Cosplay Fusion

She was mobbed at ToyCon 2008, she got her own fan event at Domination III, and she got three booths at ToyCon 2009. Now Filipina gamer-blogger-cosplayer idol Alodia Gosiengfiao continues her rise to power with her new organization’s first cosplay event, Cosplay Fusion. Cosplaying as Black Mage from Final Fantasy, Alodia was joined by her sister Ashley as White Mage.

What fascinated me most about this particular cosplay event, aside from it being an impressive application of one niche blogger’s personal brand, was the sheer diversity of the attendees. I met up with two lawyers and three software developers, from three different continents, at Cosplay Fusion. Alodia’s friend Mia Marquez, a mainstream Filipina model, actually became a cosplayer that day.

This is what Japan’s billion-pageview blog queen, gamer-cosplayer Shoko Nakagawa, discovered years ago: if you geek it, they will come. Unleash your inner geek, and others will unleash theirs.

For more impressions from the event, check out the report from otaku culture blogger Cliff Sawit. Alodia herself isn’t wasting time: she’s announced Cosplay Fusion 2 in October, just in time for the Halloween season.