Hiro-Iro: {COSPLAY} Fairy Tail: Jellal Fernandes

The 5^th Philippine Cosplay Convention (PCC) was held at Robinson’s Manila this past weekend. Much to some PAOtakus’ surprise, it was only held for one day. PCC was usually held for two days. Anyway, there were still at least a dozen PAOtakus who met up at the event and of course, a crowd of con-goers graced PCC. It doesn’t have admission fees to begin with so it is only natural. However, there is always this feeling that something is lacking whenever an anime convention is held at Robinson’s Manila (either PCC or TAGCOM). I can not exactly point it out but there really is a different feel... Perhaps brought about by a different kind of crowd? Whatever it is, I always liked the fact that there are lots of foreigners in this venue and they really are amused of the cosplayers.

I decided (last-minute) to cosplay Jellal Fernandes at PCC. I had five days to prepare for this cos. I call it as some sort of an almost impromptu cosplay. Impromptu cosplay would be like using readily available items either everything you need or partly. In the case of Jellal, I already have some of the items I need while I still need to get the rest.

I always make it a point to prepare for cosplay months or at least a few weeks ahead. By prepare, I mean the costume, weapons and other items must already be complete at least a few weeks before the event proper. However, for this instance, I intentionally decided to cosplay a new character less than one week before the event just to see how it will come out. For a change.

I was “generally” fortunate to have my Jellal cosplay push through at PCC. I got white pants, a pair of boots and the black sleeveless turtleneck-like shirt. I needed Jellal’s coat from season two (the one he took from the wind-element magic user), obviously, this coat is the thing that needed to be custom-made. I asked the tailor if he would be able to finish the coat four days before the day I will be claiming it. He was positive and so I provided him the materials. But then as I had expected, the coat has not even been started yet on the day I was about to claim it.

NOTE: This is the illness that MOST, if not all, tailors and seamstress share. You give the job order ahead of time but they will only attend to it on the day you will be getting it and if you’re there watching them. If you are most unfortunate, they will have forgotten your costume all together and will give you tons of excuses. That is why it is most advisable to have your costumes made ahead of the event especially if the costume is detailed or complicated.

At any rate, the tailor was able to sew it the whole morning till noon on the day of the event. I know he’ll make it considering that Jellal’s coat isn’t complicated. I have to admit that it’s really irritating given that I have provided enough time for the thing to be done. But then, we likewise have to accept the horrible mystery that surrounds dressmakers. Again, refer to the above note. >_<

As for the hair, I tried looking for on-hand wigs to no avail. I was ready to color my hair with washable blue hair spray. Luckily, I was able to find a good-quality blue wig in one of the merchandise booths. Actually it was Kaizen, a PAOtaku, who first got to buy the same wig for his Kaito cosplay. I felt like I have Siegrain or Mystogan with me. LOL

Special thanks to Kaizen for doing a job well done on my face tattoo. It was Jellal’s tattoo that really worried me the most. Good thing Kaizen was game on doing it. We used a pencil eyeliner for the outline and a liquid eyeliner for the filling.