Cosplay Mania 2012 and TorCH III : Day 2

^Upon arrival back at Bram's place in QC (where me and Eunice have been staying in since Friday) we tried  to have our video and audio remedied. It was late and everyone was tired.

Tension was high, needless to say.

Our dear friend, Ku ri has been the one who was fixing our video.
We are very very very grateful to Ku ri, but somehow, something is always off and we didn't want to bother her anymore as we have asked too much from her already...
Bram was ok with the video and audio even though there was a bit of a snag on the end.
I guess he was just really tired, our conversations were starting to look like arguments that night.
My opinion was, if we could fix it, why shouldn't we?
If we can have something perfect, why not strive for it?
Sure it was a little was a snag at the end, but that final moments were important. If we could have everything down right then it would be awesome-r still so I insisted on what I wanted.

Look, Ma! I'm on the poster! hahahaha

Dang, I look bad. Oh well hahahaha

Third Impact Champions of TorCH!

The best of the best ^^V

Team Potato : Champions of Baguio

Sorry, Clar and Rodney, I tried but I couldn't find pics of both of you together on stage oTL

Anyway, I wasn't able to befriend the Baguio Team last year, but I think this time around I am lucky

Clar is just so bubbly and Rodney seems like a cool sempai, they both are really nice :D

Thank goodness, Katkat was able to fix what needed fixing right at the last moment.

After, all that vid/aud squabble, we decided to get on with the actual rehearsal.
Lyron, Eunice and Ricah were a great help in correcting our postures, moves and facial expressions.
Practicing that dramatic monologue took a long time as I had such difficulty conveying the proper face, my default face is always cheery and I don't have that burning passion the lines required, yep, my views on love are weird XDDD

Eventually, we just decided to call it a night and I promised to do better on the actual performance.
Bram stayed up to finish more stuff... He insisted that I get sleep as I am no use with a dead brain...
I wanted to stay up and help too because I felt, that as his partner, I should do the same, but he insisted on me getting sleep...

Team Madao : Champions of Cebu

cosplaying characters from Soul Calibur

I just love their team name and how Allan is so committed to being a "madao" hehehehe

Gintama rocks!

Maki and Allan are just so precious, I really like them both.

Met them in last year's Cosplay Mania ♥

Slept at around 3am and woke up @ 6am. Original plan was to be up at 5am and leave by 6am as we needed to be in SMX at 7am for dress rehearsals.
Gad, it was so hard to wake people up, I would go to Ricah first, go down to Lyron, then Bram then Eunice.  They only rose from their slumber after about 4 attempts each.
I didn't even have time to take a bath hahahahahahahaha
Bram's mom forced us to eat, to which we obliged as we knew we wouldn't have any more opportunities to eat till after the competition.
So much to do... Gaaaaaaaaaaa
We left the house at past 7:30am >_<
I felt really uneasy as I knew we were late.

Good thing we weren't the only late team, Sir Guy took pity on us and allowed each team one practice run with costumes on. Yay!
We were also able to submit our fixed up video.
Many many thanks to Katkat and to z3LL for rushing it over to us that morning.

As I was waiting for z3LL on the front stoop of SMX, something I heard boosted my confidence. I will tell you guys about it later though~ e-heh!~ But I tell you, it was very uplifting. ♥

Adventure Team : Champions of the North

Whoa! Flips, jumps, tumbles and more things mere humans can not do O_O

Only Adventure Team can.

Easily two of the best men I know.

Fun, friendly and humble

Our rehearsal went really well, but guess what? I managed to break my main sword - Heaven's bite, yet again. So far, I have broken my swords for like 3 times already and Bram always get stuck repairing them which makes me feel really bad...
This was very guilt inducing coz our plan was to get to rehearsal, go to HQ, sleep a bit more, practice and prepare and be back at SMX by 2pm.

After that morning's dress rehearsal, we left Ricah to enjoy her Kaname meet and greet.
Rushed to the M.A.R.C.H. HQ to fix the stuff I broke, practice more and prepare.

Thank goodness for extra hands!
Taki and Beloy came to our aid on such short notice, also Eunice was full support and did her best to help with the repairs.
After a few rounds of practice, we prepped to go to the event.
Took a bath and put make up on.
I looked nice that day coz Eunice helped me a lot in the make up department.
She also helped with Bram's hahahaha
We love you Eun! ♥

Team Banana Yogurt : Champions of Manila

The golden boys of Saint Seiya

Dran and LH

Well, I only met them thru TorCH heheheh so I don't know them that well but I hear their skit was very yaoi suggestive hehehehe

Bram was so cute, for the longest time he has resisted my demand to put on make up.
He was so tired though, his resistance was easily foiled.
We trimmed his eyebrows, made his skin a bit lighter, drew on fiercer eyebrows, added a bit of contouring too. I am so glad I was right, he got bishi-fied, man, bishified. Ricah and I have been saying for the longest time that this guy had potential and we were right.
Bram couldn't believe how long make up took and he kept complaining about the eyeliner hurting his eyes, but the end product was stellar.
I was so proud, I felt like those moms whose kids went to their first JS prom all dolled up. hehehehe

Team Bankai : Champions of Iloilo

The men who do not suggest BL, they actually do it, at least in the skit. hahahahaha

Oh these two, I love em so. Ovaries were exploding left and right because of their perfomance hahahah

Ban and Kai never fail to make the girls (and I know boys are affected too, stop denying it! hehehe) swoon when ever they take the stage.

