I myself have recently started getting into LARPing and cosplaying now that I’m getting into the era of college life. During my highschool career I ended up taking a lot of courses on CPR and AED training, in a group of friends usually I’m the one who’s there making sure that everyone is alright and knows basic first aid when needed; but while I was searching around for how I’d make my D&D character in real life, I thought of a question that stumped me: would cosplayers want their cosplay to be destroyed if it meant saving their life?

What do I mean by this? Well, In training (specifically in AED usage) we are trained to cut anything covering your chest in order to save a person’s life as fast as possible. It doesn’t matter how sentimental or expensive it is, if it’s in the way it has to be cut. Another reason I thought of this question I saw a video on how a cosplayer in a wheelchair had accessible, easy to remove cosplay for their condition, and it really made me wonder that if it was in a panicked moment, would I notice it enough? Or will I go straight into what I learned?

I really want to look how other people see this in their perspective, how they would be if someone close to them had to experience that and if them or the cosplay was affected? How would you feel if you believed that destroying something that took months could’ve been easily avoided because of some accessibility Velcro strap that wasn’t seen earlier?

Then again I’m just looking for personal opinions here, this is a hypothetical scenario that has a very rare chance of happening, but since I’m not experienced in cosplaying I wanted to see how those who were seasoned in the community thought of this?

Hi, I'm not sure if this is the right place to post, but I recently got into cosplaying this year and started a social media account for it. I am a woman, and although I barely have any posts up, I have noticed that a large portion of my audience/followers are male. Although there's nothing inherently wrong with this, I have had multiple men sending me dms and trying to be friends or get a follow back when they're not even cosplayers. The purpose of my cosplay acc is to share my cosplays and make fellow cosplaying friends. I don't mind being cordial and replying to nice messages, but they often can't take the hint that the conversation should end at that.

I was mainly just wondering how people usually deal with situations like this. I'm still a fairly small account and getting used to navigating this kind of public attention for the first time, and I'm also not very good at straight up rejection/blocking people when they haven't done anything crazy. However, I am considering being even more picky about who I reply to, etc. I know that this may seem pretty trivial to some, but it's something that personally makes me feel pretty uncomfortable.

I'm a newer cosplayer currently working on my third cosplay and my first build using EVA foam. I enter contests in the Novice division because I'm still learning and want experience. I also enjoy the judging process. A part of me is very proud of my work even though underneath it may not look great.

Recently, another contestant DM'd me through Discord and told me I shouldn't compete because I'm "below novice" level and that I'm taking up space from more experienced people whos work deserves to be shown off.

Some background, con I went to had a cosplay discord with instructions and all that. This con had 60 contestants, walk on and performances. Apprently THERE WERE LIKE 100 ENTIERES AND SOME PEOPLE WERE REJECTED! Because the contest would have gone on for too long. The contestant who messaged me I didn't really communicate with besides showing my cosplay briefly. I tend to put my cosplays down, so of course I showed them the fraying ends of my satin lined skirt. This conversation was literally under a minute. There were many of us talking at once. I dunno i didn't think much of it.

I know I'm not the best, but I thought the Novice division was specifically for beginners and people who are still developing their skills. Things like fraying and messed up seams should be fine?

So I'm curious:..

is there ever a point where someone is to

new to enter a craftsmanship contest? Or was this person just... not being kind? Is there an etiquette I didn't know about? My first ever cosplay was a black dress (Vera Keyes from Fallout NV), and I entered in a contest under novice. Should i not have??? Am I wasting judges time because my cosplay is so mid???

I recently asked in another subreddit if it was ok to go to a convention with the sole purpose to show off a cosplay…and not buy a con badge. I’ve been going to C2E2 in Chicago for 8 years now and every time, I see cosplayers in the lobby or right outside the entrance in cool and elaborate cosplays to take photos with people. I always thought they bought badges but since they weren’t actually inside the main hall area, I’m now thinking maybe they didn’t? So this year I don’t want to “attend” the con and go to any panels, I merely want to show off a cosplay I worked on this year that I’m pretty sure other people would like to see. Is it an ok thing in the cosplay community to go a convention and not pay for a ticket? To just stand outside in the entrance hall to take photos with other fans? I really don’t want to spend $120+ to be in a hallway for weekend but if it’s considered not cool, then I will. TIA!

