| Article Index |
|---|
| Cosplay ‘Geek Goddess’ Alodia Gosiengfiao |
| Page 2 |
| Page 3 |
| Page 4 |
| All Pages |
Performance Artist Par Excellence.
More than a week ago, on July 22-25, the largest comic book and popular arts convention in the world was held at the San Diego Convention Center. Commonly known as Comic-Con International or the San Diego Comic-Con, the convention showcases comic books, science fiction/fantasy and film/television, a larger range of pop culture elements, such as horror, anime, manga, animation, toys, collectible card games, video games, webcomics, and fantasy novels.
Of the more than 130,000 people who attended the convention, one of those who dramatically stood out is Filipina Cosplay player Alodia Gosiengfiao, featured in the Philippine Daily Inquirer as the "Geek Goddess."Alodia, as always, was so outstanding that she was filmed by Morgan Spurlock of Supersize Me in a documentary to be aired around the world, and by the Animax Asia team (a cable network in southeast Asia) to be aired all over southeast Asia. Alodia, together with her sister Ashley, has a regular stint in Animax. The Philippine edition of FHM ranked her number 87 in its 2009 poll for 100 Sexiest Women in the World. Alodia has been named by UNO Magazine as one of the most influential women in the Philippines.
Born Alodia Almira Arraiza Gosiengfiao on March 9, 1988, the 22 year-old cosplayer, artist, model, and figure collector from Quezon City, Philippines just graduated from the Ateneo de Manila University with a BFA Information Design degree.
Cosplay is short for "costume roleplay" and is a type of performance art in which participants don costumes and accessories to represent a specific character or idea. Characters are often drawn from popular fiction in Japan. Favorite sources include manga, anime, tokusatsu, comic books, graphic novels, video games, hentai and fantasy movies.
How did Alodia get into cosplaying?
"I started cosplaying at the age of 15 by joining competitions here in the Philippines and fortunately winning awards in those events. It all started with my deviantart page, wherein my first submissions were artworks related to anime and videogames, until I gradually added in some cosplay photos and photos I took of my figurine collection.
When I turned 18, I’ve been getting invited as a guest judge to several cosplay competitions once in a while, which means I am prohibited from joining the competitions, right? But that doesn’t really stop me from cosplaying. Occassionally, my friends and I hold cosplay photoshoots. We invite photographers, spectators, fellow cosplayers and anyone who could lend a hand. We try to share the love of cosplaying not just during the shoots or events here in our community but also online, from posting artworks to posting out-takes and reporting about the happening."Alodia is also into collecting figures. She says, "I’ve been into it for 1 and half years now. Before collecting, I just used to browse through photos and reviews of figures online. After some time I finally received one as a gift and eventually they multiplied. After almost a year of collecting, I also delved into photography and started taking photos of my figure collection."
Alodia frequents anime and video game conventions, whether it is to attend the convention or join in cosplay competitions. Her popularity began in 2003 when she won in an event called the C3 Convention in 2003 as Gun Mage Rikku of FFX-2. This led to her and her sister Ashley being featured on the cover of Issue 14 of Culture Crash Magazine, a Manga Magazine in the Philippines.
Alodia was Animax’s first ever Levi’s Kawaii girl winner in the last episode of Mad Mad Fun, which was announced on air on November 29, 2007. Since then, she has continued to cosplay various characters from different anime and videogames.
Alodia attended Assumption College (Makati) from pre-school to Grade 2; Miriam College from Grade 3 to 4th Yr High School and Ateneo de Manila University where she graduated with degree in Information Design.
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
