What is cosplay, one might ask? Wikipedia divulges the following:
Cosplay (コスプレ, kosupure?), short for "costume roleplay", is a type of performance art in which participants don costumes and accessories to represent a specific character or idea. ... Favorite sources include manga, anime, tokusatsu, comic books, graphic novels, video games, hentai and fantasy movies. ... Any entity from the real or virtual world that lends itself to dramatic interpretation may be taken up as a subject. Inanimate objects are given anthropomorphic forms and it is not unusual to see genders switched, with women playing male roles and vice versa.
So in the past two years I've gone from thinking cosplay looks fun but hella expensive, to not caring about the expense and wanting to cosplay anything, anywhere, anytime. Who here has ever cosplayed before? Who have you cosplayed? Who would you like to cosplay? Do you prefer to make your costumes or buy them? Do you show them off at conventions or through photoshoots or do you prefer to keep it to yourself? Do you ever cosplay in groups?
I have cosplayed...
~ Lucia (Lunar 2: Eternal Blue - red outfit)
~ Haruhi Suzumiya (The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya)
~ Yuki Nagato (The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya)
I plan to cosplay...
~ Yuki Nagato (bunny girl version)
~ Desirae Delite (Phoenix Wright 3)
~ Jin Shirato (Persona 3)
If I win the lottery one day, I would like to cosplay...
~ Ganondorf (Zelda: Wind Waker - feminized though, like Shoe's Eggwoman)
~ Belldandy (Ah My Goddess)
~ Red Priestess Mauri (Lunar 2: Eternal Blue, picture unavailable)
~ Lina Inverse (Slayers)
~ Yuki Nagato (pink plaid gothic lolita version)
~ Yukari Takeba (Persona 3 - the winter outfit's in the top right corner)
That's all for now. I'll edit later if I think of more but this is a pretty good list for now. Your turn to post what you've done, Kitty :3 And to the rest of you, I'm super excited to see what you guys've done or plan to do 😀
~Shadowednavi
Well, I am a cosplay whore and love to have pictures of myself taken, and to that end I present...
Things I've cosplayed
- Kira Yamato (Earth Alliance) (Gundam SEED)
- Kira Yamato (ORB Union) (Gundam SEED)
- Organization XIII (Kingdom Hearts 2)
- Pip Bernadotte (Hellsing)
- Ron Weasley (Harry Potter)
- Walter Kovacs (Watchmen)
- Kyon (Haruhi)
- Ronfar (Lunar 2: Eternal Blue)
Things I would like to someday cosplay
Mask*DeMasque/Ron DeLite (Phoenix Wright)
Mad Hatter version of Kyon (Haruhi)
Takaya aka. Albino Jesus (Persona 3)
Neku (The World Ends With You)
Zelgadis or Zangalus (Slayers)
-
Let's elaborate on those, then. With Kira, I was in love with Gundam SEED and ordered the EA one on Ebay for Dragon*Con 2005, a year after my first major anime/comic convention. After this, I was watching SEED Destiny and fell in love with the outfits, so specifically commissioned the outfit from the lovely woman who runs BeAnime and even asked her for some tips and tricks which would later be helpful in my (failed) attempts to self-make cosplay.
By the time I started going to conventions in England I was in full pre-KH2 hype, and bought one of those sexy cloaks that were in the trailers. Since Final Mix people were selling those things all over, so I got one. But I didn't really have a wig or care which Org member I was (and the game wasn't OUT yet), so I was just a generic member. Maybe Marluxia if anyone demanded an answer of me. My next visit I made some very good friends with a fellow SEED fan and due to a long and amusing annecdote which I would love to bore you all with someday, but the punchline is that we were stolen away by some wonderful Hellsing fangirls who became close friends. They dressed the two of us up as Alucard and Pip respectively... I'd never heard of Hellsing until AFTER I dressed as one of it's side characters.
Next comes Ron of whom I bought extensively online and had several donations by aforementioned Hellsing fangirl, Rel, who was dressing as Hermoine for the Deathly Hallow's launch party. So I was to be Ron, and Ron I was... and still am every Halloween, as it's the only one of my outfits with mainstream appeal.
In America, I joined a cosplay club, where we learn to make our own outfits and MAN do I have fun there. I have a nigh on yaoi relationship with my club rival there and though we've not coordinated outfits yet... it shall oneday happen. The first year I attempted to build myself the Mask*DeMasque coat/cape, but failed in the lining stages. I still have the failed scrap... somewhere, but it was a failure. Walter Kovacs was a "find stuff in Goodwill and make it work" replacement cosplay and it worked out beautifully.
The following year, Tricia was fully invested in joining me with the cosplay crusade and decided to make me wear outfits to match her Lucia and Yuki respectively, so I became healing warrior priest Ronfar from Lunar 2 (thanks to her amazing cosplay design, she made it from scratch) and ebay bought Kyon.
