People about Cosplay...

There are so many things, and most people have different reasons. Some people go to an anime convention and see the costumes, some just love a character so much they want to be them, some like performance, while others are more into the crafting.

The main reasons I started, and still, cosplay, are the crafting elements and being able to bring my favourite characters to life. There’s a huge challenge in planning how to bring some of these anime and video game characters into the real world.

One other thing that can be fun is the reactions of others. I get a lot of comments, mostly positive, on my costumes and people can tell how much work I put into my costumes. I’m not the best at the performance, but I got a lot of positive feedback this past weekend in the costume contest at a local con. It’s my creative outlet and I love that there are people who accept cosplay. I have got some negative comments, mostly from people who don’t approve of costumes, but the positive feedback and friends I have made through cosplay keep me going.

First of all, cosplay isn’t just about playing dress-up. Cosplay is a whole lot more than that. Good cosplayers will act like the character while in costume or move like the character. Serious cosplayers won’t break character when they’re in costume. It’s a little bit of acting too. But it’s a culture that’s meant to be fun.

You see, cosplay is a couple things. First, it’s a service to the fandom because other people get to essentially see their favorite characters in the flesh for a couple hours. And this is especially true if you really fit the character. But it’s a lot more than that. It’s a chance to be someone else for a little while. When you put on cosplay, you get to leave your life behind for a little while. And for the people who make their own costumes, it’s a chance to not only show off their knowledge of the character, but it allows them to show off their costume skills and say “I made that.”

So, there are a lot of different appeals to doing cosplay. Besides, with all the photos that people take of you in a day, it kind of makes you feel like a celebrity. :)

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.