On Cosplay

This post is going to make me very unpopular (oops- too late) with my kind and by my kind, I mean geeks, anime/manga otaku to be precise. Being bullied/crucified by geeks; oh the irony! So here it goes, I hope those of you (who aren’t geeks) out there appreciate the risk I’m taking here: what I want to talk about today is cosplay.

Oh yes cosplay, the word was created by Nov Takahashi, from the Japanese studio called Studio Hard. Apparently when he attended the 1984 L.A. Science Fiction Worldcon and was so impressed by the costumes, that he often reported about it in Japanese Science Fiction magazines (or so Wikipedia tells me). Now there’s a whole subculture centred around creating, wearing and photographing people and their costumes. Technically cosplaying not only means dressing up as a character, it usually involves portraying (or “playing in this case) that character as well; by re-enacting scenes or adopting similar behaviour (although some people opt not to). If you want to find out more about cosplaying then go here.

Save It for the Bedroom

I personally think cosplaying is a little embarrassing; however I’ve never said that I hate it. Still there are several aspects of cosplaying that I dislike; and so since the subject was such a personal challenge, I decided to have a swipe at it anyway. Because, I must confess; I love dressing up. I always have done, ever since I was a little girl: the idea of putting on a beautiful, if not ridiculously fantastical outfit and pretending to be someone else was exciting. It’s a perfect opportunity, for those bored with reality, to escape it. That’s how I see it anyway.

I suppose this could include those who indulge such activities in the bedroom (you know who you are; there’s nothing wrong with it, so long as it’s behind closed doors) and those who enjoy the fetish scene. In all honesty, I kind of admire the dedication and effort that some people put into their outfits. Because like I said in another post; it’s probably better that people (teenagers especially) spend their money on costumes rather than drugs and cigarettes anyway right?

Sailor Moon Didn’t Weigh 187lbs

So why does something so harmless get kitten so worked up?(on second thought what doesn’t?) Well, it’s because bad cosplaying is like poo and Friday night vomit smeared all over the pavement. It’s unsightly, unacceptable and makes me feel a little ill. I don’t care how much time/money/brain cells you sacrificed; the cold hard truth is that Sailor Moon does NOT weigh 187lbs.

Yeah you heard me: and you know what I mean; if you don’t look like your character just DON’T do it. Now I know what you’re thinking, “Who the fuck has green hair and elven ears anyway huh bitch!?” No one, but if you’re going to try, then please make sure you do it WELL. There is a HUGE difference between cosplay and good cosplay. Trust me; I have seen enough examples of both to know the difference. However most of the time, people fail, big time and its innocent people like me who suffer for it. So if you’ll excuse me I have to bring this post to a close: the visual research I had to do for this post is causing my eyes to burn…