Cosplay Intro

During Aztec ceremonies, the grand priest dressed as an animal to take on it's power. A Passion play is about the last mortal days of Christ, people will dress as the characters, and some go as far as to injure themselves in recognition. During Christmas in gemrnany, people dress as demons to scare away other demons. You went to Disneyland and met an actress dressed as a character, in your mind you knew it was an actor, but you ignored that stupid mind.

We all hear about people dressing up as a character or in support of something. We might even promote it if it's a subject we like. You see a fan of your team decked out in the colors and even wearing a helmet, and you want their picture.

At places like the Emerald City Comicon, there are people dressed up to represent how into a subject they are. This is the center of fandom.  They show an incredible sense of dedication to be in these costumes. Oddly enough, many feel relaxed or even more natural when in the costume. When you look at pictures of these shows, you see the cosplayers more than the average fan.

If we made a bomb chart to show dedication, the people dressed as characters would be closest to the center. They have chosen to make a life out of their fandom. At times it can be a bit intimidating to speak with them, because some want to be in that world. It can be different scales and reasons for doing this, but it stands out at shows very noticeably.

When I am at these shows, I am sometimes amazed at the dedication people take to be in costume at the show. For example, while walking to the convention center after a lunch break I saw a woman dressed up. Her clothes were revealing and it was humid and cold out. She had goosebumps from it, and was still excited to be there.

In other cases, I have seen people wear very large suits. They walked around with very little to see and sweating up a storm.

The Hall group that visits the Portland Retro Gaming Expo has told me about foggy visors, and are usually drenched in sweat after a walk around. The stormtroopers demanded that no one see them with only partial suits on.

This was all to the dedication of the act, and being the character they were.

Oddly enough, this has meant many people could be more open. It showed up when I saw casual moments.

Many seemed happy and ready to be in character. One girl became a Disney Princess for a little boy because she wanted to do that. She couldn't sit in a chair because her dress would have been impossible to sit on. So she kneeled on the ground. When I asked her about it, she was happy.

I saw cosplayers happily eat lunch or check their phones. They were at peace. In fact, when I took my cousin she said it would feel more natural to be dressed up at the convention. She talked about her costumes and who she wanted to be.

This casualness overcomes the difficulty of being a cosplayer. It pushes their dedication even farther.

When I told my cousin she didn't need to dress up she actually said it sounded weirded. No one judges you for not dressing up. At ECCC the majority wear normal clothes, and may wear a T-Shirt rather than a full xenomorph costume.

The problem is, when you read the articles or see the pictures from these shows, all you see is the cosplayers. You don't see the people in average clothing the push is that people should all be dressed up and acting like characters, even when this isn't the truth.

They stand out like a fan at a ball game. The camera catches them yelling and cheering while dressed in paint. When the newspaper talks, they show this guy screaming in the cold. His dedication obvious. To everyone, this is a true fan.

When at shows, you expect to see a person dressed up. They want to show how much they love the subject. Some even feel more at home dressed up than not. This doesn't mean everyone is like this though.

I love to see the cosplayers, and most I have chatted with have been very nice. I think one of my favorite moments was watching the girl become a Disney princess for the little boy.

Then when a little boy called out to my cousin that she was a super hero. She was wearing a super girl T-shirt with an added cape. Right after that she wanted to dress up. She wanted to be a superhero for everyone around her, and the Comicon would let her.