The Other Side of Cosplay

While cosplay may be a lot of fun and all, there is another side to it, a darker one.

Believe it or not, cosplay has its fair share in drama. Not that I have been through too much of it, but it is definitely around. Here are a few issues that float around the cosplay community.

Not the Right Body Type
People sometimes choose characters according to their body types. What if someone who is pretty big wants to cosplay some character from one of Clamp's series, i.e. CardCaptor Sakura, xxxHolic, Code Geass, etc.? Clamp's character designs tend are very skinny. Some think they shouldn't cosplay a character they like just because they don't look like them.

That's not true. It is very stereotypical to do such a thing. People should just enjoy cosplay as as it was meant to be, and that is to just have fun with it. It makes me upset to think that you are not able to cosplay who you like just because of what you look like, in general. Reality check? As close as a person can get to a character, you're still not that character.

Competition
Another thing that gets me is people think too highly of themselves. I know this is not the case with a number of people, but it does get to the point where someone thinks they are so much better than another. There are situations where people would sabotage another person's costume and/or costume pieces in order to get on top. Now, mind you this does not happen too often, but it is very possible. The number of awards someone gets does not make you "super special awesome" and think you can say that you're the best in the world. It just boosts your ego further to where you start to believe and take on that egotistical attitude.

Friendly competition, however, is a little better in the sense where someone who may not have won an award of some sort that said person can ask another for advice on how to become better at the craft. I'm okay with that, but, if you start acting all snob-like, then why are you cosplaying in the first place?

Society and Cultural Norms
Then, we have the norms of society and culture of the public. Why can't everyone be equal? What cosplayers do is not just fun and games. They put so much hard work, effort, and time into making their costumes, and yet we get ridiculed. Something happened at a recent con where a cosplayer's costume was, literally, ripped right off that person's body by little kids. What is it that makes them think they could do that so openly as to humiliate him or her? It's possible that it may be a culture thing, but it is still improper to do such a thing after the cosplayer has worked so hard to put the costume together.

Another thing is the typical person would think this is nothing but a waste of precious time. In our minds, we think of it as a way to express our creativity. Cosplay is an art form just like any other artist out there, past, present, and future. The only difference is, unless you're marketing yourself, you're not earning a single penny. That's how much dedication people put into their costumes. They don't expect anything except for appreciation from a passerby or a fan of the series the costume is from.



Now, I know not everything is true, but this is from my point of view. It's how I think things are being perceived. This is also just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the dark side of cosplay. Like everything else in the world, there are bound to be pros and cons.

Definitely going to cover a lighter subject next time, so stay tuned!