Cosplay Mania '12

Cosplay Mania '12

Presented by Cosplay.ph®, the premiere Philippine Cosplay® community and event organizer together with their partners Brother International Philippines Corporation, Sony, Animax and TV5.

Happening on September 29 and 30, 2012

at the SMX Convention Center Function Rooms 3-5

Exciting Cosplay activities await all cosplayers and cosplay enthusiasts, 

as well as all shutterbugs!  

Don’t miss their special cosplayer guests in their first visit in the Philippines – renowned Japanese cosplayers – KANAME☆and 麗華 REIKA! It’s a Cosplay Mania ’12 exclusive!

Join their 5 years of Cosplay Mania! 

Tickets are now available at all SM Ticket outlets.

For more information, visit: www.cosplaymania.com

Jerry Polence

Cosplay, according to Wikipedia, is "a portmanteau of the English words "costume" and "play", is a Japanese subculture centered on dressing as characters from manga, anime, tokusatsu, and video games, and, less commonly, Japanese live action television shows, fantasy movies, or Japanese pop music bands. However, in some circles, "cosplay" has been expanded to mean simply wearing a costume."

If that were the case, indeed, then the very first cosplay I've ever attended was in the 8th Street Playhouse Theater in New York City's Greenwich Village during the '70s. 

It was the midnight showing of the Rocky Horror Picture Show in which a large segment of the young people in the audience came dressed up as characters of the movie. They occupied the front section of the orchestra and staged their own version of certain sequences of the film as it was projected on the screen. Their special effects buddies were mostly situated in the front row of the balcony level equipped with the props they threw at the audience.

It was an outrageous phenomenon that garnered a huge cult following that eventually spread throughout the entire United States. Wikipedia describes the "midnight screenings of the film soon became a national sensation. All across the country people were lining up on Friday and Saturday nights to see this unique film experience."

A box office disaster when first released on account of the critics having lambasted it as mere trash; however, America's youth culture thought otherwise. Through this nationwide midnight cosplay phenomenon on Friday and Saturday nights that went on for many years, the producers of Rocky Horror Picture Show ultimately raked in millions of dollars in profits. It was, indeed, an outcome beyond their wildest expectations. 

I am truly surprised that Malcolm Gladwell never cited this social epidemic in his book, The Tipping Point.

Special cosplay photoshoot in Intramuros

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