This coming year we are working on a Alice in Wonderland themed Haruhi group, where I will be Mad Hatter/Kyon and perhaps even Takaya the shirtless doomsayer from Persona 3, if Tricia's whim becomes an obsession.
The following ACEN, though... THAT is when I unleash my dreams and do Ron DeLite like I've always dreamed.
The rest are idle whims.
I'll be cosplaying as Zidane Tribal from FFIX at Anime Weekend Atlanta at the 16th Sept this year, and my Beloved Danielle will be cosplaying as Princess Garnet in her white Princess gown. I've also had a Phoenix Wright Cosplay...but sadly I lost the Jacket/Tie, and no surviving pictures of my wearing this particular costume survived the Great HDD Crash of a month and a bit ago, thus the Zidane is all the Cosplay pics you'll likely ever see! 😛
I have cosplayed...
The Nostalgia Critic
I plan to cosplay...
Ask That Guy
Linkara
If I win the lottery one day, I would like to cosplay...
Giovanni
Julius Belmont
Well, there was that one time I recycled my play outfit into a Rorschach costume.
I have cosplayed
Johnny from the Guilty Gear games
Sephiroth from Final Fantasy VII
I plan to cosplay
Geese Howard from SNK's fighting games
If I win the lottery one day, I would like to cosplay
Il Pallazo from Excel Saga
Quick comment on the Haruhi-ing: the blue. The blue the girls wear in the series is a more faded out blue and the brightness you guys picked out makes it feel... off? And Kyon usually goes in a much darker blue outfit than anything else.
ANYwhos, I haven't cosplayed, though the wife keeps wanting to try more and more of it, and she's a hellova perfectionist, so unless it's exact to the source material and if she can't pull it off, she won't even bother. She went as a Team Rocket Grunt to C2E2 and pulled it off marvelously. There's pics out there of her but not enough around to easily find them. I'd post my own pics but she's extremely shy of I guess advertising that she likes it? I dunno.
So here's a random pic I found off of flickr (haha loophole). http://www.flickr.com/pho...n/set-72157623759278369/ Honestly it's not the best picture but there ya go.
PS: Craig, amazing Walter. And personally? Your hair is doubly awesome like that.
I'd like to one day cosplay as Sango from Inuyasha. I already have a Kirara plushie.
Back in the day when it was still called fancy dress and I was aged between 6 to 9 I "fancy dressed" as
i. A robot (the specific character name eludes me at this present moment)
ii. Michelangelo (turtle)
More recently (aged 21) I once again partook in some fancy dressing as "Flash Gordon"
As such I have never cosplayed.
The blue the girls wear in the series is a more faded out blue and the brightness you guys picked out makes it feel... off? And Kyon usually goes in a much darker blue outfit than anything else.
The blue I chose for the skirt/collar is definitely more reminiscent of the anime versus the pictures from the books. And it definitely looks more accurate in person, I promise ^^ But for Kyon, yeah... the jacket is definitely too bright. But we had that commissioned and we got it like DAYS before ACEN, so at that point we took what we could get.
~Shadowednavi
Can't say I've ever cosplayed, however I've always said if I had the time/effort/skill, the one character I would totally cosplay as would be Colin Baker's Doctor in Doctor Who.
But yeah like I said, time/skill/effort. Where does one even start with a jacket like this?
Ooooooooh! This thread is the thread made just for you and mee~!
craig 
craig's .... pictures........ <drools and saves pictures in the scared craig folder>
*sigh* I'll get the mop...
I'm gonna play the jealous wife card for a minute and request you please keep that to yourself kthx 
Also, SHOE.
WE MUST GET TOGETHER SOMETIME.
AND MAKE THE WORLD EXPLODE WITH OUR SEXY TAKES ON OLDSCHOOL VILLAINS.
(not that WW Ganondorf is really that oldschool, but it was still... @___@ DEAR LORD nearly eight years ago when that came out? I feel so old right now, what the hell....)
~Shadowednavi
Funny this thread should be here after I return from Otakon.
Two years ago, I went as L from Death Note. This year, I went as the Scout from Team Fortress 2. As you might have gathered, I'm pretty lazy about making my costumes and go for what's easy to throw together at an economical (if not free) price. This year was a good year for TF2 cosplaying at Otakon in particular; we had some great RED versus BLU battles in and around the centre, including a BLU Scout rush from the third floor. I don't have anything else in the pipelines right now as far as ideas; they're usually spurious.
Also, Shoe, I saw someone cosplay as Flo at Otakon. That is worth extreme originality points in my book.
This year was a good year for TF2 cosplaying at Otakon in particular; we had some great RED versus BLU battles in and around the centre, including a BLU Scout rush from the third floor.
It intrigues me but the lack of interesting black characters kind of kills it...
It's probably been said but Craig makes a very convincing Ron. And Navi, I really love your Lucia costume the most!
This year was a good year for TF2 cosplaying at Otakon in particular; we had some great RED versus BLU battles in and around the centre, including a BLU Scout rush from the third floor.
