Every one of us at arkadymac.com is grateful to all the people who have supported us through the years, which was why we really wanted to have a small party where we could gather everyone and have some fun with each other’s company. Despite the shortage of time and resources, we still got to have our little wish as our friends and sponsors joined us at arkadymac.com’s 3rd Anniversary Party held last weekend at 121 Grill and Restaurant in Makati.
It was just a simple gathering for those who have been with us in our years of covering events and writing stories about the local cosplay community. We were also happy to have our friends from Talking Apples Meido and Butler Cafe help us out with taking good care of our guests.
Our guests started arriving as early as 3pm, where they were welcome to relax and take it easy with the Talking Apples staff and the arkadymac.com team members who were already there while waiting for the program to start. Everyone in cosplay was given the opportunity to do shoots at the cafe and the rest of Allegro Center.
We were happy that our special guests got to join us for the party, which include arkadymac.com’s youngest Cosplay Model, Ashley Misaki.
Also by our website’s Cosplay Model, Mina Kim.
Because of problems with the sound system, the program got to start later, with the Cosplay Pageant being moved earlier than scheduled, with arkadymac.com’s writers Jillian and Rin hosting the segment. The Pageant got to see cosplayers do a short catwalk and then were asked Miss Universe-type questions about cosplaying.
When everyone was finished, the audience got to decide the winners through their applause. Best Male got to win a hoodie of his choice from Perry in Disguise while Best Female won a Dakimakura courtesy of Cosmic Bytes Cosplay Shop and House of Dakimakura. Everyone was a winner though as Cosmic Bytes gave out some nice prizes for everyone who participated.
After the pageant, the members of arkadymac.com were gathered in front to be presented to everyone in attendance. Each member was introduced and their accomplishments shared during this rare opportunity.
The team also took the opportunity to greet Jillian a happy birthday along with the site’s anniversary and got to blow the candles.
Guest performer Asterysk* then got to rock 121 with amazing covers of well-loved anime themes from past to present, like theme songs from Rurouni Kenshin, Magic Knight Rayearth and Slam Dunk, all with an enthusiastic crowd cheering them on.
Special participation by Xtian Mack who struggled with Inner Light, second opening song of Hajime no Ippo.
Asterysk* then brought down the house with Hero, the One Punch Man anime opening theme, with special participation of known Saitama cosplayer, Richard. We’ll have the videos of their performances posted here on the website very soon.
After their performance, prizes from our friends at Wargods Pro Gaming Arena were given out, which include great shirts, tumblers and ballers, to guests and cosplayers.
We’d like to thank everyone who went out of their way to drop by the arkadymac.com third anniversary party. Thank you to our friends at Talking Apples, to all our sponsors: Cosmic Bytes Cosplay Shop, Perry in Disguise, Wargods Pro Gaming Arena, Otaku Asia Anime Magazine, Ashley Misaki and family, and House of Dakimakura for their generous support. Many thanks to our guest performer Asterysk, AnimePH, Whatsageek, all the photographers, and cosplayers who joined he Cosplay Pageant, thank you all very much from the bottom of our hearts. Here’s to more years of cosplay fun at arkadymac.com. Thank you Emile, Yani, Jay, Francis Lumahan and Irene for the additional photos.
And many thanks to all our readers who have been visiting the website and supporting us all these three years. We hope we can all thank you by having a bigger event for everyone sometime soon. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Thanks for visiting, and do visit us again for more features here at arkadymac.com.
Update 2016-03-26: Some photos were edited/updated.
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