Rachel Chan Suet Kay visits a Halloween gathering of cosplayers at the Outpost Cafe in Cineleisure Damansara.
Annwn, sometimes spelt as Annwyn, is the Welsh Otherworld, a place of eternal youth, the bridge between Heaven and Hell. The departed and the fair folk dwell here, and only those who had died could find it. Unless of course, you found the door yourself, and entered spiritually. This Halloween, I stepped into one of its entry points, to discover a whole new world of eternal youth.
In this terrain I found characters I would not expect to meet in the mundane real world of nine to fives and late night drinking. These were characters from a sort of Otherworld, namely that of the celluloid world. No, these were not celebrities per se, but the embodiment of the characters themselves. Anakin Skywalker mingled with Star Trek characters, and Padme had to apologise for ceasing to be his wife. Well, at least for the night. Obi-Wan had crossed over to the other side, not the dark one, but the Star Trek one. Arnold Schwarzenegger bonded with a Nepalese-named character called Ondeharo, or Darkness. This Annwyn was a world where characters and the people who personified them never grew old, intersecting with many other realms in their mission.
These people are true blue hobbyists, coming together from places with as diverse cultural exposure as Sabah, Ipoh, and KL, to construct costumes of favourite movie characters whenever there is wind of a new release. Annwyn was formed four years ago out of a love of costuming from Peter Jacksons Lord of the Rings days. The group was initially called the LoTRians, consisting of like minded people finding solidarity through the Internet. When you spend most of your time on the Net, they are your friends, says Jamie Chang, 20, one of the Holy Trinity of Annwyn. The other two are main founder Andrea Tan, 30, and their friend Catherine, who is based in Sabah. Others come and go according to the seasons (constructed around movie releases), but the three are the backbones of Annwyn.
Costume playing, or cosplaying, involves a thorough appreciation of the character role one is playing. It is not enough to dress up as say, Batman, but one has to also adopt the mannerisms and the mindset of the character. There is hence, a highly debated issue among cosplayers about how long and to what extent one should stay in character , although for most, it is agreed that it is enough to stay rooted for photo shoots and during skits. However, there are instances of people becoming emotional when asked to abandon their persona, for example when asked to remove a characters mask or to reveal a real name. Fortunately, there was no such incidence here, during a Halloween party which featured the members and friends of Annwyn.
The one striking thing about Annwyn is that it is not a mere cash draining activity. The visionary people that they are, Andrea explains that the group also does promotional appearances for movie releases in character. Although now people who frequent Cineleisure have gotten so used to us they no longer react. It would be nice if they at least pretended to be scared, she adds with wry humour.
More at: http://reishizuno.wordpress.com/2008/11/03/crossing-over-to-the-otherworld/
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3:35Halloween Costumes 2009by BeforeAndAfterTV352,325 views
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