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[CezzaXV]

Hi guys.

I agreed to write a conbook article for a con I'm going to, and this is it. I haven't submitted it yet, so I thought some people would like to read it and maybe offer some opinions on it. Let me know what you think! I figured this would be the best place to post it, since it's cosplay related. If it's in the wrong place and you're a mod, please move it.


A Non-Cosplayer's Guide to Cosplay

Cosplay. I’m sure if you’ve ever been to a con before, you’ll have seen a cosplayer. A con just wouldn’t be a con without cosplayers. Think back to the first convention you went to. Remember the first thoughts that went through your mind when your favourite character was stood there right in front of you. Now, try and put yourself in the other position. You are that character, and picture the looks on the newbies’ faces when they see you in that costume. Surely that’s gotta be worth putting some effort in for if nothing else?

Cosplay is one of the most addictive and mind-blowing drugs you can possibly get into. Not unlike other drugs, it takes over your mind, hindering your ability to think properly. You spend all your money on it and all you can think about is where your next piece of fabric is coming from. It’s highly addictive - you only have to do it once, and after that you’ll find it hard to imagine going to a con in normal clothes. I apologise in advance for any non-cosplayers I may convert with this article. Sure, it’s all fun and games when you’re at the con, but you have no idea what goes on behind the scenes.

So, you’re sat there one afternoon, and you’re planning on going to a con. Okay, good. Then, all of a sudden it somehow seems like a good idea to cosplay. You’ve never cosplayed before, and it seems like a fun thing to do. Oh God, that’s where it all starts. Maybe you have some idea of who you want to dress up as, maybe you don’t. It’s usually better if you don’t know. Those who do generally like to pick the most brilliant costumes. Yes, they’re brilliant, but they’re impossible to make. I pity the poor girl who decides she wants to cosplay Lulu from Final Fantasy X on her first go, completely oblivious to how difficult leather, fur, corsets and belts are to deal with, or the innocent boy who has no idea how impractical Sephiroth’s katana is to carry around at a convention for hours on end.

Sooner or later, you’ll stumble upon a character, and you’ll just know they’ll be the one you have to do. I frequently find this happens in university lectures, actually. There’s something about two-hour long lectures on AI on a sweltering Tuesday afternoon that gets the cosplay ideas rolling. And if the ideas don’t come rolling, then you’ll more than likely spend a very long time staring at your manga/anime/game collection. But once you’ve got that idea, you’re away. Now comes the time to do your homework. Every spare moment of your time right now is probably spent compiling a huge database of reference pictures for your character. Google and Youtube are probably your two most visited websites now. Not only that, but manga you haven’t read in months are coming down off the shelf. You need to be wary of manga spending sprees right now, too. In the beginning, I owned two volumes of the Dragonball Z manga. Then I decided to cosplay Android 18, and ended up spending far too much money on the other twenty-four volumes. Expensive, yes, but I had a brilliant time reading them. That’s beyond the point now though.

So, now you’re sat there with printouts of your character from every possible angle there is, and maybe now some of your enthusiasm is wearing down. When you were watching the anime, you didn’t notice that that character had seams there, or the intricate detail on their shoulders or whatever. But it’s too late to change your mind now, because you’ve already got your heart set on
that character.

Ebay is usually a good first stop. It really is a cosplayer’s best friend. You have a look around, find something perfect, cry when it’s completely out of your price range, find something else, then order it. I always order my wig first. Nothing pulls a costume together like a really nice wig.

Next, we go shopping. Yes, it’s completely uncool to hang around in charity shops for hours, and teenagers might not be the general clientele the old crones at the fabric shop are used to, but think how fantastic you’re going to look when you get to that con. I’m sure that the old guy at my local fabric store must think ‘Oh God, not her again’ every time I go in there. There’s quite a funny story about the twenty centimetres of leather I bought the other day, but I’m not going to go into detail here.

