We all have cosplayers we look up to. People who do amazing work, have great photoshoots they share, and who offer help and advice to others. But have you ever known a cosplayer who started out as someone who inspires, and then ends up cosplaying for the ‘wrong’ reasons?
I have had my fair share of cosplayers I personally looked up to only to be disappointed and let down a few weeks/months later. Why is that? Let me say first that most cosplayers start off with good intentions. They make a Facebook page or webpage to allow others to find them. They share things related to cosplaying, and will often make tutorials and various other informative guides to help aide their fellow cosplayers. However somewhere along the road they lost it.
What did they lose exactly? Before I answer what it is they have lost please look at the 3 things a cosplayer does that cause me to loose respect for them as cosplayer.
3. Empty promises
Often times cosplayers will do giveaways or events that end in follows or ‘likes’ getting some cool free stuff. Usually these events have a timeframe, and a ‘Like/Share/Comment’ as it’s entry fee. I have no problem with reblogging a cosplayers giveaway with the gamble I may be the 1-out-of-hundreds to win some prize. It’s a way to promote the cosplayer (in a weird way, yes) and score a chance at something that may prove useful to me.
But I have seen far to many cosplayers say one thing and not follow through. I.e. ‘I will announce the winners in a week!’ and then they completely ignore responding to others about choosing a winner or they are ‘too busy’ with life to pick a winner and ship the item(s) i.e LAZY.
If you are a cosplayer and you plan on doing a giveaway or event FOLLOW THROUGH! Busy with life right now? Don’t do a giveaway! When I follow cosplayers and notice this I unfollow. A cosplayer who cannot keep their word is not a cosplayer I want to be affiliated with.
2. Overly obsessed with themselves
Now you might be saying ‘Happy, how can you say this! They are a beautiful cosplayer and nobody else is complaining that they share selfies all the time!’. Guess what, you don’t get it. You want to share selfies all the time on your cosplaying pages? Fine by me. But when your posts contain a photo of you in cosplay with self-absorbed text more then twice a week I’m out. It’s clear you have reached that point in your cosplay life that, sadly, many reach. The ‘Im famous, beautiful, and I want you to see all of that in this picture of me eating a waffle!’ idea is not something I am interested in.
The waffle, maybe…
But seriously. What I am getting at here is many cosplayers reach a point, a high so to say, where they feel really famous. And their posts and shares begin to look something like ‘Im so cute! Don’t you think so?’ with an image of the cosplayer beside another picture of a cosplayer they are deeming to look ‘better’ then, which is very degrading. Don’t compare yourself to someone else. I’ve said before, your skill level does NOT define you as a cosplayer.
Confident, thats fine. Comfortable with your body and like to show it off, that’s fine too. But when you start to believe you are better then someone else simply because of your looks or skill level I am gone!
1. When asked why they cosplay the answer goes against the cosplayers actions and behavior.
I do Skype interviews with cosplayers for my weekly web series on my YouTube channel titled Interview with a Cosplayer where I ask different cosplayers questions and get to know them. This does not apply to anyone I have interviewed, but lets pretend it did. Heres an example;
Me: So why do you cosplay?
Cosplayer: Oh, well I just like it! I get to make friends, go to panels, and make cosplays that I enjoy wearing.
Me: Would you say you inspire others with your cosplaying?
Cosplayer: Most definitely!
And upon research I come to find this cosplayer is only focused on self, has been known to be rude to others at conventions, and who I can visually see on social media is degrading of other cosplayers. This happens allot. Cosplayers become to focused with ‘self’, they forget the core reasons for cosplaying.
So what are the core reasons? What is it they have lost along the way that makes me loose respect for them?
The core reasons of cosplaying is to Inspire, promote, encourage, explore, experience, and continue to hold those passions so that others can see that cosplay is not about self, but about all.
Cosplayers tend to get caught up in the ‘I’ or ‘Me’ phase. They tend to get lost in the ‘fame’ and ‘camera lights’ that they can forget their fellow cosplayers around them.
If you are bringing others down, if you are not inspiring, if you are centered on ‘self’ and not ‘all’, and if you do not uphold your promises then you have lost my respect.
-HappyCosplayer
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