Toronto 2011 Fan Exo: COSPLAY - Just 'Cos
To Cosplayers, it’s about fun, creativity and honouring characters to whom they feel a connection. To an outsider, they wouldn’t be caught dead in body-flaw hugging tights and spandex. We try and investigate the truth behind the phenomenon of Cosplay!
COSPLAY - def: short for "costume play". A type of performance art in which participants don costumes and accessories to represent a specic character or idea. Characters are often drawn from popular ction in Japan.Cosplayers are fans of ctional characters who enjoy hand-crafting costumes and waving their geek ag high at certain times of the year. ie: Comic book conventions, anime conventions and any convention affording them the opportunity to dress like Batman. To an outsider, Cosplay equals: a) weirdos b) Star Trek weirdos. To Cosplayers, its about fun, creativity and honouring characters to whom they feel a connection. Sometimes its about belonging to a group of like-minded individuals; sometimes its as simple as the chance to be silly for a day. The term itself has grown to include those who dress as characters from movies and television from its original anime lovers. To an outsider, they wouldnt be caught dead in body-aw hugging tights and spandex. At FANEXPO in Toronto, a growing con of comics, gaming, anime and horror, many people turned up in costumes. They are well aware that its an unusual hobby, but they dont care. It is worthwhile noting that these guys and gals wore costumes that are hand-built and hand-sewn and largely without formal art/sewing training. Furthermore, these costume builders were sometimes very young and devoted a great deal of effort into making something which was important to them. When asked what the motivation was for putting hours of work into elaborate outts for no pay and little to no recognition, the response - across the board was: its fun. Fun, indeed, but it must run deeper than that. A large number of attendees at FANEXPO were not yet college age, and a number of the older fans were working stiffs, and this was their outlet for creativity. The wish to be a superhero or ultra-powerful for a day is an emotion that, while unusual, is something everyone has thought about at some point or another. The wish to be a cute little rabbit girl from a video game is a whimsical fancy that some people act upon that others do not. Another overwhelming reasoning behind cosplaying? Why should people only dress up once a year at Halloween? ANIME cosplayers tend to be the most serious about the costuming subculture as they are the godfathers of cosplay. Most of the costumes and rules sprang from the anime/manga fans, and they are a serious bunch. They have stringent guidelines about COSPLAY - Just Cos how to build costumes (everything must be handmade) and to-the-letter instructions on what every character costume should contain. Most people, however, dont give a sh*t and dress how they want and build costumes to please themselves and bond with other fellow dresser-uppers, and a huge part of the culture is allowing total strangers to photograph ones costume. There are many divisions of cosplayers, some of whom vehemently deny that they are cosplayers (see below): Superhero, cartoon characters, anime characters (these tend to be the most hardcore), gamer characters, Steampunk, and Lolitas - the latter two groups making it clear that they do not fall under the category of cosplay (see above denition). The question on everybodys lips, however, is why? Why in the name of Odin would anyone go through the energy and effort (not to mention the expense) of cramming themselves into a costume during the peak of summer to walk and let total strangers take their pictures? Different people had different answers.
WHO? Sierra - 18 WHAT? DAPHNE - Scooby-Doo cartoon WHY? She watched it when she was a kid, it was dirt cheap costume, and it was too hard to be a mystical character. Everyone dresses up at FANEXPO and she wanted to take part. Shes NOT a hardcore Cosplayer. Its just fun. 
WHO? David - 17 WHAT? The JOKER - Batman Villain WHY? Its an iconic villain, and its a funny costume. Love to dress up because its like Halloween. Its FUN. 
WHO? Andrew - 18 WHAT? Scarecrow - Batman Villain WHY? Specically why Scarecrow? - a particularly nasty and psychotic character. Villains can do what they want. Scarecrow pinpoints everyones deepest fear, and thats how he operates as a villain. Plus, the costume was less than $150 to make and only took him a month to build it. 
