Cosplay Mania X is the biggest cosplay event in the Philippines. CMX was organized by Cosplay.PH in cooperation with Brother, Eagle Game, Sony, and GMA 7. CMX was held on the 2nd and 3rd of October 2010 at the SMX Convention Center, SM Mall of Asia.

With the previous day’s solo competitions all wrapped up, the focus on the second day shifted to groups. The continuation of CMX’s Project Cosplay — this time with the group category, had several cosplayers from a diverse range of pop culture franchises giving their all to wow the crowd with their performances. The Project Cosplay Group Competition was judged by veterans and respected members of the local scene, including Hazel Velas of Ongaku Society.

The winners of Animax’s Lights! Camera! Cosplay! short film competition were announced (with the winner’s checque presented by Ani-mate Stephanie), as were the winners of the Cosplay Building Competition — a five-hour on-the-spot costume construction marathon.

Cosplay Mania X also played host to the grand finals of the Cosplay Tournament of Champions. Winners of regional events held all over the country clashed for the honor of being the first TorCh Champion. The competition was for pairs skits — similar in format to Japan’s World Cosplay Summit, which puts equal emphasis on the “costume” and “roleplay” aspects of cosplay. Some of our favorite pairs was Team Clark with their impressive, intricate costumes, and Team Manila with their dynamic and crowd-pleasing performance.

The panel of judges for TorCh included local cosplay veterans Jin Joson and Paul Mendoza, as well as international cosplayers Clive Lee and Jesuke. Incidentally, Jin and Jesuke gave workshop lectures on characterization and wig styling respectively, while Clive took to the stage with his AFA Regional Cosplay Championship-winning Gundam 00 costume to talk about mecha cosplay.

Project Cosplay Best Group: Team Suna
Cosplay Building Competition: Team Oval
Cosplay Snapshots Project: Joseph Conrad Impaz
Lights! Camera! Cosplay! Winner: Team Yumeria
Tournament of Champions Grand Champion: Team Cebu

Last but not least were the highly anticipated performances by local Japanese cover bands and Ongaku Society stalwarts Himitsu Heiki and Neotaku. Major props by the way to the organizers for separating the cosplay ramp from the band stage — the efficient use of space shows the amount of thought the planning committee put into the event, when compared to the more slapdash method of their main competitors.

Overall, the event was an enormous success — both Days 1 and 2 were pulled off more or less without a hitch. I would like to congratulate Cosplay.PH and all their event sponsors, partners, and staff for a job well done. Having said that, there is always room for improvement, and here are a couple of things that the event could work on in the future.

The program could have been better paced. And yes, I know that all the sponsors deserve top billing and that the organizers want to milk the anticipation for all its worth, but on the evening of a Sunday people are just anxious to get home and get some rest before the start of a new week, that this feels more like prolonging the agony rather than the suspense. Give the name of the contest, say the name of the winner, and then move on to the next category — the audience will appreciate this more, I guarantee.

Also, please find emcees who are more suitable for these kinds of events. Mispronouncing every other Japanese character’s name is not good emcee-ing, and neither is shouting into the microphone at the top of your lungs. Unfortunately, this is not the first time this flaw was pointed out on the local con scene, so it’s probably time for a change. If anything, more capable emceeing will give foreign guests and exhibitors a better impression of the event, and can boost its reputation overseas.

Congratulations again to everyone at CMX, and we are all looking forward to Cosplay Mania 2011!

Thanks to the CMX crew for the invitation.