Fantasy Girl Of The Week: Remorsefulpromises as Tifa Lockhart

This week’s entry is a familiar face to readers of Final Fantasy girls – after the heart-warming comment that Remorsefulpromises left me on my feedback page in Deviant Art, I replied back with the same level of respect and admiration to her craft. That’s right, Remorsefulpromises is back with more of the same thing – genuine cosplaying talent and natural Final Fantasy composure to pull off a sweet replica of Aerith Gainsborough.

This time around, her battle-ready representation of Advent Children’s Tifa Lockhart really hits the spot of reminding us that one of Final Fantasy’s most drooled over female martial artist and fan service goddess that, behind the buxom is a a combat-competent, glove-wearing fist master ready to fight her way out of harassment.

Remorsefulpromises captures this idea quite elegantly as this image takes us back down Advent Children memory lane – the static chapel background of Aerith is the not-so-historic place for Tifa as she was pummeled by Loz in a very impressive and sleek scene that pushed 3D fight scenes to the outer limit. Here, we can see her looming beyond the granite bench and we wonder, what is she thinking when this shot was made?

Other than this, Remorsefulpromises has also an original photograph that has not been part of Tifa Lockhart’s colorful wardrobe. Remember Costa del Sol? This is her idea on what should Tifa wear under the bright sun and, not unlike Hojo who still goes on a vacation with his laboratory suit and creepy glasses, this version of Tifa would come out bouncing at the sandy shores of Costa del Sol’s tranquil beach. What a sight. Here she is dressed with an orange swimsuit which, I think perfectly suits Tifa Lockhart.

Again, thanks to Remorsefulpromises for providing us with a couple of  daring yet artistic snapshots of Tifa Lockhart.

Technorati Tags: Cosplay, Final Fantasy Girls, tifa

The recently concluded WGT Finals (World GameMaster Tournament) showcased how passionate and serious our Filipino gamers are and more than that, the supreme creativity flowing from the cosplayers rounded up the event with pop culture atmosphere which, I think, only exists during Comic Con. Moreover, we’re here in the Philippines and, it’s nice to see a group of home-grown talent battling it out, not for the money, of course but, to flaunt their custom-made costumes of their favorite anime and video game characters.

I was there to witness the spectacular rainstorm of fans flocking their bets and the flashes were just unbelievable. From one corner to another, you can see shoppers, Letranites and event janitors going interactive with the participants. Heck, even WGT security joined in the fray of shutterbugs giving out instructions to cosplayers like WarMachine and Bumblebee to mech it out.

The WGT Finals is primarily a gathering of the country’s talented Call of Duty 4 and Street Fighter 4 players – the intensity from the gamers was somehow doused because of the frivolous cosplayers circling the gaming arena. The war zone was replaced laughter from the spectators and, the profanities coming from the losing team were pinned down by loud cheers from the cosplaying community.

Hosting the event were Front Act’s  Mike Unson and Stanley Chi which, by the way, had celebrated the show’s first year anniversary yesterday, July 17, 2010. Congratulations guys.

Going back.

I also had the chance to meet and greet some of WGT’s cosplay participants and, all of them brought their A-game: the rubberized armor, the scary face paints, glossy hairstyles, the fake weapons and the works. Here, you can see me holding one of Noctis’s weapons. Final Fantasy Versus XIII ain’t released yet but, the guy who portrayed the game’s tacit-looking hero was ready to show fans his posing skills and charms.

Noctis was the only Final Fantasy character present in the event.

Click on my Facebook photo album for all the images of the WGT Finals held in SM Manila.

Technorati Tags: Cosplay, Final Fantasy, WGT Finals

So there I was, prancing back and forth in an attempt to find a female Final Fantasy cosplayer – each and every year, I AI Anime becomes a cornucopia of all things cosplay and, people who would want to see their favorite anime, movie or comic book character walking around in full costume detail should try out this convention held every July. I really enjoyed myself around the booths selling anime-related novelties, Plants vs. Zombies ceramics, hair sprays and a lot more.

Everything that an anime fanboy dreams about was all completely knotted up in this once-in-a-year celebration of all things ‘kawai.’ A cafe ran by school girls, customizable T-shirts and crazy caps that some Donghua enjoys wearing on public.

It was paradise – I couldn’t fathom the smiles and freedom that the participants had and, judging from the attendance of cosplayers and spectators alike, the convention was simply a success. Anime quiz bees and a karaoke competition solely dedicated to opening and ending themes of anime – the swirling freedom of anime junkies and wanna-be singers were unimaginable.

Well, it was a great run for the local cosplay scene.

The only thing that ticked me off is the fact that nobody showed up as a female Final Fantasy character. Sure, the event is named I AI Anime and, the last time I checked, Final Fantasy is not part of Japan’s humongous industry catered to skimpy schoolgirl outfits and steampunk Tokyo underground costumes. I stayed about for five hours and, not a single sight of Yuna or Tifa.

I was really disappointed.

However, I was fortunate that one Final Fantasy character appeared with on the sidelines – equipped with a Brotherhood and a Spalding for a blitzball, Tidus was the only legit FF character that had the guts to join a Bleach-dominated meet-up.

Aside from him, nobody came close of trying to emulate any Final Fantasy hero – I was really lucky to have him photographed because, that was my main goal all along, at least, to take home a picture of someone who belongs to the titular RPG since the Famicom and SNES era.

Here’s hoping that another cosplay event would hit our country but this time, I’ll be crossing my fingers for a video games-themed cosplay convention.

Technorati Tags: Cosplay, Final Fantasy