WHO? Karlee - 22 (for more photos visit Karlees tumblr site: eelrak.tumblr.com) WHAT? Ulala from the video game SPACE CHANNEL 5 from the Sega Dreamcast 10th anniversary edition. This would fall under the Anime category, although there is a huge contingent of Anime cosplayers, but Karlees costume covers gamer and anime. WHY? Its a really surreal game (eg: Michael Jackson voices one of the characters). Has always felt a connection to the character, who is 22 and Kaylee turned 22 this year, and thought, why not? She loved the design of the costume, and has worn it a few times - she also has another costume she wears - COMMANDER SHEPPARD from Mass Effect. She mostly wears the game character costumes. (NOTE: The guitar is also hand built, and made out of cardboard - Karlee has NO TRAINING in costume design/sculpture) 
WHO? Ryan - 24 WHAT? Rob Roy - historical character (Ryan is dressed as the MOVIE version) WHY? Its less effort than a real costume, its an homage to his favorite lms. He attends approximately 7 Cons a year and dresses in different costumes for each one. Plus he loves the attention. Ryans GF, Tracey, 22, built this costume for him, including the boots. She dresses up now and again, and also has no formal training in costume or fashion design. She learned how to sew with her mother and does this just for fun. (NOTE: Ryan owns a business running speed dating events for geeks at these cons) 
These people are known as LOLITAs (No, not a typo. This is what this look is called.) When asked, why Lolita (as it is also the title of a very famous book about a pedophile), their response was it does not translate well from Japanese (huh?). They vehemently separate themselves from Cosplayers, because they are not dressing as a character. This is a type of look derived from Japanese street fashion. THEY ACTUALLY DRESS LIKE THIS. FOR REALS. WHY? Its pretty, and its different, and theatrical.When asked what about this specic look appeals to them, they all started talking at the same time. The gist was that the outts are not hand made (some are, most are not) and range from approximately $200-$1500 (not including accessories). There are very stringent rules as to the TYPE of Lolita look ie: there is sweet, bittersweet etc. and there are very denite modesty silouhettes. WHO? Amanda Stock - 22 and Adam Smith - 50s WHAT? STEAMPUNK - A huge trend that has recently hit the mainstream, but has existed in different forms in the past. The philosophy behind the look being what things would look like if the digital age had happened 100 years ago. THEY ARE NOT COSPLAYERS. They create things from scratch and are not dressing as existing characters. WHY? Adam is lm industry professional who sometimes works as a prop builder. The appeal for him are the ights of fancy and unlimited possibilities in creating both props and wardrobe. The idea that he can look through a junk store and see possibilities in inventing a new use for it. (It should be noted at this point that Adam studied engineering in university and can build/create/draw just about anything). The costumes are partially created, and partially bought, which is what appeals to many of the members of Steampunk culture. You can come across something that exists (for example, his jacket is from H & M, the bike was bought from the internet, and the rest of the costume is built by Adam and his family). Sometimes a look is based on one thing and evolves around it (ie: Adams costume evolved around the safari jacket), and other times you have a look in mind and go out and nd things that support or enhance the look. A lot of the appeal lies in the speculative look at ction and frivolity and the literary roots of the culture. 
WHO: ANIME Causeplayers (ALLY, 18, pictured left) WHAT: Characters from the anime BLEACH. WHY? Its fun, and its fun to get attention for the day. It was a hobby and a great way to meet people. These two character costumes exemplify Cosplay. The roots are in anime, and the two girls pictured above built every part of their costumes, start to nish. They are incredibly detailed - the wings on the costume on the right fold in and out. Allys costume took two months to build and cost approximately $2000 all in. The worst part of building the costume was waiting for the paint to dry so she could move to a different stage of the build. Then, a group that brings Cosplay to a whole new level. WHO: The 501st. (See www.501st.com for more information) WHAT: 3 guesses. WHY: The 501st, obviously are Star Wars fans who enjoy recreating the costumes and characters of Star Wars down to the tiniest detail. According to Phil, a recent member of the 501st in Canada, one must present their costume proposal to a committee for approval, and then one is permitted to partake in the 501st events. The costumes are so detailed that George Lucas has approved their appearances when a request is presented to him for Star Wars characters to make appearances at public events. The 501st at FANEXPO in Toronto does a parade every day, and has a very strict hierarchy in their organization. The draw for Phil was the socializing with other fans, the ability to pay homage to one of his favorite movie franchises, and do charity appearances. The 501st especially prides itself on how much fundraising work they do during their appearances. At FanExpo, they had a $1 to shoot a Stormtrooper booth with all proceeds going to a childrens charity. (NOTE: The costumes are so realistic that when I was interviewing Phil, and a Stormtrooper started walking towards me, I got weirded out and started backing up). As time consuming and thankless as the practice of cosplay might seem, its perfectly understandable. It allows people who have a creative bent to have an outlet while paying respect to characters who they admire and identify with. Playing dressup is never a bad thing, and the possibility of making new, like-minded friends has wide appeal to a large number of cosplayers. It has an unfortunate reputation for being uber-geeky, but so what? Cosplayers often admit that they know theyre being weird, but is that so wrong? Perhaps the chance to be relentlessly geeky and completely get out of yourself for one day takes the pressure off everyday life. The most amazing thing about the cosplayers was that it wasnt about recognition. It was about appreciation of creativity and an expression of their own. IT WAS JUST A HOBBY. The only recognition they expected was photos being taken amongst themselves and mutual admiration for the amount of work and detail that went into making such elaborate outts. The greatest thing, personally, about watching people put time and energy into costumes that nobody will ever see was wondering if I was looking at the next James Cameron walking around the room without ever realizing it. Or the next Batman.