We actually went to an operational train station for this set, the Olympia/Lacey Train Station. Fortunately there were barely any people there at that time, so we were able to get some great shots. The others we took by an abandoned train track and a vacant lot at Lacey. This is my first time to do a private outdoor photoshoot with reflectors, it was fun, and I’m glad that photographers Ashley Nelson and Kristin Johnson were very open to experimenting with them. At Lacey, the lot was by the road, and there was a bunch of rubble and container vans with cool graffiti, it was interesting!

The costume itself was made during my spare time for a few months, it debuted at Sakura-Con 2010. Tailoring it was specifically challenging, since it incorporated elements that were a bit unusual. For example, it is a two-layered short skirt with frontal slit revealing the shorter white skirt inside, and back half-petticoat with a flat front, which took me the longest to figure out how to do. The top portion of the costume was a very altered Simplicity Sewing Pattern 3618. There are a few things I still want to improve with this costume, but I hope you guys like it.^_^

Sakura-Con 2010 was my first cosplay con here in the USA. It was overwhelming to see at least half the attendees cosplaying. Most of the attendees wore some sort of otaku gear. This was a place where people not wearing anything otaku would stand out.

I’ve been wanting to cosplay something more gothic lolita. Then C.C. from Code Geass had this particular costume in episiode 14, so I decided to go with it.

I saw anime, gothic lolita, and game cosplayers. A noticable number of Lightning and Snow clones were walking around. It was pure eye candy, so many cosplayers and goodies to indulge your otaku heart’s desire: manga, Asian goods, anime body pillows, and authentic Japanese kimonos. Booths that caught my attention were Arda Wigs, Yuhared’s Corsets, and one booth that sold round stuffed animals.

Instead of attending the panels I just chose to walk around the exhibitors’ hall. There were so many things to see, not to mention a lot of stuff that was sold out the first day. So many exhibitors had to restock, and almost all had empty shops by the end of the con. Unfortunately the corset shop ran out of my size before I got there. >.<

Things that I don’t see in Philippine cons yet are steampunk shops. Mainly they sell ray guns, aviator goggles, and clip-on magnifing eyeglases, along with gothic lolita items. There were booths selling swords, around five if I counted right. You needed IDs to prove you were above 18 to buy one. Needless to say, I will attend next year!

Special thanks to Mrs. Carla Mitchell for helping me with my costume.

Swords from one of the shops.

More swords.

In front of the ball stuffed animals was this girl. So cute! XD

Body pillows!

Final Fantasy XIII cosplayers, some of MANY.

Random cosplayer and con goer pics, actually they are the common crowd that you can see during cons here.

Brian Boling at Yaya Han’s booth!

Loot from the con! Tonberry, cow (I have a thing for cows, k?!), and cactuar plushies! The others are cosplay things, so I’ll leave that as a surprise! XD

(Photos 1-9 by Caleb Pong. Photos 10-14 by Misaki Honda. Photos 15-18 by Albert Ng.)

Jue Matrix version was my very first cosplay, too bad I haven’t saved any pictures of it. Back then I wasn’t gutsy enough to do the dojo scene version, but I thought it would be really cool to do. Hope you like it.

Photography: Amiel Lapuebla.
Processing: Jonas Ashley S. Castro.

For fun I made a red plaid skirt and beret for a test shoot with a superb photographer and a personal friend. Little did I know that I would get to use it again last January 23, for a photo shoot session with the class of Mr. Raymund Isaac! XD Truly was fun, with around 25 photographers there! Also it’s nice to attend and get free lessons from a such a master. I can tell that some the class was having a hard time getting a good angle when I do stand up. ^_^;

Raymund Isaac on cam & Patricia C. Miranda (make-up artist) at the back

List of Participants

Rigel Dayritt

Christopher De Castro

Mark Owen

Patrick Bryant Ang

PS: If you are one of the students there please do send me a message of your gallery, so I can share link love! XD

Finally after months of waiting my two favorite cosplayers updated their sites, both of them having Sheryl Nome cosplay. It’s hard to compare, both executed the character’s costume well. Yaya Han’s version is more elaborate, it looks great. Ms. Adella’s costume is a simpler version/costume of the character, looks as good, since her skin tone matches of that of the character.

Almost two years ago I made this costume, and last October it finally made it. This is the third attempt to make a costume from scratch. Without any regret, l happily retire it and place it in the recycle bin, to be made into another costume.

For future plans, I’ve got 3 costumes I’m working on, one of them is ready for a debut, can you guess what it is?^_~