Cosplay Fusion was held last weekend, June 27, at Power Plant Mall in Rockwell, Makati City. With the likes of Maxicollector supporting the event, and the ever-popular Gosiengfiao sisters, Alodia and Ashley, along with stage performer Marcelle Fable, hosting it, the turn-out was great, as expected. Despite the iffy weather and the fact that the event was scheduled to be held at Power Plant Mall’s outdoor Plaza Area, cosplayers and fans alike trooped to the designated venue to participate.

We arrived at Power Plant at about 3 in the afternoon, since the official schedule stated that the event itself would begin at 4pm. We were pleased to find that upon entering the mall, the first thing that greeted us was a life-sized figure of C-3PO and some character busts from Maxicollector. As we walked on, we spotted costrippers and cosplayers emerging from comfort rooms, grabbing food and drink before the contest proper, and milling around the escalators. The brunt of the activity, however, turned out to be at the top floor, at the area beside Fully Booked.

Besides the cosplayers and photographers in that area, other points of interest were the vintage toy collections on display, as well as… well… a rather confused Iron Man figure, pretending to be both Thor and Captain America at the same time (if this is in reference to some comic book scene that we’re not aware of, please do let us know what it is, exactly). And so, at that point, we pretty much took out the cameras and began our noble duty of diving into a sea of photographers with giant lenses and chasing after cosplayers.

Of course, in hindsight, it HAS occurred to us that had we arrived earlier, we could have gotten a chance to try out Dokissaten Maid and Butler Cafe which has set up shop at Fully Booked’s Press Cafe for the day. Unfortunately, we got swept away by the crowd, and as the cosplay marshalls declared that it was time to move out to the actual event area, we pretty much followed where the photo ops were. Oh well. Looks like we’ll have to wait for another con before we’ll get to try Dokissaten’s famed services.

Anyway, a good number of awesome cosplayers turned up for the event. Of special mention would be Mechagodzilla. We mean, seriously, the sheer WEIGHT and detail of his costume would have scared any mere mortal. Then there’s Combatron who gets points for osm smarts for also being Captain Planet and Mr. Manhattan in previous cons. Then there was also EVA-02, War Machine, Optimus Prime… yeah, there was a pretty good turn out of mechs at the event, and except for EVA-02, they ALL had lights installed in their costumes. EVA-02 doesn’t have to worry, though, since it’s got a cannon which was later used to launch a barrage of confetti at a delighted audience.

Other memorable cosplayers would be a slew of Katekyo Hitman Reborn characters, Shredder, Chun-Li, Solid Snake-in-a-box, the four K-ON! girls, Abarai Renji (rawr…), a Spartan (A-HOO!! A-HOO!! A-HOO!!), C.C., Android 19, Level 1 RO swordsman, uber-leveled swordsman, Dante of Devil May Cry, Alto Saotome with Ranka Lee, and a personal favorite, a human-form Grelle Sutcliffe, just because we love that character so much for being a butler who can wear a dress. Meanwhile, there were also lolitas of various types in attendance, as well as other cosplayers whose characters we were unable to recognize (we’re sorry! Our animu database might need some brushing up…).

By a little past 4pm, as scheduled, the first band performance of the day went up on the stage and did their thing, the Gosiengfiao sisters arrived dressed as a Black Mage and White Mage pair, the photographers and fans went crazy, and the cosplay contest started.

At this point, we can start talking about what we think about the whole event. For one thing, we’re pretty glad to see that thought was put into the planning of the whole thing, as we consider the cosplayers-only lounge within the mall to be a very good idea. The marshalls were also effective, and considering that there were exhibits and displays scattered throughout the mall, it pretty much allowed the cosplayers to have the entire mall to play in without them looking out of place one bit. We worried quite a bit when it was time to gather all the contestants into one place, though, since, well… we figured that trying to herd cosplayers scattered in five floors of the mall must have been like herding cats. They pulled it off somehow, though, and managed to gather everyone at the bridge area beside the tent where the stage was.

On the other hand, while having ample space to roam was very much appreciated, we were rather apprehensive with the decision to hold the event outdoors. For one thing, there was the possibility of rainshowers as a typhoon has just left a mere 24 hours or so before the event. Well it didn’t rain, but the flip side of that is the fact that in this country, 4pm is an hour when it is sweltering hot. Being the worry-wart, mother hens that we are, we worried if Mechagodzilla or War Machine would pass out inside their constricting costumes as they stood in line, under the afternoon sun, waiting for their turn to be called to the stage.

Thankfully, we turned out to be wrong, and the event proceeded without incident and with much lulz. Mechagodzilla apparently came with his own cardboard city to destroy, ninjas performed their stunts, the Spartan soldier rallied the crowd, Aerith sang as did Ranka Lee, and a Level 1 swordsman paid his tribute to Alodia by striking a pose.

All’s well that ends well. In the end, the mechs won the day, though, and walked away with the prize, and the rest of the costripper prizes were also handed out to their respective winners. It was a sweaty, tiring day, but it seemed that everyone went home pretty happy. In the meantime, enough of our yapping. Here’s the cosplayer photos.

And yes, just because we know some of you are probably looking for it, we placed all our Alodia/Ashley photos in a separate slideshow. Yes, we love you all that much. Enjoy.