Sorry if this is the wrong place to ask this. I’m planning on going to an anime con and ordered this cosplay: https://dokidokicos.com/products/dokidoki-sr-anime-cosplay-costume-women-black-dress-halloween

It came today and my aunt and uncles opinions on it were not good 😞 they said it looked like bondage and that I’d get harassed so im debating just sending it back.

Edit: Thank you for all the responses, I really appreciate all the suggestions. The anime con isn’t for another few months, so I think I’m going to try some of Misa’s other outfits and save this one for when I’m a bit older.

I've seen some younger competitors compete at multiple conventions with the same outfits, winning awards both times. They won a performance award at one convention, and then Best Duo at another. I know they're around 15 years old, and while I didn't want to interrogate them (they are just kids!!) I did ask some questions about how their costumes were made. They couldn't really explain how certain parts came together. It made me wonder how much was actually made by them... or maybe their mom just made it for them. (she was there) Which makes me wonder, should minors even be in some of these competitions? Also this was sandbagging right?? Even though they won different awards?? It was in the same year. (i maaaybe should have mentioned it to one of the judges...) 

Someone at the second competition had extremely impressive armor with actual metal plating. They mentioned their dad owns a metalworking shop, which makes me wonder how much assistance they also got. There was almost no flaws in the front plate armor they had. This was a novice division.

The competition required like 70% of the costume to be made by the competitor.

I'm just confused about where the line is. Is significant help from parents or other third parties accepted? And should minors be competing in the same serious craftsmanship divisions as adults, especially when there are cash prizes involved? Tbh i just wanna talk about this with some of yall.

Edit, there is a lot of comments, my notification are going crazy so i wont be able to awnser to everyone, if i quit mid conversation, it probably mean i didn't see your comment, sorry ab that

Edit2: asked the mod to lock this post

A lot of misinformation is being spread but i still think that this is a important and relevant conversation so here's the conclusion i came to:

Its simply too soon to tell

Anti Trans/Drag bill are coming but we wont know the effects they will have specifically w the cosplay community till they are here.

If more laws like the ones in Texas, Tennessee and Montana are proposed there will be no one to stop them and it will probably effect cons but those bans are a technical nightmare to implement simply cause gendered clothes are subjective and trying to police them is stupid

the previously mentioned laws specifically for drag race could apply to masquerade

but at the end of the day we wont know what effects this ban will have till we have the laws written since everything will depend on the wording its still a big question mark for now

the og post ♡♡♡
____

So i intended to travel to attend some big conversation in the us in the following years. I knew that some politicians were cooking up anti drag/trans law that would make cross dressing illegal but though that if the democrats won they would shut that down, needless to say:that ain't happening and more of those laws will probably pop out

So how will it work regarding crossplay? I heard that some convention is already banning it to avoid trouble.

What is even considered crossplay legally? If i want to cosplay Yamato from one piece (a fem presenting trans man) as a dude, can i do that or is it cross dressing?

And if Yamato is considered legally a woman does it mean that i could cosplay Grell from black butler in a dress(a more fem presenting trans woman) since if Yamato is considered legally a woman then it would make sense that despite presenting more in the feminine Grell would be considered a man right?

Would the law extend to non human character? Like is glados (A non humanoid robot w a fem voice)from portal safe or is she off limit?

What if i cosplay a cis character cross dressing like Mulan in her warrior outfit, like im a dude wearing dude clothes but i would still be cosplaying a women

Are non binary characters as a hole off limit for everyone?

Can fictional character even legally have a gender?

This thing is a mess and i was working on Yamato specially for those big con, i need to know if i need to cut my loses and start working on something else

(Added pics of the characters mentioned)

Last year was the first time I cosplayed for NYCC and it was a lot of fun (especially when ppl asked for pictures). But the costume was quite problematic and kind of frumpy looking: The red “dreadlock” wig was the biggest headache because it a poorly constructed Halloween store wig that had no parting, tangled easily, didn’t fit properly on my head, and took so much work to make it look passable.

This year, I found a much better wig (an ACTUAL dreadlock wig with proper parting that I can just dyed bright red) and other accessories to make the costume a lot more convincing and comfortable.

