Ozine Fest '08

This is like a long overdue post of the recent (more like last week's) convention that happened here in the Philippines, specifically April 5-6, 2008 in Megamall's Megatrade 2 Hall. It's not much of a figure/toy con nor an anime con so no big hauls to show :(

Anyway, this convention, as you can see on the picture on the right is called Ozine Fest '08. It's the second convention spearheaded by Ozine (which is a local "anime" magazine) and the main highlights of the two-day event are the group and solo cosplay and the launching of the Lineage II online game. Aside from There were a also a bunch of local anime/figure/ongaku groups who came and showcased their activities and sold their items, aside from the usual merchant attendees who really sold items like plushies, toys, anime merchandise and anime CDs.

Contests were also held including: Battle of the Bands, art contest, video game tourneys, karaoke singing and eating contests to name a few. Can't say much about them though because they were almost all happening simultaneously, and I found myself being dragged everywhere by the sight of cosplayers and by my friend.

There were a few booths where you can play games for free too but the lines were long and they kept running out of darts (pop the balloon game), pellets (target-shooting game) and paper net thingies (scoop the goldfish game) so I pretty much ended not playing any. There were a lot of people in the online gaming booths because they were giving away posters and installation cds for these MMORPG games. So I got like a CD for each game that they were promoting and I received around 10 posters that I didn't even bother checking when I got home. The Kamael (new game) booth also had this mini game where you have to fix letters so that they form the word "Kamael" and my cousin won thrice so yipee...I got a water bottle ^0^

Overall, the convention was pretty fun - especially when you run around chasing the cosplayers trying to take pictures of them. They were very cooperative and posed in either solo or group shots. i forgot to mention that the first day was for the group cosplay and the second, for the solo. I just wish they switch to a bigger venue next time...there were either way too many people or the place is too small. My bet's on the latter.

I think I've said too much. Here are some pictures from the event (mostly cosplay pictures) that my friend (Codename: Sieghart) took. His other pictures are posted up in his Multiply page here. (Oh yeah, come to think of it, me and my friend thought we were lost in some sort of gothic/punk/lolita convention with all the girls - and boys - dressed in black and lace and heavy make up...you get my drift.)