My Journey (Part 19) - Cosplay Convention number Two!
The first cosplay event I attended was AFA 2022, which I did so as a bucket list item. Though I felt quite a bit too old to cosplay, I had some fun in that event. A few friends in the crossdressing community were also itching to attend a cosplay event as they have not done it before, so their egging also made me decide that I had to give cosplay another shot. After all, cosplay was also an opportunity to dress up in fancy outfits to take photos, which was totally up my alley.
We decided to attend Cosfest 2023, which was going to be held in Gardens By the Bay (GBB) to coincide with the final week of the Sakura theme. For those who don't know, GBB has fixed themes every year, of which the shortest but most popular one is the Sakura theme. The flower dome will display real Sakura flowers in bloom and the decors will be decidedly Japanese. During the school holiday weekend this year, there was also a Pikachu mascot dance where 3 cotton candy haired Pikachus made a brief appearance.
I always wanted to cosplay as 2B from the game Nier Automata since I felt I could pull the character off and I already have the wig, but it seemed mismatched with GBB's theme which calls for a kimono (I realised post-event that 2B has a kimono outfit, but it's black so once again, not so matching). Two crossdresser friends were keen on going as Raiden from the game Genshin Impact, so after some consideration, I decided to go as Yae Miko! Yes, I'm cosplaying another pink haired fox spirit, but it's a cute look so what the hell.
The real reason that was holding me back from cosplaying as Yae Miko was the price of the outfit. Cosplays outfits are not cheap and perhaps due to their popularity or complicated looks, outfits for Genshin characters are bloody expensive, with the cheapest shops selling them for around $80 and the premium ones going as high as $200! For an outfit I wasn't going to wear very often, the ROI did not make sense. That said, when my female self wants something pretty, she gets something pretty....so I finally decided to buy the Yae Miko costume from a Taobao shop called 1/3 delusion. When it was delivered, I could tell that the material was more premium that your usual Taobao shop. Sadly there were noticeable defects that I would consider to be poor workmanship and unacceptable for such a price. It was still wearable and good enough for photographs and I received the outfit too near the event date so shipping it back for a refund or exchange was out of the question. One thing for sure is that I'm going to milk this cosplay as much as I can.
Yae Miko's makeup was simple enough; pink eyeshadow and blush, a well drawn eyeliner and a light red lipstick. What was challenging was her hair, which required styling the wig with the right amount of kinks, something I've never done before. I wanted to get the character right, so after a few Youtube videos, 2 hours of combing, hairspray and styling, I ended up with a wig that was...passable for a first time attempt. I understood why some cosplayers I follow on Instagram complain about wig styling; it is so time-consuming, yet absolutely essential if you want your character to really look polished and as close to the Anime or Manga.
Cosfest was on a Saturday so I had to dress up and leave the house before 9.30am, which was around the time my kid wakes up. This is so that my kid will not see me dressed as Isabelle and be confused as to why Daddy is dressed like a woman. To meet this hard deadline, I woke up at 5am to prepare, such as moving all my gear to the car, eating a heavy breakfast, showering, make-up and dressing up). Even with the really early morning, I only managed to step out of the house at 9.40am (can you believe it. 4.5 hours just to prepare). Fortunately my kid was still happily sleeping in for the weekend.
I reached GBB at 10am, a good two hours before the event so I was the ONLY cosplayer as far as the eye could see. The morning crowd at GBB were primarily made up of families and I could feel every single eyeball staring at me as I walked from the carpark to the entrance of the flower dome as Yae Miko. If it was my first time crossdressing in public, I'd have died of embarrassment and made a beeline back home. But it wasn't so I just ignored the stares and carried on walking, confident of how I look.
I was already feeling quite warm under the sheltered walkway, so I went directly into the flower dome to enjoy the best thing there; the cool temperate feel from the dome's powerful air-conditioner. Without it, cosplaying would be quite unbearable. The dome was still relatively peaceful and uncrowded in the morning as the travel buses full of tourists had yet to arrive. I brought my tripod along hoping to take some photos by myself, but there were already signs prohibiting the deployment of tripods, so I ended up just walking around the dome and waiting for my friends to arrive.
Two incidents at cosfest made me feel extra validated and really happy. I was sitting under tall trees in the dome to rest my feet when a pair of young cosplayers came up to me. I thought they needed help to take a photo, but it turned out that they wanted a photo with me as they felt my Yae Miko looked good. One of them also complimented my makeup, which made this Yae go "Yay!" inside😏. The second incident was when I walked to meet a friend in the queue to collect cosfest tickets to enter the flower field hall. I caught a glimpse of 3 chinese teenage girls eyeballing me and one of them gushing about the Yae Miko character and my cosplay. My friend was just queued up a few metres behind the group and when I spoke, I also saw the sheer surprise in the ladies' faces that I was actually a guy. Later when we were wandering around the flower dome, the chinese girl who had been gushing about Yae Miko earlier came up to me to tell me how much she loved my cosplay and was really happy to see me again so she could take a photo with me. To be frank I was quite surprised as she was really pretty and would clearly make a much better Yae Miko if she decided to cosplay. But her reaction just meant I was doing something right. It was the best moment of the day and made me really happy. I swear, compliments and validation from cis-women are truly the best. Just keep em' coming.
