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I am ill and off work. Even so, I dragged my virus-ravaged, still-coughing body into Central London this afternoon in order to cover the European launch of Final Fantasy XII at HMV in Oxford Street. Executive producer Akitoshi Kawazu and visual designer/co-director Hiroshi Minagawa were there. Also, I heard rumours of games-related freebies ;)
There were about two hundred people at the event. HMV had encouraged cosplayers to turn up, so the audience was a nice change from the black-metal-t-shirt-wearing unwashed masses that I normally see at this sort of thing.
The drill was pretty simple:
- Turn up early.
- Buy a copy of Final Fantasy XII, and/or associated merchandise.
- Put on a wristband in sight of the cashier.
- Wait around for hours in the queue while they do the cosplay awards and a superficial interview and sign stuff for the 197 people that arrived before you.
I missed out Stage 1 so I have no idea how they selected winning cosplayers. I also missed out on the posters they were giving away. It’s okay, I made up for it by surreptitiously detaching one from a wall when the staff weren’t looking…
Lots of photos are below. I do apologise for not getting anyone’s name. If I were a proper journalist I would probably be fired on the spot for such superficial coverage. Lucky I own and run this site myself, eh? I really should get some business cards printed up so that I can get in touch with people without all that awkward business of trying to conduct interviews in the aisles of a very busy HMV.
A black mage and one of many Clouds present. Is it just me or is his hair attempting to climb away from his head?
Sephiroth Kadaj from Final Fantasy: Advent Children and Lulu from Final Fantasy X.
My Final Fantasy knowledge is woefully lacking. I’m not sure who any of these girls are meant to be. I’m thinking blonde Yuna That’s Princess Ashe from Final Fantasy XII on the right. A Google Image search is strongly suggesting Penelo from Final Fantasy XII for the girl in the middle. Well, I just bought the game so I’ll find out tonight. I really don’t have a clue as to what the moogle-rabbit person on the left might be. The girl on the left is a moogle. Apparently they have giant rabbit ears these days.
I like the way this photo of fans illustrates the international appeal of Final Fantasy. Entirely intentional of course. Honest!
Okay, no. But that doesn’t make it any less true.
A close-up of female Sephiroth Kadaj, because her contact lenses are amazing. Okay, I’ll admit it. I had no idea what was what in Advent Children. I didn’t know who anyone was nor what was happening. I am a bad Final Fantasy player.
Executive producer of Final Fantasy XII Akitoshi Kawazu, kindly signing my ill-gotten poster.
Finally, co-director and visual designer Hiroshi Minagawa.
The Q&A was conducted through a translator, so I presume neither of them spoke much English. From my vantage point of being the third-last person in a queue of two-hundred-odd the only interesting fact I managed to glean was this: Akitoshi‘s favourite Final Fantasy game is Final Fantasy II because he got to work very closely on it. Thanks to both of them for graciously agreeing to let me take photos as they were signing.
Comment if you recognise any of the cosplayers, please. I’d love to publish their real names.
Edit: She’s playing Kadaj, not Sephiroth.
Also, check out Weirdo’s blog, We Are As Gods for the cosplayer insider’s view on the FFXII launch at HMV.
Update 20th Feb 2010: Check out the details for the official launch event for Final Fantasy XIII.
Bah, shame I couldn’t have been there, but some of us had to go to work!
Nice pictures, especially the close up of Sephiroth. Great contact lenses.
Heehee, I’m the purple arm behind Cloud! ^_~
The three girls were the cosplay winners, they’re all from FFXII and you were right about Penelo in the middle. The blonde girl is cosplaying Ashe, and the moogle is called Montblanc. ^_^
And to be part of the competition you had to send in three pictures of an FFXII cosplay way before the actual event, so it’s no surprise that nobody knew what was going on :(
Hi Kuja! Sorry I didn’t get a good photo of you. Bit cramped in the aisles, as you know.
Thanks for the corrections. I was playing FFXII all last night and thought it might be Ashe on the right. Only seen her very briefly in the sewers so far.
When did moogles get giant rabbit ears??
hey guys, all the cosplayers were really good, was a fun day out for all i think although i would of liked to see more cosplayers.
cant believe the goodies i got to take home XD full soudtrack wooo
Hey there, some awesome pictures, and hey you’ve got one of me ^_^ I’m the black mage at cloud’s side.
Thank you so much for taking a photo of me, and then popping it on your site ^_^ It was the first ever time I’d done anything like this :D The attention lavished upon a cosplayer is amazing :)
Weirdo
I’ve only seen a little bit of FFXII as well, I haven’t played far enough yet.
No idea how moogles lost their red bouncy ball and obtained rabbit ears, maybe they evolved. ^_~
Weirdo, your Black Mage rocked!
I wanted to get there early so I could get a moogle toy, alas I failed and was also one of the last (and also nicked a poster)
BUT THEY WEREN’T TRADITIONAL MOOGLE TOYS. If I had got there early for that, there would have been some serious murder – carried out by the million Cloud sword copies floating around.
Clobbering people to death, not cutting. :)
Yeah, I’m not convinced by this new evolution of moogles either. What’s with the freaky rabbit ears? Moogles used to be so cute. Now they’re a little scary.
i love the young girl playing Kadaj shes awsome id love to go to a cosplay but they dont have them in Scotland [they hardly even heard of Final Fantasy up hear] but the costumes are awsome and i loved the film and yup you guessd it i loved Kadak and Yazoo the most but the 3 brothers claim their hair is silver but in the film it looks more grey even the Sepiroth action figure has plain grey hair why is thise anne
thise is for Kuja if hes still out their Kuja are you and Riku sons of Jenova by any chance coz you look a lot like Kadaj Sephiroth and their gang[ Yazoo and Loz with the green eyes and silver hair] let me know thanks
Hi im a FFXII Gamer but i am stuck on a boss not very far into the game. The boss im stuck on is the last judge when your in the impearial warship. I have saved princess ashe but im stuck on the judge. I am level 13 on it and i have a level 47 attk weapon and can hit 400′s.
please i need some tips
e-mail me @ newcastle_4-eva@hotmail.co.uk
thx
Level up, bud. I was level fifteen or sixteen at the time. Use a lot of healing, and stay as far away from the judge as you can. Time your attacks just after his, so he can't just immediately hit you. Take it slow, and take out his guards first. You'll get through eventually.
I think you’ve gotta be Japanese to pull off cosplay – us Westerners just look like weirdos (or a pervert at a children’s party).
Nice pics buddy, you're so lucky to have an opportunity to attend such a great event!