Ozine Fest 2009 Day 2 and 3 Report

OZINE FEST '09 was held last April 3-5 at SM Megamall Megatrade Hall 2. I was fortunate enough to be there for the last 2 days. The event featured cosplay, toys and collectibles, game demos, art contests, a maid and host cafe and much more. This year Ozine also featured the National Cosplay Summit following the World Cosplay Summit standards.

Entrance to the convention area was PhP100.00. We were there early enough and there was a huge crowd gathering already. I wasn't at the last Ozine so I really can't compare but from the way it looks they did make sure to try organizing this event properly. According to Magnetic-Rose, the event was a vast improvement from last year. Personally, I am just glad that they used a bigger event space than Megatrade Hall 3. A map of the convention space was available for viewing at the entrance which made it easier to navigate. I suggest they give out maps as well to all the participants.

Me and Sese Maxwell did some costripping on Day 2 at the convention as ninjas   (and if you are asking, no, not as Naruto). It was fun and we were able to go around and see the different booths and exhibitors. The floor plan of the event made also sure that they cleared an area in front of the stage area to make sure there was room for the audience. Unfortunately, it wasn't big enough.

Some of the highlights for me at the convention was the maid cafe, the PC and console game demos, the Japanese figure display setup by Otakai Figure Society and the CCG demo area setup by Philippine Underground Gamer's Society (PUGS). They had a nice collection of figures from different animes and games. I personally liked the Nendoroid display and the figures from Final Fantasy VII. Too bad I am not rich enough to invest in such things. I think more conventions should have displays of figures and artworks. Somebody also suggested a display of consoles. I would love to see that.

I had pointed out to a friend of mine that conventions these days are filled with commercial entities that take up space instead of specialty shops such as Onefreekiss (too bad they weren't there) or other Japanese-related exhibitors. It's a sad truth that conventions like these have become more of a commercial entity as years have gone by that it's less and less about the anime/manga/game subculture but more about churning a profit.

I do have a tiff about the game demo areas. WHOSE BRIGHT IDEA WAS IT TO PUT THE GAME DEMOS RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE ENTRANCE OR BESIDE THE STAGE AREA?! I am sure people were wondering about this as well. I understand the point where they put it there so that it can be readily seen but man, it creates a crowd control issue. Game demos attract a huge crowd. This has been seen in previous conventions and it makes it infinitely hard to get through designated paths when it's blocked by the huge crowd. It doesn't help either that we have this wooden barriers separating certain booths which in my opinion wasn't really necessary (like that enclave on the left side of the convention area). and might actually have given a little more space to the people there.

I have stated in previous reviews that space and crowd management had always been a problem in our conventions. I should mention that the cosplay and con-going community has multiplied exponentially. More and more people are attending these events and I am not seeing any concrete plans to manage the ever growing crowd. Heck, crowd management barely exists and is usually left up to the mall security guards who wouldn't know any better really. I know it's asking a lot for a bigger convention space but crowd management isn't asking too much, is it? Do we really need to go to another convention where this is an issue. At one point some people were actually taking pictures at the entrance and no one was actually doing anything about it. Although, it should be common sense to some people not to hog the pathways, it's still up to the convention organizers and marshals to enforce a bit of order in the convention.

I would like to mention, though, that as event organizers/marshals/volunteers, it is up to you to keep calm and keep things in order.  It is never right for you to start screaming at cosplayers to get onstage and certainly not right for you to treat the costrippers like they were dumb by yelling at them (take note that they were not asking) to STAY while the group cosplay begins. I know you are calling the group cosplayers, we're not dumb that we don't know the difference between that and costrip.  Besides, we have every right, as paying customers, to go inside the venue and watch the group cosplay if we wanted too. There is such a thing as grace under pressure. I know you have issues of your own, you are tired and irritable but you have no right to treat us like we were insignificant. Please take note that we did PAY to get in and as such should be treated like customers and not lowlife scumbags without a brain to think for ourselves.

I was especially looking forward to the Maid Cafe for this event. There have been previous attempts at a Maid Cafe at previous events. I even posted about the Maid Cafe done during the Anicon. This time I had great expectations because I heard that Onefreekiss would be doing the costumes. This would have addressed the issue of uniformity. They setup a huge area on the right side of the convention area and clearly marked it as Maid Cafe. Sadly, there was some confusion as to the mechanics as it was not posted on the website nor was it posted in the cafe area as to how it works. Me and Sese were confused whether we should pay first, what time it would start and what would happen inside. It was setup as a standard cafe where you can order food and the maids/hosts could then deliver the food you ordered. The problem with the setup is that there were far too many of them and you actually get to choose which maid or host you wanted to serve you. So this would make the ones in demand fairly busy while others being idle all the time. It was also clear that not everyone had a set costume. The hosts for example came in different attires so it was not really clear as to who was serving.

I have nothing against the maids and the hosts because they were there to volunteer for the cafe. I am really trying to point out that the organizers could have coordinated this better so that it benefits both their staff and the participants. I wasn't sure about the system but if you wanted the "extra" services like games or song and dance you would have to pay extra. I thought they would serve food at a more expensive rate and the entertainment was part of the package. I guess they went with the more traditional maid cafe style. At one point I felt they also were confused with this system as well because it seemed like they were not properly briefed on the mechanics. I need to mention that they made a booboo when I ordered a sandwich and what I got was two pieces of bread with nothing on it. I wanted to take photos but I was told it was not allowed because that's an extra 50 bucks, not that it was clear in the first place that it wasn't allowed. In my opinion this time around it was the chance for the organizers to do a better job at the maid cafe. It was much better than the last time, however, again it seems that the quality wasn't really the main focus and did seem a bit lacklustered.

I would still like to give a kudos to the volunteers of the maid cafe in working with what they had to make it enjoyable for the guests despite the problems they themselves encountered. You showed true dedication to the work that was assigned to you no matter what the problems may have been. You had ensured that the cafe was still a moderate success.

The last day of Ozine, featured the National Cosplay Summit. This is touted as the First Cosplay Summit and would be using the World Cosplay Summit standards. It is also to my understanding that whoever wins the competition would then be our official entry for the World Cosplay Summit. I have a question, though. Which body has accredited or recognized this event? I have nothing against the winners of the cosplay but I am unaware of any body that has accredited this event nor was there a foreign delegate from the participating countries of the World Cosplay Summit that was there to judge the event. What makes it more fishy is that the Philippines is not listed on the website of the World Cosplay Summit participants. In fact, you must apply first to be a part of the World Cosplay Summit and be accepted as a participating country before the country can even have preliminaries for the participants.

I think it is misleading to call the competition as a National Cosplay Summit because it is not actually recognized by the World Cosplay Summit. Secondly, there isn't one governing body that represents the whole community that recognizes this competition as something on the national level. What is stopping any other group to hold a convention and having a cosplay competitiion and say that their event is the real National Cosplay Summit.  Nothing really.  And I really don't get the point of using "World Cosplay Summit" standards if we aren't going to be able to send them there anyway.   There were also some talk that there were cosplayers who really didn't follow the rules and that the rules were not enforced.  I hope this issue was addressed because it would look poorly in the community too.

In all fairness to the convention, it was a success.  They did draw the crowds they wanted.  They had a lot of exhibitors and merchants.  They filled their lineup with a lot of activities for the people to enjoy.  And despite the problems I mentioned, I did enjoy myself.  I just hope that we learn from the mistakes and improve on it the next time and strive for quality.

That's it for now. 

*pictures taken from:
-Ozine Website http://www.otakuzine-mag.com/ozinefest/
-http://seedsop.multiply.com/
-http://thyalla.multiply.com/