(Isabelle as Yae Miko under the Tori, almost as though I'm in Japan. Not too shabby for a 1st attempt!)
Yae Miko's outfit is a backless halter top so I did not want to wear a bra as it would show. I was hoping that my adhesive forms would stick to my chest properly through the entire day as they were new and the adhesive was still quite sticky...well unfortunately they did not🙄. When I got too sweaty, the forms would detach and slide down to my waist (held up by the obi), resulting in a very weird look. I ended up visiting the toilet multiple times in the day just to wipe off my chest sweat and to adjust the positioning of the forms. Very annoying and something that needs to be sorted out the next time I cosplay.
(Yae Miko from Genshin Impact. Apparently she's hiao and a tease. Kind of like me😝)
I finally linked up with all the remaining crossdressers around 1pm and we made our way gradually through the dome as a group, dressed as Yae Miko, Raiden, Yelan and Saber. I'd say that for a bunch of guys, we cleaned up and presented as women decently, but walking in a group of 4 attracted a ton of attention. As we strolled down the winding path of the flower dome, we were frequently stopped by random tourists asking for a photo, which we obliged. I was the only one who attended such an event in cosplay previously, so kudos to the rest of the gals for being such great sport and not freaking out when others asked for photos.
We parked ourselves at the junction near the flower field hall and where the main Sakura and Japanese theme displays were at, chatting with each other and taking the occasional photograph. But after a while we noticed that because of our position and how we naturally stood out, we kept getting approached for photos. There was a point when a continuous stream of tourists and locals came up to us to take photographs. Most were really nice about it, appearing genuinely interested and excited to take photos with us. But some were quite rude, snapping photos without asking for permission. I think the worst offender was an auntie tourist from Russia or one of the Baltic States who casually said "Oh these are the ladyboys" to me and a friend, which pissed me off a bit. But by then I was too tired to argue or make a scene, especially with a tourist.
The rest of the day was spent flitting in and out of the flower dome, linking up with other friends to take photos. The crowds started to throng and by 2pm the outside of the flower dome was jam packed with cosplayers, photographers, tourists and regular families, all the way to the ticketing counter. If I had to compare it with AFA 2022, I think Cosfest was worse because of the lack of air-conditioning in the "free" section (i.e. outside the dome).
My friend and I decided it was time to call it quits around 3.30pm because it got stupidly crowded and we were both quite tired from walking around in the humidity. My overly tight wig cap was also giving me a bad headache and I was all ready to ditch the kimono for my regular uncle clothes. I couldn't de-drag at home since my kid was around and my wife had friends over to help with the babysitting, so I drove to GBB's Bayfront plaza carpark to use the handicapped toilet. The carpark was a lot more secluded so I didn't have to worry about hogging the toilet while a wheelchair bound or elderly person was stuck outside waiting for me. Just like Cinderella at the stroke of midnight, I quickly transformed back into my male self and headed home to my regular Dad duties.
Some post-cosplay event musings:
1) For 1st time crossdressers, choosing a cosplay event as your 1st time in public is going to be scary AF due to the sheer number of people, but because everyone is dressed up, there's little judgement passed (unlike going to a mall crossdressed) and the shock to your system actually can help you gain confidence very quickly. But you've got to turn up in cosplay.
2) Having a ton of people asking for photos is pretty darn tiring. But compliments from cis-women? Keep them cominggg 🥰
3) I'm at the age where I'm really not interested in merchandise, be it cute anime collectable or art. They're nice but I've zero attachment to anime or manga, so buying convention tickets is quite a waste of money
4) I definitely need to redo my Yae Miko outfit. The photos turned out great, but there's still room for improvement, such as getting the obi to fit properly, getting the forms to stay properly on my chest, making sure the ear attachments can stay on, etc
5) Battery operated fans are a godsend if cosplaying in places with no air-conditioning. Experienced cosplay photographers will carry some of these around to help make the heat more bearable for their models
6) I need to remember to ask others to help me take more photographs and also try to make more friends in the cosplay community. I took a grand total of 27 photos using the DSLR that I was lugging around for 5 hours. Quite a waste
Although Cosfest at GBB was insanely crowded and the humidity was an absolute killer, I had a pretty good time. So I foresee myself turning up in cosplay once again. AFA 2023, I'm coming for you!
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