“We aim to be a destination for opinion on the Otaku community in the Philippines.”
This is our vision for Deremoe, and the reason why “We don’t just share the news, we talk about it.” If we don’t mind the community, we won’t be transitioning at a point where you mostly see Cosplay and Event-related posts on the front page of our website; you’ll just see us discuss the latest Anime that we have watched recently.
But no, we do care about the community.
The question is, do we still have a “community” that we can share our voices to?
I’ll whip up stories so that we can understand this better.
Alice wants to Cosplay, but she does not know where to go to first. She joined a Cosplay group she just found on Facebook and befriended the members online.
One day, the group set up an offline meeting — of course, Alice went there as well; and as with most members who went there, she dressed as her favorite character. It was not that good, and so the members were turned off.
“’Wag ka na mag-Cosplay, di bagây sa iyo.” (Don’t Cosplay anymore, it’s not for you.)
She left the group in trauma.
Disappointing. Again, the reason why she joined a Cosplay group is to learn Cosplay — not to be humiliated by someone.
Here’s another one.
A top Cosplay group has been running with high, flying colors at almost every competition they joined, impressing every spectator with their strut.
The problem is that they’re toppling over other Cosplay groups, and these guys are jealous of them, resulting to their determination to pull them down the ranks.
So, when everything went to place, the other groups despised them — and if they win, they will cry “wolf!” and say that thing is cooked.
This is how crab mentality works — “If we can’t win, you can’t.”
There’s more, by the way.
Joris is a top-notch Cosplayer, and the Cosplay group he is into strives to win the notable Cosplay competitions — and most of the time, they win.
One day, a new member joined Joris’ group — she’s an upcoming Cosplayer, and she has been winning Cosplay competitions as well. Joris trained her to utilize her skills in her motive to become a pro.
Now, the said Cosplayer becomes a pro — and unfortunately, she became arrogant of her actions. Worse, Joris did not see this well until it was too late.
The girl flew — and she never placed her feet in the ground for too long. Poor girl.
I have one last story to share.
There is a big Cosplay group, but due to unforeseen circumstances — including internal strives — the said group split into two.
These groups didn’t have any arrangements afterwards.
Now, after reading the stories above, can you relate to these situations? Do you still think that we have a community?
The community is getting bigger, we’re accommodating other media, like the idiot box — and to note that some people who have been part of the creation of this community are either retired or nowhere to see, it makes me want to go back to the basics.
Looking back to the stories I made up above, I don’t see anything either positive or educational… and mind you, I don’t simply make up stories like this because I want to — I’ve heard this from my friends, who are Cosplayers as well.
With all these said, as well as Cosplay in the Philippines becoming more of a serious business rather than self-fulfillment; and the loss of camaraderie between most organizations are escalating slowly to the worst levels imagined, where are we now?
If there is no community, we’ll just go back to be a simple Anime blog, and remember Philippine Cosplay as a wasteland. I don’t want to see that happen as well.
I’m hoping that these stories finish in a positive light — even if those hopes are as small as dots.