So, you’ve gone out shopping, either in reality or cyberspace, and probably bought something that will form some kind of basis for your costume. Now we’re back to staring at reference pictures, and as you try something, you’ll really begin to regret choosing that character. You had no idea how difficult that certain bit was going to be, but you persevere, and something resembling your character’ clothes begins to come together. Then you try it on and it doesn’t fit. So you pick your sewing apart and try it again. By now, this bloody costume has taken over your whole life. There’s something you can’t get quite right, and it’s driving you up the wall, and if you never saw your costume again it wouldn’t bother you. You tell yourself you’re going to take a break, but you can’t help yourself. It keeps calling you back. Two months have just gone by, and you hadn’t even noticed. That essay is due in tomorrow, but you have to make this costume first! It won’t let you go! Eventually, a fitting costume that looks vaguely like your character comes through.

By now, your wig has probably come through the post. I always look forward to my wigs arriving. So, you put this wig on, trying to fit your natural hair underneath it. Half an hour later, you finally get it on your head. Now you throw on this half finished costume, and look in the mirror. You won’t be able to believe that’s you in the mirror. No, that can’t be me, can it? But it is. And now all of a sudden, all that hard work seems worth it, especially when your own mother doesn’t recognise you with that colour hair. You could spend the whole day looking at your reflection.

But you don’t have time to do that! The con is next week and your costume is only half done! It doesn’t matter if your con was originally seven months away, you’ll always be there in the last few days finishing something off. This is possibly the most annoying bit. You just have to get on with it. Finally, mere hours before you’re due to catch that train to the con, you manage to get it done. Hurriedly, you put it in your suitcase with your ‘real’ clothes and weekend’s supply of Pocky.

So, off you go to the train or bus station to catch whatever you’re waiting for, wondering why it never occurred to you before how ridiculous it is to get that ultra-cool weapon on public transport and still have it in one piece when you arrive at your destination. I’ll admit I’m also a culprit of that. Fujin’s pinwheel is certainly an impressive piece of work. I’ll be over the moon if at the time you’re reading this article it’s still with me and the six spikes haven’t become four.

Eventually, you’ll end up in the city your con’s in, and head to your hotel. Damage survey time. Chances are something of your costume will have come undone during transit, and now’s the time to fix it. Hope you remembered to bring your emergency fix-up kit – something no cosplayer should be caught without. Let’s just hope the hotel manager isn’t around. He really doesn’t need to see the scraps of fabric and cotton strewn around the room, or the glue you accidentally spilt on the bed sheets. By now, your costume is probably a huge mass of glue, cotton and safety pins on the inside, but as long as it’s looking great on the outside, does anyone really need to know that?

Just a few moments, then the time will come that all your efforts over the past months have been building up to. Don your costume, maybe take a few photos before the con (because you’ll forget afterwards or it’ll be ruined by the end of the day), then head to the convention hall. The looks you get from passers by wondering what on Earth you’re wearing are classic. You get bonus points if you have the audacity to stop for a McDonald’s on the way there; just be careful not to get your costume dirty before you even get to the con.

So, into the convention hall, get your character’s weapon checked out in Ops, and you’re away. Well, running away. Screaming fangirls and glompers galore. By the time the masquerade comes you’ll be crawling onto the stage. I’m not trying to scare anyone off, by the way. Being mobbed is all part of the fun. Of course, there is the occasional fan who is capable of talking to you about the anime you’re from without wrapping themselves around your legs. These are the people who have enough mental capacity to understand that it’s just a costume. You see, cosplaying is a great way to meet people who love the same anime as you. If you’re wearing a Naruto costume, then chances are you’re going to meet a fair few Naruto fans as you go around the convention hall – a large majority would never have spoke to you if you weren’t wearing that costume. Some great friends will be made as you’re walking around now. Make sure you’ve got pen and paper on you, since there’ll probably be a few email addresses that you’ll want to take down.

(continued in next post - damn that 10000 character limit!)

