[Event] Cosplay Mania PH 2017

Weeks after my last event post, I am back with another (albeit late) event post!  This time, me and my bro went to Cosplay Mania PH 2017.

Source: Cosplay Mania Facebook page

Founded in 2008, Cosplay Mania boasts to be the largest cosplay convention in the Philippines.  Managed and organized by Cosplay.PH, the event boasts of a large event premise (this year, they were able to book the entire second floor of SMX Convention Center), several contests including the Hall Cosplay Masquerade, Cosplay Solo Showdown (which I took part in last 2014), Cosplay Mania Cup and Ultimate Cosplay Championship, meet and greets with international guest artists, cosplayers, and anime directors, producers and voice actors and lastly, an anisong concert to cap off the activities of the day.

Due to financial constraints, me and my bro were only able to purchase the cheapest tickets (silver), but that did not stop us from enjoying the event altogether.  We went on the second and last day of the con as Jiroutachi and Taroutachi from Touken Ranbu as if we are not yet that deep into sword boy hell.

Me as Jiroutachi and Reo Ouji as Taroutachi.

 We had the costumes made from Cosplayer Secret Shop instead of going about our usual way of making everything from scratch because of time constraints (me being busy with graduate school and Reo being busy with work).  The swords were commissioned from BALT Creation also for the same reason.  The rest of the props, we made ourselves.  For me, that would be the headdress and the sake jar (maybe I should make a progress log post for those).  I also made an arm guard, but figured at the last minute that it would be too hot to wear under all the layers of clothing and decided to wear the fabric version that came with the costume instead.

We were able to enter the event premises and get our bracelets at around 12AM, when it was not yet so crowded due to the bulk of event goers still stuck in the queue outside of the convention center.  We immediately went about our business shopping for merch since we figured out that it would be hard for us to do so with our costumes on once more people start coming in.  We also met a lot of our friends and had a lot of pictures taken as we did so.  I haven't seen much of our pics from the photographers that day, but then that may just be me being lazy in browsing Facebook.  So while we are waiting for photos, here are a ton of selfies!

With Miki as Kashuu who was the attendant of our Cheese Saniwa

We dropped by our Cheese Saniwa's booth at the artist alley

I was finally able to pose with Todoroki!

Another Jiroutachi found us and of course, we had to take a pic with them

Channeling the Otokomichi spirit

Speaking of merch, here's my haul plus some gifts I got from that day.  I was not able to buy a lot as the halls quickly got filled up with people and we were not able to check out the other booths because of our costumes and bags got in the way.  I mainly got Haikyuu and Touken Ranbu key chains and JoJo stickers.  I also finally got an ita bag to showcase my weab collection of rubber straps at the next con that I will go to.

Cosmania day 2 haul and gifts!

And see those two big boxes right there?  I also picked up my Izuminokami Kanesada and Horikawa Kunihiro pre-ordered nendoroids from WattaToys! 

breaking character because my ship is sailing!

Needless to say, I was a happy little Touken Ranbu fan girl that day.  Also, expect unboxing videos for Kane-san and Hori-chan!

While our experience with Cosmania this year was nothing short of enjoyable, I would also like to address some of the complaints we have heard first hand from our friends during the con or through posts or chats. 

First, and the bulk of the complaints I saw about the event is the long lines just to get inside the venue.  As I have also noticed upon arriving at SMX, there was already a huge line outside of the convention center way before the opening time.  While this was gradually dissipated and a bit more organized on the second day,  It was apparently not the case during the first day.  People reported waiting in line to be let into SMX for hours, only to wait in line again so that they can get on the escalators that will take them to the second floor where the convention is being held.  Lastly, they would fall in line again to exchange their tickets for event bracelets.  The people complained about the long lines to the extent that some reported missing their meet and greet times as well as the guests themselves feeling upset upon seeing an almost empty queue because most of the people for that schedule were still outside waiting in line.  Cosplay Mania management has already released a statement that addresses this issue, so let's hope that by next year there would be a better way to get inside the con without falling in line for long periods of time.

Another complaint that I heard about straight from a friend of mine was the behavior of the staff.  There were reports of the staff being rude to the event goers, shouting at them and blaming them for the disorganized lines at the event as well as the improper handling of the guests.  I did not experience these myself, but this is the second year that I've heard reports of the staff of this particular event behaving in an unprofessional manner.  What I can just say about this is that the number one in any business etiquette list is for you to treat your clients (in this case the con goers) and guests (guest cosplayers, anisong artists, seiyuus, directors, producers, etc.) with the highest priority and care.  Hopefully, this has been brought into the attention of the Cosplay Mania management and hopefully, better orientation when it comes to handling a large scale event like this could be provided to their volunteers and staff for their future events.

On a lighter note, Cosplay Mania still holds a special place in my heart.  This is the biggest con I've ever went to and where I got to meet some of my cosplay idols.  It is not a lie that they were one of the first conventions that were able to bring international cosplayers and artists on Philippine shores which was until recently, just in the middle of nowhere for most foreign artists in the anime and cosplay world. 

Also, because my first convention never got a second run, I treat Cosplay Mania as my anniversary convention.  That being said, I am happy to say that this year is my 8th year in cosplay!  Hopefully, I can still do this for a few more years. :)

Queue a narcissistic photo of Jiroutachi.

Thanks for reading this far!  See you on my next post whenever I make it :)


XO's
Saltsuki