cosplay.ph

Fun and Excitement at Cosplay Mania 2009

Cosplay Mania 2009 is touted to be the biggest cosplay convention in the country. An event made by cosplayers for cosplayers. Now in it's second year, it promises to be bigger and better with a wide variety of events and activities. Cosplay Mania 2009 aka Cosmania '09 will be held at the SM Megamall Megatrade Hall 2 & 3 on September 13, Sunday. There will be cosplay contests, workshops, a cosplay cafe and much more.

As part of the workshops, there will be a cosplay blogging panel held in the Function Room at 11 AM. The panel of bloggers will discuss more about their blogging experience and perhaps share some tips about blogging. The panel will include Rochelle Dumlao of magnetic-rose.net, a news and general information site about Japanese Pop Culture, and Cliff Sawit of ProjetOtaking.com, site for anime, cosplay and all sorts of otakuness and geekdom. I am personally attending to support them at the blogging panel discussion.

First Philippine Cosplay Mini Summit and Open Forum

Last August 15, 2009, our group, Project Eiva, was invited to attend the First Cosplay Mini Summit and Open Forum at the University of the Philippines IT Training Center. One of the goals of the event was to promote the cosplay community. The event was organized by USP Events Specialist Inc. and Holy Ground Productions. A panel of speakers from the government and the creative arts industry were invited. Various cosplayers were also invited including people from Cosplay.ph.

The panel of speakers included:

James Romana, Division Head for Creative Industries, Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (CITEM)
Ramon Ibrahim, Cyberservices Comissioner, Commission of Information and Communication Technology (CITC)
Eric Tamayo, Special Assistant to the Undersecretary, International and Economic Relations, Department of Foreign Affairs
Ranulf Goss, Vice President, Game Developers Association of the Philippines (GDAP)
Ruel "Zyn" Abila, Game Master, ABS-CBN Interactive (AMPED)

The open forum was an opportunity for the government to have a better understanding of what cosplay is and what it is all about. This was perhaps in a way for our community and the subculture in general to let our government have a glimpse of what we are like in the midst of continuous negative sentiment from various government officials.