00:00And I stand for normalizing men's self-care and mental health, especially for young boys and young men.
00:07My dream of joining Century to the Superbods is art when I humbly represented the Philippines as a Filipino professional
00:16cosplayer in over 15 countries around the world.
00:20And I noticed one thing in common among all of these conventions.
00:25There are so many young boys and young men who went to me and said,
00:30they pursued their fitness journey and avoided their suicidal thoughts because they were inspired by my story, my works, and
00:38my own fitness journey.
00:40And that's when I realized the importance of what I was doing, that fitness, mental health, and self-care goes
00:46hand-in-hand.
00:47That's why I wanted to amplify my voice, not just locally, but internationally.
00:52As a young boy, I was bullied a lot for being too lanky.
00:55And later on in life, as a content creator, I was body-shamed online for being overweight.
01:02And I was considered an outcast and queer because of my art and my works.
01:07And I grew up in a society where talking about my emotions and feelings is considered as a weakness.
01:14So I never asked for help.
01:15I auditioned Century Tuna Superbod to defeat my broken version of myself that was caused by my inability to recognize
01:25and understand my mental health.
01:28For nine years, I have portrayed superheroes, fantasy superheroes, from games, anime, and movies.
01:35I think this time, it's time for me to unleash the real superhero inside of me.
01:40Whatever happens to me this day, and in this competition, this is my superbod here.
01:46Thank you, sir.
01:50Thank you, sir.
01:52So your name here is Mark Christopher.
01:55That's my real name.
01:56How do you get your nickname with?
01:58Okay, so the real thing is, I was a very big Michael Jackson fan when I was a boy.
02:03So his son is named Prince.
02:06And my classmates become calling me Prince.
02:09Because he's my son of Michael Jackson.
02:11So that's how it happened.
02:12And then, it just adopted as I grew up.
02:18So my question to you is, how can you use your cosplay online persona?
02:27To drive the fitness agenda.
02:31A lot of people in the cosplay community adored their favorite superheroes.
02:36So that's why they always wanted to go to the gym to become a better version of themselves.
02:40I also stand that cosplay is for everybody.
02:43And for every body.
02:45That's what I stand for.
02:46So a cosplay celebration of love.
02:49And a lot of them just want to become the better version of themselves.
02:52And that's how I inject fitness in this adobe.
02:56I'm sure this is your favorite part of your why.
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