After a year and a half of
New Worlds events, I finally got my chance to be part of the spotlight last Saturday at New Worlds 5: The 5th Philippine Science Fiction and Fantasy Convention. In the past, I've always just been the person snapping the photos of people who can't do it themselves or helping them out (I hear "It must've been cold there in my shadow...").
Last Saturday, I came as one of the "Heroes" of
Heroes Phils. Actually, I was the villain - Gabriel Gray aka Sylar. To think I didn't assemble that costume before nor made any announcements in the
mailing list. I also asked help from very few people. Since I've never been known to dress up for any NWA event, not a lot of people anticipated me coming in any costume at all! The closest I got was a Star Trek dress white uniform, which I got and wore for a totally different reason.
Talk about commitment and persistence! I combed through the
ukay-ukays of Santa Mesa to find the right Gabriel Gray garb (3g's?
) and the stalls of Recto to find grade-less, geeky thick-rimmed glasses (finding rubber roaches at 5 bucks a pop was a bonus!) Not to mention I got a hair cut a few days before the con and learned how to do my hair a certain way! Sadly, after everything, I didn't have budget for a trenchcoat anymore - regardless of its
ukay-ukay origins. Thankfully, Tanya and Pablo of Cosplay.ph lent me one! I AM FOREVER THANKFUL!
Then Oct. 27 comes and I slip on the Gabriel Gray ensemble in the morning not even confident that anyone would recognize the character without the other Heroes. But voila! As soon as I step into the Activity Center, people started calling me "Sylar"! Man! That was good!
Even better in the afternoon when I put on the trenchcoat and assembled with the other heroes (Isaac, Jessica, Pater, Claire, Hiro, Matt, even Maya and Takezo Kensei). Then, I felt like a star! Now I know what it feels like when Via Astris, Star Wars Phils., Hogwarts Phils., Black Pearl Phils. have their events. People were snapping photos of us like we were the actual cast of "Heroes" - we had photos in the Heroes booth (which was made to look like Isaac's loft), the Heroes exhibit, the stage! We even had requests over at the Cosplay.ph booth and there was this photographer who wanted specifically pictures of me with Rej (Jessica) and Ianna (Claire)!
It was just amazing!
Bittesweet that I couldn't snap pics from my own cam but a lot of people's photos popped up anyway so I'm good!
Of course, I got to put on a Battlestar Galactica engineer's outfit as well (Thanks, Ron) but it's really different when it's a costume you worked hard on and feel strongly about. Sure, it's not as hot as a Stormtrooper armor or an Enterprise uniform, but it feels right portraying a character - even if it meant no smilies from me for most of the shots!
All in all, the whole thing added a new layer to my New Worlds experience. Finally, I was parto of something that was the center of attention and oh! Does it ever feel so good!
"I THINK I KNOW HOW TO FIX YOU!"
(Thanks to
Icheb,
Shey,
Rej and
Mark for these photos)
