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Posted October 17, 2016 by Flipgeeks Team in Cosplay
 
 

The Not-So Secret Origin of Ramon “Spider-Dan” Geromo

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Spider-Dan is someone that you’ll see most of the time in different conventions in a different cosplay every time. Mostly people recognize him for his cosplay of everyone’s favorite wall-crawler, Spider-Man.

Ramon ‘Spider-Dan’ Geromo has been cosplaying for years and you might have spoken or taken a picture with him but do you happen to know the person underneath all the make-ups, the masks? As someone who had been cosplaying for years, Spider-Dan shares his stories and tips in cosplaying. We’ve known him for years and this is the only time that we learned about some of the stuff that he shared with us. At this year’s, Cosplay Mania, we were able to hang-out with Spider-Dan and what was supposed to be part of our CoN Stories ended up being a full feature. Read on to know more about the man underneath the mask.

FG: You’ve been cosplaying different versions of Spider-Man over the years, so the first question would be that why Spider-Man?

Dan: “I’ve been cosplaying Spider-Man since 1999, I just simply love the character and the concept of the character. Personally, he’s one of my favorite superheroes growing up. So I like the fact that he is the combination of Batman; an animal horror themed character who used gadgets and Superman; who has primary colors, has a secret identity in the field of journalism. So I think Stan Lee combined these two characters and turned them into something completely new. I like that fact… Because… I’m more of a DC fan actually.

One thing I like about him is that regardless of what your race, how handsome you look, it doesn’t matter because you have a full faced mask and it works for me; I can be limber, I can dance, I can make all the necessary movements that I normally do even when I’m not in costume so Spider-Man is the perfect fit to cosplay

FG: What’s the story of your first cosplay as Spider-Man?

Dan: “In the ancient times of December 1999, I was first year college then;  yung professor namin sabi niya ‘you need to participate in the annual lantern parade’ and ang theme namin ay Icons, so people represented different icons from Hollywood, or from different countries, kunwari may isa sa amin na nag Siland costume so marami siyang arms, meron from movies, so isa nag Star Wars siya. So I wanted to represent comics, so back then kakabasa ko lang ng isang article tungkol sa official Spider-Man mascot ng Marvel and he has been doing it since the 70s. So na-inspire ako sa kanya, at natuwa ako kasi nabasa ko na never niya na-reveal yung face niya and yung real name niya so I said ‘SHIT! Gusto ko maging ganyan! Gusto ko pag-laki ko ganyan ang buhay ko’.’So dun ako nag-start, nagpagawa ako ng costume, tutal graded naman siya so why not start there? And then ayan na ang lantern parade tapos nalaman ko na hindi pala siya graded, volunteer shit yun.

So “what the hell” may costuma na ako! So every time may event sa college namin, kunwari school fair or gathering lang or may gig sa school naming ako nalang yung sira-ulo na bigla nalang mag Spider-Man bigla. So eventually nung nagkaroon ako ng sarili kong band, tutal event naman ang band parang expected na nung mga nasa college namin na “uy si Spider-Man andiyan na naman!” so habang tumutugtog ako, na-associate sa band yung pag co-costume ko so di ko na siya na let go. Every time my gig kami kailangan nandiyan si Spider-Man, kailangan naka Spider-Man suit ako unless di ko yun nagawa panget! Panget ang gig namin. Yung pangalan ng band, KikoMachine, nagka-album kami, nagkaroon kami ng marami maraming gigs so hindi ko na nabitawan ang pagiging Spider-Man. So I’ve been doing it for 15 years.”

FG: HENCE, SPIDER-DAN!

Dan: “Yesssss! So na-assiociate ako sa pagiging Spider-Man sa gigs namin.”

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FG: Other than Spider-Man, since you’ve been cosplaying for a long time what were the other cosplays have you done so far?

Dan: “Marami rin! Nung ancient times of 2009 naman, nung namatay si Michael Jackson nabuhay ulit yung ‘Michael Jackson Mania’ nagkaroon siya ng bagong album,  may movie siya, ganun everyone was crazy for Michael Jackson pero hindi sa cosplay so naisip ko ‘eh di, Ako na! ako na mauna! I-cocosplay ko si Michael Jackson!’ so I had to learn the moves, I had to learn to put on the make-up, and started studying his movements and his voice, and learn to talk like that (SpiderDan did the voice in person and it was amazing). Ang gusto ko din is learning experience siya from scratch, not just how to become a cosplayer but how to become an impersonator. Kasi andami-dami niyan nuances, as if character siya because back then hindi siya normal human being, character siya eh so marami siyang mga ka-weirduhan sa katawan niya na dapat mong gayahin and interesting na gayahin so isa yun sa mga na-enjoy ko na non-Spider-Man cosplay at ang hirap niyang gawin!”

FG: Any future plans? Like a dream cosplay?

Dan: “It’s funny that you said DREAM kasi tomorrow I’m actually gonna cosplay Dream from Sandman at may group kami. Usually, hindi ako nagpla-plan way ahead ng cosplay parang bigla nalang darating yan. Parang a few months ago, nag-cosplay ako ng Eleven dahil uso nung panahon na yun ay Stranger Things. So nagpatahi agad ako “YEAH! ELEVEN! GAME GAME ELEVEN!” so ayun other than that, hindi ako nagpla-plano ako ng cosplay ng sobrang long term.”

FG: Any advice para sa mga gusto mag-cosplay?

Dan: Well, ONE! Mag-ipon… Kasi magastos ‘tong hobby natin. Then again, any art endeavor magastos so it doesn’t hurt to save a little or other than mag-ipon ay maging smart ka sa pera. TWO! Swerte tayo na nandito tayo sa panahon na accessible ang information; may youtube, may google, so aralin mo na ang character mo and aralin mo na yung mga gumawa ng character mo na nauna sayo. Example, Internationally or sa Japan or sa US or locally may mga gumawa nun pag-aralan mo yung mga ginawa nila para meron kang mapick-up. Kasi aral din siya as a character eh, para kang actor ka talaga or theatrical actor na ibinibigay sayo na role so you have to study that role and you have to become that character. On the other hand, yung winning para saa kin secondary lang siya. Para sa akin, it’s more on having fun so kung ang intention mo is winning, agad-agad mahihirapan ka. Hindi yun yung foundation na ginagawa natin eh, it’s more of fan art siya, serving the fandom, putting youself among the fans and declaring yourself as the best fan kasi sinuot yung character natin. Pang apat! ENJOY! Enjoy the hell out of it.

FG: Outside of gigs, did you associate Spider-Man with other things?

Dan: “Sa work! Ang work ko ay advertising so open sila sa mga ganyan like there were times na I have to present to a client na naisip ng boss namin na ‘masmaganda na makukuha natin yung pitch pag nag Spider-Man ka’. Tapos may mga parties kami or events na kailangan si Spider-Man kasi naging mas masaya. Eh di game! Andyan narin lang, So ayun The World Collide na yung buhay ko sa advertising, yung buhay ko sa cosplay, at music!”

The FlipGeeks team along with fans hanging out with Spider-Dan during one of our Flip The Switch screenings. (c) The Best Thing in Life are Freaks

The FlipGeeks team along with fans hanging out with Spider-Dan during one of our Flip The Switch screenings.
(c) The Best Thing in Life are Freaks

 


Flipgeeks Team