| Madman National Cosplay Championships Final 2010 |
 |
 |
 |
| Written by Leverett |
| Monday, 14 March 2011 12:45 |
|
The 2010 Cosplay calendar finished with a bang, ending with the Madman National Cosplay Championships (MNCC). Where: RNA Showgrounds, Brisbane 
Held in Brisbane on November 27 at the RNA Showgrounds, the MNCC was part of the Supanova Cosplay Festival. It was cosplay madness as the show
 
The day featured many events and panels to entertain and inspire. Such panels included the 2009 MNCC winner, Christie, with Cosplayaus.com’s very own Floatyman discussing cosplay and cosplay photography. Zerebin also hosted a panel about Armour, and the Haraju2girls discussed cosplay basics. Supanova pulled out all stops to show that the Cosplay Festival was an event separate to their Pop Culture convention by inviting a cosplay specific guest, Cosplay Icon Alodia Gosiengfiao from the Philippines. Alodia hosted her own event in which she took to the stage dressed as a Grimrock version of Rei Ayanami.
The festival put on its own Cosplay Competition prior to the Madman Nationals, allowing cosplayers who weren’t competing in MNCC to perform on stage. What the competition lacked in numbers, it made up for in entertainment value. Each cosplayer had obviously taken great care to create skits that whipped the audience into a frenzy of laughter and awe.
When it came time for the contestants of MNCC to take to the stage, the audience fell silent in anticipation. Siera (Vic finalist) was the first contestant to hit the stage, cosplaying as Chise from SHE, The Ultimate Weapon. Siera’s skit started out as cute and charming, wearing Chise’s uniform. Making use of background-props, her performance changed into something more dark and sinister. Sierra reappeared as a damaged and bloody Chise with wings and a large gun. It concluded as a very dramatic and emotional performance.
Second to grace the stage was Giorgia (SA finalist) as Esther from Trinity Blood. The dress was voluminous with what seemed to be hundreds, if not thousands, of hand-crafted fine details. Her time on stage was not nearly long enough for the audience to take it all in. The skit was a simple monologue that was delivered with enough strength and emotion to leave much of the audience in awe.
Twinklee and Velithya (WA finalists) were the first pair of the competition to perform. The two were dressed as Yagyuu Juubei and Senhime respectively, from Hyakka Ryouran: Samurai Girls. They impressed with a dramatic skit that included a very well choreographed sword-fight. Both of these contestants had eye-catching, colourful costumes.
Anna (Wildcard) took to the stage as Cain Knightlord from Trinity Blood. Anna’s skit did not utilise any hand-made backgrounds, instead she chose to rely on the projector and screen. This choice proved most effective, as it loaned itself to not being too distracting from the intensely detailed costume that stunned the audience. Seeing nothing but images on the screen, with her silhouette in front of it was visually dramatic and provided great atmosphere to the start of the performance. Her Lance contained as much fine-detail and work as the rest of her costume.
After a short break for setting up the stage with background-props, Kenny and Tsubaki (NSW finalists) appeared as Kazuhiko and Suu from Clover. With multiple background-props and costume changes, the pair managed to amaze the audience. The skit started with a monologue by Kenny, while Tsubaki was in a cage. It soon transitioned to something much more lively and dramatic, with well choreographed actions synched beautifully to the music in the background.
With it being only her second time cosplaying, Carly (Wildcard) entered the stage as Deunan from Appleseed. Her skit made use of the projector and screen, and she incorporated pre-recorded footage of herself into the video element of her skit. Her performance was humorous and connected with the audience – even for those not familiar with Appleseed - by making jokes regarding Apple CEO Steve Jobs, as well as a perfectly rehearsed dance to Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’. The transition between the video footage and her acting seemed flawless. Carly’s bodysuit was made out of neoprene -which she hand-stitched. Her outfit also consisted of armour that was casted out of resin and urethane.
Shona (QLD finalist) was cosplaying as Kusanagi from Ghost in the Shell. Shona’s use of EL-wire looked striking on stage. Her visuals from the GitS anime series projected onto the screen provided an extra layer of drama. While the visuals played, she executed some well-rehearsed actions in front of the screen. Her background prop utilized in the start of her skit was highly detailed and perfectly captured the series’ cyberpunk vibe. The prop wasn’t just used for visual emphasis as Shona also used it as a changing screen between costumes and as a place to store her weapons.
Will (Wildcard) was the final contestant in the competition, cosplaying as Siegfried from SoulCalibur. The stage set-up was impressive, providing atmosphere with multiple lighting elements, a giant and heavily detailed sword, and a mannequin that was fully decked-out in cosplay. His skit was in Japanese, with animations and subtitles playing on the screen behind him. Will had created and used a second intensely detailed sword for the skit.
The atmosphere in the auditorium was tense with anticipation and excitement as the judges evaluated their scores. An hour after the contest, the judges announced the winners.
Giorgia received a special Judges Award
Third place went to Anna
Second place was taken out by Kenny and Tsubaki
The Madman National Cosplay Champion for 2010 was Will
After much screaming and applause from the audience, Will returned to the stage. He gave a speech, and many members of the audience were moved as he shed a few tears while accepting his award.
 
Supanova Pop Culture Expo returns to Brisbane April 1-3 in 2011 at the RNA Showgrounds and is the first MNCC preliminary round for 2011.
|
grounds became flooded with cosplayers, posing and strutting their stuff while eagerly waiting to see who would be crowned as Australia’s National Champion.
