Supa Nova welcomed the Monkey King cosplay

Monkey King cosplayer: Deni Chau.

Supa Nova welcomed the 1st ever Chinese origin character cosplay "The Monkey King"
25 June 2011.

Supa Nova is a pop cultural expo and it is happening once a year in almost all capital cities in all Australian states. In the expo showground there are many stalls offering sales (such as anime cartoons, movies) as well as costumes and props, video games including game competitions, arts and mangas. Interestingly if you come to this expo you will find many people wearing cosplays. There is a cosplay competition provided by Madman. It’s a company that sells entertainment videos and music. Most of Japanese anime videos are available from Madman. The Madman cosplay competitions are held at Supa Nova every year.

On 25 June 2011, Supa Nova is happening in Claremont Perth Australia. It is my first time in my life ever to attend this great costume show-off event and more than that it is my first time ever to register a cosplay competition. I arrived at Supa Nova at 11:45am without wearing my Monkey King costume. I went in and was amazed to see people wearing great cosplays but none of theirs looks like Chinese or even not like any Korean characters. Storm Trooper cosplay (from Star Wars) is the most number of costumes I saw.

According to my friends who attended Supa Nova in the past years in Perth and friends who attended Supa Nova in Eastern States did not see any true Chinese origin character on the showground.

Although some said they saw a Monkey style character which they did not think he was the true Monkey King character since he did not wear Monkey wig and nose or even did not look like a Monkey at all.

On 25 June 2011 at Supa Nova showground in Perth, I dressed as Monkey King and went out to the public at 12:20pm without the wig and the crown feathers until one of my best friends named Yongky Ong came at 1pm.

Madman National rejected the costume

The Costume was rejected by Madman National Cosplay Championship

The Monkey King cosplay was unable to enter Madman National Cosplay Championship because it was rejected by Madman.

According to Madman Cosplay rules only characters from Japanese animes, video games, and mangas are allowed in the National Competition. Unfortunately Monkey King is a Chinese origin character.

The Monkey King however was allowed to enter regular Madman competition.

Monkey King weapon "Jin Gu Bang"

Ruyi Jingu Bang (如意金箍棒; literally meaning "Ideal Golden-bound Cudgel"), or simply as Ruyi Bang or Jingu Bang, is the poetic name of a magical weapon wielded by the Monkey King in the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West. Anthony Yu translated the name for simplicity as "The Compliant Rod".
(Source: Wikipedia).

Monkey King weapon "Jin Gu Bang"

This Monkey King cosplay weapon named 'Jin Gu Bang' was made specially for me by LineKong props-maker company in China. It will not be found elsewhere in the world unless if you try to make it your own.

The Costume in detail

This is my Monkey King cosplay in closer look:
[This is the 1st ever version of my Monkey King costume] which was photographed on 27 June 2011 after Supa Nova.

Monkey King cosplay

Monkey King cosplay

The Costume construction

The construction of Monkey King cosplay costume

Monkey King during Chinese festival

I planned to construct a cosplay costume for myself to attend the Madman National Cosplay Championship on 25 June 2011 at Supa Nova Perth Western Australia. The character I was planning to be is Monkey King. He is Chinese character who also appears in Japanese anime too.

The construction of this costume began soon after end of 2011 Chinese New Year celebration.

At the beginning of March, the leather fabric with crocodile pattern was scissored.

In just 4 weeks the base costume including the belt were completed. The lion head and the pair of two heads were detached from toys and they were attached to the costume.

Unfortunately, the base costume was a little bit too big for me so I put aside this costume for the time being.

Fèngchìzijinguan

Next was the most interesting and the most unique crown. It's called the Fèngchìzijinguan.

Fèngchìzijinguan means the crown of feathers is the most unique crown only worn by the Monkey King. In the story Journey To The West, this crown was one of the treasures of the dragon kings which was given to Sun Wukong.

The crown was beautifully constructed with details of many beads and gold decorations.

The construction of this crown was not easy but it finally completed without the feathers.

The Fenghuang (or Asian Phoenix) feathers are not available in Australia and they are from one of the protected birds in the world named Fenghuang bird (or Asian Phoenix).

About Monkey King (Sun Wukong)

Monkey King on Wii

Sun Wukong (孙悟空), also known as the Monkey King is a main character in the classical Chinese epic novel Journey to the West (西遊記). In the novel, he is a monkey born from a stone who acquires supernatural powers through Taoist practices. After rebelling against heaven and being imprisoned under a mountain by the Buddha, he later accompanies the monk Xuanzang on a journey to retrieve Buddhist sutras from India. (Source: Wikipedia).

Monkey King in the original Chinese Novel

Biography

Name: Sun Wukong (Monkey King).

Country of origin: China.

Created by: Wu Cheng'en.

Year of creation: 16th century.

First appearance: Journey To The West (Novel).

More info about this character:

Sun Wukong possesses an immense amount of strength; he is able to lift his 8,100 kg staff with ease. He is also superbly fast, able to travel 54,000 kilometers in one somersault. Sun knows 72 transformations, which allows him to transform into various animals and objects; he has trouble, however, transforming into other people, because he is unable to complete the transformation of his tail. He is a skilled fighter, capable of holding his own against the best generals of heaven. Each of his hairs possesses magical properties, and is capable of transforming either into a clone of the Monkey King himself, or various weapons, animals, and other objects. He also knows spells that can command wind, part water, conjure protective circles against demons, and freeze humans, demons, and gods alike.

(Source: Wikipedia).

Monkey King cosplay - Deni Chau

Made by Deni Chau cosplayer. This blog is all about Monkey King cosplay (Wukong cosplay) it is my favourite cosplay costume including all my Monkey King cosplay activities, upgrade/works, and cosplay photoshoot without and with other cosplayers.

Thank you for visiting Monkey King cosplay blog website.