Electronic Entertainment Expo 2007

Cosplay.

Such a harmless sounding word for such a strange pastime.

GO3 is host to a massive cosplay competition with the overall winner receiving the opportunity to get a return trip to Japan to attend the 2007 Tokyo Game Show.

So what exactly IS cosplay?

Simply put, cosplay is “costume play” – the art to dressing up like a fictional character. The more popular cosplay characters are usually sci-fi related, from comic books, computer games or characters from Japanese cartoon characters.

I spoke to “Plasmadavid” who was dressed up as Link, the computer game character from the classic Nintendo game franchise “The Legend of Zelda”. Clad in a green tunic and wooden shield, the 18 year old tells me that his lovely Nanna had handcrafted him his costume, with the shield fashioned during a woodworking class at school. Why do it? Cos’ its fun.

Saturday’s cosplay competition pulled in a huge crowd of admirers. It was quite obvious that almost every entrant had put in weeks or even months effort into the costumes. The stage was littered with kooky creations armed with giant swords, anchors and guns. It was surreal, like a scene out of Alice in Wonderland – just with slightly less drug references.

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