Feature: Madman National Cosplay Championships for Rave Magazine

For RAVE Magazine, issue 969. It was a fun day!

On the weekend the RNA showgrounds were invaded by the most colourful collection of characters  has ever seen. ANNA ANGEL reports on the highlights witnessed at the MADMAN NATIONAL COSPLAY CHAMPIONSHIPS.
It ain’t easy being a national cosplay (costume role-play) finalist, and as I found out at the weekend, months of painstaking stitching, hand-dying and collecting animal skeletons are just par for the course. If you call yourself a cosplayer because you once made out with Mary Jane (i.e. your right hand) while wearing a Spider-Man mask, these costuming spectaculars, sets, props and finely rehearsed skits would put you to shame. That is, if the cosplay community weren’t overwhelmingly supportive. For the second year, Madman Entertainment and Supanova presented the country’s biggest festival of anime, manga and video game cosplay, with the Brisbane leg scoring the additional gong of naming Australia’s best cosplayer. The finalists – five state champions and three wildcards – took to the stage after a morning of anime madness and mutual costume appreciation.


Wildcard Anna placed third as Cain Nightroad from Trinity Blood, despite getting sweaty feet in her Alexander McQueen-like contraptions and epic ensemble of Toohey’s posterboard halo and skull-adorned cape. Second place went to cosplay veterans Wakaleo and Tsubaki as characters from Clover, but wildcard William bagged the winner’s trip to Japan, after convincingly portraying Siegfried Schtauffen from Soulcalibur. With the presence of a method actor and a trident that would surely be illegal to carry on the streets, he dramatically slew a younger self on stage. Accepting the award, he sobbed and admitted, “there’s snot coming out” and embraced the other finalists, reminding us all that the cosplay community is just a
little bit silly, and also a whole lot inviting.

The 2010 MADMAN NATIONAL COSPLAY CHAMPIONSHIPS took place at the RNA Showgrounds on Saturday Nov 27. See www.madman.com.au/cosplay for more information.

See the original article and amazing pics in Rave, pg 37.