A fun and innovative revolution on how cosplay events are done has been happening this year all throughout the country with the Cyberzone Cosplay Craze series. Sponsored by SM Cyberzone and organized by cosplay.ph, Cosplay Craze has been bringing absolutely free events closer to where the cosplayers are, offering huge prizes and giveaways that even major events can’t match. But most of all, it has given cosplayers a reason to meet up with others like them within their communities and have an enjoyable, non-cramped, stress-free afternoon of cosplay fun.
Starting off with its inaugural event at SM BF earlier this year, Cosplay Craze has been SM Cyberzone’s promotional series of events for 2016. Already the premier hub for consumer technology with 29 locations all over the country, Cyberzone has striven to provide the most interactive and most technological experience to its patrons. It is also known for holding the some of the biggest gaming and tech-related events in the country, and it has been especially supportive of cosplaying, holding many cosplay events around the country, with a major two-day Cosplay Craze event last year at SM City North EDSA Annex (our coverage of Day 1 here and Day 2 here).
Cyberzone Cosplay Craze has already had five previous legs at different parts of the country, and this weekend it made its sixth stop at SM City Sta. Mesa, the second SM supermall to be built in the Philippines. The mall is also close to several schools whose studentry has been supportive of cosplaying, like PUP Sta. Mesa, EARIST, Central Colleges of the Philippines, and TIP, and quite a number of them were attendees at the event.
Cosplayers and enthusiasts have gathered from all over at the Cyberzone area at the third level of the mall since noon. Cosplayers were asked to register so that they could take part in the competition as well as be eligible for the great giveaways during the program. A total of 71 cosplayers registered for this leg of Cyberzone Cosplay Craze, and they were also asked to present themselves in front of a panel of judges for pre-judging. The main program was set to begin later in the afternoon, and the cosplayers used the time before then to prepare for the competition, socialize with each other, have their photos taken by the mall patrons, or just take it easy with their friends.
The event proper started off with the Cosplay Parade where the cosplayers made a round of the mall in their striking and colorful costumes. Mall patrons couldn’t get enough of them as they snapped away on phones and cameras and took videos as well.
Once they got back to the event area, the program got to start with host Pablo Bairan welcoming everyone to the SM Sta. Mesa leg of Cyberzone Cosplay Craze. He did a marvelous job of keeping the audience pumped and excited, as well as keeping them amused with funny one-liners. He got to introduce the cosplayers as they went up on stage to present themselves in front of the judges and the curious but appreciative crowd that has gathered around them.
From the 71 registrants, 20 were chosen by the judges to move on to the final round. They got to do a catwalk and perform skits in front of the enthusiastic audience, with the finalists doing their best to impress everyone in attendance.
As everyone waited for the final results to be tabulated, Sir Clifford of SM Cyberzone was called on stage and got to thank everyone who attended the event as well as the cosplayers and their supporters for participating in Cosplay Craze. He got to invite everyone to their upcoming events at the other Cyberzones all over the country, with legs taking place in Visayas and Mindanao in the weeks to come.
He then got to pick out the numbers of five lucky cosplayers who won 1,000 pesos in cash courtesy of Cyberzone. The cosplayers whose numbers were called out had to be there at that moment and go to the stage to be able to claim their prize; otherwise a new number was drawn. Winning a prize just for cosplaying is always a welcome thing, of course.
Starmobile, maker of quality Android smartphones and tablets designed for the Filipino market, has recognized the potential of cosplayers and their need of taking high quality photos besides their need to always be connected to social media. Partnering with Cosplay Craze, they have been giving away 5 new smartphones every event to cosplayers who they thought deserved recognition, with their manager and brand ambassadress awarding the prizes.
After giving away lots of great prizes, it was then time to reveal the top three winners of the cosplay competition. Third place went to Jelz Formoso cosplaying Geno Breaker from Zoids, crafted by RB Cheng. He got to receive 3,000 pesos cash from Cyberzone.
Winning second place was 13-year old Izaiah Luke Buelos cosplaying Dragon Knight from Data 2, crafted by his father, Jay-R. They got to take home 5,000 pesos in cash courtesy of Cyberzone.
Named Champion for the SM City Sta. Mesa Cyberzone Cosplay Craze leg was Mikee Loiuse Joven as Death Saurer from Zoids, crafted by RB Cheng. He got to impress the judges with the cosplay’s maneuverability despite the size, reaching almost 9 feet tall. He got to take home 10,000 pesos in cash as well as a guaranteed spot in the Cosplay Mania Cup within Cosplay Mania ’16 this October where over 100,000 pesos in prizes are to be up for grabs.
The winners were then called for one final photo op, filling the entire stage with their sheer size.
With the awarding of the winners, the SM City Sta. Mesa Cyberzone Cosplay Craze leg was over, but the cosplayers were still welcome to stay and have fun and have their photos taken by the crowd, and we got to do our own shots of them as well.
The next leg of Cyberzone Cosplay Craze will be at SM City Molino. It promises to be another exciting event with great prizes also to be given away, so we hope to see you then as arkadymac.com makes its special coverage.
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