Coping Through Cosplay

istehlurvz:

Alright Alright srs post now. I’ma tell you all a story about myself and this costume.

BEWARE THIS GOT LONGER THAN I ANTICIPATED

HI HEY HELLO THERE! My name is Sam, I’m 21 years old and 99% of my cosplays over the years are all BULLSHIT. I’m the type of cosplayer where, ‘Hey! That looks p good in a photo!’ but up close and in person you can see every corner I cut and easy road I take.

I’m okay with this.

I like to not fret so much over the accuracy or the completion of my costumes because I’d rather have fun in them then stress over them! So when Wreck it Ralph first came out and I had a moment where I dropped into fantasy land where I actually made this stupid fucking costume and got to run around and basically act like an asshole and feel really proud of it. 

So I bought the wig.

And when I put it on I was overwhelmed with the feeling of ‘jesus christ I actually want this now.’ I really wanted to make the costume. I don’t think I’ve ever felt that way about cosplay, and even so I hadnt felt it in a very very VERY long time. So of course when Sakuracon was rolling around the corner about 3 months out I finally decided to set it in stone. 

Now I’m just gonna say this up front. I have never made armor before. Even just the concept still blows my fucking mind. So when I finally took the plunge and committed I already felt like I was diving head first into the deep end without my water wingies, 

Then I found THIS tutorial for the Fem!Shepard armor from Mass Effect and suddenly everything seemed obtainable.

Of course this was all theory in my head when I was mapping this shit out at work so when I finally hunkered down and started working on the initial blue prints I was jerked back to reality that PROP MAKING AND CRAFTS ARE FUCKING  HARD. So 724823984239 kudos to all you cray prop and armor makers out there this shit is cray.

FAST FORWARD A MONTH AND A HALF. 

I have most of the blueprints all laid out and good to go, so I go out and start buying some of the materials I’ll need to start making it. One and a half days into starting I get hit with this overwhelming sense of ‘what the fuckgujeos did I sign up for.’ and I start stressing like its nobodys friggen business. 

And as if an angel sent on high by God his goddamn self, Shelley, my darling my sweety my perfect honey bun, is hangin with me and says ‘Oh hay my dad has a dremel tool and a heat gun you can use!’

SRSLY A GODSEND. That cut the work in half and gave me results that were actually looking up and the stress started bleeding away like a pressure wound that finally got an air hole. 

So I start really gettin to work on this shit. My rule for those couple of months before the con was that I had to finish at least ONE thing every night. Sometimes I didn’t sleep because I’d get really into it (I’m an amateur this shit is hard so sue me). 

A couple of days before the con I have multiple hot glue burns, paint literally coated on my hands in the LAYERS (I still have some on my nails now and its been like a month jesus) and I am literally flipping my shit because none of its attatched and that was one of the more daunting aspects I was supposed to tackle. 

Then Shelley Amanda and Kelsey came over and literally tossed my ass into the body suit and stayed up till 3 in the fucking morning the night before the con sticking strips of industrial velcro on and around my body. Shelley even took time out over Day 0  at the con to attach last minute pieces for me. I srsly dont know where I’d be without my darling angels jesusussss

So the day I’m supposed to wear it roles around and I get all strapped up and I’m feelin fly as fuq, and then I realized that I am a big fat baby and the entire costume put together hurts like a motherfucker. So I cant keep it on for very long.

BUT LONG STORY SHORT (TOLATE) when I was in the costume running around and making faces and generally having a good time even though my feet felt like there were going to fall off

Every single compliment, every single photo someone asked for, every glance or smile or anything made me want to cry with joy.

Now I’m not claiming this is the greatest armor every made or anything but it is by far the biggest project I’ve ever completed and I worked so goddamn hard on it. Even now, just seeing people reblogging and leaving such nice comments makes me all woobly because getting recognition for something you’ve put so much time and effort into is literally one of the greatest feelings ever.

