Come one, come all as Cosplay Carnival is back in town for its second straight year. Lots of activities, merchandise, contests, and special guests like Haoge and Alodia Gosiengfiao, were there for everyone to see. This activity-filled event’s first day was held at SMX Convention Center, Function Room 5 last March 25.
arkadymac.com has been Cosplay Carnival’s media partner since it’s first year, and joining our coverage are our Creative Director Rin, Writer Sage, and Photographers Marvin, Nicki and Kazumi, Editor-in-Chief Jillian and Cosplay Model Nicolette.
The event opened its halls at exactly 11am, although eager attendees have been lining up a lot earlier. As they were ushered in, everyone rushed to take part in the activities that were being held at the various booths at the event, such as the Ring Toss, the kendama, cosplay out of the box and more. A lot of merchandise was also offered at really great prices.
The stage was where the program was at, and it opened up with the hosts welcoming the attendees to the second Cosplay Carnival. They then promptly started with the Yoshinoya Gyudon Eating Contest, where chosen attendees got to partake in Yoshinoya’s best-selling gyudon for free while the winners got to take home gift certificates to celebrate with.
Throughout the event, Cosplay Auction and Storage Wars were held where attendees could bid as low as 1 peso for special items.
Attendees as contestants got to test their knowledge of anime and music with Facepalm The Music: Hyper Edition and That Name Is… Carnival Edition, with winners getting to go home with some nice prizes.
A special announcement was held for Cosplay Craze 2.0. Cosplay PH has partnered with technology giants Canon, HP and Lennovo in order to bring this mini convention back! There will be 12 legs this year including, SM North Edsa on April 8, SM BF Parañaque on April 29, SM Seaside, Cebu on May 13, SM Cabanatuan on May 27, SM General Santos on June 10, SM San Jose Del Monte on June 24, SM Bacolod on July 8, SM San Pablo on July 22, SM Megacenter Cabanatuan on August 5, SM Naga on August 19, SM City Molino on September 2 and finally SM Baguio on September 16. There will also be a new kind of competition held called Ultimate Cosplay Championships (UCC). Unlike other cosplay contests, UCC will focus on teamwork and creativity and is a hybrid of the traditional group cosplay contest and the popular talent competitions.Teams that pass the audition will win the right to compete with other teams at Cosplay Mania. The winners at Cosplay Mania 2017 will also take home a record-breaking P150,000 CASH in the biggest cash prize for a group cosplay competiiton in the Philippines.
Cosplayers got to sing their hearts out at Cosplay Karaoke, with the audience getting to enjoy their performances.
Cosplay Group Dance Battle saw cosplayers battle it out on stage with their upbeat and lively moves with the audience cheering them on.
The event also brought guests in order for their fans to meet. Cosplay Carnival got to bring international crossplayer Haoge from China to meet his many Filipino fans for the very first time. Haoge got to bring limited edition posters that fans could purchase and have signed, as well as gave the chance for his fans to have their photos taken with him. Haoge also got to address his fans on stage for a special appearance and interview.
The world’s most well-known cosplayer Alodia Gosiengfao came to Cosplay Carnival to promote the upcoming movie Ghost in the Shell. She got to give away signed movie posters of said movie and had a photo-op with fans.
Day 1 closed with the announcement of the winners of the Cosplay Karaoke and Cosplay Group Dance Battle, and the best dancers and best singers got to be awarded on stage with lots of prizes and merchandise.
We were there for the cosplayers of course, and there were lots of them all throughout the event. We got to take photos of them as they posed in front of the cameras, all of them having fun having their photos taken with attendees as well as with each other.
The carnival had guests leaving with a happy heart and bags filled with goodies. But this was only Day 1 of this weekend-long extravaganza. Please drop by again for our coverage of Cosplay Carnival 2017 Day 2.
Many thanks to our Photographer Marvin Reyes for his shots here. Also a happy birthday to one of our dear friends, Sammie Sih. Thank you for visiting arkadymac.com. Hope to see you again soon.
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