When the offer first came, we were honestly a little puzzled. A drone festival? Not Seoul or KINTEX, but a municipal event in Pocheon, a city we didn't know. Since we had mostly worked at subculture events, we wondered whether it was really a fit for us. Once we took part, though, it became clear that worry had been unfounded.
What do drones have to do with cosplay?
The Pocheon Drone Festival centers on drone flight shows, but it also ran a separate esports event zone. The program there included a game character cosplay contest and stage performances, and that was the part we took on.
The event ran two days, 9–10 October. Entrants who had applied took the stage for the cosplay contest, while our crew handled the performance. Putting on a cosplay stage in front of Pocheon residents who had come to see a drone show was an unusual combination — which is exactly why it stayed with us.
A stage built on a single cue sheet
Being a municipal event, conditions on site differed a lot from subculture events. The sound equipment was different, and so was the stage structure we were used to. So during preparation we coordinated carefully in advance with the sound and lighting teams.
We built the cue sheet minute by minute: when the crew enters, where the music changes, each pose section, how they exit. Nothing was to be improvised on stage — everything moved inside the cue sheet. We also prepared custom background video reflecting the game's world, and edited character theme music for the audio.
On the day, we remember the murmur among Pocheon residents in the seats as they watched the screen. Many seemed to be encountering cosplay for the first time. The moment that stayed with us most was after the stage ended, when children said they wanted to take photos together.
An unexpected exchange with Pocheon residents
What we worried about most was, frankly, the reaction. It isn't an event that draws subculture fans, so we expected some people would find cosplay unfamiliar.
On site, though, the response was genuinely warm. Many came as families — children tugging at their parents' hands, shy but wanting a photo; older visitors striking up conversation to say the costumes were beautiful. It wasn't the fan reaction we knew, but it was a chance to meet a much wider public.
The contest entrants left an impression too. People from Pocheon and northern Gyeonggi who had been doing cosplay quietly on their own took part, and told us they were simply glad a cosplay contest existed at a local event like this.
What a municipal event taught us
After Pocheon we talked it over at length as a team. A subculture event gathers people who are already interested; a municipal event lets you meet a far wider audience in an entirely different context. In a sense we had shown what makes cosplay appealing in a more demanding environment.
The experience widened the range of stages we feel we can work on. Not only where fans gather, but anywhere people gather — Pocheon, a drone festival, it doesn't matter. That was the reward of this event.