[CezzaXV]

Masquerade time! You have absolutely no idea what poses you can do on the stage, and you might have to go find some reference pictures to show the judges, but it’s not about the winning. The masquerade will be the high point of your convention, so make sure you enjoy it. Try to stay in character – it’s always much more fun that way. By the end, you’ll be exhausted, but you’ll have had a whale of a time. The time you spent tearing your hair out over your costume are long forgotten and the evidence of it is hidden under your wig.

What the hell? It’s Sunday afternoon already? Where has this con just disappeared to? It’s now that the sleep deprivation begins to kick in. Almost time to go home now, but there’s always time for one last party, right?

When you finally arrive home, you can burn your costume if you like. Didn’t it put you through enough trouble? Then again, it’s amazing how much those clothes can change your entire convention experience. Just remember this though – if you burn it, you’ll have to make a whole new costume for the next con you go to, but I suspect that after the time you had at that con, you’ll actually want to go through that all over again.



So, whaddya think?

[Mesoian]

On the back cover, in big letters, there should be written:

"DON'T PANIC"

[CezzaXV]

Originally Posted by Mesoian

On the back cover, in big letters, there should be written:

"DON'T PANIC"

Haha, I completely agree with that.

[Miasan]

I really like this article! And I second the "DON'T PANIC" idea. XD
However, it's quite long. If the conbook you're talking about is a small book with some funny articles in it and yours is one of it.. I'm not sure if anyone will read it. (Maybe when they get back home) Might sound pretty harsh, but when people see an article is long they -most of the time- don't want to read it. One whole page sometimes already is too much!
But, if the conbook is supposed to have longer stories then it's perfect I think.
I hope this comment is usefull for you xD

[Kesra]

I agree...Lovely article though ^^

[CezzaXV]

Originally Posted by Miasan

I really like this article! And I second the "DON'T PANIC" idea. XD
However, it's quite long. If the conbook you're talking about is a small book with some funny articles in it and yours is one of it.. I'm not sure if anyone will read it. (Maybe when they get back home) Might sound pretty harsh, but when people see an article is long they -most of the time- don't want to read it. One whole page sometimes already is too much!
But, if the conbook is supposed to have longer stories then it's perfect I think.
I hope this comment is usefull for you xD

Well, the guideline was up to 1500 words, but mine's 1900 words. I asked the con people about this, and they said it'd be okay. They'll read it and tell me whether or not it needed cutting down a bit.

[NekoMimiChan]

I loved it, it perfectly describes cosplay: "its not my antidrug it is my drug"

[Yamia Ishtar]

Wonderful description of the cosplay universe(it encouraged me to get back to work on that darn Trinity Blood costume...*kicks costume* ). Good job! :3

[SakuraAngel]

Thats a really amazing article. I have butterflies from reading that. I'm in the process of making my first cosplay and if I feel like that at the end of this experience, then I can't wait ^_^

[>zeta<]

i think it's really good and would get more cosplayers out there :3 also modivated to to start working on Mello again >_>

[_jedi]

Ah, this is brilliant! I wish I could have read this when I first started cosplaying.
I also agree with the "DON'T PANIC."
Although they will anyways. Heh.

[Spetsnaz]

The cosplay KGB with much glorious support from Moscow have read through this thread and determined it do be with in the Moscow scale of Norms for cosplay, there for it is approved with highest regards and shows the might of progressive cosplay.

A positive mark as been made upon your employment record in the Cosplay Republic.

[Nefeline]

Yeah, it's really motivating! I'm pretty new to cosplay as well. I have finished my first costume only a couple of weeks ago and I'm already addicted. Reading your article gives me the great warm feeling of actually being part of the wonderful world of cosplay now. :3

[Ghost613]

Originally Posted by NekoMimiChan

I loved it, it perfectly describes cosplay: "its not my antidrug it is my drug"

lol, yeah it leave you too broke to buy said drugs.
i like this. it made me laugh.