will it be in a form of a hypothetical Lex Luthor, Brainiac or Darkseid?  No, it's kryptonite would be this picture below.

Without these people (the organizers, marshals, volunteers, sponsors, guests, congoers and cosplayers) Cosplay Mania would be nothing, a dry husk without meaning. A kryptonite that instead of your usual lethal green kind, its the blue one that heals.  We were all blue kryptonites, caring and healing and helping it grow (unless you're the Smallville version, we're screwed, so lets pretend to be the Super Friends version, shall we?).

We all look forward for the next year and what our humble event can do, to provide a venue for creativity for all cosplayers out there, and yet still dependent on all the Jimmy Olsens, Lois Lanes, Perry Whites, Jonathan and Martha Kents and a huge plathora of supporters and super heroes.  A huge thank you and we promise keep on fighting for a better Cosplay Mania for all you blue kryptonites out there.

So unless we turn into some sort of Bizzarro, our quest for flying ever higher will never fade.  So here's to a sixth and beyond!

What the Internet taught me about Holy Week

Advisory: This entry may contain several Christian references and practices that may be unfamiliar to readers, but are welcome to read and understand.

Holy Week has come and gone, and we are again reminded of how much was sacrificed to save what remains of our faith and continue on learning how to live by it.  But as the long weekend has passed, I have arguably spent a good amount of my non-working 5 day vacation sitting in front of the computer (or cellphone thanks to WiFi) either finishing up other projects, playing games or surfing the internet.  And in the internet is where I would mostly try to figure out the world around me and how things have progressed as time passes by.

I'm sure you've stumbled into this picture before (see left).  This picture and what it triggered has intrigued me for the past two days.  It was spreading like wildfire in Facebook and other social media.  And the comments ranged from pity to fire-and-brimstone flaming.


"Galing mo,,ginawa mong laruan ang krus na sya tumubos sa kasalanan ng tao."

"Oh. Such a disgrace :(" 

"what's great with those pictures? all I can see was full of thrases with people there disrespecting our God. They don't even know what they were doing and yet they are having a good time. Such worthless creatures that doesn't deserve God's Love."

 And this is just the tip of the iceberg.  More so with those posting in the cosplay community where I'm in, and the posts were as unflattering as what I just mentioned here.  Honestly I felt shock when I saw this picture, but kept quiet because I wanted to know how exactly did this happen.  Eventually I stumbled upon the Facebook album where it originated and also read an online article describing the event and eventually concluded that the cross was actually part of a tourist attraction in Angeles, Pampanga for photo ops.

I felt sad how much internet culture has permitted us to spread news like wildfire and post comments without any thought of consequence.  Many have already condemned the woman for violating our religious icon by posing sexily for photos, without giving any thought of why she did it.  Is she even Catholic?  Is she local? A foreigner who knew no better?  Why isnt anyone surrounding her stopping her from climbing up the cross and be photographed?  And why are there several pictures of other people doing the same thing?

Questions no doubt will probably be answered soon, thanks to our local media finally getting hold of the story.  I hear it was already featured on TV.  And the contents actually, in their own little way, lectured to those who callously called the woman a sinner, hypocrite, disbeliever and such, to take time to look into themselves and ask how pure their intentions were in the first place.  Which makes me wonder how selective we are in determining which is considered blasphamous and which is considered tolerable, particularly in the anime and cosplay community.

 Tokyo Babylon Cross Fashion

Cross-motiff gun to destroy a lot of things

Rei chained to cross in sexy dress. Nuff said.

And I'm pretty sure even popular artists are very much into these things.

Or some might call, Gaga on a Stick.

Madonna, obviously not singing "Like a Virgin"

So at the end of the day, I often wonder if i'm the only one who seems strange enough to say that somehow, these images don't disturb me enough to make me go raging over the internet.  Is it because I have a good sense of humor?  A sizable level of tolerance?  Or because I'm pretty much jaded by what's been going on these days?  Probably a little of everything.  But once in a while I always thought that we are all very much human in so many ways, that I am reminded that perhaps God designed us that way, so that in the end we would realize our mistakes and move on to become better human beings.

I think that's a much better deal than being born completely perfect.

Run Robot, Run!

National Geographic presents... um...

Or How I survived my first 500m Run in a mecha costume.

Last Sunday I joined a fun run organized by a cable channel network called Fox Entertainment (yep, same company with 20th Century Fox).  Fox Entertainment approached Cosplay.ph to help out promote the run and gather cosplayers interested in this unusual activity, and I felt the need to make sure the cosplay mecha category would get represented. XD

Of course when I presented the invitation to a Mecha and Armor Facebook group that I joined, some commented, some reacted, but a lot seemed to find the idea hilariously suicidal.  But despite that I decided to be less suicidal about it and took on the challenge.

