So now we come to Cosfest Christmas, run by the same guys.
Given that I like to document beauty
Fig 1
Which I hasten to add, is a specific beauty, of humanity in general.
Fig 2
Of the beauty that comes about, not of the mask you’re wearing,
Fig 3
But of the person animating that mask,
Fig 4
and how the two come together, sometimes in strange
Fig 5
and fascinating ways.
I do, definitely, take a LOT more pictures at these events.
For the opening of the event, the organisers put up a rendition of the Kenshin trilogy. I found out later that they’d only had three chances to run through it beforehand.
Didn’t stop them going for it
Fig 6
DIdn’t stop them nailing it
Fig 7
despite a few flaws that more practice would probably have fixed.
But it didn’t matter. Because they weren’t in it for worship.
They wanted to make the audience happy. And I think the rest of the audience probably were.
I know I was.
Fig 8
When you cease to worry about how some humourless person is going to judge you
Fig 9
and start to simply do something you enjoy
Fig 10
you reconnect back to a simpler and purer you, the one who watched the show or read the book or played the game and went this is awesome.
That you was a creator; that you would have turned the world into your sandbox.
This, ultimately, is why, while I am happy to take posed, canonical photos
Fig 11
it is the moments beyond canon
Fig 12
and even moments blatantly in contradiction to such that I love the most.
Fig 13
Also, I have never, and I believe I will never, see this anywhere else:
Fig 14
I mean, the conga line– the spontaneous conga line– is packed three layers deep at one point
Fig 15
Because those are the moments when the coser becomes more real than the mask.
These are the moments that create new memories, rather than rehash old ones.
And take that into your own art, and take that into your own creation,
and you can take something that someone has already made
Fig 16
take it beyond imitation
Fig 17
and create something new.
Fig 18
Even if it’s not exceptionally original, the very fact that you’ve done it… well surely that’s worthy of celebration.
Fig 19
We’re all fans. And while imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, surely there must be room for us to create something of our own.
Fig 20
I think we can all drink to that.
(I mean, it worked for Cassandra Clare and EL James.)
First 15 photos are from the same albums as the previous
Fig 1: Hatsune Miku-Chii as… I’m not sure Len or Rin.
Fig 2: Er… dunno. I assume it’s a Hanji from Shingeki no Kyojin.
Fig 3: Stephanie Snowheart and Muhammad Ridhwan bin Suleiman as Hitokiri Battousai (Rurouni Kenshin) and one of the Red Rangers, respectively.
Fig 4: Maria Tachi as Soujiro from Rurouni Kenshin.
Fig 5: w Lun as one of the gourmet ghouls from Tokyo Ghoul (not sure of details, sorry; not a fan) Jouichi Tachibana, and his partner, doing… I am not sure, actually.
Fig 6: Mika Kun and Zephyus Chou as Kenshin and Aoshi
Fig 7: Rocky G0 as Saitoh Hajime
Fig 8: Mika Kun with The Jokumi as Shishio
Fig 9: James Fok and Skull Abyss as… I actually no longer know. I hasten to add that James is in no wise the humourless jerk
Fig 10: Renick Melchiott’s awesome low-cost cosplay
Fig 11: Zedrick LaVend as Undertaker from Black Butler
Fig 12: Crowd watching Shimikaze stage performance
Fig 13: Left to right: Yan Da L Panda as Death Gun, Matsuo Koharu as Kirito and Kuro Chan as Sinon from Sword Art Online
Fig 14: Left to right: Daniel Ong Chong Hui (Iron Man, most resembling Mk 42), Muhammad Ridhwan Bin Sulaiman (a Red Ranger), Daichi Fajar Sakamoto, Mohd Ariffin as Tyrannoranger, and Ayura Ikinami, in her last outing as Korra due to parental unhappiness with same-sex partnerships being portrayed in the show.
Fig 15: As far as I can tell, EVERYONE.
Fig 16-19: Myself and Caffeine as old Dante and rebooted Dante, with a carefully choreographed combat scene that we put together in three minutes. Photography by Nicholas Lee and David Lim. Album here
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