Yesterday, 9 July 2006 was Cosfest V: The Reunion at Downtown East, and it certainly was a blast again. The crowd turnout was insane, with at least double the amount of people since last year. The entire community is getting bigger, and it sure was a good thing. It was jam packed with people. Ling, Zhonghao and Roy were there also to attend the event.

The costumes are getting better each year, and this year's was filled with many great one ones. There were a lot more lolitas, and although I wouldn't say that the dressing is fantastic, but just like cosplay when it first started, it typically takes a while before the lolitas start to dress better. Nevertheless, it was a commendable effort on their part.

I saw quite a number of familiar faces, and it sure is a good sight to see. The sound wasn't really well tuned though; trebles with a little too high, and crossover frequencies for bass were obviously set too high, which resulted in a lack of bass which made music a little too high pitched. There was a song item (originally done by Yuna Ito) which was very well sung. Furthermore, she's not even Chinese! Her Japanese replication is so distinct!

Pictures are not too good as lighting is very bad inside the dome, forcing people to use flash. Even if you use low light lens and high ISO speeds without flash, image noise is bound to occur and spoil your images. Flash overilluminates everything and it's strength disappears in ranges >5m, so in simple terms; it's hard to take really vibrant images in such a setting, unlike at Streetfest where you have proper sunlight.

I'll write more as I go through the pictures. I was keeping a lookout for my friends, and the only one that I didn't spot was Kurokaze. Apparently Kaori had spotted her, but both Hao and myself didn't see her though. Other than that, I pretty much said hi to most of the people that I know.


This Cloud looks amazing. I mean, just look at his hair/wig; it must have been tough to make that look.










The girl on the right is very tall. I know the pictures doesn't show it, but her dress is very pretty!


Ice_Princess/Elizabeth and Vivian. I was wondering who that girl on the left is, because she looked so familiar. I only recognized her after I went past her booth. She owns a shop called Haru at Far East Plaza. A lot of photographers were after the 2 girls.


Artwork on the random graffati panel; the artwork detail is amazing.




Look at the amont of cameras pointing towards the stage.


Makoto_Youko/Julia




Hao's favourite. Yuan Le will love this too. Fate Stay Night.


RX-7 FC. There's probably only a handful in Singapore. There only other RX-7 that I know of is at my old Tampines home. A FC is super rare.






Kieku & [Insert name], I believe. Very nice.


You seldom see Chii at cosplay events these days. ^^


This pose is really cool sia!


A rare shot of Cloud's sword... Yay!




Another one of Zhonghao's favourite (right). I believe she is the one that cosplayed Tifa during the last EOY.


DNAngel! So chibi & cute!












Me and Kagetsuki/Xiaoyun. Her Suigin Tou costume is very nice!


I know a lot of guys were dying to take pictures with her. Must have been tiring for her to pose for so many shoots.


Romacing SaGa from PS2. The one in green is Yuanyuan. Their costumes are so beautiful and highly detailed! Both Ling and myself agree that Yuanyuan seems to get prettier each year.


Seth from Trinity Blood if I recall correctly.










Cute lolitas.








This picture is very nice. The Jenova at the back is cosplayed by a real person!




My cute girlfriend, Ling at Cosfest.


Vivian and Elizabeth again. They sure know how to pose.


Now we know Edward Elric likes lolitas too. ^^


Kaori. I love her costume! And she's so dollishly cute! *Pinches*


Quistis and Selphie.




Sailormoon if I am not mistaken.


Random lolitas.






Rozen Maiden team. Too bad I couldn't get Kanaria into the picture. Their costumes were fantastic! And I didn't know Bara was Ah Di, until Xiaoyun told me. No wonder she looked so familar!






Flash was blocked by someone, so this picture is a little dark. Yuanyuan and myself. I just remember that I've known Yuanyuan for like 5 years or something already... since Polytechnic school years.


The lightings of this picture turned out great. Hao will love this picture. We were both suspecting whether she is the girl that cosplayed Lacus during EOY.




Another picture of Hao, with Yuffie this time.














Jenova again. We highly respect her cosplay spirit. It must have been tough for him/her.








Reiko and Hao. As usual, always one of Hao's favourite. This picture doesn't do her justice; she looks a lot better in real life.


Man, I hate how I look in this picture, but it's the only one that I got. Hao, Evelyn and myself. She's the one that I took pictures together during Street Festival a month ago. As I'm really bad at recognizing people, she someone managed to recognize and poked me instead. I lagged a little while because I was trying to match faces with names. I'm horrible at recognizing people. I think Hao and Evelyn looks great in this picture but I look horrible here. Lol.




These girls are really young!


Cheryl/Wingz. I think she looks better without her wig, but both looked really great on her. We all agree that she's pretty without that tao aura that some girls emit. Roy and myself bought some stuff off her store. And I won't forget how calmly she responded to me using her hand while she was posing for a picture. And why do I get the strange feeling that she just might be reading this now?




Winry Rockbell, Fullmetal Alchemist.




The same guy who cosplayed as Meer Campbell during EOY. Gutsy.


Angeldecay and worldofdarkness. Angeldecay looks so cool!


I had to chase down this girl just to get a shot of her. There were a couple more people that I wanted to take shots of, but couldn't locate them thereafter.




Kikuchi Rukia.






Me, Roy and Hao. My great buddies.


Ling and myself.




















I think she's one of the judges.






I got a picture together with Kaori before I left. Hina Ichigo - Ichigo Daifuku!
















Last shot of the anime graffiti board before I left. This is beautiful.

---

Overall, this year's Cosfest was a great success. And the world looks so much beautiful in real life than in online. It's amazing how ugly how people can be online, simply because they are hiding behind a monitor. Yet, it is because of such assclowns that we get to see how beautiful people can be.

I thank everyone who gave me permission to takes pictures of and with, and I apologize if I had accidentally snapped any without permission. I personally would not take pictures of anyone without permission, as that is extremely impolite.

It sure was a blast. And it's great to see cosplay getting more popular. I have a strange feeling that in the next couple of year's time, they just might start charging entrance fees to sustain the cost of renting the entire place.

Not that I really mind anyway. I know rain or shine, I'll still be there.

Totemo Tanoshi-kata.