The only mecha costume I have was my Zaku I that I wore in Singapore in last year's Anime Festival Asia.  Of course I would not touch my wife's black Zaku II and risk a heavy karate chop at the back of my skull, so I proceeded to plan a way to join the run without destroying my pride and joy.

My first challenge was to make sure I was very mobile, so I decided not to use all of the parts except the helmet and the chest.  Everything else I tried replicating using cushion foam, the kind used for car seats and couches.  So off I went to Divisoria on a Sunday but couldn't find any green color available, so I opted for a grey and blue, and bought green latex paint instead.

Fashioning parts from foam is harder than it looks.  It's so soft, it was like trying to glue together cloth but building it like a cardboard box.  Took a lot of trial and error but with the help of my friend Ricki we were able to build one on time.  We took the whole Saturday before the race to build it.

Wilson and Addy, along with Ricki, spent the night over at my house so we can attend the race at 5am the next day.  Jewel couldn't join, as she will be busy at home that time, but gave me a good luck kiss before we left. Wilson cosplayed as the hilariously funny Phoenix Wright while Addy came as Claymore.  Ricki, wanting to join my attempts to run in mecha, came in his awesome Iron Man Mark 1 costume!

The run was scheduled to start at 6am and there were 50 participants in the run, including two full fledged company mascots, one of them was Chuck of Chupa Chupps lollipops!  There was another cosplayer in full gear Monster Hunter costume, and we were even joined by an X-Man Cyclops and even a movie version of Captain America!  But I love this family who joined the race as The Flintstones, now that's awesome!

We were waiting for the countdown for the race to start, and everyone was in an excited mood, and there were tons of jokes on how the race would end.  It was also so cute that there lots of kids in costumes who joined as well, props to the kid who came as Aang of Legend of the Avatar (probably as the Book of Fire version, with the mop of hair, hehe). My friend Guy Singzon, known for his awesome armor costumes, showed his crazy side this time by running with a giant raw uncooked chicken turkey for a head (photographed with Cosplay.ph President, Jedi Pablo Bairan as he prepares to carve him).  He kept telling everybody good luck and "see you at the hospital!"  By coincidence, there was a hospital not far from the race, and everyone joked the finish line would be at the Emergency Room door.

The run finally started, and my friend Jason (who wore a Bleach Shinigami costume) recorded the whole ordeal (at least it was for me, haha) with his trusty video cam and uploaded it for all to see.  Click the image below to take you to the video in Facebook.

See any kids behind me? Nope, no kids behind me. Only a creepy blue suited lawyer.

 XD

I was just glad I survived all 500 meters of the run.  I stopped to walk 3/4th of the way for a few seconds to catch my breath, but then I saw the finish line and started running again, enough to make sure I wasn't the last one to finish, heheh.

After the run the other regular runners as usual asked for our pictures taken and received our freebies of energy drinks and toothpaste (Yes!  You should have good strong teeth while running, for that winning Finish Line Smile!).  We walked back to the Cosplay.ph tent to receive our well-deserved souvenir pins.

I Survived the 500m Run in Costume!

Awards were given in front of the Cosplay.ph tent and presented by me and Pablo the cosplayers for the following:

Best Male in Costume (Captain America)
Best Female in Costume (Sailor Saturn)
Best Mecha/Monster (Monster Hunter).

There were also other unusual awards like:
Against All Odds - finishing the race despite the encumbering costume (Iron Man Mk1 - Congrats Ricki!)
What-The-Hell Award (Phoenix Wright - Congrats Wilson!)
Rainbow Award (Tekken Lili crossplayer, who was the most hardcore of all us for running the race in high heel boots!)
Fast Track Award for most athletic-looking (Richter Belmont of Castlevania - Congrats Ryan!).

We ended the morning by taking back all our calories spent at running with a hearty breakfast at Jollibee.  Thanks again to Ricki for helping me build the foam Zaku, and Wilson and Addy for running with me, and providing these awesome photos, along with Erving Go.  Enjoy the pics below!

Overtaken by children! Curses! They must be Newtypes!

For the record, that little girl in the pink shirt and white tutu dress was race's first place fastest female costumed runner. :P

Our group photo, incomplete though but good enough.

Come Monday yesterday, Fox released the results of the 500 meter run and it turned out I was 40th place out of 50 participants.  It was beyond my expectations considering I felt so slow thanks to the bulk I was carrying around.  But I was proud enough to post it in Facebook for my friends to see.

There were positive reactions from the community about this first ever unusual costume run and they are hoping for another shot at it next year, if Fox or anyone else decides to organize this again.  As for me, I guess it would be good motivation to be fit again, but as a mecha?  Well, I'll think about it.