So thankyou THANK YOU THANK YOU  to everyones compliments and everything and heireslghnlwsg EMOTIONS.

a super UBER shout out to Shelley for keeping me sane through the entire creation process because I would have crashed and burned multiple times if it hadn’t been for her and all of her help and being my own personal body guard at the con and generally being the greatest friend in exsistance <3

Also to my wrecking crew Lucas Jenna Max and Ryan for putting up with my whiny cry babying and generally being the greatest group in exsistance (srsly ilu guys so much it was WORTH THE PAIN)

And of course Alex for taking all the pictures and being so patient with us when we were dragging ass before the shoot and hgvelsGrgroj <3

OKAY OKAY THE END

HAPPILY EVER AFTER AND ALL

(via mechanicaltriquetra)

gardengnostic:

maleflcent

Thank you for being so sweet when I met you! You helped make my first con experience unforgettable~

i completely forgot to submit this a long time ago because of all the rough patches i’ve been experiencing but i just had to post it because i remembered this photo and it makes me so happy. right here is the biggest sweetie in the world!! her messages always make me smile and i’m glad i have the honor of having such a lovely online friend like her, and i only wish she lived closer by so i could hangout with her because she’s so wonderful.  anyway meeting her totally made my day and im so glad to know her ;v;

cosplaytutorial:

Happy Friday! Lets get some positivity flowing.

This week i would like to put a spotlight on one of the many great community projects that involve cosplay: Cosplay for a Cure.

Cosplay for a Cure was started by a Canadian group of friends. They came together to raise awareness for Breast Cancer after a friend of theirs, Shannon Neprily, was diagnosed with Stage 3 Breast Cancer at age 30. 

Cosplay for a Cure is a photo booth that can be found at conventions in the Greater Toronto Area. They are offering congoers professional cosplay photos for $2, and all money raised is donated to the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation.

So far this year they have been at Burlington Toycon and Frostcon and are currently working on appearing at Anime North and Fanexpo Canada. They will also be at Con-Bravo in July! If you attend cons in the GTA I suggest checking them out and grabbing a photo!

You can learn more about Cosplay for a Cure on their facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/CosplayForACure

(via nightwalker4769)

kumashiro:

I dont know if i posted this on here yet but here you go its rebloggable.

This is my first pair of Vriska horns compared to my most recent.

We all start somewhere.

So what if your cosplay isn’t good. Just try again next time. Keep trying and don’t give up.

And don’t judge others because they aren’t as good because we all started out not as good as we are now.

(via gardengnostic)

nepetaquest:

makararousal:

So I’m going to tell you guys a story about the person I really like.

Her name is Kida. And this is her cosplaying Jack Frost at Ohayocon.

So, every night at Ohayocon, me and Kida were cosplaying Jack Frost. She was Jack, and I was his genderbend who I’ve been calling Joyce. So, we were in the hotel lobby where they give a free dinner to their guests and we walk past, and there’s this little boy who goes “Mom! It’s Jack Frost!”

And his mother invited us both to sit with them and eat dinner. Now, he didn’t quite get that I was a girl Jack until a little later, but that’s not the point. The point is that Kida basically leaned towards this kid and was like “You can see me?”

The two of us sat with this little boy for a good hour or so, and he kept talking to Kida, convinced he was seeing Jack Frost. He was so amazed and excited that he told Jack that he had to protect himself from Pitch because he was a bad man and he meant business. He wanted to make sure Jack would protect himself and everyone else. At one point he got really quiet and said “You fell in the lake and died.” or something to that extent, to which Kida QUICKLY replied with “But the man in the moon saved me!” And that little boy just got so thrilled.

I swear, this kid was completely awestruck to meet Jack Frost, and it only got better.

The following night, on Sunday, we were still at the con, and once again, Kida and I were Jack and Joyce Frost. And we met him again. So I happened to have my camera and I snapped some pictures of them. This little boy kept telling Kida about all these other guardians that existed, and had all these great stories to tell who he believed was Jack Frost. And he and Kida wound up playing together, and I’ve never seen a little kid have so much fun before. It turned out that we all ended up going to the pool together, and it just didn’t stop.

Long story short: My friend Kida cosplayed Jack Frost and made a little boy happier than you could ever imagine. And as far as I’m concerned, this little boy is Kida’s Jamie Bennett.

I’M CRYING OHMYGOD THIS IS SO INCREDIBLY SWEET AHHHH

(Source: polarisopposites, via gummyseacreatures)

cosplaytutorial:

For those who are planning to start sewing their own cosplays this year this might be helpful: How to take measurements!

