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Post by 79thfoot on May 27, 2009 8:48:42 GMT -5
It IS a very touchy subject definitely. I have utterly no idea how the public will react. Then again - as you've definitely seen - anime is all the rage here so who knows.
I cosplayed Stauffenberg at the event (as you might well have heard) and my friend and cosplay buddy Evan played a Grossdeutchland soldat and though some expat blokes shot us confused or even what might be construed as 'ill looks' there were no actual confrontations. I hope they at least realized I was playing someone who tried to kill the madman from Linz. This one Austrian fellow at the convention DID say that he liked the uniform and commented that he was from the same country Mister Hilter was from so I guess that was a compliment, lolz.
"Not much fun at Stalingrad at all, Dickie old pal old chum."
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Sandata
New Member
Every generalization is false, including this one.
Posts: 19
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Post by Sandata on Oct 18, 2009 13:42:30 GMT -5
I've had plenty of experience playing either a Guardia Civil sergeant (Spanish side) or a Tiradores del Muerte (Filipino side), I can say, it's super fun to be able to play the bad-guy sometimes. During the Cos-Play event last March 2009, I was on-stage with Sir Insurrectomad (David Banaghan), Perry Javier, and the late Nonito "Ding" Flores....
David played a drunken foreign mercenary serving with the Filipino revolutionaries whom I tried to arrest and ended up shooting then both Perry and Ding come to his rescue and hack me down with their sword and bolos before I could reload while I roll over and play dead.
The nice part is that at the end of the judging... they awarded me the prize for best historical costume play. So being the "bad guy" can be both fun and rewarding... sometimes.
BTW, we had reenactors representing a trio of Japanese soldiers for the Death March and the Philippine Liberation during the ASEAN Armies Rifle Meet last Nov 2009 at Camp O'Donnell in Capas, Tarlac. The entire presentation was well received even by the multinational visiting troops from the various ASEAN countries who were participating in the competition.
Tom Matic ("79thfoot") was there in his von Stauffenberg (Valkyrie) attire, together with a Waffen SS soldat escorting him around... and the people just enjoyed the view and admired the display and presentation. No big deal.
At the cosplay event last October 10th, a group representing a US Army infantry squad in "chocolate chip" desert cammo fatigues during the 1990-91 Operation Desert Storm walked around as "prison guards" for a beautiful young girl dressed up as Cobra's Baroness. Everybody was cheering, oggling, and rooting for the Baroness and barely paid a glance at the US Army soldiers. The audience really knew that it's all just play-acting and not something to get riled up about.
Yup, we definitely can do with some bad guys. If we were all dressed up as good guys on the winning side, the best we could do is to reenact victory marches only and no more role-played skirmishes or battles. Otherwise we'd have to get some good guys and have them play traitor to the rest of the bunch. Yikes, that might open a different can of worms.
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Post by 79thfoot on Feb 7, 2011 6:59:31 GMT -5
Lolz, he was supposed to be Grossdeutschland Berlin Wachtregiment (ie. the guys who shot Stauffenberg). It was a bit weird though cuz I got a massive headache halfway through and had to go to the Mercury Drug to get some Biogesic. It was probably very weird for the cashier girls there that a one eyed, one armed Wehrmacht Staff Officer and his bodyguard with a MP40 were queing up to get some meds but there you go.  We didn't actually get Hitler... however, we did accost one rather disturbed individual!  I actually saw a Stauffenberg at Fort MacArthur 2010, which was a big surprise. And I wish I had MY Stauffenberg uniform with me!  I dunno... the briefcase looks like he's a travelling salesman.  Es lebe das heilige Deutschland! And then for the Pirate community in the Philippines and America we are the Royal Navy - so we're technically the good guys but somehow, we're still the badguys! (As Eddie Izzard said, it's because of the Revolutionary War...)  We can't all dress up as the winning side or even as the 'good guys'. Particularly in this hobby, since there'll really be no one to "fight" if we're all the good guys. I guess it gets touchy though - and this depends on the place - when certain historical points of tension (such as issues with the Fil-American War) particularly incidents of atrocities (Japanese in Asia, Germans in Europe) are associated with certain uniforms. It does make things rather difficult sometimes! |
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medic
New Member
Re-living Philippine history with a passion.
Posts: 37
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Post by medic on Feb 7, 2011 9:14:46 GMT -5
During my last birthday we had lunch at a Tuscan style restaurant owned by a British fellow and his Filipina wife in Tagaytay. I went dressed as a Das Reich Assault Artillery senior sergeant on leave. Before I donned my full uniform I asked the British owner if he had any issues with medals and emblems with swastikas and he was very open about it, even saying that the swastika was originally a Christian symbol (I always thought it was Hindu). Some of his other guests were staring, though, heh heh. I did enjoy it. Sorry if I seemed to have the wrong headgear, though. I thought the Totempkoff skull on my other cap might be a bit much.  Uploaded with ImageShack.us By cesarphotos at 2011-02-07  By cesarphotos at 2011-02-07  By cesarphotos at 2011-02-07 |
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Post by 79thfoot on Feb 10, 2011 2:36:04 GMT -5
I think it's generally less awkward to dress up in German or even Waffen-SS uniform in Asia/Philippines - that's a really sweeeeet feldgrau panzerjacket btw. I wonder though if our own version of what might be offensive would be if a group dressed up as let's say, the Imperial Special Naval Landing Force (ie. Japanese Marines) or the Kempetai?
