Sunday December 31, 2006
Fellowship of the fans
BUZZBOX
Story and photos by CHRISTY LEE S. W.
DECEMBER is the month when Malaysian anime and manga fans, fanatical and casual alike, look forward to one of the year’s biggest and most anticipated local events – the Comic Fiesta.
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Adrian Teoh as Kikuchiyo of Samurai 7. Check out the armour work and metal finishing, which won him Best Craftsmanship. |
The Doujinshi Alley seemed the most popular throughout the day as wares such as doujinshi, artbooks, trinkets, dolls and even plushies were snapped up by eager fans.
The highlight of Day One was undoubtedly the art competition, one of the Fiesta’s staple events.
Divided into two age groups – under-18 and over-18 – younger participants were required to draw an original character complete with background, while older participants had to illustrate a one-page comic based on three random words.
In the under-18 category, Nicholas Ong won the grand prize – a WACOM Grapphire 4 4x5in drawing tablet. Runners-up Bernadine Wong and Wong Shi Yuen each got a Copic Multiliner art pen set.
The grand prize for the older category, a WACOM Intuous 3 tablet, went to Kam Mew Yen. Runners-up Dzafir Mohd Nor got a WACOM Grapphire 4 6x8in tablet, while Intan Shariza Mohd Shah took home a set of Copic markers.
Cosplay fun
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Yvonne Teh cosplays Justina of Magna Carta: Crimson Stigmata. |
But in this fifth year of the Fiesta, the organisers did away with the “beauty contest”-type parade onstage.
Instead, cosplayers were required to play a life-size game of chess called Battle Chess – but as pieces controlled by emcees of the event.
In a nutshell, the rules were: always stay in character when being moved around as a chess piece, whether in attack or getting killed. Cosplayers were then judged on their characteristics, creativity, costume and craftsmanship.
After 32 cosplayers had been shortlisted (via votes), the Battle Chess began.
There was a pretty impressive display of showmanship as cosplayers enthusiastically role-played their characters in fighting scenes.
Fans also cheered for dream matches among popular characters such as Cloud (Final Fantasy VII), Squall (Final Fantasy VIII), L (Death Note), Chun Li (Street Fighter) and Kadaj (Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children). They played a rather messy but entertaining chess game, made more fun by the Canti lookalike aka TV-dude (FLCL) as an emcee.
The game almost went out of hand when the emcees summoned all 32 cosplayers back onto the board for a grand finale battle, which thankfully ended when a Grim Reaper cosplayer came on and killed off the players.
After the game was over, only six of the best cosplayers made the cut for one last round of competitive showcasing.
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Muhammad Razif looks pretty menacing as Haseo of .hack//Roots. |
When the dust finally settled, two were left standing.
For his extensive armour work and metal finishing, the judges declared Adrian Teoh the winner for Best Craftsmanship, while the title of Best Cosplayer went to Ho, who portrayed Chun Li very well.
Overall, CF 2006 provided more than a peek into what some of our anime/manga-loving youths are up to of late; it also showcased a vibrant display of some of the best local talent in both art and cosplay.
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