Waist Front / Waist Back:
http://www.sempstress.org/measurement/measuring-the-waist-frontback-waist/

How to Take Measurements:
http://makinglatexclothing.com/2008/12/how-to-take-measurements/

Instructions for Taking Measurements:
http://mangakaresource.weebly.com/1/post/2011/01/sewing-measurements.html

Because some of you guys may find this to be fairly helpful!

(via nevynervine)

silverallure13:

I hear from my mom all the time that cosplay makes me a bad person. I hear that only freaks cosplay. I hear that only guys who are out to get little girls are cosplaying. She never listens to the fact that people do it for fun. Because they want to support their fandoms. Because it’s part of their life. I want to prove a point. I want everyone who cosplays or supports cosplay to re blog this. I want to show my mom I’m not a freak. I want to prove its my passion.

(Source: mendaciousmind, via mariuswearsmomjeans)

malindachan:

One of the most rewarding things about cosplaying is when you can bring a smile to someone’s face.

I just finished my Jack Frost cosplay, and I was hoping to get some snow for photos while I was home for the holidays. Unfortunately it didn’t snow, but we had heard a story in the local newspaper about a family that got the ice skating rink to dump some snow at their house so their kids could have a “White Christmas.”

We drove to the neighborhood and found the house. Kyle got out of the car and went to the door to get the family’s permission to take some photos on their snow pile. After he got the OK, I got out of the car and grabbed my staff from the back seat. A few seconds later we hear a shout of “JACK FROST!!!” from the house and two kids came running out. They were so excited, and so we told them they could be in the photo if they’d like. They ran back in to get some shoes on and then joined me for a photo. Needless to say, it was a fun cosplay adventure. :3

(via steampunk-voidster)

notbadcosplay:

Edit: This is not a discussion about how “stupid” these girls were to fall for a scam like this. It’s about it even happening. Whether or not anyone fell for this scam, it doesn’t matter. IT WAS STILL THE GOAL. In the case that a girl is sexually harassed in a real life situation, do you say, “WELL YOU SHOULDN’T HAVE BEEN DUMB”. No. So don’t do it over this. I have not seen evidence that anyone removed their clothes, but the fact that it was even asked for them to is messed up and insulting

It has come to my attention that recently there has been a scam going around, targeting female cosplayers who tend to wear sexier costumes. The user has been contacting cosplayers on different social media websites, tumblr, facebook, and deviantart included, stating they were from Cosplay.com and went as far as to use the site logo. They requested video interviews via skype, and according to people who were targeted, the user that was interviewing these cosplayers didn’t use sound or video during said interview.

Now, here’s where it becomes insulting to every single female cosplayer in the community.

At the end of the interview, the cosplayers were given a quiz on their character. If you got a question wrong, you had to take off an article of clothing.

I’m furious. This is another targeted attack on the female cosplay community, where people don’t believe attractive female cosplayers know anything about their characters

They attempted to make female cosplayer look stupid and like attention whores. I am absolutely insulted for every single female in the community who has had to deal with this!

The fact that so many cosplayers who were legitimately excited about giving an interview while dressed as a character they love, in a costume they hand crafted were fooled by someone who just wanted to try to make us look bad? No. This is not okay. Female cosplayers are targeted enough as “sluts”, “whores”, “not true nerds”, and have repeatedly been sexually harassed by men in the community who think they’re better nerds

The scammer had their deviantart removed, so I cannot track them down, but I know more than one cosplayer who was scammed and is absolutely mortified.

NOT BAD COSPLAY WILL NOT STAND FOR THIS. THE COMMUNITY WILL NOT STAND FOR THIS. If anyone every makes you feel uncomfortable during an interview, you leave that interview. You should never be told to take anything off. You should never be made to feel like you’re being sexualized, harassed, stalked, scammed, or anything else.

Here is the thread to report incidences, screen caps, etc about experiencing this event to coscom: http://www.cosplay.com/showthread.php?t=309404

If anyone would like to come to me with their account of what happened, either anonymous or not, you can email me at NotBadCosplay@gmail.com

If any videos of this end up showing up on the internet, I can promise NotBadCosplay and its followers will team together to make sure they are brought down. This sort of attack on the community is not acceptable. We are people. We love the characters we dress as. We love making and wearing costumes. We don’t to it to be oggled, sexualized, harassed, or bullied. PERIOD.

Don’t forget to submit your story if you have one!

If you don’t…well, this becomes a rather dead blog sadly!