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Post by labrador on Feb 10, 2011 4:05:38 GMT -5
Got a funny story about that, 79th foot. We were invited to provide a display for an exhibit on besang pass at the AFP museum last year and we debated over and over on whether it would be appropriate to have reenactors dressed as IJA soldiers at the event. Our concerns were that the veterans present (it was a veterans event) would be offended by the enemy participation in an event honoring their sacrifices. Well, we eventually decided that we would try it. once. To our surprise, the IJA contingent was swamped by veterans wanting souveneir photos with the japanese while the PS and PA reenactors were widely ignored.  |
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Post by jnmodeller on Feb 10, 2011 18:28:13 GMT -5
Medic thats the spirit, i like that. why not post at ww2aa
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medic
New Member
Re-living Philippine history with a passion.
Posts: 37
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Post by medic on Feb 15, 2011 10:04:23 GMT -5
Sure thing, Jo!
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Post by hughdotoh on Apr 12, 2012 3:35:53 GMT -5
Got a funny story about that, 79th foot. We were invited to provide a display for an exhibit on besang pass at the AFP museum last year and we debated over and over on whether it would be appropriate to have reenactors dressed as IJA soldiers at the event. Our concerns were that the veterans present (it was a veterans event) would be offended by the enemy participation in an event honoring their sacrifices. Well, we eventually decided that we would try it. once. To our surprise, the IJA contingent was swamped by veterans wanting souveneir photos with the japanese while the PS and PA reenactors were widely ignored. Matter of making the right introductions, I reckon, and avoiding some specific places. I up and introduced meself to some of the veterans during the last Ft. Sotsenburg re-enacment and told them I was doing the bad guy stuff, and that there would be others in the same team (can't have a re-enactment without the bad guys). The veterans were actually impressed. |
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Post by 79thfoot on May 10, 2012 16:01:41 GMT -5
Been reading articles on various military/history journals - I think it tends to diminish with the years: "Time heals all wounds" ika nga. I mean, think of the Romans and Vikings - they weren't exactly St.Francis of Assisi but today they are cool to reenact.
It's really an iffy sort of thing - not just for reenacting but if you collect militaria or even evince any sort of interest in the subject. I enjoy collecting 1/6th scale figures but those figures which are 'nazi' sometimes get unwelcome responses on collecting boards.
Glad to hear, though, of the positive response to the IJA contingent. I think (hopefully) that at least in the area of reenacting, Pinoys can distinguish between enthusiasts playing a role to educate the public and those that actually bring politics into the mix. I think one problem here in America is that politics IS brought into the mix.
That being said... I wonder if I could get away reenacting an OstLegion soldat here in America?
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Post by labrador on May 10, 2012 19:43:16 GMT -5
79th by the looks of it, more and more asians are reenacting as the bad guys. There's even an asian guy in California Historical Group's 12th SS. Heck one of our good friends Jason is a Pinoy in Panzer Lehr over in the UK so ost legion would be well within respectable limits...Even Cossack!
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Post by 79thfoot on May 15, 2012 22:17:36 GMT -5
Sounds good! I actually was able to find what I think is a repro Afrika Korps jacket - just gotta have it brought over, that and the panzer wrap I did for a potential historical cosplay event. Now that I'm in America, I might as well deck it out with proper insignia.  |
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Post by frank on May 16, 2012 1:10:12 GMT -5
79th,
Will you be attending old Ft. Mac days this July?
What impression will you be doing?
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Post by 79thfoot on May 17, 2012 20:02:27 GMT -5
Hi Frank,
Ah, sadly no. I'm on the home stretch of my classes here in Dallas and I'll be finishing that off and moving out of here with my wife to Florida. It will be so weird missing it this year! Still, hopefully that gives me a year to get my DAK uniform together, among other things.
We hope to attend next year though!
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manang
History Student
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Post by manang on Aug 25, 2012 20:38:48 GMT -5
You may be surprised to find that during WWII, there was "43 Battalion" of the German Whermacht. This was made up of Japanese, Chinese, Thai, Koreans, and Mongols. This unit fought against the Allies in Normandy.
The reason 43 Battalion existed is that the Asians did not consider the Japanese their worse enemy, they considered the "Communist and Joseph Stalin" as the enemy, and joined the Germans later, after Operation Barbarosa started....
So the idea of a Filipino portraying a soldier of the Whermacht, Waffen SS, or even the Gestapo isn't so far fetched as it seems.
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