Rest in Peace

This was the first time I encountered the artist Moebius, his artwork of a man riding a pterodactyle-like beast. Being 14 years old and weaned on a diet of Star Wars and Thundercats, this image of a man riding a giant bird may seem regular to you, but it was awesome for me, enough to influence for a few years the way I drew and imagined science fiction. True enough, and thanks to my best friend's dad, who happened to be an avid collector of Heavy Metal, I read the full story of this bird-riding man (later on discovered to be Arzach), and everything else that followed. It blew me away that he was behind several costume designs for scifi movies, one of which was the first TRON.

Now im equally blown when I found out he died yesterday.

I always wanted to meet the man and his art, but I guess I'll just have to be satisfied with just his art.

Rest in Peace, Jean Giraud.

http://www.moebius.fr/

Words of the past : Reflections of the present

I bumped into this old interview article back in 2007 where a multimedia reporter for Inquirer.net, Ms. Erika Tapella, asked me for an online interview regarding the topic of Philippine Cosplay.  This particular segment that I cropped made me pause a bit because it somewhat reflected what I believed cosplay is then and what I hope would become in the next coming years.

I cannot say much about my first wish.  Years after the interview I realized that it doesn't really matter, since you cant please everybody, and there will always someone completely biased regarding cosplayers: and with good reason, since it takes just a few to stereotype the whole.  And of course, there will always be people who simply like to give the community a good prodding just for the pleasure of seeing it squirm.  Welcome to the internet, so they say.

As for my second wish mentioned, I think its safe to say it's still happening, at least on the surface.  Four years later I often think if we are walking in the right direction, at least when it comes to international recognition as a community, not just individual achievements. 

What do you think?

Reviving Past Cosplays

Whenever I look back on my past 11 years of cosplay, the thought of reviving some of my past cosplay costumes came to mind.  I was thinking that I should try applying what I know now on costumes that were back in the day, the best effort I could give with whatever budget and material limitations given to me on that particular point in time.

Listed here are my top five costumes I would like to repeat again, this time with better materials and techniques.

Death of Libraries

I wonder if any one of you still remember how books smelled?

Stupid question maybe, but with the advent of the Internet, research has become easier and literally at your fingertips.  But being a fan of a niche variant called Japanese Pop-culture (also spelled as m-a-n-g-a), its also understandable how hard it is to find a library catering to these needs.

I used to believe that online libraries were there to compensate for whatever the actual real life library lacks.  I remember going to a library (there used to be a Japanese section in the National Library, a tiny nook somewhere there. It's gone now) where I would check out copies of magazines of a language I never really quite understood but would only check out the pictures, which includes some fashion mags at that time.  Also when I was studying in San Beda, at one time they had two copies of 1990's issues of New Type (they too disappeared for some strange reason).

Why parents forbid you to cosplay

Almost a week ago, I got a reply from one of my old blog entries in DeviantArt which talks about the choices in cosplay.  To fully understand this, I refer you a link to that old 2008 blog entry reprinted here (may still be considered useful by today's standards).  In her reply she mentioned if I have anything good to say about cosplay so that she may show it to her parents to convince them to let her cosplay, as she has been forbidden to do so.

Now this is a pretty tricky situation. First is that I have no idea of what had happened that led to that situation.  Based on her profile, she's probably in upper grade school or high school depending on what region she is in, and a huge chance she is dependent on her parents for practically quite everything a 15 year old would need.  So I wrote her a reply that ended up looking like a blog entry in itself.

Renting Costumes: Personal list of Tips, Tricks and Nightmares

Part of being a cosplayer, you get a wee bit too passionate and end up looking at your drawer or garage piling up with your past costume creations and wonder if you can make something out of it.  Unlike commissions where you would have to build a costume from ground up according to the desires and tastes of your client, renting costumes seems a whole lot easier since its already available, and renting takes on a day or so with cash normally done on hand with no hassle of bank transfers, online transactions, credit card purchases or checks.

But renting costumes can be tricky business.  Often I would lend or rent costumes to those whom I know personally.  If you plan to rent a costume to people, here is my personal list of things i'd do before, during and after renting a costume.  I classified it into 2 categories: Casual Renting and Professional Renting.  Casual means renting/lending without the hassle of legal obligations.  Price isnt even the issue with Casual since it meant very little consequence on your part.  Professional Renting is when everything needs to be done to make sure your costume investment maintains its street value for years.

Great cosplay ideas

The great thing about going around is that you pick up lots of idea for your cosplay, or at least in my point of view, mecha related ones.

Me, my wife and some friends visited the WOW Toy Museum in Quezon City, just 40 minute drive from where I live.  We took a tour around the place that was filled with both recent and nostalgic toys.

CLICK HERE TO SEE GALLERY