It was an exciting and competitive weekend for Philippine cosplay as Hero Faceoff 2015 showcased some of the best cosplayers from all over the country across different categories at the Music Hall of SM Mall of Asia. The stakes were high as not only the biggest cash prizes were up for grabs: the coveted invitation for the World Cosplay Summit to represent the country in Nagoya, Japan was waiting for the best team to perform in front of a huge crowd gathered that day. The arkadymac.com team was of course there to bring you all the action and highlights for the event.
Joining us on our coverage were our Cosplay Models Nicolette and Ami, who had fun mixing it up with the crowd while helping us out with covering the event.
Hero Faceoff 2015 was organized by Hero TV, one of the leading anime cable channels here in the country, and we are glad that they support cosplay in the Philippines by holding this annual event, this year having the World Cosplay Summit national qualifiers along with the Faceoff Category competition.
The gates were open to the public around 10 am, and attendees were welcome to visit the various sponsor booths all around the venue. We particularly enjoyed the Japanese Embassy booth, where one can get very nice items for winning a memory game. Our team got some great calendars to take home.
Japanese fantasy idol unit Starmarie, who were in the country as part of their Asian tour, were there early to greet fans and do autograph signings. Fans couldn’t get enough of them as the took photos and waited in line to get authentic Starmarie merchandise and have them signed by their idols. They then sped off to prepare for their scheduled performance later on in the day.
At the event were some friends and cosplayers who just wanted to enjoy the sights and sounds and wanted to see the competition for themselves. We of course enjoyed taking photos of them as well.
After a screening of a Filipino-dubbed Dragon Ball movie Battle of Gods, the program started in earnest, with hosts Myrtle Sarrosa and Dino Imperial taking the stage, facilitating games and announcing special features to come.
Standout singer and winner of the first season of The X Factor Philippines KZ Tandingan performed some songs from the Eraserheads among others to the delight of the crowd, wooing them with her powerful voice and charm as she was great in involving the crowd into her performance.
The round of competitions started with the Kid Squad for Chibi Cosplayers, then the League of Heroes for cosplay groups, then the Faceoff for pairs as well as serving for the WCS national qualifier. Great cosplayers from all over the country battled it out with exciting performances in their amazing costumes, with hundreds of fans, enthusiasts, fellow cosplayers, and curious mall-goers cheering them on and enjoying their spectacular skits.
The judges for the competitions included Ms. Jojo Neri-Estacio, respected Channel Head of Hero TV, and esteemed WCS founder Tokumaru Oguri who came all the way from Japan to witness firsthand the competitiveness of Filipino cosplayers.
Even though many have put up some really memorable performances, only a few had to be chosen as winners. Winner of the Kids Squad Category is our Cosplay Model Ashley Misaki as Batman.
Champion for the League of Heroes Category was The Dragon Ball Z Warriors.
Crowned as Champion the Faceoff Category was a determined Team XO from Davao. They were emotional as their team was called out, breaking into tears as the experience must have been overwhelming to them. They got to take home 20,000, one of the biggest prizes around. Also of big significance to them was the WCS award of invitation, handed by no other than WCS founder Tokumaru Oguri. This officially makes them the Philippine representative to the World Cosplay Summit in Nagoya, Japan later this year. We are happy for them and will cheer them on as the first Philippine team to actually compete after years of being an observer nation.
Putting the exclamation point on this year’s Hero Faceoff was a special appearance and performance by amazing Japanese fantasy idol unit Starmarie. Their high-energy performance was unbelievable as the audience at the MOA Music Hall cheered them on.
Watch Starmarie’s performance on our FULL HD clips here:
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