Bornaby approves!

And long entry aheadddd….!

After much flailing I attended the first day event for the solo cosplay competition, I didn’t attend the second one since it’s far away and tiring…orz

We all met up within the mrt cubao station about 10 am in the morning but because of the bad weather ever since tuesday, the mrt/lrt train stations were shut down. Registration ends in around 1 pm and we left around 11:30 from pizza hut where we all decided to take the taxi going to SMX. It’s traffic because of the train rides being cancelled and some road side accident, but we managed to arrive there in the nick of time.

Going in there is a bit confusing though, the entrances are not that properly labeled I guess? And having to go through a line again even if you already purchased pre-sold tickets. We are fortunate that due to the PMS-ing weather the convention halls are not that crowded as we used to dread. Last year was and THAT was on a sunday.

The security is pretty strict, a little more so than usual. The organizers rented three halls and we are later shooed away from certain areas while taking photos, they even closed these later on and the confiscation for items from the entrance went to the point that they even TOOK away ballpens and toothbrushes. These have been our problems with SM malls, the security have been incredulously too tight during conventions, which they SHOULD do in regular non-event basis.

Anyway…

We confirmed our registration and then prepped up, but since there is another expo going on the other floor, we are left to use one CR for the prepping (one can use the function room for prepping but we need mirrors and some of us needed to change to clothes.) With that done, we set our things down and went about going around the place for photos and meet around fellow cosplayers before the cat-walk.

the trademark princess carry (we cheated on the shot, i can't carry my partner for the life of me)

Our stylist/photographers (Lian/Dang ilu both) also got into costumes, as Agnes (T&B) and as Roderich/Austria – Austrian Succession (Hetalia). Nikki was there to reprise her cosplay as Hungary from our Austrian Succession cosplay as well and she was pretty BAMF, a lot of people took pix of her

So while tagging with our Hetalia-dressed companions, a couple of guys hanging out by the halls recognized the ‘countries’ and called out the character names and just when we moved past them, one of them shouted within an earshot that “France Sucks!”

None of us knew them, but my partner gave them a burning glare lol We assumed they mistook me as ‘France’ because of my character’s blond floofy hair…just whatever. In about half an hour or so we returned to the function room and got re-united with some old friends again! I’m pleasantly surprised that they still know me because I rarely participate in events these days XD So after some quality photo taking and wondering how we are not hungry, (we didn’t have BREAKFAST. Events like these place our appetites in an autopilot mode) we proceed with the event proper. Didn’t realize we registered way too early, we are 14 and 15 respectively out of 100+ cosplayers. Next thing we know, we are at the ramp and we’re done!

totally blank and we didn't know what we are doing ahaha.

Whew after that, we can roam around freely now…and nope still not hungry lol, we are still caught up with the excitement! I purchased this year’s Cosplaymania Snapshot Project 2011, I said to myself I wouldn’t get a copy unless I’m in it because I still have yet to recover from my upset from last year’s publication which I shall call the ‘ciel on a horse incident’. But since this year I’m there, I’m…relieved and decided to move on XD

2011 cosplay snapshot project

I still have mixed feelings with my winning entry 8| This year there are A LOT of great entries and I wonder if I’m….in character XD

/looks at face.

XD

Yaranaiiikaa

We headed outside the halls again to have photos taken and take others photos and saw more version of…me o_O

There is a second bunny! I nearly died of embarrassment because

1) I happen to wave at their pao-lin earlier since I recognized her through other friends and just shortly before I entered the next function hall…orz…not knowing she is with the actual man-tandem and gave me a perplexed look.

…most likely she didn’t remember who I am oTL

kotetsu, pao-lin and barnaby jr. cosplay

2) Actual man tandem, much to the delighted fans, making Kath and I feel heavily insecure about ourselves and yet drawn to their bishie and oyaji gar, so many mixed feelings and most of those feelings are derp.

the real deal sobbing forever.

