Alter Ego

My interest in Cosplay started rather early. When people are not yet very familiar with the word, we already roam around Iloilo City in costumes. When there are parties (gothic parties) before, we would usually dress up as Magicians, Hermits, or Witches; characters from the comics or TV.

Here in Davao, my interest in Cosplay came back to life. I started talking with Cosplayers during events and started to get t know them. At first I was only interested to take pictures of these kids dressed up as superheroes, anime or manga characters. Then I was inspired once again to don a costume and be someone, a character who inspires me.

The first character that I have in mind was any character who either look or with the same characteristics. I also considered cosplaying a character my age. Since I am already matured, I opted to cosplay skinheads, mustached, or characters with masks or helmets to hide my rather thinning hair. I tried my best to learn everything about it. I started to look for very good cosplayers in the country and try to understand what they are doing and why they are doing it. I found some good Filipino Cosplayers like Jin Joson, Miguel Mercado and Kat Carpio from Team Tux, JayEm Sison and one from Davao- Majid Evangelio.

I also attended some of the Cosplay events in SM City and took pictures of them. I also became close with some of the Mindanao Cosplayers and joined one of the Cosplay groups here in Davao- MinATO. I tried to look for some cosplay items online and scour all the malls here in Davao to look for Wigs, costumes etc. Finally after a month or so of preparation, I attended a Cosplay event by AmBox in SM City Davao.

I dressed up as a butler for the Cosplay Cafe in the opening of the Cyberzone in SM's Annex. I just gathered some clothes I have and some finds I saw in Ukay-ukays to put this costume together. A week after this event, the actual Cosplay contest happened during the "Araw ng Dabaw Outdoor Cosplay Event" in Victoria Plaza. The original character that I want to be during this event was supposedly Mattalast Ballory from Library of Bantorra, however, I was not able to find the correct wig for the character so I changed it to Shizuo Heiwajima from Durarara since the blonde wig was available. I want to cosplay characters who are not really that famous, but I guess some people still knows Shizuo. Shizuo was also the character I portrayed during the CHAIN even in Gensan on April 13th.



I also cosplayed Shizuo's brother Kasuka Heiwajima during the Earthday celebration in SM City on April 20. Since this was an impromptu CosTrip, I just looked for characters that I can cosplay and I am familiar with.

There are still a lot of Cosplay Events coming here in Davao. We have an incoming this May 13th and I sure am ready to join the contest. I just hope this wont affect my task as a photographer... >.<

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