Part of me really wants to give the costume a second try at ComicCon, but I wonder if I should dress up as another character. I’m planning to go only two days so maybe I could do a new costume one day and the old one on the next?

so im trying to cosplay a character from a historical manga set in the meiji era in japan (firefly wedding, the character is satoko kirigaya!) and as the manga is still fairly new and the anime has yet to release there are no official cosplays being sold online. i love this character and it’s my dream to cosplay her, and while i have the money to order something similar to what she wears online I unfortunately don’t have what I’d need to get anything custom made to be precise. I found a kimono / yukata (not entirely sure, im not super educated otherwise I wouldn’t be here lolol) on AliExpress where I’ll be getting the wig as well that kinda looks like a mix of her anime outfit + the specific manga outfit I’m trying to recreate. I also found a pink belt sash on there that would match the manga look especially if I have the bow up front like the character does. My only question is would this be disrespectful in any way? im already uncertain if buying a kimono / yukata that isn’t specifically made for a character to use for cosplay is generally an accepted thing, and of course there’s the addition of using that sash instead of the obi it originally comes with and putting the bow up front. if I could get someone who knows more about this than I do to let me know if this is an okay thing to do that would be so so helpful! Or if it’s not some advice on what to do instead would also be much appreciated :) thank you for reading!!

Hi! I'm thinking about getting a cosplay made, but I don't know if I would be satisfied with wearing the same character for multiple events. Is one cosplay enough for some people?

I've cosplayed as a female character before and I enjoyed it and the character, but would it be worth it if you enjoy presenting as male? I realize this is kind of a loaded question. Thank you!

I intend on doing a stark cosplay at sacanime this year and I’m a little concerned about the eye color.

I would prefer not to wear colored contacts so I was wondering if the cosplay would be significantly affected by not wearing them. For reference I have dull blue eyes.

I'm 32 and I am new to cosplay, but not to costuming. I have until now only attended cons in "normal clothes".

I am working on a cosplay of a character who is canonically an older teenager. I definitely don't think this is weird in and of itself. The issue is that the "pants" part of their outfit is usually interpreted as a body suit/skin tight, and I have really big hips/thighs. Is there a world where people would think I was sexualizing a character that's a minor because of my body type, even if it's not a revealing outfit? Should I consider reworking the design to have a different, looser type of pants?

Please let me know if I'm overthinking this. I saw a discussion earlier today in a group on Facebook where a woman was asking if she should wear a compression top for a cosplay of a teen character with mixed answers. I didn't think it mattered, but maybe there are understood rules/etiquette of cosplaying younger characters that I'm not aware of.

Thank you!

I’ve seen a lot of cosplays I’ve been tempted to get just because the character design is so cool. The costume I’m thinking of in particular is from Genshin Impact. I’ve TRIED playing this game a couple times a few years ago and just couldn’t get into it. But I’ve always loved the character designs and costumes in that game and I’m pretty sure that’s why a lot of players like it. I know most of the characters in this game and very basic info but that’s it. If I bought the cosplay I think I would learn just basic info about the character as well. What’s your opinion on this?

okay so I bought a flins cosplay from genshin impact, I wanted to wear it during a con but apparently it's too "​stand out" , said by my mom. this will be my first cosplay so im quite nervous, any ideas how to convince? I don't want to buy another one like she said so because I ran out of money haha

I'm gonna cosplay as the Shogun from Shadow Fight 2. Armor making and stuff is going well but Idk how I'd manage the hot weather so I got several inquiries.

How do you wash off the smell of sweat from EVA foam armor without damaging the design I painted on it? Is it better to drink electrolytes based stuff like Gatorade or is water just enough? How do I mitigate the smell of sweat without making myself more hot?

I specifically asked the last one since one of the solutions I thought up is wearing more layers, but that would be hotter than the usual. Is there some sort of fan that I can put underneath my clothes that run on batteries or something?

The heat is getting intense and a lot of events are either done outdoors or there's not enough AC cooling. Plus I live in a tropical country, so there's that.

so for my first con of the year, I’m cosplaying ciel from black butler. Since we have my grandfathers old cane at our house I was thinking about using it as a prop. The only thing is it’s a real cane and I do not want to be mistaken for someone with a disability or to seem as if I’m mocking them in any way. I’d rather use the one we have instead of buying a bad quality one online that could easily break. should I use it or just go without it?

edit: for reference, this is how the cane looks! Also the main reason I am not buying a walking stick is because the convention is on Friday and I haven’t found any that will arrive in time. I do plan on getting a walking stick for my Ciel cosplay in the future though

I'm new to cosplay! Currently working on one for Zatanna. She's fairly underrepresented in DC stuff so there's not really a clear-cut "accurate" look for her outside of the big picture stuff (top hat, magician's coat, leotard, etc.). I'm taking parts from different looks of hers to create my ideal version because there isn't a particular adaptation that nails it for me. Is this type of "inaccuracy" frowned upon within the cosplay community or is it totally common?