Unfortunately, no. I later heard about that group shot from a BLU Engineer. Wish I had been there, though; those Spies backstabbed me twice during the convention and I wanted revenge. 
It intrigues me but the lack of interesting black characters kind of kills it...
DON'T EVEN THINK THAT THOUGHT EVER AGAIN.
Height, weight, skin color, or anything else should NEVER interfere with whatever character you want to cosplay as. The goal is for YOU to have fun. Some d-bags out there might say "well the goal is also to look accurate..." -- but they're probably too hardcore perfectionists to even remember what "fun" is when it comes to cosplay. You'd be hard-pressed to find anyone who actually has the body type/colors to match whatever character they're playing as. So I insist you not worry, and if it's something you want to do, for the love of the Purple Tree, you go out there and do it 😀
And thank you for the compliments, btw 😀 On a related note, one of the best Hiro cosplayers I've ever seen has dark skin. He plans on making Crono for next year's ACEN. Just food for thought ^^
~Shadowednavi
Has anyone ever seen cosplay of the girl in my avatar? Kuroki Mio from Sailor Moon (live-action version). That would be the best kind. <3
http://www.cosplay.com/costume/292125/ <~ it's not exactly what you're looking for, but I think it's the same character ^^;
~Shadowednavi
Reading that Wiki description of Cosplay, that means that most any Halloween Costume is a Cosplay outfit. If I am wrong about this, please tell me what is the fundamental difference, outside of doing it on a specific day or at a specific event? Is it limited to Japanese Anime influence only?
In any event, I really wanna do a Kikoutei armor suit from YST.
Thank you, Shadowednavi!
DL - the biggest difference I would say between cosplay and costumes for Halloween is the intent to recreate a character. At Halloween, most people don't actually try to "embody" the character they dress up as. They tend to dress up because of the holiday. But with cosplay, you see a lot of pictures of people posing as the character would, imitating characters, and generally trying to be who they're dressing up as, and not just dressing up.
If that makes any sense at all 8D It's 2AM and I spent the last 12 hours playing video games for the first time in months. I'd be surprised if ANYTHING makes sense now.
~Shadowednavi
SNav. Oh Ok then. I cosplay on Halloween then :O. No fun if you don't try to embody the character!
Cosplay is pretty much the ultimate fanwork as I see it. In fanart people try and recreate and breathe life the character using paper or whatever medium, in fanfiction it's with words, in cosplay the medium is their own body. And in all of them the reason is to have fun.
Still, I've never cosplayed before and I never intend to. But I can still appreciate the effort involved.
Well, with my Visit to the US all but totally confirmed, I can certainly now promise that there will be pictures of One Mobius Springheart and his beloved Danielle as Zidane and Garnet as we explore the magnificent AWACon in over a months time on the 16th of September. :3
My first trip abroad ever is by myself...I honestly can't wait! =D
I think there was a time when I didn't consider the idea of cosplay. That is, until I went to my first con about a year ago. Granted, the costume I made was based on an original outfit that I made for a canonical character, but who cares? I got to paint my face blue! Tee Hee. I don't see myself cosplaying much, mostly because of the lack of time and money (that and I have NO sewing skills whatsoever), but if I usually come across something I feel possible to do within my time frame and (lack of) skills, I go for it.
Baring that in mind, I have two cosplays I have under my belt: Daria's Jane Lane whom is in my "wanna-do-one-day" list and Transformers Animated Prowl which I definitely am doing (got sketches made on how I'll do it given it's more a costume that represents him then an actual wear of him because sheesh, cosplaying a robot?! I don't have the skills!)
Meh - Haters gonna hate. XD
http://www.comicsalliance...westboro-baptist-church/
Relevant.
Would that qualify as "feeding the RL trolls"?
As for the subject at hand, no I don't bother with cosplay, unless dressing up as Darth Maul for Halloween as a kid for a few years in a row counts.
It qualifies as trolling that chruch.
It qualifies as trolling that chruch.
I was referring to the church ITSELF as being the non-Internet equivalent of a forum troll. Seems apparent from how they can't contain their laughter during interviews.
Also, I'm not sure if parodying them in cosplay outfits (I'm assuming that's what's going on?) is really going to be that impactful to a group that doesn't seem to be stopped by being the target of violence from some of the people they piss off.
Better late than never!
I'll get the mop...
Well I'm at Dragon*Con right now. I love cosplaying! I've forgotten all my costumes I've worn. Right now I'm Yuuki Cross, wearing my Vampire Knight Day Class uniform.
Tomorrow I'll be dressing in a steampunk outfit that includes an awesome real corset. On Sunday, I'll be wearing my Ghawazee coat.
I didn't finish my Lolita outfit in time and I left my BSG bdu at home. When I return from D*Con, I'll type in a list of future cosplays I plan on doing.
Is anyone else here at D*Con?
:3 Here's me and my fiancee....together for last week!
...God, we're so good together. XD;