And whoa, after we were done with our costume, I saw Dom and Marko in full costume and make up to boot!
The boys really looked great, me and their Princess Mama-san Kat looked on proudly at our boys. :D
So hansamu times 10x!

There were a few back stage dramas, but I am glad it was sorted out, I got our Mama Ricah back.
That day, I felt no nervs, I just felt happiness. But the moment Ricah disappeared, the elated and confident feeling went away, too. Whew, thank goodness she came back in time and I felt light again.

All the groups were ready to go early as we were told that there was gonna be a costume inspection. But the inspection didn't happen until after the performances. Boo. Wish we had a more clear idea of what was gonna be happening with regards to the competition proper...

Team CGA Malfested : Champions of Davao

I just found out that Angeli is also a JENESYS scholar like I was, plus she's also pretty~

Angeli and Louie cosing characters from Soul Calibur and looking fierce

I went around to wish everyone a good performance and gave out hugs.
When things got boring and we'd catch each others' eyes, Marko and Dom and I would do some sort of weird random dance. hehehehehe
I swear, with out these two, the competition wouldn't be as much fun.

We were team numbah 5. I saw the other teams perform from the backstage and everyone was giving their all. These were the inspiring moments :)

As our team was called, I was able to get a glimpse of my friends. The truly sweet and fabulous people who went all out to support us. I laughed a little inside as I saw the video of our team interview, it reminded me a lot of things: why we were doing this and for who we were doing for. The sabaw answers I gave were really something, even I felt embarrassed for myself hahaha I felt happy and ready. I was expecting  to be nervous but none of that kicked in. Funny.

Team M.A.R.C.H. Omega : Champions of Cagayan de Oro

 Master craftsman AC teams up with the sweet Miles

Miles so shota and precious looking bujubuju *pinches Miles cheeks*

hehehehe Light sabers are cool, yo

Though... I did experience a mask malfunction... :(
My mask got out of place so I wasn't able to see anything, it rode up and blocked my vision. I couldn't place it back as I was holding twin swords so I did what we practiced and prayed that Bram was doing what he was supposed to do. I wasn't able to do a few moves in fear of hitting the audience and getting points deducted. For that... I am really sorry. I feel as it was my fault in messing up our skit...
When it was time to take off my mask, I went all out especially in my monologue in hopes that I'd be able to counter act my blunder.

We were nicknamed Team Intensity as I think we were the only team who had a very strong desire to hit and hurt each other. LOL

Team M.A.R.C.H. Harue : Champions of Bacoor

Who ironically aint really from Cavite XDDD

Jump shot magnificently captured by JR

After our performance, we were out of breath and while onstage, I couldn't see anyone's face or hear anything else so I have no idea what was happening and how the crowd reacted.
I do know that Bram and I gave it our very best.
The interview part after each of performance is my favorite part. Ours was really pleasant. I don't think we got any negative comments at all!
We got nice comments from all the judges but the best comment for me was Reika's and how she admired Bram's Tadakatsu Honda. Bishification totally worth it!
Reika said that if Honda was a real person, how Bram looked was how she imagined him to be.
The judges comments on our costumes were all magnificent. All those hours doing the little details one by one totally paid off ^_______^V

Tried to be like a movie star but I think drama is not my thing XD

I had no idea I was speaking with a Singaporean accent, my friends told me about it after the event hahahahaha

There was a lot of backstage drama after our performance, lots of break down moments, too. Tears were everywhere... Testosterone levels also kinda high...
I wanted to let the flood gates open, too, but I couldn't. I had to hold stuff in yet again...
Had to keep cool, definitely hard but I am glad I did.
Sometimes, the hardest thing to do is to keep calm, if you don't things would not be settled smoothly. I thank my education for making me strong.

After each group had performed, there was nothing else to do but to wait for the judges' decision.
Who will have the honor of carrying the Philippine name in the 2012 RCC?

It was a no air moment.

And then the announcement...
dun dun dun....

Can't help making weird faces hahahah XDDD

Team M.A.R.C.H. Harue got 1st Runner Up and...

Adventure Team was chosen as the Grand Champions!
Congratulations to Dom and Marko!
It was a tough competition, the champions from all the different legs were all worthy of being called champions to represent their respective areas.
Great job everybody! Everyone deserved hugs that day for giving their best and giving the crowd a spectacular show.

Dom, me and Melo hamming it up

Marko looks upset that we ruined this shot heheheh

the Grand Champions - Adventure Team

Dom as Kilik and Marko as Mitsurugi both from Soul Calibur

It was a long awesome day and everyone was tired so we left early.
With the end of TorCH was the end of another year of Cosplay Mania.
Another day worth remembering. ♥

Shame, I don't have as much photos as I wanted to...
Credits go to all the respective owners of the photos featured in this blog, thank you.

*******************************

thanks for reading!

 jaa! visit me again, ne!

     arigatou! (*^3^)/~

FACEBOOK PAGE : http://www.facebook.com/jaroukasama
WORLD COSPLAY : http://worldcosplay.net/member/jaroukasama/
INSTAGRAM : https://www.instagram.com/jaroukasama/
DEVIANT ART : http://jaroukasama.deviantart.com/
TWITTER : http://twitter.com/jaroukasama