The Philippines is home to some great cosplay talent. Like many countries, it is also a destination to attend great cosplay, hobby, and fan conventions. While a vast majority of events are carefully organized and well-planned, there are some that just don’t really go well.
Liui Aquino, a Filipino cosplayer internationally known for his very accurate Hiccup (How to Train Your Dragon) cosplay, expressed his dismay over mismanagement on “a geeky fandom art fair” event organized by a cosplay/fandom café Talking Apples called “Hello World”. The organizers invited the following international cosplayers in their event and they were all excited to visit the Philippines for the first time: Kelly Eden, Yume, Kitsurie, Phil Mizuno, and Grey.
As they were already announcing their confirmation that they will be going to the Philippines to attend the said event, it only ended up null for the organizers have not event contacted them about their flight tickets and accommodation. The cancellation was so unprofessional that many voiced out that this could damage the image of the Philippine cosplay community.
Regardless of the said cancellation of guests, the event is still pushing through. Reports from Filipino cosplayers have confirmed that the venue where Hello World will be held (Greensun, Chino Roces Ave.) has not been even reserved. Organizers and founders of the event have not been replying to the comments on their official Facebook page ever since the issue exploded on social media. There were also stories emerged that former and current employees of Talking Apples have not been paid for their services which is an obvious case of labor exploitation.
To give you an idea on what had happened, here is a video posted by Kelly Eden on February.
Here is a Facebook post by Liui Aquino talking about the incident. It was to find out that he was also been invited by Talking Apples but his guest invitation was also cancelled later on.
Kitsurie has also posted something related to the incident:
There are many lessons to be learned here. We hope that the cosplayers will be given another opportunity to visit the country soon at the right time and with the right people involved.
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