Cosplay Under the Spotlight

Everybody just love wearing costumes, right? Either for Halloween, Christmas or any occasion that human mind can give out; people are always excited to dress as their favorite cartoon/anime character, famous ghost legend or an ugly ghost. And thus, cosplay (or costume play) came to view, originated from Japan, fans dress up as characters from manga, anime, video games or even comic books. It started as a simple gathering of friends who wore costumes of from their favorite manga (comic books) or video games; it became a total hit in Japan until it finally reached the Westerns and the whole world. Cosplayers can be seen attending comic trade shows or cosplay parties at certain establishments like theme parks or malls.

Cosplaying is very popular to the teenagers but there are also grownups that are avid fans of the said costume playing. But then, cosplayers are not the only ones who got famous, but the photographers as well. Cosplayers and photographers eventually became instant partners when cosplaying came into blooming into the promotional market. It's wasn't long enough when Japan realized that they can use the cosplayers for promoting items, new games and other trends. The phenomenon was obviously a total hit; years after years more countries had been participating to the new addiction and more teenagers are joining the coolest trend.

In Asia, more cosplayers are active not only for work but also to gain popularity. In the Philippines, one of the most popular cosplayers is Alodia Gosingfiao. She's a graduate in Ateneo de Manila and had earned her popularity all over the country because of her famous cosplay photo shoots on the anime entitle "Death Note" and other video game characters. She had also been appearing on television shows lately and had been hosting cosplay competitions on conventions. She had also been putting items on sale and bid on her sites and been earning from it quite fairly. From costumes, figurines, commissions, elisa kits, and some of her personal items like her PSP, people had been bidding for it with high prices. All of her costumes and poses came out worthy, and it gave her fame (and fortune) she was not expecting when she first tried cosplaying.

Her photographer, Trisha, had also been gaining praises for all her photos, not only those who are about cosplays but also her own personal works. Her page on one site had frequently been visited by people who are fans of Alodia and even some of her fellow photographers. They had been selling prints when there are comic conventions and also put her items on bid online (though she's not been selling elisa kits). Trisha and Alodia only proved it that there's much more in cosplaying than meets the eye; they had both gained fame, fortune, a lot of friends (and fans, take note), and most importantly, after graduating from college, they still enjoy what they had started before - dressing up as a fictional character, taking pictures of it and posting it on the web, the easiest way to be popular, I guess.