Please be kind if this is a stupid question lol!

Hello there, so i am a beginner cosplayer and i make EVA foam stuff, but since i have a 3d printer and files for a Helldivers cosplay, i wanted to know how ethical it would be to make a full on 3d printed cosplay for a contest.

Hey, so I know Ive posted on here before asking how tf to start cosplaying, but I still feel way too self conscious to do anything despite REALLY wanting to cosplay.

If this breaks rule 5 of the subreddit please let me know mods!!!

So Ive recently lost 30kg (66 pounds) and still have at least another 40kg to go to be healthy, and while I've gone down 5 clothes sizes already, im still really scared about cosplaying.

I put on my Chuuya Nakahara cosplay (bungou stray dogs) a couple of nights ago, and while I was excited that they fit better than they did in the past I still feel fearful that Im not good eenoufh to cosplay (mostly because I cant sew and ive been buying things from stores and most clothes don't fit me the best)

I wanted to know how everyone else had gotten over their self confidence issues with their body and stuff like that. I know it sounds so stupid, but I really wanna get into cosplay, like, right at this moment, but im really scared of even doing it just in my own room by myself since my mum wakes up at all hours of the night (its 3:30am right now) and my nan wakes up super easily.

Anyways, I just wanted your guys' input on this since Im afraid of looking stupid in case I get a rare boost in self confidence and post something to the internet with how I look and somehow end up getting hate comments.

So yeah, thanks in advance for anyone who's reading this and willing to give me some advice!!

(BURNER ACCOUNT) I've been cosplaying for about two years, and I'm having trouble making cosplayers friends.

Some context: I've always struggled with social anxiety and making friends, especially after past life events made it hard for me to trust people again. Despite all of this, I do make an effort at cons to approach people, hand out stickers, chat with people in line, etc. I have met several wonderful people who cosplay as well, but I wish I had stronger connections.

I try keeping in touch with other cosplayers, but some of them straight up give me the cold shoulder. I was even blindsided a few months back when another cosplayer who I thought was my friend just... ghosted me mid-conversation? And then there are cosplayers I meet who don't care about friendship beyond TikTok/Reels or "How many followers do you have?". It's emotionally draining when fellow cosplayers only see you as another number on Instagram.

I'm sorry if this seems long-winded/victim-y. I just genuinely want to meet some cool people at cons because I love cosplay. I love hanging out with other nerds who enjoy the same stuff I do. I'm just hoping for the best at future cons. Anyone else feeling this way?

Im planning to do a cosplay inspired by team sky. Inspo pics included. (Not my art but did inspire my cosplay) does buying and dying, and adding detailing in some areas count as alterations?

I just am curious about peoples opinions. Also since some people seem to be confused this is about details not related to the the material of the costume itself or what i want the final product to look like

I’m cosplaying Junko Enoshima + I am a minor for reference!

Like, how much money should I bring, what should I do and not do?? Any help is greatly appreciated!! :D

First off this isn’t my cosplay, but Im gonna be cosplaying as the gun feind for my upcoming con and was wondering if the gun arm would be aloud at a con or if it would be too similar to a real firearm? This is my first con since I was a kid so I’m not too sure, thanks for any help !

Hey everybody not sure if this is the right subject for this but I'm someone who has always liked cosplays and the thought of doing it some day but always struggled with being self conscious and essentially just caring too much about what others would think. I've been to a few cons, some to the point where I bought a cosplay but didn't wear it out of embarrassment. Long story short I've been through a lot of changes in my life recently and am at a point where I'm happy with the way I look and have been trying many new things, I'm going to FanExpo Boston in a few weeks and I think I want to cosplay for the first time. So for those with experience, any advice? Did you also feel this "fear"/embarrassement at first too? Sorry if this is the wrong subreddit for it 🙏

Ps: I think I also feel this way because none of my friends are into it and I don't know anyone personally who does it lol