People about Cosplay...

Cosplay is used to portray a character, in complete characterization, sometimes even down to speech and acting.

Culture appropriation, in my opinion, is always negative, portraying double standards that favor white people. For example, hairstyles used by black people seem trashy and inappropriate, but in white people they are deemed edgy.

Cosplay is a representation of the love for a character, they are acting as the character, their race or cultural background of said character usually has nothing to do with the character, it is a simple fact about them.

When a person does “cosplay”, by making fun of another race, say they dress up as a black character by simply putting on brown makeup, this is racism.

However, correctly portraying the character who happens to be black, is cosplay and is not appropriating the culture of said character, simply using their image to act as them.

It depends on what you mean by popular. It’s more or less exclusive to conventions, which have the benefit of only happening once each year per con. Attendees like myself have time to craft and sew awesome things. I know why I like it-it pushes my creative boundaries and has become my full time hobby and side-job. It’s very fun to be someone else, but it’s also fun to show off your work. I made my husband a great Groot costume for DragonCon last year and it was one of the best weekends ever. We had a blast as ‘Rockette’ and Groot. There’s something about participating in a huge fandom that is just pure fun.

I don’t think it’s really all that popular with the general public, when people don’t know who you are it can be disappointing. They don’t really know what to make of you when you come into a restaurant painted blue with a handful of storm troopers after an event or convention. Kids seem to go nuts over it though, I’m also a member of Rebel Legion and dress as Princess Leia for events. Adults are amused but kids go crazy for Darth Vader. Popularity really only seems to stretch as far as known characters.

I was always fascinated with cosplay and always wondered the reasoning behind it. Then last year I decided to try it out myself and see what I would think about it. I was completely surprised by the amount of anticipation I had for one making my own costume and two showing it off.

I think I’m officially hooked on cosplaying because it’s just so much fun to do! The whole process of picking who you are going to be, planning out the costume and then wearing it is exciting! It kind of takes you out of your life and you transform into this other person for that day.

Another fun thing is that many other people enjoy your cosplay. This is usually their opportunity to see their characters in real life, I can’t say how many drive by hugs I have gotten and many refer to your characters name (which always catches me off guard). For that day you receive a lot of love from others and I think that’s usually what makes people want to do it again (at least for me), life has too many unhappy things so being able to create this happiness not only for yourself, but for others as well is a good feeling.