Third bunny, we saw this guy sitting with his fellow costripping friends and Dang caught glimpse of him taking out The Jacket. I first don’t believe the guy will cosplay since he didn’t change until very much later…he looks very gar, but there are not much pictures of him :T

Gar bonny

This means one thing, the series is getting fairly popular! I hope it’s not the naruto kind of popular though sob. So far there are three barnabys and two kotetsus. A part of me wished we have a photo with our doubles just like I would want to, but the awkwardness and the feeling of being compared by the others around you and yeah…I wonder if they thought about that because I’m pretty sure we saw each other >_> <_<

the moe, the handsome and the gar

Moving on! Decided to roam around the merchandise area one more time and my partner got herself a cute tiger themed made-for-animu-convention scarf slash hat something. I felt briefly awkward when I saw this, because earlier that day while waiting for the train ride I saw some girls dressed in ‘convention wear’ (pseudo-lolita/japanese inspired wear and sometimes wearing hats shaped from cute anime creatures/characters.) and I expressed severe distaste on them and openly claim that I would never wear something so stereotypical for an anime fan these days.

Then I remember Kath like buying cute hats on some conventions. Ahaha oops. And weird happening: It seems we managed to hex a very fanservicey wall scroll poster. No pics but:

“Dude, all the girls have camel toes on the poster.”

“I’m sick of seeing nothing but this quality of fanservicing in the local scene. Why is there no manservice? /wrists”

/displays falls off.

And merchandise is later replaced with this wholesome

By this time, Nikki (Hetalia Succession-Hungary!) went home already and Dang spotted some hetalia doujinshis in one of the booths. The booth sells FRUK doujinshis that are very hard to come by locally and all under 400 php. Kath and I quickly grabbed them and I combed the entire collection. There is only two, lucky for us. The seller hushed us and sold it to us in a much lower price, giving us his card…and who knows, maybe we can get him to order other doujins works. All other hetalia doujinshis there are the usual same banana by the way, commonly USUK or UKJP.

Deciding which swag goes to whom

got our contraband er...swag. yayay.

the doujin that i got

Met up with my kouhai as well! Hehe, we talked for a while about T&B, the overflowing merchandise we need to purchase and took pictures and talk stuff.

this is probably the part where her bf slowly disappeared...XD

Towards the end of the day, we didn’t win the cosplay competition but feel accomplished because of the swag we got and with I being featured in this year’s snapshot project (Lian’s photo. Dang’s photos are featured too, but in the book’s layout for the ‘finalist’ shots). We have dinner in pizza hut like we always do if we visit SMX for con related events and in our full costume on lol.

I think I learned to handle the weird looks considering most of my cosplays when I go out and eat are…blond characters orz.

I don’t know how to end this entry but uh, that’s about it folks!

(Photos c/o of mostly Lian Tablan, Photos of T&B group by Peppy Photos, Happy Hario, viamarizz and…google)

Capped by my friend in one of the FB groups she’s in, some newbie cosplayers are asking ‘who’ they should cosplay and let a ‘veteran’ suggest characters for them.

The funny thing is this self-proclaimed ‘veteran’ suggests promiscuous characters. Take it from me, real veterans out there are UNICORNS. They rarely come by, and if they do, they will give you some pretty harsh words for not being even capable to decide on what to cosplay lololol.

What’s really sad is, everything today is very accessible to these kidlets via the internet and they are lazy as balls on what to even do.

My friend and I originally planned to just go to Otaku Expo. Then we learned that aside from Otaku Expo, there is ANOTHER convention being held in the same floor. IT’S STRANGELY DEVOID OF PEOPLE, both events that is. Hero TV is a local anime channel via a popular tv network and we were surprised how its not hardly advertised at all.
Uh I guess people are torn where to go. There isn’t much to see around and the merchandise is a disappoint. But I managed to meet up with friends who recognized our characters from the tiger and bunny series. I spent another buck to go to Hero TV Face Off, because one of the contestants is cosplaying the hero suit version of barnaby.

(Barnaby Brooks Jr. – Hero Suit cosplay : Lyron  aka. burikiboy. All above photos taken by Erving Go.)

This came from the pair who did the earlier hero suits from toy con. While hanging out with the kidlets, I was told they saw the  hero suit and I, seeing the quality, spent about an hour or so flailing that I must go there. It’s embarrassing but it’s also worth it. I even have to drag local con photographer Erving for these shots.

—

Also since I can’t help it:

Lady, what are you wearing.

Can somebody point out to me from what series is this from? During my stay outside the convention hall, photographers have been gathering and taking her photos non-stop. I would want to think it’s from Barbie or something.

Then I noticed the tiny shorts, or what’s left of it.

