As usual, we only made it down for the Sunday, due to TKD commitments and some minor surgery on my part (the doctor assures me it's probably not a tumour). Somehow, we managed to get my props completed (for a given value of "completed"),
Fig 1
and, in one of her classic epic rushes, Caffeine completed her Trish outfit (sans props).
Fig 2
As always, we didn't make plans to meet any particular players, although it was nice to see old friends
Fig 3
I discovered something interesting: Even though the big names out there right now are changing more or less on a monthly basis, being Dante, especially Dante with one of the biggest props out there (Caffeine being a big believer in scaling the prop to proportion), really cuts down on your available shooting time. The good news is that now that I know a lot of people at the events I can usually entrust my valuables to them for a short period of time,
Fig 4: If it takes a village to raise a child, this is the world's most awesome village.
or even get my photograph taken by them.
Fig 5
As always, meeting people you know is awesome
Fig 6
Fig 7
but for me, the most exciting part is that I'm still expanding my circle within this world, and the world itself is still expanding, so I meet unfamiliar faces who do awesome stuff, not because it's popular, but because it means something to them:
Fig 8.
Fig 9.
And often, like the picture above or the time Caffeine's Squall kidnapped a Rinoa for a shoot, it is the unexpected snapshot of different parts of the same story arriving in the same place at the same time:
Fig 10
Fig 11
or here
Fig 12:
that lends a sense of beauty and symmetry to it, because it's happened, just like that, giving it that elusive "authenticity" that people claim to constantly seek.
And sometimes it's seeing total newbies taking their best crack at it,
Fig 13
and seeing them step into exactly the same place you stepped into almost a decade ago
Fig 14
and knowing that they're going to find out all the ugliness and cruelty of the worst of us in this new and beautiful world they've just discovered, and hoping that they'll stick with it to find out what the best of us can achieve as people.
Don't look here. I'm just here for the art. I have seen things. I have seen things that most of you would not believe, and I'm still here, exiting the other side mildly singed but mostly tempered, and if I can give you hand through the fire I will, but it's not a game I'm interested in playing any more.
I'm here for the art. If, on the way, I can help you become a better person, I will. But it's your problem and not mine.
Because it's your story. And all the parts you play on the way there are nothing more than stepping stones to your final realisation:
You are not an actor, playing a part called you. You are you. And as long as there is a single person willing to call you by the name you truly are, then you will remember.
(start at 1 min 52.)
And who, then, are you? It's not defined by the world around you, it's not defined by the people around you.
It is who you choose to be.
And if you understand that, then you can step out of all the ugliness and the infighting and realise that if you want to be good, if you want to be great, then it is not about proving yourself to others or comparing yourself against them or defeating them.
It is about being a better person for those around you.
Try it that way, and things become... clear.
Fig 15.
All images except fig 5 and 11 are from this album
Fig 1: Force Edge, handcrafted by Caffeine on a skeleton I put together
Fig 2: Caffeine and myself, as Dante and Trish from Devil May Cry
Fig 3: Caffeine with Shirley Chua as The Red Queen (Alice in Wonderland), the most epic 65 year old lady I know-- cosplayer, ex-model, ex-wrecking ball operator, and goodness knows what else.
Fig 4: Muhammad Ridhwan Bin Sulaiman, Jia Sheng Ryuki, Mohd Ariffin and Khairul Farhan as various super sentai characters, spontaneously playing babysitter to Xueling. Photograph by Khew Ching Nui
Fig 5: A whole bunch of my ex-students, with photograph taken by another ex-student.
Fig 6: Myself and Eugene Lim as Nero from Devil May Cry, giving him the opportunity to call me "uncle"
Fig 7: Chibi Mikasa as Shimikaze
Fig 8: Kataoiyuki Hime as Nana from Nana.
Fig 9: Invinc Messatsu as Uncle from Jackie Chan Adventures, trying to exorcise me.
Fig 10: Nicole Wong as Kenshin, pre-restoration
Fig 11: Maria Tachi as Kenshin, post-restoration.
Fig 12: Two unknown (to me) cosplayers as Iron Man Mk 1 and Mk 6 (MCU versions). I believe they don't know each other.
Fig 13: Unknown cosplayer as Bankai Ichigo.
Fig 14: Myself as Bankai Ichigo, ten years ago.
Fig 15: Mohd Ariffin as Red Ranger. He and a group of other cosplayers run Pause for a Cause. I think he's been doing this outfit for coming to a decade now, and he does it because he knows that it's the one outfit that most makes little children laugh and smile. He knows what he's about.
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