Fresh cosplay action hits Central Luzon as Cyberzone Cosplay Craze made its next stop at SM Megacenter Cabanatuan. Cyberzone Cosplay Craze is a fun and innovative revolution on how cosplay events are done, and it has been happening this year, not just in Manila, but all throughout the country. 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 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 many previous legs at different parts of the country, and this weekend it made its ninth stop at SM Megacenter Cabanatuan, the 51st SM Supermall in the country and SM’s first mall in Cabanatuan City, the largest city in Nueva Ecija and fifth largest in Central Luzon.
Despite the inclement weather, 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. 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 Megacenter Cabanatuan 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 panel of esteemed judges for the contest: Roberto Wong and Marko Villaluz of cosplay.ph, as well as prominent cosplayer Mimi Mon.
Sir Pablo got to introduce the cosplayers as they went up on stage for their performances, showing their brilliant costumes and talents in front of the judges and the curious but appreciative crowd that had gathered at the event center.
Partnering with cosplay.ph at the event was NHK World, the international broadcasting service of NHK (Nippon Hōsō Kyōkai) or the Japan Broadcasting Corporation, as they were there to promote Domobics, a new, fun way of exercising by dancing to rhythmical music with Domo, NHK’s official mascot. Over the years, Domo-kun has become popular in the country especially among fans of Japanese pop culture, and they will be pleased to know that the furry brown monster is promoting a fun and healthy lifestyle through Domobics. They had a demonstration and viewing at the event and got to give away some nice prizes to participants. It was announced that Domo and Domobics will be taking part in Cosplay Mania ’16, so stay tuned for more news about it here on the site.
As everyone waited for the final results to be tabulated, it was time to pick out the numbers of five lucky cosplayers who would win 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. Judges Marko and Mimi Mon helped out in drawing the numbers.
Named Champion for the SM City Sta. Mesa Cyberzone Cosplay Craze leg was Jepp Miranda as Clockwerk, winning 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. First runner up went to Katrina Cabaong as Wonder Woman, winning 5,000 pesos cash, while Miyuki Ai won Second Runner up as Sona of League of Legends, taking home 3,000 pesos in cash.
With the awarding of the winners, the SM Megacenter Cabanatuan 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 Trece Martires. 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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