I figured out I will upload my favorites / out takes here, while the rest goes to my dA gallery. So keep tuned there for more photos! Sometimes I post teaser sets in my tumblr too.

Photos by: manira@dA (dang ching) & sweetiris@dA (lian tablan)

Location: manira’s place

–

Let’s start with outtakes.

checking out shots (this is sort of AFTER the shoot so my wig is falling apart orz)

Most of the shots are done indoors because of the strong downpour and we manage to take outdoor shots during the late afternoon. It’s fun though.

checking out shots (inside the house, much earlier)

There are a handful of derp takes and some that are surprisingly nice, also trial shots too.

Attempting to recreate a certain fan art with this pose 8T

Another angle and closer shot, because dat hair is amazing

I'm aiming trying to pwn Kath from behind, I end up looking too friendly 8T

Some semi-serious takes that I want to re-edit =u=

trying to look cool...old man, what are you doinng.

attempting to be sexy ahaha ;w;

The difference between you and I, I make this look goood.

ffuuu i love this pose. now to photoshop the bg.

i really don't know what's going on here 8D

We fully took advantage of the couch for lulz. We end up with a story XD

Let's name it, bonny-chan!

What do you think, bunny?

no wait, let's call it bunnaby-chan!

Outdoors =u=

bunnaby being haunted by his past...again

It's actually raining in this take. Sentimental scene is sentimental.

Am I that easy to forget, lil bunny ;__; /shot

And for non-seriousness aside~

PINK IS MANLY.

I have some selected shots of myself that are processed and watermark and I will up it tomorrow hopefully XD

Kat – Kotetsu T. Kaburagi

Derp self – Barnaby Brooks Jr.

Kat is also my Francis to my Arthur (toycon 2011) and my Grell to my Sebastian (cosplaymania torch 2010)  so…yesh. We did this for her favorite tiger and bunny rp-ers online and they seem pretty nice too.

from us to you with love what.

My friend’s parents are guests in the said event (she will also do a write up for the event in her parent’s magazine). There is a mini-cosplay activity and we were invited to come. It started late afternoon but I came from work so we kind of arrived late ||orz

This is where I somehow ‘debuted’ my Barnaby outfit just to give my wig a dry run.

It has an extra wave. It's only 3 waves. Ngrrr.

My outfit is still incomplete but I found a cool red jacket in one of my ukay trips and I used one of my rejected choices for his lenses (We got three, in different styles, to make a comparison). It’s so impromptu that I look like a cross between the past and present version >_>

The bright red compliments the fluffyness

OKAY, IT WON’T BE ALL MY BACK LOL. There are a lot of shots of me derping and being out of character in my tumblr in the cosplay tag here.

But here, have some of my fave shots

So era appropriate. So ooc. wat.

L'oreal, because I'm worth it. lol.

This is for my Tiger and Bunny photoshoot, The wig still need some trim at the back, since Barnaby have only three (3) waves and this one have four.

Now, to wait for the old man’s test shots~

Trial wig shot for B.B. Jr.

Here are some selected processed shots. Kath as the fem!sugar and me as the male!sugar

After the APH – War of Austrian Succession cosplay skit, we are thinking whether where to give it a ‘second try’ to a two day con event (most likely on a sunday, since group cosplay categories usually falls on the second day) An annual con event, Cosplaymania, is the only confirmed con date for October with 2 days. We weigh our options and decided its much better if we refined our skit for one of their contests, Costube, especially since the kidlets will need the prize money..

And while we await the rules, started processing the video script and scouting for possible shoot locations, Kath and I succumb to Tiger and Bunny. Then we decided to join a photoshoot contest for a cosplay wig shop. The prize will be (2) free wigs of your choice and they have the near exact wig similar to Barnaby’s. At this point we are thinking of cosplaying the duo and if we win the wig we can join the Cosplay Snapshot photo contest as well.

A lot of line-ups yeah and it seem exciting too, organized to the last detail! In the end the release of the rules, the last minute deadline changes caused a catastrophic domino effect in our plans.

UGH I don’t want to talk about it. But at least the Photoshoot for the wig contest went as planned. I will be posting pictures as soon as they’re processed!

It’s a discussion how the cosplay scene have gone through a new low If I posted the entire comment entries it will be longer XD This post says to itself. Click pic for bigger image.

long discussion is long